Rooney did a decent job under extraneous circumstances at Derby. His stint at DC United was unremarkable so other than the fact that he is Wayne Rooney - a once wonderful player - why did Birmingham hire him? If Lampard and Zola are in the frame it seems like Tom Brady and his mates are falling for the celebrity line again. Both are failures in management. I'm all for them getting the job though as it will benefit Rovers. Was it Brian Clough who had a blank chapter in his book titled "what the average chairman knows about football."

It would but I'm in the loss camp again. Leeds are too strong. Leicester won easily at Ewood, Leeds are the other team in the division who look a class above and are likely to do the same. Roves don't have the greatest record against Leeds either. Rovers won - 32 Leeds won - 47 Draw - 23

They were. City couldn't get out of their own half. It does seem different this year. I don't think Arsenal's squad is anything special (Saliba, Odegaard, Rice, Saka, aside) but they are ploughing on. Liverpool's only loss was controversial yet they look shaky at the back. Spurs but are entertaining. Maddison's injury is a shame for them. Emery has Villa playing well. I saw them against Liverpool early on and they were poor. City will bounce back, De Bruyne will return, and if needed they'll splash the cash in January. They seem to suffer without Rodri. Kovacic, Nunes, and disappearing act Kalvin Phillips can't replicate what he does. Stones played in midfield last night. As good as Rodri is he is slow and is good for a booking, especially for one of Guardiola's "tactical" fouls when someone gets the wrong side of him. He was banned for last night's game after accumulating 5 yellows. He's also been sent off this season. Even further down teams aren't rolling over. Wolves, Palace, Bournemouth get the odd result. Burnley and Sheff Utd are the worst 2 teams in the division. Luton have no quality at all but are making a fist of it, especially at home. Man U and Chelsea played last night. Ordinarily this game would have been hyped up to no end yet it was an afterthought. Between them they won 9 of the 11 titles on offer from 2004-05 to 2014-15. Both teams are so far away from getting back there. They have spent so much money on who knows what. Fernandez, Mudryk, and Caicedo, cost Chelsea over £300m. Man U paid £80m for Antony, £70m+ for Hojlund. Imagine if they didn't sign those 5 and instead donated that money to football league teams. Neither team would be worse off and all 72 league clubs would have £6m to work with.

I heard a story years ago that Rovers wanted Gary McAllister from Leeds. Howard Wilkinson said no, so Rovers came back with "how about Batty then?" They said yes and I'm glad that they did. He was superb for Rovers. He won player of the season ahead of Shearer. He spent most of the title season injured. Then left for Newcastle not too long after.

ESPN has a couple of articles up at the moment criticising him too. He scored 30 goals last season, but only 5 the season prior. I rate Rashford. I have said time and again that he needs to leave Man U in order to improve. He's too comfortable. Him being a hometown boy has allowed him to get away with what he has. Fans will give him more leeway, and it looks like managers do too.

One aspect of watching Premier League over here is that I rarely, if ever, listen to pundits after games. I am stuck with them at half time but there is no match of the day to watch at night so no chance for enlightened chat. City-Spurs was an interesting game. I thought that Spurs were awful. They should have been 4 or 5 down by half time. Far too much stupid play at the back followed by bad decision making when attacking. Emerson Royal was an accident waiting to happen. He looked about as steady as someone on a unicycle holding plates of jelly. Liverpool played every game available in 2021-22 and suffered for it last season. City are doing much better but something is missing. They are conceding far too many goals, and De Bruyne isn't going to fix that when he's back,. Speaking of Liverpool, they are also conceding goals far too regularly. They were miles better than Fulham but couldn't keep them out, and it took a late flurry to win it. As for Man U. Another woeful performance. I don't think that Ten Hag is the magical coach many want him to be.

I'm not doubting that there are dodgy UEFA officials. What I am saying is that referees are not on the take. Both the on pitch and in room VAR officials are making colossal errors due to one second guessing the other leading to indecision. There isn't a Mr. Big at UEFA HQ telling them what decisions to make to influence games. Nor are the Emiratis, Saudi, Qataris, and other big pocketed owners showering referees with jewels. In years past it has happened. Marseille. The dodgy Belgian (I think) ref from years back who admitted taking bribes. Franco's influence on Real Madrid teams, and who knows what the former iron curtain teams were up to in the 70's and 80's. The amount of money in European football, and the blanket prevalence of gambling makes it too much of a risk to upset it.

Go on then, fill me in on the details.

I'm with you, this has got a Rovers loss written all over it. Chance for 5 away wins in a row. Playing bottom of the league. Potential bad weather. Current division top scorer riding high. Up to 7th.

The referees aren't. UEFA officials live in a murky world. They aren't bent like FIFA but I'm sure there is a lot of influencing going on.

I usually start at CL thread at the start of the group stages but haven't been bothered yet. I'll get one going once the knockout stages start. The ref was in the middle for the World Cup final last year. He is usually top notch. It came out earlier today that although UEFA have not admitted that a mistake was made the VAR ref has been booted from his duties in a CL game today. It was a farcical decision I don't buy the corruption angle at all. UEFA would love Mbappe in the final every year so fan boys will watch but it won't happen. Due to the relatively low standard of Ligue Un PSG players don't face enough tough games that creates the mental resolve needed for late-stage CL knock out matches, especially over 2 legs. They did get screwed a few years ago when Man U knocked them out. Rashford scored a dubious VAR awarded penalty in stoppage time. To go through Newcastle must win in Milan and need PSG not to win in Dortmund.

I'd be hard pressed to name many players not affiliated with the "big 6". I'd struggle mightily if they were dressed in street clothes. If I knew the player I also used to be able to name every team they had played for. Not a chance now. Panini sticker books were a fixture of my youth.

Fair point. If someone isn't interested then leave it alone, it's the moaning and groaning about it that comes across as being sour. I am a Rovers fans but I don't have the passion for them and them alone like many on here do, and from what you are saying it happens across the board. I have always loved football but must be in the minority. I can watch every Prem game every week if I so desire as I have a subscription to NBC. Without it I'd still get 4 live games every weekend. I get 2 Championship games a week with ESPN+ but as much as I like football watching the likes of Swansea v QPR is too much for me. Games are also on much earlier here so I can watch on Saturday morning and still have the rest of the day free. It causes less disruption than being on at 3, 5, or 7.30.

Birmingham, Millwall, and Bristol City have also changed managers since the start of the season. Birmingham's seems to be the stupidest decision. Rooney is doing a terrible job. Contrast to the Premier League where not one manager has yet lost their job. 5 had gone by this time last year.

Yet another international break is upon us. England play Malta and North Macedonia in the last round of qualifiers. Squad here; ESPN - England squad Lewis Dunk, Callum Wilson, and James Maddison are injured so Southgate has brought in Ezri Konsa, Cole Palmer, and Rico Lewis. No Sterling again. He had a very good game yesterday too.

I know that many on this board naysay anything that isn't Rovers related but the Chelsea-City game was superb. City's metronome passing routines went out of the window, Chelsea caused them all sorts of problems, themselves too.

Rovers have 3 main problems; no decent central striker, a recurring knack of conceding late goals., and little in the way of a strong physical presence Szmodics is keeping the team alive with his goals. If he had someone to share the goal load with Rovers would be in a playoff spot. PNE's winner was the 11th conceded after the 75th minute. Unless new signings arrive in January Rovers will yoyo between 8th and 15th until the end of the season.

There is a world of difference between a fan dying in his 70's vs. those who died for their country. I'm with @only2garners, if it does warrant any action it should be separate.

City don't look their usual at the moment. De Bruyne missing probably has a lot to do with that. They've already lost 2 games, one of those to Arsenal. They'll probably win it but it will be close. Arsenal and Liverpool will push them. We will see if Liverpool's draw at Luton was an aberration once the other top teams have been there. The atmosphere was raucous and felt like a cup tie.

Spurs-Chelsea was extremely watchable madness. Udogie and Romero should have both been sent off for their first incidents. Udogie jumped in two footed. Luckily Sterling saw him and jumped out of the way. Romero decided to pull a Beckham on Colwill. It was checked and the VAR officials left it. Very odd. Why Chelsea were passing it around the back when Spurs were playing so high up was beyond me. Mudryk and Jackson are seriously quick. I'd have had them stand on the halfway line and go at every opportunity. Chelsea may have won but they are still a mess. Jackson scored 3 but doesn't look like a striker. Spurs showed some character, although they were let down by the players sent off. Worse for them are the injuries. Maddison dropped to the floor after a run, nobody touched him, and van de Wen would be out for a while depending on how bad his hamstring injury is.

Worse than the Spurs-Liverpool fiasco? This one is subjective, albeit lots of different incidents bundled into 1. I'd have still given the goal. I like this explanation; ESPN: VAR review. Arteta and Arsenal were way over the top with their reaction.

Rovers should have ben out of sight after 20 minutes. 2 good goals and there should have been 2 more. Rovers played well, Norwich were poor. Tim Sherwood used to get plenty of stick for giving the ball away, but he tried to make aggressive passes. Wharton is trying the same. If one of them would have come off there would have been a very good scoring opportunity. Szmodics doesn't look 100% fit. The keeper doesn't look convincing either. I'd like to see a 3rd Rovers goal, preferably early. I have to give a hat tip to the Rovers fans at the game. Every time Shane Duffy got the ball it coincided with loud booing. It forced the commentator doing ESPN's coverage to explain why Rovers fans were doing it. He said that Duffy's last 11 games for Rovers included him scoring 4, 3 own goals, and 2 sendings off. He then clarified that his last game Duffy scored 2 own goals and was sent off. Well done commentator. Yet another seedy incident explained to a wider audience.

Why don't stadiums have cameras situated level with the goal lines? Do the corner flags get in the way? I actually think it was a goal. The VAR angle seemed to show green next to the ball and the line but it wasn't conclusive. They shouldn't have bothered looking at other 2. It wasn't a foul nor was Gordon offside. I liked the game too. It was short on chances but there was lots of full-blooded play. Havertz was lucky to stay on, and Guimares should have been sent off for elbowing Jorginho. Wolves got screwed again. It was never a penalty.

My dad told me to use it on my boots when I was a kid - late 80's. It didn't last long. It was too sticky, didn't really help, and by then boot technology had improved so it wasn't needed. I did spend hours polishing them though.

Speaking of scams; BBC: Bankman-Fried found guilty of fraud Crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud yesterday. He's going to spend a long time in jail. I won't touch crypto with a 10 foot pole. I have a mate who is well into it. His take is that it's like playing with fire, and unless you know what you are doing you'll get burnt.