I think we'll win this one. We seem to be more geared to playing away from home again this season and Southampton are in a state of disarry if you believe the papers. 2-1 Rovers.

Friedel for me as well. Gennoe was superb for years in the 80's at a lower level, Flowers was superb during the 90's, but Friedel is the only one who's been world class. His form two seasons ago wasn't just the best I've ever seen from a Rovers keeper, it was the best I've ever seen from any keeper.

Ah diddums. Someone has the nerve to criticise something you posted and you spit your dummy out and threaten not to post again! Poor thing. The irony is though that last night and early this morning you completely jumped down someone else's throat for daring to have a different opinion to yourself. Get a grip.

Spot on. People seem to equate having lots of possession as playing well. To me, playing well is determined by how many chances we create and, ultimately, how many of them we take. Possession's nice but it doesn't win you games - goals do. On Saturday we didn't create a single chance in the first half and only created two or three in the second. It was exactly the same as most of our homes games last season - lots of huff and puff but no end product. The fact that some people seem to be happy with that just amazes me.

For those of you who don't like negativity look away now! I'd love to tell you what formation we played in the first half but I'm afraid I haven't a clue. All I can tell you is where everyone played - you make a formation out of it if you can - good luck. We lined up Freidel (gk), Gray (lb), Short (cb), Amoruso (cb), Emerton (rb/rwb/rw - who knows?), Ferguson (cm), Gresko (cm!), Matteo (cm), De Pedro (lw), Yorke (cf), Stead (cf). I guess the idea was to load the play down our left knowing that West Brom had precious little attacking threat down their left. Unfortunately though, De Pedro had one of the worst debuts I've ever seen. He doesn't look fit and his crossing was appalling. Obviously it's early days and I'm sure he'll get better but he was shocking today. On top of that, too many of our players didn't seem to know what they were doing or what spaces they should take up. As a result, our first half display was crap. We lacked any sort of cutting edge and failed to get behind the West Brom defence, despite the amount of possession we had. Our forwards lived off scraps and long balls, our midfield lost possession too frequently, and our right side was non-existant. In contrast, when West Brom had the ball they looked threatening - especially Kanu who was a class above anything else on the pitch imo. Fortunately though we defend well - right up until the referee awarded them a dodgy free-kick about 25 yards out. First of all it was never a free-kick. I've not seen it on tele yet but it looked like Matteo got the ball to me. Secondly, the ref marched our wall back at least 12-13 yards, if not more. Finally, and crucially, the wall was bobbins. Clement didn't curl the ball round the wall, he didn't put it over the wall, he simply put it straight through and our ######-poor, ######-scared defence wimped out. Pathetic goal to concede. We never looked like getting a goal back and half-time was a blessed relief. Souness made a couple of changes after the interval - Dickov and Tugay replaced Gresko and De Pedro. We switched to 3-5-2 with Short, Matteo and Amo at the back, Gray, Ferguson, Tugay and Emerton in midfield, and Yorke playing just behind Stead and Dickov. We looked a lot better. Everyone knew what they were doing and we were much more threatening than in the first half. Yet again though, just like last season, we failed to convert our possession into chances. Before we equalised we almost gifted West Brom a second. A routine backpass from Amoruso was under-hit and Friedel had top make a sharp save to recover the situation. For the most part though, West Brom put 9 men behind the ball and we couldn't break them down. We camped outside their area for long periods, with Tugay and Yorke pulling the strings, but we lacked the necessary guile, skill and class to get behind them. In fact, our goal came a bit out of the blue. A long cross from the left was met by a fantastic, determined run from Short, and the ball went in off his shoulder I think. Who cares, he deserved the goal for the run he made alone. We continued to make all the running but created very little. We had a couple of half shouts for penalties but I didn't see anything really clear-cut. Emerton did seem to get through towards the end but he failed to get his shot away in time. That's about all the attacking threat I can remember. I've been one of the more negative posters on this board for the last six or seven months or so. I don't enjoy doing this, I'd much rather the Rovers were brilliant and I had nothing to complain about, but I don't believe that's been the case for a while now. However, I was looking forward to today's game and was fairly positive beforehand. Sadly, I find it hard to take many positives from today. De Pedro was awful, Emerton is so lacking in confidence it's untrue. He's not a bad player but he's playing badly. Stead was anonymous today, Dickov was lively but didn't show any quality imo, Ferguson and Tugay were neat on the ball but never opened up West Brom's defence, Matteo wasn't as immpessive as he has been in pre-season, Amoruso was solid but then nearly gave a goal away with a dodgy backpass. Only Yorke and Short really emerged with any credit for me today. Short's second half display was the picture of determination and he, more than anyone, looked like he wasn't prepared to get beat. Yorke was class. He was my man of the match, especially in the second half when he linked up play between midfield and attack superbly. He also worked his socks off. It's early days obviously and far too early to make any serious judgements about the team yet, but I was looking for some encouragement today to show me that we'd improved on last season. I didn't get any. We drew, at home, against a team that are almost certain to be relegated.

1-0 Rovers in a dull, uninspiring match.

I'm useless at these things but here's my effort, for what it's worth: 1. Chelsea 2. Manchester United 3. Arsenal 4. Liverpool 5. Aston Villa 6. Middlesborough 7. Tottenham 8. Newcastle 9. Charlton 10. Birmingham 11. Bolton 12. Portsmouth 13. Manchester City 14. Fulham 15. Blackburn 16. Southampton 17. West Brom 18. Everton 19. Crystal Palace 20. Norwich

I've just read an article in "When Saturday Comes" that states Blackburn Rovers are still paying half of Andy Cole's £60,000 per week wages whilst he's at Fulham. This is due to Cole agreeing to waive the extra monies due to him in the final year of his contract. Surely that isn't true. Surely? Someone please tell me that we're not paying our best player to play for one of our rivals.

Well, the summer is nearly over and another footy season is almost upon us. For some reason, I volunteered to do the match preview for the first game of the season - against West Brom at Ewood. Unfortunately though, I can’t be bothered writing a deep analysis of what we’ve done over the summer, what the strength’s and weaknesses of the two teams are, previous encounters against West Brom etc. Instead I’ll just ask Nuclearsox what he thinks! Scotty: First of all let’s reflect on what happened last season. How would you sum up last season’s events Nuclear? Nuclearsox: I think my thoughts on last season are best summed up by one of the famous old philosophers (I can’t remember whether it was Plato, Socrates, Aristotle or Ron Atkinson) when he said “well what a steaming pile of crap that was Clive!” Interesting. I’m glad you picked one of Big Ron’s less controversial quotes. Anyway, a lot of people are blaming the manager for last season’s poor show, what is your opinion of Souness? Well he's not the best tactician - he's said so himself. He seems to be a little deficient in man-management techniques, his transfer dealings leave a little to be desired, and he lost his moustache in a card game with a seal, but if there's one thing that Souness most definitely is, it's Scottish... ...and you can never take that away from him. I certainly wouldn’t like to be the man that tried to take it away anyway. There were also rumours that Souness had a face-lift last summer. Do you think that was connected to the same card game? I think it’s almost certainly a different card game and I’m not sure whether Souey won or lost. What were your high and low points of last season? The high point was undoubtedly when I was told The Moorings wasn’t closing down on Saturday after all, as I’d been led to believe – I breathed a huge sigh of relief that day I can tell you. I even allowed myself a little smile at one point. The Moorings has been part of matchdays for almost as long as I can remember. The low point was probably when The Moorings closed down the day after. I think the Moorings closing down hurt us all in one way or another. Still, The Ivy isn’t all bad is it – especially when SteB doesn’t turn up. It’s certainly a more upmarket clientele than I’m used to (when SteB stays away). You can brush shoulders with the rich, famous and powerful in there although you do get a smack in the teeth for that sort of thing. I don’t like name-dropping, but I have sat very close to someone who has taken part in heated debates with a worldwide audience, in an attempt to make our world a better place to live in. And, whilst I don’t always agree with his views, you can tell by the way he holds himself that he’s very protective of the things he holds dear. Either that or he needs the toilet. I’m talking, of course, about Manchester Blue. Ooh, and I’ve seen Jack Straw in there as well! Moving on to the events over the close season, how do you rate our summer transfer activity? I'm quite pleased. I would have liked us to have signed a big name but this summer we seem to have gone for foreign names. De Pedro (Spanish), Dickov (Russian) and D. Matteo (Italian - and still the holder of the record for the fastest FA Cup final goal if I'm not mistaken). We also look to be getting rid of some monosyllabic names that you just can't make up a decent song for - Cole, Todd and possibly Yorke (Willy Wontee? Very strange goings on with the whole Yorke saga.) The Moore thing was odd too and I’m slightly disappointed we never made a bid for Rodney Geddintoem but I don't think that should stop us chanting his name. The sale of Cole was a bit of a bummer for a lot of us. Are you in the “glad to see the back of the hands-on-hips, sulky waster” camp or the “WTF are we doing selling our best player and replacing him with a talentless, Scottish midget” camp? I thought the deal for Jimmy Krankie fell through!!? I’ve never been that keen on camping actually. It looks great in those films with Sid James and Kenneth Williams – loads of scantily clad women inviting you under their awning for a bit – but that’s not what camping is really like you know? In truth, it’s all wet, windy and muddy. All you eat is burnt sausages and the toilet is always in the far corner surrounded by nettles. That’s not for me! I’m more in the “Wish we still had the foremost hands-on-hipster but let’s see what the Scottish midget can do before branding him ‘talentless’” B&B. This summer has also seen a couple of new innovations down at Ewood. First of all, the new electronic season ticket - good or bad thing? I've read an awful lot about these new cards and I'm really looking forward to trying them out. It worries me that you have to spit on them and stick them on your forehead before you get to the ground, and that the metallic strip is damaged by alcohol. 78% of my saliva is alcohol on a matchday so I can't see my plastic card lasting until the Man Utd game. Also, I’m slightly worried about it fusing to my forehead. On top of that, from the pictures I've seen, unless John Newsham is a giant, the card readers are at stomach level so you have to bend double to get your forehead to the reader. I can see the Riverside concourse being packed with people that just can't straighten up. Also StuWilky reported being thrown to the ground by one of turnstiles before the Lisbon game. That’s what you get if you don’t pick your “lucky turnstile”. So I’m half-expecting to see a pile of bodies, just inside the turnstiles, struggling to get to their feet before the next one is flung on top. I’d say 78% was a very conservative estimate to be honest. You’re not worried about Dean Saunders’ involvement with the cards then? With 78% alcohol/saliva level I’m not worried about anything except lasting the first 45 minutes without having to go to the loo. Having said that, I’ll not be first through the turnstiles. No way! Don’t want to end up at the bottom of the pile. The second new innovation was our “revolutionary” new kit deal. What do you think of our new kit? Don’t get me started on the whole kit thing. It’s a complete shambles. Who ever heard of a football kit being manufactured by a group of tractor drivers from the far-east side of Norwich and accessorized by a part-time female roofer (Alan’s mum)? Why couldn’t we have got Nike? The last straw for me was when the shipment of hats went off by itself (including Roar’s I might add) and we subsequently learned that the Sherlock Holmes costumes were only being released to a select few. The colours look nice though. Apparently Nike make Accy Stanley’s kit. I blame Pringle. Anyway, the whole point of this was to preview the West Brom game so we should at least mention it I suppose. How do you think we'll do against West Brom? Well they're very bouncy them Baggies. Perhaps a little too bouncy. I think we have the players to exploit that. With a well-timed pass from midfield, the talentless Scottish Midget can nip in underneath their defenders, just as they are on their upward boing, and slot it under the keeper as he's pogoing about in the six-yard box. 3-0 Rovers, Jimmy Krankie hat-trick. Fandabidozee! And what are your opinions on West Brom as a club? As a club they're not so great. As a pogo-stick - you couldn't fault 'em. What team should we put out against West Brom? Well the answer depends on what you mean by “put out”:- If you mean “Extinguish”, my answer would be “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that! Although it wouldn’t surprise me if static build-up in these cheap nylon kits from far east Norwich made them spontaneously combust.” If you mean “To Leave a harbour”, my answer would be “I’m not sure what you mean by that. Erm. Portsmouth?” If you mean “To expel”, I would have to say “West Brom”. If you mean “To inconvenience”, “West Brom again. Deano could hide the keys to the Away dressing room or something.” If you mean “To offend/irritate.”, I’d reply “Well we shouldn’t really be offending anybody but my guess would be Emerton, Megson, The referee, The crowd, The bloke in the car in front and Tris – in that order.” If you mean “To make an effort”, I’d say “Rovers. It would be nice to see us put some effort in.” If you mean “To retire a runner in Baseball” I’d have to say “Have you gone banonkers?” If you mean “To be sexually active.” I’d say “A team full of Flittys”. If you mean “To prepare and issue for public distribution” I’d say “Reading”. If you mean “To make unconscious by means of anaesthetic drugs” I’d say “West Brom again. That will put a stop all that bouncing.” If you mean “To put onto a field of play.” Assuming Friedel is still having problems with his “Kicking muscle”, I’d say:- Enckelman (gk), Gray (lb), Amoruso (cb), Matteo (cb), Neill (rb), De Pedro (lw), Flitcroft (cm), Ferguson (cm), Emerton (rm), Stead (cf), Dickov (cf). Subs: El Tel (gk), Tugay (cm), Gallagher (cf), Thompson (rm), Reid (lb, rb, lw, rw, cf, cm, sub) Yep, I think I’d go along with that. Looking at the new season in general is there something in particular you're looking forward to? Absolutely! In recent seasons, the bloke behind me has struggled to pronounce most players' names (Oysterhausen, Grass Co.). I'm interested to see what he can do with Dickov. And to be specific about BRFC for a minute, where do you think we'll finish in the table this season? If we can stay injury free and the players play to their full potential we can finish in the top six. I think we'll be 16th. I think I’d settle for 16th at the moment. If we have a bad start, how long do you think it will be before Souness comes under pressure? I’ve got a fiver on two and a half minutes. That long? The blokes around me in the Riverside will be on to him long before that I suspect. What would you class as a successful season for the Rovers this time around? “Success is simply a matter of luck – ask any failure”. I think success this season means learning from last season’s mistakes and not making those same mistakes again. So, as long as we don’t sell our best player to a London club a few weeks before the season starts without replacing him, I think we’ll have a successful season. DOH! Thank you Nuclear!

We've got enough right midfielders without getting bloody Beckham as well. And Roberto Carlos? Another defender? No thanks. I suppose Zidane could be useful coming off the bench towards the latter stages of games. To be honest though I'd rather we kept the boy Fleming. He makes the rest of us on here look good and you can't put a price on that.

Yep. If you look on the www.irishrail.ie web-site there are trains running from Bray to Pearse well after 11pm. We'll be fine.

What the bloody hell are you doing disturbing your mum when she's got the kits and hats to do?!

I'm sorry, I must have missed this. The mystery trialist was a dwarf? No wonder the lads in Germany couldn't spot him.

Good grief, the club can't even get the squad numbers right. No doubt that bloody Dean Saunders is behind this as well. Saunders out.

I'm meeting a mate of mine in Greyfriars (the Wetherspoons) at 12. Hope to see you in there.

Can't be arsed doing a big match report - just a few details. Rovers were fairly crap in the first half without ever looking in trouble, but improved in the 2nd half. Star players were Matteo (who played in midfield first half and defence in the 2nd) and Yorke - who looked lively the whole game and combined well with Stead. Neill's goal (the first) was a cracker from about 25 yards out, although it was the first good thing he did in the game. The second goal came from a great run from deep in defence by Matteo, who then laid it off wide to Stead, who then crossed it expertly to Gally, who scored a tap-in. Another notable event was Souness playing Gresko and Gray in tandem down the left throughout the first half. They linked up well (why didn't he do it last season?). The most disappointing players were Neill (until the goal) and Emerton. I'm also a bit worried about Ferguson. I know it's pre-season and he's just come back and all that but he looked off the pace for most of the time tonight. he was eventually subbed halfway through the 2nd half. I hope his knee's not giving him more trouble than the club are letting on. All in all a decent workout and an OK performance. We restricted them to only one or two chances and took our goals well, without ever looking too brilliant. Early days yet though.

So he failed to land his top TWELVE targets !!! Does that mean granddad Les was number 13 on his list ? Are the BFS Fan Club on here going to re-consider their membership ?! Go on then Tris, I'll bite. How can you blame Allardyce for not capturing the signings he targetted? Surely that's up to the money men at the club. What it shows is that the behind-the-scenes setup at the Reebok isn't as good as ours. It's no reflection at all on Allardyce's ability. Ultimately, Souness will not be judged on whether he's captured the signings he wanted, he'll be judged on whether or not those signings have improved the team.

Because they didn't sign Rivaldo, silly.

We made a pact - what goes on tour stays on tour.

I was as sober as a judge Theno. I'm never drinking again after Germany. I'd say Curbishley and Allardyce are feasible, and I should have added Dowie to the list as well. Anyway, the question only asked which Premiership managers I rated. If you asked me to name a replacement for Souness right now I'd suggest Strachan. As for the rest of your post, I'll be optimistic on here when I feel optimistic. Whether we're punching above our weight or not there was no excuse for some of the things that happened last season and I haven't seen anything yet this summer to start feeling better about the coming season. Surely the club and the supporters should have ambition - not just simply be happy that we're in the Premiership. Otherwise that's a sure-fire way of making sure we're not in the Premiership sooner rather than later.

If I was Cole I'd leather Souness next time I saw him.

I just hope that the Jersey trustees are happy now.

It was a misteak to sell Cole.

Wahey, another pi55ed up post from Tris. This is fun. Can we all answer the questions? I'd say that our season-long relegation struggle was fairly disasterous after the season we'd had before. And I'm certain that many of the home "performances" were total disasters, as well as a good few away ones. Games like Liverpool away, Brum away in the cup, both UEFA Cup games, Leeds home & away, Pompey home, Villa home, Charlton home all stand out as disasters to me. He fell out with lots of Liverpool players when he was manager there. He said in his autobiography he'd learnt from that yet it's happening all over again here. I admit to knowing very little about Lopez but he wouldn't have to be that good to make more of an impact than Yorke has at Ewood. I would say that off-loading Cole, Yorke, Todd & perhaps Flitcroft (if the rumours are true) would more than pay for Lopez's (or anyone elses) wages. Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho, Curbishley, Allardyce. If Villa have another good season I'd add O'Leary to the list. I actually think that Souness's record in the transfer market has been pretty good, but the signings of Grabbi, and to a lesser extent Yorke, have been a criminal waste of money. Well, I really can't be bothered to list all the sales here. What I do think though is that both this summer and last summer we sold, in my opinion, our best player - and the club will only ever go backwards if we keep doing that. I once won a medal for being top scorer in a 5-a side competition when I was about 15. Does that count? I'm not sure what point you're making here though. Are we not allowed to criticise Souness because we haven't won as much in football as him? In that case you might as well just shut the messageboard down as none of us are qualified to comment. I look forward to your next questionnaire Tris. Maybe you could make it a weekly event with prizes for the best answers. The winter nights would fly by.

I agree totally mjs. I've seen nothing in Thompson that shows me he's disciplined enough to play in central midfield - certainly not as part of a 4-4-2 system anyway. He would be a less skillful version of Dunn imo and Dunn was rightly slated on here for not working hard enough and tracking back. I'm already worried about the lack of defence we have in central midfield, especially if Flitcroft is sold, and playing Thompson there wouldn't help at all. The interesting comment for me though in Souness's LET piece is where he mentions that playing Thompson in central midfield may force a tactical change. Does this mean we might play a 5 man midfield? I can certainly see Thompson being effective "in the hole" with Ferguson and Flitcroft/whoever behind. But that would mean we'd either have to only play one up front or start with 3 at the back.