Paul Dickov was available for 150k and was wanted by half of the teams in the Premiership. Cole is available for free and yet the only club to come in for him is Fulham. Don't understand it myself, but it tells you who a lot of managers would rather have in their squad.

I was just about to say the same thing. When Souness was asked if there was a reason he changed the captaincy, he replied, "There was a reason which I won't go into." He also said later that there were "non-footballing reasons..." What exactly has gone on between Souness and Flitcroft??? Anyone able to shed some light on it?

Forgot to add that if he does leave, I would have to start seriously questioning Souness' falling out with players. It's one thing falling out with Dunn, Yorke, Gillespie, etc, who weren't regulars in the team, but to lose Cole, who is arguably one of our key players, as a result of Souness' working relationship with him would be alarming. Here's hoping we see Andy Cole in a Blackburn Rovers shirt come the start of the new season.

Has the full squad for the Germany trip been announced yet? I thought that's where all these rumours had stemmed from: the fact that Cole, along with Yorke and Todd, had been left out of the trip. I would be disappointed if he left as his partnership with Stead in the final games of the season were really showing promise. I've been critical of Cole in the past, but the way he resonded to the falling out with Souness at the end of last campaign was really commendable. He got his head down and arguably played some of his best football of the season. It just showed that you don't have to see eye-to-eye with the manager to play well for the club.

Whoever said I was supposedly intelligent? Anyway I might not have made it totally clear MB but (and not wanting to decry in any way the loss of servicemens lives) if you read it again you should find that I was actually meaning the far greater loss of innocent civilian lives due to constant German bombing of the city of Liverpool. You harp on about justice! Well what justified that eh? Justice is not obligatory, loads of injustices occur every day all over the world. Whatever, its all forgotten now and the Germans are our respected partners within the eu. Anyway what do you want to happen MB? Do you think that nailing some (probably guilt ridden) Police chief to the mast and doling out millions in compensation will bring anybody back to life? Cos I dont. I dont think that it's justice that you really want or care about, its really vengeance isn't it? Like the innocent children / teenagers / men and women blown to smithereens in their homes time heals all wounds if it's allowed to and it's about time the Hillsborough tragedy was laid to rest. Trying to compare the Hillsborough tragedy to the loss of lives in WW2. Christ, I've heard it all now. Get the man a spade because that's one big hole he's dug himself.

A left winger who's never played in the Premiership before; our two central midfielders both coming back from serious injury; and a right winger who didn't live up to expectations and had a poor season. These lads won't have time to find their feet and I really hope they hit the ground running. On paper, Thompson looks a good choice for the central midfield berth, but whether he can rediscover his sparkling form of a couple of years back is another matter. Here's hoping he can.

Oh, pass the sick bag... Jesus Christ Dont shatter their illusions Mr Radagast You're completely missing the point of your ridiculous original statement, youandwhosearmy. You were making the point that the reason the ref got so much abuse was because the England fans' passion "far surpasses" the fans of other countries. Aggghgh, it's so ridiculous I can't be arsed typing any more... And for ABBEY to drag in the whole, "Scotland, Ireland, Wales: we're better than you" argument is going to open a whole can of worms. It's just not worth it.

I agree with you that the English mentality towards football - especially when you lose - is different to that of other countries. But as for your passion "far surpassing" other countries' - what a load of cack. Compared to some countries', it could be described as pretty lame.

Oh my word, I thought that was the end of this thread, but up it pops again to the top of the pile. I think I'll agree to differ on the whole "it was a foul" issue. I'll just say that I've seen it many times on T.V and numerous photos, and I'll stand by my opinion that it was a foul. As for hoping the ref gets everything deserves; I can't let that one go, I'm afraid. Even if he did have a stinker of a match according to a few people, does he really deserve to have to go in to hiding for making a few controversial decisions while refereeing a football match?? A FOOTBALL MATCH. Christ, take a step back and put the whole thing in to perspective. Please. Youandwhosearmy - I suppose you've never had a bad day at work, have you? Tell you what, next time you do (I assume you're old enough to have a job), I'll get 15,000 folk to personally write to you telling you how crap you were, and I'll chuck in a few death threats as well against you and your family. I suppose I'll then go and splash your private life across the tabloids, inviting even more derision against you because you left your wife for another woman a few years back. Of course, it has absolutely nothing to do with the errors you made at work, but it is England, so it's alright. Please, get a grip.

I think Chelsea have got themselves a very good manager in Mourinho and he's probably the perfect man to take them forward: very passionate, good motivator, and takes no crap from his players. By trimming down their squad to a core of 18 quality players, I reckon they'll do very well this year and instead of wondering if they're going to start the next game, the players will be able to focus on their game more. One thing's for sure, no matter which players they're left with, it's going to be a very talented team. Read somewhere that Kezman was bought to lead the line in a 4-3-3 formation with Duff and Robben as the wide forwards.

Finally, finally, finally, a post under this thread with a bit of sense. I'm absolutely astounded at the reaction to the ref's decision and appalled at the anitcs and witch-hunt which the Scum is carrying out against this poor Swiss referee. I'll paint a little picture for you: It's 1-1 with two minutes to go, and England have been ravaging Portugal throughout the match. The stats show that England have had over 60% of the possession, twice as many attempts on target, and have conceded half as many fouls as their opponents. Then, Portugal make a foray forward and the ball cannons off the bar from a shot by Gomes before falling to Postiga in the area. James goes to jump for the ball, but is impeded by Ronaldo who inadvertently puts his arm across the 'keepers chest. Helder scores with a free header and wheels away in delight... Of course, the stats are in fact Portugal's match statistics and show that they were by far the superior side in the match. But please, do not spout the nonsense that had the above actually happened then English fans would have taken the defeat with dignity and grace. What a load of horse manure. If England had deserved to get anything out of the game and had the goal been more controversial, then I could perhaps understand this over reaction to the ref's decision. But face it, it was a goal, everyone outside of England (ie. the rest of the world who watched the match) agree it WAS a foul, and most importantly, Portugal were the better team and deserved to go through. The English media, in particular the Sun, are making a complete t1t of England with their hate campaign against the ref, Urs Meier, and you're being laughed at by the rest of Europe by not letting go of this "issue". Get over it. If you want to direct abuse at me personally, then my email address is: itwasafoul@hotmail.com

Thought this thread would be full of "it was the ref's fault", "cheating Portugese *&^%$#", etc etc, but I've been surprised by a lot of the constructive criticism and comments. In my opinion, it WAS a foul (I would hate to imagine the outcry if Portugal had a "goal" like that given) and Portugal were the better team. What was one of the stats given? 35% - 65% posession? Says it all. Something in common with the 2002 defeat to Brazil is that England didn't seem to do themselves justice going forward and tended to be content with their lead. There's no worse feeling than losing knowing your team didn't play to its potential. Come on Henrik and the Swedes.

Relief. Finally a left winger to balance the team out. Can't help but feel we missed out on Izzet, though: Thompson/Emerton Ferguson Izzet De Pedro Oozes creativity and mobility. Oh well... Anyway, really looking forward to seeing how well De Pedro does, and for all the moaners and Scrooges out there, take a happy pill with your dinner and try and take the positives out of this - WE FINALLY HAVE A LEFT WINGER. Also, if MGP was THAT good why haven't any of the other supposed dozen clubs who were after him made a bid yet? Hhhhhm. Plus, pace doesn't guarantee a great winger. George Donis, anyone? As for chants, here's my two pennies worth: "Let's go f"ck1ng mental, coz we've got Jay De Pedro, na na naa naa, na na naa naa" Think it's quite catchy myself.

The way I see things we've got a choice of either another season of Douglas on the left flank who's a young lad with promise, possible future international but clearly not at home on the left flank when it comes to giving us attacking options, or Pedersen, who's also a young lad with promise, is a current international, clearly at home on the left flank, and has got plenty to offer going forward. Given the choice between those two, I know which one I would much rather have. Oh, and there's Steven Reid, but we just won't go there...