In fairness very few games are, as a spectacle, worth paying £20+ for. It's a lot of money to pay to go and sit in the cold and rain, beside some overweight chain-smoking Burberry-clad inbred with all the footballing intelligence of a doormat, who moans throughout the game about everything from the performance of the ball-boys to the particular brand of bulbs used in the floodlights. But we still go because we love the club. Good to see you're taking such delight in our dismal attendences Gordon...

Yes we should, the list of Rovers-Birmingham deals in the past few years makes staggering reading. Bargain buy in Savage coupled with them paying over the odds(the odds generally being a stick of gum and a couple of lollies) for the likes of Dunn(how many games has he played for them?), Taylor(haha), and the Carribean slug. David Gold should stick to pornography, he obviously has no clue about football. C'mon they've just signed, wait for it, Salif Diao, it's bloodly priceless.

Disgraceful. Seems Ferguson is content to be a 'big' player in a nothing league instead of trying to prove himself against the best in the world. We don't need players with such a complete lack of ambition at our club. If he leaves he will forever be seen as a failure and the only people who will spare him a moments thought in either approval or disapproval will be hate-filled scum with delusions of grandeur. Rangers can pay us what we paid them, they have 8 million in the kitty thanks to Souness finally losing the rest of his marbles, surely that's not too much to pay for their almighty talisman?

For some fans the FA Cup is more important, at least AS important as the league. However if the team doesn't treat it as importantly, then why should fans be expected to pay the same as for league games? This is going to be a bit of a cyclical argument isn't it? If the fans as a whole don't pay as much, the income from the game is less, so the club are justified in regarding it as an inferior game. If the club regard it as an inferior game, the quality of the product won't be as good so the fans are justified in not wanting to pay as much, or not going, and the income from the game being less. As far as I'm concerned the club should play a full-strength team for any game in any competition they compete in, and the fans shouldn't complain about paying more than 10 quid for a game against Cardiff in the FA Cup.

You have to remember that only 800 Rovers fans decided they wanted to pay £18 and travel to Cardiff. This is a replay of that match. I know the travelling is an issue, but if only 800 fans went in the first place I just can't see how you can charge anymore than that for the replay. Chelsea ticket prices So does this mean the club can charge Rovers fans £48 for when Chelsea visit Ewood?

Paul If that is true then surely you should be prepared to pay the same for the games? People wonder why the magic is gone out of the Fa Cup. It isn't solely the fault of Rupert Murdoch or Manchester Utd, the fans value an FA Cup game, unless it's the final, less than a league game. I thought we turned up to watch Rovers not the opposition? Of course 24 pounds for any football game is ridiculous but that's another matter.

Quite possibly it was the total that the E.U. itself had given independent of the sums it's member countries had already pledged. As for animals, not to detract from their precognitive abilities, but in one of the eye-witness accounts in the Times yesterday it distinctly mentions animal carcasses in the aftermath.

No it wouldn't. Westlife sell millions and millions of albums and I don't see you suggesting they are a top quality band.

Please, everyone, read Radagast's signature, it's not too late. I despair at times, a crap numetal(as if there's any other type) 'band' and a crap rapper come together to produce a collaboration with the inevitable result. Myself, I've returned to listening to the Very Best of the Stone Roses over Christmas, had forgotten just how truly great they where.

In that SSN interview Savage also said that if Rovers come up with the money he'll be joining us. Clear as a bell that he wants away, for whatever reason. He's a fantastic player and is exactly what we need beside Fergy in the middle. 2.7million is an absolute bargain for him, so much so that I can't believe thats all Brum are asking for. He's a battler who works harder than anyone on the pitch who has the added bonus of ability with the ball. He's even managed to make Emile Heskey look half decent in the past few games. His vision and passing both seem to have improved dramatically over the past couple of years indicating again just how hard he works to improve his game. I'd place this signing on a par with Dickov's, albeit not such a ludicrously good bargain as the fiery Scot was. People criticised that signing, said he was a player who did nothing but ran around and kicked the opposition, thankfully he's proved them wrong, and Savage will do the same if he comes. The only unfortunate thing for us at the moment is the dramatic fall of James Beattie's star probably meaning we won't get as much of a sell-on bonus as we would of a year ago.

I'll wager LeChuck has seen Wagstaffe and Harrison play at least as many times as you've seen Latheron and Forrest play. The year dot, otherwise known as 1963.

I can see past Garner, he doesn't deserve to be in a greatest Rovers team, full stop. Great servant to the club and he has a good scoring record, but anyone pretending he was anything other than a lower league goalscorer is deluding themselves. After all the arguments that we had too many players now we don't seem to be able to get even 15? Don't worry Dunny lad, I'll get you in yet...

Den, one would presume that since the poll has yet to be created this would be the opportune time to nominate players for inclusion. I feel David Dunn deserves to be at least considered eligible for nomination to the shortlist, how many Rovers players have captained England U-21's regularly? Or how many have won a cup for that matter? He's been mentioned twice now too, which is more than can be said for a lot of those on the initial list. As I said before, you only have to look at past polls to see that more recent players will get votes whilst those from the past, if they were the 5th or 6th best Rovers midfielder of all time, will be inhibited by people who would vote for them voting instead for the best two(as it should be). Not that I'm saying Dunn was inferior to these others. I would have said Berkovic's short time at the club would, as for Ardiles, preclude his selection, but as a player he does possess some amazing attributes, wasn't it Souness who said he was the best passer of the final ball that he had ever seen? Granted he is also majorly deficient in some areas. When we signed Tugay people were saying we'd gotten the better player of the two, it really doesn't look that way anymore, Berkovic is still excelling in an exciting Portsmouth side whilst Tugay looks like he's had it. Granted Celtic were being greedy at the time and Rangers were starting their fire-sale, but it bears thinking about.

22 caps for Ireland between 1958 and 1967.

Contrary to what a lot of people seem to be implying, I don't believe we've been all that blessed when it comes to central midfielders at Ewood. In every other position there was at least two players who deserved the slot in my mind. Here, Clayton is an obligatory choice, great player, great bloke, should be the first name on the greatest-teamsheet, but after that I'm left choosing between what I see as sub-standard players. Maybe Latheron and Forrest were great, I've no idea, I'll probably end up voting for one of them on the strength of the respective cases put forward for them. Other than that I'm half-tempted to vote for Stuart Metcalfe just so I can claim to have played alongside one of Rovers greatest ever team. The Championship winning midfielders weren't up to much in my book, yes they did what they were meant to do - be solid, give the ball to the wingers and forwards, well, but to label any of them as the greatest ever Rovers midfielder? I'd rather have David Dunn. In fact I think I'll nominate Dunny, he'd probably get more votes than the regular 0's from some of the old players in the polls so far. I don't intend voting for him for one minute, he's not within a country mile of deserving the word greatest, but in his defence he was arguably our best player, along with a pre-accident Jansen, in the promotion side, better than Damien Duff, who's going to walk into this team. Then things started to go wrong, Fabrizio Ravenelli butchered our talismanic trickster with a horrendous challenge in Dunn's first Premiership game, at Pride Park. Since then the previously uninjurable Dunny has been subject to numerous injuries which have severely hampered his career. Local lad, Blackburn fan, England international, capable of sublime skill and deadly shooting in equal measure. The defining moment in Dunn's Rovers career for me was when he burst through the towering Porstmouth defence during our promotion season and scored, straight through he went, flattening giant hulking beasts like Linvoy Primus, because he wanted to score so damned much. I'm half starting to convince myself you know.... So Clayton for definite, he should get a greater share of the vote than anyone so far in these polls, he was on a different planet to anyone else we've had in 'midfield'. After that I'll flip a, four-headed, coin between Latheron, Forrest, Metcalfe and Dunn.

I think Ripley's vote is being driven up by the petty comments belittling both him as a player and the arguments put forward previously to advance his case. Such an attitude should be totally unneccessary, Douglas should be able to win this vote by a street without a minority of his supporters resorting to such tactics, they are demeaning to the man's character. Vote Bryan Douglas, he's one of, if not the, greatest player(s) in Rovers history. Don't be put off by small-minded people who can't put forward a well-argued case for him and so resort to slagging off his opponents.

Seconded, outstanding song, unbelieveably good album. Exactly what you'd expect from hearing the singles(don't know if that's a good or a bad thing) with not one song that is discernably inferior to the others, it contributed to displacing All is Dream from my CD changer, after a residence of about 5 years... As for whoever mentioned S**tknot in a positive light, may you roast in the burning flames of hell while demons repeatedly stick large objects where the sun don't shine for ever. Worst 'band' ever

Liverpool is going to be the proverbial powder keg, 8,000 scousers standing throughout the game being the general irritating lot they are, away supporters in home areas doing nothing to disguise who they support, Rovers getting well and truly thumped, later kick-off giving more time for the drinkers to get in a right state, the general increase in feelings when we play Liverpool compared to most teams, and the stewards and police discriminating against home fans. It will well and truly explode if they wade in to the Blackburn End in such an ill-considered manner again. Let's get one thing straight, you are not allowed stand at Premiership games, thats the rule, so the stewards do have a right to eject you for doing so, the club can back most actions taken in the course of enforcing this. However it's obvious to everyone that the home fans are the ones being dealt with in this manner whilst the opposition get off scot free. Why the club insist on amplifying an already tense atmosphere by not applying the law equally is beyond me. I've heard excuses that they can't deal with thousands of supporters standing at the same time, yeah? , kick the first hundred out and see how many stand after that. From a business perspective why does it matter if there are a couple of hundred Mancs who won't come back to Ewood next year, there's millions more out there to take their places. This is an absolutely shocking decision from a business viewpoint for the club to make, having been somewhat involved with the people in the club's administration over the past few years I thought Blackburn Rovers were finally shedding their image as a Premiership team with Third Division organisation, it seems not. Rightly the club can't afford to alienate the corporate box owners, they pay a lot of money each year, how many fans can the club afford to lose over this petty issue? 500? 1,000? More? And for what? To get a few people to sit down more? Utterly unbelievable. I've never been impressed with the stewarding at Ewood, in contrast I've never had a problem with the police. The stewarding I have experienced wouldn't make me less likely to go to Ewood myself, but it would make me less vociferous in encouraging others to go, kind of a problem when that's one of my main aims in being involved with Blackburn, there is no alternative, it's shocking the way Rovers treat their fans at times, this wouldn't happen in sport over here nor anywhere else I've been to sporting events. How can I possibly encourage people to spend a lot of money going to see Rovers if they risk being hassled? Save your money and stay at home. The Fans Forum, I think it's a joke, it seems to exist more to give its members 'sneak previews' of certain things Rovers related and placate them in that way rather than be the force for change it should be. It's a token gesture and in my opinion will never achieve anything unless it's precisely what the club wanted to achieve itself, the illusion of power. For the record, Glenn, I've never had any problems receiving swift replies from Barbara Magee, or anyone else at Rovers, over any of our dealings with Rovers, in email, regular post or any other form.

Stuart Ripley wasn't blessed with the kind of dribbling skills someone like Duff possesses, thankfully he never tried to pretend to be something he wasn't. Ripley would beat his man, or not, but do enough to get the ball into the box for one of our expensive strikers to put into the back of the net. He knew where the strength in the team was, he knew our front two of Shearer and Sutton had the beating of each and every centre-back pairing in the league, so he gave them the ball and let them do what they did best. If you look at his attributes in any area they weren't great, not a great scorer, not even a great crosser, but he was an incredibly important player in the championship winning team. People always credit skillful, and generally lazy, midfielders with being 'intelligent' players and having football brains, Ripley was far more intelligent from a footballing point of view than most of them, not for him to seek personal glory to the detriment of the team and club. He was effectively a one club man, spent most of his career at Rovers and never amounted to anything at any other club, or on the international stage. I'm voting for Bryan Douglas, along with Ronnie Clayton he is one of the two players I consistently hear mentioned as being far above all others who have played for the club when talking to those fortunate enough to have seen them in their prime. As has been said before, they both still turn up at Ewood most of the time, I don't think very many players from the modern era would dream of doing that in the future. If Clayton didn't make the team it would be an absolute travesty, so I feel I have to leave my fondness for Ripley to one side and admit that Douglas was a far better football player.

Oh good grief! No! I really really can't take much more of this! If Stuart Ripley ever dreamed that he was within country mile of Duggie as a football player........... he'd better wake up and apologise! I agree thenodrog, natural talent wise Ripley wasn't in the same league, but he put what little he had to very good use. Ripley played a pivotal role in our championship winning team, and in that team and at that time he was an incredibly important player for Rovers. That was due as much to the type of players around him then anything he possessed himself, something I think also applied to Hendry. I'm in two minds as to who to vote for when we get to this one, Ripley is one of my favourite ever Rovers players, but I think I'll probably vote for Douglas, although it could well be a futile vote. As for having a second vote, it has to be done, if proof be needed think about this - if we had elected two right-backs and two left-backs into the team from the original votes for those positions, Newton still wouldn't have made the team. If the polls were run a second time, he almost certainly would have been.

I voted for Mike England, for two reasons, one good arguments put forward for him, and two I don't regard Hendry as that brilliant a player, although granted he was one of the most effective players we ever had. A distinction which will probably come up again when we're faced with Douglas or Ripley for the right-wing slot. Maybe I should change though, the old codgers seem to need something to moan about. I find the notion put forward by those 'more enlightened' members of the board that all Rovers best players were supposedly from the 60's or 90's ridiculous. Granted they probably were better than those in the 70's, 80's and now, but what exactly did the 1960's team win then? It wasn't more than the 1880's team, the 1910's or the 1928, yet apart from Crompton those players get barely a mention, yet they've won more than all these players we've never seen who are supposedly the best players our club has ever had. Hypocrisy reigns supreme. Den, I think as it would be setting a potentially dangerous precedent to do otherwise that you'll have to run the second poll, I fully expect England to win that one, if he doesn't win this one that is.

I'd rather say it's the result of the vast majority of Manchester United fans not having a clue about the game of football. Cantona was undoubtably a very important player for them in becoming the club they are now, and from that point of view may be regarded as doing more for the merchandising plc than Best or Charlton did. Let's not forget though, George Best at his best ( ) was magnificent, at his worst he was a disgrace, and on average? Very much like Diego Maradona being suggested to be the best football player ever, there is no doubting that the Maradona's performance in the 1986 World Cup was one of the greatest displays of footballing talent ever, but he wasn't up to much in the US in 1994 was he, apart from being thrown out of the competition in disgrace? Would have to agree that Bobby Charlton was a class apart from Cantona though, World Cup winner, 759 appearances for United and he's still at the club to this day. At any other club I'd be surprised with the result, but not at Glory Hunter Limited.

And if Bill Eckersley or Keith Newton win that also will merely reflect the age of those on the board and have nothing to do with the ability of the candidates. What's clear from the age of the people voting for the respective contenders in these polls is that everyone, including myself, thinks more highly of the players whom they saw when they first started watching Rovers in their youth, than any others who played before or have since. A perfect example of this being yourself Jim, to please you it seems the resulting greatest Rovers team ever would have to consist of Rovers players entirely from the sixties and seventies, when you first started watching Rovers. Newton, Clayton, Douglas etc. Whilst all very fine players in their own rights from what I've heard and seen, I don't see that they are that far above the other contenders for the greatest eleven Rovers players of all time. Having said that I'm 99% sure Ronnie would not be bested by Tim Sherwood, if something that laughable happened I might even start to agree with you. As regards the characters of the players, this poll is to find Rovers greatest ever left-back , not the greatest man ever to wear the blue-and-white who happened to also be a left-back.

Have to go with Graeme Le Saux, an absolute star for Rovers and continued that form at Chelsea before they developed a penchant for vodka. Le Saux was an exceptional player, one of the finest left-backs to have played in the Premiership since its inception. His attacking strengths perhaps outweighed his by no means meagre defensive capabilites, but Le Saux was a great all-round full-back who fitted the bill precisely as the sort of left-back Rovers championship chasing side needed. Capable of whipping in top quality crosses for the lethal aerial strike force of the time, Le Saux was also capable of contributing to the scoresheet directly, notching up seven goals in 154 appearances for Blackburn. Would even go so far as to say that Southampton got the best of the Wayne Bridge deal with the Russian in the bottle shop. Despite rating the 24 year old Bridge extremely highly and the fact that he has got more than a few more years left in his legs than Le Saux at 35, an extra seven million on a left-back who thought himself bigger than the club has got to be seen as an intelligent piece of transfer dealing by Strachan. Almost certainly finished as an international player Le Saux played 36 times for his country, scoring just a solitary goal, but what a goal it was, spectacularly volleying past World Cup winner Claudio Tafferel in the Brazilian goal at Wembley during the Umbro Cup in 1995. A goal so good that it completely overshadowed a certain Mr. Ronaldo's first goal for the Brazilian national team. Constantly derided by the precursors of the chav and other such grubby illiterate oiks due to his middle-class background, the married Le Saux on the whole showed good grace through the constant jokes about his sexuality and wasn't above having a laugh at his own expense. The low-point of Le Saux's career came on a Moscow pitch in 1995, as he rained punches down on David Batty, but lets face it, Batty probably deserved it, even if Le Saux's timing left a bit to be desired.

So far I've refrained on commentating on Souness' replacement in order to wait and see who emerged as prospective candidates. I imagine all the contenders are now out in the open, and that, baring a Souness to Newcastle scale surprise appointment, our new manager will be one of those already discussed in the media. I'm not too disappointed Souness has left, due mainly to the calibre of the managers being linked with the job. Thankfully Graeme did us a favour and jumped before he was pushed, saving us from forking out a hefty compensation sum for sacking him, in fact ending up making the hapless Geordies pay for the dubious privelege of his presence at their club. Graeme Souness did a fantastic job during the majority of his spell at Rovers, clearing out the detritus from the Kidd-experiment debacle, and winning the club our first ever league cup, and first cup of any sort in seventy-four years. Souness was the second most successful Rovers manager during the lifetime of most of those who follow our great club, and he deserves praise and due gratitude for his achievements. However, it was the right time for him to depart, the club as a whole needed a man with a novel approach. Tony Parkes comments about Rovers needing a fresh young manager seem to tie in with most of the names being linked with the job, even better they seem to rule out my two least prefered choices. Thankfully, with all due respect to Tony and the tremendous loyalty he has shown to the club, it would also seem to rule him out of the running, a fortuitous state of affairs given the events that characterised his last period at the helm, especially the attempt to flog a young David Dunn to Manchester City for peanuts. So onto the men in the frame. Most of those being most closely linked with the job share similar valuable attributes, but also each possesses some unique qualities for John Williams to use to pick his man. In order of preference my choices would be: 1. Gordan Strachan - the wee fiery Scot has already shown at Southampton that he can build on the initial success of another manager. It's debatable what proportion of Southampton's success in recent times was due to Strachan, and what was down to Glenn Hoddle's early influence. Given the lack of success Glenn had later at Tottenham, and the continued progression of the Saints under Strachan's tutelege, I would tend towards the view that Strachan contributed far more to the club's fortunes during his time there, than Hoddle's flash in the pan achievements. We can also look forward to some absolute gems from the wee man during interviews, a welcome relief to the staleness of Souness' constant carping on about lady luck and penalties. Even with our current squad and the club in the predicament in which we find ourselves, I'd be confident of Rovers finishing comfortably in the top half of the Premiership table this season with Strachan at the helm of the club. The only downside I can see to appointing Strachan is if we ever wished to re-sign James Beattie in the future... 2. Mark Hughes - the complete opposite of Graeme Souness, the softly spoken Welshman carries a lot of weight among his fellow professionals for his contribution to Manchester United's success during the nineties, and could potentially entice big name players to Rovers due to this reputation. A number of the current Rovers squad would likely take kindly to the appointment of a likeable ex-teammate to the manager's role at the club. Hughes has shown remarkable managerial talent in transforming a lop-sided Welsh squad into real contenders for a place in major championship finals. I note the presence earlier in this thread of the ludicrous suggestions that Hughes should have easily been able waltz through qualifying groups with this Welsh team, that they should easily beat teams of the quality of Russia, and most laughable of all that the current Welsh team is far better than the one which competed at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Such comments reflect more the scale of the posters footballing (lack of) knowledge than anything about Mark Hughes' abilities. The only question about Hughes is whether he can transfer the success he has achieved on the international scene to his first venture into club management. It doesn't always turn out that way, Roy Hodgson's contrasting fortunes as manager of Switzerland and Rovers being an obvious example. Hughes is more of a gamble than Strachan, his appointment could be the best thing to happen to Rovers since Jack Walker came along, or it could all end in tears. 3. Iain Dowie - almost unbelievably successful at both Crystal Palace and Oldham Athletic given the lack of resources at his disposal. Someone will take the chance sooner or later to see whether he can replicate that success at a Premiership level club, which with all respect to his current employers at Palace, they most certainly are not. Assuredly a lesser name than Strachan or Hughes, the club's strategy for the future would have to be altered substantially if Dowie were to be appointed. It's already been pointed out several times that there are complications to dealing with an employee of Simon Jordan's however. 4. David Moyes - a long way behind the first three for me, he's done acceptably, but not spectacularly, since his arrival at Everton. To be honest I'd rate him at the same level as a manager as Souness. Despite all the superlatives lavished on Moyes by third-rate tabloid hacks, he isn't all he's cracked up to be. 5. Glenn Hoddle - Whilst I wouldn't dismiss him out of hand like many Rovers fans would, Glenn's management style at times leaves anything approaching sense floundering desperately in his wake. Would probably succeed in keeping Rovers in the Premiership this year, but I wouldn't be expecting much beyond that. No way - Gerard Houllier - I've posted several times before of my opinion on Houllier whilst he was at Liverpool, so I'll keep this short. If we want boring defensive football, expensive poor-quality French-speaking imports, absolutely no success, and in all probability relegation to the Conference, then by all means appoint the clueless French Owl. Even no-er way - Dick Advocat - the man who single-handedly destroyed Glasgow Rangers domination of the Scottish league and rendered the Dutch national team incapable of playing the game of football. Two things I'm extremely grateful for, thanks Dick. His man-management skills make Souness' look incredibly good, his tactical nous is non-existent, and he's Dutch to boot.