I'll tell you what USA my first thought on hearing the news was "I bet JW can't believe his luck, is it Christmas?" Souness has done a great deal for Blackburn Rovers, chances are that without him we would be in The Championship. The last 12 months have been very, very tough and I don't think Graeme had the answers. The time had come for a parting of the ways but Rovers probably felt they couldn't sack him from a financial view. Two interesting sentences in JW's statement: "We have an excellent squad of players, and a lot to offer the new manager" Shouldn't that read a new manager? or am I really feeling very pedantic tonight? "It's time to move on, we know what we are looking for......." Good. Sharp man, that John Williams.

This thread from Newcastle is worth reading: http://www.howaythetoon.com/forum/showthre...15&pagenumber=1

A great update on the first page of this thread from Raoming Rover and Jamie - thanks to you both.

brfcs.com on Radio Wales at 7.40am tomorrow If proof were needed that brfcs.com is one of the leading Independent fan sites here we go again. Around 7.40am tomorrow Modi will be "live" on BBC Radio Wales - well pre-recorded or live, I'm not sure. No doubt Modi will tell us all about it. For those who don't live in or near Wales you can pick up the internet broadcast on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/. The Radio Wales link is just below the large Five Live Sports Extra button. This should be available to everyone......I just put my location in as London and BBC Wales still shows up as a station near me. Cheers Modi, great stuff

Well Rikko I think Rovers have got the better end of this deal. I was stunned by the news for about 30 seconds before I began to realise how this all fitted together very nicely for my club. As for Newcastle? I hope Shepherd knows what he's up to......his track record isn't exactly good is it? Souness did a lot for our club, kicked out the wasters, won promotion, won the Worthy Cup, kept us in the PL. Of late, the last 12 months, things have not gone his way and it seems he could not find the answers to the problems we face on the pitch. Personally I don't think he would have lasted past Christmas and it would have cost us a bucket full to pay off his contract. This way we get the change we need, your compensation money and hopefully Strachan or Hughes in charge. Now if you could just send him back for Emerton................. People come, people go but the Rovers will always be there.

Skint and relegated in 12 months then How can any sane man appoint Venables as a manger?

Souness has hardly been i a position to give Matt the chance he needs. the last twelve months have been hell in a handbag. Matty needs a two or three month run to see if he can still do it. It's impossible to achieve that in the PL and how many Championship clubs are going to say "oh it's those nice people from Blackburn on the phone. They'd like us to play Jansen for three months to see if he's fit again - before he goes back to Ewood". ???

While RFW still has work to do I thought this the best Utd team to visit Ewood for perhaps 4-5 seasons. I'm gauging this on the "oh sh1t, it's Smith/Saha/Giggs etc" factor. Utd have come a long way since we beat them last and this will become a very good team. Not that I'm looking to praise Utd but: 92er I'd agree with the above, but I think one has to reflect on how well Friedle played and the overall level of committment our players showed. If it were not for Friedel we'd have been thumped by 5 - 6 and the MB would be alive with Souness out posts. 92er But what you did see was a performance full of guts, running, passion and defending from the front. Not necessarily the style of football we want to watch but one that should, given the quality we are supposed to have, be a match for the teams we must/should beat. This is also a style that may help to convince the disappearing thousands that a trip to Ewood is worthwhile. Scotty Exactly, we shouldn't hide from those facts but if the team can reproduce this performance week after week we will take a lot of points from the Norwichs, Palaces and Pompeys of the PL. I hope we all left Ewood with some restored pride on Saturday - which is perhaps what was needed more than anything?

What's MOTD2? I haven't seen this advertised.

The attendance is a legacy of last season, simply that. It takes a few really crap performabces to lose a crowd, it takes months and months to get them back again.

Off the top of my head - Berg, Amo (obviously), Neil? Flitcroft?

I'm sure the rules say each sub is 30 seconds of added time. 5 subs = 2.5 minutes. Ferguson? To date I have been disappointed with him, he doesn't seem to be the player we were promised by Souness. I'm prepared to change that view and thought he was good today. I was really pleased by his post match remarks. I'm happy to be wrong about Ferguson. Just like Emerton, whose been totally useless for a year but today he was really, really good. I hope he's turned the corner.

Amo had to go, it was clearly a bookable offence. The first yellow was daft on Amo's behalf. For the second Amo knew exactly what he was doing when he commited a fould half disguised as a shoulder charge. I'd agree MGP needed to come off, but when Amo went, we needed to bring on a defender for a striker or face being over-run in midfield. I think MGP will do well for us, there were signs of a real talent.

Well that got the blood pounding and back to it's true colour of blue and white. It's a fine day in Blackburn, there was a buzz as we walked down LBR towards the ground, lots of Rovers and not a Manc in sight. Inside we sang and it soon became apparent this could be a day when we might leave with our heads held high. By injury time EVEN the family stand was on it's feet singing, a sight I have not seen for years, if ever. I left Ewood gutted, but not surprised, I felt United would score, we deserved to win, United cheated constantly. Got home physically drained and had to lie down to recover from this game. Tonight a lot of pride has been restored in the blue and white shirt. If the players continue to perfom with the same PASSION and comittment this could tunr into a decent season. They gave us something to cheer, we backed them all the way. After weeks of disappointment I feel a lot better, lets hope for more of the same on Monday. I'm not going into detail on the match, others will do this later much better than me. Lots of questions being asked earlier on in this thread so i'll try to answer them here for you. Injury time: 5 substitutions at 30 secopnds per sub equals a minimum of 2.5 minutes. Another 30 seconds would have been reasonable. The big point for me is the referee signalled for 3 minutes to the fourth official who then got his board out. Before it was held up Ferguson protested, Souness went balistic and suddenly we are playing four minutes. Gally is injured, simple as that. Souness got it right today. I could only argue with two points, where is Gray and why bring on Yorke? At the point Yorke came on there were plenty of gaps in the Utd defence, clearly the idea was for Yorke to hold up the ball and exploit those gaps. OK sound thinking. The trouble with this plan being once Stead went off the bloody gaps disappeared. Yorke didn't chase down as hard as he might have done. Emerton? Well bugger me he can play football!!!! If Emerton can build on this performance and be just a little more accurate with his crossing we'll have a player on our hands. Well done Brett - you've shown you can do it, now do the same every week. He even hit the touchline a few times. Brett rattled the Utd defence and in the second half was beating them ON THE OUTSIDE Do it again, son do it again. Friedel was awesome, back to his best of the season but last. World class. Pedersen? he'll be OK. He should have scored when the ball was laid back to him. With only Howard to beat he hit a screamer first time when in fact he had time to steady the ball and place it. Hey this was his debut. Ferguson - he hurt someone!! Go on Baz try it again. Not my favourite player but much, much happier with his performance today. Plus his post match interview clearly showed he was gutted at the result. Ronaldo - until today I liked him. I'd only seen him on the telly but you had to respect and enjoy his skills. I now realise he's a cheat. All that talent and he has to cheat? I hope he's a disaster from now on - cheats get what they deserve. Utd's goal - shouldn't have been allowed, a clear hand ball but that's Utd for you. All in all I'm happy because the performance counted. We needed this to build our self-esteem, I'm still not sure about Souey but for now I'm a lot happier about Blackburn Rovers.

I'll ring Mrs Paul - she's in Tesco's right now I believe we'll win.................I think we'll lose

Pedersen has received international clearance and is "in line for a debut against Manchester United"

Pedersen has received international clearance and is "in line for a debut against Manchester United"

The reports are true and Pedersen has signed a four year deal with Rovers. The club are saying that he will be in the squad if his international clearance arrives in time. A second report from the club is saying he will play if he receives international clearance - which one Lee? Fergusson is in the squad but Amo and Dicko will both have late tests.

That post of Scotty's has done more for me in two minutes than anyhting the team have manged in 3 games.

Magic, stands up and applaudes Jumps on his seat and cheers. Pin that on the dressing room wall Souness. Get out there and blow them off the pitch........and please, please play Gally on the right and for pity's sake watch the video of Alan Smith last night.

I hope you're wrong Jan but I suspect not. Are there any indications that Souness has lost the players?

Well I had a rotten day...............but now Pedersen has been agreed I'm hoping Rovers will really buck me up by beating the Arse. 2-1 Rovers

Haven't had time to read all of this but the announcements seem to come from Norway.......anyway Rovers have now annouinced that the clubs have agreed a deal and the mediacl will take place tomorrow.

If it means I lose the mortgage, then Yes.