With Sky now showing 2 live games on a Saturday, it is bound to effect gates, not just at Rovers. .

Sky showed 2 games more or less most Saturdays last season. Personally I enjoyed the away games when we could get to the pub for 12 watch a match, then watch the Rovers and then back in to watch another match.

It's all personal choice but the facts are that Rovers make more money from being on Sky than they lose from the fans that stay away.

I don't think Sky showed 2 Prem games on a saturday hardly at all last season. There were a few Midday kick offs and that was about it. I think there may have been a couple of 5.00 pm kick offs toward the end of the season. They didn't show 2 Prem games on a Saturday often though.

There were quite a lot of midday kickoffs. I like those, since I'm an early riser and the wife isn't. A nice 7:30 match without her bothering me is heaven!

I have to admit that although I prefer the 3 PM kickoffs(10 AM our time) from a standpoint of routine as well as tradition, this additional amount of elbow room that Sky has been given is brilliant for US supporters. 6 of the 7 Sky matches should be available for free in the US, with only the Birmingham match being a PPV here, and that's only for the first half of the season. We should see at least 1 Saturday 3 PM match on PPV in that time(yes, we get them - the blackout rule doesn't apply over here of course) and there's always the second half of the season and some cup ties if we advance a bit. Add in the usual 3 to 4 tape-delayed matches and it's definitely an improvement. 10 of the first 20 matches are still at 3 PM on Saturday. While this is not ideal, I wouldn't declare Saturday-3 PM matches dead either.

Boy, I really hope I'm wrong about Beasley, or at least that others are right in that he needs a couple more years of work first. Considering the length of De Pedro's contract, that would work out perfectly, provided that no one big goes for him in the meantime.

And the fact that this is a bosman doesn't hurt things either.

GO JAVIER!

Good. Now we can get to the business of Matteo & the midfield.

Will sign this week.

LET