bob fleming

Even The Times says "Oct 4 1997: Andy Todd, then with Bolton Wanderers, can be forgiven for trading punches with Stan Collymore, the Aston Villa forward. Both are dismissed."

Originally everyone said it was a second yellow. I must admit I only say a red produced on the night but I was quite a distance away. The LET said it was a straight red. (EDIT - 2 yellows then it would appear - didn't see your post greggyk) Anyway... The Times: "Shefki Kuqi is a doubt for tomorrows trip to Aston Villa. The forward suffered a groin injury against Totteham Hotspur on Wednesday, but with Craig Bellamy injured and Paul Dickov suspended, Mark Hughes will give Kuqi extra time to prove his fitness." There's also an article on the same page "Hughes grows conerned by his men behaving badly" along with a lovely photograph of Andy Todd landing a right hander on Stanley Collymore. Nice. Presumably no Neill, and no Todd means that they'll be big changes in the defence. Todd's bound to be charged today surely - even though as Hughes pointed out the TV pictures prove nothing. Just 'cause Jol states that Reid has a "bump on the head" means nothing. He might have got that "bump on the head" at anytime. Either way though Todd has been rather silly and must be found guilty as The Times has published a photo of him hitting someone several years ago. Best we can hope for is a draw. 1-1. Kuqi with a 25 yard screamer off his groin ( ) and Gary Shaw for them.

Scrap that, the suns out now. 8,451.

It's chucking it down up here, cold, windy, wet, horrible. Could effect the gate - but I doubt it. 8,450. Spurs won't like this one little bit. How's Davids going to get on in the rain? Surely it can't help. I'm going to have to go for a draw though, looks like they're finally getting a decent team together instead of just trying to kid themselves and everyone else. 1 - 1. Kuqi for us - he does that "star dive" thing after scoring though and ends up skidding in the wet into the River Darwen. Ricky Villa for Spurs.

Certainly is mate. With my season ticket this year in The Blackburn End (that's the end opposite to your lot) I was offered a free OAP as an incentive. I'm just not interested thank you very much. I've enough on my plate with two kids and Mrs F without one of them cluttering up the house. The other thing here is that we still have Season Tickets available for some parts of the ground at £250!! What do you make of that? It's grim up north mate.

Not as well as you in your arm bands I'd imagine. Actually, no, that's an awful thought, scrap that.

You big girl's blouse. Thing about this Wild Rover thing is that we end up singing about that lot down the road. Should our "signature" tune have them even mentioned? After all they've become completely irrelevant again. It's just got to be Whigfield.

Come on John. £50K ! What's that? The average fortnightly wage for PL players? It's not a lot in the context of the earnings of a Premier League club, even one that's "punching above it's weight" (as Chairman Williams likes to remind us). I thought Savage played well, hopefully he's over his injury now and he'll start to show some consistency. I'd prefer it if he didn't get booked every week though obviously but I'd be more concerned about a suspension than a £50k fine.

I'm sure that if they sell those 3000 we'll find some more seats for them somewhere. £250 for a Season Ticket at Ewood / 18 home games = £ 13.89 per match. Surely "too expensive" isn't really the reason? Or is that the one that those who don't go anymore use as it springs to mind quicker than any other? I don't think there's any one main reason - all those factors listed above plus some others.

So it's Tugays fault the dates are down then is it? There was me blaming Saunders an all. He definitely said those two famous words when he scored though. For all we know he might have been directing them at the press box. Mind you I can't think for a minute why he'd want to say that to those people.

Of course I take your point. You state that the Prem will become the Championship - well to all intents and purposes it already is for more than half the teams, except they get more money from Sky in order to keep them up. There's no chance of actually winning the Premiership though for those clubs, just like the Championship. You say EVERYBODY will suffer, well I reckon we're suffering already by not getting in the Champions League. Everton may still make the break through this season ("2 Nights In August" ) but I very much doubt it. So it'll be Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool running around Europe and collecting the cash again for a change. And then we're supposed to compete with these teams? Perhaps we already have a European Super League and the big clubs are happy with the way things are thank you very much. £20m from Europe, £20m from a high finish in the Prem, £XX million from gate receipts, what did we make last year? a fraction of those numbers. So, really I'm in two minds, no I don't want a ESL as I do want to play the big lads and pinch a result occasionally but unless the Sky money is distributed a little more fairly throughout the PL to make it more competitive (oh yes that's really gonna happen) then really they may as well clear off (or should we clear off?) as we can't compete. Maybe the Premier League will commision a Trophy or something for the team that finishes 5th? The Best Of The Rest A Bit Skint In Comparison To The Big Lads Trophy? - the way things are going I can't see any other teams than those mentioned above occupying the top 4 places (and I'm well aware of what happened to us - no one saw that coming either - but there's a lot more money swilling around these days).

GD -1.

4-5-1. 1-0. No 9. 64mins. 15,873. P2 W1 D0 L1 F2 A3 10th.

Nowt wrong with 8Ace. That Tuborg was pretty dire wasn't it? Or what about that Thwaites stuff that used to come in blue cans? Gnat's something or other it was called. Anyway, it's off topic. Football, grumble, grumble, etc

Don't listen to him Paul. Anyway, there are many reasons why our gates are down, we've done them all to death before, but another one and perhaps the main one (?) is that this club has been incredibly successful in it's recent history. We won the league and were competing right up there with the best in the country nigh on ten years ago. We were top of the league Christmas 97 (I'll not mention being top of the league after the Wolves 5-1) Since then we've been constantly reminded that we're not the club that we were when Uncle Jack (RIP) was here. (If the club is short of money from The Trust - then what else are they doing about it? Are the Board happy with the squad or are they just board? I refuse to believe that Hughes is happy with it). So when you've been Champions, targeted and signed the best players in England and scored goals for fun - plus all the rest of it - it's hardly surprising that people don't want to watch to what amounts as second tier stuff. 10 years of champagne - then back to Skol anyone? As for me? Well despite my posts here I'm clearly an idiot. I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow and I'll be at every home match this season. Away matches? I wish I could get to more but I can't - money is a big factor (there's a shocker).

The big 4-6 clubs don't need the penny to drop though do they? They can get away with charging silly prices, whereas Rovers can't. Although prices have gone up at Ewood, albeit slightly, it's in a vain attempt to "compete" (when I say compete I probably mean to say "stop up"). It would appear that a lot of people in Blackburn seem to have cottoned on already to the article though, hence another drop off of ST sales. Even if 10-15 clubs all agreed to to slash their prices they'd still have the top 4-6 clubs to try and compete with. They don't need to slash prices as even if people don't renew they'll be some sheep behind them ready to take their places. It ain't gonna happen. I liked the "competition" element of that article. The sooner Chelsea, ManU, Arsenal etc clear off and have a European Super League the better (why do they want to compete with the likes of Blackburn Rovers?) - then us mere mortals such as BRFC might just have more of a chance of taking part in a meaningful competiton - who knows it may even be interesting and affordable.

Very true Paul. Good point. And The Axe den - I'm sure Cocker said he got carried off on two stretchers the other night, that doesn't sound good.

Beat me to it USA. He did join up with them, I saw him running around in training on Sky Sports News - like a new born lamb he was - all covered in wool. Either that or it was old footage. Anyway, does anyone reckon we'll get an update soon from one of the various media sources available to us, i.e the LET or the tinternet on... 1. Matt Jansen's injury 2. Ryan Nelsen's injury 3. Craig Bellamy's ankle / thigh / head Is no one communicating these things anymore to the LET or the Offical Site? Does no one care? I'd quite like to know what's happening really with the above players (particularly Nelsen - anyone remember me posting this that I read in the Daily Express (July 28th) saying that Nelsen had done his ligaments?) and yet for the best part of a week there's been no update - apart from some piece in the Mirror - which we're all sceptical about. I'm sure that if Lee or the LET had the info they'd print it. It would be better than just reading "snippets" in the nationals anyway. Bit of a poor do if you ask me.

Did they give an exact time? I'm hoping they'll be back before that match starts at 3.00.

Well at least you've given Kuqi a fair crack of the whip waggy. An entire 90 minutes.

Mokoena in a 4-4-2 = not good enough. CH or MF, no chance. All very well playing a man in front of the back four but lets be honest. Nah, sorry. What an awful performance form nigh on everyone. Off we go again?

Do Birmingham have a Rugby club? Whatever, whilst I recognise that replying to your posts Vinjay is exactly what you want and that you're no doubt having a little snigger to yourself at this very moment, I have to say that, quite frankly, I find you a little tedious. I don't know what anyone else thinks, well actually I've a fair idea. Just for once try and say something a little different will you? Otherwise, hopefully, soon, you'll be banned. If you're not banned and keep this up until 100 posts then I shall be forced to hire some people to have you taken away and beaten with snooker cues.

All this injury worry is playing havoc. I've got a fantasy football team to pick here! Typical Rovers, no consideration, blah de blah etc. 2-1 Rovers. Reid and Kuqi for us, Billy Bonds for them.

OK, it's that time again. The most exciting league in the world is about to start. I wonder who will win it this year? I wonder who will be in the top four? It's just so unpredictable, almost anything could happen. 1. Chelsea 2. Arsenal 3. Manchester United 4. Liverpool 5. Tottenham Hotspur 6. Middlesbrough 7. Charlton Athletic 8. Birmingham City 9. Everton 10. Bolton Wanderers 11. Blackburn Rovers 12. Newcastle United 13. Aston Villa 14. Manchester City 15. Portsmouth 16. West Bromich Albion 17. Fulham 18. West Ham 19. Wigan Athletic 20. Sunderland

Sorry to hear it's not turned up yet Alan. It's a testing time for a lot of people who have yet to receive their season ticket. Can I just point out that it's even better than last years? It's something to behold and no mistake. I'm still going with the Jewson Lego blocks theory though - Kayos sits behind me and his turned up today as well. I'm willing to bet one English pound with you that your ticket turns up tomorrow Alan. I've watched that Betamax thing today, I don't quite recall us doing that well last year. According to the footage we didn't concede a single goal?! Propaganda, that's what it is, propaganda for those already convinced.