And I have spent more than you have on following the team, so does that mean that I have even more right than you do to spout whatever opinions I like?

Bob - Hughesy has confirmed to us all that he has it on very good authority that you are to be sold to Real Madrid for £170m, with Zidane, Beckham and Roberto Carlos coming the other way as well. We would have got Figo too, but apparently all his jokes are crap and he can't type very quickly. Fair exchange is no robbery.

Bolton have just landed Hierro on a one year contract. I'd buy that for a dollar. BFS does it again?

I think that Garner is an absolute certainty, and less so Colin Hendry. As for the third, it could be anyone from the nominations really. Super Atko would be very popular - he got the biggest support at Garners testimonial last year, and the likes of Speedie, Gallacher, Keeley, Sellars could all do well. As it's or TV, we are unlikely to get Douglas in there, but for shear bloody minded commitment and crowd favouritism, I can't believe that Tim Flowers hasn't had a mention. He was one of my favourites, and his display against Newcastle was one that I will never forget. His "bottle" speach afterwards was just priceless. The ball jumping up over his head also did nothing to make me like him any less. He also seems to still have a soft spot for Rovers.

I was chatting to a Gooner this weekend, and he said that he actually wants Chelsea to win the permiership ths year. That way, Roman will be happy, will have achieved what he set out to achieve and can then sod off and get involved in another sport or club, thus leaving Chelsea up the proverbial creek without so much as a boat, let alone a paddle.

Great post Hughesy. Well done lad.

If we are going down the wildly optimistic speculation route, maybe we are just clearing the decks for a Shearer swansong at Ewood.

I've just read the Shearer article on SkySports about him threatening to leave if he doesn't get regular football. They describe his career as "glittering". He's a fantastic player, probably the best I've seen, but glittering career? He wasted the last 7 years of it at Newcastle, where he has won precisely knob all.

Golf, with Mark Hughes, Is thy telling porkies? As it happens it was the week before. Bentley Manchester golf day. He did take a lot of abuse for not being in Portugal.

"It's" you cretin "It's"!! You are contracting It is to It's, so the apostrophe has to go in. Like I said, Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Trusse....

I played golf with Mark hughes last week. Even he doesn't like Dean Saunders and he is also Welsh. Death's too good for him.

I'm currently reading Lynn Trusse - Eats, shoots and leaves. A very impressive rant about the decline in punctuation. It might sound dull, but it is very well written and is extremely entertaining. Many on here could benefit from it!

Nobody ever wants to see a repeat of the Hillsborough events. My father was a policeman at the time, not in Yorkshire I might add, and he regularly had to police football matches. It could have happened anywhere and that really drove it home to us and him. We haven't forgotten the events, but the way that certain groups of people carry this bitterness towards the Sun just seems entirely pointless. It is a scumbag tabloid that deals in lies, half truths and sensationalism. So does every other tabloid in the country. They have all told lies and still do on a daily basis. I am not in any way seeking to demean the loss of the families on that day in 1989, but to claim that the city and its inhabitants have had to carry a stain a result of the Suns actions is just absurd. Scousers had earnt their reputation as idle, slackass, work-shy thieves long before Hillsborough, and in my view, banging on about the damage the Sun supposedly caused 15 years later achieves nothing and is starting to make the Hillsborough campaigners look more than just a little petty. The Sun was wrong, they've admitted it, it really is time to move on and honour the memory of those that died rather than just keep throwing mud in their name. As for city of culture, well if that isn't a gratuitous attempt to secure EU money to try to reverse the decay of the city then I don't know what is. Isn't Skem in Lancashire?

Things were much better in my day. I preferred it when computers were really expensive, that way under-educated grubby oiks couldn't get on here and spout off their ill-informed views to those of that know what we are talking about. Apart from that serious point, I think the board is fine. There are a few too many pinko tree huggers but that just makes for a healthy mixture of people and views (even though said badger molesters are wrong). I agree that we are often very harsh on new members and stupid members. I for one am very guilty of this, but I make no apology for it. I think it is one of the ways that standards are maintained on the board - it's almost self regulating. And lets be honest, it doesn't stop Hughesy coming on here does it? Members come and members go. Some of the old guard hardly ever seem to post on here now (Tashor, GAV, Ewood Pork, that chap who had foghorn leghorn as his avatar and used to update us on John Curtis' pie apprenticeship in Leavers pie shop that his gran visited three times a week) but we have new people that replace them. Sox and Fleming are as unhinged as any of the older eccentrics so the board will carry on. The number of members shows that we are doing something right, and if you look at the number of hits that the board gets when there is a breaking news story, then it is clearly also a valuable source of information. It's just a shame there are so many Australians on here.

I can't agree with you on that Paul. If we did not get TV money, then the difference in buying power between the Scummers and the rest of the league would be even greater. If all we had to survive on was ticket, sponsorship and merchandinsing revenues then we would no doubt be scrabbling around the lower leagues. The sky money actually levels the playing field. Everybody gets broadly the same, so the percentage difference in the Scummers revenues and the likes of us, Fulham, Southampton, Everton etc is less. Remember - Other countries would have TV money so suggesting that we should have just buried our heads in the sand and preferred it not to happen would just have meant that millionaire footballers would all be outside the premiership. Germany has failed to keep pace with the other big footballing countries and look at their league and national side. No big stars at all play in Germany.

I'm afraid that the Australian cricket team lost all credibility when they chose to re-select a convicted drugs cheat. From that point on, I pay no regard to anything that they do. I thought the days of you needing a conviction to represent Australia had passed. It's just simply not cricket.

Warne is a drugs cheat and the English should refuse to play against him. That assumes that we have Xl cricketers that are capable of holding a bat to travel to HMP Australia in the first place.

Blah Blah blah...no Wilkinson...Blah blah blah. Blah blah one man team...blah blah blah. Blah blah...rubbish without Wilko...blah blah blah. With none of the tight 5 that won the world cup playing against you, no Grayson, no Greenwood, no Wilkinson and far more importantly no Robinson playing against you, then I would have hoped that a full strength Australian side would have won and won comfortably. An opportunity for younger players such as Voyce and Hodgson to get experience and for the coach to have a look at out 5th and 6th choice props in action. The thing about the rock breakers is that they were very magnaminous in defeat, but as ever are objectionable in victory. Is it possible that they are just bad winners? Just remember, my light fingered friends, when it mattered England produced and accordingly will be world champions for at least another three years.

Does that mean that the service will only be available to married subscribers? If we unmarried subscribers have to select somebody's elses wife to be the subject of their polaroids, then that would be a service enhancement worth paying an extra £1 for. As for the football highlights thing, I think it's a great idea. Crowds are not effected at the moment when you know that your game is the featured game on Match of the Day, and the TV money that you get from being shown far outweigh the lost ticket revenues that some people allege will occur.

Quality. Hughesy - Is your brain actually connected to any other part of your body?

He's going to love it in the ribble valley. You can't move for siestas and lime groves. Good business, if he can withstand the cold.

If there is no money for new players, does that mean that we have to buy tried and trusted second hand players that have proven their worth? I think the board should be applauded for refusing to allow Sounness to buy another Grabbi.

I would venture to suggest that the drop in sason ticket sales over the last couple of years has more to do with the fact that 3pm kick offs on Saturday are as common as hens teeth. In the good old days, you knew that every other saturday you would have a home match that kicks off at 3pm. These days there is no rhyme or reason to the fixture list and you have no clue when the next game is. It's impossible to plan, and with monday, tuesday and wednesday night games, I for one just can't make it to every home game. Therefore I no longer buy a season ticket. I can't believe that I am the only one in that position.

There are some very good players on that list of people without contracts. Kanu would be a good signing for anyone, as would Okocha or even Keown for a season. Souness should be having a look at picking up some experience for a year to allow the youngsters, particularly the defenders, to come through. I have to say, that whilst Abbeys views are as ever extreme, I'm with him. What on earth were the club thinking loaning players to Bumley? Loan them to PNE, Blackpool, Bury, even Accrington Stanley, but Bumley? Do they not think of the fans at all?

Hughesy, Everton also have Campbell, Jeffers and Ferguson. Boro have Nemeth, Christie and Ricketts. Just for once, try posting something that is accurate. It won't kill you.