No Colin, but it's possible to argue that back in 1983 in the predominantly working class seat of Bermondsey in south London (near to the old Millwall docks and the infamous Millwall F.C.) , for some voters in the area at the time - I'd emphasise the word 'some' rather than all, they might have been put off from voting for a gay candidate and may well have looked for an alternative at the ballot box. Back in 1983, homosexuality had only been legal in Britain for 16 years and it was illegal for 20-year-olds to indulge in gay acts. I think people's views on homosexuality have generally got more liberal over the last 20 - 25 years. In the early 1980s, a rather less tolerant view of homosexuality was probably more prevalent, particularly in working class areas. The problem with Mr Hughes is that he deceived voters in Bermondsey in 1983 - as his campaign team conducted personal attacks against the gay Labour candidate Peter Tatchell, focusing on his sexuality. Clearly the liberals felt that Tatchell's homosexuality was an issue for working class voters and that it was a "vote loser" for Labour. There was a huge 44 per cent swing in Simon Hughes's favour in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election - the biggest swing in any by-election in modern history. It seems that the tactics of the Liberals - focusing on personal attacks on Peter Tatchell had worked with the voters, or at least had done them no harm. 50 years of Labour rule in the Bermondsey area were ended on that night in 1983 and Hughes pushed up the Liberal vote by a staggering margin. Tatchell blamed his loss on "an unprecedented campaign of smears" and the 1983 Bermondsey by-election was later described by one media commentator as "the most personal and vicious by-election of modern times." It's possible to argue that, at best, Hughes was somewhat reticent about his own sexuality while his Liberal campaign team eagerly attacked the sexuality of his opponent. Or at worst, Simon Hughes fraudulently won such a massive swing in 1983 by conducting a hypocritical campaign of deceit

Well there are plenty of people jostling for position for when Prescott eventually goes.... Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, publicly declared his interest in the job last week. Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman says she believes it is a "necessity" for the next Deputy PM to be a woman, while Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt also says she favours a woman to take over from Prescott. Apparently Gordon Brown is said to favour either Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain or Alan Johnson in preference to two of the potential leading women candidates - Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt. There's also speculation that Jack Straw, recently demoted from Foreign Secretary to the rather less grand job of Leader of the House of Commons, and Hazel Blears, the Labour party chairman, could decide to throw their hats into the ring too. It could be a contest with many runners and riders. Thank you Bryan for taking my earlier post in a lighthearted spirit. If a male actor, TV entertainer, pop star etc, decided to indulge in liaisons with other men he'd met on gay websites, I wouldn't have a particular problem with that. But the problem with Mr Hughes is that he deceived voters in Bermondsey, where he was first elected as an MP in a by-election in 1983. The liberals conducted a smear campaign against the gay Labour candidate Peter Tatchell, handing out leaflets to voters with a picture of Simon Hughes and the words: "The Straight Candidate." A picture of Tatchell was superimposed next to a picture of Her Maj, with the words: "Two Queens together." Simon Hughes then threatened legal action against Channel 4 in 1987 for a programme called "After Dark" where a guest on the programme suggested that Hughes might be gay. And just a week before the start of the Liberal Democrat leadership contest earlier this year, Hughes denied that he was gay in an interview with the Independent newspaper. So one could suggest that he not only deceived the voters in Bermondsey in 1983, but he was also looking to deceive the Liberal party membership as a whole. If Hughes didn't want to discuss his private life all he had to say to the Independent was "Sorry, no comment" - and then he wouldn't have been accused of lying.

A good headline for some of our liberal luvvies in one of the Sunday tabloids today.... BEWARE OF THE DROG If Ivory Coast were in an easier group (such as Group A) , I think they would qualify as they have some good players like Toure and Eboue in the team; but playing in Group C with Holland, Argentina and Serbia-Montenegro will be tough for them and I'm not expecting Ivory Coast to qualify from their group. We had a surprise winner of Euro 2004 with Greece, but I'm fully expecting one of the 'big' nations to win the World Cup this summer - probably Brazil, but with a maximum of eight other teams in with a chance - Argentina, Italy, England, Spain, Germany, France, Holland and Portugal. If the tournament was being played outside of Germany I wouldn't rate their chances, as they don't appear to have many world-class players at the moment.

Palace chairman keen to talk to Souness Is Jordan prepared for more of the same "lady luck" excuses...

If it's all a big yawn for you, my dear Edward, then don't read my posts. And there's no need to quote it all in full....

The linesman had Thalidomide - which can result in birth defects such as no arms or no legs. In this particular linesman's case, Richard Saunders, he had one arm about half it's normal size. His other arm was okay and he used that arm to raise his flag for offside. Mr Saunders has no disablities with his legs and was therefore able to run the line like anyone else. He was said to be deeply upset at the stream of obscenities from Ian Wright - who called him an 'effing cripple. By all means tell a linesman that he's got a decision wrong and that he shouldn't have raised his flag - but nobody at all deserves to be abused for a disability and what Ian Wright said to him was reprehensible. The BBC should not be employing this man to work for them. If I was Alan Hansen or Gary Lineker I would refuse to work with Wright. Ian Wright is the first to jump up and down and complain about "racism", but clearly he also thinks that it's perfectly okay to abuse people for having disabilities. Link: Big Ron's not that bad compared with Wright I agree with your thoughts Simon, but just wondered how this squares up with your championing of Robbie Savage in recent years ? I was at Highbury last November to see Rovers' final match at the famous old stadium, and I was frankly ashamed with Robbie's actions on that miserable grey wet afternoon. Savage mouthed off at Reyes, who in response flicked a gentle gloved hand at him, literally no more than brushing Savage's blonde hair. It was the lightest of touches, but Robbie went down as if he'd been punched by Mike Tyson. It was an embarrassment watching the incident being replayed again on Match of the Day. It's the type of incident which damages our image as a football club and leads to Blackburn Rovers being negatively perceived by the media and by other fans. Savage of course has plenty of "previous" where this sort of thing is concerned. Playing for Leicester in the 1999 Worthington Cup final against Spurs, he got Justin Edinburgh sent off that day. In a match against Derby at Pride Park, there was also a nauseating provocative celebration from Savage after he had dived to get a penalty. And against West Ham he got Igor Stimac sent off. As a friend of mine (a Carlisle fan) said to me: "I used to like Rovers a few years ago when players like Duff, Dunn and Jansen were in the team. They played attractive football and were like a second team to me. But I can't stomach Rovers now that Robbie Savage plays for you."

There was a nauseatingly sycophantic BBC interview after tonight's match in which Garth Crooks basically told Steven Gerrard that he was wonderful, that England were excellent and that everything tonight was hunky-dory. Why didn't Mr Crooks at least ask Gerrard if there was any contact between himself and the Hungarian player for the penalty - and if not why did he go down so easily? It seems that nobody from within the Beeb dares to ask the players any difficult questions which might upset the cosy relationship they want to keep with them. I hope that in the World Cup we won't have any English players complaining about foreigners cheating and diving when they do exactly the same thing themselves. Joe Cole has a habit of going down too easily and Wayne Rooney, who may or may not be fit to play in the World Cup, is a cheat who blatantly dived for a penalty against Arsenal in the game which ended Arsenal's 49-match unbeaten record in 2004/05. Ian Wright is a repugnant individual who while playing for Arsenal once abused a disabled linesman, calling him an 'effing cripple. Also while at Highbury, he was fined £1,500 by the FA in 1992 for spitting at spectators. He also has a criminal record, having served a jail term prior to becoming a professional footballer. I was appalled when the BBC decided to employ this vile creature as a pundit, when he's clearly a dreadful role model for youngsters. I was disgusted that Wright was awarded an MBE a few years ago. Obviously you can now spit at others, abuse disabled people, have a criminal record and still benefit from the British honours system.... Dare I suggest a possible reason why he might be employed by the BBC? Now I hope this doesn't anger Mr McGarry too much, but would such a person, with Wright's record, have been employed by the BBC if they had been white? Perhaps they would have done. Perhaps not. But in the same way as the British police force has introduced a policy of "positive discrimination" to increase the number of black and Asian police officers, Greg Dyke, the former BBC director-general, previously stated that there were not enough black and Asian people on the BBC and set a target of 10% non-white staff by 2003 - a number of BBC news trainee places were set aside especially for people from the ethnic minorities. What I do know, is that irrespective of whether Ian Wright is white, black or yellow, he's a disgrace to football and shouldn't be on my television screen.

I find Ballack's wages obscene Paul. Link: Bayern Munich's general manager says that Ballack is only motivated by money "It was always clear that Michael did not want to learn a new language or a new culture, but a new currency," says Uli Hoeness. "It was obviously only about money." The culture of greed is ruining the game in my view - rampant exploitation of the fans and foreign mercenaries like Herr Ballack, who clearly doesn't give a damn that the supporters at Stamford Bridge have to cough up between £45-£60 for an adult ticket to pay for his exorbitant and offensive wages. As for the latest Juventus refereeing scandal - I suspect this has been going on for many years in Italian football. In the 1973 European Cup semi final, when Juventus beat Derby County 3-1 on aggregate - Brian Clough was convinced that the West German ref had taken a bung - calling the Italians "cheating @#/?s". There were strong allegations that the ref had taken bribes from Juventus, but UEFA tried to sweep it under the carpet.

The Birmingham City soap opera is certainly more entertaining than Eastenders or Coronation Street. Last week it was players going on strike and refusing to play, followed by an outspoken attack on Steve Bruce by the outgoing captain Kenny Cunningham. I wonder what's in store for us this week - perhaps another attack on the players by David Sullivan, who likes to air his dirty linen in public. "Some of the players can't be bothered and aren't earning their money," said Sullivan in March. "They're on £30,000-a-week and it does make you incredibly resentful." I particularly liked the criticism of Steve Bruce by Cunningham last week. I thought he got it spot on when he said: "The performance of the team is directly influenced by what happens on the training pitch and our preparation was nowhere near good enough. The reason we were relegated was due to a lack of organisation, preperation and attention to detail. And the person who must take responsibility is the manager." "Birmingham has no heartbeat, and more worryingly, no soul," said Cunningham. Some Brummie fans believe that a decline started when Mark Bowen was axed as Birmingham coach by Bruce in the summer of 2004. Cunningham himself said that conditioning levels deteriorated dramatically after their fitness coach Arnaud Bruchard was given the boot last September. "Three weeks into the season Arnaud got the bulet and was made the scapegoat for our poor start. That left a lot of players very dispirited. Our physical fitness from that point on deteriorated," said Cunningham. According to Cunningham, senior players, including himself, constantly warned Bruce that preparation needed to be improved, but Bruce ignored their concerns and buried his head in the sand. As well as poor preparation by the management, scoring goals was very much Birmingham's achilles heel. Midfielder Jarosik was their top scorer with 5 goals, and Emile Heskey only managed 4 goals. When the best that your striker can do is 4 goals then you've got a problem. Please God Heskey will not be joining Rovers. As Revidge Blue said a while back, we've already got one big useless lump up front in Kuqi and we don't need another one....

This is what John Prescott said in 1996 - speaking to the last Labour Conference before they took power: "For too many Tories, morality means not getting caught. We are a party of principle. We will earn the trust of the British people. We've had enough lies. Enough sleaze." Well it's just over nine years ago that New Labour was elected on an anti-sleaze ticket. Since then it's become clear that we've got New Labour, New Sleaze - a party that sells honours to anyone with a big enough wallet and a party that changes it's manifesto commitments when they are given a £1m donation. (Bernie Ecclestone). A Home Secretary who released over 1,000 foreign criminals back into our streets - the same Charles Clarke who lectured us about how ID cards will keep foreign criminals off our streets and make our communities safer. Some may argue that John Prescott's particular sexual liaisons are his own private business - but this is the same guy who made political capital out of various Tory MP's antics in the bedroom. I notice that Sir Menzies Campbell has weighed in with some criticism of John Prescott. Sir Menzies has had one or two 'little local difficulties' in his own party in recent months. I had to smile earlier this week at the excuse that Mark Oaten came up with for cheating on his wife and paying for sex with rent boys. Oaten blamed his behaviour on losing his hair, which he said contributed to a mid-life crisis. The same Mark Oaten, who when putting his name forward for the Lib Dem leadership, told party members that he had no skeletons in his cupboard and posed for happy family pictures at the kitchen breakfast table. Link: Oaten tells of despair at losing his hair. Edit: Earlier link relating to the antics of Simon Hughes is now out of date and no longer working.

If Middlesbrough win the UEFA Cup on Wednesday night, they will surely be the poorest English team to win a major European trophy for many years. This is a team that lost at home to Sunderland for christ's sake! Yes, they've played well in Europe - and they've certainly had their fair share of good fortune in the UEFA Cup - but in the Premiership they've often been abysmal. Incidentally, before McClaren was appointed as England manager last week, the mantra that the England players were coming out with in interviews was on the lines of: "We're not bothered if it's a foreign manager. We just want the best man for the job. We're not worried about nationality. It doesn't have to be an Englishman." I didn't hear one player come out and say: "It has to be an English manager that takes over from Sven." But now that McClaren has been appointed, I've noticed that the tune coming out of the lips of some of the players has changed slightly. John Terry now says that McClaren is the right choice because England had to have an English manager this time. Henry Winter in the Daily Telegraph recently claimed that O'Neill's hopes were damaged when he was asked by the FA about whether David Beckham would remain as England captain. O'Neill apparently told the FA that every player would be judged on his footballing merits and not on reputation or commercial value to the FA. Winter claimed that all the England managerial candidates were asked by the FA in their interviews whether they would be keeping Beckham as captain - with the bigwigs at the FA aware that Beckham's presence generates millions of pounds a year in revenue for the FA through merchandising. If there is indeed an element of truth in this - that commercial considerations are being given precedence by the FA, then it's a disgrace. A link to Henry Winter's article is below. (Comments about Martin O'Neill are in the second half of the article.) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...29/sfnwin29.xml

Edited - earlier criticism of David O'Leary now out-of-date.

The link below is six months old - but please read it, because the words in the article still ring true. McClaren's not the man for England A manager who says that he's "suspicious of entertaining football". That bodes well for filling the new Wembley then... And as I previously mentioned on the original 'England Manager' thread, Middlesbrough's club captain Gareth Southgate told the Sunday Times in an interview recently that Steve McClaren is not the right man for the England job. According to Southgate, McClaren is not ready for such a huge job - and Southgate should know McClaren's strengths and weaknesses, having worked with him over the last five years at Middlesbrough. The FA have once again shown themselves to be bumbling fools. It's taken them months to come up with the name of McClaren, and yet ridiculously, Brian Barwick today told the media that McClaren was always his first choice and the unanimous first choice of the whole of the FA panel. Barwick tried to claim that Scolari was never offered the job and the only man he ever wanted was McClaren. So why did we need this four month charade before McClaren was announced, if he was always the first choice of the FA? This process has been a farce.

Fair point Paul, but I remember you saying before that you came very close to not renewing your season tickets. Presumably you would have been angry with yourself if you had indeed stopped going...

Newcastle were a team in the summer of 1996 who had just blown a 12 point lead in the Premiership - collapsing in the final couple of months due to a combination of inept schoolboy defending, the tactical naivety of Kevin Keegan and the signing of Tino Asprilla, who upset the balance of the team and broke up what was a productive strike partnership of Peter Beardsley and Les Ferdinand. Newcastle proved they didn't have what it takes to hold onto a big lead. (Or as Tim Flowers might say - the necessary "bottle" to hold their nerve.) The balance wasn't right in the Newcastle team. Defenders like Darren Peacock and Warren Barton were gifting goals away all too readily and in Kevin Keegan they had a manager, who as I said, was tactically naive. I've always loathed the Red Scum, but I'd have to say that Man United were very much the up and coming team in 1996. They had just won the League and FA Cup double. Despite Alan Hansen famously saying "You'll never win anything with kids" they won the Double with youngsters in the team like Neville, Scholes and Beckham. Man United were the team in the ascendancy in 1996 - and in Shearer's first game with Newcastle, Keegan's side were thrashed 4-0 by United in the Charity Shield. Shearer seemed to walk off the Wembley pitch that day with a glazed look that said: "What the bloody hell have I done...." Man United's double winning team of '96 contained youngsters in the side who were likely to get better and challenge for the European Cup over the coming seasons. Indeed after they lost in the European Cup semi-final in 1997 to Borussia Dortmund and to Monaco in 1998, they went on to win the European Cup (and Treble) in 1999. In his autobiography, Shearer said that Newcastle were initially his third choice behind Man United and Liverpool. Clearly at the time Shearer wasn't as desperate to play for his hometown club as he said afterwards. I think deep down Shearer feared that the Newcastle team wasn't right, but he allowed himself to be persuaded otherwise by Keegan. When he was unveiled at St James' Park, Shearer told the media that he was signing for Kevin Keegan and to win trophies. Keegan was gone within six months and of course Shearer hasn't won anything during his ten years at the club. Shearer seems to have changed his tune slightly. At Newcastle he once said:"All that matters is we win some silverware" and "Winning the FA Cup at Newcastle would mean more to me than the Premiership at Blackburn." But now that Shearer's career has ended without any medals at St James' Park, he appears to be saying that his lack of silverware at Newcastle doesn't matter. "I've got no regrets. All I ever wanted to do was play for my hometown club." To be fair, Shearer was never going to come out and say: "Yes, I've got regrets. I shouldn't have joined Newcastle." And so in media interviews now he sticks to the same parrot-like mantra of "Je Ne Regrette Rien". According to Alex Ferguson though, Shearer was desperate to join Man United, although he was disappointed to be told by Fergie that Eric Cantona would continue to take the penalties - Shearer naturally likes to get on the scoresheet as often as possible and 56 of his 283 Premiership goals have come from the penalty spot (including 10 for Rovers in our title-winning season of 1994-95.) Do you think if Shearer had joined Man United and won the European Cup together with a string of Premiership medals, he'd be telling TV interviewers: "I've got some regrets. All I ever wanted to do was to play for my hometown club Newcastle." - would he bollax! In public Shearer will defend his decision to go to St James' Park. In private I suspect deep down he does have some regrets. In the summer of 1996, I told the presenter of a radio phone-in that I felt Shearer was making a mistake and he wouldn't win any trophies at St James' Park. I was laughed at and accused of bitterness and sour grapes. I was told that with Ginola and Keith Gillespie supplying the crosses for him at Newcastle, Shearer was bound to win trophies at the club. I think I've been proved right in what I said ten years ago. I said he wouldn't win trophies at Newcastle and that's how it's turned out. If he had stayed with Rovers, he could at least have added a Worthington Cup medal to his collection....

Some of the players Mourinho has signed have clearly been overpriced. Shaun Wright-Phillips (£21m) is worth about half that IMO. Didier Drogba (£24m) - who missed a glaring sitter against Liverpool yesterday. He's built like the proverbial brick ----house and he's effective if you want to have a big lump to play long ball football - but his shooting in front of goal isn't good enough for a player who cost £24m. I was very pleased too. Mourinho got his team selection and tactics totally wrong in the first half - playing such a negative narrow formation. Without Robben, Duff and Joe Cole in the starting line-up, they lacked the width, fluency and creativity needed to break down the Liverpool defence. With Paulo Ferreira as a midfielder and Frank Lampard playing far too deep, Chelsea fully deserved to lose for their negative formation. They lacked a proper shape and were all over the place in the first half. It was reminiscent of the tactical shambles that Claudio Ranieri was responsible for against Monaco in the Champions League semi-final a couple of years ago. Graeme Souness was once quoted as saying: "There are no room for wingers in football." I thought he was talking rubbish, because there's always room in my book for a player who can attack the full-back and deliver quality crosses in the box. Mourinho though, arrogantly thought his Chelsea side would be able to win by playing negatively - without the services of Robben, Cole and Duff in the starting line-up. He made a major blunder. But don't expect the 'Special One' to hold his hands up and admit that he made a balls-up. He won't do that because he's in love with himself so much. An arrogant and egotistical man who once again refused to shake hands with his opposite number after the game - walking away at Old Trafford without the courtesy of shaking hands with Benitez. I was delighted that Chelsea lost.

McClaren has recently been boasting to the media about his record - and the fact that he reached an FA Cup semi. Big wow - Bryan Robson reached an FA Cup final with 'Boro, but nobody would tout him for the England job. 'Boro lost in their FA Cup semi today, but no doubt McClaren would still try and claim that as a success. The fact is that McClaren's league record with 'Boro is medicore to say the least. Indeed this season they have gone backwards in terms of their Premiership position. A lot of pundits felt they could finish in the top 6 this season, but they're currently lying in the bottom half of the table - doing considerably worse in the Premiership than last season. They've had some truly shocking results this season - losing 4-0 at home to Aston Villa and thrashed 7-0 by Arsenal. His Match of the Day interview after that 7-0 defeat was priceless. If you were expecting him to be embarrassed by the horrendous defensive display and apologetic towards the 'Boro supporters who had travelled hundreds of miles down to London, then you'd be mistaken. Instead, McClaren had the cheek to claim the result was "a good experience for the players to learn from". Since when has losing 7-0 been a good bloody experience? Did McClaren tell his players beforehand: "Go out and lose 7-0. It will be a good experience for you." His brazen cheek in the aftermath of such a shocking defensive display was staggering. McClaren would make a good spin doctor. Give him the latest crime figures showing there's been an increase in crime and McClaren would try and turn it into a success. I fear for him as England manager. I really do. You could just imagine him after England lost badly in the World Cup and at the press conference afterwards, McClaren would be saying: "This was a good experience for the lads and one they'll always remember." For the money that Steve McClaren has spent at Middlesbrough - £8m on Maccarone and £7.5m on Yakubu, for example, the club should be doing better in the Premiership than they are at the moment. I suspect McClaren is another Brian Kidd. A decent coach and a decent guy - but not cut out for management at the highest level. A safe (and dull) pair of hands who won't rock the boat or take the tough decisions needed. I don't think he'd have the balls to take the captaincy away from Beckham. Lest we forget that just a couple of months ago, 'Boro supporters wanted him sacked after becoming sick to the back teeth of his tactics and of the players lack of commitment on the pitch. One fan memorably tore up his season ticket and threw it in front of the statuesque McClaren. If he gets the England job, he could end up ridiculed like Graham Taylor. Southgate says McClaren isn't ready When even the man who McClaren appointed as club captain says that Steve isn't ready for the England manager's job, then alarm bells should be ringing. Southgate is a man who has played for England with McClaren as a coach under Sven. Gareth has seen at first-hand what McClaren can do with 'Boro and with England - and he feels that he isn't the right man for the job. Will the bigwigs at the FA take any note of what Southgate said?

Brilliant. One of the funniest things I've read this year.

Correct. I'm pleased that in his press conference after the match Mark Hughes didn't try to defend Wednesday night's disgraceful performance. I was disgusted with the lack of drive, desire and passion from the players, especially in the first half. This was a huge match and yet many of the players gave the impression they couldn't be arsed. It was gutless, shameful, shocking and embarrassing. "We never really got to grips with the game at any stage," was Sparky's verdict. "It was very disappointing. The first half both sides were poor, there wasn't a lot of quality on show all evening. In the second half we once again switched off at the back, allowed the ball to get in the box and Forssell did very well. We really needed to show more quality on the night," he said. I know that Hughes doesn't usually like to criticise the players in public, but there was no way he could defend that performance on Wednesday evening and put a positive "spin" on such a bitterly disappointing result. There are a few key points which I think come out of Wednesday night's shambles. * David Bentley still has a huge amount to learn. He's still a kid with bum fluff on his chin and since scoring a hat-trick against Man United he's done bugger all. Some of his attempts on goal were ridiculous. Shooting from 40 yards out with team-mates better placed was bloody infuriating to watch. * In the second half of last season we built our team around a strong defence. But at the moment we're conceding stupid goals and apart from Bellamy we don't have enough quality going forward. This is a recipe for losing matches and our recent tally of just 2 points from the last 12 is pitiful from a team which Robbie Savage claimed was good enough to qualify for the Champions League. * When he's not scoring, MGP simply doesn't do enough for the team. His contribution recently has been woeful. * When Tugay is missing, we have no creativity in midfield. Emerton is useless. * Playing Zurab at right-back and Lucas Neill as a left-back was a mistake. They both were like a fish out of water and they need to play in their favoured positions. The Champions League fantasy blew up weeks ago mate. We aint good enough. Simple as that.

Easter Sunday is supposed to be a day for reawakening and rejuvenation - but this drab lacklustre match yesterday left me feeling completely deflated. The stats show we had 3 shots on target compared with 2 for Liverpool - which is hardly a demonstration of dominance. I'm afraid I can't agree with the praise that Revidge Blue (and a few others) have given to the Rovers players. I thought both teams were uninspired and insipid. Liverpool's style of play bores me to tears. Señor Benitez seems to be instructing his team to defend deep away from home, place nine men behind the ball and try to nick goals on the counter-attack by thumping long high balls up to the strikers. You could argue that it's effective because they won the European Cup last season, but it's a one-dimensional and unattractive style to watch. As much as I loathe Man United as a football club, their fluent style of play (and Arsenal's too) with flair players and wingers in the side who like to attack, is a good deal more aesthically pleasing to the eye. I thought when the French buffoon Monsieur Houllier left Anfield in 2004 we might see a return to the days when Liverpool attacked teams from the start, but Benitez often has a tendency to be over-cautious away from home - although to be fair they did thrash Big Club 7-0 at St Andrews. But when a team defends deep, as Liverpool did at Ewood yesterday, it's up to the home team to find a way of getting round the back - but we failed to do that. The number of good quality crosses from wide positions was severely limited and I have to agree with those who've said that MGP is offering very little at the moment. When your wide players are failing in their duty to get past the full-back and provide a quality cross, then your chances on goal are going to be limited. Hence just 3 shots on target from us yesterday which isn't good enough for a home team with aspirations of Europe. One of our few good chances yesterday was a shot that went off-target. Robbie Savage should have done better with a chance in the second half, but his left foot shot in front of the Blackburn End was carelessly struck wide. This was Robbie's 50th game for Rovers yesterday and he's failed to score a single goal. I know he's not an attacking midfielder by trade, but he should still have a few goals under his belt by now. Even for a defensive midfielder (who as John Toshack says, sometimes resembles a headless chicken) , Savage should be doing better in front of goal with the few chances that come to him. Paul Dickov doesn't come up with enough goals and we rely too heavily on Bellamy. Liverpool's goal shouldn't have stood of course - and perhaps a 0-0 scoreline would have been appropriate for this dreary humdrum match. At the time of the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989, I remember the Liverpool team under Kenny Dalglish at the time - and with attack-minded players like Beardsley, Barnes and Houghton, they were an attractive side to watch. A year earlier in 1988 there was one particularly memorable performance when Liverpool thrashed Nottingham Forest 5-0 at Anfield. It could (and perhaps should) have been about 9-0 to Liverpool; and Tom Finney, who was watching at Anfield that day, described it as "the finest display of attacking football I've seen in 60 years of watching the game." The Liverpool team who turned up yesterday (minus Steven Gerrard) couldn't have been more different in terms of how they approached the game. Unfortunately their dull safety-first brand of football was able to win them the match. But it was unadulterated tedium to watch. The beautiful game? Not at Ewood yesterday....

From Alan's link: "He was promised that he had a glittering future within the corporation before he left Southampton last summer." Well after Southampton were relegated to the second tier of football last season for the first time since 1978 (a season last year in which Le Saux appeared to be more interested in travelling up and down the country to commentate on matches for the Beeb rather than concentrating on the relegation battle he was involved in) - Le Saux should have done the decent thing and offered his services to Southampton in Division 1/ The Championship this season to try to help them out of the mess he and his Saints team-mates created by getting relegated. Unfortunately, I suspect Mr Le Saux saw long-term pound signs in his head in terms of a career with the BBC - where he probably planned to stay for several years until quitting last week in a fit of pique. It was perhaps typical of Le Saux's temperament. When things don't go his way, he spits his dummy out - like throwing his Chelsea shirt at the bench after getting upset at being substituted during a game in his first spell at the Bridge. Rovers signed him shortly afterwards and he won a Premiership medal with us. He should have been damned grateful to Rovers for signing him after he disgraced himself at Chelsea - but instead he was happy to walk out on our club. I gather that Le Saux plans to write an autobiography soon, where he'll no doubt give a sob story about being hard done to by the BBC. On a different note, but still related to football pundits - forgive me if I've mentioned this point before - but I think it's an absolute joke that the BBC have hired the services of Mick McCarthy as an analyst and match summariser for the World Cup this summer. How can this useless and tactically inept Premiership manager have any credibility when it comes to speaking on TV about the world's best players, when he failed so utterly abysmally with Sunderland? It looks like they'll go down with the worst top flight points total in history and I know Mick likes to spin the yarn about not having had any money to spend last summer - but the truth is that they spent a similar amount to Wigan before the start of this season. If I was a Sunderland fan I'd be disgusted to see Mick McCarthy on the box this summer after the tripe he served up this season.

Agreed. Correct Allan. Our midfield display was deplorable and our defensive marking was shocking at times. Rovers strolled onto the pitch as if it was a gentle training ground exercise rather than a match of huge significance. From the opening minute we allowed Portsmouth to take control of the match and create a host of chances. We could have been 3-0 down after half an hour, before Bellamy's opening world class strike. The match stats for yesterday's goal attempts tell a damning story - Portsmouth 23, Rovers 4. Pompey were able to carve through our midfield like a knife through butter. I was frankly disgusted with the performance of most of the Rovers players on show - Bellamy and Friedel excepted. Even the normally reliable Ryan Nelsen made some defensive mistakes. Todorov was given acres of space to head home the Pompey equaliser. Just prior to that, Stefanovic was also left completely unmarked from a free-kick - fortunately he headed over the bar from a few yards out. Scandalous defending by Rovers. Mark Hughes prides himself on having a good defensive platform, but our marking at times was like that of a schoolboy team. Clearly some serious issues need to be addressed after yesterday's game, and I'd suggest that Hughes and the Rovers coaching staff should sit the players down on Monday morning to go through a video of the Fratton Park horror show - pointing out that for most of the Rovers players this was a completely unacceptable performance. As far as the outfield players are concerned, only Craig Bellamy can have any pride in that display. Since losing 3-2 to Spurs, where we played well without any reward at White Hart Lane, I would argue that we've since had four hugely disappointing performances - lacklustre against Aston Villa at Ewood Park, an off the boil display against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, an inept performance against Wigan last Monday and yesterday's feeble show at Fratton Park. (Bellamy and Friedel excluded from any blame.) Coming at a crucial stage of the season, this downwturn in form is a cause for concern. Midfield is the key area in football and at the moment we look like a team of cloggers. Robbie Savage failed to close Pompey down for their first goal yesterday and if Steven Reid and MGP think they are potential Man United players on this performance, then they're having a laugh. Portsmouth is home to the Mary Rose museum, and like the visitors who come to see some of the artefacts from the famous old ship, so Mark Hughes also needs to survey the wreckage of yesterday's ghastly performance. On Thursday night Hughes was at Selhurst Park to play in a charity match for the former Palace player (and one-time Rovers target) Geoff Thomas who is sadly fighting leukaemia. Maybe Sparky should have donned his boots again yesterday for the Pompey game. Unlike our shower in midfield, at least he might have been able to pass the ball properly and win a few tackles. Where was the passion and drive from our midfield yesterday? It was non-existent. Some of MGP's spectacular goals earlier in the season perhaps blinded a few people to his weaknesses. He has a tendency to go missing for long periods, especially in away matches where he doesn't get into the game enough. Rovers went onto the Fratton Park pitch on Saturday knowing that Spurs had already beaten Man City and this was a game we needed to win. They failed dismally. Don't let Bellamy's wonder goals detract from the fact that this was in many respects an appalling display from Rovers. Portsmouth, incidentally, is also the birthplace of Charles Dickens and if any Rovers fans still have Great Expectations of qualifying for the Champions League, they should forget 'em after yesterday's shambles.

I have to agree with those points. We were very disappointing for large periods of the match. When a team plays poorly, I always look at the midfield first - as it's the engine room and heartbeat of the side. We were sloppy with our passing in midfield and didn't create enough quality crosses from wide positions. Bentley and Pedersen were disappointing. Steven Reid was average - not hitting the heights of some of his previous performances. Wigan were defending deep and we needed to stretch them from wide positions and play some incisive passes from midfield. But unfortunately that didn't happen. Shefki Kuqi, despite his goal, is technically dire. His first touch and control is woeful for a player at the highest level.

Glenda still bitter about being sacked by Spurs and England There was more softly-spoken Irish blarney from Mr O'Leary on Saturday night after they were thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal. Ask O'Leary why his team have lost heavily again and he gets on-message. "I know where we need to improve and where we need to buy new players, but the situation that the club is in means that is not viable," he says. I wonder if he's trained his parrot to recite that statement as he well as he does.... O'Leary always likes to give the impression he hasn't been able to spend a penny in the transfer market at Villa Park. He pleads poverty, but I gather he's spent £23 million on players since he arrived at the club - including such midfield gems as Djemba-Djemba and Mathieu Berson. As with Glenn Hoddle, who upset the England squad by writing his infamous World Cup diary, O'Leary also upset the dressing room at Elland Road when he wrote a book for his own financial gain: "Leeds United On Trial". He spent over £100m at Leeds and now finds himself in the bottom five of the Premiership with Villa - who aren't completely safe from relegation yet. Instead of pleading poverty at Villa Park, when will Mr O'Leary take responsibility for his own transfer blunders? "Please Sir, can I have some more...."

Another link on the story below: Le Saux spits his dummy out. It seems that in the battle of the handbags betweeen Mark Lawrenson and Le Saux, Graeme lost out. He was informed that he wouldn't be commentating on the major England games this summer - and in typical style he spat his dummy out. Oh well....