Sigh

It's a hard call, Mum. I think it's a bit early to go saying he's gone, but at the same time once Fergie leaves, or possibly even Mourinho, I think he's gone. Nothing less than that, though.

Just to panic everyone who is feeling good about yesterday's result, can't have that can we, I wanted to raise a question. Given Mourinho's "difficulties" at Chelsea if he was to get canned or leave do you think Chelsea would be interested in Sparky or would Roman want a sexier name, someone who has been around a bit more?

For some reason this just hit me today hearing of Jose's whinings, I thought jeez we've all been thinking Sparky might buggar off to Utd what if Chelsea was our main worry. He did play there.

Sparky had an odd history with Chelsea. I was talking to some Chelsea fans about this very thing yesterday, and they seemed to think that there's no chance of that. By the same token, I talked to a Manchester ex-pat who seemed to think that Hughes isn't the first choice to replace Sir Alex, either, so...

With regards to the testimonials, I felt that Big Col Hendry and Garry Flitcroft were very unlucky not to be granted one due to their long standing and loyal service. Colin done 9 years and 5 months whereas Flitty done 9 Years and 10 months. At the moment Brad has served 6 years and 2 months and with an approximate 2 years remaining on his contract, then it could be unlikely for him to gain one.

We HAVE to have a testimonial for Brad. Wild horses couldn't keep me away from that one.

if he's has got a virus, which he can pass on to others, i think Mark Hughes will make sure he is no were near the club

Just so long as he isn't passing his groin onto others, I think Rovers will be fine.

Should he be caught passing the groin, we have issues...

A month ago I visited to rovers online clubshop to buy some new shirts and shorts and whatever. It looked allright and I even wanted to buy several t-shirts, hats and other rovers clothing. So I went ahead to order... but oh, most of the stuff was sold out, and the other was not available in the right size... So basicly I was stuck with a pair of socks and a hat. Needless to say I didn't even bother.

I have checked in a couple of times after that but it seems they always are out of stock and sizes. Not even the home-shirt has been available in my size (medium) for as long as i can remember. But maybe it is a good thing considering that the bet24 logo is remarkable ugly, my other shirts will do until a new sponsor arrives.

Yeah - I wear kit to work on occasion and have been forbidden from wearing this year's because my employer thinks the Bet24 logo is too lowbrow for the office.

The guy who supports Chelsea can wear his kit till the cows come home, but all I can wear is my AMD kit.

1. Its only a matter of time before someone puts through one of the windows on the exec. boxes or at least has a bloody good go.

2. Suggestions for filling up corporate boxes? Haven't got a clue, I don't see the appeal myself. A few more prawn sandwiches or carafes of house wine perhaps? What I am willing to bet is that none of those Newcastle fans had paid BRFC a penny for watching that game on Saturday and they were just on a corporate jolly on freebie tickets.

Corporate boxes are there for executives to a) have a perk, take out favored clients, and c) reward employees. The worse Rovers play, or the smaller our fanbase is, the less all 3 become viable reasons to buy in. It happened in Dallas with the Cowboys in the late 80s-early 90s.

The attraction isn't so much the "I'm at the game" as "I'm above the hoi polloi, in luxury, getting served food by a waiter, and I'm watching footy. w00t!" I think it's the air of privilege more than anything else.

Who to blame now?

Burnley. Now and forever.

It's all likely to be academic as a contact of mine seems to think that Lonsdale/Sportsworld are almost certainly going to try to back out of the deal as they are making huge losses on it.

On the upside, at least we might be able to get a decent kit sponsor.

If Lonsdale is losing money, how can we get a decent kit sponsor?

Who would want us if our kit company loses money?

Whoaaa.. look out Bob F ! .... serious contender to take over the monthly reviews here

I dunno...

How about Michael Dell buys the team, injects 500 million, moves the team to Austin, Texas to be near his home so he doesn't have to travel to get to the games, we get Beckham on a ludicrous transfer, and convince Pele to come out of retirement and play in some insane scheme to get ratings, the Dingles go up and become the first team in Prem history to score no goals and get no points and are drummed out of the FA for such a poor showing.

Oh, and it snows on Christmas AND Boxing Day.

Add to that Diouf.

What's even worse is that there is no Garrincha or Van Basten. This was Pele's political top 125 which copped an absolute hiding from all centres.

I think there is even the chick from the US of A in the top 100. A disgrace and a waste of time.

2 actually. And they're the greatest female footballers of all time, so I can definitely see why they're on the list. Mia Hamm was a phenom.

Premiership club has to be, even if ti is by the skin of our teeth. I would still like to see us get past the next round of the Eufa at least. We can do it.

I won't sleep tonight now you buggar. Trust me on this, you do not want that to happen even if it was for only one season we'd never hear the end of it.

We CANNOT go down if the Dingles go up. There is no greater horror on this planet.

If we go down and they go up it's enough to drive a man mad. I swear if that happens I will burn every piece of Lonsdale crap I own, pretend it's 1995, and start supporting Millwall.

Can you imagine the sheer horror of the Dingles in the Prem with us in the Championship?

Which of these would constitute a copyright violation if i were to set up a shop:

The use of the club crest

The use of 'arte et labore'

The use of blue and white halved

The use of player names

The use of chants

The use of the word 'rover'

A picture drawn of any part of the ground or players

A photograph of any part of the ground or players

A model of the ground

Anything I may have forgotten....

Club crest would almost certainly be.

'arte et labore' is in the context of a football item, though I imagine you could set up 'Arte et labore painters' with no problem

Blue & white halved - don't know. A color itself (in the US at least) can be copyrighted, but you can't stop someone from painting their house burnt orange and white (common here in University of Texas country). I would say you could likely not duplicate club items, but I don't know that making, say, a blue and white halved dress shirt would constitute a violation

Player names - I don't know what the situation is with that in the UK. In the US player names are licensed by the players' union for the individual sport, and you have to have an agreement with the union to use names on merchandise.

Chants - Depends. Chelsea's "Blue Is The Color" was released on LP in the 70s with the players singing it. That's a fairly clear copyright. I don't know that any of our chants ever hit that level of entrenched copyright.

Rover - I doubt it.

Drawing of players - see above

Drawing/model of ground - probably, but I don't know UK copyright law that well

It will happen sooner or later, PB. Enough is enough; no reason why a fan or group of fans shouldn't take the initiative and start producing some Rovers stuff to sell. You might even get some local shops to take some of the goods.

I was in ASDA at Middlebrook recently, they've a whole section full of Wanderer's stuff.

Copyright violations?

I'll buy one for a young fan.

I was wondering what to get myself (metaphorically) for Christmas, and that seems to fit the bill quite nicely.

We havnt got a club shop though.

The online one and/or the one at Ewood?

I can hardly believe that . if the likes of Man U are rejecting him then his next move should be to a club like Rovers . With all due respect to the American league it's still a big move up in his career to play in the prem with any team .

I'd definitely like to see Rovers take an interest with regard to a future signing . I saw him play a couple of years back and he was obviously a massive talent ; perhaps a move and a new environment would suit him well .

As for the work permit I'm sure that doesn't present too much of a problem these days .

No, I totally agree that he should go to a team like Rovers. I'd love to see him here - the more American exposure Rovers get, the happier I am. Oh, and he's a decent talent too, so you know, improving the team would be nice.

As for the work permit - a lad from my high school ended up in the ManYoo youth based on his British father and the consequent UK citizenship. Apparently for players that young it is rather difficult. I base this off of conversations with his HS coach who told me the whole story (knowing that I'm one of the few football fans that have come through his clutches).

*Bangs head on wall* But the club shop isn't run by the club any more. Have you all written to JW to express your concerns about marketing and the club shop??????????????????

Haven't written, though that is a good idea.

I realize that Sports World runs the club shop now. I'm more concerned with the lack of official merchandise I can purchase. I have to get my scarves through eBay or third party sites. I can't get keeper kit. Presuming Rovers had made other items, they'd be available through the club shop. The club shop is bad for a variety of reasons. The customer service issues are indeed not Rovers' fault. The lack of merchandise is.

dude you are whistling in the wind on that score!

"Proper" Goal keeping kit in a clubs coulers is rare as rocking horse poo!

Chelsea's online store sells it. So does West Ham's. And Aston Villa's. And that's just 3 random teams off the top of my head.

Plus Friedel is more to us than I would say any other keeper in the Prem. WHY do we not have merch for him? As an American, I ESPECIALLY want kit for him. People actually know who he is over here other than Rovers fans.

We can have a look at him, but we can't sign him at this point in time, he's never going to get a work permit, too young and not played enough games for the USA.

That and his handlers in the US will never let him sign for a team as "small" as Rovers. He's the Next Big Thing over here. If he goes anywhere it's going to have to be a Big Club so that the US fans can think our football program is advancing apace.

That being said, his manager at DC wants him to go play at a team like PSV Eindhoven, so maybe we have a shot.

pathetic thread full of cheap shots.

nobody on here knows his career history or his background in marketing so why all the negativity? At least do some homework and find out his previous jobs and track record before you have a needless moan.

the range and quality of marketing programmes that are being spearheaded by the club at the moment are fantastic. There isn't another club in the league that is doing as much to try and win back the crowds.

...except that our club store is horrid, our kit is low class (sorry Lonsdale, but you're crap), and I've seen no evidence of any attempt to play a US friendly.

Okay, the last one is wishful thinking, but our marketing so far as our merchandise goes is ######. Williams may be a genius at other things, but he needs to hire a deputy in charge of goods.

What happens when we play portsmouth or anyone else with a blue kit?

The brand new "3rd kit" of course.

Available in bright fuscia and chartreuse halves, with squiggly bits and a red triangle in the center.

Also, does the Rovers Store proper carry goalkeeper kit? The one online doesn't and I'd like to pick some up...

Just been to Ossy Mills. The little Accy Stanley booth they have is great, but got me thinking of our own shop.

While the booth sells all kinds of Stanley related bits and pieces, as well as FM2007 for just £20, ours is really just another sports store.

I miss the tacky old stuff (Rovers badge on anything saleable). I never feel enthused by anything I see in the shop these days.

Without starting this again, it annoys me that I've had to go to eBay and other sites to buy my scarves, rather than the club page.

I HATE our marketing department. We lack quality kit, we lack a variety of items that I can get from the club... It frustrates me no end.

FC Dallas away.

Wait... damn...