The question is really in the title. Anybody else going out for the Sweden game?

Jeff winter makes the point is his autobiography. He says that if you get a decision wrong, then the big clubs take you all the way. He was dragged in front of a disciplinary panel and grilled for 3 hours by ManUre's QC. Winter is a JP so was not phased by it all. He was cleared of any incompetance/wrong doing, yet it was almost 3 years before he was appointed to referee another ManUre game. If you are a ref, you want to ref the ManUre, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal games, so you either consciously or otherwise back away from making a risky decision that might go against them.

I can't remember the last time we agreed on something Colin, so this is worthy of note. Birdsong was dreadful, as was on Green Dolphin Street. Gave up on them both. I can't even remember why I started the second one. I'm working my way through the Flashman Diaries at the moment by George Macdonald Fraser. Very entertaining. For those of you unfamiliar with old Flashy, he was the bully from Tom Browns Schooldays and these are supposedly the tales of his life. He is an unmitigated coward, drunk and womaniser who stumbles from historical event to historical event in his own inimitable fashion. Historically quite accurate, but very amusing.

Unfortunately, I have a friend who is quite heavily involved with Birmingham and so have been to a few games this season. When he plays, Dunny is head and shoulders the best player in their team. Only the recent signing of Chris Sutton has given him any competition. His fitness is still a worry (Glass hamstrings apparently) but when he plays he is still a top class player. Tugay is getting older, and whilst Dunny isn't an exact replacement, his range of passing exceptionally good.

Didn't we used to have a song about this match? I seem to recall in the dim and distant past a song that referred to Boxing day. It was set to a Boney M, Johnny Mathis or christmas carol tune. No wonder we don't sing it anymore!

Will it be another apallingly shabby Sportsworld/Lonsdale affair, or might we have a reasonable quality shirt from a decent manufacturer this time?

The under 21's have some excellent players in there at the moment. The young centre half Taylor from Newcastle, who is injured at the moment, is quite superb. Aaron Lennon from Spurs is also very good as is the younger Ferdinand.

I think Barcelona have got probably the best midfield pairing in Europe at the moment - Messi and Deco. Both very young, supremely talented and if they stay together, they will win everything in sight for Barca for years to come. Mourinho won't be interested in buying them on principal now, so good luck to them.

Didn't Chris Sutton once get sent off at the Nike Trafford Ballpark for being assaulted by David Beckham?

Are we playing Real Madrid?

Sports World are the grubbiest sports retailer around. Mike Ashley who owns it has absolutely no regard for anyones brand, he just wants to make money for himself and does care one iota about the consequences. The Club Shop went to SWI as part of the kit deal (Lonsdale is a Sportsworld brand) and so we get a sportsworld instead of a club shop. Paul hit the nail on the head though - The Club cannot afford to buy and sell the items that people on here want to buy in volumes that they want to buy them in. Mike Ashley is however prepard to pay a premium to be the shirt supplier, and most other brands are not. The Club took the money rather than going with a better brand which would have offered less money for the deal. Ashley is about buying turnover, not provision of good service. The like of Adidas, Umbro and Nike will only do a deal if it makes commercial sense. Clubs like Rovers are great for authenticating your brand in terms of us being a "proper" football club, but they don't actuallly make you any money. Ashley is trying to buy credibility in the sports industry by sponsoring Rovers, Sunderland and the BIG club. He is doing it for his benefit not ours. If the fans make enough noise then the board will go with a more credible brand, especially if replica shirt sales fall away due to the poor quality of product.

Whether he is right or not, sounding off about it in the press is not the right way to do something about it. How does he expect his team mates to pull together now and work for each other when he has told them that they are not good enough? He's hardly Claude Makele himself anymore is he?

Thebig difference is that Rugy League is only played in the UK so teh players have nowhere to go. The salary cap is based on club revenues, so you would end up with different caps on each club. Fine within Rugby as even the Bradfords and Leeds of the world don't generate that much more than the Londons and Warringtons, but in football, there would be massive differences between the likes of Fulham and Real Madrid. And of course, our good friends in Brussells would also want a word.

We'll get five points. A win and two draws. I'd expect to win the home game and get two points on the road. We are tough to score against and Arsenal aren't exactly pouring the goals in at the moment. City are jusr rubbish, but there are worse sides that them around, hence they have an elevated position. It'a probably safe to write Chelsea off, but it was not too long ago that we were beating them fairly regularly. They don't like it up 'em, and we are quite good at that, so a draw might be possible.

A really good article. I assume it was not written by an American! I have always been a big Savage fan, even when he was at Leicester. Their relegation season saw them beat us at Ewood, and it was Savage that beat us on his own. He brings so much to a team othr than just his personal play. His commitment and organisation really rub off on other players and Brum are feeling this now. He may be unfashionable, but so was David Batty, and he also has a medal or two more than Mr Shearer.

Gee whizz, there are some strange people on here with not a lot to worry about in their lives. Cisse is a very well paid international footballer operating at the top level of the game for the European champions. He is not a one legged asylum seeker from Bosnia, with post traumatic stress disorder. I'm sure that a chant that he finds offensive at 4.30pm on a saturday was forgotten by moday morning, or maybe even by Sunday lunchtime. Kevin Keegan long endured chants about his alleged homosexuality, as far as I am aware Arsene Wenger has never been convicted of sex crimes against children and David Beckhams positional interests with his wife Victoria are really not of our concern, yet these chants are heard regularly and indeed for part of the tribal nature of football. In a perfect world, they should not occur, but let us not try to pretend that we are in a sporting utopia. It is part of the character of the game that nothing is beyond the realms of terrace humour. At least we weren't swearing at him. That's all I heard from the Newcastle fans on saturday, and everybody raves about their support. Don't we think we might be being a little precious over it all?

Why try to reduce the number of deaths by overdose? I'm against legalising Cannabis. I assume, although I am happy to hear evidence to the contrary, that most heroin/crack/coke addicts started out on cannabis. It is therefore my view that the more people that smoke pot, the more people will move on to harder drugs. It seems logical to me.

He sold off our best players then left. I find it quite easy to dislike him.

Bellamy could have played against Liverpool but the club decided to rest him so that he was ready for Birmingham. I think we'll stuff the Brummie Big boys and small town Rovers will take all three points. We are playing well at the moment and as long as we keep 11 on the pitch, we are favourites for this game. 2-0 to us. Pedersen and Bellamy.

I was fortunate to be entertained at the Wigan game on Saturday, and I can tell you that Sounness' time is almost up. Fat Freddy was just across the isle from me, and he and his fellow directors were not pleased. Even the side they had out on Saturday should be good enough for top 6. Emre, Owen, Shearer, Given and the young centre half Taylor are all excellent players who with a decent game plan and some tactics should beat most teams. Boumssong and Ameobi were absolute comedy, and more than one Geordie was calling for the ref to send Ameobi off for the alleged elbow as they thought they would be better off without him. Souness was going absolutely beserk on the sideline. How I laughed.

Kuqi has the first touch of a cart horse. He will never be a front line striker, but he can cause trouble for opponents purely through his work rate and his strength. I've been impressed with him so far this season as he gives us another dimension that we have not had for a while - a big lump to knock long balls to and to kick/elbow/batter centre halves. I have it on relatively good authority that Jansen is now on a pay as you go contract. He gets nothing unless he plays. He was quite happy with that as he hopes it will push him on and give him the motivation to deal with his mental demons. He has no desire to play anywhere else, and wants to make things right at Rovers who stood by him throughout his injury troubles.

We'll win this. Liverpool are a one man team at the moment, and he will have carried the England midfield in two games in the previous week. Rovers to win it comfortably 2-0.

I nearly forgot, I met Beamo at the Spurs game this season. Very big hands.

Tugay shops in the same Tesco's as I do. He is incredibly short and ugly. Andy Cole used to live next door to me. Nice bloke, shocking taste. I've met Colin Hendrya few times, and he is a cracking bloke. Very friendly, very honest and entirely unpretentious. Spoke to Micheal Owen and Scott Parker on monday - they are living in the Malmaison in Newcastle at the moment, where I was staying. Both also very very short. Saw MGP at the airport at the end of last season. He is also not the biggest bloke you'll ever meet. Played golf with Mark Hughes last season on the Bentley Manchester golf day. He is pretty handy with a set of golf bats, as you might expect. Played off 7 I think, and was also a very decent bloke, who was quiet but pleasent enough. Spoke to Brad Friedal after one of the games last season. He is a bloody large bloke, with unfeasably long arms, and is extremely modest.

This will be a really ugly game. Shearer and indeed almost all of the Newcastle team absolutely hate Bellamy. The text message saga that was reported has in fact been going on for months, and is still going on now. Shearer had to be restrained from driving all the way to Glasgow to batter Bellamy after one that came through last season. They will alll be lining up to kick Bellamy off the park. For that reason, Bellamy won't start. Kuqi and Jansen will probably be the pairing, or maybe Bentley as his pace is good and Newcastle's isn't. I suspect that we will end up with 10 against 10, and we will win it by a single goal.