bob fleming

Errr, no?? We had to let him speak to other clubs but why were we compelled to sell him? You are missing the point as usual. Gerrard showed loyalty to his club, Duff took the money and ran. End of story. Perhaps, just maybe, there was the smallest chance that we wanted the money more than we wanted to keep the player? But as you say - End of story. I just happen to believe that this may well have been the case. Thanks for clearing it up for me. Sorry for missing the point again and thanks for putting my mind at rest. As for "old fahsioned virtues" for Mr Gerrard - well it sounds more and more that that may well be the case - old fashioned like the Kray's at any rate. Nice to see that you can distinguish between the good (Gerrard) and the bad (Duff) so easily Jim.

Richard Keys? Probably Andy Gray actually. Or Stan Collymore. They all mate around together allegedly.

And there's me thinking we had to sell him? Didn't the clause in his contract say something along the lines that if a club came in with a suitable offer (almost certainly £17m) then we had to let Duff speak to the club in question? The subtle difference being that we could still have turned down the offer? But then again maybe it didn't. Who knows? Who cares? It's done. Still Jim - you know the in's and out's of the transfer so you just slag him off as you see fit. Anyway - for some reason my PC has gone back in time 11 months and I still seem to be discussing Damian Duff. Anyone going on the Bray Wanderers trip? That Emerton will be a good 'un - mark my words. I reckon this could be the season for Dwight Yorke to show us his true worth. Ferguson will be a great player for us - just have a feeling he might get injured up at Newcastle. Jim are you still winding people up?

Is that taken from the Sky Magazine? I can hear Richard Keys doing the trailer on Sky Sports as the build up to the season begins: - "........and next season we're bringing you something extra special, extended highlights of YOUR Premier League club on a Saturday night. It'll be like taking mucky polaroids of the wife and knocking one out in a cramped motorway service station toilet. It'll be that good."

Not being funny but Chelsea are going to have to take Gerrard back. If they've lost the receipt they'll be hell to pay. It's not like Tescos at Anfield you know. Chelsea: "Can we have our money back for Steven Gerrard please?" Liverpool : "What do you mean? We never sold him to you." Chelsea: "You did! We paid £31million a couple of weeks ago! Cash!!" Liverpool (now laughing): "OK - Prove it - Wheres the receipt divveee?" (The1mattjansen - don't worry about it mate - these things happen. Maybe Gerrard changed his mind half way through the tournament?)

Be a bit draughty Hughesy without any windows though wouldn't it? I mean Mrs Hughesy and the young Hughesy kids aren't gonna be best pleased if you're buying a season ticket and there's no windows in the front room. Sure it's OK now but come November it'll be a different story. It'll not be so funny when your children get covered in snow whilst they're trying to watch the Telletubbies I can assure you of that. Driving lessons can wait though, fair enough, but windows in the front room do have to come first for some of us. Personally I'd be looking to get a S.T. up front and pay for the windows in a series of monthly payments over 12 months. Failing that just sell your kids and the whole problem is solved. Maybe that's something Rovers need to be promoting?

Why do you do it Jim? Everyone knows you're about 36. For me it's not a case of people having more passion for England than BRFC. It's just a case of everyone getting drawn into it by the media and the general excitement that seems to be everywhere whenever a big tournament is on. People prefer to be part of something like this rather than be left out. This tournament was probably hyped up even more than the last World Cup IMO. It's different with Rovers though. People are less inclined to jump on that band wagon as we're far less likely to actually win anything, certainly not the Premier League (although the facts don't actually support this do they?). For me Rovers come first and England a close second. But that's just me. For others it'll be the other way round. No big deal - as far as I'm concerned the two are totally seperate. They're not likely to play each other are they?

Right that's it!!

13 pages of angst which unfortunately I can't really be bothered reading, sorry. Here are my thoughts: - 1. Ref's a clown. 2. Ref's got a ridiculous beard. 3. Beckham didn't look fit. 4. We missed Rooney. 5. Too many long balls to small people. 6. Why take Scholes off and replace with Hargreaves (who was poor). 7. England played badly. 8. Despite playing badly we had this won - but for the aforementioned clown of a ref with a blonde goatee beard. 9. Campbell was immense. 10. Ref was an absolute (please don't use that word) who had a (please don't use that word) on his chin. 11. We probably got what we deserved. 12. Beckham really isn't very good at taking penalties. 13. Sven didn't do much of a Souness impression by way of "motivating" his players. 14. I'd better take that St Georges flag down from our upstairs window tonight. 15. The next idiot who says "Well let's hope Tim wins Wimbledon" is gonna get chinned. 16. Portugal aren't good enough to win it either. 17. 7 weeks to the start of next season.

Good to hear that Waggy. He's not a bad lad is he? for a multi billionaire. Did he get a round in? He's a bit shy in that department.

An Everton fan I work with sent me this link - like I'm even remotely interested . Anyway here it is Rooney - Leaving Boo Hoo etc . Whether they like it or not this is the Duff scenario all over again. I do feel sorry for them but as we all know the money comes in handy when paying off your overdraft.

A great bit of channel hopping was taking place last night - the Sweden v Denmark match was certainly never fixed as both teams had umpteen chances to win it with more than 3 goals. Anyway - how I laughed when Sweden equalised - 2-2 - the Italians are out - switched back to see Italy bombing forward and then they went and scored. 3-2 in the 93rd minute. What a sickener. Anyone who didn't feel a bit sorry for Italy as they celebrated and then realised they were actually out must have a heart of stone. I felt a lot of sympathy for them and remembered some of the times Rovers suffered similar misfortune. Yeah, whatever. It didn't stop me from laughing long and loud in our front room - the best way of showing sympathy at times like this. "Football - bloody hell" as some red faced chap once commented.

I got in there at 6.30 yesterday and got a good seat no problem. So I reckon 2.00 in the afternoon will be just about right.

I'll second that - I look a bit of a chimp as well now. You'd have thought I'd have learnt by now not to make "knee jerk" reactions / comments.

I'm sure this doesn't need pointing out to everyone on here but if this was the other way round, if an England fan had killed a Croatian fan, then we'd have all the headlines this morning of "Shame of the nation", "Bring them home now" etc, etc. Instead what do we get? Hardly a mention of this anywhere. I fully expect UEFA to act in the strongest possible way by making sanctions against the Croatian FA. (Yeah, right) Still in all fairness to the press, it doesn't sell papers does it, to report this sort of thing. Let's just stick to the stereotypes that we all know and love - it's a lot easier and doesn't involve having to think too hard does it?

Bit harsh that roversismylife - you'll be old one day as well you know - I agree though that if they start weeing themselves and that it's a bit bad but you should learn to turn a blind eye. Cravenblue - I'm off to the Blues Bar as well, I'll be the one in the England shirt .

Superb Could we get rid of the "Arte et Labore" bit on the badge and convert the above into latin? "Blackburn Rovers Football Club" - "Staying Out Late By Going For A Slash And Not Getting A Round In"

and a little hysterical as well. Calm down, take some deep breathes, then go and take your tablets and everything will be OK.

Shouldn't / Couldn't this be in the "Who's Looking Forward To The New Season?" thread Jim? Please make a comment in there Jim, please, please.

Not sure about the Shearer chant for de Pedro to be honest LD - a bit obscure. Anyway - Come on Kenny! I don't think anyone is building the fella up too much. Personally I'm just excited that we've finally got a left footed winger in. He sounds reasonable enough and was free! Next thing we'll have people being enthusiastic and optimistic on the MB about the new season. We can't have that can we?

De Pedro OOOoooooooooooooOOOOOOOooooooooo De Pedro OOOooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOooooooo He's not up to the task! Doh! I've dropped me thermos flask! De Pedro OOOOOOooooooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooooo They can be cruel up there.

P...lease.........!! Tell me you are joking It doesn't actually matter does it? As Bob Dylan pointed out at the time. None of us knew where Sociedad was but with a bit of work we managed to avoid saying it is in Spain (which it may well be - I have a feeling it is actually, or Germany, wherever that is). All we did say about Spain was that de Pedro's Dad is actually Spanish. Which he undoubtedly is. Probably.

De Pedro OOOoooooooooooooOOOOOOOooooooooo De Pedro OOOooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOooooooo He comes from sunny Spain More tricks than David Blaine De Pedro OOOOOOooooooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooooo Tune the tune of that irritating Paddy Vieira song Arsenal sing. Actually no that's @#/? I like it Dave. Over the last few days I've been busy working on a slightly different version. Spoken to McCartney, John, Dylan, Kilmister, the usual types I often turn to at times like this. Basically they reckon if you substitute "He comes from sunny Spain, More tricks than David Blaine" and add.... "He came from Sociedad, He's got a Spanish Dad" We'll be onto a winner. Or maybe not.

Smoke & Mirrors. The thing is I don't even think the Board know what's going on. Hang on a minute- maybe that's the idea? Brilliant stuff. Never a dull moment with this lot.