All of which was about 100 times more than Matt "can do no wrong in some folks eyes" Jansen did in twice the amount of time.  I find it bewildering how people on here can defend Jansen yet criticise Kuqi.  He had a definate impact.

As for the game, I thought we did well, I was not expecting to come away with anything.  More teams will come away from the Reebox empty handed than not.  The game plan was well executed to suit a stifling Bolton team.  As for entertainment well I don't recall seeing an entertaining game with Bolton featuring for quite sometime.  We did what we had to do IMHO and we did try to snatch the game, but let's not forget Bolton close you down quickly, it's not easy to play against them, ALL the top teams had trouble with Bolton last year, why not us?

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Granted he did more than Matty, I don't think would argue with that, and as stated I wouldn't have started with Jansen. As for criticsing Kuqi, it's hardly over the top. In fact as stated before IF we can get his touch better we will have a very good player on our hands, at the moment it seems to be holding his game back.

In some ways it's a bit like Emerton who has great potential/ability but is held back/irritates fans because he doesn't use it properly or doesn't know how to. The positives with Kuqi is that he seems willing to learn, and it is a definate area/skill which can be specifically targeted/worked on.

Have always loved this match, and it always seems to have added signifcance, usually with Rovers coming out on top. Winning the Prem, getting into Europe, Shearer's first return since his move to Newcastle - all were cracking occassions with Rovers taking home the spoils. All were settled by some pretty cracking goals as well - from Shearer Gally and Sutton. Added to which we've had a few exciting draws as well in recent years so expectations of a good game are definately high.

Interestingly both teams have grudges to settle, most of the Rovers team over Souness, who I suspect isn't going to get a good reception, whilst Souey & Shearer will want to get one back on a certain new signing of ours. It's a pity that Todd isn't able to play and that Neill won't get a chance to pay back Robert for a nasty wack a few years back to crank it up an extra few notches. Nevertheless I still think that it's going to be a pretty intense occasion.

Rovers should feel optimistic. Anyone who watched match of the day last weekend saw Newcastle put in one of the most shambolic defensive displays ever against Fulham, who must be wondering how they didn't win. Even Rovers and our lack of goals must be thinking this is the way to finish off our scoring problems.

Rovers have every chance of outfighting Newcastle especially with Emre and Parker absent, and Jenas no longer there. Hence a 4-4-2 and our combatative nature should be enough to out fight the barcodes, the 4-5-1 would be an overkill in this situation, and wouldn't really take advantage of the rabbit-in-the headlights defending that Newcastle seem so fond of producing.

My team therefore would be:

Friedel - automatic

Neill - been performing very well

Matteo - Souness seems not to believe in wingers, and as Carr played right mid last week I don't see Matteo having too much trouble with regards to pace, unless Owen uses the channels. Added to which his utter lack of offensive capabilities will not be as important a factor in a 4-4-2 formation.

Nelsen - immense and instructed to mark Owen

Mokoena/Zurab - I'd be tempted to go for Moko, as he seems a bit more physical and better in the air, which will be needed against Shearer. With Nelsen to partner him maybe he'll be less impetuous and more disciplined. Zurab seemed to have a hard time against Davies.

Reid - combatative, can get stuck in and dominate the Newcs midfield, as well as being able to get forward and terrorise the barcodes defence.

Savage - ditto

Emerton - played well in the 2nd half, added to which Emerton is more defense minded than Bentley which could be all important in a 4 man midfield.

MGP - if he whips those crosses into the Newcastle box there'll be havoc.

Bellamy - point to prove and will pounce on any defensive lapses.

Jansen - whilst not a sphysically robust as he once was, all Jansen's goals last season seemed instinctive and opportunistic. The barcodes are more then likely to help jog Matty's predatory instincts and the lad is far more likely to snap up any mistakes and chances then Kuqi with his touch of a fairy elephant.

subs; Enks, Tugs, Zurab, Bentley, Kuqi.

The biggest worry for me is Owen but I reckon the best way to stop him is to deny him service. With our combatative approach hopefully this'll limit the service to Owen and dominate the midfield. Having said that I wouldn't be suprised if Hughes stuck with the 4-5-1 returning Tugay to the starting line up.

Souness' last game with the barcodes - quite possibly.

With Dickov getting on and Kuqi's performance being variable, Jansen could well still have an important role to play. Personally I don't think that he'll get anywhere near where he was before the accident. However I do believe that he can still do a job for us. The question we need to ask ourselves is; is the new Matt Jansen at his new performance level able to contribute something to Rovers. IMO the answer is yes. Last season despite the injuries he got three goals, more than a certain Mr. Stead who there was such an uproar about going. The old Matty's not going to come back, but the new Matty could still have an important role to play. The indications are that Hughes, who is in a better position than all of us to judge, seems to think so too.

A pretty dissatisfying match in many ways but a point is a point, and against Bolton away from home that isn't a bad result.

The first half was woeful, and Rovers need to improve on that, another performance like that and against a better team we'd get punished. Fortunately Bolton were equally poor, though Campo should have scored late on in the first half from a corner (which would have really left us in trouble.)

Second half was more frustraiting then anything else, as Rovers hinted though never really got hold of the game as they promised to do. The substitutions were the catalyst, and I think Hughes erred in his team selection. I'm chuffed that matty is in the first team picture but playing him on his own up front against bolton was never likely to work. With Rovers hoofing it long all the time, the slim chance of him getting anything became nil.

This game was crying out for Kuqi or Dickov to start, to ruffle a few feathers and to be fair the former did when he came on. Sadly that's all he did, as a lack of technique/that but of extra quality that was just missing, meant the difference between sometimes threatening and downright dangerous. One time which typified this was when the ball was played towards the Bolton left back area, Kuqi outmusled the defender in getting the ball, and then promptly lost it when he had a clear run down the wing through lack of control. If Hughes can improve his technique and touch we have the bargain of the season on our hands, if not we've got another Ashely Ward.

IMO Dickov should have risen in the pecking order, after this. The chap has far better ball control then Kuqi, is equal in terms of harrying the opposition, although is going to win less headers. If Dickov was guarenteed not to spend so much time winging on his arse he'd be my number two guarenteed striker.

Tactically I also thought Hughes had erred in taking off Pederson instead of the anonymous Emerton. This did have a negative effect on the team in terms of set pieces (more on this later) but Emerton then began to show his quality, and impressed in the latter stages of the game. One of the big positives is that the indications are that Emerton might provide adequate cover on the left should Morten get injured.

Kish-thingy had a fairly quiet debute the jury's till out on this one IMO. His centre back partner Nelsen was awesome - we'll be lucky to keep hold of him, this chap is one of the top few centre backs in the country. On many a time he covered for one player or another, and I wonder to what extent this convered up for or overshaddowed Zurab's performance. Either way Nelsen is a legend in the making.

Another gripe is Savage, another stupid booking - the daftest yet - and his free kicks and corners were shocking. Every single one went sailing over evveryone's heads. His passing in play wasn't exactly telling either, but it was the wasted set pieces which annoyed me most. If MGP's not on the pitch, Emerton should be dealing with them, I was very disappointed with our 'star' midfielder. The other two central midfielders had quiet games, although neither performance was poor.

Bentley drifted in and out of the game, which was understandable considering he hasn't seen much 1st team football recently. But when he was in the game he made a heck of a difference. Maybe he's the attacking midfielder we've been after to solve our problems, and though it's too early to say the first signs are very promising.

Overall a frustrating game, a dire first half with Rovers edging the second. Rovers cannot feel too agrieved about not winning though as despite having the edge never really took the game by the scruff of the neck and dominatea, as they hinted at and had opportunity to do.

i hope he gets a decent send off, because yes he may only EVER have won one medal, but.....................

HE HAD TO WIN THE DAMN THING HIMSELF

Another stirling insight from paddyk. Of course anyone with any sort of knowledge of football would know that it didn't quite happen like that. How many of our team got in the players team of the year? A fair few of our players also contributed a good number of goals, and as I recall our defence was pretty useful too.

Granted we may have built a team around Shearer, but they all contributed. Incidentally building a team around your star players isn't a bad idea, you may want to mention the notion to Souness.

All in all though i hope Shearer does get a good send off. Aside from being the best striker I've ever seen, and been pivitol in Rovers success, the chap showed the very rare quality of loyalty in todays modern game, sticking with his home town team despite them not really challenging for for honours. Added to which he turned down Manure, which if somewhat foolhardy was very gratifying. Clearly a talent such as Shearer should have won bucket loads of medals, and perhaps if he'd shown a bit less loyalty to Newcastle, or Newcastle had shown a bit more loyalty to a certain manager he would have won a medal with his beloved Newcastle.

Sven has flattered to decieve for a long time. On all the big occassions he has bottled it. Brazil were there for the beating with 10 men - we fluff it. But it is brazil and the heat was a problem etc. and all is forgiven. Portugal - granted loosing rooney was a blow and the ref as incompetent but his defensive minded substitutions and lack of motivational skills meant it never should have come to that. My third criticism is that he sticks with players long after they are clearly not good enough. James, Heskey, Johnson and that it takes a really big embarrassment before he finally sees sense.

Where Sven has got it right is prior to the big occassion he's managed to amble through without too much of a hiccup. The worry is now that he's loosing it on the small occassions as well as the big ones. We seem to be regressing despite having the most talented squad he's ever had.

I can almost understand why he put Beckham as a holding midfielder, to allow Gerrard and lampard to get forward and do what they do best. But no one, not even Souness, would have tried playing Rooney on the left. Nor should he have played Owen who clearly isn't suited to a loan striker role on his own. In trying to get the best out of Gerrard and Lampard Sven severely limited two of his other world class players. What makes it all the more galling is that J Cole seems to have made the best of a bad job on the left, and even scored at the weekend so why was he left out?

As for Hargreves, maybe it's me but is plan B always to bring on a defensive minded midfield? It rarely ever works, but is guarented not to work when playing Mr 'I-play-on-the-continent-so-must-be good'. In Vasell, Mills, P. Neville and Butt they've all at least shown glimpses of why they were, mostly incorrectly, picked for England yet I'm still in the dark to why Hargreaves warrents a game.

Finally, the motivation seems to be non-existent. Sven doesn't seem to be ableto control Rooney when the red mist descends, nor does he seem to be able to motivate the team in any way at all. I wouldn't have thought it too difficult to sting the players proffessional pride at half time to improbve on being 0-0 with Northern Ireland.

The idea of placing Bobby Robson as coach is an excellent one, and despite the cost must be taken as this is England's best squad for some time, and should be our best chance of doing well. Sadly under Sven the same tired mistakes will keep holding us back.

Personally I reckon that its a combination of most of the factors, and most of which the club can do little about. Im sure the economics of the game mean that even with falling attendances that higher ticket prices are more profitable to the club overall, and thus are unlikely to change.

In Blackburn's situation however I reckon that the most important factor is a poor standard of football. People will be more willing to pay the higher prices if they know they are getting a superior product i.e. attractive winning football. Hence the higher attendances in the first three seasons under souness. In fact this goes for all teams as far fewer fans would pay the prices of Chelsea/Arsenal/manure if they weren't winning. However these days winning needs money the situation is unlikely to change.

On an optimistic note I can remember a German team failed to qualify for the champs league and the players through fan pressure had to give back a percentage of their wages. (apologies if already mentioned.) Im also fairly confident that you can get in to german league games for a decent price . If this is the case premier league clubs should be asking what the differences are that allow this to happen?

A perferct opportunity for a season long loan deal, Saha, Smith or Keane spring to mind. Might be a better option than splashing cash we dont have.

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Nice idea. Only probs is the players mentioned won't be going out on loan deals - Saha reportedly on his way out but only on a perminant transfer. And would they come?

The big problem is we're trying to replace/cover for our star striker and especially at this stage of the season there aren't that many available. There aren't even that many 'lesser'/squad strikers available. The only one I know of is Morrisson from Birmingham. Maybe he'd prefer us to Norwich?

What happened to that Le Tallic chap? I think Liverpool released him? I thoughhe looked pretty promising.

Good post percy.

The only problem with playing Reid on the right is that mostly he hasn't looked that impressive on the right. It's only whilst in the centre that his form has significantly improved. Having said that, after the West Ham game it seems Savage and reid though both good players may not be an ideal partnership(although is not a certainty as yet as they haven't played much together as a 2 man centre midfield.) With Moko behind them to cover defensively I believe that a three man central midfield would be our best bet of not only containing Fulham, but give us the best chance of Savage or Reid getting forward to contribute to the attack. And despite a poor performance last week Moko has shown that he can excel in the defensive mid position. Along with his excellent attitude we shouldn't write him off just yet.

Emerton however seems to need a constant kick up the backside. Dropping him to the bench seems the best way of motivating and getting the best out of him. Sadly the competition on the right side of midfield is somewhat limited. With us reverting most likely to a 4-5-1 in midfield I'd be very tempted to give Gally a game on the right. This would give us more of an attacking threat and with a three man central midfield we should have enough cover defensively to make up for Gally being a bit of a lightweight defensively. Furthermore it gives Emerton the message to buck his ideas up.

Alternatively Tugs could go in the centre and Reid out right. However with Bellamy out Tugs passing ability becomes less of a weapon, as well as being detrimental to Reid's overall game and performance, so I'd leave Tugs on the bench for now. And one bad performance from Todd and Moko does not mean that they should be written off, although I'd still steer clear of Moko at cb unless part of a 5 man defence or the alternative is Amoruso. Matteo could play a big part as third chocie cb this year.

Assuming there are no suprises regarding fitness:

Friedel

Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Gresko

Moko

Gally, Reid, Sav, MGP

Kuqi

subs Enks, Matteo, Tugay, Emerton, Flitty

1. Chelsea

2. Man Utd

3. Arsenal

4. Liverpool

5. Boro

6. Spurs

7. Everton

8. Charlton

9. Aston Villa

10. Man City

11. Birmingham

12. Blackburn Rovers

13. Newcastle

14. Bolton

15. Portsmouth

16. Fulham

17. West Ham

18. West Brom

19. Wigan

20. Sunderland

The Title

Chelsea to win it. Drogba looks more settled, as well as having Crespo back to solve their striker "problem". SWP and that new left back make the squad so strong it's not funny.

Arsenal showed how much they rely on key players when they missed Gilberto last season, and Viera leaves a big hole. United are more likely to be the main challengers providing Ferguson doesn't rotate his squad too much. If all the united players find their form again, Scholes, van Nistelrooy, etc. then they could look very scary indeed. Added to which if the transfer rumours are correct they're leading the race to sign Owen and that brazilian defender which would make the squad very strong again. Besides every time I get my hopes up that United are a spent force they prove me wrong. Liverpool are making the right moves, but the new players will take time to gell, the long champs League qualifier will take it's toll later on and Crouch isn't going to have the impact they hoped for, so I reckon they won't be challenging the big 3 yet although will come comfortable 4th.

Relegation.

Sunderland have a 1st devision squad end of story. Wigan haven't been able to get the players in that they need, and may be a bit thin on the ground in terms of numbers. The Ellington saga will psychologically put them at a disadvantage, and the loss of one of their key players could have a massive effect, including impacting on Roberts performance. As for the 3rd relegation place it really is difficult to say. To me any one of West Ham, Fulham or WBA could go down and there's very strong cases for each one. I've gone for WBA as I'm not entirely sure Robson is that good a manager, other than last season his record is not that impressive. There are still question marks over his ability. Added to which WBA didn't get very many points last time and improvement is needed if they are to stay up. Having said that I wouldn't be in the least bit suprised if Fulham or West Ham were to get relegated.

The Others

Newcastle managed to get 13th as there will be a new man in charge by the end of september who'll be able to rectify Soueys mistakes, and they do have some class players. However the transfer window will hinder any squad improvements and ensure that europe once again is out of reach.

Boro are a team which really impress me. They've been making some uality signings and are getting better and better. Added to which they have a quality youth team producing some cracking prospects not just Downing. I've a feeling they'll do very well this year.

This should be a really interesting game. From West Ham's point of view this is one of those gmes that they cannot afford to loose, in fact with home advantage this may be earmarked as one of their potential wins. Rovers fans under Hughes have higher expectations, and justifiably will be expecting at least a point. Added to which the first few games can really set the tone for the new season, a few early wins will see us looking away from relegation and towards challenging for a uefa place, whilst a couple of early defeats and we could be in for an antsy ride.

I reckon that not loosing is paramount to all three points, especially as the onus is on West Ham to capitalise on one of the supposedly "easier" games. For both these reasons I'd go for the 4-5-1, especially if Nelsen and Bellamy are out as:

- this plays to our strengths and is a fromation we're familiar with

- will make it easier to break up West Hams attacks, I'm seeing a similar game to our home game vs Palace last season where the they needed the points more and the 4-5-1 helped us break up their attacks and counter attack quickly.

- We showed last season against the lesser teams that we can play 4-5-1 and still play some nice football.

Assuming the worst on the injury front my team would be 4-5-1:

Brad, Neill, Todd, Matteo, Gresko, Moko, Emerton, Savage, Reid, Pederson, Kuqi.

West Ham are fast, and I'd be a tad worried with Matteo at full bacck given their wingers pace. Neill is in for an equally busy afternoon as that Ethrington's a bit good. However Matteo in the centre with the Axe in front of him I reckon that his pace won't be exposed and he can concentrate on the stronger aspects of his game such as his heading. Neill and Gresko are both capable and need to get forward a fair bit to pin back the West Ham wingers if we're to win.

In an ideal world Pederson and Emerton will play a similar role to Robben and Duff and support Kuqi quickly. The good pre-season he's had calms some of my fears about him playing alone up front in the Premiership, but nevertheless he'll still need the support from midifeld especially as he's still untested at Premiership level. Fortunately all our midfield is capable of doing this.

Substitute wise I believe we've got two very tasty options to come off the bench in Dickov and Tugs. Dickov to me is more of a substitute kind of guy, especially since his link up play is appalling, either coming on as a third striker where needed, or when a games won/comfortable to rest one of our first choice strikers. The guy's not a complete duffer though and given the youth of West Hams defence twenty minutes of Dickov tearing around could really scare them into letting a goal slip. Tugay's another person who could wreck havoc in the West Ham lines in the last 20 mins when the game's slowed down. West Ham play a fairly open game and this should hopefully allow Tugs to get a few killer passes in.

Overall I'm optimistic, Rovers are worth at least a point but in a tight game which Rovers are marginally better, we'll sneak it 1-0.

I would think the opposite BB. If a top class player came in and led them to a trophy, he'd become a God. No better way to cement your legacy.

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He'd have to be a god to lead that lot to a trophey.

Read in todays paper that Newcastle have gone from having a 12,000 waiting list sor season tickets to advertising in the local media to sell the last 2,000 season tickets. A loss of 14,000 potential STs is a heck of a fall.

Why do so many people wanna get rid of Gray......I never saw much wrong with the lad and was shocked when he went to Leeds!! Hes certainly a lot better than the waste of spece Grescko and as for Matteo........I' ve seen rocks move faster!!

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Gresko was excellent when on loan with us, though through injury he's not really regained that form. However under Hughes I've every confidence that Gresko has his best chance of regaining that form. Besides, if we kicked out all our players who had underperformed in the recent season or so then we'd be minus a fair few players.

As for Matteo, I'm as big a critic as any, and yes he's slow and offers nothing going forward. But he's stuck to his guns, done the simple stuff and that's what defenders need to do. Matteo did well at defending and looked pretty comfortable with some good players late on in the season. As for his lack of attacking skills in a 4-4-2 it will be less of a problem, and besides defenders are meant to first and foremost defend.

In fairness I think we were all mesmerised with Gray's ability to go forward and use his left foot in attack, certainly that was where he caught my attention. Defensively this season he was part of an absymal looking defence, Hughes clearly doesn't rate him and that's good enough for me.

With regards to Hughes I'm amazed at how he's unlocked or maximising the potential of so many players, like making Pedersen Reid and Todd into some of our most important players. All players are looking far more competant under Hughes/ With the situation due to contracts and wages as it is, these skills will be all the more important for Blackburn Rovers. Hughes is not only the right man for the job, he's the right man to undo the damage of the previous regime.

Of the reserves Jemal looked the most promising of the youngsters IMO. Perhaps along with Gally it'd be good for him to go out on loan somewhere. I'm sure that the guy could wreck havoc in the lower divisions as he constantly looks a menace for the resevrves. Even if hes shoved off the ball for most of the match, he'll get a few shots in, which are invariably on target and often goals. All Jemal needs to do to become a valuable member of the squad is learn how to cope with the physical side of the game more, and a season on loan might be the best way to do this.

Thing is though, if you were a top class defender/striker would you want to go to Newcastle. The chances of winning things are zilch, already the chance of European football is looking slim, the only positive is possibly a bigger wage packet and if they are top players, then the top clubs will be able to match this perk. I've a strong suspicion that IF Souness does brign players in he'll be paying top class wages and fees for merely good players.

Which top class strikers are available? How many would fancy Newcastle?

How many top class centre halves are available? Why would Campbell, who has been linked with Newcastle, join up with them. Even his old club Spurs have more chance of winning things.

Also even supposing Souness did bring in the top class players in these positions these areas of the squad are still looking a bit thin. Who's going to come in as back up in this position. There could be a lot more dealing that Souness wants to do, and time will be pressing. As are the wings, Souness doesn't seem to have too much width either. Still for a guy who plays Matteo and Flitty as wingers I doubt that will seem much of a problem.

We'd never be popular in the press, so it just makes it easier all round; them to find the turgid excuses to slate Rovers, us because we know who many clubs would like to have the likes of Savage, Todd and Bellamy, and they can't take our Prem win away from them.

The distinction between positive nad negative publicity cna be firstly seen to be whether you are seen as a big club. If you are, that's great, over spending becomes visionary building of a good squad, bully boy dirty tactics become fighting spirit. Look at how dirty Arsenal were/are. Sadly Blackburn are not considered a big club. Who gives a french connection?

The second distinction is success. Win and such tactics are more likely to be considered valiant attempts. Everton played some really ugly football last season but then because they were in 4th place it was all ok.

If anything the negative publicity might help us, indeed it may create the siege mentality that cna give us an edge.

Souness "Craig only averaged 9 goals a season, and I see Kieron bettering that".

Low-blow.

Lets hope Bellamy makes him pay in the September clash.

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As oppose to solving one's striker shortage by using the midfielder who doen't want to play out wide. Prat.

It's finally sunk in what a great signing Rovers have made. Ok there are worries who will play up front with him, but at least we have a quality pinch hitter will be a massive boost. Can see Dickov doing a lot better with the pressure off him too.

Still have mixed feelings about Souness, he got us automatically promoted to the top flight which not even Kenny could manage despite throwing Jack's money around. When are we next to have a day to compare to Cardiff 2002? A decade? Two? Shame the guy totally lost it sometime along the way...

The guy did give us some great times, the promotion season and season winning the worthington cup were the best years of supporting Rovers, (was too nervous for the final third of the season when winning the Prem to enjoy it). I suppose that's why Souness really infuriates me because he promised so much, almost delievered, and then let us down big time. From getting us from a top six team playing exciting football he made us into relegation certs. That's what makes it so disheartening and his decisions all the more bizare.

I still cannot see how Douglas is worth a four year contract, when Johnson who was playing regularly as a squad player two years before Douglas was anywhere near the first team picture was allowed to go for peanuts.

I'm still not entirely sure how Bent wasn't given a proper chance with Jansen given how successful he was in the first division and how dire/unlucky Grabbi was.

I still cannot see how you can forget to fill a position on the pitch with a player who is used to playing there. To do it one season is careless, to do it two seasons running is beyond belief.

I'm not sure what logic meant that de Pedro was not worth a two year contract in January but six months later in the following summer he was worth a two year deal.

I'm still wondering why when we needed a left midfielder Gresko wasn't given a chance yet in the first game of the following season with a fully fit squad Gresko played in midfield. Speeking o which I'm not sure what rational Souness was using when creating the formations in the first two games of last season.

Nor how he could fall out with two players heavily committed to the club in Dunn and Flitty.

I've a feeling that a few of these 'interesting' tactical decisions may be working their way into the Newcastle fold. Already they've let a few defenders go without bringing in any replacements, and up front they are beginning to look very weak. A few match winning formations with Shearer at left back and Bramble as a winger may be imminent.

With Shearer taking a managerial role at Newcastle in the nextyear or two, I reckon if Newcastle do sack Souness who would want the job for just a year or so? What they need is an old experienced manager nearing retirement who could groom Shearer to replace him...

Brilliant. Benni was my first choice but Bellamy was a close second.

Exactly what we are looking for. He's a good strike rate, bags of pace, isn't foreign so should gell well, and is young to boot. Newcastle's forward line went from looking pretty decent to rather weak with the departure of Craig, which shows what a massive impact he can have. Added to which having him on a 4 year deal means Rovers hold all the cards should he do well (as I think he will) and the 'big' clubs get interested. Best of all Bellamy provides a long term solution to the striker problem.

The only thing is I feel that Bellamy may work best with someone to play off. Here's hoping Rovers get in a quality target man as well, or that Kuqi or Jansen can produce the goods, although maybe that's me being greedy!

Oh, and I met Bellamy at a reserve game a couple of years ago, and despite his rep he was rather pleasant and had a fair bit of time for the fans.

I have to say that I'm a little dissapointed to see Stead leave. Especially if Cole does come back as the two of them seemed to work well together.

However, it really depends on who we get in doesn't it. If we sign a couple of class strikers then it'll be a case of Stead who? If we don't sign anyone then we're buggered really aren't we.

My thoughts exactly. In an ideal world Stead would have stayed as I can see him developing into at least a squad player at Premiership level. However, if Stead has to be sacrificed for the greater good than so be it. Hughes will be under a lot more pressure now to justify such a sale, his choice of strikers becomes if possible even more important. Maybe Stead could have done a Jansen and not be enough in the short term but in a season or so the real deal.

Thanks for some magic moments and keeping us up.

Hasn't he got enough problems in the dressing room?

With the amount of influence Shearer has I can't see this one happening.

Also did Newcastle finish high enough to warrent a place in the Intertoto cup and didn't Souness say somewhere that he didn't want to enter the Intertoto cup?

Maybe the problem is to do with the fact that reserve team football isn't actually reserve team football but glorified youth and player's coming back from injury football.

This isn't really a Rovers problem, its a problem for all clubs. Since the stupid FA got rid of the two tier academy system, to just one team, it now means that there isn't an extra level for players to develop in. Before most reserve sides were mostly first team players who couldn't get in or coming back from injury, with a couple of promising youngsters in. Now its the other way round.

Waggy - I dont think anyone is against bringing youngsters through. But, losing a million quid (which would be extremely useful this summer) because we tried out a few youngsters who aren't good enough anyway, and aren't even shining in the reserves is just silly.

It's not as if we have the next Damien Duff, who is miles too good for the reserves but isn't getting a chance.

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Yeah I realise it's not Rover's fault but I do think that it is the nub of the problem, the step up these days is much larger than before.

Exiled another point regarding Manures youth policy is that the pressure is off players when they come in. Because they've got loads of highly skilled players playing with them this takes some of the pressure off and allows the youngster to concentrate on their own game. I've heard several pundits say this over time and I think it's true. An example people use is that good batch of youth players from Everton when they nearly got relegated - the players had too much responsibilty on them too soon and now they've all faded into obscurity. Linking this back to Rovers, any player who comes in, especially up front, will be seen as the next whoever and people will be disappointed if they aren't. The pressure on them to perform and the amount of responisiblity they will have to take will be greater. McEveleys a good example of this, yeah he's not the finished product yet by far but in 2 yrs or so he could well be very good.

Can you get student STs and if so where in the ground?

Honestly thinking having a team we can identify with, rather than individuals will have more of a contrinution in raising ST ticket sales.

I really wasn't convincenced when we signed him, doubt he'll be value for money, and in hindsight hasn't been a great signing. However he's been injured, and just before he got injured he was begining to win me over. I think the guy has class and if it was not for injuries then we may well have been a place or two higher.

I think his situation is very similar to both Ferguson and Stead. Like Ferguson he's been the big signing and has had some unfortunate injury problems, which combined with high expectations is always a bad mix. Most people seemed to take every encouraging thing that winging barry did as a sign of his class and that he just needed to get over his injury problems. Think the same standards should apply to Savage, there have been glimpses that the guy is good and does possess the talent, and like Ferguson we should only judge him when fully fit and he's had a run of games.

Like stead in front of goal, there is the problem of trying too hard. The harder one tries, the more one thinks about what they are attempting to do, and thus the more nervous they become and the harder it is to get it right. Football is based a lot on natural talent, and thinking too much about the basics is likely to hamper the guy. Come the new season with hopefully a new signing or two to take the expectations pressure off, Savage will be able to settle down to his nasty effective best.

Added to which, Hughes in the transfer market has proved a good judge of character. Unlike Souness who could be very hit and miss, Hughes has a near infallible reputation in the transfer market. If Hughes believes Savage is the man for the job then we should have faith in the guy for a bit longer.

A very amusing article by Souness. I'm not sure how managing to demotivate a local lad from playing for his boyhood team is helping his case. Nor the fact he managed to alienate other equally committed players like Flitty.

Shepherd seems equally deluded. Best club after Chelsea??? Even putting aside my dislike of manure I reckon any player would reckon they'd have a better chance of winning something at Arsenal, Boro, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Man City or Villa. A good start to next season under Hughes and many a player might be finding Rovers a more attractive option too.

I said before that Souness won't last past christmas, at this rate he'll be lucky to get that far. Oh, and (14) Neil & (15) Gray.