Lilleshall was a disaster from the beginning. It was set up at the height of England's 1980's long ball era. The coaches who worked there picked the biggest 15 year old footballers in England and put them on the "fast-track" to international stardom. A few made it, I think Michael Owen was one, but far too many didn't. The academy system is pretty new to me as I wasn't in Blighty when it was conceived, but from what I know it lengthened the old 2 year YTS contracts to 3, called them scholarships and made kids concentrate more on football and education rather than picking litter up after home games. Also clubs can have teams at under 8 level which was previously not allowed. I don't think academies are a bad thing, I also think England will also always produce good footballers, it is the coaching that needs to be improved across the board. Too many still rely on what they did when they played (hoof the thing as far as possible) rather than trying to make players better.

I agree with the comments on the idiotic press. I agree that England players underperform on the world stage. I agree that McClaren looks lost right now. I also wonder why Jermain Jenas gets into the England squad consistently. Is his bench warming technique the best around? He shouldn't have gone to the WC and shouldn't be playing now. As for Robinson. If Gary Neville had passed the ball outside the line of the goal a wiff would have given them a corner. Robinson's positioning was bad, he should have asked for the ball outside of his near post. If he'd have done did this there would have been no problems. This is not an issue anymore (well it will be for a while now) but after Euro 1992 (the last tournament where keepers could pick up the ball from a back pass) coaches all over the place were worried about keepers who didn't have the skill to control a ball, so many decided to teach players that when they passed it back to so so outside the lines of the goal, hopefully negating comedy own goals. Keepers were also taught where to receive them. In the years since goalies have become more comfortable with a ball at their feet and this practice has died down.

Looks like a disgruntled fan had a go at England on the way home. The spin in the article is nauseating; the whole thing must have been written by Rooney's PR man. Rooney gives V's to fan?

It looks like Theno used to coach Rover6 judging by his comments.

This must be a first but I agree with Blue Phil and Rover6. I don't know how kids are taught today. I remember what happened to me; lots of shouting, fitness training, and self serving coaches. Has it changed? I know they restructured the Schools of Excellence and YTS schemes to supposedly develop better players by having small sided games but I've heard scare stories of 8 year olds being offered 1 year deals with clubs then being fired off with their career in tatters. How does youth coaching work? Does anoyne on here do it? I coach a gang of 8 year olds over here and all we do is skills work with them.

It was brilliant. Borat's grinning face right behind Robinson as the second goal went in.

Good article RTH. It sums up what happens with England. I got really mad about it during the WC and I did yesterday too. I know the players have to drum up support but all this pride and passion bo!!ocks does my head in. That should be expected when you represent your country. They should have the tactical and technical abilities to do their jobs, but they don't. English players are not as technically gifted as many of our European counterparts. It is obvious to see on a weekly basis in our league and watching other European leagues. They don't have the polished look like the Italians or Portuguese. In the past passion and our up and at 'em style won us games. Now we go for the more measured approach and our lack of ability lets us down when we play quality nations. I saw a few highlights and it looked like Lampard had another dire performance. When will he get the hoof? I was watching him for Chelsea the other week and it was plainly obvious to me (even though I was looking for it) that he is a passenger. His midfield partners do all the leg work for him and the rest of the team tire out the opposition then Lampard has the freedom of the park to spray passes around. He does not have that luxury at international level. As for being fickle, we are Rovers fans; fickle is in our make up.

Beckham should have gone after Euro 2004. He didn't and hung on until he gracefully resigned before McClaren pushed him 2 years later. I still think he is a good player, I would love to see him in a Rovers shirt as Tugay's replacement, but as far as England goes he is the pin up of an old regime, bringing him back in would only destabilise McClaren's authority. The England boss wanted to make his mark and craft his own team and Beckham was the fall guy.

Please. I'll have to have a look at your posts before making a judgement about your obvious footballing genius. Beckham was the only person allowed to take any of the above when Sven was in charge (maybe a marketing plan by the FA). Every time England had a dead ball kick during the WC he was scarpering over to join in. Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Carrick, Hargreaves can all strike a good ball, are they so much worse than this new found boy wonder. At least Phil Neville doesn't get the same media attention that Beckham gets. I wonder why? Beckham is not up to it for England, and hasn't been for a while now.

Again I did not see the game, and again judging by the reactions so far I'm glad I didn't. I'll reserve a proper grumble for when I've seen more. I do believe that there is no place for a 3-5-2 formation in a very difficult away game. That style went out of favour about 10 years ago. McClaren needs to get out of Sven's shadow, and that is one way of doing it. The calls for Beckham's recall are laughable. Whilst he is still a good footballer he is past it at international level. All he can do is cross it.

The Departed was excellent. I recommend it. There was also a trailer for 300; that one doesn't look to be my cup of tea. I also liked Gangs of New York.

Didn't see the game, and glad I didn't as it seems like normal service has resumed from our overpaid footballing representatives. We will qualify, we will go into the tournament as favourites in the bookies' eyes, we will play like donkey's there, apart from 1 game, and we will go out on penalties. Well done Scotland, no vitriol from me here, I'd rather they win than France.

Kuqi? We got him for nothing, he scored a few goals, gave us a luagh or two and we sold him for a huge profit. What is bad about that? As usual with this debate posters' ages really matter. The older folk who saw us languishing with no money saw some tripe. Woy Hodgson era fans saw some very expensive dross. Davies was crap, but I will never understand why we signed Darren Peacock; one of a long line of awful Newcastle cantre halves that is still being added to.

I've just skimmed the message board and decided to put this here. We have 3 threads dedicated to what is bad about the national game; bungs, high ticket prices, and illegal TV. How strange is football? The game has been full of dodgy characters for years, and always will be. Clubs now want to make as much money as possible rather than breaking even to field a team. TV is always in it for TV too. I am beginning to seriously wonder why so many people continue to pay silly money to watch this sport, get mad when folk don't go, and travel vast distances to support a gang of overpaid thickos. I should have no room to talk as I contribute to the mess by subscribing to a channel that costs extra every month. It's getting to the point where I really do not want to bankroll a soulless idiot's latest flashy suit. But what else can I do? I've been football mad since I was a kid. Any ideas? Grass roots is great, I do my bit, but I still like watching top class football.

Reports say that Nelsen will now be out until Christmas.

Some argue that BRFC started the wage war. When Jack Walker came to the helm, we couldn't get players by impressing them with our training facilities (Pleasington playing fields), our ground (pre-developed Ewood), or our history (languishing for 20+ years in the lower leagues). Instead we paid them more than anyone else. I don't subscribe to this view but we have and still do pay more than most teams. Players are paid what the market is wiling to give them, until the money dries up they will always make extortionate amounts. Ashley Cole is only acting like any other self indulgent thick footballer and saying what he believes is true. I don't blame the bloke for what he says regarding money as I'd love to earn half of what he does. Fans complaining about him or wages/game prices in general can stop it very easily; stop going to games, subscribing to Sky, or going to the boozer to watch. The choice is yours.

Rovers were not up to par against the Blades. Plenty of possession but no cutting edge; much like the Chelsea game. It isn't looking too bright right now but I'm not going to slit my wrists. We were tidy but didn't do much else. It will be very hard for us to emulate last season, mid table obscurity I think. It's being discussed in the MGP hides thread but his corners were pathetic. Why he tries it every time is beyond me. It's like Roberto Carlos; he scored 1 free kick years ago and he thinks it gave him a right to take every free kick until he reitres.

Looks like Sparky Marky has been on the morbid juice. Henchoz is a capable back up, Huth cost too much money. I think it's a good signing. I do think it's funny that some are trying to have a go at him because he said that Blackburn was a dump. The bloke comes from Switzerland, a nice place, Blackburn is in the wet windy grey North West of England; he's right. But drive 10 miles out and you have some beautiful places.

I'm still sick of England and all the sucking up the press are giving them. Once they beat a World Class team when it matters I'll start being happy about them again. All reports I've read have Lampard playing badly again. On the bright side we have 6 points, no goals against, and an easy qualifying group.

I hope they throw the book at the thug. He's been doing it for years looking at the evidence at hand. I've now read that players are coming out and saying that he is a nice lad. I've also read stuff in the past saying that he's the biggest nutcase in the dressing room. There is obviously something wrong with the lad, but given that he can play football all will be forgiven.

This game is on tape delay (2:15pm EST) on Fox Soccer in the USA . Hopefully this time we can show the world that we aren't relegation fodder, which is what everyone will start saying on here if we don't win.

Pass the rope please. I know how this messageboard can overreact so I'm not surprised by some of the comments posted. The ever predictable cries of "Useless", "Championship here we come", and "Overpaid primadonnas" only seem to materialise after a defeat. It was the first game of the season, we were not at the races. There will be other games this season when this will happen, will we get the same prophecies then too? We are one game in to a 38 game season. We ahve plenty of time to put it right, Wednesday will be a different tale. Calm down.

I don't think so. I think Hughes wanted him to stay all along.

I don't know if this one counts but Paul Dalglish has just signed for the Houston Dynamos of the MLS. He played for our reserves a few times when his dad was in charge.

I agree with Den and Dave. Fans' always have a pantomime villain. We've had a few in past seasons now only Emerton fits the bill. Wilcox used to get slated for the exact same things I'm reading about Emerton; now he's a hero. Dave's right about the fans; we have no idea what goes on. I'll wager that it is far easier for Hughes to keep Emerton who knows the training, knows the system and knows the players, making it easy for the manager to stick with him rather than getting a new player in who is supposed to be better but has no idea of how Rovers are. Familiarity really helps football teams, managers would rather keep their players for as long as they can as it makes preparation much easier. I think the topic headline is absurd. How can a current player signing a new deal hurt our team? Myopic and stupid are words I would use.