All, as has been mentioned in the prediction and preview threads over the summer I have agreed to run a prediction league for the board for the coming season and would like to use this weekends game against NZ as a practice. Here is how the scoring will work: Rovers score correct = 2 points Other teams score = 2 points Full Result Bonus = 1 point All predictions must be in before Kick Off, so please make sure you get them in early, and obviously you can only submit one prediction per match. I am unsure of what the demand level is going to be so please be patient with me when awaiting results. Could the mods please pin this thread and lets see how we get on this weekend, so lets see those predictions!

Looking at this from a business perspective, and I am prepared to be shot down over this, Rovers have done a very sensible thing for a couple of reasons: 1) The Blackburn End is surely the one stand that is almost full every game, whoever the opposition, and is populated by a large proportion of season ticket holders that this pricing structure will not affect. 2) The price structure for the Visting fans is based on the pricing of a similar area for the home team, in our case the Blackburn End price governs what we have to charge the visitors in the Darwen End. 3) Everton have season upon season brought a large following to Rovers, and surely a Summer match can only be seen to support the argument that they will bring 5000+ with them. What the club is trying to do is maximise the income from this game and only time will tell if they are to achieve this goal. From a fans point I would like entrance to be cheap as chips to get as many people into the grouund as possible and savour the atmosphere every week rather than every few games. However, from a fans point of view there is only one way my club is going to keep on challenging at the level it is, and that is by running it as a sound business. Unfortunately we can't have our cake and it eat it.

I personally, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, have not had a single problem with and kit since the last Kappa one when the sponsor became a little loose and I then peeled the rest off. The lonsdale shirts, which I wear to play 5 a side quite regularly, and before anyone asks, yes I do wash them every time I have played in them, and they have been fine, both home and away kits.

I've been told that unconfirmed reports are starting to come out of italy that Juventus have been relegated to Serie B with a 15-point deduction. They will be joined in Serie B by Fiorentina and Lazio, while Milan will be stripped of their Champs League place but will remain in Serie A. Just passing info on that I have had, so don't shoot me if this doesnt transpire!

I don't know if this has been mentioned before on this thread, but apparently Sven didn't take any notice of a thing which McClaren suggested both tactically and training wise and the payers are looking forward to working under him. He is apparently chomping at the bit to be let loose his methods on the training pitch rather than following orders from Sven and Tord Grip. We shall see.

I find the critisism of Crouch quite frankly laughable, as when he was on the pitch he kept hold of the ball a lot better than Wayne Rooney today and only wish Rooney would have had the chance to play with Crouch as Crouch held the ball up brilliantly and England actualy looked more effective with him up there on is own with 10 men than the previous hour with rooney and 11 men. Just because the fella is slightly diferent than the rest and it's easy to slag him off does't mean he shouldn't receive praise where praise is due. I'm not saying,by any stretch of the imagination, that Crouch is better player than rooney but he is most definately a better target man than Rooney. Your claim that all that Crouch did was give the ball away is hopefully going to b changed when you actually do watch the highlights and see what actually heappened today.

Ken Beamish has now gone up in my estimations!

ok I'l have a go at Czech Rep v Italy and Italy v Ghana

Go on then, I'll have a crack at any that are going. Let me know which are free and I'll pick a couple.

Derek at the Fox and Hounds always arranges trips as well. They tend to involve some well researched pubs/bars as well!

I hope you are not trying to suggest that Alonso is an inferior player to our own Turkish delight? Granted Tugay has been inspirational at times for us, but I think even Evertonians would agree that Alonso is a top class player, which is why Gerrard has barely played centre midfield for Liverpool this season. I think Dickov will start again, as I see no other reason why he would have started the last couple of games ahead of FSP, even if FSP has been slightly dissapointing, other than to get him match fit for when FSP isn't available. Might have top go against my usual better judgement here and plump for a 1-1 draw with Lawro.................................nah sod it, can't bring myself to do it! Rovers to win 2-1. Bellamy and the Admiral with our goals. Attendance, strangely full yet officially only 29,000 on.

How about a few at the 'Big Club'.......... Dunn, Taylor, Johnson Oh and then there's Damian Duff and then you can have Beattie, Ormerod has dropped down a division these days but was a regular for a season or so As you go down the divisions you will see quite a few ex-rovers acadmey players including a couple in the Championship. Although some, if not most, came through the ranks at Rovers possibly before it was called the Academy, Rovers youth system has been of the Academy standard for a long time.

Was absolutely appaled at the rubbish I paid to watch on Saturday. We just didn't seem to know what to do when faced with ten men and a team that didn't want to get beat and were prepared to put every last ounce of energy into the game for that cause. I apologise if I'm repeating what others have said earlier but haven't got time to scroll through all the posts on here and needed to get this off my chest. What made the game worse for me, and quite frankly means I won't be attending anymore away games in the near future, was the fact that I had a bunch of racist idiots sat behind me that disgusted me. It was only a minority, but they made my day worse by not singing one song that wasn't insulting some race, or ethnic background. I'm white and from a lancashire town and was brought up with some small minded people like this, but it is a very long time since I have heard such things as on Saturday anywhere, let alone at a football match. I really thought we had all grown up and moved on from this, and to think the number of times people have asked why we can't attract the asian population of the area to a football match. A bad day, was made worse by these idiots. Thankyou. Oh, and Chelsea let me down on an accumulator bet!

Moyes has the Manager of the Month Award. Yet another good omen for a Rovers win

The most pleasing aspect of Lawro's titbit though is thefact that he has us down for a loss, which can only be good for us!

I got my last week and I'm on the front row, last time I sat on the front row we won 2-1 and the steward, who was sat directly in front of me, wasn't very happy and tried to get me thrown out as I cheered when we scored. He started grabbing me about a dozen fellow rovers told him to back off and his mates agreed that is what he should do. He was laughing and joking, as I think they went 1-0 up or possibly equalised at 1-1, but once we took the lead he had a face like a slapped salmon! Anyway, good feeling about saturday, and will go for a repeat of Rovers 2 - 1.

Just been reading, on the BBC, Dean Saunders talking about his dissapointment at John Hartsons retirement from international football, and at the end of the article it states that Saunders is still employed by Newcastle but is currently suspended. I suppose negotiations must still be going on with Souness' backroom staff as to the terms of their departure.

I apologise as I hadn't read any new posts since yesterday afternoon on this thread, so didn't see your comments.

Noticed on Sky Sports News that a fella was carrying a mock up shirt in the background with the logo on it. Don't know of this was the official design or not but it looked like one of the choices we could vote on, the one with the badge on the middle of the chest. and, the bet24 logo was the green one we have seen on some of the mock ups on here. It is good to see that John Williams and his team are now operating Rovers on a very sound basis and I believe this deal is a real sign of the times for the ay the club is now run.

Former house mate of mine is a season ticket holder at the Glazer Dome, one of the daft gits that protested in manchester, and he tells me they have defo sold out as he had to get a ticket off a lad that can't go now. Fancy a draw tommorrow as don't know whether I'm going to be able to make it because of work. Rovers 2 Manure 2 Reid, Pedersen for us, Rooney and the horse for them, Attendance 24000, or 25000 if we pick up a surprise signing tonight.

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.