When Graham Poll gave that Penalty to United last night I said something along the lines of, "There is no flippin chance that he would have given that to us!!!!" and hey presto, half an hour later the ball hits Rio's arm and no penalty. Neither should have been given but if he gives one for the ball hitting Zurab's fist when it is against his chest, then he should definately give one when it hits Rio's arm which is still at the side of his body! We didn't do enough to win the game, or draw it really, I think it could have been a bit different if we had a centre forward who didn't look like he was treading water when he was running and never once retained possesion of the ball, bellamy and dickov were sorely missed last night, even on of them could have made a big difference. And no, Tugay wasn't fouled, just plain daft as he had plenty of opportunity to release a simple pass.

If I remember rightly, from a conversation with the Rovers groundsman a few years ago, there is only a certain amount of time they can put the undersoil heating on for as the grass/turf will burn. So, knowing what the weather was like yesterday I imagine they ground staff would have been using the undersoil heating conservatively in order not to ruin the pitch. If I also remeber rightly, I could be wrong, but I don't think they can have it turned on during the game or for a certain time period prior to the game. I presume the club were trying to do everything they could to get the game on, and how upset would people have been if they had been told in the afternoon there was a good chance the game was going to be off and so didn't set off for the ground, and then the pitch was alright so the game went ahead? The club is run in a business manner, and the they had to try and do everything they could to make sure the game went ahead last night, but obviously that wasn't possible. Just seen Hughesy's post so am probably repeating a couple of things he has already said, sorry!

Don't mean to be a smart arse or anything, but he won't be suspended for either the Carling Cup game or our game, the suspension for 5 yellow cards kicks in after 7 days, as was explained whilst watching VIera pick up a booking against Liverpool yesterday which means he misses the Chelsea game in two weeks. If he had actually got sent off, like he should have done for second bookable offence, he would have been suspended immediatley and would not have missed the chelsea game according to Martin Tyler. So unfortunatley Defoe will be playing against us.

Hughes has been left with an average squad full of players who don't seem to give a damn. The only thing Hughes may be guilty of at this early stage in his management of our club is not knowing which players he can rely on, and he will soon learn this as I am sure many have already made an impression on him and his coaching staff. Unfortunately he has to hope that some of those players pull their socks up and battle until January when he can bring some of his own faces in to the team. The only other option is an extremely bold one, which is to play players who have no, or very little, premier league experience and hope they shine and make a difference. The vote usually goes with the experienced pro's. It was a bad time for him to take over, post January should be a lot more interesting but will it be too late to play catch up? One final point is we have played Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and we have Liverpool coming up, in my opinion the top six teams in the league, games should get a little easier.

damo, are you just trying to show off that you subscribe to the times online? I think I will wait for someone to post the article on here thanks, rather than pay to read it.

I was never 100% certain about the odds that were being quoted for Hughes anyway, as 1) I wasn't sure whether the club had him as No.1 target, 2) Whether he would leave the Wales job, and 3) whether he had the ability as a coach. I would never doubt his motivational skills but that only goes so far. What I do find very odd is the money that people are trying to put on Advocaat, when there has only ever been stories in the press of him being interested in us rather than us in him. People are trying to put thousands on him at around 7/2. I would have to say that people have been very negative about the possible candidates, other than Hughes, Dowie and Moyes. I think that people like Strachan, there has been some support for him on here I think, Advocaat, Houllier are very highly rated managers within the game due to what they have done over there managerial carear's rather than there most recent failures. I think that whom ever may come in, maybe like the appointment of Souness at Newcastle, maybe it won't be such a bad thing if we don't have all this expectation about how great they will be, aka Kidd, and give the guy a chance and see what happens. That 'Honeymoon' period if you like will only be till Christams though as if things don't start happening for us soon, as I am sure you all agree, we will be in big trouble. Just checked the odds again before I posted and it looks as though the punters are going for Dowie now at around 4/1 with Advocaat and Hughes both around 9/2.

Speaking to some Scottish friends of mine last night, and they said that the name of Martin O'Neil could be a contender as he is feeling ready to move on and try something new! Please, please, please!

1) Brad has still been playing very well and has made only the odd mistake as he did last year, however he is being given a lot more chances to make mistakes this year as the defeence has been poor. 2) If I remember correctly, another thread has stated how we have actually scored more goals this season than we did last. Meaning that we haven't missed Duff and Dunn(especially) as much as people may think. Duff also brought a workmanlike defensive attitude to the left side of midfield as well, our defence has changed week in week out and this means people are being caught out of position far too easily. Please stop harping on about us missing the attacking attributes of these two players because it is blatantly obvious that the loss of Henning, don't think he would have continued that form this year however, the repeated injury problems of Craig Short, the problems Gresko has found defending the left hand side on his own, and the suspensions that Lucas Neil has served have been the main problems we have had so far this season. Amoruso was brought in to replace Berg and he has been injured for the majority of the season also. Was there a poll at the beginning of the season to see who thought we had a stronger or weaker squad? I think there was and I definately would have voted for the stronger option. People have very short memories and should realise what Mr Souness has done for this club and for that alone he deserves to be allowed some slack for a poor season. If we are relegated or the form continues next season then fair enough, otherwise get off his back and try some positive thinking rather than negative. Like the fact that we a very young exciting forward line, a couple of midfielders that are regarded as world class within the game, one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and some good youngish defenders. Mix that with some experience that we have within the squad and it's not a bad recipe. Everybody has a bad patch every now and then, even Man Utd, so please just stop this stupid talk if getting rid of one the best managers the club has ever had, just for now.

I still to this day think that we would not have got relegated last time if we would have stuck with Hodgson, and I think that the same situation is in front of us now. Stick with Souness and stability or get in a new manger who takes a while to settle in and therefore we don't get on his back, but by the time he starts to get the team playing again we have too much ground to make up. The grass isn't always greener!!!!! Change the bloomin record!

Rolling in to Manchester Piccadily from Liverpool at 8:40. Straight to the pub for breakfast consisting of several pints of english beer, followed by a rendition of swing low sweet chariot and cheering the boys on to world cup glory. Then on to Old Trafford, probably/hopefully very drunk by then, to watch/suffer Rovers against United cos I think we shall be in trouble.

This last month I have been mostly listening to Athlete's album after a mate gave me a couple of tickets to their concert in Liverpool as he couldn't make it and they were excellent! Supported well by Alfie whom I have seen a couple of times. This month I will mostly be listening to new Blur stuff as I'm off to see the later in the month and not too up on their recent stuff, i.e. their latest album.

I am/have been Souness' Biggest fan, now here comes the but, but, I just cant see us getting out of this with the current set up. I have thought for every one of the last six games that this won't last, it's just a blip, but after yesterdays game I can't see an end to it. Unfortunately in these cases, the manager picks the players, picks the coaches who coach them, and the buck lies with the manager. Some fickle people were saying after one defeat that Souness should be out, and we told them to give him time, how much time is needed/should we allow him? I just feel that a major shake up is needed in one way or another. What are the options? I don't know what I want anymore, except for this lot of overpaid barstewards to pull their finger out and show a bit of passion. And would somebody please give me beloved club the real Bret Emerton back!

I've added myself in, BRFC Cosmos - Alan Hardman, and I had quite a good start and would have been top if Van Nistleroy hadn't missed that pen!

My Dad and a friend kindly qued up from around 5am and have got my ticket! Fox and Hounds at 9am Halloween it is then for a jolly boys outing Good result at Arsenal on Saturday, up to Celtic Park brimming with confidence and the Celts quaking in their boots!

I also heard the rummour from several sources, normally very reliable and informed, that JW turned down several thousand more tickets than we have got as long as the club paid up front in case we didn't sell and the club said no thanks just give us the 3000 because that's all we will take to an away game. Lots of very miffed people at Ewood on Saturday, that is before the entertainment got underway!

I don't think there is much Rovers could have done to up the Ticket allocation for Celtic Park, so stop blaming the board for that. They have 53,000 season ticket holders! With a ground capacity of just under 60,000 I think, so there was never going to be much chance we could get any more than the 5% they are required to give us, STOP HAVING A GO AT THE BOARD! We have 16/17000 season ticket holders, with a capacity of 31000. The Darwen End provides excellent segregation for away fans and supplies them with about 7000 to 7500 tickets. I don't know where 8000 comes from because I'm sure that the Darwen and Blackburn Ends only hold 7500. Then you will have certain rows unused to aid the segregation as in Liverpool/Man Utd games. So 17,000 season ticket holders, 7000 Celtic fans, leaves at least 6000 tickets to go on sale to non-season ticket holders and judging by past attendances and emand for tickets that is enough. I know this is a big game but were has everyone been! If 'woodwork supporters' come to the celtic game, will they be at the Walsall game, or the following premier league games? I doubt it.