Agree with a lot of what you say but I'd stick Cole on the left and Lennon on the right, and I'd play Owen instead of Crouch

The problem is very simple. McClaren is not good enough. We know it. The players know it. The FA knows it. The press knows it. Hell, I even think he knows it.

Were my ears deceiving me or did Lucas say something along the lines of "if Liverpool had maybe tried to get me then I would have signed for them." And didn't Curbs say something like "for an average player there were a few clubs after him". Maybe it was just me but the whole press conference didn't seem like a marriage made in heaven to me and I think it may all end in tears.

70k!?!? If that's true 1) Can't blame him 2) Maybe Cashley Cole had a point about Arsenal's derisory 55k 3) The world has well and truly gone mad

Surely every player has now seen how badly down in estimation across all fans Cashley Cole has gone with his comments about his Arsenal offer - Lucas strikes me as intelligent - surely he wouldn't be daft enough!?! So I don't expect anything other than a bunch of platitudes and generalisations.

FLB makes a good point - we'll see the measure of the man when he's gone and comments on things himself. Personally I think good luck to him but I want him out now as soon as possible - his being around will not make for good team spirit going forward

Second touch is always a tackle. Check. Head must be 50p shaped because the ball never goes where you think it's going. Check. Is he Kuqi in disguise?

I wouldn't say I'm lovin it. I like Lucas a lot as a player and think we'll struggle to replace him with the money we've got - hence I wanted him to stay. However, once he decided to go I didn't agree with him being captain because whatever anyone says it is sending the wrong message - whether he is completely professional about it or not. Similarly, I don't think his last couple of performances have been great - sub-consciously he does not have skin in the game as players who are staying becuase he knows he won't be here. I don't begrudge him going - it's his career after all - but the time has definitely come to get rid and move on, and anything that delays that is not good for BRFC

Well, taking them one by one. I suppose that the cost is now a bigger chunk of earnings than it used to be 20 or so years ago, but then so are many things - and in relative terms I think Rovers are quite reasonable. If I include the anticipation before the match I get 4 or 5 hours worth out of a match. I even enjoy the drive to Ewood. In general, I think I get entertained more often than not. Some weeks are worse than others but even from last Saturday's game there were some sublime pieces of skill from Tugay and Pedersen's goal was great. I understand what you say about player commitment, but I think we have a relatively honest bunch, with particular ones like Sav who stand out. Spiralling wages is a big problem and one cannot but predict a general "bust" to come after the "boom" that has been players wages. My general apathy with football is not with Rovers, but with all the other matches on TV - I simply cannot get excited about them like I used to 10 years ago.

Discovered my wife had bought me a surprise XBox360 for Christmas and managed to persuade her to let me have it early (I claimed there is an unwritten tradition that if you find out before Advent you can have it). I guess I'm on Santa's naughty list now but I am also on XBox Live too Gamertag is Ade67 if anyone out there wants a friend - currently playing PGR3, Dead Rising and several Live Arcade games...

I don't think anybody on here is excusing the performance in the first half, or more correctly the last 20 minutes of the first half. But face facts. In the last 4 games we have had 2 players dubiously sent off with straight reds when other teams, Portsmouth and Middlesboro to name but two in the same period, have had far more blatant "goalscoring opportunities" players yellow carded. We have a squad stretched to breaking point through injury and to throw in unwarranted 3 match suspensions to that ain't going to help.

Same again. If the two keepers were not sending off offences then why was Henchoz? Pathetic double standards

A few points about today. Firstly, if we'd have played from the start with 11 men the way we did in the second half we'd have hammered that lot by 4 or 5. Secondly, to the morons booing Neill - what possible positive outcome do you envisage from that? That he'll stay? That it will contribute to team spirit? That it will make Rovers better? You are so-called fans of the team, and for now at least, he is part of the team. Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face. And finally, to the absolute pr*ck walking down the stairs of the family stand (with plenty of kids around) shouting "I'm sorry, I'm not racist but McCarthy is a lazy black b*st*rd" - you are a disgrace and an embarrassment to Blackburn.

Is it me or are refs getting worse? I thought the guy against Spurs was bad but Bennett yesterday took it to a new low. And can somebody answer me this? Tugay got sent off against Spurs for being the last man back. David James and Mark Schwarzer both conceded penalties yesterday and both got yellows. Notwithstanding the fact that it should have been Ronaldo sent off for his outrageous dive, the fact the ref gave the penalty means he should have sent the keeper off. How is that consistent? There is a precedent for good refereeing in professional sport, and it's rugby. Anyway, not just a moan - here's my blueprint for improving the situation and it borrow some things from rugby 1) All referees MUST have played the game at least 3 levels below the level they are refereeing and not just have been the school spanner. So a premiership ref must have been at least a division 4 (old money) pro, a championship ref must have been at least a conference semi-pro etc. 2) The video ref is available for difficult decisions that have caused play to stop. If play continues, it is up to the ref. 3) Only the captains are allowed to question the referee. Punishable by 10-minute sin bin 4) Cheating and diving to be retrospectively punished - including retrospective cards, bans, and even points deducted for serial offenders (Mr C. R. of Portugal to take note...) 5) Finally, as part of the Sky deal I believe clubs are obliged for managers or assistants to present themselves for the after-match press conference. Referees must also do the same.

I still say there is a difference between tripping somebody up with the intent to trip them up, and them falling over your foot. And it was also very debatable that he would have got a clean volley off before Ooijer (I think) or Brad got to him

No, disagree. The ref and assistants were disgraceful today. The spurs player made contact with Tugay and then went down in an much exaggerated fashion. Mido moved towards the ball with his arm. And what about that guy later on who went down and as we attacked in a 2 on 1 down the right the ref stopped the game, only for him to get up and limp off with the spurs physio. Talk about being conned out of 2 points

The guy's entitled to his opinion. It's just wrong on most counts. However, he clearly thinks he is well enough qualified to comment quite vitriolically on the business acumen of various individuals. So much so that I look forward to when he becomes a multi-millionaire and invests his money in the club. (I won't hold my breath...)

If a ref is going to start dishing out yellows for some of the more obscure rulings like encroachment then he should at least be consistent, including gk handling outside the box (Van der Sar) and kicking the ball away (Neville). It was his consistent niggly decisions for utd in the second half that wound me up.

If the premier league was decided by over-reaction then we'd be champions, only pushed close by jose "conspiracy" mourinho! Last year Utd were guilty of showing us little or no respect and believing they could turn up to win. They were never going to do that this year (and the same is true of quite a few teams). My thoughts on the match - disgusted at the louts in the Utd end who ignored the minute's silence - seemed to be some fighting in the BBE - anyone shed aany light on that? - I thought our work-rate and desire were excellent - what is wrong with Bentley? He ignored Emo's 2-on-1 overlaps against Evra about 3 or 4 times in favour of those stupid crosses from 20 yards inside the half. They've resulted in one goal so why does he persist in doing it 10 times a game? - for some reason Pedersen looks 10 times better when Gray is behind him than if Neill is. I can't explain this - thought that for 20 minutes Nonda was excellent but he faded - Tugay was superb in the second half - Mike Riley confirmed to me his reputation as a Utd ref in the second half - overall, was happy with how we played. Utd are a top team and are always going to create chances. If we play like that we will beat 80% of the teams in the premier league

Is RTM an urban hip-hop poster then?

Probably put 10,000 on the first gate and an average 5,000 on the rest. Plus increased shirt sales, sponsorship etc. etc. Finance would not be a problem - Beckham pays for himself. However, there are a loads of reasons why he would not come to us - and only one why he would - Mark Hughes. I'd be delighted if he did though.

Today I am in the fortuotous position of being able to buy season tickets for my family. I can also afford to come to mid-week games. Unfotunately, the flip-side of being in this position is that my job comes with demands on my time and therefore I didn't go to the CC game against Chelsea, but me and eldest daughter did go last week (wife and youngest daughter didn't due to it being a school night). I still get the buzz when walking from the car towards the ground, but my general interest in football is certainly waning. I used to watch the Sunday and Monday night games on Sky without fail, and look forward to it. Now, I can hardly be bothered. In fact today, I'll not watch the football, I'll watch the rugby instead. If I'm representative of football fans in general this is bad news for Rovers, because most of our income is from TV - and if the audience/subscription/ad revenue figures fall then the next TV deal will be much, much worse. Why is my interest on the wane? I'm not sure exactly, but there are a few things I can put my finger on. Firstly, players are paid too much, too disconnected from the fans, too interested in CHEATING. Martin Johnson once sad that the difference between football players and rugby players was that the former spent 90 minutes pretending to be hurt, whilst the latter spent 80 minutes pretending not to be. I cannot stand the way players dive about, act, roll, con and cheat their way through games. Who's complicit in this? Well I feel sorry for the ref's some time. Yes they make stupid mistakes, yes some of them are filled with self-importance - but often the are the only people on the pitch NOT trying to cheat the result. Managers have to shoulder a lot of the burden. Forget messing with offside, or the goals. If you want to improve football - make managers accountable for the behaviour of their players - and retrospectively dock points for diving, cheating and conning. Within weeks the game would be considerably cleaner. What of the future? Well, the bigger, greedier clubs will want more of the TV money. They'll probably form their Euro super league. It'll be a success for a year or so whilst the novelty wears off. There will be no atmosphere because there'll be no away fans. There will be no traditional rivalries so TV will have to generate their own (how pathetic all the Chelski-Barcelona hype was). Fans will turn off. Still, might be good for the likes of Rovers, Charlton, Everton etc. We may end up with a competitive league and maybe that'll stimulate the excitement of going to the match again...

Just checked the planner and there are 2 free Sky matches tomorrow - neither of them this one. Is it PPV?

Gray is pretty good going forward. He certainly makes Pedersen play better. The problem with him though is that defensively he's a weak link. He's too small and he's too slow defensively. Teams constantly hit diagonal balls for their forwards to run onto knowing that he won't be able to head them out and won't be able to keep pace. That means one of the CB's coming across leaving large gaps.

Positives Tugay - fantastic. A privilege to have watched him play these past few years. Zurab - did pretty well at the back but now looks unnervingly like Ralph Little Ooijer - getting better and better Brad - there when you need him - is it true he's off on paternity leave and will miss a few games? Less Positive Mokoena - must have a 50p shaped foot the way the ball pings off it at any angle but straight Gray - whole defence looks nervous when he's about but I do think his support to Morten going forward makes Morten play better Set pieces - we no longer seem able to defend them On the whole - quite pleased