Hats off to Bolton for the initiative. I just feel this won't be the kind of marriage they were hoping for. It does however signal some intent and the timing can't do season ticket sales any harm. I just don't feel this fella's head or heart is in the game anymore. Let's see how he likes playing in Lancs about January.

Good luck to them, bit past the sell by date.

We have 6 games left.It is far too late to bring a manager in and expect him to change everything in this short time.If Parkes is put in charge,whats the difference,he is the same voice the players are listening to at the moment,what makes the difference?Nothing.

If we are going down,we are going down,no change will make a difference.Then again if we dont change anything and go down,what will we say.

He does not have to change EVERYTHING, just a few things. Number one instill a fresh breath of life into a much jaded team.

This sack Souness bile really makes me sick.

Can you remember where we were going when Souness took charge of this club. It was going nowhere but down. I myself was a bit apprehensive of us appointing Souness and wasnt expecting great things from him.

But he surpassed all of our expectations, I certainly didnt think in 2000 that season 02-03 would see us placing 6th in the Premier League. Yet, when he was doing well nobody wanted him to go then.

Not really true, when we finsihed 6th there was still plaenty of folk who wanted Souness out, remember to some 6th was not good enough. The words lack of ambition were bandied around, Souness was critcised often.

No one can (with hand on heart) say that Souness did not do a fantastic job. He probably saved this club from a Sheffield Wednesday type demise and if that was all he ever did it would have been enough for me, I would have been eternally grateful. Fact is he's done a lot more thatn that. A cup win, respectable finish first year back and 6th last year. All that is noted and appreciated but there comes a time when a change is needed, when the "players need to hear it from someone else" to quote the great man, it's just that perhaps that time is here.

Our teams performance tomorrow will definitively tell all of us whether that time is now and whether this ex blood and thunder footballer can have some of his passion rub off on to his players. Good luck Graeme, bring us home the 3 points.

The players aren`t giving everything, so why? Is it because they think that there better than every other team that visits Ewood, or is it because there`s a rift between the players and the manager?

I've said it before, it's due to a lack of professionalism in some of our players. A lack of professionalism born from a "I'll be alright Jack" attitude, let's face it, even given the drop quite a few of our players could command similar or better salaries with other teams, they know that.

OUr hope comes in the form of the Gally's and Steads who know they have to give effort to make any impact. Of course if they are subbed and not given enough playing time then eventually they will adopt the same "ah to hell with it why should I bother" attitude, and who could blame them.

An interesting report on how the people of Leeds see the club's plight.

On a seperate decision, I have to say I was pleased to see that Leeds have told Batty he has played his last game for them. If Leeds go out of business, Batty probably played the decisive role in killing them when as PFA rep he scuppered what was probably a done deal to rescue the club ten days ago  if the players had taken the 35% cut then.

A pithy commentary on Leeds players in general.

To be fair to Batty (and the other players) I'm not sure I'd be happy about accepting a pay refferal when there was a good chance the players would never see the reffered money again.  It's not the players' fault that Leeds are in the mess they are in (at least off the field anyway).

What I don't understand about this whole Batty story is why it's been made public.  Eddie Gray could have simply not picked Batty for the rest of the games - why drag the whole thing out into the open?  I can't see what he's trying to achieve.

Awwww didums do poor wittle footballer been told by his employer he's not wanted.  Hey life happens, deal with it. If the suggestions I have heard that he scuppered the lifeline are true then good for Leeds, I mean in our real world would any Corporation or Business keep an employee who tried to destroy them.

The reasoning I came to is this. We know Rovers received in excess of 20 million squid in incoming fees,

But yer Squid doesn't buy what it used to, unless you go shopping in the Asian market.

You could actually be close to the truth there 1864, but I don't think it is a case of him being fired.  I think if anything it would be a case of Souness retiring, the board wishing to hold funds for the new man to start building his team as he sees fit.

 Nationwide Football does not beat thinking about we all know the clubs feelings on that but we must be prepared should the drop happen.  Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

(Gilly's skill was limited but he did try to use his pace now and again).

Never heard a Rovers fans call Gillespie that before, where you been mate? (Or where've I been even?)

The worst thing right now is to have a manager who is semi-detatched and dispondent.

We all have low periods at work and know what helps us get through them. I was just thinking how on earth do you gee yourself up as a football manager?

Why you just have a look at your Paycheck, smile and say gee up I'm on a doddle here.

Dunno if anyone saw Sky's Monday night roundup tonight, but the Liverpool fan on the panel - in the face of far more media pressure and general "hype" than we get - made a fantastic point that I think is relevant to Souness here as well.

The point being that Houllier almost made his own job a poisoned chalice by winning the three cups then having a run in the Champs League - it was built up as the new Liverpool and things would be back to the 70s and 80s.

Now things aren't, Houllier is taking the flak and he probably doesn't deserve it.  Just like Souness doesn't deserve it.

Contrast that with Curbishley at Charlton.  Popular with the media, with fans (their own and in general) but he's never won anything (except a penalty shootout play off v Sunderland).

Charlton are now a bigger club (support wise) than Rovers.  And they're in London.  You'd never know it though.  Curbishley has never exceeded anyones hopes or fulfilled anyones dreams, and has never been near Cardiff - or Europe.

Souness and Houllier have made themselves targets by winning.  Wenger and Ferguson are always on the verge of winning, and Ranieri has joined them (and is great entertainment).  No other manager in the Prem has done sh!t.  Check the list.

Great post tris, I'd never looked at it that way.  Does this mean mediocrity is the best thing to aspire to for a footy manager to keep his job?

Souness Must Go?

Where is the logiic in that? Yes we lost a 3-1 lead, but was Souness the one on the pitcjh who lost it?

Oh please!

By all means, feel free to argue in favour of Souness - but this well-worn argument is totally stupid.

Was Brian Kidd on the pitch when we were stinking up division one?

Was Graham Taylor playing alongside Carlton Palmer for England when he was England boss?

Were they still culpable for the bad results?

Would having Todd and Short, available have made a difference to Souness' "performance" on Saturday?

Sturrock signed a 4 1/2 year contract at Plymouth about a fortnight ago.

You'd have thought rover6 would be aware of that, him being his biggest fan and all that.

Especially since rover6 is Sturrocks agent :'>

Souness should not be sacked.

Anyway this delivery guy came to my door yesterday,  i was wearing my rovers shirt, and he said "has he been sacked" i replied "who " he goes "souness" i then said naa he is doing ok now apart from brum last saturday.

methinks he was a dingle with a crappy job.

Dingles don't have jobs.

The title of this thread seems to have been cut short. Its full title was:

"Souness must go... and buy another overpriced has-been, Nationwide journeyman or a 'star' from one of Europe's minor leagues, give them a daft contract as the wage bill spirals further out of control, sell a few more genuine home grown stars to bail himself out of the financial mess he's created and then sit back and soak up the applause of the jester hat clad morons who blindly back him.

Souness must stay.

Nationwide journeymen???  Rich, coming from the fan of a club who has to beg their fiercest rivals to borrow players.

Yes Souness must stay, you never know a new manager may not be so generous to you.

You may be right but I have a feeling that a Berg or Hughes or even a Craig Short would make a good Rovers manager.

I love Colin Hendry etc but I cant see him as manager material.

Would your "feeling" keep us out of the First Division.  Non of the names you have put forward have any experience with the exception of Hughes.  Mark Hughes did well with an entire Nation of Footballers to choose from but eventually even he failed to acheive the goal with his team.

Waggy...I have regularly agreed with many of your posts and ideas, but the very thought of replacing Souness with anyone, especially Mark Hughes, is idiotic at this present moment. True we aren't winning every match, but in recent weeks we have won the majority and are slowly climbing the table, and if we continue to pick up points (espeically if we win 3 or 4 of our next few matches) then we will climb into the top half and be looking at a season that still has plenty of potential. The very fact that you said "if we lose to leicester we are doomed" shows that the pessimistic point of view isn't proving to be true at the moment is it?

our next 3 games are all winnable,but i'm more confident off gaining 3pts than 9pts if souness saves the day and we do not get relagated then swans off to spurs what will you souey can do no wrong brigade think then

Well, I'd think we'd need another manager.

I  agree.  I think when he took over we needed a 'hard case' to sort out the 'rubber dinghy men'.  I'm sure everyone was happy when he got rid of some of the dead wood.  However, he has no idea where to stop. (getting rid of dead wood is ok but- to continue the analogy- when you start pulling up the saplings your forestry skills must be questioned)  

Jan, not quite correct.  Living in Arizona and having lived through the worst Forest fires ever here, the main culprit of the fire spreading, apart from dry windy conditions, NOT removing the saplings.  See if you actually understood your analogy you would have realized that thinning is the best way to help prevent the spread off fire.  Its a matter of knowing which saplings to leave and which to get rid of.

 So on your theme, had the wrong saplings been left in place it could have led to the destruction of the entire forest.

Some saplings are removed by the correct people in charge but the best ones are yanked from your Forest by others against your will.

Three sendings off already and Souness is yet to condemn any of them. If this behaviour is condoned, what chance of it happening again? Pretty likely I'd say.

Good point, not something that many of us have considered.  He refused to criticise Lucas and is still make his feelings known on the Cole incident, instead he keeps hiding behind comments such as 'the general feeling is...'.  Strange comments from a man who is not afraid to say what he feels  

His analysis of the formation and general frustrations of being a Rovers fan at present are spot on too.

Fecking nitpicking omniscient yahoo's, you are really.  Just how many times have you EVER heard a manager come out and say anything against his player in a situation like that.

 He copped to Neill's sending off being righteous isn't that enough for you perfectionists.  What next, sack him cos he shaved his tash, sack him cos he ties the wrong shoelace first or pulls the wrong trouser leg on first.  Ridiculous.  Like the earlier poster said, he does you whine, he doesn't you whine.

On the contrary he must stay.

See you in the 1st div next season.

Would love to see it (and Leeds) and see how you handle the real world without the sky money

But there are no guarantees that you will be there to greet us are there.  I mean if your borrowed team goes back from whence they came what do you have left.

What about that Rangers manager, far and away best manager up there, perhaps he can get more out of Barry Ferguson.

And there he shows his ignorance.  Anyone who thinks Alex McLeish is fit to lace Martin O'Neill's boots isn't a football fan.  

However, that said and realising that Martin O'Neill would never look at a club like us, Alex McLeish wouldn't be a bad choice.  He's young, had relatively good ideas.  I wouldn't have a problem with him.

Not a football fan huh?  You are right, I am a big fan of fishing and I hooked you big time.

 Alex McLeish may not have as long a track record as O'Neill but has done a good job in getting Rangers back to being Scotlands number one football team.

Another thought: ever since we were promoted Souness has said our priority is survival.

Perhaps Rovers disappointed him by finishing tenth and sixth over the past two season when what he really wanted was a good old muck and nettles relegation fight.

Well he certainly has got his wish now.

jim, I don't usually resort to this but quit being an idiot.  Your personal vendetta against Souness cos of what happened with your kid is ridiculous.

Does your son know how you are reacting to that?  If so I am sure he is embarrassed.  Not very good life lessons you are giving there jim.