I've not posted in a decade, but just felt that I wanted to comment now. I'm a big fan of what JDT has done, and in particular, appreciate the uplift in spirit and atmosphere that he has brought since joining us. 

I've watched our other abject away displays, but yesterday was the first time where I have been really, really disappointed. The selection was baffling - I can understand excluding Adam Wharton, but dropping Scott?! Think Pickering would also have felt hard done by, given his improvement over the last month or so, and having built up a good partnership with Brereton on the left. I really thought JDT would have come out to apologise for that non-performance after the game. I suppose he tried to do so in his comments, but I thought something more explicit was required given the circumstances. I'm prepared to back his calls, including on Dack, but this was a situation where he needed to hold up his hands, in my opinion. 

Anyway, having cooled down overnight, I'm telling myself to not lose sight of the bigger picture. For me, JDT has done very well overall for the first half of the season, and I would give him an A- just based the outcomes he has delivered so far. I'm sure he's not here for a lark, and that every game/result matters to him. I buy that he sees us as a project, but at the same time, I don't buy that he's not shooting for promotion this season. (Even yesterday, watching on ifollow's feed, did anyone catch JDT's reaction to a Buckley mistake down the touchline shortly after coming on? It was a blink and you'll miss it moment, but he was Fergie-mad and jumped off his chair.)

This defeat will have hurt, even if he doesn't say so overtly. The unknown is how JDT and the team reacts after the WC break. I'm quietly optimistic that we will not have a death spiral like in recent years. A big factor would be whether we are able to make a couple of astute additions to the team in January, and this is not on JDT alone - I'm hoping for a striker and a midfielder. The league is so close this year, and you never know what could happen. 

Bents now public enemy number one.

Can't help but think that its only because he plays for dirty little blackburn rovers.

He might not be expecting Pedersen to be around much longer.

Even if Pedersen leaves, I don't think Peter is ready to step up automatically. He still seems raw, and should the unfortunate sale of Pedersen happen, I would be terribly upset if we don't go for a more proven replacement.

At a fixed price of 2m, I don't think we'll keep him. However, in an ideal world, I do think he is worth keeping. He has by and large shown himself to be a good team player, and his holding of the ball is actually very good. I think what will happen though is we'll move heaven and earth to try and tempt bellers back. If we pull it off, jeffers and nonda are both gone. If we dont, I think we might just keep jeffers around as a cheap back-up. Hopefully, that would see Gally given the permanent 4th striker's spot while we shop around for a big name partner to Benni.

I'm not even surprised. I'm pretty sure it happens all the time, and frankly, DB would have a lot more than 2 suitors in my opinion. Certainly those clubs who fancy themselves bigger than us like Newcastle would take him. And I think he could really do well in Man Utd, and I wouldnt even be surprised if Arsenal wants to bring him back. And of course, there's Spurs who wants everybody. But that said, my point is, if we're not kidding ourselves, surely this is an expected development. I'm pretty certain it happened with Pedersen last season. The main thing is how Bentley conducts himself. Having just signed a new 5 year deal on improved wages, and the way he has settled here, I'm optimistic that he will stay. Unless its one of the top 4 wanting him, then he might be off. (As i type this, i suddenly realise that he would fit into Chelsea's team too... not impossible especially now that they want to go British) Anyone else and i'm not too worried.

PS: With regards to tapping up... didnt we do it to a certain with Savage and Dunny too?

I was thinking the same thing. I don't actually believe the Brown handball should have been given, but neither should the Keane penalty yesterday, but it was.

The brown handball this weekend was almost identical to his other handball incident, which was given (lucash converted the penalty) in the 4-3 for us last season. Where's the consistency?

I can't give you guys any link because the article isn't available online, so please dont shoot the messenger.

The Straits Times (Singapore's national daily) has quotes from benni taken from the "United Review" ahead of tomorrow's match, linking him with a summer move to them, stating that he has a 5m clause and that "If the big clubs want you, then they will get you. If Blackburn is offered the money, then of course i'm interested".

Now, few points to ponder. 5m for a 29-30 yr old 18 goal forward. What do you guys think? It is afterall double the amount we paid for him. More pertinently of course, I've not heard of this clause anywhere on this board (or elsewhere for that matter). Does it exist?

I would say in the context of the Carrick and SWP fees in recent years that we are probably going to get a bid for around 12m this summer from one of the big four for Bentley. In that light would anyone accept it?

My personal opinion would be with Sparky's outstanding transfer record is that we probably would come out of it better than we are now (look at the Neill-Warnock situation), especially if we managed to get in a top class partner for McCarthy. In Reid we have a very good right winger coming back from injury. Dunn can also perform out there. Providing both of them progress I am not actually sure that we would be that much worse equipped on the right.

We might well be losing an excellent Tugay replacement though in the longer term. But can we realistically hope to keep him in the longer term?

Nonetheless outstanding performance from him today. Great to see a Rover succeed, and obviously I would be delighted if he stayed.

in light of the new bumper tv deal, prices are bound to be inflated. if you consider that a defender like micah richards was being touted around the 12m mark this january, i will reject a 12m bid for bentley out of hand. Besides, bentley for now seems to be happy staying here, although he could quite easily get into one of the top 4 sides. Hopefully there's no clause in that new contract he just signed!

Nice to see Bents and derbs celebrating together. Derbs ran straight to Bentley.

Got a warm rovers glow at the moment.

Bentley ran straight to derbs following the 2nd goal as well to congratulate him on the assist, ignoring the pile of players celebrating with routledge. Class.

Goal by derbs! Doing us proud, bentley and derbs.

Assist by derbs!

can't believe bentley missed out again. this is biasedness at its extreme. what must the guy do to get a call up?! Surely he's on better form than SWP who has seriously regressed this term.

neill's been made west ham skipper! not that i'm happy, just surprised.

Rovers duo Paul Gallagher and Matt Derbyshire have both signed contract extensions with the club that'll see them contracted until summer 2010.

To be pedantic, have you got a link to the above?

Seriously though, delighted with this piece of news. To those who thought gally was going to be sold, clearly this is not going to happen in the near future now. Both promising players, they could turn out to be our front pairing in a couple of years, though the likelier situation is them occupying 2 of 4 striking positions, not necessarily as the first choice pair.

Are you a messy eater or something?

It's 12.40am here.. not the time for cereal yet! lol

*dons protective shield in case of flak*

I'm ambivalent about dunny coming home. No doubt i like him, but i take issue with the price we're paying. Assuming we've matched Bolton's offer of 1m upfront and 1m on appearances, it still means a total outlay of 2m for a player in the final 6 months of his contract, who has played 53 times in the last 3 years. That for me, is just not rational economically. Should we be getting dunny on a free transfer in july, i'll be much happier. The homecoming would have been much more 'rational', and bringing him back would have then been a calculated gamble.

I understand that he is a local lad who bleeds blue and white blood, but having such a desire is useful only insofar as he stays fit enough to play week in week out. For the camp who thinks 2m is a fair price, I unfortunately have to disagree, and my opinion is that the 'fairness' is a function of the blue and white lenses we all wear 24/7.

Consider, we already have a very similar case in francis jeffers, who we got on a free (and on a pay-as-you-play deal at that!), who still invites criticisms of being a waste of space and a has-been. His circumstances are vastly similar to dunn - lots of talent, lots of potential in his younger days, lots of injury problems, havent played a whole lot. The only difference is that jeffers was essentially everton blue, while dunny is rover blue, and hence dunny is getting all the hype of a 'homecoming'.

Personally, I'm not convinced. But that said, finances and decisions on transfers are out of my, and our, hands. As supporters, we shall just cheer dunny on, and I personally hope my opinion is proved wrong!

(ps: my main gripe is that 2m could have gone towards a more 'established' or less injury prone midfielder of a suitable quality, or it could in itself secure us a fairly useful left back, rather than being gambled on a 'risky' dunny).

I heard on SSN this morning that Lucas' "dream move" to Liverpool could be off due to his excessive wage demands. Oh how I laughed!!!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/tm_...-name_page.html

follow up link to above story. that greedy aussie!

It can't be that old, it must be from this year.

to be pedantic, i dont think it's this year (2007).

it must however be from this season... notice the coca cola league patch on the jersey. but is the food THAT good in birmingham??

If there are overseas fans, or long distance UK fans, who are struggling to get replica kit, or other bits an pieces, we can help through this site. Send me a PM. Can't do it in time for Christmas though

hey mate, are the jerseys still going at 31 pounds a piece?

McCarthy had a very odd day. Had the ball in the net four times, but only one counted. Of the disallowed efforts, one was miles off, another was clearly off and one should have stood. Overall he had a great second half but I hated seeing him go to ground with a pathetic dive when he was in a very dangerous position anyway. If it was Ronaldo we'd be accusing him of ruining the game etc.

i completely agree; looking at the replay, the dive was ridiculous and almost comic. From his position, he could well have had lashed the ball at goal anyway.

As for the general performance, first half was terrible, but the second was great. We really need to be much more consistent now. On the positive side, it looks like last week's goal has done wonders for MGP's form, gray continued to do well, and savage was very good as well.

reading 2

rovers 1 (derbyshire)

The one serious accusation that we can level is he did not bring in a quality central midfielder. Virtually everybody on the board was suprised by that. A player with a real engine in the middle and some passing ability to compliment Savage would have been a real advantage.

If we lose today, which we almost certainly will, then Hughes will for the first time start feeling some pressure.

to be fair to hughes, he was probably banking on that midfielder being reid.

rovers 0

shay given 3

newcastle 2

Charlton 1

Rovers 2 (Mccarthy, Jeffers)

A few months back a fellow Rovers-supporter in Norway asked me a question, that he had the answer to. I did't. I have asked around for a long time now, but I CANNOT find the answer anywhere! Maybe you could help me!?

* Who is the last Blackburn-player who was ENGLISH, played in the DEFENCE, in the Premier League and was COLORED? NOT Marlon Broomes, as he never was a regular in the PL. He told me it was AFTER 94/95, but I'm not so sure...

I find this impossible... Anyone?

I think your friend meant 'coloured' literally. If so, it's michael GRAY, with the pun on his surname as it is phonetically identical with the colour 'GREY'. If however your friend meant 'coloured' as in coloured skin, then marlon broomes is probably your best bet.