How do you know that?

Good point that - what happens next time? (and there will be a next time - there always is). Anyone any ideas? BBC Thanks Tony. Top fella.

What about the Moon Under The Water pub Sox? Is that close to the ground? It sounds a very high pub but if it's under water surely it's very low? All very confusing. Best bet Hughesy, if you go to the Moon Under The Water is to wear a snorkel and a parachute, and don't forget your Blackberry. It might also be an idea to go dressed as someone off the film A Clockwork Orange - it's all the rage apparently. Prediction. 2-1 Rovers. Keegan resigns at half time. SWP scores first in the first. Emerton equalises on 22 and Stead scores the winner on 44. No penalties. No bookings. No persistent standing. No arguing amongst ourselves. It should be good.

Cercle Bruge is the club we were reported to be setting links up with, although like you I don't know how far that went. In England though, over recent years, we've turned into a feeder club for Birmingham City.

Hmmm. I know where you're coming from Hughesy. However, quite a big point coming up here. It doesn't matter. It's all down to perception. How you are perceived by the powers that be and others. Which means if you wear those caps and all the designer labels, Berberry, Aquascooter, Van Gogh, George, then you're going to be a marked man. That's fact. Personally, if anyone feels that way out, you'd have more chance going unnoticed and avoiding unwarranted attention from the police if you went dressed in full Rovers colours. I mean last week for instance an assault took place at Norwich and up until that point no one batted an eye lid - purely because the lad in question wore the right clothes. Sure he now has a three game suspension but no one saw it coming.

It'll feel as though we're playing 12 men for the first few minutes of the match. After which time Rovers will realise that the small "fella" in yellow isn't actually an East Anglian version of Ronnie Hildersley but actually the ball. We'll then take the game by the scruff of the neck and win 2-1. Emerton will open the scoring at 12-1 at 3.28. Huckerby will equalise on 65 minutes and then *deep sigh - why do I bother?* a last minute penalty scored by Sir Barry Ferguson will give us the points. Those from this Messageboard who have gone for the weekend will be too drunk to remember a goddamn thing. Well done - enjoy.

Totally agree. Shearer runs off with one arm aloft, Robbie Keane falls over a couple of times (but lands on his feet), Duff kisses the clubs badge. No difference. It's just a habit. What do our strikers do to celebrate? (Tris - it must have been the Neill factor)

rover6: Nov 3 2004, 20:44 rover6: Nov 3 2004, 20:44

That's a fantastic recommendation 'Sox. Brought back some happy memories there. A mate of mine could often be heard shouting the refrain "Bring on the Animal!! Animal Reid!!" at the back of the Blackburn End. He certainly took no prisoners and if we ever do a Rovers "Hard Man" XI he should certainly get a game. Reid or Clayton? It's tricky but I have to agree, Clayton still sneaks it by several million miles.

Cheers - can you bring along another 11 copies as well? For the lads on the pitch? I feel they might need a reminder.

That's a diabolical claim. I'm deeply offended. Only last week I stook my neck out and said that Chelsea would beat us. er.... actually, thinking about it, other than that, you've got a point there. One of these days though, you'll see.....

We'll get a penalty tomorrow and we'll win. How? I've absolutely no idea, it's just the law of averages.

complete midfielder, did he actually ever pass the ball forward Just the once I believe, in that Spurs game, just before half time. He made a two yard forward pass to Sherwood. He's just the sort of player we're crying out for at the moment actually. A good one. Someone to put his foot on the ball and create a bit of time to bring others into the game.

This is how I see it.... r.e. Atkins, Sherwood, Batty. My favourite out of those three was Batty. Fantastic player and his debut against Tottenham at Ewood will live long in the memory. Probably the most complete midfield performance I have ever witnessed from a man in Blue & White Halves. He also had a fight / threw a handbag in Moscow live on BBC1 with Rovers "greatest ever left back", Le Saux. That doesn't go against him. But he won't get my vote, simply because, unfortunately, he didn't play enough games. Sherwood. I don't think many people, me included, realised just how much he did for the team until he left. Held them together and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I remember one of his first games for Rovers was away at Port Vale in the old 2nd Division, he was truly awful and I thought we'd bought a right duffer. Goes to show that some players need time to settle in. Scored a few goals for us as well did Sherwood, but he won't get my vote either. Something about the fella that meant I never really warmed to him. Must have been his crap hair cut. Atkins. Al on the previous page summed it up pretty well. "Super Atko" - the name was ironic at first but over time I think most people forgot that. £45,000 !?! - not as cheap as Wilcox, but I don't think any future Premier League Champions will buy a player, who play's regularly, for so little. Never stopped running, "tremendous engine", covered every blade of grass. (Should have been a lawn mower). He was a great player for us no doubt it but I think we've had better players over the years. Should have kept his moustache - just for the novelty factor. All three players are Rovers legends. But.... Ronnie Clayton get's my first vote. Captain of England. 'Nuff said. I'll leave those who saw him play to wax lyrical about him. Really nice fella as well. My other midfielder will be Eddie Latheron - I thank SG194's piece on page one of this thread for that. He won two league titles and he only cost £25. (That's the equivalent of £ 47.63 in today's money - show's how times have changed). There you go - there's no flawed logic in any of that.

I'm sorry that I don't adhere to the Bob Fleming doctrine. Which states that the incumbent manager is always above any sort of criticism. However, as soon as he leaves, you can bollock him all you like and pretend that you always knew he was losing the plot. Sorry about this - I feel I must comment.... rover6 - Don't get me wrong, no manager is above criticism. Hughes has a lot to do and he certainly can't afford to lose 4-0 every week or it will be a very short reign (just thought I'd state the obvious). BUT... Be honest, ever since you've posted on this messageboard you've been nothing but hyper critical of the manager of Blackburn Rovers. Whether it's tactics, substitutions, signings, the scouting network, you name it, you always have an answer and apparently a better way of doing things. That's what rankles. Give it a rest. "But I'm only voicing my opinion, that's what messageboards are all about" etc etc etc. How's about, just for once, you try showing some humility? How's about behaving like a supporter for a change instead of a critic? 99% of football managers get the sack eventually (or the Newcastle job) just because you like to criticise them before anyone else doesn't make it clever. As for.... "Pretend that you always knew he was losing the plot" - Good one. No, I never saw it coming. Never even commented on it on here. Good job you were here to point it out for me. Finally, let me apologise for aiming those "######"s in your direction on Saturday. Now is not the time to turn on each other. That can wait for another day.

Those of you slagging Hughes off would do well to remember that old Chinese proverb - "You can't polish a turd". Roll on January. It's quite simple. Get rid of the crap brought in by the last manager and replace with better players. Nothing to it. "rover6 is right" - oh yes. He's the ###### dogs that lad. I bet Wenger is ###### himself with him about.

That's the fella!

I saw this yesterday. I don't know what to say. What a great photograph. The swan bloke is clearly the bigger of the two but old Branta Canadensis clearly has the bigger heart and is just about to rip Cygnus Buccinators neck off - and Gold bless him for it. Needless to say I've ordered 5 of these at 225 bucks each for several rooms at home. That's about 85 quid in normal money if I've got my calculations right. Money well spent if you ask me. They should have one of these in the tunnel at Ewood for when the players come out saying - "THIS IS EWOOD" - just to show that the underdog can win. Great spot American, Thanks.

(Beat me to it cletus....) Then again if you want to stand - go on the Blackburn End. If you want to sit, go elsewhere on the ground - there's plenty of choice. That's the way I see it. Similarly if you want to sing and create some sort of atmosphere go to the BBE lower. This is how the club should be advertising that end of the ground. However, as things stand this won't make any difference whatsoever. As Tom Finn stated "The policy of insisting that spectators remain seated is one that is prescribed by The 1989 Football Spectators Act. We all accept that supporters will stand at times of high drama and for goalmouth incidents but persistent standing is unacceptable. This is reinforced within our Safety Certificate issued and monitored by our local authority." So even if the club wanted to let people stand - they can't. It's simply not up to them. Jim - you're quite correct - these are the rules. It's the way that they've been enforced that has lead to problems. (I reckon you'd make a great steward by the way - tact, diplomacy, understanding). Superstella reported after his meeting with the club "Rules stipulate that if the stand is at more than 25% camber/gradient from the back to the front it is deemed dangerous to stay stood up. The camber/gradient in the stands at Ewood is 28% raising to 32%, dipping in the middle. Licensing authority will grant a safety certificate on condition fans do not persistently stand during the match" - So what are they saying? If the stand has a gradient of less than 25% you can stand? If that's the case then surely we have a solution moving forward. A load of concrete and The Riverside. Just a thought. At least people would then be able to stand in a seated area. It's a long term possible solution.

Newcastle will give us Bellamy and £2 million for Ferguson

Something you're not telling us bob? You're a sick man Radagast - I blame that Mortiis fella.

Yeah - I'd like to see him get a game soon. Same as I'd like to see de Pedro get a game soon. Along with Bothroyd and Jansen as well. Ultimately though we don't get to see these players in training. What's to say that de Pedro has been the better player in training? or perhaps Steven Reid may have done more last week to convince Hughes to play him ahead of them both? Let's just slow things down a bit. Hughes needs a bit of time to find out who his best players are. Give it a few more weeks and he'll have a better idea as to the strengths of weaknesses of the squad. If MGP is good enough I'm sure he'll get a game soon enough. But if he doesn't are we to just presume that Hughes doesn't know what he's doing? Or isn't he allowed to not rate one of the previous Managers signings? I just feel it's a bit off to start talking in terms of "poor management", "defying belief" and "1.5m failures"s.

Yeah! - Boooo!!! Boooo!! Hughes out!! What about de Pedro then rover6? Why shouldn't he be playing as well? Perhaps he needs his confidence boosting? In fact lets play them all - just to get their confidence up. Maybe, just maybe, Hughes doesn't think he / they're up to it just yet? Maybe, MGP picked up a knock in training or when he was playing for Norway? Maybe he's got the flu? But no. Let's just say "what Mark Hughes is doing is counter-productive and totally defies belief".

I notice that they're all stood up. I don't know, one rule for one, one for another.

------------ Brad ------------- --- Neill - Short - Todd - Gray --- Bert - Flitcroft - Ferguson - Reid ---------- Djorkaeff ------------ ---------- Stead ------------- That team on paper will work hard and make us hard to beat. Neill and Gray keep their places as there's no one else to take them (Gresko?!? ffs). Amo and Matteo need "a rest". Reid starts on the left this time - hopefully he can keep running around and cause them a few problems defensively, although with a bit of luck de Pedro and MGP are starting to show in training just why that other fella brought them to the club. Much as I wanted Dickov to do well I just feel that he simply hasn't enough quality, it's not enough just to close defenders / the goalkeeper down and stop them clearing their lines, I thought he'd have a bit more to his game (I'm right naive me), don't get me wrong he'll still have a part to play but I'd also give him "a rest". So Stead comes in - time to stand up and be counted Jon - I've every confidence in you. Youri to hold the ball up for us and bring the likes of Ferguson and Emerton into the attack - an awful lot depends on those two this season. Neill to have their left winger in his back pocket for 90 minutes ( ). So that's my team for what it's worth. The result? 2 - 0 to Chelsea. They'll surely have too much for us. This isn't one of those games where you expect to get anything. We're in a mess and no mistake but despite this I still think we'll stay up this season. We're poor but not as poor as some of the others. 8 points = 14th place in the Premier League. We've been, by and large, hopeless and yet we're not out of it at all. I doubt 40 points will be the target this season. It's time for "Dogs of War", "Fortresses" and "Siege Mentality"'s.