That sums it all up really Ste . I would rather meet up with the usual crowd and watch a game on the box than travel down the motorway to watch East Lancs UTD play. Having said that , the long term future of BRFC is absolutely desperate IMO . Demographic changes in Blackburn (I'll say no more !) are such that the Ewood ward will go the same way as so many wards have in B'burn . As the massive majority of fans are indigenous and are likely to remain so , there faces the possibility of ever greater numbers of fans needed to travel from outside the town . Will they do so ? Not on current trends. This is ammunition for Theno's case , but local footy is all about loyalty , ties and emotion . A merger just wouldn't work . The die hards would follow Rovers into the conference , the non die hards would watch UTD on the tele ( and just wait until everyone has access to foreign satellite channels !)

The last game was more reasonably priced - only a quid I think . This one I believe is overpriced . As Tashor suggested with regards to the Rovers in another thread , kids should not be paying at all - or at least no more than a quid . I doubt I'll be there .

Funny how a week ago everyone was saying Tugay should be next to Bazza, now he's had his chance everyone is saying the opposite. Football is a confusing thing sometimes. I was one of them , Eddie , but yesterday was the day when I reluctantly accepted that Tugay is probably past it . Too many stray balls and he looked really tired . A great pity but he's been a marvelous player for us over the years with a wonderful attitude . The bad news is that he'll be replaced either by the equally aged but far less talented Flitcroft or by Thompson who'll doubtless pick up an injury after a couple of minutes .

Moderator Flopsy - please refer to guideline rules 1 , 4 and 9 .

Probably true to an extent . Putin seems to be engaging in a slow process of re-nationalising the businesses that Yeltin privatised and which first created the billionaire oligarchs. One or two of these who are still in Russia are in the nick . Abromovich is effectively in exile and Chelsea are a hobby to pass his time.

If that were to happen it would confirm my suspicion that Souness has indeed got a screw loose Or a bit dodgy

Good grief , jim's right - people DO have short memories . Maybe Shearer will be beaten by Jansen in our greatest ever team poll ! Shearer ability was God given (and naturally aided by hard work) . Not only an incomparably natural goalscorer he made our wingers look amateurish when he strayed out wide ; in fact he could have quite easily took the place of any of our outfield players - front , middle or back ! Rooney has massive potential ; Shearer has more than fulfilled his .

Aye , you save your money for the Yanks , Abbey How much do they charge for an american "football" game over there by the way ?

You'll be halfway to the car park by then , Master Frosty !

That's similar to what I was thinking , Joey , and maybe that would suit Ferguson playing a bit further back .Pity about Tugay but as someone said earlier Tugay and Dyorkaeff would struggle to fit into the same team . I'd also persevere with Jansen on the left for a while and hope that Emerton has been practising his crossing this week..... Maybe even Dickov could play behind the front two of Dy' and Stead.

I too used to think that the potential of Ferguson would come to the fore , now I just don't think it will do . A captain should have leadership qualities , be willing to take responsibility , go looking for the ball . Ferguson doesn't . He may have had the odd above average game or two but this is small return for the 7mill we splashed out on him . Let's hope Hughes takes him aside , shows him a few of his old videos of himself and hope that he shames him into acting like a real captain . As things stand it's a sad indictment of Fergy that there's little or no difference between his contribution to the team than the ageing Flitcroft's - and at least the latter got into a couple of goal scoring positions. Thompson is a permanent crock and I feel we have to discount him in our plans. As Theno implied earlier , there's been a couple of big money signings under Souness that are distinctly fishy - I've been saying this for ages . 7mill for a Scottish league player is just a bit too lavish . Finally , on the subject of Fergy , I took a bit of stick a while ago when I said that Savage would give us better service in midfield if we could get somebody to buy Fergy . At the moment , not only do we not have a single creative midfielder (with Tugay inexplicably not starting ) but our so called "enforcers" and ball winners threaten nobody . In short we have the weakest midfield in the league . THIS is the major factor which is causing havoc at the back and undermining confidence at the front . If the midfield is crap then it's a diet of the long ball (and a big reason to get Hartson!) . First priority , though , is a creative midfielder. Roll on the transfer window.

Aye , but those sharks defending the 17 probably want paying a grand or so before they cast a glance at the "evidence" - I wonder if legal aid is available ? I'll ignore the first paragraph , Don

But , Mandy , you say in your opening post that the campaign is all about standing in front of a fixed seat . So you would still have to scramble over the seats in the event of an emergency and end up with bruises all over your legs and arms and ........stop, stop....

Blooody hell , Dave , the police force and judiciary in Australia must be absolutely fantastic for you to come out with a comment like that ( you call me right wing !). Over here , unfortunately , the legal system is a joke , neither concerned with justice nor fairness.

Well he'd obviously got the right address , Philip.....

Paul - how much have we got in the funds ?

For the past couple of weeks the Sunday Times have been serialising Sir Clive Woodward's new book . The sheer professionalism and the lengths this bloke went to in achieving his goals were astounding . Every angle that effected any aspect of fitness , mental strength as well as skill improvement had its own specialist involved. Players were sent on courses with the Royal Marines to improve leadership qualities , and even a vision specialist was employed to improve to help the players exploit any movement by fellow players - ( not entirely relevant in the Rovers case , obviously !) Hughes could do worse than to have a meeting with Sir Clive - or at least read his book .

Surely in these "multi" cultural times , isn't it a little politically incorrect to try and impose our culture and traditions onto our Asian brethren ? A form of cultural imperialism ? It wasn't right in years gone by so why are we trying to revive the habit ?

I must have gone for a pie when that was happening....

You're correct in saying that B'burn is two towns in one and the sad fact is those TWO (not multi) cultures are as different as it's possible for be . You could hardly pick two more different cultures on the face of the planet. It's a silly mistake to say that there is an underlying level of racism over here ; the fact is that most people on both sides of the divide just accept that the two sides are never going to integrate . They have their way of life , we have ours and that's that . Your last paragraph shows (with all respect) that you just don't understand the problem . Cole and Yorke are black but their cultures are a million miles closer to ours than they are to the Asians . It is NOT in any way about colour. 11 white faces or 11 black faces in the team would not make much difference to any of the posters on here IMO .

Too true , Alex . I think the general conclusion on the other thread was that ticket prices will have to fall before significant improvements on the gate will be seen . But they'll never fall low enough to attract large numbers of our Asian brethren ! Can we afford to give tickets away for nowt ?

Exactly ! I always make a point of asking ex-regulars why they don't go any more - 9 times out of 10 the answer is the price of the ticket . Link the cost with the effort put in by many players and the result is that the average working bloke will stop going. Lower the price and people will be more willing to watch the overpaid prancers. When people get fed up of watching games in half empty stadiums maybe market forces will work in our favour again.

You provide the Kalasnikovs - me , Theno and Tash will do the rest..

At last - on page 8 - we reach a post that is worth reading and not simply a hand wringing load of nonsense spouted by the same bunch of idiots who would normally be on the side of civil liberties if the persons involved were not "hoolies" . (I discount Longsider's sensible contributions because he's a dingle !) I know one of these listed persons and can confirm that he is not a bloke to be messed with . In fact I know a lot of blokes who aren't to be messed with but that doesn't alter the fact that it is now years and years since I have felt in any way threatened at Ewood and that is why I have no problem taking kids to the game . Some of our posters may argue that this is down to "police intelligence" - if those words can be used in the same sentence and still make sense - but I for one begrudge having a camera stuck in front of me every time I pass in front of the cops (outside Ewood Arms for eg) when I'm with a bunch of lads. I am absolutely convinced that the cops are taking short-cuts and using the guilt by association trick instead of going about their business in a professional manner and actually gathering evidence ( a bit risky..). So much easier to film someone who looks "dodgy" ( and their mates who happen to be with them) and present this to some judge who may or may not question them as to whether or not it actually constitutes evidence. This leads me to the question one of our new posters posed earlier which was something along the lines of ..why can't the police catch the "knuckle draggers" without civil action ?* The obvious answer , I'm afraid is that it's the police who are the knuckle draggers and the hoolies are all too often a lot cleverer - and have proper jobs to boot (if that's the right expression !) Maybe I'm becoming a liberal... * In fact it was ...why are hoolies smarter these days ? ( Near enough ..)

By some distance my third choice out of the main 3 behind Strachan and Dowie . Very much in the "wait and see" camp ; I've still a bad feeling about this Rovers team and just wonder if Hughes can motivate them enough . One thing's for certain - he can only improve on the recent rubbish we've seen.