England team that were knocked out by Portugal in World Cup ‘06: Robinson, Neville, Terry, Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Hargreaves, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Joe Cole, Rooney Game of opinions and all that, but that side above didn’t compare to 1996, certainly not when it came to leaders.

Was watching the highlights of England Holland Euro 96 on the Beeb website this morning. Now THAT was a team of leaders, with real quality too. Seaman, Pearce, Adams, Southgate, Neville, Ince, Gascoigne, McMananaman, Platt, Sheringham, Shearer. We've had a real decline this past twenty years.

Disaster of a first day for England. Perhaps a two day knockabout as the only warm up wasn't the best idea...

Read the other day we'd sold around 2/3k for each of our group games. Far cry from the hordes we took to Germany in '06 (though a decade of shite performances since may be another factor!)

Two years left on his contract, would cost a small fortune, you would imagine. Season long loan could be a goer though...

Another reason to get out of League 1 ASAP

I just hope that if this season does go the way we all want, the club capitalises on it and doesn't wait until July to get them on sale...

Story in The Times this morning. ’Burnley are the subject of a £180million takeover attempt from rival US and Middle Eastern investors’. Walkers sold us for... less than £30million, with TV deals exploding. Our players were worth more than that, never mind our PL income and real estate. Obvious who was the savvy one in that family...

‘Frozen pitch’ according to the club website. What’s happened to the under soil heating?

Watched the beamback in Blues, noticed that the sound was about a second ahead of the pictures. Didn't really matter due to the noise everyime we bombed forward!

Not in the media, I’ve no idea to what conversations they’ve had privately, do you?

Interesting read on TM’s 1st anniversary as manager... http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16038870.Tony_Mowbray_on_his_summer_meetings_with_owners_Venky_s_as_he_marks_a_year_in_charge_of_Rovers/

Preston is absolutely rife with glory hunters, yet PNE fans are obsessed with the relatively tiny number of Preston based Rovers supporters. If a few more of those actual ‘plastics’ in red shirts went to Deepdale they may have had a PL experience by now.

I was just thinking the other day that I hadn’t noticed him on Radio 5 for a while. His voice was synonymous with Saturday afternoons. RIP.

Outsourced? I assume to Alan/Neil Yardley’s company? Not much else for them to do without Radio Rovers or big screen coverage, I suppose.

Shut the Darwen End to Rovers fans and reloacate the few hundred to the end blocks of the DE side of the Jack Walker, like they often do if the away fans get the whole DE anyway. Makes much more sense than having 500 fans scattered across the Darwen End, with the singers miles away from the away fans.

I don’t wish to brag, but we frequent the same barbers (not at the same time yet thankfully as I imagine I would embarrass myself). Hes loving it at Rovers by all accounts, lives at Wrea Green, kids are settled at Kirkham Grammar.

Before someone pipes up and says ‘who cares’, ‘always need something to whinge about’ etc etc,. Of course it doesn’t REALLY matter, but it is just completely pointless. After we’ve scored is the one time in the game you are guaranteed an atmosphere, so why bother with blaring music?

I read that club Chairman want it this way, as they are of the opinion that clubs that are a long distances away won't fetch many if it's Tuesday or Saturday, whilst a local team may bring significantly more on a Saturday than midweek. Bugger the hardcore fans and the players come to think of it.

Rosie was his wife’s username, wasn’t it? A site with first world problems in those days... SOUNESS OUT!

Problem is London can sell out three Test matches a summer at top whack, plus all the corporate hospitality. Apart from the Ashes, Old Trafford for example, struggles to sell three days of one Test. Stupid ticket prices are partly to blame, but there’s no market for a 40k OT or Headingley currently- though Edgbaston seems to be doing well.

I believe The Oval has plans to go to 40,000, Lord’s 35,000.

Quick glance at their forum, fans not too happy about it...

Very much like the Trent Bridge Test pitch against India in 2014. It was marked ‘poor’ by the ICC and they were officially warned and I think fined. What are the chances the MCG will get the same treatment? 0, 1%?