Apart from Sherwood, exactly which one of those players did Rovers want to lose at that time. None. But they all left at short notice leaving us having to unexpectedly find replacements. A player screwing a club post Bosman means that he dallys signig a new contract until it runs out so that his club cant get a transfer fee for him and he can command big wages. Lucas gave us 18 months notice. If we wanted to add to our £38million we could have sold him in the summer for much more than £1.5m. By the way, theres only two Lucas Neils !

I agree with everything Tris said. As I posted many times at the time, what Neill did at the end of the Nancy game was purely aimed at the idoits in the back corner of the BBurn End lower and IMO was bang on. Barry Ferguson, Alan Shearer, Craig Bellamy, Crhis Sutton, Tim Sherwood. If only they'd been as open with the club before they left as Lucas Neill was. People forget that one of the worst examples in recent times of how to leave a club was performed by own Robbie Savage.

In all honesty, I expect West Ham to sign another 3 players at least before the end of Jan and would be extremely suprised if they went down. Would be funny though. I doubt the millionaire Icelanders (???) have come in with dreams of Premiership and European glory, and then to just rely on Lucas Neill.

I know there's another long thread burried away in ICBINF somewhere about this, but having seen Snakes on a Plane last night it's so bad it's brilliant. I have not laughed at any film so much for a long time, and that takes some doing keeping in mind it's not meant to be a comedy. Complete cheesy plot, outragous steroetypical characters, pointless swearing and nudity, gory deaths, one-liners galore and loads of snakes. If you like 'bad' movies and aint seen it get it. Let's be honest, you know from the title whether you'll like it or not.

In light of the Ooijer injury I just want to add a bit of praise for Henchoz. When we signed him I thought it was not a good move. He's probably played more this season than Sparky would have wanted. However he has been suprisingly good in camparison to what I thought he would be. Yes he's slow but he still shows with his reading of the game that he's a quality defender who has a habit of getting blocks in when needed. I wouldnt want him to have a long spell in the side as he does get found out at this level with pace now but, credit where credit is due, he's proved to be a valuable squad player. Fair play to Stephane and Sparky.

Best reception a visting player ever got at Ewood surely has to be Miklosko in 95/96

Hughes told Sky that he 'hadnt really thought' whether OOijers injury would affect the deal, then replied 'probably not'.

The last prem place is Adrian Lewis. How dull!

Not very big, which is why sometihng is strange here. I get the feeling Rovers don't want him anymore. Maybe he did fail a medical. Maybe we have someone else lined up.

The six players who have qualified for the PL through ranking points are:- Phil Taylor, Colin Lloyd, Peter Manley, Roland Scholten, Dennis Priestley, Terry Jenkins Barneveld is already confirmed as one wildcard entry with another one up for grabs. Anyone care to speculate who will get the final place. Rumour was that if either of the young Dutch players did well on the BDO tournament (Klaasen or Van Gerwin) they would get the place as a tempter to join the PDC. However as they both bombed at the Lakeside this week this would seem unlikely & unfair. On ranking points next in line is Mardle. I'm sure the PDC chiefs would like Mardle in for the' showbiz' he brings but in all honesty hes done nothing for around 18 months and is dropping down the rankings. On last years TV tournaments I think Andy Hamilton deserves a place. He reached the Semis in the Wolrd Championships (losing to Taylor), semis in the Wrold Matchplay (taylor again) and the Quarter finals in Las Vegas (losing to Barney). He's improved over the last 2 years and, although not as glitzy and colourful as the Mardles, has earned his place more.

I'd like Dunn back but dont want to see us taking a big financial risk on the situation. However, if Dunny really has his heart set on Ewood as much as a lot of people think, and Rovers have made it clear to him that they want him, why doesnt he wait until summer and come for free. Can he not sign a pre-contract contract now with us or whatever they're called? Why make a move that he might regret, that deep down he doesnt want for the sake of 5 months. I know a footballers career is short and after his injuries he wants to play as much as he can, but IMO somethings is amiss here.

I'll be honest I've not seen a lot of the lad, only his home appearances so far this season and brief highlights. However in what I have seen so far he reminds me a bit of Andy Cole in the way in which he seems to pull into the correct space. He might miss chances but he seems to be able to get into the positions which is half of the battle. He made the right run for his chance at the end of the Boro game and I'm guessing that he put himself in the right position to knock in todays goal. There are a number of strikers who look good but never seem to get the chances. I'd rather have someone who might miss a couple (not that he's shown hes a bad finisher!) but keeps getting the chances and coming back for more. Well done on your 'debut' goal Matty.

Fair enough. I would say that I also wouldnt have him as captain as we'll need a new one soon enough and whoever it may be may as well get used to the job now. However its no good booing Neill as its not his fault, it's the managers.

If thats what you want to believe. You think if Arsenal or Man U had wanted Bellamy and had come in for him he would have turned them down?? If Shearer had no intention of going anywhere else bar Newcastle then why have talks with Man U in 1996? I'm not saying boo any of them. It's just Lucas is the most innocent of the 3 IMO

People do let their love of Rovers dominate over rational thinking. People were even questioning why Bellamy wanted to leave us for Liverpool. I'm sure Craig is sat at home now contemplating the Champions League knockout game at the Nou Camp thinking "....if only I'd stopped at Ewood" The cry in the summer though was that Bellamy didnt let the club know what he was doing till too late, and lied to the fans about his get-out clause. Players want to spend their careers playing in the biggest games possible. At 28, Neill now sees this iast the best chance he'll have of going to a genuine 'big' club (i.e not Tottenham or Brum). Perfectly logical thinking by the man and yet he gets booed for it? I wonder how many of these people who now boo Neill are ones who moaned at the treatment dished out to Alan Shearer, who was far less open about his departure?

Enjoyed last night but felt it was good rather than great, mainly due to our seating location. We were sat back in the top tier looking side on at the stage. You could see the band on the stage but not see any of the set or of the backdrops. It was like they were playing on a stage surrounded by wires and rigging. Lack of atmosphere that high up also. On a plus point, musically they were superb as to be expected. Took a couple of songs to get the balance on the vocals right but this was soon sorted and the new album sounded really good live as did the classics including thankfully the eternally awesome Hallowed Be Thy name. Quite a few people who didnt know the set list grumbled at the decision to play the entire album. If, as rumoured, they do return soon playing their mid 80's stuff (Powerlave through to 7th Son) I'll definately see them again, just in the lower tier and a bit further round next time.

Maiden tommorow (thursday) night at the MEN for me. Cant wait.I'm not overly bothered about the playing of the whole album as since I last commented on it more or less all the tracks have grown on me (except Different World and The Pilgrim.)

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Neill has said all along he will leave at the end of his contract. It's the club who have given the impression of a chance of him staying. Booing him last Saturday was a joke. Tonights response wasnt the greatest thing to do but in a way I know where he's coming from.

Cant read previous posts as post game anti-depressant drinking has made me late for my works xmas do. Appologies for spelling as I've had few. Whether it was a sending off or not I thought it was a silly thing to do. Hencho new he'd not got enough on the ball with his head and made sure he brought the striker down. I don't think he was 'clear' on goal but we had been very poor and 2-0 down long before then. The defence looked shakey again. Not sure where the blame lies but IMO Henchoz is a risk now due to lack of pace. He cost us a goal against Chelsea in the cup, he was clumsy and Charlton for 'that' free kick and was clumsy again today. I'm not saying he's that bad but Todd was player of the season two years running. Now he's 6th choice centre back. Nonda has had his chance. We lack options but he's not quick enough.Watching the video of him that was posted when we signed him , in France he had lightening pace. Now he doesnt. Unfortunately neither Franny or Gally look good enough to do much better. Top reserve striker Derbyshire probably wont get a chance now that he has proven he's not a right winger. McCarthy runs offside too ofter, takes too many fancy touches and needs to play off someone strong to take the heat off him. I've not given up yet but I'm beginning to feel disappointed. Micky Gray and Todd have been left out of the side becuase of IMO personal reason by Mark Hughes. Souey got chastised for this. Sparky has been lucky that results have been good for him but he should tread very carefully now else people will turn. Bentley has had a purple patch. I fear the rest of the season may be a sort of mouldy brown colour for him. Nice kick by MGP for the goal. About the only one. Off for my Christmas do. Ho Ho Ho Ho. P.S - Still no Sergio, even 2 down with 10 men

How anyone on here can judge the lad when he's only made 2 league starts for us is amazing. We're in a slump, we need to freshen things up and every game we moan at the contribution if MGP. Surely the lad has to get at least a few games before we can judge him. Even on the brief clips of the Charlton game I saw, whjat he showed when he went past their full back right at the end was something that unfortunately no other player we have ca Im not saying he'll be a world beater, just different and unexposed.

In no way did I want Rovers to lose and as Ive stated (twice) I was no less peeved when Charlton scored. However to say that betting against your own team is "disgraceful and uncalled for" is IMO a riducolous thing to say which I hope was posted from you out of anger at the result. Like it or not, anyone listening to the radio, knowing our habit of self destructing and recalling the visit to Charlton 2 years ago were probably fearing the worst. 30/1 with a few minutes remaining seemed a big price on Charlton. That doesn't mean I suddenly put my best red T-shirt on and was jumping around the house screaming Charlton on. It also in no way affected the result. Generally, if you think a price is quite a way too big then it is probably is, therefore you should back it. Rovers currently at 14/1 to go down is also too big. We are a bigger price to go down than Watford, Sheff Utd, Wigan, Charlton, Fulham, man City, West Ham, Boro and Newcastle. Having seen or heard all games this year and knowing the state of our squad (injuries , lack of pace etc..) everyone must agree that 14/1 is too big a price, hence why I had a tenner on last night. Regardless, I pray to god for the good of this season and the whole future of Blackburn Rovers football club that we remain a Premiership club and that I have kissed this money goodbye never to be seen again.

Positive post alert !!! If anyone really does think we are really in the mire I suggest you take the double figure odds on us being relegated that are available on Betfair as 'financial compensation'. However, in order to try and put a stop to the total doom and gloom the fact we've lost to the bottom of the league only confirms that away from home we're poor. Fortunately I strongly believe that we've shown enough at home to get points from most teams. I'd be amazed if we didn't pick up enough points from our remaining home games to ease the pressure of the away form. Having watched most games on Sky closely recently I still think theres a lot of bad sides in the Prem that can throw shocking performances like the one we did tonight. I also believe that, regardless of who we sign in the transfer window, the return of Roberts, Nelson and Reid around late January time will add freshness and a return to the strong spine of the team we are so badly lacking at present. This will hopefully mean to decent away form once again, more points and everyting being rosy in the garden of Ewood. This isnt working is it? Bugger. Where's my whisky.

Worst bloody £80 I've ever won. Had £2 at 10/1 and then another £2 at 30/1 just after Henchoz brought them down for the free kick. Was Friedel at fault for goal??

I've just backed Charlton at 10/1 (just in case)

He is doing well commentating on the radio but I can't help thinking that subconciously he's saying to us "pick me, pick me, I would do better, pick me"