I remember him. Joined Preston as the 'new Gazza'! Played with John Thomas, I recall...now there's a name (and a pretty good player in his day!)

Uwe Fuchs, anyone?

I note all the responses to these comments, but my curiousity remains unsatiated. Did he pull up any trees or not? ;-)

A red card would have been very, very harsh IMO.

Was Neill a midfielder when we bought him? I seem to recall he played right mid for Millwall. I think we should...bring Todd back in, put Zura at RB, push Lucas to RM and bring in the Axe to play DMC. Tugay can't play DMC any more. I'd much prefer to see him playing 10 yards inside the opposition half rather than ours.

Gally stopped the other commentators talking rubbish all the way through the game! They couldn't come up with their usually biased tripe as Gally kept stubbing them out. Gally's quote of the day (in an incredulous and sarcastic Scottish tone) "When you say that Rooney was 'just' offside I take it you mean three yards offside?"

A big well done to the lads! I can't wait for MOTD!

Souness had the right idea when he was here. Attract the away fans with promises of lots of goals! ;-)

This formation and playing staff look pretty good to me. The Axe is superb as a DMC and he'll help cut off the ball to feet to Shearer. Savage will have lots of room to cover ground and harry people(which is what he's best at after all) Reid and MGP can still keep an eye on the wings, but can also tuck inside and help whilst Savage does his closing down. Potentially a lack of width if Reid and MGP tuck in too much, but you can almost give Bentley a free role to peel off onto either wing and help develop play. It'd be a nightmare for the Newcastle back line as to how to deal with him. He'd be dropping grenades all over the place. Bellamy(if fit) will scare the Newcastle defence and make them sit deeper, which will given Bentley even more room to operate in. If Matteo isn't fit, as has been hinted at earlier in this thread then I don't know who to put in. It feels so long since I've had a good look at the alternatives... In any event, c'mon Rovers, let's take it too 'em!

I'm not convinced about Gresko. He was pretty poor before he got injured and was a bit of a liability. Some people always seem to think that players coming back from injury are better than what we've already got. "We'll be better once 'insert player' is back" That said I'd have him in for this one (or Gray) as Matteo needs to tuck inside. No way would I play Tugay. Not his sort of game at all!

Thanks for the info, Lee! I'd appreciate it, and I'm sure many others on here too, if you might give us regular little updates like this on here. It'd provide an invaluable insight into the youth scene. Also, of secondary importance, get that young Hungarian GK to a barber. He's never going to make it in English footy with a haircut like that! ;-)

Fantastic news, yes, so long as they get their chance, of course. Our youth facilities are outstanding. Some of the best in Europe and I think that Hughes has got this earmarked as a production line for quaility players. If your likes of Crewe can produce soo many good players, why not us? In fact with our facilities surely we can produce more? I think our the products of our youth system need to feature more and filter through more. (I know this is a much discussed topic and I don't claim to be an expert on how and when to bring them through. I just think we should!)

Nelsen will eat this type of play for breakfast. Keep lobbing the ball up and he'll keep knocking them back. Davies is in for a REAL game!

Given the attendances how about that ska classic that goes 'This town is going like a ghost town' ;-) I'll see if the new one grows on me on Wednesday, I'm fairly neutral on it thus far. How about Robbie Williams 'Let me entertain you'?

They are not shooting enough IMO. If you get a sight on goal get a shot away!

They are both crackers. I hope Tugay keeps his shooting boots on the season. He can cream 'em when he wants to. I thought he'd forgotten how to shoot like this! Pedersen's 'touch' for his volley was fantastic. Very difficult ball to keep down moving at pace, but to whack it in with such aplomb...great stuff! :-)

I thought that Kuqi did OK. Lots of good flick ons, but no runners picking up on them. Operates well as the lone striker and held the ball up far better than Dickov ever could. Couple of fresh air shots looked a bit comical, however. Nice to see Nelsen back. He is awesome in the air and reads the game well. Neill played well and when he realised that he was allowed to shoot he hit the bar. Don't know what he was doing trying to chip the goalie when he should just have had a good, old fashioned shot on target. Emerton wasn't an enigma, he was garbage. What exactly is this players strong point? What does he do well? Two great goals. Tugay (of whom I am not a fan!) scored a screamer! Fell asleep for their goal. Emerton was pointing at the wide man from the free kick. Yes, pointing, not marking. The cross seemed to catch the defence flat footed and it was 1-1. We looked nervy for a while after that and I'm really pleased with the win and the three points. :-)

I don't think that we are a 'Hughes' team, yet. He's still lumbered with a lot of crap from previous regimes and it's still a long way from being as MH wants it, I suspect. A 4-0 dump on Fulham will be nice nonetheless!

What was Emerton doing on the left hand side for his back pass? None of our wide midfielders ever look comfortable on the 'opposite' wing. It just makes us more vulnerable defensively as the players are not defending naturally and they offer less going forward than normal, too.

Not much to be taken out of this game, except that we have to improve. On a side note, and really stretching for a silver lining, at least that arrogant, little prat Konchesky got a kick.

That's the sort of thing Nissa was prone to do, though, wasn't it. Although ususally in the 89th minute of a 0-0 game where the opposition have never looked like scoring and Nissa's been a rock.

They said that they'd get mailed out at the start of July, but nothing has been forthcoming as yet!

It's a while since I've dealt with any criminal work, but it does sound like GBH to me. ABH deals with very minor assaults. Any actual physical damage can get it upgraded to GBH(the finger, I'm thinking). Like I said it's a long while since I dealt with any criminal stuff, though, and my memory isn't what it was. Turning to the stuff about drink driving I've got to say I'm absolutely astounded. Do you really think that only people who have a tendency to get aggressive when they are drunk have their reactions and perceptions dulled by alcohol? Agro drunks annoy me greatly, though, and Barton seems to fit in that mould. He seems like a thug and these incidents do all seem to be alcohol fuelled.

Erm...Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character, not a joker. Some of his antics may be fairly jovial, but I've got to say that I just don't think this works as an insult, albeit probably a good natured one. ;-)

In American Football the Oakland Raiders had a reputation for bringing in misfits, underachievers and trouble makers and making them play some brilliant ball. In doing so they made themselves one of the most popular teams around! Maybe that's what Hughes is trying to do? It's an instant team spirit thing, maybe? I think Hughes is what Bellamy wants in a manager.