No matter how I try I cannot understand how a supporter can be committed to two teams? It would seem that while Celtic are riding high, good side but lets face it in a rubbish league but I won't start that debate, you're a fan. Presumably you spent more time at Ewood Park when Rovers where enjoying their peak in the mid nineties? Criticise Souness all you like, it's your right, but either be a Rover or a Bhoy. Or by Champions League are you switching to Arsenal or Chelsea next season? I don't like questioning you like this as I know you've been around here and Rovers a long time but I feel you need to decide where your loyalties really lay. The quote above sounds like an "au revoir" and I'll see you when the good times return. After Leeds I would have been happy to see Souness leave and Parkes put in charge. I don't know if that was right or wrong and I don't care. I would happily have accepted one last roll of the dice by John Williams to see if Parkes could keep us up. The Leicester game answered only one question, namely, could we get three points and move towards survival? We did and that is all I am concerned with for the next four weeks. John Williams held his nerve when all around him may have been calling for change. He's a leader. I feel there are important questions to be answered in the close season. For me to be convinced Souness is right for Rovers I would like to see a public explanation of the rumoured unrest in the club. If Souness is responsible we need to know he has learnt a lesson and this will not occur again. Until recently I wouldn't have questioned GS but I still do now. The only thing I know for certain is he was as choked with emotion in his post-match interview as I was throughout the game and at the final whistle. I could hardly sing beacuse the words just wouldn't come out. Tells us all one thing.

Great stuff Alan and many thanks to Tim for taking the time to talk to him.

Rovers Win Away Having sat miserably at my PC at 1-2 down, the radio off, resigned to defeat and no text messages coming through with score updates (the signal was down on the mobile!), not even looking at the MB your correspondent posted a moan on the MB when he discovered it was 3-3. By the time that post hit the MB we were winning 4-3. I can’t report much about the game but I know tonight we can all share in the total and utter joy of a fantastic away win at Loftus Road, it’s only three points ahead of Leeds and goal difference with Portsmouth, but we know that we are still outside of the relegation zone. The team must take real belief from this result and must now go out and BEAT Leicester on Saturday. Tonight forget our troubles, we won a game many expected to lose, there's some light at the end of the tunnel. Go Rovers, Go Fulham van der Sar , Volz , Djetou , Goma , Bocanegra , Davis , Legwinski , Knight , Malbranque , John , Boa Morte Subs: Crossley , McBride , Hayles , Petta , Pearce Blackburn Rovers Friedel , Neill , Amoruso , Short , Gresko , Andresen , Flitcroft , Tugay , Douglas , Cole , Stead Subs: Enckelman , Reid , Johansson , Gallagher , Emerton Scorers: Cole (23), John (26, 45), Douglas (49), Amoruso (51), Boa Morte (60), Stead (75) LINK TO MATCH REPORT

From the Message Board an excellent piece by Scotty: The pre-match talk in The Ivy revolved around the importance of the first goal. Whoever got it would have a huge boost to their confidence and would probably go on and win. Sadly, predictably, we didn't get it. I'm tired of saying this but, yet again, Souness made some baffling team selections. To drop Todd again was simply ridiculous. Todd has shown time and time again this season that he's our best defender - he's probably the only player who's been consistently good all season - and dropping him is just rank bad management. If the rumours about Todd storming off are true then I don't blame him. Playing Reid on the left instead of Andresen was less surprising but equally ridiculous when we have Gresko in the reserves kicking his heels. Anyway, to the match. Tugay's first pass of the game went astray but led to nothing. His second pass of the match (after less than 2 minutes) went astray again but this time went straight to Pennant who promptly skinned him and Gray before winning a corner. Leeds played a short corner and Kelly, totally unopposed, whipped in a cross straight to Caldwell who was, wait for it, totally unopposed. 1-0 Leeds. The Premiership tonight highlighted that Stead should have been marking Caldwell. He wasn't even close. The rest of the half was typical of our home performances this season. Lots of possession, lots of huff and puff, but no end product. Leeds comfortably contained us by simply marking Emerton, Cole and Stead and putting pressure on Tugay whenever he had the ball. The only half-chance I can remember us creating was a snapshot from Stead that was straight at Robinson. To be fair we could have had a penalty mid-way through the half. Stead challanged Duberry for an awkwardly bouncing ball and it looked, at first glance, that Duberry hauled Stead down in the area. The TV replays showed that he did. The ref missed it - surprise, surprise. The only other notable incident in the half was around the 15 minute mark when Amoruso failed to deal with a simple long ball and Smith broke free, only to be denied by a good Friedel save. So, 1-0 to Leeds at half-time and an awful lot to do to get back into it. Souness brought Gallagher on at half time but, instead of changing the shape and just trying to do something, anything different he made a like for like substitution by taking the ineffective Reid off and sticking Gally out on the left. It made fluck all difference. We carried on were we left off - lots of effort, lots of possession, lots of nothing in front of goal. Leeds, meanwhile, used the little possession they had to full effect. They broke with pace and skill, using the brilliant Smith, Viduka and Pennant as outlets. They could have scored a second when Smith ran at our static, sh1t-scared defence and laid it off to Milner. His rasping drive hit the bar. The TV later showed that Friedel may have got a fingertip to it and, if he did, then it was a breathtaking save. With about 5 minutes to go we actually carved out a real chance. A scramble resulted in the ball breaking to Cole who hit an instinctive, first-time shot at goal. Robinson's save was as breathtaking as Friedel's. Almost immediately Leeds got their second. Pennant broke from deep inside our half, brushed past a pathetic attempt at a tackle from Tugay, skinned Gray again, and crossed to Smith. Smith tried to flick it in but totally missed his kick. Tragically for us though the ball carried on straight into the path of an unmarked Viduka who finished in style. Cue a mass exodus from the home fans. Those that left early missed our consolation goal. Gallagher won a free-kick near the corner flag, got straight up, and whipped in a peach of a cross onto the unmarked Short's head. Too little, too late. In our last two home games we've played teams that started the day below us in the table. Both those teams have looked better than us. Smith, Viduka and Pennant were a class above anything we could offer today. Their midfield had a hunger and a bite that was missing in ours. Their defence coped easily with our attack, whereas our defence always looked shakey against their attack. It's hard to take any positives from the game. Amoruso, overall, played well yet almost every chance Leeds had resulted from an Amo mistake. Cole looked sharp and worked hard but he had no service and no decent partner to link up with. Short played well - at one point he ran the length of the field with the ball only to be let down by a lack of options up front - yet we still let in two goals. Flitcroft made a number of good runs beyond the front two but was rarely found with the pass. The negatives are easier to spot. Reid had a shocker. He, like many a player before him this season, looked lost on the left. Every time he got the ball he laid it off backwards instead of turning and running at the defence. Gray had a poor game. He simply couldn't cope with Pennant - although he had precious little help from anyone else. Stead was anonymous. Tugay gave the ball away time and time again but, to be fair, what options did he have? Neill also gave the ball away lots. Emerton did OK but was tightly marked throughout. He's just not good enough to accept the creative burden that our tactics place on him. None of these things are new though. I noticed earlier on this thread that people questioned the commitment and desire of the team today. I don't think that was a problem. We worked hard and matched Leeds for effort. We're just not good enough, individually or tactically. We're too easily contained and we can't defend. That's why we keep losing and that's why we're going down. That's also the reason why Souness should be sacked. We've been like this all season yet nothing has improved, if anything we've got worse.

Absolutley right and you are the first person, I think, to memtion this. I expected Leeds to be awful, they were far from this and a much. much better team than the Rovers. Which is an appalling set of affairs when you compare the two clubs over the last 9-10 months. Leeds Utd looked like a team a fan could believe in. Blackburn Rovers look a complete and utter shambles.

I'd be happy with Hughes and I suppose he is a realistic option till the end of the season. Can't imagine that Wales have got much on from now till May and then see where we are placed.

Blackburn Rovers 2 Aston Villa 2 (aggregate 2 - 4) Earlier today Rovers Youth side entertained Aston Villa in the semi-final, second leg of the FA Youth Cup. Already trailing 2-0 from the first leg at Villa Park Rovers’ youngsters faced an uphill task against a Villa side recognized to be full of talent and, (I think?), the Youth Cup holders. The Villa side was probably, on average, two years older than the Rovers players and at least one of the visitors has first team experience. Arriving late your reporter missed the first 20 minutes but none of the goals. At this point Rovers No.5 Luke Jones was receiving extensive treatment on the edge of the penalty area following what I gather was a very heavy challenge from the Villa No.8 Craig Gardner. Jones was eventually stretchered off and replaced by Clark Walsh at centre back. Playing against a hard tackling and physically strong Villa side, Rovers showed good touches and controlled the ball well. Twice in a minute Matt Derbyshire (23 mins) and Keith Barker (24 mins) both went close with good cross-goal efforts from the edge of the area.. Then on 30 minutes Craig Gardner went very close for Villa with a good shot following an excellent pull back from the left side of the box. A warning of what was to come. On 34 minutes Villa broke forward and with good movement just outside the area Christina Kabeya created the chance for Shane Faul to pass the ball into the net from 8 yards. 1-0 to Villa and 3-0 on aggregate. Peter Corvino had looked dangerous for Rovers down the left and in the 36th minute his work was rewarded when his cross to the far post was met 10 yards out by Matt Derbyshire, who placed a fine header inside the keeper’s left hand post. Despite their excellent football Rovers struggled to create another opening in the first half and fell behind again on 44 minutes when Gabriel Agbonlahor put Villa further ahead with a right foot shot from the edge of the area. Rovers started the second half very strongly and within a minute equalized through Joel Byrom. Joe Garner replaced Keith Barker at half time and aside from the 46th minute goal Rovers created several good chances in the first ten minutes. Villa still enjoyed a 2 goal aggregate lead and were happy to defend and wait for chances to break. Rovers pushed forward and in the 67th minute more excellent play and a cross by Corvino provided Garner with a far post chance. He met the ball well and headed firmly down but the Villa keeper gathered cleanly by the post. Five minutes later Corvino was involved once more, this time bring a great parry from the Villa keeper as he saved the winger’s left foot drive. Moments later Corvino was substituted by Ralph Welch on the right and Sergio Peter moving out to the left. Rovers continued to push forward and in the 80th minute the Villa keeper produced a twisting finger tip save to prevent Rovers taking a deserved lead following a strong drive form the edge of the box. In the last 10 minutes neither side created another opportunity until in injury time when Steven Drench in the Rovers goal flung himself to his left to prevent a third Villa goal. A hard fought and entertaining game finished 2-2. Both teams played attractive, entertaining football although from time to time some of Villa’s tackling and niggling play was disappointing to see in young players. Peter, Byrom and Welch were booked for Rovers with Gardner seeing yellow for Aston Villa. Once again the Youth side gave a crowd of around 1000 plenty to feel positive about. This young side has some exciting prospects, lets hope we are talking about them again next season and in the years to come. Congratulation to the players and youth team staff, there’s no disgrace in going out in a semi-final. Blackburn Rovers Drench, Peers, Taylor, Weaver ( C ) , Jones (Walsh 20 mins), Barr, Peter, Byrom, Derbyshire, Barker (Garner 45), Corvino (Welch 68) Aston Villa: Olejnik, Ward, Green, Troest, Cahill, Foley, Kabeya, Gardner, Faul, Nix.

Don't be surprised if ST holders drop by 3 - 5000 for next season unless the club come up with a massive incentive to renew. We WILL be renewing come what may. The only reason I could find for not renewing would be finance - if we had the misfortune to be Chelsea fans, for example, four STs would be totally out of the question. All fans live in hope of the next season, next game. If you plan to go to every home game the benefits of the ST are still very good.

Topics merged. Again sorry don't seem able to leave the link

Rovers 1 Portsmouth 2 Tugay (37), Shermgham (17), Yakubu (82) Portsmouth came to Ewood Park today, proud home of Blackburn Rovers, the ground Jack built, where we follow the team we support, the club we love, and stole away with three vital points. Another free kick, another poor defensive wall and questionable positioning by Friedel showed Sheringham and the whole ground where to place his shot. He duly struck a good right-footer through the wall and just inside Friedel’s left-hand post to give Pompey the lead after 17 minutes. Portsmouth had started the brighter of the two sides and might have taken an earlier lead when Taylor beat Friedel in the 12th minute only for Craig Short to clear his effort off the line. Rovers struggled to create opportunities despite Tugay and Flitcroft working hard in midfield to open up the Portsmouth defence. When the equalizer came it was from Tugay’s shot following an Emerton corner from the right. Emerton pulled the ball back to Tugay whose shot from outside the area hit one Blackburn player and at least two visiting defenders before going in the net!! Perhaps our luck had turned at last, 37 minutes gone and back at 1-1. For the second half Portsmouth settled back to defend deeply but Rovers, enjoying plenty of possession, where unable to create any real opportunities. Flitcroft went close with a header following an Emerton cross and Andy Cole’s glaring miss of an open goal from three yards after the visitors had gone ahead in the 82nd minute, being the only chances of note in the 45 minutes. With the match still at 1-1 LuaLua went on a left sided run from the half way line. Just out side the Rovers area, surrounded by three Rovers defenders, he was tackled by Lucas Neil. The ball squirmed free to Yakubu who placed a good right-foot shot past the advancing Friedel. At the final whistle Rovers looked shattered, the team was booed off the pitch. Fans left the ground in stunned silence wondering where the club goes now? We have to stand firm, these players must find the desire to win, fans must stand shoulder to shoulder with the team. The time for recriminations will come later but now all that matters is Blackburn Rovers survival. This proud club will fight every inch to avoid the drop, we, the fans, must believe, until the final whistle in the final game, we can stay up. The team needs our support now more than it has for many years. It’s easy in the good times, tonight we stand 100% behind our club and support the players come what may. Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Short, Gray (Gallagher 83), Emerton, Flitcroft, Tugay, Andresen (Yorke 71), Cole, Stead (Reid 78). Subs not used: Amoruso, Enckelman. Portsmouth: Hislop, Pasanen, Primus, De Zeeuw, Stefanovic, Stone, Smertin, Faye, Taylor (Hughes 88), Sheringham (LuaLua 71), Yakubu. Subs not used: Mornar, Berkovic, Wapenaar.

Good link colin, thanks. can anyone explain this extract from The Guardian article: "But when a football club enters administration players, staff, transfer fees and other "football debts" need to be paid before even the Inland Revenue gets its share" I believed the bank, revenue and C&E were always first in line. Why is it different in football. This article from Saturday's Independent Exeter could prove test case for game's rules on administration is very interesting. While it revolves around Exeter City and the club's fans who are fighting for survival there are some interesting points regarding the Inland Revenue and "Football Creditors". Apparently under the Enterprise Act, September 2003, the Inland Revenue is no longer considered a preferential creditor. I don't know if this is in general or specific to football. The IR are looking to use Exeter City as a test case for making their administration null and void which would require Exeter to stump up £0000s they don't have. If I owed the revenue £8m, as Leeds do, I would be worried! Under the "Football Creditors" rule a club that comes out of administration must pay in full its football debts, to players and other clubs, while it can make the usual arrangements with other creditors for "x" p in the £. One thing is clear, the Leeds players only gamble on wage deferral will be if the club ceases to trade. If Leeds go into administration the players will be played in full before the club is allowed to trade normally again. Should ease the pressure on Reid, Venables and O'Leary as well BTW, anyone see Peter Reid on a Question of Sport - he failed to recognise Ian Harte and had forgotten it was Kevin Moran who was the first player to be sent off in an FA Cup Final.....for a tackle on Reid who was playing for Everton!

As a generalisation when a company goes into receivership/administration the first debt figure is often as little as 50% of the actual figure. I'd be prepared to wager that when the administering accountants get in there the final figure may push as high as £200m or more. Leeds will only currently be revealing the debt figure that they are obliged to reveal...this has a long way to go yet. Have they finished paying for Wilcox?

Good link colin, thanks. can anyone explain this extract from The Guardian article: "But when a football club enters administration players, staff, transfer fees and other "football debts" need to be paid before even the Inland Revenue gets its share" I believed the bank, revenue and C&E were always first in line. Why is it different in football. Does anyone know the answer to this?

I would hope they are preparing for the drop in some way. If, and it is still IF no matter how bad I feel, we go down and if the club have not been making sensible provisions in the last few months we will have an huge financial problem to resolve. There won't be any PL wages being paid in the Nationwide this time round. The lack of signings may well be a large part of this despite the arguement that a few £m now could earn £20m by staying in the PL.

The order for the official BRFCS.com Site Badge has now been placed with our suppliers. Badges should be available for mailing to members in w/c 16th February. If you haven't ordered yet and would like to receive one of these unique pieces of Rovers memorabilia please follow the link below. Don't forget to send your 1st class SAE plus payment to the address shown AFTER you click submit on the order form. Please be sure to include both your MB name and real name. Overseas members should contact Paul via PM regarding payment and shipping details. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR SITE BADGE

Good link colin, thanks. can anyone explain this extract from The Guardian article: "But when a football club enters administration players, staff, transfer fees and other "football debts" need to be paid before even the Inland Revenue gets its share" I believed the bank, revenue and C&E were always first in line. Why is it different in football.

We all have low periods at work and know what helps us get through them. I was just thinking how on earth do you gee yourself up as a football manager?

I wrote a very similar post at the beginning of November with the Leicester, Everton, Spurs, Birmingham, Aston Villa and Boro games in mind - we got 10 points out of 18. Regretably I think we need another 19 or 20 points to be SURE of safety and I don't see where those 20 points will come from. Leeds, Leicester, Portsmouth (all home) and Villa (A) are absolute must win games and that's still only 12 points. Chelsea, Newcastle, Charlton, Arsenal, Southampton, Liverpool and Man Utd are take anyhting we can get but don't hold your breath. Leaving us needing to take 9 points off Boro, Fulham, Everton, Spurs and Birmingham. Tough going? The only thing in our favour at the moment is that Wolves and Leeds are probably dead; Pompey and Leicester can't take advantgae of our poor form; Man City may just be about to go into free-fall (please God). If we stay up I feel it will be because of others failing and not our positive move away from the drop zone. Personally I started to consider relegation after the Villa debacle.

There's your answer Rev :'>

I wish you'd stop this Bryan.......giggling in the corner isn't a good in-company image for me.

Hughesy, philip and stuwilky are right. I was half joking with my original post. It probably isn't worth it. The thing about what are called "penny shares" is that you can do well with only a small increase in price. £500 gets you +/- 11,000 shares and IF, very unlikely, they go up by say 5p you can make £550 return. It's a straight gambe, if you have £500 you can lose, fine, if not don't bother. Last time I did this I lost £400 in a year, on the other hand when I picked up ASDA at 23p many years ago it was a great investment. You have to know what you are doing - I don't - but any fool could see ASDA at 23p was amazing. If the stock market price is rising it's probably someone taking a punt with money they can afford to lose.

stuwilky is right. I think Hughesy multiplied instead of dividing.

Hughesy - Leeds plc shares are currently selling for 4.375p. They have been as low as 1.25p. Remember the value of your investment can go down as well as up.

A few shares in Leeds plc might be a decent punt? £500 would buy around 11,500 shares. Every time they go up by a 1p you'd make £115. Once bought ASDA shares at 23p. Only decent bet I've ever made. Any way back to Leeds.

Bloody hell, even Notts County got out of admin with about 10 deadline extensions! I think leeds might get a fair few more. Leeds have two chances to get out of it. 1: Someone puts in enough money between now and Monday to pay off the immediate debts. This will allow Leeds to continue until the next major repayment is due. 2: Someone comes in with £100 million or so to completely wipe out all the clubs' debt. Option 2 isn't going to happen. Option 1 might but it will only be delaying the inevitable. Leeds will be in the first division and in administration next season. There's every chance they could be the next Sheffield Wednesday and fall even further. Leeds face problems that neither option can truly address. The first option simply postpones the crisis, buying more time to find backers while the second wpuld probably still founder as Leeds do not have sufficient income to cover their operating costs. Gate receipts are mortgaged, players such as Viduka are earning £3.5m pa, Sky money is a mere £20m which probbaly doesn't even cover half the wage bill, none of it adds up. Assumming Leeds are relegated they have to go into administration BEFORE that event. The PL doesn't have a rule to deduct points from clubs in administration while the Nationwide does have a rule to deduct 10 points from clubs that GO into administration. I think a PL club relegated and already in administration would not suffer the ten point penalty. On this basis Leeds will go into admin sometime this season, probably forced by the player motgage company that effectively owns the team.