Nice one , Bellamy ; glad I didn't miss that one

Just back from a week's hols away from the crowds . Aussies beaten by the Bangles ??

Hope they're not "troughing" too early....

I wrote back to Messrs Hughes and Williams and informed them that if they signed Craig Bellamy I would buy a Season Ticket. We'll see.

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I bet you're outnumbered by those who'll refuse to donate cash to the obnoxious sod and not renew ....

That's unusual , Waggy

If AESF is really that down on Cole and wants to see players who respect the shirt, he should get down to Ewood.

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They should respect the shirts by stopping at home and ironing them , I say...

I don't like the rule that says that injured players who've had the physio on and are back on their feet have to leave the pitch, let the game start again and then have to get the refs permission to come back on. Why do they do this? It doesn't save time? If the player is back on his feet, let them get on with it.

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I disagree . A player should be sent to the touchline if he has received treatment - only he shouldn't be let back on for 5 or 10 minutes . This would deter the actors who pretend they are injured for whatever reason . It may even deter pansies from starting the game in the first place .

Another gripe on a similar subject is the increasing tendency for players to be "sportsmanlike" and kick the ball out of play at the slightest suggestion of an injury to one of their opponents . Unless it's an obvious head injury or a snapped leg , let them wait until the ball goes dead of its own accord . They'll soon get up !

Implement these changes and you won't see the physios for months on end ....

A very interesting article appeared in yesterday's Daily Mail (which I can't locate online ) describing the links between Glazer and a certain Sheldon Adelson , who may be more familiar to the Yanks as a multi billionaire Casino tycoon . The latter is said to be worth £8 billion .

The article explains how Adelson , backed by the local council and the club directors , plans to build a hotel and casino complex on ground owned by the club right next to the ground at Salford Quays. Such a venture , which the relaxed gaming laws in GB presumably would not prevent , may be up and running as early as 2008 . If successful the business would accrue profits that would make the football club nearby seem small fry .

A lot , of course , is speculation , in particular the exact relationship between Glazer and Adelson . It is not unreasonable , though , to suspect that a deal has been made between the two - an obvious explanation as to why Glazer would burden himself with so much debt on such a risky enterprise as a football club .

The long term danger to Man Utd is obvious if looked at from the point of view that it is not so much the club that the money men are interested in as the casino/hotel business that will eventually be placed alongside it . If tens or hundreds of millions are coming in from the latter then the former will soon be regarded as a nuisance - especially if the RFW keeps turning up with requests for a chunk of the profits for players who will only help the football club to make relatively miniscule profits .

I'll have a go at this sometime ; bit busy tonight though ....

I feel the same and wll also get my usual 3 ST's for next season, but only because the kids want to go and a sense of loyalty.

Still, a couple of good signings this summer could make all the diference.

How many of us are in this boat - although I'm not sure that a couple of decent players would entice anyone to buy a season ticket . Last night a mate was assuring me that Bellamy was on his way here . Although he's a good player , this would more likely dissuade me from renewing my ticket - I simply don't want to help pay for him and his like ....

The sooner the bubble bursts the better .

I dare say that Hughes felt bad about the way Tony's departure was handled and has apologised to him for it.

Hughes probably now wishes he had done things differently and had informed Tony earlier before the news leaked in the press.

I hope that John Williams and the directors have also learnt lessons from the episode. With hindsight, it was a big mistake to have a board meeting on the Tuesday about sacking Parkes - and then nobody had the balls to inform Tony before the Friday, by which time it was in the back pages of The Sun.

Hopefully Hughes and Williams apologised not only for the manner of the sacking but the far greater crime of sacking TP in the first place .

All water under the bridge now , but I'd like to think that the decent attendance last night reflected the outrage that was felt at the time ...

Just you and Theno then , USA . (His is 95% BTW.....)

On the Glazer thing - The issue here to my mind is the future of the premier league, unfortunately I don't think Glazer will ruin scum - He will ruin teams like Blackburn and heres why:-

Glazer owns the team with the highest number of "armchairs" and as such will want control of the TV rights. The EU competition watchdog has expressed concern at the way the premier league currently sell the rights bordering on calling it illegal.

So 5 clubs will go solo on TV rights, splitting the premier league - what will follow will be bloody and messy and they will be casualties, the European superleague will rear its ugly head again, talk of break aways

The net result - the biggest clubs and essentially Glazer will get control of the premier league. Is it in their interest to have 20 clubs? No.

So we all laugh at the muppets now but we wont be laughing in the long run. We will be powerless, penniless pawns in the new billionaire era and it is us The Rovers who are in danger of ruin!

I mean really when you buy something for a lot of money and wait a long time to get it - do you then abuse it and ruin it?

For small teams like the Rovers to be "ruined" , you are working on the premise that we need the big clubs more than they need us . I maintain that this is not so .

If the Man UTD's , Chelsea's and Arse's of this world form a Euro superleague ( which is the only way they can make big money taken into account the present power and voting structure of the prem league ) it will last no longer than a few years . Once the novelty value wears thin it will be they - the big clubs - who will have to come crawling back to their homelands and beg to be re-admitted .

People assume that all power lies in the hands of the big clubs . It doesn't . Collectively the other 15 clubs can see them off . They need us and the century old traditions and rivalries that we offer more than we need them .

I hope they go . Then we can start to believe we can win things again . And consequently watch the crowds return ...

We should be eternally grateful for the service he gave to us, even turning his back on Manchester United which in its self is a commendable decision these days.

This old chestnut again. I don't want to get into a slanging match regarding Shearer's exit from Ewood again...but I also can't stand to see history being rewritten. As I understand it Shearer WANTED to appear on stage at the 'Theatre of Screams' but Jack Walker would not sanction it. The Barcodes where Shearers 2nd choice.

Shearer quoted in tonight's Telegraph ;

"I got the offer to go back to Newcastle and it was just too big to turn down. It was a decision I had to make for myself and my family, but it wasn't one that I made easily.

"I could have gone to Man Utd but I didn't. I chose to go to my home town team. I turned United down to come back home.

"That's how big a decision it was for me. I had numerous offers in the four years I was at Blackburn to leave, but I never did.

"It was always a dream of mine to play at Newcastle, that's why I left, and I am sure a lot of people would have done the same thing in my position if they had the opportunity to go back to their home town club. "

To come up with the size of cash surplusses he needs, he has to swing TV money away from the other Prem clubs and into the pockets of the Mancs. I cannot see any realistic alternative.

He would also be very much in favour of European super league to generate the cash he needs from the Mancs.

That is why the guy is an absolute menace.

At present the rules are such that a large majority (3/4 ?) of the premier league clubs would have to approve of any change to the current method of distributing TV money . They are hardly likely to do that . (Whether or not future internet scourced money could bypass that is another issue ...)

As for any so called Euro "super" league - well , it wouldn't have the tradition to generate any serious money . A cup competition is one thing ; fans , however , would soon lose any interest in MU playing Bruges , Eindhoven etc twice a season ...Fans like their tradition . They like a bit of passion which only the prem can offer on a week to week basis .

For those of us who are interested in football and a truly competitive league NOT based solely on monetary values a breakaway Euro league would be like manna from heaven . If Glazer manages to change the premier league by taking away the "big" clubs , he'll go my xmas card list .

I tend to think that there simply isn't any more money to be squeezed from "real" fans in England - and subsequently the prawn sandwich clubs will lose their marketability .

i hope sounesses men can tire fulham out so we have an advantage

Dale Winton style ?

3. Don't gloat that WE'VE got a player (who's not even in the stadium) who used to play for them.

LOVED the Souness song though. Apt, appropriate, witty.

Was Souness in the stadium....?

By all accounts, Bellamy is a thoroughly obnoxious git - (once allegedly throwing a £50 note at a girl behind the bar, saying: "Here's your wages for the week bitch.")

I do that every week at my local ...

If there's a case for litigation, I think we should go for it. Not because I approve of litigation for the sake of it, but a line in the sand needs to be drawn. These guys are taking the ###### and they need reminding that there are certain standards to adhere to and that you can't just go round slagging someone off because you don't like them or because of something(s) they've done in the past.

Nonsense . In this country we still , I think , have a free press . If any of the hacks think Todd is a thug and an idiot then it's their right to say so . If they don't provide enough , or any, evidence , then that devalues their article in the eyes of any sensible person and it can be suitably ignored .

Going down the road of litigation for such trivialties and what is , in effect just plain bad journalism , would set a dangerous precedent . As a liberal person you should realise that , Rosie .

He had a pre-exising condition called "being alive".

He always looked more dead than alive to me....

Haven't they got a decent keeper already ? I'd be amazed if Brad were not to finish his prem career with us .

The bottom line is the clips shown aren't conclusive either way . If the FA work on the principle that proof of intent must be beyond reasonable doubt then Todd is innocent . I hope he takes a copy of the Shearer incident (when he stamped on somebody's head ) and uses it as a "precedent" of innocent behaviour !

I suspect that even Arsene Wenger appreciates the notion of confidentiality . The Express bloke doesn't seem to , though ...

He has a certain presence, some kind of gravitas that just seems to make those around him play better.

You mean the opposing strikers ...

Interesting bit ( in the Express hack's reply) about members of our board being embarrassed by our manager's tactics . Just shows that Martin O'Neil isn't the only manager to be held in such high esteem by his board

I was reading the match report in an abandoned Mail on the train this morning. As you would expect from such a poisonous rag, the general sentiment was outrage. W@nkers.

Matt ; from the Sunday Times to the News of the World , they all crucified us ! Maybe they all should be abandoned