1) Rangers losses have consistantly dropped over the last 3 seasons, mainly due to the top players being sold and the wage bill being greatly reduced. Last season's losses were around the £10m mark, a vast improvement of around £18m from the previous season. Just because this debt is tied up in long term loans doesn't mean it's just going to go way now, does it? The fact that you are still losing 10million a year is hardly promising - will the banks allow another 30million(or say 25 if you continue to cut losses) to be tied up in long term loans in three years time? I think the point Phillip is trying to make is that Rangers cannot afford to up their bid to Rovers valuation or match Fergusons wages again, not that the club is just going to go bust over night.

LOL that shows that you obviously have little knowledge of our club and little ability to analyze a premiership match. We were woeful under Souness with no defensive discipline, playing people out of position and in strange formations. Since Hughes has come we have been transformed conceding very few, gaining some kind of consistency and our players fitness levels have improved no end. We are still far off what we should be aiming for, but the changes made have been huge. As for the Arsenal - Newcastle match... Well that could have been 4 or 5 -0! Admittedly Arsenal were putting on a real display but Newcastle were pretty bad and were content in trying not to concede. 1-0 was a flattering result for Newcastle.

I didn't take that information into the eqaution, i must admit. In terms of squad wages for a team of our league position our wages must be staggering. But as you say our strikers have left, new purchases such as Stead and Bothroyd are on low money as is Gallagher and several squad players will be gone at the end of the season. Saying that, I still think Birmingham will offer far superior wages.

Just read the Shepard/Robson article - what a nasty man Shephard is and his criticisms of Robson are obvious rubbish and scapegoating. I laughed out loud at the bit saying that Souness had Bellamy by the throat; I know that guy left us in a horrible position, sold or fell out with all our best players and joined a better club but its reasons like this that I still love the guy.

I'm still not confident - even if we do raise the 6million needed, can we really stump up the 40k wages reported? I guess this will show just how big a factor money plays for Bellamy. I would be absolutely ecstatic if we got Bellamy - he and Stead upfront would be a perfect combination and Bellamy has the strength, pace and ability to score goals that we have been lacking all season. He isn't the sort of player to lack confidence and from what I've heard so far this season, he has played very well up front. Make it happen Rovers, if Hughes and the board pull this off, they will certainly see more bums on seats.

all i said he is a if you support him fair enough,but i am at ewood tomorrow were are you I don't quite see what you are getting at... As I live in London and cannot make many home matches added to the fact I have very little money and have an examination on monday I will be at home studying for an education that teaches me how to spell and form gramatically correct sentences. I do not see what that has to do with me being willing to support Ferguson and you completely over reacting. Make no mistake, I do watch Rovers on a regular basis. The whole "I'm a better supporter than you," arguement carries very little weight when you advocate you hate a player because he has family difficulties or even because he wants to leave. And you keep swearing, consistently, consistently aware that you are breaking the rules...

You know you're swearing, you know that it is filtered out because you add a dash to the word - so why do it? Ferguson has turned his back on us, but as long as it was for family reasons then I can still support him. He is definately of more use to us on the pitch than off and if Rangers cannot afford him, then I cannot see him moving, even in the summer. I will always be wary that he will leave us and would prefer he be replaced at the end of the season, but for the mean time lets get behind him. I cannot believe some peoples reactions.

2-0 Chelsea.

God, reading the Bolton official site's news makes me feel sick...

Could you go into more detail TCJ. The commentators were making it seem like Mokoena was the best player on the pitch. Generally Mokoena didn't do much wrong. He was always up for headers but he never got any power on them at all. Also, he was caught badly out of position when Kevin Davies was put through in the second half. He was also caught out of position in the first half and Todd had to come round and cover to prevent a Bolton player going one on one or from crossing a ball into the box. He was quick to get rid of the ball and one or two passes put players under pressure. Admittedly he didn't do too much wrong and I'm being a little harsh but he was by no means the best player on the pitch - that was Todd far and away. With Todd as his partner though, I expect him to improve. Strange to see an international captain look so edgy and pass the ball as soon as he got it.

Well a game with 0-0 written all over it turned into a Bolton win through a disgusting bit of cheating from spitface. Anyhow, this is what I thought of the game... The game opened and immediately Savage committed a poor foul which should have been a yellow card, but thankfully wasn't. At least what we could see from Savage in the opening of the game and, infact, throughout was 100% commitment, running and tackling - he was clearly up for his debut. Bolton followed by sustaining pressure on Blackburn for the first 15-20 minutes, which didn't result in anything dangerous, thanks mainly to superb commanding defending from Todd. Throughout this period players like Pedersen, Emerton and Thompson were completely bypassed with a ridiculous long ball tactic aimed at Gallagher and Bothroyd, the latter of which was woeful, showing no strength and falling over all the time. However, as we started to dominate, Gallagher showed some promising link play with midfield and would have been more effective with a half decent partner. What has happened to Bothroyd, I do not know. Through out domination, Pedersen was at the heart of everything creative, with clever flicks, good vision, good corners and two excellent free kicks - unfortunately we didn't have any players willing to go for the ball. This led to a really well worked chance with good interplay by Emerton, Gallagher and Neill who ended the play with a good shot tipped round the post. The resulting corner displayed an interesting tactic of blocking the keeper and crowing the six yard box. Unfortunately it didn't work at all. In a very static half, Thompson otherwise made two good runs, but was all too often bypassed by the long ball from defense and couldn't stamp his mark on the game. Savage was doing the graft but we had no creativity - we needed Ferguson tonight. Also, Mokoena looked very edgy with a few bad headers. Neill made some promising runs and had a good half, Savage was doing a good job in midfield, Matteo was 50/50 andBothroyd was absolutely poor. __________________________________________________________ In the second half Rovers were the better team throughout, Bolton not managing to get a single shot on target. The half opened with Blackburn pressure but no end product - Pedersen continued to give his all and certainly looked stronger to me (from memory, hepushed a bolton player at the bi-line and got up from a heavy elbow to the face). However, he was forced to come in centrally a lot due to poor serve from the rest of midfield and looked to get hold of the ball - something Bothroyd, Thompson and Emerton didn't appear to do so. The half continued in the same vane until Johnson and Stead came on in place of Gallagher and Bothroyd. Gallagher had been linking well and could have been quite effective with Stead, but wholescale changes were made. Stead looked promising - two awful pieces of control were followed by some very intelligent runs and roles in attacking plays. During this period, Rovers worked one especially good play in which Stead made an excellent run but the ball to him was too short - his resultant pass to Johnson put his in a good position but his ball accross the six yard box was cut out by the keeper. In a game where neither team could get the ball to the attackers, the game looked all set for 0-0 and both teams were setting themselves up for this, until Diouf was played through in the box. He turned Matteo very well who was caught sluggish, played it past Friedel, the ball looking to go out of play. He stepped past Freidel and proceded to dive about a foot and half in the air in a ridiculous dive which the ref. fell for, although I'll admit that from his angle it looked like a penalty. What made it worse was that Freidel made a great save from the penalty but the ball fell right infront of Diouf who proceded to celebrate infront of the fans - sickening. We tried to press forward but we just did not have an effective attack and the midfield were just not stamping the authority we needed. No creativity meant Pedersen was made to come in centrally and nothing was created. Otherwise, a legitimate penalty claim from Bolton for handball against Neill wasn't given and it was a very difficult decision; it appeared as though he was protecting his face, but his arms were up well before the ball was played. The game finished 1-0. Freidel - Nothing to do but the penalty save. Gathered a cross, didn't come to collect a ball on the edge of the area - cancelled each other out. Great penalty save and gutted by the rebound - 7 Neill - Good alround game working well down the right and coming in centrally in midfield to actually offer some creativity - 7 Matteo - Some poor moments and some good moments. Turned too easily by Diouf - 5 Todd - Rock solid, made one mistake all match which was a free kick in the opposition's half. He is far and away the best player in this team - 8 Mokoena - This guy looked edgy from the start and just could not get any power on defensive headers. Almost caught out by Davies in what was a very good opportuinity wasted - 5 Emerton - Anonymous for much of the game, but what he did he did well and showed the confidence to run at the opposition - 6 Pedersen - Very promising performance tonight. All the creativity in midfield in the first half came from him. He drifted centrally too much in the second half looking for the ball due to poor service and didn't actually look a bad striker. He also looked a bit stronger and ready to through himself about and into people - 7 Thompson - Not ready for anything like captaincy. He was anonymous for most of the game, party because he was not given the ball and partly because he did not go to get it - 5 Savage - Grafted well and was the only bit of bite in our midfield. Played well in a good debut - 6 Gallagher - Good link play but no servie and a poor attacking partner did not help - 6 Bothroyd - Useless, absolutely useless. He looked so promising earlier in the season and now he's just nothing. Fell over every time he got the ball. One great moment of trickery aside, he was by far the worst player on the pitch. For a man of his build he couldn't win a header to save his life - 3 Stead - a promising appearance. Made a few good runs after a rocky start - 7 Johnson - Must have got the ball all of two times. Cannot judge him on that.

Watched the penalty again and I have to say, Flopsy, that the save by Friedel was excellent and there wasn't much more he could have done - it just happened to come off the lower part of his palms.

Flopsy, the defenders would have had every chance to cxlear it if they'd have run in. Savage was in the perfect position to run in and clear it but everyone had already given in. EDIT: just watched it again and I correct that. No chance for the defenders.

Diouf will get off absolutely scott free laughing all the way home after that disgusting dive. When will the FA realise that we don't care about celebrations? If Diouf were given a three match ban for this he'd never do it again or there's the 4th offical and tv's... I'm fuming and I'll come back to write more after a long shower and time to cool off.

Diouf turned Matteo too easily and Mokoena nor Todd were there to back him up, but he had taken it too far and it was going out. The way he celebrated the penalty as well was sickening.

1-0 diouf is a ###### cheat! Ridiculous dive. Penalty saved but no one running in. Savage has just ruined his debut by not running in afterwards and Diouf was there for the rebound. I hate this guy, so much.

no changes for either team.

Just a brief half time update for those not at the match / without sky. A pretty boring match. Pedersen had a very quiet opening as Bolton controlled the game but as we came back into it and moved to dominate play, Pedersen has been at the heart of anything creative with some very good corners and free kicks. Gallagher is playing well and holding the ball up when its actually played to FEET. Bothroyd has been pretty poor and isn't winning anything in the air, although he pulled off an excellent move to nearly work out a chance for himself. Neill has played well and Savage is certainly breaking up the midfield well, although I'm very worried he's going to be sent off. Mokoena has looked very edgy and hasn't dealt with a few balls. Todd, to the contrary, has been rock solid without making a single mistake. Cut out the long ball and play it to Thompson - he's made two great runs but has been a bystander for a lot of the half.

The difference is that Birmingham stuck Savage in the reserves at the beginning of the transfer window, not the end and Blackburn clearly had the finances to make a substantial bid for Savage whereas Murray at Rangers does not appear willing to flash his cash. Personally, I would offer Ferguson to Rangers for 4.5million with no negotiation, if they cannot raise the funds, then we play him. It's not what I would like to see - if he does not want to play for the club, I would rather have a player in his position that does. Thankfully we are very strong in midfield.

Freidel Nelsen / Mokoena / Todd / Johansson Emerton / Savage / Thompson / MGP Stead / Gallagher I really hope Ferguson doesn't play for us while his future at the club is in the balance. He doesn't want to be here and I do not, for a second, think he will give us anything like 100%. It's time to give our new signings and players back from injury a consistent run in the team. I think this is the best line up we can put out. We need to win this with our approaching fixtures. I think that in 5 weeks time we will be right back down there and these are the games we need to win. I'd love us to win this one, but I think we will be hugely disapointed and that Bolton really will be up for it after their loss to us recently. 2-1 Bolton

I just do not see a way for Jansen to get a chance in the first team. The club has far more to lose playing somebody who has been out of action for so long, who hasnt scored many at all, who can be released on a free over players like Stead who we paid 1.5million for with great expectations, Gallagher a product of the youth system on a long contract and Dickov, our highest scorer, not including potential signings. Personally I think Jansen would play for a slim precentage of his current wage if he were to be offered a one year contract, which would be great business for a fourth choice striker, but that's not fair on Matt.

I would find it difficult to find a handful of people in the history of football that were/are better strikers than Shearer. Even at 34 he is easily amongst the top strikers in the world. I will listen to other peoples opinions and hear the cases of the other candidates, but it will take something extraordinary to change my mind on this one.

They very nearly scored from Friedels failure to collect or deal with a cross. They also scored from a cross that should have been dealt with by the defense. Saying that im exstatic that Thompson scored and MGP is certainly making a case for why he should be in the team. I really look forward to hearing what people have to say about Thompson's performance.

For me it's Todd. I can really see him as a player that can influence the entire team - partly because of his consistently good performances, but mainly because I think he has the authority to command respect and command the team. Thompson is a player I believe the team would respect but he is only just back from injury and needs time to settle before such a huge responsibility. Still, I'm quite suprised that he's only received 3 votes. Savage would also be in contention and is obviously a favourite of Hughes, but he hasn't even joined the club yet. He needs time to fit in, get to know the players and prove to them that he isn't just a journeyman. Mokeona and Nelsen fall into a similar catagory as Savage but have the edge being international captains.

Surprisingly I am not that upset about this, which I probably should be. Gutted that he never managed to produce consistently and I thought he could be a great player for the club. If he is having personal problems then I wouldn't think so little of him, but if this is just because he wants to return to Sctottish football then he is gutless and clearly has no ambition. There is no doubt that we are going to lose heavily on this player as well:( Atleast we are getting rid of the mercanries at the club. Make Todd captain and play Thompson in Ferguson's place.