I have a solid number 2 every day ( except after a madras ) and I made a terrible manager!

What were you managing? Your bowel movements?

Does anybody have the goals on something other than youtube? I can't get youtube to work from this computer.

We never have been and never will be a 'big club' Theno.....but boy oh boy haven't we done well being our little old selves!

We ARE a big club, and we are far far bigger than a club like Birmingham. Football is based on success, not just crowds.

I've become very worried. The game is supposed to be shown on Eurosport right? I just looked at Eurosport's website and their tv planner. It shows that at 7:30pm tomorrow, they're showing Tottenham vs Slavia Prague. Incidentally that game is also being shown on ITV4. Doesn't show on eurosport 2 either.

Edit- Nevermind, just checked a little bit more and it is on British Eurosport, so it's fine.

I think you're right Cheshireblue, hopefully he'll recover quickly recover from his current calf injury (three weeks out).I wonder how much they will want in January seeing as they wanted £3m last month?

Bloody hell, he's injured AGAIN? Let's forget this. He's a crock. We should only take him on a free in the summer, with pay as you play wages, or not at all.

they got him on a bosman free if i'm not wrong

Hmm, wonder why any club would let somebody leave on a free after they spent 13 million on them and they played very well but got injured a bit.

Anybody know how much Roma got him for? I heard it was free, but I'm not sure. Considering his prolifacy about a season before, I don't see why it would be. Was he out of contract? Did they just let him go due to worries about his injury and financial problems? Anybody got a clue?

Imo we should be looking for a player like Jagielka.

If we had a strong tough tackling central midfielder who can pass a bit, it would allow greater freedom to either Reid or Savage to get forward.

When you have a defensively weak playmaker in the middle of the park, the other central midfielder is restricted in his forward forays. Why does Benitez play Sissoko alongside Alonso so often? Players like Alonso, Tugay and Arteta are great to watch, when on form, but are also weaknesses in the team if not incorporated properly.

Savage is a player like that. Giving Savage license to go forward and putting the work onto somebody else's shoulders would pretty much negate the point of having him in the team. Reid should be a little more capable of this though. But I'd prefer a genuine attacking player or creative playmaker.

....and an offer of £50 million would probably be enough for Henry - what's your point?

We don't have £4m, and even if we did do you seriously think we'd spend it on a 16 year old??

...seems like we should have..

(Edit- the 16 yr old being discussed back then was Walcott, by the way)

Almost every Rovers fan stood for the entire game at Salzburg a week ago and the support generated was pretty impressive (particularly for the numbers and demographic)...you'd certainly want to be a part of it as a supporter. The 'old gate debate' and 'killing us' threads are ignoring what makes actually being in a stadium as opposed to anywhere else worthwhile - that is being part of the event not passively spectating.

I've been in Rovers support (home and away - after wins, losses and draws) when the players have genuinely responded to the backing they've received, not told to by their manager - recognition that supporters were intrinsic to the professional game. This is sadly no longer the way of things - we are now simply customers to be relieved of as many leisure pounds as is feasible.

Not ignoring the cost and TV factors regarding Ewood home attendance but the disillusionment and dislocation many feel could be blown away with the return of safe standing (novelty for younger fans, nostalgia for older). Maybe one day the Riverside terrace could be sloped instead of flat!

Good luck to the West Ham protest

May as well have a third thread on attendance (the other two are losing the plot anyway!)

I don't see how people would be persuaded to go for 35 quid standing tickets any more than 35 quid seated. And again, I've never felt that standing makes me any more or any less part of the action. My heart and my head are in the action- not my feet or backside. The only one of those standing or sitting is likely to interfere with is the vision my head provides if some tall git stands in front of me. A la that Reid goal I missed.

The double poke in the eye on the Davies deal was another of our big mistakes

Davies £7m in

Beattie £1m out

Davies Out

Ostensdadt In

Awful business both ways, although I was glad just to get shut of Davies in the end as his Rovers career had been over for a couple of months before he actually left.

I'll see your Paul McKinnon with another awful buy from the past, SEAN CURRY - what an awful player he was.

Damn, I briefly forgot about the fact we lost Beattie in that deal as well as shedloads of cash. God that's one enraging transfer. Somebody said they'd run Dahlin over, but I'd choose Davies. At least Dahlin just got crippled and couldn't do much about it.

The single most infuriating piece of 'business' in my mind is the Davies one. Not just because of how we got him for so much and he was cack, but because we then flogged him off cheaply to Southampton- and got EGIL OSTENSTAD in exchange. In one cup game for us, I remember thinking that was the least bothered performance I'd ever seen from a player in our shirt. And I still do. Then, insult to injury, Bolton end up getting Davies for FREE, and he's bloody good for them! And since I can't stand Bolton, that makes it the most infuriating one. The worst however, was Shearer being sold (Alan, of course), regardless of how much say we had in him staying. There's no way we would have gone down with Shearer in the team, and that must have cost us AT LEAST the money we got for him. And players of far less calibre change hands nowadays for similar or greater fees.

I personally find that being stood or sat down makes no difference to my willingness to sing for the cause. So it confuses me when everyone else always seems to insist it does. What I do know is I missed Steven Reid's wonder strike at Wigan last season because some pratt stood up at the crucial second as it was struck and it was so bloody fast I only got up in time to see it smack the back of the net.

I too think that we need Nonda for this one. I think his physical prowess might be the only way around Woodgate. I recall Kuqi being useful for us in that respect in the same fixture last season, though the Boro defence looks quite different now, particularly if Huth starts. I'd predict a score draw, 1-1.

Many have tried and failed, there is no shame in conceding defeat bruce.

No! STOP! I surrendered, won't you let me live in peace?!?

Before getting cocky and abusive, perhaps you would explain how Rovers can force any TV channel you care to mention to buy rights for a game which don't even belong to Rovers to sell?

I think your whimsical 'I'm with stupid' signs started the cockiness and abuse. And I'll tell you again, since you don't seem to have grasped it on the previous post, I wasn't saying they could 'force' any TV channel to buy the rights. I'll admit though to being previously unaware that the rights to televise the game in this country only belong to Salzburg. I'd still imagine we could have tried asking Salzburg to tout the game cheaply to British broadcasters, though they'd probably be less willing to do so since the ticket proceeds go to them.

As for you, Stu, I simply can't compete with that rapier wit. So I won't try.

The maths on the article in the Express were off. They said something like we bought him for 3.25 and paid his agent 500k. Then we sold him for 2.5, which was the same as we bought him for minus the agent's fee. Obviously, 3.25 mill minus 500k isn't 2.5 mill. I don't know about anybody else, but reading the article in the Express I personally felt like they had nothing on us at all. And the word 'theory' was bandied about in ours- the other three transfers all seemed much more anchored in fact. Then again, Rovers have made no comment, whilst one of the other accused parties (I forget who) have denied it outright. This worries me a bit.

By paying Sky an astronomical amount of money to carry Rovers TV for a few hours, flogging the rights of the match to Rovers TV (which I presume is a seperate company - so could be a useful "tax dodge")

Come on Tris, you know how easy that would be to do.

Thanks for that (And you too Tris), but you seem to be talking pure arse. I won't even begin to point out why what you said simply isn't the case. But I will point out that there are various sky channels that are quite capable of filming the game themselves. And we would certainly get something called 'money' from this process. Even if it was just a few grand, I see no reason not to. Thanks for taking my words ('putting it on the telly') out of context too, when it was clear within the context that I was referring to offerring it cheaply. And on top of all that, thanks for being a condescending tool

Furious that it's not on telly. There's no chance of my debt-ridden ass going to Austria for this one, so it appears that I won't get to see it live. Even bloody Derry are on the tube (Twice...spurs are on two channels too). Can't we just flog the rights cheaply to some naff station? I mean, it's not like the club really get money from our away support in Austria, right? So they could at least help all the fans who can't pull off a trip like that by putting it on the telly.

anybody know how much he's on per week?

That's the key question, above all else. But I don't know. Not too enamoured of this signing, I'd prefer that if we really end up down at the bone we try out some youth players.

his goalscoring record is all over this thread, why not have a look.

He scored 8 goals in 22 last season for Roma

Not what I asked though, I know he scored 8 in 22 last season. However, I was under the impression that some of those came before the injury, and hopefully some after. So I'd like to know how he scored AFTER injury, especially since somebody said he's lost a yard of pace since it. Discovered he underwent surgery in December, putting him out of the African Cup of Nations, but I haven't been able to find when he recovered.

How has Nonda played SINCE the injury? Anybody know whether he's scored since, or how well he has done so? Kinda worried by the prospect of our strikeforce during the African Nations Cup...though I spose it's a chance for the young lads to shine.

Mido has made a mistake that I struggle to fathom out. At the time, remember, Spurs had no interest in him and he was content to stay at Roma, on the bench, rather than lead the line for a lot more money. Then, a team who finished one place and what was it, 2 points, above us comes along. A team that already has three top class strikers he'll be hard pressed to push out of the team, one of whom was only just bought for considerably more money than him after the club who have since signed Mido decided they didn't want the Egyptian at the time despite him costing far less. So its obvious they rate Berbatov higher, Keane is in fantastic form as ever, and Defoe is hardly to be underestimated. I highly doubt they're paying Mido more than we would have, to sit on their bench. And he could easily have lived in a nice area in/near Manchester. But hey, he's made the choice, and maybe in time he'll come to regret it. I for one bloody well hope so.

I'll have to hold my hands up for that headline! Changed it now to be on the safe side, though, because of doubts over the pronunciation.

Just heard from various sources that Lucas Neill is off to Liverpool and, wait for it, Danny Mills will be joining on a free from City.

Hmm? You changed what headline?

Link? It's not on the official site at the moment.