Absolutely no way no way no way. The London Branch had an interesting Q and A session with John Williams before the game on Saturday. In his words, "there is no business model which can deal with turnover dropping from £40 million to £20 million like that" - and he clicked his fingers. If Rovers go down we can all draw a line under the last 10 years because that will be that - thanks for the memories.

Saw Air live last night at the Brixton Academy. Very good, but I've got rings around my eyes. Must have been smoky in there. Also I prefer the previous album 10,000hz legend to the new one, which is probably a bit unusual.

Did you see the piece on Sky Sports News the other day - Paul Weller going begging door to door trying to sell £1 a week Bumley FC lottery tickets ?? Great interview he gave At least we've still got a cheque book to brandish - the bank's had yours off you hasn't it ?? And for you to mention "failing gloriously" - - well, maybe just failing in your case.

Would you care to indicate a single team in the league which has this, either below or above us ? Times have moved on. If we're talking about honest commitment: Above us, in no particular order: Arsenal, ManU, Chelsea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Charlton, Bolton, Southampton, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Fulham, Portsmouth, Everton, Man City. Below us: Leicester, Wolves, Leeds. Did I leave anyone out? Same of them may be poor teams, but at least they play as if they care. This Rovers team is not honest. They are cheats, to themselves, the club and, worst of all, to the supporters, the paying public. There's a world of difference between honest commitment and the "Everton dogs of war" style you were harping on about. In fact the closest to "dogs of war" you could get in this league is probably Ince and Rae at Wolves, lots of good it's doing them.

Boo oh well if you want to play sensibly Birch's formula to revive ailing Leeds

most certainly not ... messy things, parsnips

You as well !! Gave up doing the lottery after that happened, it just left an empty feeling in the pit of the stomach, bloody Ripley !!!

Would you care to indicate a single team in the league which has this, either below or above us ? Times have moved on.

Forgive and forget hey Jan ?? Maybe after 30 odd years, when he's won your beloved second club some silverware and you've been able to enjoy trips to Sofia and Ankara, you could forgive him ?

For once you are right. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks, wants or needs. I just find it more and more bizarre that you continue with meaningless speculation, and keep trying to pretend that Rovers can gamble with sums like 3 million quid. That's half of one season's gate income at Rovers. Stop deluding yourself.

hmm, agree up to a point, although obviously replacing Duff is a non-starter. And if Rovers ever do employ another player to beat the opposing right back and get a cross in, Souness would do well never to play him for more than 45 minutes at Ewood - the 45 we attack the Blackburn End. The first time on his debut he doesn't produce what Duff used to the Riverside will be awash with murmours of discontent, the second time they'll want the poor guy slung out of the club.

Interesting in Duff's interview in 442, he says the training at Chelsea is a lot harder than it was at Rovers. As for Souness on Sky, I think he should do more, it's a refreshing reminder of how much footballing sense the guy talks and how lucky we are to have him at Rovers.

Perhaps this is why (from the LET)

Last train's about midnight I think ...

That's why it meant so much to the Gills to put them out of the FA Cup

They're about to apply for planning permission to increase ground capacity at the Valley by another 10,000 which will take them to roughly the same as Liverpool, Everton Chelsea and Arsenal. Beyond Spurs and West Ham - suddenly football in London looks very different. Charlton are running an aggressive marketing campaign down the railway line to places like Rainham and Gillingham in Kent. Direct and regular trains to Premiership football, and 5 mins from the station to the ground. Massive - and rich - population in that corner of England. Attractive to families because there's no history of trouble unlike any other London club. Cheapest tickets in the Premier League (and cheaper than Millwall and QPR who evolve in far less fashionable circles). Charlton are on an absolute winner, within 10 years will be up there with Arsenal. And Chelsea if the Russian hangs in there.

Dunno if anyone saw Sky's Monday night roundup tonight, but the Liverpool fan on the panel - in the face of far more media pressure and general "hype" than we get - made a fantastic point that I think is relevant to Souness here as well. The point being that Houllier almost made his own job a poisoned chalice by winning the three cups then having a run in the Champs League - it was built up as the new Liverpool and things would be back to the 70s and 80s. Now things aren't, Houllier is taking the flak and he probably doesn't deserve it. Just like Souness doesn't deserve it. Contrast that with Curbishley at Charlton. Popular with the media, with fans (their own and in general) but he's never won anything (except a penalty shootout play off v Sunderland). Charlton are now a bigger club (support wise) than Rovers. And they're in London. You'd never know it though. Curbishley has never exceeded anyones hopes or fulfilled anyones dreams, and has never been near Cardiff - or Europe. Souness and Houllier have made themselves targets by winning. Wenger and Ferguson are always on the verge of winning, and Ranieri has joined them (and is great entertainment). No other manager in the Prem has done sh!t. Check the list.

Sturrock signed a 4 1/2 year contract at Plymouth about a fortnight ago. You'd have thought rover6 would be aware of that, him being his biggest fan and all that.

hmm, but possibly only in the 10 minutes before he left for Newcastle, when all else had failed. I don't actually disagree that Shearer will end up in management and make a decent go of it. He's obviously very single minded (eg England decision) and his pedigree as a player is also without question (and almost without equal). But not at Ewood please. Why not ? Because as soon as Newcastle came calling he'd be off again. He'd be wise not to start at his beloved club, but I don't want him having his teething problems at Ewood thanks. Will be interesting to watch if he does go into management (as Tony Adams is also proving). Shearer has a history of personality clashes - Sutton v Newell as strike partner, the Gillespie fight, Ruud Gullit. As a manager, he'd need to make that trait an enabler rather than a hindrance.

So who's it to be then ? The Yorkshireman Tony Parkes ? The experienced Ronnie Clayton ? Simon Garner - he must be a fan, he's got an LET column ? Not sure if his motivational skills will improve on what's there now though !

The Inspirals were brilliant on Friday - as always. Saw the Levellers on Saturday night, same venue, fairly disappointing. And they're a scruffy bunch of lefties.

Just off to watch the INSPIRAL CARPETS at the Shepherds Bush Empire moooooooooooo

I think he's the guy referred to in the BBC article, who is refusing to hand over any dosh until the debts are re-structured, but Leeds can't agree with the creditors on re-structuring the debts until some more dosh comes in from somewhere. Oops, that's not vodka. Once they're in admin he'll be able to buy 'em for a quid anyway, and they'll be debt free. And from his point of view, that's vodka and tonic with ice and lemon.

If they're cute about it they'll go into admin sooner rather than later (and let's face it there really don't seem to be too many viable alternatives). That way they can try and get back out of administration before they drop into Division 1, so won't lose the 10 points under Football League rules. Which at least might mean they stay in Div 1 and don't drop stright into Div 2.

Please ignore those stupid polls - I mean who actually phones in to vote ?? I had Sky Sports News on not so long ago and they were touting one of their pointless polls, and said "let's have a look at the results so far" and up flashed the graphic ... ooh isn't it close - 50 % yes and 50% no. And as the guy was speaking it changed from 50-50 to 48-52. From which I inferred the 21st person had just voted. And that their stupid polls are, as expected, completely irrelevant and a waste of time.