No of course not Linny8. It is possible to have utter disdain for someones taste in clothing without feeling one way or the other about the person actually wearing the clothes; just consider dungarees. Casual fasion may appeal to you, it doesn't to me; fair enough, so what? None of the above has anything to do with the 17 in question, it simply reflects a difference in aesthetic sensibilities. If these people have been involved in hooliganism they should be judged on the evidence at hand; if it the evidence against any particular individual is sufficient to merit a banning order then so be it, if not then one ought not to be given. It's not a question of fashion, it's a question of conduct, and to suggest otherwise detracts from the debate. [EDIT] You did realise my original post was somewhat tongue in cheek didn't you?

What would you call that sort of discrimination? Burberryism? FakeArmaniPhobia? If so let me be the first to admit to this new and exciting prejudice; we must put an end to cheap gold chains and sovereign rings this instant. If not for us, then for the sake of generations to come!

Interesting to read Lineker's take on the matter. He and Hughes are very good mates, and spoke several times on the phone before Hughes took the job at Ewood. According to an overheard converstaion between Lineker and the other MotD pundits, Hughes has been desperate to get into club management for a while now, and "would have given up the Wales job tomorrow" to secure the position at Rovers. The smokescreen put out by Hughes the week before when asked about his future as Welsh national manager was just that; a smokescreen.

Is it too early to start the "Parkes out" campaign? Never really expected to win today but had hoped we might put up more of a fight than we did (from the sound of things). Just underscores the need to make the right appointment, and to make it soon.

I think you just answered your own question there Capt. When we hired Kidd a lot of people were willing to look past his lack of managerial experience based on his reputation as a coach (and if we're honest, in part because we'd nicked him from United). Given that he was an unmitigated disaster as a manager, it is unsuprising that some Rovers fans are "once bitten, twice shy" about hiring another (relatively) inexperienced man to take the helm. Personally I think that the likes of Hughes or Dowie would be a great appointment. Neither are the managerial ingenues that some on here have made them out to be, and despite the fact that Hughes has only managed at international level, the noises coming from the dressing room indicate the high regard in which he is held by those in the domestic game. The new manager's ability to command the respect of the whole dressing room from day one will be critical. This ought to rule out Advocaat given his history with Toogs and Amo (why swap one unhappy set of players with another?) and should strengthen Hughes' claim on the job, given that he is clearly the fans and players choice for the position.

Well that was a bit out of the blue, can't wait for Jan to find out . Would have to be Strachan or Hughes for me, definitely not Houllier or Hoddle under any circumstances. Mixed feelings to be honest, the ManUre game suggested we had started to turn a corner, and our recent history of managers is chequered at best; it is imperative that the club gets it right, and if Souness wants either Stead or Ferguson I hope we make him pay a very hefty sum. Cheers for the memories Graeme, here's hoping you take the barcodes straight to the foot of the table where they belong (oh, and good luck dealing with "men" like Bellamy, Dyer and co.)

Jan, whilst I respect your right to come on this board and talk utter bobbins about Rovers all day long, if you are going to intimate that all those who disagree with your irrationally held and oft repeated opinions (i.e. the rest of us) are in some way racist as a result, as the section of your post quoted above would suggest, feel free to (self censored for reasons of taste and decency) upside down, with bells on. P.S. Unless I am mistaken, Jay Bothroyd is not, nor has he ever been, white. What was that crash? Oh, it was just the sound of your arguement collapsing.

Cheers for the translation cuidado, I'm really looking forward to seeing this guy play. He sounds just what we've been after.

Good shout, and this is what is troubling me by the way we are playing at the moment. The only way we will get anything out of the next two games is if we go after ManUre and Newcastle. The scum will be forced to field a makeshift defence on Saturday due to injuries / suspensions, and with Newcastle in turmoil at the moment we will never have a better chance to get a result at St James' Park, as long as we follow the example set by Norwich and attack. If we simply sit off them and allow the likes of Smith and Bellamy to run at our (equally frail) back four, we haven't a chance in either match. Let's just hope that Souey realises that sometimes, attack really is the best form of defence.

Wouldn't call 3-0 against this Arsenal team a stuffing, if anything we did well to keep them at bay for so long. Truely a case of Ferraris against Minis, only this time we were behind the wheel of the Cooper.

Same here

Fantastic song. Johnny Cash did a suprisingly good cover on The Man Comes Around.

I was under the impression that the fee had been agreed in principle, with only the way in which the payments are structured left to be sorted out. If that is the case, then it is in the interests of the club to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, if only to avoid an auction for his services once other clubs become interested. It just strikes me that we have missed an opportunity to steal a march on our competitors, and as a result we have only increased the chances of being drawn into a bidding war for his services. As regards wanting to sign someone for the sake of it, a couple of counter arguements; firstly we are still desperately short of width, which (twinned with our paper-thin squad) is already hurting us. My point is that it's not like we are advocating the signing of a "luxury" player simply because they are available. If MGP is the sort of player he has been made out to be (i.e. a pacy wideman who can also play in attack if needed) then he is just what we need. If the price is right, get him signed! Secondly; of course we want to see exciting players at Rovers, and if that means that our expectations are sometimes a little unrealistic all I can say in our defense is that we are football fans, not accountants. That said, I don't think that it is entirely unreasonable to expect a team playing in the richest league on earth to spend a bit more than £150,000 during the transfer window, especially when it is so obviously needed.

As were many of us AussieinUK. Since Souness and JW hinted that there may be one or two more players to come before the transfer window shuts, I admit I have been harbouring the hope that we aren't as broke as we've been making out, and that there was enough in the coffers to make at least one reasonably high profile signing (by our standards). When it emerged that we were back in for MGP it looked like this might be the case, but the longer things drag on, the more likely it is that the deal will be hijacked by another club or just fizzle out.

There is a small paragraph at the end of this article in the Guardian regarding the suspension of Andy D'ursehole which suggests that Tottenham might try and pull the rug from under the MGP transfer. Not saying it will happen, but if it did, serious questions would have to be asked about the way in which the club is conducting itself in the transfer market, and specifically the length of time taken to complete the switch. I'm all in favour of getting the best value for money possible, but if the fee has been agreed then the deal should be finalised as soon as possible, especially if there are other teams lurking in the wings.

You'd need a tank to stop Arsenal. Don't think I've ever said this before but we haven't a cat in hell's chance. 4 - 0

When he starts getting the tactics right again, we'll stop questioning them. Until then, as the people who ultimately stump up the cash which pays his wages, we have every right to be critical. This isn't to say I am defecting to the "Souness out" camp, but many more will if he starts rounding on the fans when things go pear-shaped. The tatics first half against WBA were wrong; if they had been correct, we wouldn't have had to change them at half time and we would have won the game - not exactly rocket science Graeme.

Sounds like you have already made your mind up long since Roverdrake, so I won't try and argue you round. Personally I will always give any Rovers player a chance to prove themselves (with the proviso that we never sign Craig Bellamy or Lee Bowyer), so will reserve judgement on the new lads for a few games yet. On the subject of money spent compared with our rivals, two points; firstly, we ain't got millions to spend anymore, so every penny has to count. If this means looking for cheaper players in certain positions so that such funds as we do have can be best utilised then so be it, that's just the reality of BRFC post Jack, and in that regard I think Souey has done pretty well over the summer. Secondly, Souness and JW have both indicated that there may be at least one more player to come before the transfer window slams shut, who is to say it won't prove to be our "big" signing of the year?

What evidence do you base this genius bit of punditry on? One match in which De Pedro was still patently lacking in match fitness but showed signs that he may have a sweet left foot when fully fit and properly deployed, Matteo performed adequately if not spectacularly (the free kick from which West Brom scored aside, and that wouldn't have been an issue if the wall had done it's job properly), and Dickov did very well when he came on, as even his critics on the board have conceded. Yes, first half our tactics were all over the place - Souness obviously had an idea which didn't work, so changed things round at half time and got us back into the match. With a bit of luck we might even have had a late winner, but don't let these facts get in the way of a perfectly good delusion will you?

I think part of people's frustration with Emerton is that he clearly has the ability to take opposition defenders on, get the ball to the byline and whip a cross in etc, but for whatever reason he just...doesn't. Ever. To continue your comparison Le Chuck, whenever Gray doesn't cross the ball he tends to do at least something constructive with it, be it a decent pass, a crack at goal or a surging run into the box. Today Brett looked in two minds whenever he was in possession, his train of thought being roughly "Strewth, some drongo has passed the ball to me again! Right, should I zig-zag back and forth for a couple of seconds until this fella tackles me or should I just hoof it into the stands now? Oh, he's gone and tackled me anyway. No worries." Whether this is down to a lack of confidence on his part (and come on, how much self confidence do you really need to run past someone whilst dribbling a small spherical object?) or whether it's down to the instructions he is receiving from the dugout, it needs sorting. Emerton could be one of the best midfielders in the Prem if he lived up to his potential, but from today's showing he has simply picked up from where he left off last year. Agree 100% as regards Matteo conceding far too many needless freekicks though.

Deja vu anyone? First half we were pretty much awful - nervous, sluggish and disjointed, we struggled to string together more than a couple of passes at a time, and I can't recall us troubling Hoult at all. Fortunately West Brom were pretty awful themselves, and until we conceded the goal from a needless freekick they hadn't forced a save out of Friedel. There was little he could do for West Brom's goal, the freekick took a nasty deflection and he just couldn't reach it in time. So far, new season, same old story, and the team were booed by some sections of the crowd as they went off at half time. Second half we were much brighter, largely thanks to the introduction of Tugay and Dickov. We finally stopped squandering possession and started causing the Baggies a few problems. Dickov in particular was all over the pitch, nipping at defenders heels and generally making a nuisance of himself. We had a couple of half chances before the breakthrough came, but West Brom packed their own half and dug in to defend the lead. When the goal did come we had been camped in the opposition half for a good 15 minutes, and it was no more than our second half performance deserved. We nearly got a winner a few minutes from the end, but Yorke couldn't quite stretch far enough to steer the ball inside the post. In terms of positives to take from the match, Ferguson, Short, Gray and Amoruso all played well, and but for some resolute defending by West Brom we might have nicked it if we had taken our chances better. Even Yorke looked interested for a change, and if he keeps playing with the level of commitment he showed today Souness's decision to hang on to him may yet be vindicated. On the downside, Emerton was poor, Gresko anonymous, and we still seem unable to play two decent halves of football in the same match. Very much a Jeckyll and Hyde performance really - if we play as badly as we did first half it's going to be a very long season, if we play the way we did after the break we should be okay.

Speaking of sleep Jim, what are you doing up at this hour? Did you palm your sedatives again? Hope the nurses don't catch you. In closing, bah, humbug, the youth of today, etc.

That used to be the case, but the rules changed a year or two back, hence us being able to take Babbel on loan last season - for all the bloody good it did us...

Shearer Garner Hendry They would be my top three players, but there was only one Jack Walker.

I've always thought Thompson could play in the centre, and would agree with Scotty & American that he would be well suited to playing just behind the front two, given his ability to crack them from distance. Whether he could play in tandem with Ferguson is a different question. Both are predominantly attacking midfielders, and playing them together in the middle would probably lead to Ferguson (as the more defensively adept of the two) having to curb his natural game to a certain degree in order to protect the back four. I'd be more tempted to play Emerton in the role of midfield enforcer (he seems to like the centre of the pitch anyway), Ferguson in a slightly advanced attacking midfield position and Thompson on the right.