Tris

That's really generous ! The LET usually comes on line around half two ... that's 4 hours ... that's £240 quid ! Cheers Alan

Maybe a fairly harsh question ?! Nixon's a hit or miss tabloid idiot working off scraps whose career needs 1 in 20 "exclusives" to contain half a grain of reality. Andy Neild's career depends upon finding the balance between remaining the reporter who Rovers players and staff and management can trust ... and still be able to judge when to blow something big or use a titbit which will beat the daily red tops but not upset anyone locally. Taking SG194s point ... Peter White's match reports were great - no problems there - and trying to replace him was always going to be like trying to replace Shearer. Read some of the crap you get in other regionals and Andy Neild comes out of it pretty well - I think he's won a couple of awards along the way as well.

Sorry. Forgive me. He only made it to 2 years 6 1/2 months. And Souness never mentioned him this season ? Oh dear poor Andy. Souness spent sh!t loads of money signing Andy Cole and having done so sang his praises almost literally from the rooftops. Look at some of the interveiws. Don't try and sell the line that Souness hasn't bestowed him with enough adulation this season. It's an event if Souness names ANY individual in post match interviews.

Apart from the three years when he found it not only possible but beneficial ? Fine when he was allowed extra holidays in Dubai ? Ah, only impossible since asking for even more extra holidays and refusing the notion of team bonding. More like good luck Chris Coleman, you're going to need it.

Could you pop up to Halmstad and have a word with Mr(s) Phox ??

I actually do, but it's just not worth the bother.

Thank goodness we'll never hear that rubbish again in the Blackburn End. It used to get sung every time he missed a sitter which was infuriating.

Oh FFS. No, really. You don't even know his ###### name and you put him before Dickov AND Gallagher

tut tut tut You'd think a player of Andy Cole's experience would've learnt to time his runs a bit better by now. Oh well, he's left the dross behind now. Let's see how he fares with the world class midfield down at Craven Cottage. Maybe they'll all be tuned into "whingers wavelength".

OK why do you hate Paul Dickov ? What's it based on ?

OMG I can't believe this thread has run to three pages. Everyone out there knows exactly who it is - and it's not for wider public consumption. Andy Neild (LET) has been asked to play along. On the Pre Season tour in 2000 there were 9 or 10 Rovers fans at the first game, we had a really candid Q and A with Souness before the game, and all the players were happy to talk to us. When you're lucky enough to get that close the last thing you do is go and broadcast what you're asked not to broadcast.

As I posted in the Souness must go thread, I think the figures of 55 or 60K have come about by adding his "loyalty" (ha ha ha) bonus due at the end of this season onto his basic. (ie 1 million quid split over the remaining year). Which would put his basic at around 40K. Based on the fact that after the 2002 World Cup, Duffer and Friedel were given new contracts which (apparently) boosted their salaries to equal the highest paid player at the club, apparently on £35K at the time. If he has been on 55 or 60K over the duration of his contract then he's an even bigger p!ss taker than I already thought.

i gem ? He's still at Vasco da Gama, he scored against Flamengo the other day. This will remain a secret and so it should. It's probably a private joke by the Rovers staff - the old A. Trialist ruse There's a tiny chance it's the next Shearer / Ronaldo / Papin / Cantona / Cruyff hydrid - Dolly's chief scientist has been working on it. If this is the case then the news will not leak - because the live feed to CNN went down this afternoon, the only people who saw this game were SteB, JP and Andy Neild. They have all been sworn to secrecy so basically we'll never know. Sorry folks.

Some stadium in a village in Germany ? No - actually - they're showing it live in CNN, it's a momentous news occasion

SG194, that just doesn't make any kind of sense. If that was the case they'd have got shut asap rather than paying him (apparently) over half a milliion quid since a ball was last kicked in the Premiership. Instead he was welcomed back to pre-season and was a part of the squad to go to Germany until the very last minute. Someone is now going to tell me that it was an elaborate half a million pound gamble to con people into buying season tickets and that this weeks events have been stage managed - just like Duff legging it out of Manchester Airport two years ago. Let's try and keep a sense of perspective eh ?

No it hasn't. That was the slant put on it by the LET but do you really know that to be the truth? Well humble apologies oh master of the conspiracy theory. Kindly elaborate and present your evidence that anything other than Cole refusing to do his job is what has happened.

Well fair enough, but let's take one step at a time. It emerged this week that Cole is refusing to do his job. The season starts in 4 weeks time. The transfer window closes in 6 weeks time. Let's get shot of the bad apple then worry about the rest later.

His pedigree may look impressive, but in a Rovers shirt he has been far from impressive. As I said in the earlier post, he is a good player. He has a fantastic first touch, makes intelligent runs into space and gets into goal scoring positions that many other strikers do not. On the other hand he can be guilty of woeful - almost careless - finishing when presented with the easiest of chances and if you want to talk raw statistics then his goal scoring record since coming to Ewood is a disgrace. Weighing up the pros and the cons it doesn't make any sense at all to get so worked up about losing a player who has consistently been a disruptive figure, whinges at his team mates for misplacing passes, refuses to help younger colleagues, mopes off on extra holidays and takes home the most obscene anount of money to boot.

The so called "popular player" manages to snuffle the entire income from over 8000 adult season ticket holders. Steve Gibson pays Viduka and JFH's wages from his own pocket. Having aleady tried and failed with Ravanelli, Christie, Emerson, Maccaroni, Job, Boksic. Oh, and alienated Greening and other products of a failed academy - while the academy at Rovers has produced proven talent and exciting potential.

Why was he (Cole) on the pitch ? Given that you and many others believe that Souness is such a grudge-toting @#/? who has evicted Cole from the club, how do you explain the fact that after the bust up Cole remained in the side ?? Why did Souness bow to his Dubai holiday request after the Southampton game ? I'll tell you why that happened. Souness broke his own rules to accomodate Cole because he sees him as a good footballer. Vital to Rovers last season. In the run in - with Stead - Souness recognised his best forward partnership needed Cole and played him. That - as so many have pointed out - kept the club up. All parties have had 8 weeks to chill out. Souness has chilled out and signed a good experienced striker for what appears to be 2 1/2 weeks pay for Cole. Not to replace mardy man, but to provide back up. Cole has taken umbrage, and either doesn't want to compete against a more energetic player for a first team place or has decided to play silly buggers in an attempt to salvage his well publicised end of contract pay off. Rev can list Cole's best moments until the cows come home. Crucial goals. Most of them scored by other people. Shall we list the crucial misses ? Shall we list the other players with vital assists ? The only disaster here would be subsidising Cole's move. But having in effect refused to play - as Todd did - it should be a question of claiming against Cole for breach of contract. Why can't star-struck fans see past the big name pr!ck's dummy throwing ?

Having given Cole an undeserved holiday break after the away game at Southampton, what would you (you Revidge Blue) have done when Cole blew apart the whole concept of "team building" by his selfish acts later in the season ??? There were direct quotes in the LET that the above sums up exactly what happened. As you say - let's be realistic. Can Rovers carry on with a mardy player who's milking the club and contributing less than nothing ? No. Cole is a disgrace to his profession and whoever gets him is more than welcome.

Todd - withdrew his labour minutes before a vital match. Didn't see many people defend him at the time. Can't think that his playing colleagues were impressed. Do you think Fergy or Wenger would have put a soothing arm round his shoulders and said "sorry Andy, please come back next week." Souness gave him his last chance in football after Todd's self-imposed disasters at Bolton and Charlton where the same lack of self control led to fights on the training ground. Souness even gave him another very last chance in football when injuries meant he needed to be recalled from a loan at Burnley. Souness owes Todd nothing, Rovers owe him nothing, and a player who can let his team down in such spectacular style off the field will never be welcomed back on it. Hence the fact no-one else wants him. Cole - I'm tempted to leave this for now, but can’t. There is a lot of comment on here which is not rational. The initial dispute stems from Cole refusing to join in with the "team building" trip last season. The same Cole who was granted permission to go to Dubai with his family earlier in the season (post Southampton red card). The same Cole who refused to speak with Stead for two weeks after he was signed. The same Cole who told the LET he wasn't interested in helping the promising young forwards, he was just interested in his own game. The same Cole who – whatever plus points people can find about his game, and he was a good player – is just not worth the money he’s reported to be on. His record as a striker at Blackburn Rovers is certainly not worthy of the outpouring of grief which is afflicting this messageboard. Some people have even brought the loss of a few hundred season ticket renewals into this debate. For gods sake, if Cole buggers off and £55,000 per week was correct (btw I think it’s distorted because Andy Neild has included the severance payment in that figure) … that’s the entire income from over 8,000 ADULT season tickets. Do some maths – as we offer the best kids and young adult prices in the league we therefore have loads of younger (lower revenue) ST holders. I would estimate that every single pound from every single adult ST holder at Ewood just about covers Cole’s wages. Is he really worth it ?????? Flitcroft – This story will come out in its own time, people can make their own judgements when it does. It’s not rocket science. Dunn – A £5 million quid sale. And the manager who paid it has just recruited Muzzy Izzett to play in Dunny’s preferred CM position, a Chelsea reject for his second choice position out wide, and re-signed Savage on a 4 year deal for the position Souness tried to teach him but Dunny didn’t want to learn about. Why is this name even in your list of players Souness has fallen out with ???? Yorke and Gillespie – OK I understand now. These two and Dunn should be moved to the list you didn’t mention – the Curtis and McAteer Hall of Fame. The players who weren’t good enough. Mistakes. Grabbis. Oh look, every other club has them too. Veron. Taibi. Viaina. El Hadj D??(sp) and his mate at Liverpool, Cisse at Birmingham, Postiga and Rebrov at Spurs (worth 2 Grabbis, 3 after wages), there are so many more dotted around the English leagues. The core of the squad at Rovers is full of players who have no axe to grind with Souness, in fact many of them are only here because they want to work with him in preference to alternatives. One bad egg (Cole) and another (Yorke) and another (Todd) should not overshadow the rest of the squad, or the many players who have worked under Souness and moved on with no bitter words. And remember the three Rovers who’ve signed new deals this summer – Tugay, Short and Douglas. All three want to work with Souness. And the three who are new – Matteo (cited working with Souness as the factor for choosing Blackburn), Dickov (cited Souness as the factor for choosing Blackburn) and De Pedro (no idea what he cited, but we beat a load of clubs to get him). Cole is not Blackburn Rovers. He is no longer a good striker. He does not deserve the money he apparently earns. He does not deserve the adulation he gets from the terraces at Ewood. He has openly admitted he wants no part in helping to develop youngsters be they first team material or academy hopefuls. He has no place at Ewood Park.

From the sounds of what things exactly ?? From the sounds of the sloppy website news writers picking up on one crappy tabloid piece by the Nixon buffoon which has now been proven to be factually incorrect ??? As for the youngsters, this is a first team pre-season warm up with 24 players going - it would be barmy to take any more. Especially as the youngsters have their own tournament to prepare for down in the South West which starts 3 days after the Germany trip ends. (Rovers play Palace in Saltash on 29th, also involved are Cardiff and Plymouth).

Then if you haven't already I suggest you try and meet John Williams and ask him to run through "what he does for the club" I've never spoken to Robert Coar, so I can't comment on him.

cue Tris is the only common sense in that post Waggy "he's run the club his way far too long" - promotion, cup, Europe, Europe, survival - long may it continue "how many decent players are going to be shown the door" - please list them (the decent ones who've been "shown the door") "... tonight the front pages of the paper for the wrong reasons" what's wrong with this exactly ? Apologies, I don't follow the rest of your post.