That's the kind of rollocks often spouted by the so called souness-out brigade which stops me from giving them credence. Only Rover6 actually comes up with any tactical nous, the rest just winge and gripe and basically display no knowledege at all. I was upset with the tactics in the 1st half but happy in the 2nd. I don't simply accuse the manager of being f***wit and then getting lucky because I know better. Sadly some of our wannabe Champ Manger fans on here seem to only want to see the bad in our manager whic is why I have little time for them. Not sure if it's been mentioned but did anyone see the formation for Chelsea today. 4-4-2 with 4 tackling midfielders and the fullbacks to give the width. For what it's worth I thought they lacked width and struggled but it's interesting to see someone else play this formation. Fair enough though i'd understand against Manure but maybe not the tactical f***wit some of our more awesome tactical genuises on here would have us believe. So you think a formation which totally confuses our own players, leads us to being 1-0 down against a weaker team, and that gets totally revamped at half time is good do you? Well, you seem to be a self-appointed tactical expert, so I'd better bow to your superior knowledge. I don't claim to know more about tactics that Souness, my granny or you; just that the number of times he has to totally revamp mid-match is ridiculous; and hardly a sign of being on top of his job. Most other managers play the same formation week in week out, and bring on substitutions to remove non-performing players within the same formation. When we won the league, we played the same formation, regardless of who was fit, every single game. The average thicko player needs that kind of repetition drummed into them. I'm sure Souness in his pomp could have easily coped with the kind of tactical changes he rings; but the evidence of last season, now initially continued into this, is that most average players can't.

Confused, maybe; but surprised - no. There can't be another manager in the league who gets it so wrong so often with his starting line up and tactics. Great that he is flexible enough to change it around (usually to a risky 3 at the back), but how many games last season did the same kind of thing happen.? At least 10. Whatever Souness has learned over the summer, it certainly wasn't team selection. The only real mystery is who came up with the status-saving tactics unveiled at Fulham.

As little faith as I have in Souness; even I never thought that he'd be junking his chosen, carefully planned formation and doing the usual 3 at the back sh1t or bust trick by half time in the first game against the Baggies. Still, glad to hear that Dickov is living up to the optimists billing and Yorke is surprising all of us. Plus my Dad tells me that De Pedro's raking cross-field passes were remiscient of Waggy (the real one) Not much mention of Stead so far - how did he do?

Yet another thread descends into playground name-calling. How surprising. Back to the point. Despite me being one of the ones picking over his summer antics as more evidence for the prosecution: if his signings do the business, they were bargains; if they don't, then they were expensive flops (wages rather than fees) - not too much the great man can do about that from now on. We've had good results so far in pre-season, but against very poor teams when compared to our first 5 prem league games, so you can argue both ways on that. The Nissa situation frustrates the heck out of me. Reading Andy Neild briefing against the Amo/Nissa partnership in Pravda; we all know it's not Amo's neck on the block. But then maybe Nissa will have a Yorke/Lazarus style resurrection - who can tell with "flip-flopper" at the helm. But it's all small potatoes compared with his ability, or not, to motivate players, play the right formations, pick the right team and make good substitutions / tactical readjustments. Personally, I see no reason why he should be any better at this than he was before; though I certainly hope he is as a bad start will herald another season of nail-biting, and we'll soon find out anyway.

Forgot to mention it before but one of the best things about Sir Roger apart from his unsurpassed keeping abilities was his wont for dribbling the ball round the entire opposition forward line whenever he got bored! ...and getting well past the half way line more than once. A good acid test for me on the cult status is: did we invent either a song or an adulatory/mocking nickname about the said individual? That narrows the list down somewhat SIR Roger Jones Waggy Beamo "There's only one Simon Garner" Killer Keeley Can't remember the John Butcher one though.....

I'm surprised none of the oldies have gone for "Jim, Jim: Bang One In" Fryatt. Best header of a ball that ever lived (and also worst kicker) I can't decide between the era's I have watched the Rovers, so here are mine, split by the phases I have seen: i) Pre 3rd Div, post Clayton/Douglas: a) Ken Knighton Eamonn Rogers c) Billy Wilson ii) 3rd Div days:when we were crap a) Tony Field Sir Roger c) John MacNamee iii) 2nd Div - 1st spell a) Waggy Brotherston c) McKenzie iv) 2nd Div - 2nd spell a) Simon Garner Killer Keeley c) Terry Gennoe v) Premier League a) Super-Atko Rippers c) Colin Hendry Re-reading the list I notice that they were either capable of the super-sublime moment, or they were out and out dirty cloggers; both of which are noticeable by their absence from the current squad.

To me, this should exclude players who conceivably could be nominated heroes for other clubs as well - it should be restricted to players who define Blackburn Rovers and vice versa. They can have played at other clubs, but not be revered anywhere else. In which case, my top 3 would be: i) Brotherston ii) Sellars iii) Eammon Rogers

Cole has shown a lot more maturity than both Souness and many of the posters on here who couldn't wait to slag him off. He earned $55k/week, which I agree is far too high; but which morons agreed to pay it? The manager who was in deep sh!t when he signed him, and the amazing ex-head of Granada Studios. Don't blame Cole, blame them. And it took Souness until recently to discover that Yorke had an inappropriate lifestyle? Great contacts there Graeme. I agree with 92er, he hasn't learnt a thing and never will.

And it was such a good plan to keep his name a secret - playing him in our first pre-season match in front of hundreds of spectators. Much better than that "closed doors" nonsense at Brockhall where our thousands of insider-info posters would have sussed him in a second.

ALL TOGETHER NOW!.... ''And another one's gone and another one's gone...another one bites the dust!! While it's "just" Yorke's version of events, I have never read anything like this before. Even if it's only half true, when you combine it with Souness's endless petulant ref whining, is anyone out there still actually proud that this man is our manager? I know I was when he was appointed, when he built the team around skill, when he cleared out deadwood and had a team that tried. Then it all seemed to go wrong sometime during the season before last. We were crap against poor teams, the bizarre non-replacement of a left back, then before we knew it most of the skilled players were gone and replaced by journeymen. Last season another bizarre non-replacement of a left winger. But worst of all, we were crap and boring. I could stand boring and successful, as I could exciting but crap results, but not both. Then he's shipping out for nothing Cole, then allegedy nearly broke the leg of an asset he paid $3m for. It's no use quoting his past record, or the fact that his playing reputation is still a draw when signing players - he's changed from the guy who took us up and won a trophy. I don't care how we start the season - he's an embarrassment and if the powers that be had any balls, he'd be out.

Interesting that so many "Cole is crap and we're well rid" opinions have suddenly appeared from nowhere - and such passionately held views as well! These opinions must have been festering for a very long time, given that there has been no new news about Cole's ability since the end of the season. Did I miss the "Cole must go" thread at the end of last season? Oh, there wasn't one. I wonder why? Maybe their views were already being expressed in an existing thread? So I have just leafed through the entire Dickov thread to see how many of the sages were predicting, or at least advocating, this being the chance to get rid of the usless waster, and yes, you've guessed it - not one person advanced such a view, including many of the most vociferous Cole critics on this thread. So where did their new found insight and passionately held opinions come from? Of course it couldn't possibly be related to a tendency for some individuals to argue that everything Souness does is inspired management. Full marks though to Kiwiwannabe for posting a BBC quote very early on in the thread that Dickov would be above Cole in the pecking order (another missed chance for the Cole critics to pitch in.) And well done to the 18 posters who expressed horror at the concept of Dickov replacing Cole, and are sticking to that view on this thread.

No-one would disagree about him dropping Todd for his $1m purchase Amo, but did it really have to result in Todd leaving the club? Is that good management? No-one would vote for player power. I'm just reading Tony Cascarino's book (great stuff BTW) and his description of player power at Chelsea under Porterfield is truely shocking. The manager must manage; but he needs to manage well. Souness bought these players we're talking about and he has an accountability to get value from them for the benefit of BRFC. Euro '04 was an eye-opener for me in terms of what a good manager can bring to the party. Look at how Big Phil got the best out of Figo in the semi when Souness for sure would have sent him packing; then his match-winning substitutions (bar the final). King Otto for Greece with his brilliant tactics. And what do we have? None of the above. He p*ssed $17m away on Grabbi, Yorke and now Cole - players who he chose to buy - so he needs to either get better at picking them or at motivating them once they're here.

Given that the majority opinion on this board was that Souness deserved to stay in his role because of what he had achieved in the previous seasons; then Cole should be made a life member of the squad for his achievements. His goals alone kept us up in year 1, and he scored a fantastic winning goal in a cup final. He did the business in year two; and in year three, despite not having any wingers worthy of the name, his all round play and his goals, especially in the run-in were as vital as anyone else's contribution in keeping us up. So I do not subscribe at all to the notion that we will be better off on the field without him. Assuming Jansen is finished, we've got two kids and a one-hit wonder journeyman up front. Excellent. However, no doubt we will be better off financially without him. But who put him on $55k/week with a $1m bonus in the first place? Step forwards Messrs Souness and Williams. Getting rid of deadwood like Ward, Carsley etc is one thing, but falling out with and then getting rid of his own purchases is quite another. How long before Stead, Bazza and the rest fall foul of the great man???

At last the pro-Souness camp are getting back to reasoned argument rather than the personal insults that have debased this thread of late. I still have severe doubts about his suitability for taking us forwards, not least because he is showing no signs whatsoever of changing from last season. Even the most pro-Souness posters seemed to be in agreement that his faults were getting to be an issue and hoped that changes would ensue, basically in three areas: i) tactical nouse - there was clamour for a good coaching brain to be alongside him ii) falling out with players - getting to be a bit too frequent iii) arguing with refs - embarrassing to the club Progress to date has been less than encouraging. On tactical nouse, our new Assistant Manager has been beholden to Souness for his last three jobs - hardly conducive to standing up to the Great Man. Our first team coaches have similarly ridden on his coat-tails.The only member of the backroom staff not dependant on Souness for his job - Parkes - has been relegated to further obscurity. So far all the press reports point to no change with his management style. While the Cole and Flitcroft stories are not clear, and can be interpreted in different ways; they are clearly not along the lines of: Cole: "The boss and I haven't always seen eye to eye, but in the last season of my contratc we have found some common ground and I'm raring to go" Flitcroft: "The boss came to me before the rest of the lads returned and outlined why it would be in the interests of the team for Bazza to be captain. He appreciated my years of leading the team and hoped that I would still be in there challenging for my place" As to the refs - time will tell. A few bad results next season and there'll be quite a few people jumping on the Souness out bandwagon

Jim, you might want to stick to pessimism because optimism is not working for you. No team in no sport is pre-ordained to win a tournament and you've probably seen enough sport through the years to know that. As for the game, what was Sven thinking? You knew the moment he started replacing attacking players for defensive players that the result wasn't going to go the way of England. Didn't he watch Italy during Euro 2004, Spain's game against Portugal or learn from the England V France game? He should know that sitting back and defending waiting for the opposition to attack is not going to win games, especially against a team with a strong midfield. As I said early, England had to lock down Portugal's midfield and this didn't happen with the exception of Ashley Cole who seemed to have Ronaldo under control. The disallowed goal , it was a classic 50/50 decision. We've all seen this kind of thing before and could probably quote times when goals like this has been given and also quote time when they weren't given. Thinking that this is some Swiss/Portuguese conspiracy is crazy and saying that the home crowd was involved in making the ref decide is even more ludicrous when English fans easily out numbered Portuguese fans. I agree with that. Upsetting as it was; any contact with the keeper in the 6 yard box is liable to be called these days. Personally, I think there were a few key reasons why we lost: - after Rooney went off, we neede our 'big' players to step up, and none of them did. Owen, Beckham, Gerrard and Scholes did not perform in what was the biggest game of their lives. - While the two first elevens were pretty well matched; their subs were vastly superior to ours. Would Phil Neville have got on their bench? - their equalizer was a training ground goal against dustbins: no challenge for the header, no attempt at a save. - James is our worst goalkeeper in living memory. Nothing was his fault, but he did no better than any of us would have done. - our standard of penalty taking is poor. All our penalties on target were saveable, one of theirs was. - Sven. At the end of the day, he let the players decide the formation, and it didn't work. I'm not saying his diamond would have; but what a pathetic lack of leadership.

Like any true Rovers fan, I really hope De Pedro works out. Is his heart still in it? Who knows. As Souness himself said - every signing is a risk and you don't know until they've been here a while if they are going to work out. So well done for filling the gaping hole and lets hope he's hungry. My only real worry is that our track record in non-Scandinavian footballers new to the country has been one of 100% failure (to the best of my memory); mostly due to failure to settle: Donis Perez Valery Grabbi Yordi Suker Baggio The only ones to thrive either came from somewhere colder (Berg) or were already acclimatised to the UK, usually at somewhere colder and wetter: Tugay in Glasgow Arentoft in Newcastle To change this trend, I would hope that someone of importance in the club is demanding to know what will be done differently this time to help the guy ( and presumably a family) settle in? On the plus side, the presence of a seemingly happy Campo over t'hill in Horwich might be of benefit. So I'd like to suggest that De Pedro forsakes the Ribble Valley and lodges with my Mum and Dad in Tockholes; so he'll be nice and close to his fellow Spaniard. And with the Black Bull, Rock, Vic and Royal to choose from; he won't have any reason to complain about the lack of somewhere to eat out.

Everyone seems to think that Souness' announcement has been prompted or condoned by the club. I am by no means sure that this is the case. I suspect Souness may have gone "off message" either unguardedly, or to put pressure on his employers. Either way, to be complaining that the wallet is empty given how much he has spent in the last 3 years is just humbug. Last season alone he spent $18m, of which we have only had a fractional payback so far.

Much more interesting philipl. Not the most talented set of players we've ever had, but they were all worth paying to go to watch. A slight quibble, but I find it incomprehensible that you couldn't find room for Wagstaffe. His 60 yards passes to Hird that had so much backspin they stopped on a sixpence, were for me the highlight of the 70's I would also suggest MacNamee in place of Keeley - forwards were genuinly scared of him. And Tony Field marginally ahead of Garner.

I also agree, as presumably Matteo is one of the 9 players still at Elland Rd who are on over a million a year

Why did all my b's turn into that stupid smiley????

Yet another thread where someone who doesn't subscribe to the "Everything is perfectly alright, the first 34 games of last season didn't happen, I can't hear you, LA LA LA...." is responded to with either disdain or personal attacks. I actually think ptholt is arguing his case rather well; unlike the case for the defense which seems to rest on: - Thompson will be a) fit, a central midfielder, and c) good - Emerton will be a) a winger, able to beat a fullback, c) score the odd goal - Ferguson, post a major injury will a) replicate the form of his last three games, and not the form of his first 20 - Cole will be a) here - Our posse of over-30's will not be a) a year older and slower - Souness a) won't fall out with and ship out another couple of decent performers, will refrain from brainless 3 at the back substitutions, and c) will suddenly play a balanced team that can beat the no-hopers coming up from Div 1 Not convinced myself.

So Graeme's response to the dire last nine months, his Damascus-like conversion having learned so much about himself, is to sign Dickov - another low on skill but a battler - and to indulge in another bout of cronyism with the back room staff. All soon to be topped off by probably shipping Cole out How wrong I was to doubt him.....

I'm not sure we should be condemning both Parkes and Saunders either. The tactical change unveiled at Fulham (which kept us up) appeared to come from nowhere, and history would suggest that it didn't come from Souness. I think one of Saunders or Parkes came up with it and my money is on Deano. I noticed in the Fulham game he was frequently on the touchline gesticulating madly at the players - just what you'd do if it was something you had thought of and it was still bedding in - and not something I saw in any other televised game. Of course Sir Graeme was also constantly on the touchline gesticulating - but only at the officials. This is purely speculation, but then so is the notion that Saunders and Parkes don't do anything, unless one of our many "I'm in the know but can't tell you anything" correspondents can break the code of Omerta.

Same here I'm afraid. Not only a Dunn situation but also a bit of a Todd situation as well, but maybe not as much as a Yorke situation. We were well and truly in the brown stuff and there was Cole asking for time off and not wanting to go on that break they went on to Spain. Next thing he reports Souness to the PFA. Not only that but this is the clubs last chance to get some money for him - as we all know he can walk away for nothing next summer. I can only see this going one way. As for Fowler. He's not been anywhere like his best for years now plus he's clearly over weight and doesn't look match fit. His Fruit and Veg stall might as well shut down for all the effort he puts in. I blame that Sonia. Much the same can be said of Robbie as well - and he's lost all his pace - and he's fallen out with his manager I think I read somewhere (that wouldn't happen at Rovers). I don't want either of them at Ewood. I respectfully disagree. Not wanting to go on a now discredited spanish bonding trip is more a sign of good judgement and marital fidelity. Dunn was about "I've tried everything I can with this boy and he still under-performs" Todd let him dowm in match situation. Yorke and Babbel let him down in every match situation Cole has done none of the above. His lifestyle is beyond reproach, he was again our top scorer, he shone once we had a system that used his strength of running onto through balls, he is clearly good for Stead's development. Where else are we going to get a player who scores once every 2 1/2 games in a team that has spent far too long of the last 3 years scrapping around at the bottom? Our team and our results will not be improved by Cole leaving. If Souness is to learn from this season as his fans seem convinved he will, then learning to reach an accomodation with Cole that saves face for both parties would be a good start.

Me too. Clearly Todd should have sucked it up, but it bugs me that the whole situation could and should have been avoided had Souness not told him he was in when all the while he was waiting on Short passing fit. Poor communication.