we have the unique advantage of being just about the only side who can accomodate new fans.

How this plays out will determine our future more than any other issue.

Our weakness MUST become our biggest selling point which could remedy that very problem.

The direction that football is taking with growth dependent on generating finance from a large fan base means that none of our Lancashire rivals has a cat's chance in hell of any more than a fleeting/failing premiership appearance.

As football continues it's t.v. conquering of the ever growing middle classes then only the premiership ( or heavens forbid only the chumpions league ) will matter.

The disaffected populations ( especially the young ) of our neighbouring towns can help us sustain a top league club. Without them we can only have the same future as our nationwide beached neighbours.

I must admit I am no longer optimistic.

Has our club and especially our fans the vision to ensure we stay where we are now, nevermind grow?

RoverDrake, were you born a braindead noggin or did you practice being one?

I have classes three times a week...

But the class content is to become soooo braindead I forget them..

You're back

Six posts today and all absolutely utter shiite.

Does your mother love you??

( at least i've only posted ONE crappler post today )

Supporting England - ephemeral, trivial, premature ejaculation, conventional, bombastic, futile, endurable, forgettable....

Supporting Rovers - eternal, requisite, inorgasmia, idiosyncratic, authentic, desperate, gut-wrenching, etched on yer fleurkin' mind forever.....

Chalk 'n' cheese...

The candyfloss is over...

Bring on the banquet - maggots an' all!!

Like an addiction part of us wishes to be free of it for ever but underneath we know we cannot do without the dirty bitch mother-fleurkler.

Arte et Labore

RDrake,  WTF ?? explain yourself.

Don't like the team.

Don't like the country.

So why support them?

Because I was born here?

I want revenge for being born in the first place..

We all want fleurkin' revenge for you being born in the first place....

Rooney's injured.......YES

Come on Portugal..

Send my home nation packing....please..

...and the nomination for tweart of the century is

There was a man, a Spanish man

Who won our love through his brilliance

All Ewood cared, that went unsaid

We all relied on his resilience

And Javier's the only wing in town

And every man that he beats looks a clown

And watching him it's easy to pretend

We'll never loose again

And keeping to himself he plays the game

Without our love it wouldn't be the same

While play goes on around him everywhere

We're watching Javier

Another game, a loosing game

So sad to say that his leg's broken

And through the match, the Ewood night

Our eyes are closed, cruel fate has spoken

And Javier was the only wing in town

And every man that he beat looked a clown

And watching him it was easy to pretend

We'd never loose again

And keeping to himself he watches the game

Without our love it'll never be the same

While play goes on around him everywhere

Poor injured Javier

Our little hope, went up in smoke

Just how it went, goes without saying

Javieeeeeeer

And without him it's easy to pretend

We'll never score again

Ohhh

And weeping to ourselves we watch the game

Despite our love it always ends the same

While play goes on around us everywhere

We're missing Javier...

Javier!! Javier!!

Rovers have got this dead right.

A one year extension is exactly the right offer. A longer contract may bring complacency. He has been superb recently - anything to do with the need for a new contract?

If Tugay does go then I would like to thank him for many brilliant memories in the blue and white.

If he goes abroad I hope he manages a few more golden years.

If he joins a premiership side then I hope he goes down like a lead balloon.

He has been one of my favourite all-time Roverites.

Plus ça change.

I must say that despite some of his hands-on-hips performances over the years, I do not think it is in our best interests if Cole leaves.

He has scored 11 goals this year feeding on mere scraps, he knows his way around the Premiership and remains a talismanic figure for the younger players.

Souness knows best though doesn't he?

Christ!! Me an' Jimblo in agreement!!

Fleurk' 'n' 'ell doesn't come into it!!

I have aways been, and still am, a massive fan of both Souness and Cole.

If either of them leave then both of them will go down in my esteem.

Although I have been a regular reader of this messageboard for around six years, this is my first post. I have enjoyed a real mixture of emotions over this period, sometimes agreeing and sometimes disagreeing with the posts - some humorous (Abbey for example), some designed to provoke (CC, Gareth the Claret, Ranulf) some more cerebral (philipl). But I have never been quite so depressed as when reading some of the messages on this thread. The arguments have been pretty well flogged to death by now, but how so many people can still appear as apologists for the racist tirade (and the feeling behind it) of that clown Atkinson is quite frankly sickening.

I agree with everything you say Mr. BlueJim!!

It may have been a long time coming but your post is by far the best I have read here in a very long time.

Hoorah!!

Ron Atkinson is a racist born of the Alf Garnett generation. It must irk him terribly that the English title was won by a team most of whom are niggers playing the beautiful game with beautiful football.

Atkinson was found out and he has paid the price. Bye bye Ron, the world and your attitudes have moved on .

.....Mmmnnnnnn......

..........Let's look at what you're saying........

Alf Garnett was a parody of a typical Eastender as portrayed by the liberal nobintelligenitalian elite.......

Everybody loved his Abbeylian honesty and joie de vie....

Both the Hammers team of Garnett and the sides managed by the evil neo-facist BigRon were full of "the niggers" that you gleefully refer to.

Let's face it - you're talking utter journalistic shiite.....

Isn't it about time that you pay the price ??

Bye bye bling bling Jimblow....

......Isn't it about time YOU moved on.......??

Manchester Blue....

......you are SOOOOOO right........

JW sees Rovers as a club which should be able to compete for the "best of the rest" spot - ie 6th - and tries to fit that view into a business plan to provide the best platform for the club to compete at that level.

That is the most sensible and encouraging thing I have read on this forum for a long time.

Not suprising he is not a regular poster.

Four years ago, a great Scot, in whose symbolic shadow we stand joined Blackburn Rovers . This momentous appointment came as a great beacon light of hope to thousands of Rovers fans who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long days of first division football. But four years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Rovers are still not free of the threat of relegation.

Four years later, the life of Roverites  are still sadly crippled by the threat of relegation and the chains of discrimination. Four years later, the Rovers live on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. Four years later, the Roverites  still languish in the corners of the Premier league and find themselves rejected in their own land.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our team's defence to save our necks. When the architects of our league wrote the magnificent words of the rule book and the declaration of the laws of football, they were signing a promissory note to which every football fan was to fall heir.

These laws were a promise that all players would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that the premiership has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as its players of all team colours are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, the premiership has given all teams a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this sport.

So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind football of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of relegation to the sunlit path of premiership football. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of the Nationwide. Now is the time to lift our sport from the quicksands of sporting injustice to the solid rock of Sky broadcasting.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the Rovers and to underestimate the determination of Souness. This miserable winter with the threat of relegation will not pass until there is an invigorating spring of improved football quality. Two Thousand and Four is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Rovers needed to beat other teams and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the Nationwide returns to Ewood Park. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in the first division until the Rovers are granted their Premiership rights.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our team until the bright day of Champions League football emerges. But there is something that I must say to our players who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the promised league. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for victory by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our anti - referee protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new Premiership which has engulfed the football community must not lead us to distrust of all referees, for many of our black - shirted brothers, as evidenced by their presence on the pitch, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking is Souness right?, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the motorways and the hotels of the cities on our way back from Ewood. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Rovers basic fan base is from a small ghetto in Lancashire. We can never be satisfied as long as a Roverite in Southhampton cannot attend and a Roverite  in New York believes he has nothing to contribute to our cause. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and Blackburn Rovers become  a mighty team.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of sporting brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the Rovers and learn that suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Manchester , go back to Arsenal, go back to Geordieland, go back to Leyland, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Rovers dream.

I have a dream that one day this club will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all the best players  are created for Blackburn." I have a dream that one day on the green turf of Ewood the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to play together at the top of the table. I have a dream that one day even the state of Burnley, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of top level Dr Martens football. I have a dream that my  children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their shirts but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day in Blackburn, whose manager's lips are presently dripping with  words of swearing and frustration, there will be a transformation into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers in a Rovers wonderland. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every alley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be hallowed , the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Rovers shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I shout from my mouth . With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our football side into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to play together, to struggle together, to avoid relegation together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free to play in the Premiership another day.

This will be the day when all of Souness' children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My team, 'tis of thee, sweet players of liberty, of thee I sing. Ewood where my fathers died, pitch of the Rovers pride, from every mountainside, let Roverites sing." And if Blackburn are to be a great side, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of Lancashire. Let Ewood sing from the mighty stands of Jack Walker. Let Ewood sing from the heights of the Blackburn end. Let Ewood sing from the deserted Darwen end! Let Ewood sing from the early walking terraces of the Riverside! But not only that; let Ewood sing from everywhere in Lancashire!  From everywhere, let's hear Ewood sing!

When we hear Ewood sing, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every town and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of Ewood's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, and even Asians, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Ewood spiritual, " Gerinter'em...Geriter'em..............

I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight

I've never seen you shine so bright

You were amazing

I have never seen that shirt you're wearing

Or those highlights in your hair

That catch your eyes

I have been blind

Jonathon Stead

Is laughing at me

The bloody cheek

There's nobody here

It's just Stead and me

He's such a wannabe

I hardly know

This beauty on my side

I've even forgot

He used to be so shyite

I've never seen so many fans ask you if you wanted to dance

Looking for a little romance

There's no bloody chance

I have never had such a feeling

That you're taking the complete and utter @#/?

As I do tonight    

There it is

It wasn't

To an earlier point-

So we're developing nicely, playing well, the players are happy and there's no cause to worry.  I see.  The fact that we went out of all the cups- pathetically- at the first attempt and are showing like a bunch of pub footballers in the league while having the 8th highest wage bill in the league is great, is is?

John Williams said to us at a meeting that broadly, he'd expect that the club's position in the league should be within 2 either side of the position in the table of wages paid.  Any higher is overachieving, any lower is failure.  Even at this time in the season, 16th when we're paying 8th is failure.

I think the injuries we've got are being used to fuzz a fundamental problem, which was evident at the start of the season, when everyone bar Shorty was fit- the replacement players aren't good enough and organisationally we're hopeless.

This is a combination of selling our best players- for whatever reason- buying mostly inferior replacement players, constantly changing the team (even when they were all fit), playing players out of position and, potentially, changing the coaching structure.

        { EDIT }

Enough already Tash.

"This post has been auto-edited to save the Mods a job...."

To the tune " Go West " by Village People.....

Craig Short, never has a 'mare.

Craig Short, he's good in the air.

Craig Short, looks like he's brand new.

Craig Short, knows just what to do.

Craig Short, tackles all the time.

Craig Short, he will do just fine.

Craig Short, we're the Rovers in blue .

Craig Short, he'll jump all over you.

Gallagher of Scotland

When will we see

You shoot again

You fight and play for

Ewood Park's super men  

And score for Souey's

Blue an' White Army

And sent the home crowd

Mental again.

Utter rubbish. Henning wanted to stay but your great manager wanted Amaruso so badly.

Well you really have revealed yourself there Ksb -

"Your" manager??

Not "our" manager??

Who do YOU support again??      

get a grip and get to the ground to show your support  

After having re-read this thread which contains more than twice as many posts and views on this page than any other the funny thing is that the above advice was found on page one.

I commend it to you all and trust that despite everything that has been said here all TRUE Rovers fans follow it  

I don't think we have enough money to bring in the number of quality players that a new manager would need to get us out of the relegation position that Souness will have left us in IF he was sacked around the christmas period, Revidge.

If that were to happen then I think we would be relegated.

I hope that if this did come to pass I will be proved to be wrong.

The good thing about Jan's views on Souness are that they make Tnr look to have a completely benign and impartial view on race relations.

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of football history will be aware that sacking the manager by small clubs such as ours in similar situations is a recipe for disaster.

We just do not have the money for a newcomer to buy new players and the present players are mostly here because of Souness. Either he and them will turn this potential catastrophe around or we will be relegated.

At least some of you sad feurklers will be able to bathe in the glory of being proved right.

By all means debate which players should be played/dropped and what formations/tactics etc. should be used but stop calling for the manager's head as that will only cause disharmony which will impede the massive efforts that are now needed to turn this terrible start around.

I refute that most of us here are in denial by not barracking Souness. Yes, he and the players ( plus factors beyond their control that we have discussed to death ) have got us in this mess and yes, hindsight can make even the most stupid amongst us to have devine acumen.

We can do little to help stave off relegation but that little we can do is to support the team and try and give them the confidence and backing to play better than they have.

Those that suggested we replace Souness during the summer ( funny that - seemed to be few and far between then ) at least could not be accused of damaging the club then. Now is not the time.

The one real question for us at this time should be do you want to add to the problems or to try and help solve them. To be part of the solution or not? Or are you only interested in persuing your own agendas to the detriment of the club?

If you go out to Ewood today

    You're sure of a big surprise.

    If you go out to Ewood today

    You'd better go in disguise.

    For every bore that ever there was

    Will gather there for certain, because

    Today's the day the whingers make us all sick.

Chorus:

    Picnic time for Jimbo's bores,

    The little Jimbo's bores are having a lovely time today.

    Watch them, catch them unawares,

    And see them whining on here everyday.

    See them gaily dance about.

    They love to play and shout.

    And never have any cares.

    At six o'clock their mommies and daddies

    Will take them home to bed

    Because they're tired little whingeing bores.

    If you go out to Ewood today,

    You'd better not go alone.

    It's lovely out at Ewood today,

    But safer to stay at home.

    For every bore that ever there was

    Will gather there for certain, because

    Today's the day the whingers make us all sick.

    TO CHORUS

    Every Jimbo's bore, that's been good

    Is sure of a treat today

    There's lots of miserable things to bleat

    And wonderful games to play

    Beneath the threads, where everyone sees

    They'll whine and bleat as long as they please

    Today's the day that Jimbo's bores make us all sick.

    TO CHORUS

I can be found in Uncle Jack's before and after home games and I sit on row 19 seat 130 odd in the Blackburn End.

Best Regards to all.

Aah! and there lies the rub....

You attend the game pished and sit behind the goal where you cannot see the shape of the play properly!

That explains a lot      :'>  (Lol....)

I can't believe 'Scooter' haven't had a mention on here yet.

Lyrics ? Dark side of the moon ?  Sgt Peppers ?

What about "de chase, is bedder dan de catch"

or "Is id a bird, is id a plane, id muz be dave, whose on de train"

"de bird, de sea, de land, de tree,"

"How much is de fish ?"

........  marvellous.

ooops!!

some people missing the vibe here -

my 10 year old tells me he used to like scooter but that they are only for little kids...

my 7 year old actually likes them but is begining to find them uncool (see above)....

scouse - scooter are now what bay city rollers were in our day - naff and sad - even to those still in huggies.

my favorite live album -

hanx! stiff little fingers -

sadly the sight of their obese ruddy-faced father pogoing has put my kids off nobody's hero and fly the flag for life.