What absolutely fantastic news this is. Someone gave us money for Dwight Yorke? I can't quite believe it. Clearly Steve Bruce has continued watching the same parallel universe Blackburn Rovers where he got the idea that Tiny Taylor was proficient as a right or left full-back. Maybe it's all a devious ploy to get Alex Bruce into Rovers first team squad? Dwight Yorke's lack of application and effort is one of the most disgraceful things I have seen whilst watching Rovers. To see such utter lack of commitment and work ethic in an individual, I'm not one bit surprised Souness tried to break his leg in a five-a-side, I would have too given half a chance. A player being payed thousands of pounds a week couldn't be bothered to break into anything more than a slow jog, even when coming on for the last ten minutes of a game. Sure he did some good things if you hit him direcctly with the ball, his chest control against Man Utd on Saturday was unbelievably good, shame he moved slower than a dead tortoise the rest of the time though.

Rovers 1-0 Scum Jon Stead to score, or alternatively the only player in the entire world who's worse than Steven Reid, John 'Bullethead' O'Shea, to score a hilarious own goal. To be played in front of 27,500 , who actually manage to make a bit of noise, and kick lumps out of a few cockneys who have infiltrated the Blackburn End, as tensions fray early on due Souness' continued amazing formation creations. Blackburn town centre to be ransacked on Saturday night, after the glory-hunting Southerners finally manage to find their way off the Bolton Road, but not before ganging up on a few kids and old ladies, and putting the windows through in The Fernhurst and Ewood Arms.

Try talking us through Kevin Phillips' goal without using the word Emerton. That mistake alone cost us a point even with D'Urso putting in his regular discraceful impression of a referee. I don't know how you think Emerton's pull-back would have got us three points but for D'Urso, we managed to concede the first two goals all by ourselves. If you mean the penalty he didn't give us, then that would be two points not three that the pull-back was worth. Myself I'd rather give the credit to Dickov's wonderfully composed finish, taking his time and waiting for the keeper to jump before driving it home. Dickov was outstanding yesterday, gave it his all, got a goal and made another, exactly the player we need starting the match not coming off the bench at half time trying to salvage something.

Souness is getting more and more frustrating with each passing minute. He seems to have lost all conviction in his footballing beliefs and is now experimenting like a mad scientist. There was nothing wrong with playing what someone termed 'four central midfielders' at the end of last year. Jon Douglas isn't a central midfielder he's a right-back, or right-midfielder, who's also versatile enough to play in most positions on the park, but don't let that get in the way of a flawed argument. I have no idea what position Andresen was meant to be playing, but he did a decent enough job for us. We also had so many players out injured that there wasn't much of an alternative. We come to yesterday's game. Flitcroft at right-midfield!? Matteo at left midfield!? What is that!? Complete and utter madness, it's obvious to a blind Stanley Ternent on a galloping horse that they were never going to perform in those positions, especially Flitcroft, he's gone, past it, get rid of him now. Tugay and Ferguson were playing in perfectly acceptable positions and I thought they both performed well. Tugay seemed to be more like his old self, how long it will last is questionable though, and Barry further enhanced his growing reputation, even if he did get sent-off, sort of. There is no problem with playing four central midfielders, there is a problem with playing those four central midfielders. Why did we have a right-midfielder playing at right-back? Especially a right-midfielder who is in nothing resembling form at the moment? Why was all this going on when we had a right-back and two left-midfielders on the bench? Where is Gallagher? Does Souness not rate him anymore? He shouldn't play in midfield, but he's got to be a better option than Dwight Yorke up front. Why is Dwight at this football club never mind on the pitch? He's not good enough, simple as. Why are we making mass substitutions at half-time in every game? Especially when those substitutions only change the team to that which should have started the game, well in as much as possible. Simple, Souness doesn't know what he's doing, what the best formation for the team is, or who his starting eleven should be. Why did Gresko come on for Gray and play at left-back at the end of the game? It makes no sense, is De Pedro that bad, and if he is why was he taking a space on the bench? Duff did say he didn't want to go as he was perfectly happy at Blackburn, well at least until we gave him the opportunity to see Chelsea's set-up. If there was a quality manager available, I'd be calling for Souness' head right now, but I can't think of one aside from Gordon Strachan, and I have my doubts about whether he would come to Rovers. So in the absence of any viable alternative, the only thing we can do is persevere with Souness' madness and hope whoever's putting the loopy juice into his water is caught soon.

Bloody hell Jordan are you flying to Sydney too!? Sadly can't make it for the drinking tonight or the game tomorrow, I'll be sleeping off the effects of the meet-up in the Lord Nelson at the time. <------ Look at my location mate

Guys are meeting up from 8 pm in The 51 if anyone fancies getting well and truly plastered tomorrow night.

Anyone who's heading over on the Friday and looking for something to do, if you're interested, The Irish Rovers, sans my good self of course, are meeting up in The 51 pub on Haddington Road, Dublin 4. Details, such as they are, are here I imagine they'll end up somewhere in Temple Bar later that night as well, last year they ended up with the Rovers players after the game, won't happen this year, but I'm sure they'll find something else original to do. Some information on the website about various things on the Saturday as well. They've neglected to say what time it will start at, I'll try and find out today, I imagine around 7pm, I'll get confirmation that the lads haven't forgotten to bother getting it sorted anyway. Haddington Road is just after Baggot Street Bridge in Ballsbridge. To get there, go along the North side of St. Stephens Green, continue straight down Baggot St. , ten minutes or so and you'll get to the Grand Canal, go over the bridge there, take the first road on the left after that, you're now on Haddington Road, The 51 is on the far(south) side of the road about 100 yards down it from the bridge. I do have a map, but it's on my PC back in Ireland, so you're out of luck on that score.

No they don't. Royal blue and white.

Yeah there's been a lot of renovations, upgrading and general messing around with the Dart lines over the past year, so they are probably a bit different to the last time due to the ongoing works with both the railway lines and the LUAS. You're half right Glenn, Pearse Station is the third biggest station in Dublin City, though much smaller than Connolly and Heuston, and is on Pearse Street which is near the centre of Dublin all right, in fact closer to Temple Bar than Connolly is, being on the south of the River Liffey. You can basically come out of the station, turn left and walk in that direction until you reach Temple Bar, well you'll hit Dame Street/Trinity College, but should be able to find your way from there. Location here, it's number 14 on the map However it's not opposite the Por., sorry North Star Hotel, that's where Connolly Station is.

Leave poor Den alone, it was an impossible task trying to draw a fair poll for this up, there's no way he could have done it for combinations of players. (Bet an admin decides to do just that to prove me wrong) Certainly don't think it should be restricted to the last 20 years, I know I'd certainly vote for Clayton or Douglas over Scott bloody Sellars! I mean come on, Ronnie Clayton, played on Pele against Brazil in Brazil for England or Scott Sellars, entertained FourLaneBlue against opponents from the old Division 2, although one must bear in mind that Sellars did go on to play for the centre of the footballing world, Newcastle United, and hence must have been one of the best players ever(if you're a Geordie) Aye, it's a combination that's certain to produce trouble FourLaneBlue, and haven't I just felt obliged to prove it and all

I refuse to vote. My ball has been well and truly taken home Den . Where is Stuart Ripley? Surely Rippers is more worthy of a place then Scott 'always missing in big games' Sellars!? I mean come on, Ripley was an absolutely legend at Ewood Park, blistering runs down the wing, pinpoint crosses to Shearer and Sutton, somehow contriving to fail to score a goal for so long, starting in our Championship winning year, despite numerous outstanding attempts. Not forgetting his unforgettable debut for England, the 10 seconds on the pitch, the first run down the wing, the pulled hamstring. He also fulfills the requirement of having done diddly squat anywhere else, both at international level, at Southampton and wherever else he played out the twilight of his career. As for your idea of having a regular polls for each position, that's a fantastic idea Den, but include Stuart Ripley for the right-midfield position, please?

I'm pretty sure there's only one Oliver St. John Gogarty, Jordan, it's well known to the taxi-drivers anyway, they'll be used to taking all the tourists there It probably opens at about 10.30 in the morning or something silly like that, possibly even earlier given its location.

No worries Manchester Blue, it's actually just a bit further on from where Ricky is staying, basically you go around St. Stephens Green(at the bottom of Grafton St.), you go down the West side of the Green(as in keep going the direction you are, away from the River Liffey) turn onto the South side of the Green, and just follow that road along down the street it leads directly onto. Shows Leeson St. pretty prominently on the bottom of this map

You'll have no problems at all finding the Oliver St. John Gogartys, Ricky(or anyone else) From where you are staying Ricky, walk back up Grafton St. and past Trinity College, keep going as much as you can in a straight line. Once past Trinity College the street you are on is called Westmoreland St.(continued on it becomes O'Connell Bridge and then O'Connell St.) , take the first left off Westmoreland St., it's the only turn-off before you get to the quays along the River Liffey. You're now on Fleet St.(and in Temple Bar) , the Oliver St. John Gogarty is at the first crossroads on Fleet St., on the left hand side. Anyone who's coming from the North side of the River Liffey, obviously reverse the directions, ie turn right off Westmoreland St. into Temple Bar. The Oliver St. John Gogartys also serves very acceptable food if you wish to eat, in addition to the compulsary Guiness.

Sigh... how old is Caldwell? They played youngsters who aren't good enough yet like Caldwell(and the extremely promising, but overrated for his current performances, Milner), players who couldn't give a stuff about the club like Viduka, numerous inferior loan signings like Camara and Domi, and got relegated because of all those factors and others too. Yes Radebe and Matteo played together. Though it would be extremely fitting if they hadn't given Blackwell's comments. I think they played there against Arsenal at Highbury for one. The fact that Matteo is probably a better centre-half then midfielder is irrelevant, he should play wherever he will contribute the most to our team. If Souness judges playing say Nisse at centre-half and Matteo in midfield makes for a stronger team than playing Matteo centre-half and Thompson in central midfield, then playing Matteo as a midfielder is the right decision. Football is a team game. No to Earnshaw for me, I'm not convinced he can do it consistently enough for the top flight, he scored his goals in bunches last year and then went a couple of long periods without scoring. We'd also have to put up with waggy complaining about dwarfs and what not, probably saying how signing a young player is great at the same time in typical contradictory style as well.

The manager of someone other than Leeds saying it? They have just been relegated after all. If Souness came out and said Matteo was the best midfielder in the world would that be true? If the Blackburn manager said it? What more do you want? Matteo was superb for Leeds in defensive midfield at the tail end of last season, Radebe less so but their performances there were definitely not the reason Leeds went down, possibly if they had been playing as centre-backs instead of the poor quality players Leeds used in those positions it would have made a difference, but that has absolutely nothing to do with Matteo's ability as a central midfielder, rather it signifies the weakness of Caldwell etc as centre-backs. What percentage of Matteo's performances were due to the heart and determination he put into the relegation fight remain to be seen however.

The youngsters will be given a squad number if and when they are needed. I think that's the way it has worked in past seasons anyway. It's a good idea, prevents any of the younger players from getting too much of an ego and keeps them working hard to try and impress the manager. If we gave certain youngsters squad numbers at the start of the season some may have a hard time keeping their feet on the ground, whilst any left without a number would immediately consider the season a write-off as they know there is x amount of other young players ahead of them in the managers thoughts. If at any stage any of the younger players are going to be included in a first-team squad, it is a simple task allocating them a squad number at that point in time. It's also a bit pointless giving a player a squad number if someone then takes him on a season long loan deal, Todd would have received a number in order to try and convince any potential suitors that he is still in our plans, thus increasing the transfer fee we are able to demand to secure his 'services'.

You would have asked for a refund if you had known about the starting line-up before you bought the tickets waggy? Eh? Surely the time to be asking for refunds would be after a purchase? Did you in fact ask for a refund after we 'forgot about the cup' as you put it? So you were thinking about one game then when making a general statement slating the manager? Even allowing you to make a false generalisation and basing your opinions of Souness' cup tactics on one competition, the Uefa Cup, what about the year before against CSKA Sofia at Ewood? Was that a weakened team in your opinion? Weakened by the inclusion of youngsters like Neil Danns? What on earth is a lepricorn? Is it some sort of a unicorn with a skin disease or something?

Surely not FLB. Amoruso?

It doesn't have to do with every post you make, just the ones where you're complaining that we don't play our regular starting eleven in cup games. Part of these 'weakened' cup team line-ups have been youngsters being given their chance. In the past the likes of McEveley, Danns, Richards, Burgess, have been given opportunities by Souness to show their worth in cup games. These are the very opportunities you advocate yet you still manage to complain about these players playing in the cup games, and to top it all then go and complain about them not being given games in which to prove themselves.

What has buying dwarfs got to do with playing weakened teams in the cups then? Can you not even remember what you're posting? The fact that we would lose 20-30 million if we weren't in the Premiership doesn't mean we can spend that amount every year we are in the top flight. If you know a way we can sustain massive debts year on year without going bankrupt maybe you should share the information with us, or poor old Leeds for that matter. If Rovers were in the first division every year and not getting that 20-30 million more income, given the current structure at the club with regards to wages etc. the club would go to the wall in less than a decade. Now, you want us to sign more players using this 20-30 million and increase the day to day running costs of the club right? Financial genius.

CAN I HAVE THAT IN ENGLISH PLEASE Apologies, I failed to take into account your lack of intelligence. Let me see, how's this : "Why are you spouting rubbish that contradicts the rubbish you've spouted in previous posts". If it makes it easier you can substitute 'dribble' for 'rubbish', as going by an earlier post of yours 'spouting dribble' makes some sort of sense, to you at least.

No, if we weren't in the Premiership we'd be losing 20-30 million, similar to the last time we went down albeit amplified somewhat. Being in the Premiership means we breakeven.

So shouldn't we just bother about the FA Cup if the Worthington Cup did no good for our season ticket sales then waggy? Granted it's easier to win than the Premiership, well maybe, not if you look at Rovers recent history, but it's not like we just have to turn up to walk into the final is it? Since we aren't in Europe this year I'm not sure Souness' survival comments will mean we see weakened team line ups in European games... Of course you think we should be playing all the youngsters don't you? So that would be our reserve team then given the proportion of youngsters in that? Yet you complain about weakened teams? So would giving the youngsters 'a chance', even more of a chance then the great opportunities they already get at Rovers, not be fielding a weakened team then? Or are we just meant to field weakened teams in the league then? Souness does treat the cups seriously, else we wouldn't have won one in his time here. When was the last time pre-Souness when Rovers won a cup? I doubt even Jim will pretend to have been at that game. Does that mean our other managers didn't take the cups seriously and hence, as you seem to be implying were bad managers? Was Kenny Dalglish a bad manager waggy? He only won the Premiership with Rovers after all, should really have taken the Coca-Cola Cup more seriously.

Hierro's slower than my old Granny(and Big Fat Sam too). Decent player in the past but he's well well past it now, what a marvellous signing for all of Bolton's rivals this is.