OK I'm going to have to take some of the blame for last nights defeat. Earlier in the season I bought the new home shirt, and have so far worn it to the following games: Salzburg H - Won 2-0 Wigan H - Won 2-1 Krakow A - Won 2-1 Basel H - Won 3-0 Feyenoord A - Draw 0-0 Fulham H - Won 2-0 The games I've been to not wearing the new shirt: Chelsea H - Lost 2-0 West Ham A - Lost 2-1 Aston Villa A - Lost 2-0 Charlton A - Lost 1-0 Can't make Newcastle, but get a couple of quid on us beating Nancy a week today. :ph34r:

I didn't mean Dickov would score much (although he hasn't had many chances at Citeh to be fair - and it's only a couple of seasons since he was our top scorer). I meant that if either of our current clowns up front had Dickov in the vicinity, they might put an honest shift in - either caused by guilt or enforcement by the deranged scottish midget.

I am in total agreement with the negative comments about our "club shop" - as a "club shop" it is rubbish. Over the last dozen years I can think of at least 4 occasions when I have travelled up from the sunny south, got to Ewood, realised it's bloody freezing and gone to the shop to get a scarf or a hat. On Saturday we had a quick look round the "shop" as usual - it was full of people looking for hats. Den wasn't the only one. You can overhear comments when you're in there slagging the place off. As it happens though - Rovers did exactly the right thing to outsource to SportsWorld. The deal included shirt sponsorship at a time when there were literally no other options. As Jan has said, substantial cash gets paid to the club no matter what gets sold in the shop. With such a small fanbase, Rovers were throwing money away by running their own operation - and whatever anyone says, that was crap too. They never had enough of the decent (and therefore popular) lines, and they ended up flogging the unwanted crap at the end of every season for nowt. It was a pointless drain on resource which is now spent on what matters - the team - whilst SWI take the risk on cheap tat in the shop and pay for the privilege. What could and should have been done better was a minimum performance standard from SWI, and a minimum requirement to supply popular Rovers branded items, with a properly defined area to display them and sell them from. That is a massive failure and as every post on this thread proves, it must be put right by Rovers to retain the good will of fans who want to throw money at the club.

I'm pretty much in agreement with this. All of our problems are stemming from the rubbish up front. The fact that Nonda and McCarthy both scored on Saturday against a lacklustre Fulham team is a deception. You have to go back SEVEN weeks since either of them scored in the PL before that. Statistics don't say enough though. There is a lack of application and common sense in their play which cannot be excused. The incident described above by squaylor sticks in the mind, as does McCarthy's 50-50 tackle in roughly the same spot on the field which he decided to completely bottle it and let the Charlton defender just win the ball. Paul Dickov has his faults and his critics. But if he'd been the other half of the front pair with either of these slackers tonight, Rovers would have all the points IMO.

I was there a couple of weeks back when we played them - not really the point. Property in London is crazy and the location of Upton Park is far from blighted, for the reasons mentioned earlier. Maybe this will help. From Park Royal in noth west London, looking roughly NE towards Wembley which is about 3 miles away. This area is relatively undesirable due to the proximity of Harlesden and Stonebridge. Centre pic, just above two yellow cranes, you have a couple of relatively small (7 floors) blocks which are new builds - flats. Nearest tube is 15 mins, West End is 50 mins, City is just over an hour. Worlds away from the great location of Upton Park. Here is an ad for the very cheapest flat in that development - quarter of a million quid for a one bedroom cupboard of a place in a rubbish area way out of town. Most of the flats are two or three beds, the best ones have gone for not far off 7 figures. And they've nearly all sold, despite being months away from completion. I reckon those blocks are bringing in at least £25 million each, and you could put at least 8 blocks on the site of a small football stadium - and build them higher too. The site being cleared on the right used to be a brewery and you'd just about fit Upton Park onto that space. (You can see the scale of Wembley - it's 3 miles away and still looks massive!) No investor is going to spend this kind of money without security. Look at West Ham, look at the above facts and figures, and tell me where Rovers + Ewood Park could offer any comparable security - and of course there's no carrot of being able to move the club to a massive new Olympic Stadium 10 mins up the road as an alternative. I'm afraid you simply can't compare the two. Sky money and gate revenue doesn't even come into the equation.

EIT your point collapses because of the value of the land he's getting - which is 5 mins from a tube station, 20 mins from the - commercially massive and still growing - Docklands, 25 from the Square Mile, and 10 minutes from the biggest urban regeneration project in Europe (Olympics). It won't take many flats on that land to double the £108 million the acquisition has cost (your 85 ignores the current debt) - no doubt there will be some cash for players too. But there's still no risk to his investment because the land is worth so much. Then there's part two - the finances for the Olympics have already gone ~2 billion north of what was initially planned. Give it 6 more years and they will be begging a Premier League club to move into the main stadium and claw some cash back over the longer term. By which time if all has gone to plan, the Ammers will be playing regularly in Europe and will need a bigger home - it already sells out now! So the fans won't resist a move 10 mins north into something bigger. The man from Iceland has got himself a bargain.

Totally disagree. There is one reason and one reason only why the appeal has been rejected - it's because the FA needed that bunch of no hopers on their kangaroo court panel to back the referee. Due to the comments after the match made by Mark Hughes and Martin Jol, and the subsequent hysterical reporting on said comments in the media - culminating in David Elleray being interviewed on Sky Sports News yesterday saying it all had to stop. Elleray is probably right, but the decision made by the panel is wrong. If they'd made the correct decision then it would be an endorsement of Hughes saying Dowd had a shocker, and the FA couldn't afford to let that happen. As it is the entire appeal process is now a discredited waste of space - just like the FA idiots who administer it.

--> QUOTE(Ste B @ Nov 21 2006, 12:06 ) 461576[/snapback] Once Gary Mabbutt has looked at the two videos. (panel is actually Paul Elliot, Gordon Milne, Robbie Earle, Graham Taylor, Gary Mabbutt, Alan Jones, David Rose and Warren Barton) That list reads like a who's who of crap B-list TV pundits. Not surprising we didn't get any joy. Idiots. The whole country can see the sending off was wrong - I haven't met one neutral football fan who thought it was a sending off. I'm only surprised the FA didn't appoint the MOTD2 idiots onto the panel to make sure.

There certainly is at least one more. Who are they? Exaccally.

Yeah but it's not in the song. "Isn't it ironical" would sound crap, don't you think?

What is driving this obsessive campaign to slag off the board? I ignore Vinjay because he's banned (and on cloud99), I take Exiled In Toronto's rants with a pinch of salt because he has always - incessantly - slagged off the Rovers heirarchy... You - Simon - you know full well that the comment you have made about "lack of investment in the playing side" is bollux. Rubbish. Maybe the club has moved on from wasting good money, but the club does still splash the cash when Mark Hughes wants it splashed. A club like ours can't have two Savages. You have Savage and you have cover for Savage - the replacement is inferior. You have Tugay and you can't come close to replicating him. Hughes has spent good money to cover those areas as well is he can, so it's ridiculous to suggest that lack of investment is to blame. I've met John Williams and Tom Finn, and talked about investment in players. I know that Blackburn Rovers stretch the cash they have to the limit to bring in the best players possible. And I know that they wring out every sinew to maximise income - and spending on players.

London - Hull - Rotterdam and back the same way!! Fancy swapping?

I'm loving this thread and can't wait for next week. Just scanning the last couple of pages, there are Rovers fans leaving these shores from airports in Blackpool, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham and no doubt there will be many more from London and Scotland. And of course the huge contingent travelling by sea from Hull and elsewhere. See you all down Leidseplein!

Good point. 2,865 was the official allocation at Celtic Park. No idea about Lyon.

There is a pub close by, on the road which runs alongside the docks at Hull. Grilles over the windows and broken glass all over the car park. Last time I was there (a few years back) was for a pre-lunch pint, with some of the stevedores who were loading our cargo onto a ship. As we were supping our ale a guy came in wearing suit and tie, ordered a lemonade and asked if they did sandwiches. To which the landlady replied - "it says f****** pub outside and that's what it is - a f****** pub. If it said f****** café we might do food, but this is a f****** pub" and slammed a pint of bitter in front of him, demanding £1.50. I'm happy to go there if you are ...

You can (think of all the cheap booze which people carry home on ferries coming back to the UK), but on this occasion not sure why you'd want to. Like you couldn't walk into a Blackburn pub and start drinking cans from the offy round the corner, you can't walk into the bars on the ferry with a pile of cans from Tesco (or even from the on board duty free). So unless you want to sit in your cabin all night, I'd just head for the bars - that's where the fun is going to be!

Just the two on my doormat ... This time next week we'll be on the Disco Boat just clearing Spurn Head (going past Cleethorpes for you land lubbers).

The Rough Guide to Feyenoord which Rovers have produced to send out with the tickets says:

GAV and I stayed there during Euro 2000 for a bit. There were some interesting people one of whom had a briefcase full of banknotes handcuffed to his arm - they bought us a few beers :ph34r:

Some of the comments in this thread are ridiculous. How could Hughes (or anyone) do any more to cover central midfield?? Four specialist players for two places is more than enough - and there are at least three others (Bentley, MGP and Gally) who can fill in if needed - even before raiding the youth. Predicting injuries is not a job for any manager - if it was every team would have a squad of 60. As it is, our options in every position decrease in quality when the best ones are out - many people are calling The Axe, but he's 4th choice. A club of our size cannot sustain better players than him as emergency replacements. Just looking at the Chelsea programme from 2 weeks ago - they have a squad of 25. Ours is 31 - even removing the untried youth leaves us with 26 (Kane, Nolan, Treacy, Fiedling and Taylor removed). A similar exercise on Chelsea leaves them with 23 - although I'm sure the geek squad on here will tell me that Ryan Bertrand and Michael Mancienne are the future and we should sign them. It's been said time and time again by the powers that be .. that these days Rovers will only sign players who could displace current 1st team regulars. At Centre Mid - that means someone on a par with Tugay / Savage / Reid in order to improve on Mokoena. It just isn't going to happen. So support what we have.

They're currently being trounced 1-0 by the bottom team in the Championship (Southend) with half an hour to go. Normally I'd find such a thing quite amusing, but on this occasion it's scaring me. If they do go on and lose this one, we're doomed on Saturday. Doomed.

If you're on the ferry, make sure your booking includes the coach transfers from the port in Rotterdam - if not then you should pre-book with P&O reservations on 08705 980333. It's 24 miles from the port to the town centre so you don't want to be taxiing it! There's a coach to Rotterdam for 7 quid return or one direct to Amsterdam Centraal for £12.50 return. Details here

There's nothing to worry about Colin. We have a team full of individuals who are motivated by the one off shop window occasion - it's been the same for many seasons irrespective of manager or home attendance. Man Utd at Ewood is the pinnacle of the season for some of the no-hopers who will wear the shirt on Saturday evening. Uncle Barry and Aunty Mavis will be watching on TV so the useless numpties who disgraced our club at Villa Park will waltz out and put on half a show for TV. In preparation for the time which will soon be upon us, when viewers tune in to watch the lovely stands rather than the football. It's all here. Very seriously - we have a problem. The players make their own motivation when it comes to big games against big teams with the shop window provided by TV. The players have performed admirably in the European games - and why not. So have the fans. The run of the mill stuff is an inconvenience for everyone. Villa was the quietest game I've ever been to as a Rovers fan. We have been few in number for ages, but never quiet. The players clearly didn't want to be there, and neither did the few fans who bothered. The management cannot motivate the players for the run of the mill stuff like Villa. Simple as. Nothing to do with fitness or 2 games a week, it's about focus and priorities. The players don't care about the league, because Europe is the priority this season.

Sitting at home in London tonight behind my keyboard, and watching Stoke v Coventry on the TV from a very foggy Britannia Stadium, I can quite clearly see that Matt Derbyshire and Joe Garner should start against Man Utd on Saturday. I mean they've both bagged a hattrick against Tranmere Reserves, if we don't try them now when will we ever? In fact tonights entire team should play. Clean sheet, 7 goals in favour. There's a lad called Matteo who played 90 mins, get him in the side Hughes!! It's scandalous that our management team ignore the reserves.

Some funny contradictions get thown up on this messageboard. Elsewhere there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth that too much football on TV is killing the game, and Sky is the root of all evil. But here, usually sane people are quite seriously suggesting an expensive and major change to Ewood Park so that the pics look nicer when Rovers are on TV!! It's quite ludicrous. The media facilities in the Jack Walker stand are up there with the best in the country - purpose designed and much appreciated by those who use them. You can't just pick it all up and move it to the other side of the ground!! It's not just the cameras and the miles of new cabling - it's up to 4 commentary teams who need to be on the same side as the main camera (BBC / Sky / Rovers / international feed), it's the catering which would need to be provided for all that lot, it's the pointless building work, moving people from the best seats in the stand who have been there for years (the new structure would probably wipe out 5 seats either side of half way from front to back - so up to 300 people to relocate to poorer seats) ... could go on and on!! Or did you lot think it'd be one bloke with a Sony Handycam perched on some scaffolding on the roof, with Wendy dashing over the pitch at half time with a flask of tea?!?!