I hold my hand up, it was late, I was tired, and I was very inaccurate. My apologies to for that

I said I wasn't looking at you! Ooijer didn't have a 'mare. His game against Chelsea was a 'mare. This was just substandard. It seems to me that the major problem with the defence is communication, especially for Heskeys goal. MGP getting suckered into challenging for the ball up the field didn't help, either. The tackle leading to the penalty was a shocker all right, but it doesn't make his entire game a shambles. I reckon Emileo would have given most centre halves trouble yesterday. He seems to have recalled how to run and where the goal is! And as for a "dismal performance in the first half" it was frankly a surprise that it was 1-1 at half time, Benni could have had two. There's another player that still hasn't hit his form in my opinion, incidentally. He still looks at times like he's not sure where he wants to play or what's going to happen next. Can't wait for him to hit a purple patch while on an extended run with a strike partner! Anyway, just my 2c

Hooray, a good, old-fashioned, internet flame fest starting! Incidentally, Souness never had much success as a manager after Rangers. He presided over Liverpools decline from giants to some form of dwarf, managed to spend a lot of cash and get Rovers relegated (although in fairness he was in charge when we got back into the prem) and his time at Newcastle could be kindly described as "a shambles". Whether or not her dislike of him was sectarian, it was certainly prescient Wonder what'll happen if Sparky likes the look of some of the Rangers players?

Yeah, I loved his take on the goal Well said, that man! On another note, I'm encouraged that even not playing at our best after a midweek European exploit we still managed to win. I don't understand how people (not looking at RevidgeBlue ) can be so negative about our fourth win on the trot....enjoy it while the going is good, folks!

On RTE in Ireland last night, Ray Houghton made his feelings known about that ref with the wonderful comment that "the ref may as well have been wearing a blue shirt out there today. EVERY 50-50 went to Chelsea" and of course, he mentioned the "tackle"

Jason Roberts auld club come a-calling. Wigan were last years surprise package, but Paul Jewell was mugged twice this summer. Once he had £5.5m stolen from him and found Emile Heskey in the training ground the next day, and the other time Steve Cotteril, Kevin Doyle and Steve Sidwell stole his mojo. This resulted in Reading looking (at this early stage) like this seasons surprise package (no label, presumably. Or maybe the chairman's name (Madjeski) is too hard to read. Other fantastic summer malarkey include the signing of the very skillful Zineadine Kilbane (aka Kevin) recently described after an Irish international match with the following: "loads of effort and gives the ball away a lot". I'm not convinced that's a good signing! Wigan's start to the season has been, well, spotty. If not downright poor. Despite beating Rosenberg (amongst others) pre-season, their first game was a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle in St. James', in a game they should have won after dominating for long periods (sound familiar?). They won, ironically, at home to Reading, although Jewell's mojo was safely held down south and could not be recaptured. Next came a 1-0 away loss at Fratton Park, another game where one was left wondering how exactly they managed to lose. The answer is simple, and will be revealed later. The story contines as Everton, where despite beating Merseyside rivals Liverpool 3-0, Everton failed to put Wigan away and ended up drawing 2-2, Scharner getting Wigan's goals. In fact, he was rude enough to ruin a good feeling at Goodison by not letting the fans celebrate Everton's second goal before netting the equalizer. A disasterous exit from the Coca Cola cup was next for our opponents. Unlucky enough to draw the mighty Crewe Alexandria, 2-0 was the score for the powerful home side. Once again the reviews claimed that Wigan were on top for most of the game. On top but unable to finish.... seems like some viagra might be in order there! Wigan's last game saw a reversal of fortune. Instead of being on top and losing or having to come back from being down, Watford, the premiership's unluckiest team, were superior all over the pitch for large parts of the game before Wigan went 1-0 up. Watford managed to equalize before the end, though. Amazingly there were no strange penalties or decisions to make grown men cry, although Wigan's goal looked about 1 mile offside before replays showed that the ball came off the Watford defender before landing on Camara's foot near the penalty spot. He still managed to make a meal of the finish, though. Onwards. Wigan have played 5, have 5 points, have scored 5 and and conceded 6. Their problem has been goal-scoring, since we nicked Roberts. Heskey has been described, kindly, as goal shy (although he has a good record against Rovers), and Camara seems to have forgotten how to score. Scharner got two against Everton, but has not played very well since. They were also booed off the pitch at the JJB after the Watford game, not a nice experience for any team. We, on the other hand, have won the last 3 games we've played, not lost in the last five, including UEFA cup action against a team who beat Valencia in Salzburg. Yes, the same Valencia who knocked them out in Spain drew 1-1 with Barcelona last weekend and beat Roma 2-1 midweek. Not bad. Savage is still iffy at this point in time, Roberts will almost certainly not make it (a pity because he was looking forward to it) and Reid is still absent along with Nelsen. Jeffers appears to have lost his starting spot to Nonda, who is still a couple of weeks off full fitness. Who cares about Wigans problems? Not I. I'm going with Sky on this one, 1-2 to the Rovers! Nonda and Bentley for the Rovers, Camara for them.

Brilliant! The Artist Formerly Known as Pedersen <- legendary Someone make up a song!

I think the real question is: Do they really believe that or are they trying to ###### you off? I hope it's B, personally

As would I. Reckon Hughes would get the best out of him more consistently than he's shown it at Boro. Ooijer reckons the rocky patch is behind him and that he's settling in nicely. He reckons that he's not shown us the half of it yet (I hope he's right) and that he'll continue getting better. Given the enthusiasm that he showed towards the move I'm willing to suspend judgement. I must admit to becoming excited about a partnership between Ooijer and Nelsen. It could be very strong.

Yes. But it was light-hearted Seriously though, a Lanky United that was anyway successful would probably spark a revival of Rovers fortunes.

Surely we all have teams we have a soft spot for aside from supporting the Rovers! I mean if any of the other teams I enjoy watching was to PLAY rovers, it's a different kettle of fish, but I really enjoy watching Barcelona, for instance, and would cheer for them in any other situation than them playing Rovers. Seems fair enough to me!

No, if that happened, we'd be almost guaranteed larger gates once Lanky United started progressing. Make for a good derby too! In fact, I'm all for it. And they should redevelop Deepdale as their new home ground (I've always liked the name, sounds like an Elven city from some book ) It's the way of things, if we had a close rival team interest in the area would go up, followed (more slowly) by attendance and merchandising.

This thread is pointless, nearly as bad as the "Killing Us!" thread. People are getting angry and personal about the whole affair. We're all Rovers supporters. If you live in and about Blackburn, then you've the opportunity to go see Premiership football live 19 times a season. If you really wanted to go to Ewood, then most could make it financially, even for cat A+ matches. The maximum that it could possibly cost is £36 x 19 = £684. Per year. Tell me that you don't smoke (generally comes to a lot more than that) or drink much (people will still generally spend more than that), or participate in a range of other leisure activities that will generally all come to, at least, that figure above. Looking at that, rather paltry, figure for the length of a season watching Rovers, the conclusion must be that you've de-prioritized Rovers as a leisure activity. It's just not important enough to you to spend that much a year. Which is fine. But don't bleat that it's all about price. Incidentally, travel of any kind will add to that cost, I'm aware. And I'm aware that many of us don't live in or about Blackburn. Or work shift work. But the COST of getting into Ewood Park, per person, is not exorbitant. Not cheap either, mind. And having top-level football in your town is not something to moan about. I don't buy the "falling white population" argument put forward earlier either. The long and the short of it is that thousands of people of all races, colours and creeds turn up at Prem grounds to shout for their local team. Maybe the "growing non-white population" just don't feel like Rovers is their club? Could that be changed? This is not a holier than thou rant, mainly because I'm not holier than most. I live in Ireland, and don't get to Ewood much. I will be there later in the season though (have to work out scheduling yet) so I'll see you all (who decide to come) there.

I think it's clear after this weekend that the Axe's best position is defensive midfield. Why move him to a position that's a) occupied by someone doing very well there, thank you very much and he's played really badly there in the past? Seems counter-productive. Central defence is a tricky one. Hope playing together will work out the "kinks" between Ooijer and Zurab or change it... I don't think Boro have been particularly effective in front of goal this season so far, so perhaps give them another game? A full weeks training should help with this as well... at least, I'd be disappointed if it didn't. I'll say 1-3 to Rovers, with the third goal very late indeed. Nonda, McCarthy and Bentley to score for rovers.

Tugay looked very tired from Thursday night. Not a surprise, surely? Whatever the behind the scenes situation with Todd and Gray, Ooijer really needs time to adjust to the pace of the Prem. That said, both himself AND Zurab are guilty time and time again of hanging off players. For one corner yesterday, both of them jumped with their arms around City players. Whats all that about? Especially seeing as we've given away two penalties already this year for the same offence. Nonda looks very promising, and the win was much appreciated. Forward from this? Hopefully everyone (especially Ooijer ) will take confidence from this.

Contrast all that that with Barcelona. Barcelona paid UNICEF €1.5 million for the next five years for the use of their logo. All the players are contributing a percentage of their wages. Even if it's only 1%, what's that going to come to? I'm sure none of them are caught for a fiver. Given that this is the first logo that Barcelona have EVER put on the front of their jersey, and that ManU get £50 something million (note the pounds) it's not unreasonable to assume Barca could have made in excess of €60 million (note the euro again) per year on a shirt sponsorship deal. They also put on one hell of a show last night, as they usually do. A shining light of example. As someone pointed out recently, wages were on a downward trend (simple economics taking their toll) recently. Then Roman bought Chelsea, sparking another feeding frenzy by players and their agents. Edit: As an aside, giving out about Sky and all that is all very well, but spare a thought for myself in Ireland, the Norwegian lads, and the dedicated chaps on the board from Hong Kong and the UAE. You lads living in, about, or within reasonable travelling distance of Ewood can do things like get season tickets, but for us it's a major logistical undertaking, with associated planning and expense to get to Ewood for any game in a season. If it wasn't for television we'd see even less of Rovers than we do! And that chap who mentioned his £100 pound overhead, well done for making the effort! And I'll see you all at some stage in the new year.

Bet you that no-one says "Break a leg" to Nonda before he goes out!

3-0 to the Rovers. Nonda and McCarthy to start (that's a given really, I reckon) and both the score. Bentley to score from a wayward pass

Thanks! I DO have a big penis! How you spotted that across the Irish sea says how big it is! I wasn't laying into you because you agreed with John, I was laying into you because in all your posts, I haven't seen much in the way of positive vibes. I agreed with your point that losing Bellamy was a problem, but there was no way we could have kept him, the same way there was no way that we could have kept Shearer. It happened, let it go. As for Dickov/Kuqi, I feel that we have more than adequately replaced them. And we got an outrageous sum of money for Kuqi. Just because the new boys haven't played well together in the Premiership yet doesn't mean they won't! I was also pointing out that midfielders were horrendously expensive this summer, way over-valued, and we simply cannot afford to spend that much on one player at the moment. If you had a player you feel would improve the side and championed that, then fair enough, but you haven't. You've just griped in general terms. We're all Rovers fans here, which means that none of us are bandwagoneers (we used to have bandwagon fans once. I'd love to see it again ). I'm saying it's no use being a fair-weather Rovers fan, because the weather has been changeable since 1995. We support a club that doesn't have the same pulling power as the big boys, and definitely doesn't have the finances, and the transfer market this summer was odd, to say the least. To sum up. It's four games in, last season was nearly as bad, and we did really well last season. It won't take much to improve the performance enough to become a real threat again, and the key is the service from midfield to the strikers. Gamst needs to be dropped for Peter or Gally for a couple of games, to give us width, but aside from that the back line will settle, the front line will settle, and we'll all be kissing the Rovers crest after matches again. The club is in decent shape, we've great facilites, and a squad that, on paper at least, should have us more than safe enough by the end of the season. Why the doom and gloom, there aren't any structural problems! Creativity has been a bugbear for a few seasons, but we haven't been playing really badly aside from at Pompey. I trust Hughes to sort it out over the season. In fact, because we lost Bellamy we'll have to go for a more suitable solution, like a winger or holding midfielder. That could be a bonus. There were people on here advocating removing Hughes at this time last season, and it seems to me that that's essentially what you're saying again. Those people were proved wrong, and you will be as well. Of course, I'm an incurable optimist when it comes to Rovers Lastly, lets keep this discussion out of the muck, and keep personal comments (even compliments like yours earlier) out of it. It just takes from any good points you have.

The reasons given for not using the video replay function for important decisions were 1. It'll slow down the game. This argument at least has the benefit that there's some credibility there. The trick is deciding how the video would be used. More on that in the conclusion 2. The controversy is a large part of the enjoyment of football. This argument is based on "fan awareness". A controversial decision (like the goal that wasn't for Spuds last season) is talked about for weeks, and raises the awareness of football. This is true, but is that really the image that the game wants to promote? Sky Sports offered to rig all the goalmouths in the premiership with four cameras that would definitively show if the ball was across the line, at their own expense, some seasons ago, and it was refused by the FA. Strange. The thing is, I would be quite happy if there was a video ref, a fifth official, who could just buzz the ref if there was a problem with a decision. If the ball crossed the line, or a penalty was (or wasn't) given, he could just let the ref know. It's then up to the ref to decide if advantage was given, or if further action could be taken (in a situation like the Ben Thatcher challenge at pompey). It would just add some consistency to decisions, and that's what's been sorely lacking over the last few years. Personally, I sympathise with the ref. It's a big pitch, the play generally moves very quickly and most incidents happen in a blur. It's a tough job, and the more help they get the easier it is for them to get it right. On the penalty for shirt-pulling note. Has anyone else been awarded a penalty for a similar incident? If they have I haven't seen it. It's fine if everyone gets more or less the same treatment, but that's just not happening. I would also like to see an appeal system for yellow cards, so that incidents like Savage's booking against chelsea can be looked at. That was a terrible decision (slow-mo showed that Essien clocked Savage, and didn't even TRY to go for the ball) and it will affect Savages ability to influence the game in the match, his personal yellow card situation (an earlier ban, perhaps) and the clubs overall standing in the fair play league.

Jesus, RTM, go get out in the sun! It must've been raining where you are for the last month for all that doom and gloom. There's very little continuity there from last year, and its going to take time for it all to come together. Hughes is relatively relaxed in public, although you can be sure he's spitting nails behind the scenes. But who would you have liked him to buy for midfield? Carrick for 18.5 million? or Petrov for 6.5? Luis Valencia for 4? Yes, we miss Bellamy. Aside from Barcelona, I can't think of team that wouldn't. But we couldn't keep him. He took a WAGE CUT to go to liverpool. Dickov refused a new contract and we got 2.5million for Shefki the farmer! In return, we got a champions league winner in Benni, a new Shefki with better ball skills in Roberts, and a player who cost 13.5 million not too long ago on loan in Nonda, as well as Franny, who's a real risk, but with great risk comes great reward. And we're missing Nelsen. Who is injured, will be back, and was probably the Premierships top defender last year. If not top, in the top 3. So, you've got a team with significant changes, missing their defensive linchpin, after a summer where transfers were delayed because of the world cup and training was shortened because of the international weekend, and people are going mental! There's three types of football fan. Theres the bandwagoneers (######), the fair weather fans (same) and the ever optimistic football fan. If you're not following one of maybe ten clubs in the premiership, you need to be the third kind. I don't think there's any structural problems at the club. It's well run, with good facilities, and some very good players. It doesn't have a pile of mob, or masturbation money, but it does ok, and is often mentioned as the most financially stable club in the Prem after ManU (impressive, coz they've got a LARGE fanbase). We also are one of four clubs with a premiership title, and the only club in the history of english football to win the FA Cup three times running. We're in Europe, and in the Premiership, and its early days yet. They can be better, and they will get better. Last seasons start wasn't great either, was it? and where did we end up? Dissapointed that we didn't make the Champions League, that's where! Towards the end of the season, if we're still in the bottom three, then I'll worry. But UNTIL then, Sparky has shown that he can bring the team forward, and I'll trust him to do it.

I think that signing Zurab was a real bonus from last season. He looks like he'll really be a good defender in the future, and he's pretty good now! On another note in the rovers blog on the Lanacshire Evening Telegraph site, this quote from John Myles caught my attention and made me chuckle: "It seems Andy Todd probably wanted to go but stays to fight for his place (please don't take that too literally Andy)."

Now, does anyone know of an internet stream?

From the BBC website, and Lawro "They might not need a ball for the first hour - both teams are going to get properly stuck in." :D

Yeah, a pre-season FRIENDLY and the Chinese player ended up in hospital with a collapsed lung! (This was according to SSN). Ban him for life. It's one thing having career threatening incidents, but life-threatening????