Just in on Rovers Text Service: "Blackburn Rovers have this morning been given permission to speak to David Dunn by Birmingham City." I guess this means the bid has been accepted.

I heard on SSN this morning that Lucas' "dream move" to Liverpool could be off due to his excessive wage demands. Oh how I laughed!!!

Just come through on the Rovers txt service... "Rovers can confirm that Steven Reid will be out for the remainder of the season after sustaining a cruciate knee injury in training on Friday." Get well soon Stevie.

Rumours are that Blackburn are going to tempt Everton with a bid of £2.5m for James Beattie... ...watch this space for the expected return of Kevin Davies, Nathan Blake and Noel Brotherston!!!

Oops, meant to put Chievo Verona (its only one team)

Latest: In addition to the already mentioned punishment: Juventus fined £50,000. Milan have had 44 points deducted from their 2005/06 league total. A number of club officials and referees have been banned for between four and five years. Inter and Roma automatically qualify for the Champions League. Chievo Verona and Palermo go into the preliminary qualification round. Livorno, Empoli and Parma qualify for the UEFA Cup. Messina, Lecce and Treviso have been repreived from relegation; however, there is another investigation underway concerning Messina.

Roll-Up, Roll-Up I'm taking bets on the first player to jump ship... ...place your bets!!! (no pun intended)

AC Milan have stayed in Serie 'A' because the evidence against them wasnt strong enough to relegate them. Roma, Chievo and Palermo will take the Champions League spots. Decision on the 2005 & 2006 titles to be confirmed at a later date.

Latest on SSN Juventus relegated to Serie 'B', start with a 30 point deduction, stripped of 2005 & 2006 titles Fiorentine relagated to Serie 'B', start with a 12 point deduction Lazio relegated to Serie 'B', start with a 7 point deduction AC Milan remain in Serie 'A', start with a 15 point deduction All teams removed from Champions League for 2006/07 season

The first pre-season match for Rovers will be against Accrington Stanley at the Fraser Eagle Stadium on Wednesday 19th July kick-off 7.45pm We all wanted this!!!

Rover6... much as I agree with the sentiment, do you really think that players would put their own position at a club in jeopardy for the sake of doing the right thing for the football club and the fans. I think you have more faith in the modern day footballer than most people.

Early team news... Admiral and Toddy defintiely out... doubt over Reidy. Looks like we may have some squad players used this weekend.

Ray Harford is a prime example... include in that Tony Parkes too. Big Sam has done a decent job with players who nobody wanted and some who were coming to the end of their careers. Can you imagine what he could do with a team of very skillful players... and Peter Crouch!!!

I think the general concensus will be "NO!!!!"

Martin O'Neill wanted to take his own backroom staff (Steve Walford & John Robertson) who he's worked with since his days at Wycombe Wanderers but the FA werent interested in employing anyone other than a head coach. Their belief is that the current structure (Sammy Lee, Ray Clemence, Trevor Brooking) is sufficient support for the incoming head coach. Very much a "Yes Man" required to do this job. Something like 78% of fans polled do NOT want McLaren as the new boss. And to have a 39% win rate is abysmal. Managers at Premier League clubs have been sacked for less than that, never mind promoted to the biggest job in world football. Speaking of being promoted to the job... why not Peter Taylor?? He may only be manager of Hull but his record at under-21 level is fabulous and isnt it usual for the U-21 manager to be promoted to the main job once the previous coach calls it a day!!! The FA have done sweet FA for the fans of this country.

I think McLaren is a 'yes man' and that's what the FA wanted. The likes of Sam Allardyce and Martin O'Neill would want to bring their own staff in and doit their way and the FA dont want that. I think the impending appointment of McLaren is the wrong decision by the FA. Of course I hope he proves me wrong but I have my doubts he can do that. His record this season with Boro in the UEFA Cup is nothing short of remarkable... but what about his record in the league... hugely disappointing. He's not the man for this big job, not by a long way!!!

Steven Reid has been fouled 5 times... they must see him as a threat in the centre of the park.

I think Toddy would've got to Lua Lua before he released his shot last week for the first equaliser. Zurab and Toddy have there spells of good and bad games. I'm hoping today's is another good one for Zurab. He deserves something after his ridiculous sending off earlier in the season against Liverpool. I know it was rescinded before anyone mentions it. One thing is for sure... Admiral is the new lionheart in the Rovers defence.

3-1 now. Bye bye second city!!!

Team same as Portsmouth but Pongolle replaced by Peter on the bench... Why is he sticking with Dickov??? Where's Todd???

If Lucas' peformances have improved dramatically due to this being a World Cup year as was mentioned earlier in this post.... ....what's Brett Emerton's excuse for his poor showings time and time again this season!!!

I agree with the previous post with regards to missing Reid if he were injured or sold. When we have a player who is being linked as a possible replacement for Roy Keane then he is someone that needs to be tied down to a long contract. Obviously we all know that contracts arent worth the paper they're written on, but if Reidy signs for the next 3 or 4 years, anyone coming in would have to pay healthy compensation to Rovers. I would however be a little concerned about any minimum fee release clause though. Steven has developed into a very strong candidate for a more permanent central midfield berth at Rovers and I think playing alongside Tugs and Lily, as well as the management skills that Sparky possess, have turned that "talented youngster" in to very decent Premiership player.

Dunny went off injured AGAIN after lasting just an hour. Too injury proned for my liking to consider a return to Ewood.

Stats at Full Time Rovers : Sunderland Goal Attempts 12 : 5 Goal Attempts On Target 6 : 1 On Target Crosses 19 : 20 Crosses Corners 6 : 2 Corners Offside 2 : 5 Offside Fouls 14 : 18 Fouls Free kicks 24 : 16 Free kicks Yellow cards 1 : 2 Yellow cards Red cards - : - Red cards % Possession 59 : 41 Possession %

All over, 3 points and 7th in the table. I'm a happy Rover.