No that'd be Wild Rover. Final Countdown...should go away forthwith

What's that song that blares over the speakers when Rovers go in for half-time? Oh and GO ROVERS!! Reid instrumental in that econd goal....His improving game will make the Tugay contract talks a bit more interesting....if he can keep it up...

Can't see Rovers letting us down in this one. Confidence is soaring in players who needed it most (Reid, Savage, Kuqi, Gamst) and our home form is still quite nice. 3-1 Savage 27' Bellamy 45(+2) Some random bloke from Portsmouth who'll probably score a complete freak goal 53' Kuqi 81'

I'm pretty sure a Championship level club will be calling him in. While he won't be setting the Premiership alight any time soon, he'll probably come good not far down the ladder and who knows he could perhaps get another club promoted and into the next level. Good luck Matty and we'll always remember you!

*sigh* Shillito...why must you burst my bubble.... Predicting goals and times of goals isn't for a contest, it's just what you look for..nothing more, nothing less...

After Savage's "great game" (I didn't get to see the game, thus the quotes) on Wednesday, was his performance on Sunday as good as Wednesday or sub-par?

Screw the "Sunderland's our bogey team" or "We're bound to have a set-back after two clutch wins" craziness. We are great at home(Everton and Newc aside), we are on a high and we have most of our team back healthy (Bellamy most notably). Sunderland eaked out a point against Bolton who are nowhere near unbeatable and this causes concern for the Blackburn faithful? I understand the notions of "Oh God, this just can't continue" but come on people! I'm not saying it'll be a walk in the park, but we'll enjoy a 3-1 game.... Stead (probably not, but if one of 'em has to, I'd like it to be him) 31' Kuqi 42' Bellamy 63' Bellamy 88'

As last Wednesday's game was supposed to be Savage's best performance in a Rover's shirt thus far, how was he in this contest? Did he have a great game or was he sub-standard. I'd like it if he was performing better and better each match, but as I wasn't able to view either of these contests I'd like to see what some of the people who did get the opportunity had to say...

I know the thread is pretty specific to the club shop in Blackburn, but I must say that the club shop on-line is pretty p1ss-poor for a Premiership side as well. I have only purchased a few items on-line, not because of a stingy attitude but because of two things which are inter-related in my opinion. 1) Lack of selection - The shop has the standard fare opf replica kits, key chains, etc. But where are the ties, the rugby shirts (The one MHughes wears all the time is quite nice), kid blankets, bed sheets for the kiddo's, etc.? As you grow older you really only buy a few things for yourself, but there should be some consideration for the kids. You get the brand instilled in them young and they'll carry it out through thick and thin all their lives usually. Sure kids aren't the ones spending their 5 quid allowances on merchandise, but when they do start having disposable income, they'd either pay for merchandise or go to the game or both. I'm off on a tangent here, sorry...on to point #2... 2) I usually don't buy a kit every year because I know that every year the kit will be out-dated. We've gone from TIME, to AMD to Lonsdale in three years and next year we'll have someone else's name emblazoned on our front. In this, maybe I am a bit picky, however for the stores how can they justify purchasing a whole slew of merchandise when they know that if they don't sell it THIS year it will become outdated and have to be sold for peanuts. At least if the sponsor was signed on for four or five years the store could buy alot of merchandise and if there is some left over, they could sell it again the next year without anyone knowing the wiser (as long as it's not season specific, or a departed player of course). As for the quality of the merchandise I have purchased over the internet, I must say that I cannot complain, but then again I don't wear the stuff as much as I could (It's just too d@mned hot down here in Texas for 3/4 of the offered merchandise). So what I suggest is, look for a solid steady sponsor for 4-5 years, invest a bit in contracting new lines of merchandise and watch the returns come flowing in. As for customer service..I work in the Hotel Industry so don't get me started on the lack of customer service...that gets my arse chapped every time.

Great preview Colin. Agreed we should definately win this one. Dickov gets yet another goal and Gamst follows to remain joint leaders in goals for the team and Big Bri gets a goal for Fulham in the last seconds of the game. Sounds good to me!

Good result for us when we needed it the most! Patched up and limping after the gift we gave to Everton and two KEY members of our squad out I figured we'd have struggled to win much less put up a 3 spot. But we squeaked through and we're back knocking on the Top 10's door. I wish Savage could have gotten at least one of the post clangers to go in, but I guess t was not to be. I'm glad that Big Brad didn't have a momentary lapse of reason like last weekend either. I love Big Brad, but oi vay that McFadden goal last week was atrocious. Forgive and forget. While I am happy I also think that we had to have won this game whether we were banged up or not. West Ham is a club we should have beaten twice or at least gotten 4 points out of. We have to start beating up on the teams we are supposed to be beating up on like many of our opponents in the weeks to come. 12-15 points going into the New Year is indeed quite possible, but more so 12-15 points is quite necessary. If we cannot get these points out of the opponents we have in the stretch to come (injuries or no injuries, compressed schedule or not) then we are doomed to talk of relegation battles going into every season. The good news is we have shown that we can not only beat the cellar dwellers, but also some in form top draw opponents as well. If we can add in a dash of consistency we should be alright, but until then, Rovers Nation will be bricking it like our sponsor was Acme. On to Fulham and on to another 3 points!!! I hope our result is alot like our first meeting. I want a win and I want a McBride goal in their losing effort...4-1 would be nice, but I'm looking at more of a 2-1 affair (Dickov, Gamst, McBride in that order).

This draws makes me sick and pleases me greatly all at once. First of all, the USA has been placed in arguably the hardest Group of all, while Germany get the absolute EASIEST draw. I've never really liked Germany at all (thanks to Olly Kahn) and after last World Cup after Frings' hand ball save I now abhor them and to see them get such an easy draw, hosts or not, makes me sick. They were mediocre in last World Cup and they'll be mediocre again and advance easily. I'm not saying they'll breeze through, but only Serbia&Montenegro instead of Poland would have made it easier for them. As for the Americans , after my initial stomach dropping to the depths of my bowels reaction after I saw US's draw, I realized that this IS the stage to establish legitmacy. A poster said above that we have to beat some real competition once in awhile to be considered in the top 10 in the world and I agree 100%. While the CONCACAF is not anything as easy as Oceania, it is not nearly as tough as Europe, S America or Africa so in order to gain the respect that all of us here in the States so desperately want we have to win on the big stage. I am praying to God, Allah, Buddha and Vishnu that we gain promotion to the second round or else we'll have put up with more "over-rated" talk for another 4 years (and deservedly so, unfortunately). The one thing that gives me absolute delight is that Angola and Togo, the two complete surprises of the Cup have both drawn their former colonizers. Would be great to see them "stick it to the man" in a worldwide competition. If only Namibia could have qualified and Germany could have drawn them...

The basic fact is that the team that converted their chances won the game. That's just as simple as it gets. Yeah we kept pecking away and got close on more than one occasion, but we just couldn't convert. And the fact that Lehmann was the busier of the two goalies just emphasises that. They sliced open our defence three times and made us pay three times. We snuck behind their defence multiple times and converted nowt. Yes I'm happy that the boys never rolled over like some of the other clubs I've seen after going 1-0, 2-0 down on the road, and yes I am happy that they kept plugging away. But I am NOT happy that they wasted so many of the chances that were presented them. When will the team realize that chances are scarce in a professional game and even more so on the road? I was heartened to see that alot of our chances were not far off, but we have to convert SOME of the chances that are presented. Overall I was happy with their display. Plenty of pluck and plenty of entertainment. The clinical side of the squad needs to improve or else we'll be on the wrong side of more of these kind of games where Rovers were the better of the two teams... On a side note, it was good to see that Todd wasn't singled out by the ref or by ignorant Arse players. I did hate to see Savage give in to the horrible play-acting display. The sooner he gets home-sick again and sods off to another team the better. I wouldn't mind taking a monetary loss on him. I'm not saying that he's a useless player, but I just hate that play-acting crap style of play. That is why I cannot watch South American footy is because of that type of display. Shameful. Also was good to see Arsene get shown up by Hughesy. You could just see that Hughes wanted to smack him in the gob, but he settled for knocking the ball out of his hand. Pity, that.

I don't see why there is such reticence to observe a moment of silence for George. Of course for blokes of my generation and younger we have nothing to base it on as we were too young to see him play, but for the older generation/s who did see him, I think they'd have plenty to reflect upon. He was a footballer and a damned good one, so it is appropriate for a moment's silence at the grounds over the weekend. Now flying the flags at half-mast (I'm not sure what you guys do as a national sign of mourning in England) would be a bit over the top, but a moment to respect him as a player, is just right. You could draw many parallels with George Best and Mickey Mantle here in the States. Don't know if Best was idolized as much as Mantle, but the same self-destructive lifestyle ended his career and life prematurely. Thank you Flopsy for that clip. It gave me a chance to see more of Best than I'd ever seen before. I agree with the previous post that while his dribbling is outstanding what I admire most in that clip is that he got hacked multiple times and continued on. THAT is good football. THAT is how it's supposed to be done.

Thanks for that, Den. It's good to see our back four stand strong away from home. And now for next week we have defensive selection problems. But whenever you have selection problems with the defense (other than because of injuries or bad performances) it's the beginnings of a winning squad so I won't complain one bit.

For those who were fortunate enough to watch the match, how did Gray do? Was he stuck back alongside his central defenders for the full 90' or did he make any useful forward runs. I was glad and shocked when he was announced as a starter as I had already resigned myself to the fact that he'd be out for another week or two. Did his play look like his injury was lingering or did he look pretty solid? Other than that, I'm glad for the point. A stolen win would have been better, but beggar's can't be choosers...

ugh sorry...please delete or merge or whatever...sorry mods

Ok, now I know that we've lamented the poor attendance figures almost to death, but is this figure from Saturday's game correct? Can it be that our home opener only attracted 16,593? And excluding the Fulham supporters that leaves us with even less! I just can't fathom it. I know we're a side in a smaller city/town, but we DO have fans outside of the city and Lancashire as well. Not to get too down on us, but if we cannot get more than 16,000 arses in Ewood seats for our home opener of a season, then we're in trouble. All I can say is if Saturday's perfomance doesn't coax another 10,000 fans to Ewood for Newcastle, then we'll need to start buying players from China to gain that market of fans in order to make up for the poor attendance. So what is the deal? Are people just not that enthused about travelling a few hours to see a match or is our Marketing team non-existant? Do we have to adopt a system of giving out promotional items at games to get the kiddies in for a free Tugay bobblehead? Or should we promote a 50 pence beer day to attract the lushes? I mean seriously. We have disenchanted fans who declined to buy a season ticket and we have ticket prices going up. But with the increase of the salary and the value of Premiership quality players, we have to expect that inevitable factor. As for the disenchanted fans, well there's no arguing a man and how he spends his own sizable chunk of money. But the home opener at least!!

Massive game for the confidence of both players and supporters. We need to have a stormer to get the non-season ticket holders enticed to come back or to maybe even travel to an away game or two. We also need a solid performance to instill the confidence in the players that maybe trying a bit of creativity just might work out instead of the back-pass remaining the 1st option. I will be watching the West Ham game tonight (better late than never I suppose) so will be able to see the horrid performances and see for myself how worried I really should be for Fulham.

EDITED

ok guys, not to get embroiled in a debate as to whether Janses was great or not, or whether he'll ever be as good as before, I just want to know what the thread originator asked and that is whether Jansen has looked good, fit, technically back and has he effectively shaken the rust off, or if he's a second late on his reactions or his passes aren't linking up quite yet. We all know his past and his potential, but what for us foreign fans who do not get the benefit of seeing anything outside of the Premier League fixtures, and even that is rare, we'd love to know if those goals he scored were junk goals, or skill goals. Regardless of whether he'll return to his old form or not, does he look servicable or does he look to be the 4th or 5th option?

Do all of Shefki's goals come with the B-1 Bomber celebration dive? Should Hughesy be concerned for any small children that may be around after a goal scored by Shefki? Should Hughesy be concerned for Shefki's health from repeated dive celebrations when he nets 15 goals for us? Hope he gets at least ONE goal for the one game Fox Soccer Channel will televise here in the States so I can see the dive...

A signing who can either take us to Europe, or keep us fighting for our Premiership lives. I think with the history he has with his attitude, fallouts are going to happen, whether with Hughes or fellow players. IF these rows are controlled or repressed within the club, then Rovers will be a happy SCORING lot and I don't see why Europe would be too far-fetched. But as the poster said above, risks are a part of the game and I commend the board for pulling the trigger on this one. NOW since we've got a rapid striker(Bellamy) and a big striker(Kuqi), I think we can finally get back to a two striker formation and get on with it! This will also give Emerton, Reid and Gamst more targets to pick out for crosses and through balls which hopefully elevates their game. Also now we need to start focusing upon the other areas we are lacking like a left-back, some cover at central defender... But to sum it up in a word....FINALLY!

Preston for me. Gets another Lancashire club in the mix and gives us a good derby that will MAYBE fill the sits for at least one fixture....maybe.

thats awesome...any more anti-Everton songs/chants?