It's a fair point you raise AESF and interesting to note about Diouf, in a way I hope he is fasting as his faith is more important than a job and that should be respected in my opinion.

I'm a Catholic by the way not that it makes any difference.

I agree that one's personal faith should override career matters. No argument there. AESF though, raises a more fundamental (no pun intended) point, in respect of the interaction of Moslem stricture with liberal Western tradition inherited from the Enlightenment, or at least what's left of it in the UK.

From the semi-voluntary conspiracy to curtail freedom of expression since the Salman Rushdie affair, cemented by the Danish cartoons debacle; the sordid collusion with Islamic reactionaries from Lockerbie to Afghanistan to the squalid tolerance of polygamy and Sharia law in British inner cities; the civic denial of Christian based faith festivals, our governing elite have met threats of Islamist violence or Moslem recalcitrance with appeasement and denial - rather than challenging it for what it truly is; a strategic menace to our Western values of tolerance and liberty.

Mourinho is a brave man for speaking his mind on this issue. If he had he done so in the UK, he would no doubt be facing a barrage of media and political criticism demanding that he either recant or resign.

Like the adoption of Sharia law, the publicly funded tolerance of polygamy and the civic disappearance of our Judeo-Christian heritage, it is only a matter of time before the FA are forced to consider demands from self-serving Moslem and human rights groups for a hiatus in the football season, so that Mohammedan footballers are not prejudiced by their obligation to publicly submit to the fasting requirements of their chosen faith.

As previously stated; Newcastle were perfectly entitled to shred Barton's contract the moment he was convicted. The chose not to.

They are now bleating about (a) because they realise they made a bad bargain - buyer beware I say and ( they're desperately trying to cut the wage bill - why else flog the their talisman and one of the best GK's in England mid-season and sign a journeyman like Peter Lowenkrands? © Mike Ashley has absolutely no class whatsoever.

Any employment contract worth the candle contain such clauses regarding criminal offences and other such behaviour.

For a comparison, see how Chelsea behave by terminating Mutu's contract after his flagrant drug abuse and then pursued him to recoup the transfer money outlayed in court.

Newcastle simply have handled the matter like rank amateurs.

Im talking about since Jail - which HE DID say he had changed and wanted to become a role model.

What has he done? Nothing. The challenge was a strong one yes, but hardly intended to hurt (See adebayor challenge last night), it was just a strong challenge....nothing more. It wasnt a red, and anyone who says it was is just biased against him. If it was then I could give you a massive list of players who should also of been sent off, and therefore murdered by the media like Barton has been for this one.

I dont like the guy either, but i also dont believe in branding a guy when he clearly hasnt done anything this time to deserve it.

Don't waste your energy Hughesy.

The usual suspects (joined by some unusual ones) have whipped themselves up in to a frenzy of indignation about the latest media w*nk.

You'll just have to wait until the smelling salts begin to take effect and they've calmed down a bit.

Apparently Barton's agent, is Willie McKay. Nicko and McKay are big mates by all accounts.

Perhaps Nicko might care to share some of the inside information on the latest events up in Tyneside?

It's in the Mail that he will try to see out his contract at Newcastle, all three years of it.

Newcastle will try to terminate his contract by alleging gross misconduct, but I'd wager they'll have a tough time getting him out.

Bryan, Newcastle had the opportunity to fire Barton for gross misconduct when he was sent to prison, but declined and chose to reaffirm the contract. That time has lapsed.

Regarding gross misconduct at Liverpool. By all accounts Barton reacted in kind to a public reprimand from his boss and both he and Shearer were apparently squaring up to one another. If Newcastle were to fire him, I'd wager Barton would have good grounds for wrongful dismissal. If Newcastle wish to rely on the rules of employment or contract law, they must themselves abide by them.

As for the red card; if Newcastle claim that's grounds for dismissal, good luck to them! Alan Smith was a couple of inches away from a far more reckless challenge in the first half abd they shouldn't be surprised to see their players pulling out of tackles and a taking risk avoidance measures (I.E. preserving their employment staus) for the remaining 3 games.

The ideal situation would be (if it happens) to see Barton come to Rovers, play fantastic football and not get into any trouble - the question is can it be achieved at Rovers.

People seem to forget that Rovers have a history of taking in the 'bad boys'. Under Hughes the team were called thugs by the media for the way they played football. I remember Glen Keeley in the good old days, very good defender who went in hard, very hard for a tackle - the Blackburn end used to sing out, 'keeleys going to get you' to opposing teams. Savage had a bad history, Bellamy, Dickov, EHD ok these we on the football field. Barton has transgressed off the field - he is therefore a loose cannon. If Sam is seriously considering going for Barton - who he already knows from newcastle - then he must know that he can man manage Barton ok. My opinion is really leave it to Big Sam, I believe he knows what he is doing.

Glen Keeley was brilliant in my view and we could do with more like him today. Who was the liverpool 'hardman'?

Jimmy Case.

Who can ever forget that challenge on Andy King? The tumult of heaven rushed to mmet the earth.

'A thing of beauty is a joy forever'

What a lamentable post. You really appear to have no clue. Pathetic.

And I should add; Killer Keeley was released by Newcastle as a red card liability, signed up by us on the cheap and (as is well chronicled locally), was not averse to the odd car park fracas.

He and Faz were consistently the best centre-half pairing outside the top division for the best part of a decade.

What a strange man you are. Holier Than Thou? I'll get back to you once I've stubbed a cigar out in someone's eyes, beaten a teenager to a pulp, and smashed up a co-worker so badly he nearly lost his sight

Nobody has to suggest an alternative because they don't want Barton at the club.

No one's too young for a t****ing.

This is brilliant.

When we had Todd, Neill, Savage and Dickov we were hard to beat and everyone hated us.

Now we simply need to sign Barton to go along with Diouf and we'll be back on the right track!

Barton is a block head. But he can play, so we'll take it.

Well said.

Some folk fail to see that you cannot overcome animosity by feeling guilty or by constantly trying to please. I wonder how many of the main complainants used to watch football before Sky and the broadsheets suddenly realised it existed? Not many judging by the tone of most of the recent posts.... "...If Allardyce/Diouf/Barton (delete as appropriate) comes here it will be the last time I set foot in Ewood...there will be a boycott etc...Yours Sincerely, Mr. Permanently Outraged from Loserville, Suffolk (on behalf of all permanently outraged football fans)..."

The premise is laughable. Rovers are not liked by the media and never will be, no matter who we sign. Stop trying to be loved and get over it. Who cares what other fans think of us? Who gives a rats a*** that the press and media hold us in utter disdain because we don't shift newspapers and we don't attract decent viewing figures? Too many of you by the looks of it! We appoint the first black British Premier League manager and draw unprecedented accusations of racism. None of those sports writers would have dared attack one of the so-called bigger clubs in the manner which they did us.

I assume most complainants would have never seen Glen Keeley in action. He was big, ugly and brutal. In a Rovers shirt however - as his elbow swivelled to almost decapitate his opponent or defying gravity to literally launch himself at the ball, flying horizontally in mid-air before before landing on both ball and strikers knee - he was truly majestic.

So Joey Barton slapped a teenager and some gobby posturing French non-entity who apparently squared up to him...gosh! I can think of plenty teenagers in the town that would benefit from being slapped and of several players in our current squad who might benefit from a training ground rumble, just to shake them out of their complacency.

This isn't some sort of government sponsored 'progressive enterprise' insisting on the secularists Holy Trinity of Diversity, Inclusion and Equality before releasing further funds. It's about winning. Nothing else. The club should be bold, not show any sign of weakness as it simply provokes futher resentment and emboldens the snipers. Rovers should hire people who will win us football matches, not pander to a bunch of vapidly fashionable, self-serving posters lining up to to congratulate themselves on being so morally superior.

Yes, he got Sam the sack at Newcastle.

Far be it for me to question such an authority as the main cheerleader of the Tony Adams School of management - but whilst there are reasonable arguments being put forward why Rovers shouldn't sign the cloven hoofed one; this isn't one of them.

Joey Barton did not get Sam Allardyce the sack.

Sam Allardyce was fired because he was appointed by Freddie Shepherd's ancien régime. His persona suited neither the corporate image of Sports Direct nor the style of football to which the Toon faithful were accustomed and demanded(losing mainly).

Kevin Keegan chose to keep Barton long after Sam had been shown the door. There was no pressure for him to sell from the fans apparently. Keegan made a footballing decision and the same board that fired Allardyce was obviously happy to acquiesce to that decision. Joe Kinnear's subsequent (truncated) incumbency was further marked by a reluctance to sell Barton.

The decision to sign Barton was way down the list of reasons why those self-deluded zealots of the Geordie Nation wanted BFS out: David Rozenhal, Geremi and the hornless rhino that is Mark Viduka are just three other good reasons.

As soon as the crowd started to vent its frustration, the writing was on the wall for Sam. The decision thereafter to axe Allardyce was an easy one for a populist like Ashley. His subsequent appointments say it all: 2 Geordie Messiahs and arch henchman of the Cockney mafia.

Get lost - (missed this) nobody is that thick or so poorly capable of judging personality or talent. Wind up merchant.

Oh oh, I sense a facebook petition coming on...

People said the same when 'arry signed Di Canio and he did alright.

Faced with a choice of playing it safe and buying cheap, worthy losers of the likes of Keith Andrews or taking a risk with a discount, damaged goods talented nutter of the likes of Barton, I'd go for the latter.

All Sam has to do is get Blackburn Mags to slap a restraining order on him from going within 50 metres of MacDonalds or Xabi Alonso and hide the cigars.

Sorted.

Newcastle fans are saying the reason Barton gets sent off and yellow carded so often is because "his past is in the back of the referees mind".

Whose fault is that?

No sympathy for Barton at all. I hope his past actions do result in him getting treated unfairly, he deserves it.

With Smith, Barton and Butt in midfield, there's always going to be feisty two-footed lunges. Sad to see Nicky Butt's become such an irrelevance that refs don't even bother booking him anymore.

Great post as usual AESF, but on this occassion I beg to differ.

In a minority of one and it won't happen, but I would be happy to see JB playing midfield in a Rovers shirt next season. He's far and away better than anyone we've got. Having sold our soul already for Premiership survival, we might as well go the whole hog and sign the cloven hoofed one. Talking of which, with darkness about to descend, Colin's probably preparing his ritual response already. Don't forget the garlic.

I read what you are saying Waggy. I was with you when we greeted Paul Ince and spoke of our hopes following his appointment as Manager.

It all seemed to be going so well at first. Rumours came out of Brockhall but we dismissed them as just rumours, and there was constant denial that anything was wrong.

The first result at Everton seemed to seal the matter. An excellent three points. Then doubts began to set in. I baulked at the signing of Robbie Fowler, a man I have little time for. I was willing to give Andrews and Robinson a chance, and I felt that Ince was not to directly blame for Friedel and Bentley leaving - although Friedel's departure nearly broke my heart - there was something about seeing Big Brad between the sticks that seemed to epitomise what Rovers were about and I missed him badly. Players were played in strange positions and the excuse was that injuries left the Guv'nor with no choice. Goals against us began to escalate, but the fans stood steadfastly behind the team and sang their hearts out at matches. However, it began to dawn on some that there was indeed something very wrong happening. Lack lustre performances, still more goals, and Rovers began to slip down to the bottom of the League Table. Eventually enough was enough, and John Williams and the Board had no choice but to act in the hope that our Premier League status might be preserved.

In the summer I hoped for Ten Cate, I did NOT want Sam Allardyce for many reasons which were stated on another thread. However, having supported Paul Ince and hoped that the rumours were wrong, despair began to overcome me as the half season approached. We seemed unable to get even a point, there was little leadership from the touchline and substitutions became even more bizarre. Towards the end, as Paul looked close to tears, I did shed a few myself. I feel sorry for Paul as the dream shattered, but it wasn't just his dream, it was the dream of several thousand loyal fans. Paul, I wish you every success in the future, but you have to work and prepare just as much if not more in the Premier League as elsewhere, a squad of Premiership players, talented as they may be, cannot run themselves.

Now to Big Sam. He ruled himself out of the running in the summer, fair enough. I was glad. I saw him around on tv, and at Rovers occasionally watching the matches from the stands. There was suddenly a decision to be made. Rovers were managerless at a crucial point in the season. Should it be Souness to return as the Saviour? I wasn't sure. I love the guy and thoroughly enjoyed his tenure at Rovers until things began to go wrong and it was quite a relief when he went to Newcastle. The fitness of the squad was a worry at that time and I didn't want that history to repeat itself. I looked at Sam's record, particularly his years at Bolton and there was no doubt that he had done rather well there. However, there was still the question of brown envelopes - although, I reasoned, nothing had ever been proved. There was the alleged long ball football - well, looking at some of the stuff we had been serving up recently, a long ball with someone on the end of it actually scoring a goalbegan to look rather enticing.

And so, Big Sam came to Rovers. The delight of the man as his appointment was announced enthused me. I had seen many smiles from Paul Ince, but this was something different. The Press Conference was refreshing in that the Big Man made it quite clear what he was about and I began to warm to him. I now find myself looking forward to matches once more - and even if we do have the misfortune to go down I feel quite clearly that Sam is the man who will get us back to the Premiership again, a feeling I did not have with Paul Ince.

Waggy, most of us were very sorry that things did not pan out for Paul. However, he is young, the experience will be good for him and he will learn from it.

Things were happening that could not be allowed to continue and the Board had no choice.

Please don't give up on your Rovers because of this. You love the club, and it is the club you support. If that is not the case, and it is Paul Ince that you support, then no doubt you will be able to follow your football at his next club. I don't believe that is the case though and I hope you will reconsider your position and join us as we support our new Manager and enjoy the ride ahead.

Perhaps we can have a post of the month award?

Sorry to be slightly off topic.

On a similar theme however, the bias against Rovers referred to by Darth Paul seems to replicate itself on the local BBC Radio Lancs.

It's as if they feel they have to over compensate for the fact that we over shadow our neighbours in relative terms of success and therfore feel they are obligated to give more coverage to our rivals.

I also notice a bias generally toward PNE, over and above any shown toward both Rovers and BFC.

Just thought I'd bring this to the fore again in order that we may compare any similarities over the coming weeks.

1. Lucas Neill.... Sorry Mr Williams, I've 12 months left on my contract but I'm not intending to sign a new deal for BRFC. I'm a footballing whore and I've made my mind up to leave when my contract runs out to play elsewhere and make more money. I'm at the age now where this will be my last move and I intend to maximise my income. If you want to sell me first then I am willing to discuss the situation at any time to accomodate the wishes of the manager.

with

David Bentley ..... I've 3 years to run on my contract but now that I am in the England set up I've decided to ignore any liability or indebtedness to BRFC. I'm a footballing whore and I simply intend to leave to go to a big club in europe for more money and recognition. I'm wanting you to tear up my contract to suit my intentions and nothing you can say or do will change my mind.

btw a clue..... both of em are money orientated but one of them is a 'proper' man.

'Whore' is a fair way of putting it in writing; but I hope of it would be verbalised as 'hoo-er' in the proper patois...

Hi all,

I don't believe some of you considering having souness back have you all forgotten how he manages to to get on the wrong side of every player he got yes he made some good signings Brad,Tugay,Neill but he has made many more mistakes than Sparky Grabbi, Amoruso, Unsal, J.D.Pedro the list go on and never really got there true value in terms of selling on and maybe JW had a good working relationship with GS & MH but doesn't mean to say we should have Souey back if and when we need to search for a new manager I would rather have names on there that have experience and have a good track record in the transfer market I would rather have names like Allardyce,Sven, and people like that who have a good record when signing and will not pick fights with every player that comes through the door however would not mind if souey and a consortium wanted to buy the club out as I feel we do need a takeover to take us to the next level but would only want GS in terms of a takeover so long as he would not medal in team selections.

Laters all.

Some good points.

"I feel we do need a takeover to take us to the next level"

A potential one-time windfall of the mooted 25M to spend on new players, is nothing compared to 3m+ over the long term. Personally I'd rather see Rover's long term future secured, even if that might mean us eventually becoming part of a Premier League II or even a galvanised Championship. With the global economy in flux, and the strengthening of rival foreign leagues (e.g.Russia and perhaps in another decade the U.S.), we could see the market that has brought us the TV bubble contracting or even popping, sooner rather than later.

Steven Reid could be added to the list of good signings.

Shift out Bentley for 10M; bring in Duff on a free.

LT- Rovers not considering Duff

Can't find any links, but I do remember Duff saying something to the tune of "...This will be my last club..." or "...I hope I end my career at Newcastle...".

This was remarkably prescient.

I'm still a fan of Duff, as I believe he could adapt his game given the right environment.

Nevertheless, a couple of Links from:

1. The Irish Independent (contemporary) show how much his stock as fallen.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/duf...ds-1373794.html

2. And some English mangling website shows the hubris of both Duff and Newcastle at the time of the nuptials

http://soccerlens.com/why-tottenham-and-li...lseas-duff/344/

chelseas-duff/344/

Reading the above, it's hard to see how Newcastle will offload any of their languishing high paid loafers!

Alot - width, the ability to beat a man, good crossing ability, a goal threat from the left. All depending on whether the coaching/physio staff feel they can get him back to his best. It is hard from our positions in front of our computer screens to make that judgement.

Incidentally as a side topic - how many careers have been destroyed at St James' park? There are quite a lot of good players who have gone in there decent and come out pretty terrible. This is just a taster list I am sure:

Dyer

Bramble

Parker

Smith

That French defender guy...

Emre

Luque

Bellamy

What is it they do to the players? Beat them with night sticks upon ariival? Chain them in cells? Put morphine in their squash? Such a waste of talent.

If I was an up and coming player I would look at that place and think "hmmm... maybe not such a good idea to rock up there and lose all credibility as well as my fitness"

Imagine if they had bought Rooney instead of united as they were threatening to do. England would be screwed....

Seems a couple have caught on by electing to go the (only) slightly smaller circus at White Hart Lane.

Who was the guy Marcelino they paid fortunes for and didn't play.

Dare I say Bramble; he was OK at Ipswich...

He'd be bloody cheap and we cannot afford to be be choosy and he is just the type that Hughes could turn into a top player. I rem the Clough / Taylor partnership doing much the same with many misfits and bad boys at Forest (Stan Bowles being the notable exception) and he won them the European Cup! Bellamy I must say that I wouldn't have minded us signing him when he was playing well. Mokoena / Reid have not replaced the Flitcroft role nor anywhere near and we need to. BUT for one reason or another his form has suffered since his 'troubles'.

...... btw anybody see the film Clockwork Orange?

They turned wildman Kenny Burns from a journeyman midfielder/makeshift striker into one of the most feared centre backs in Europe.

Badge kissing incident well out of order.

I still class Duff as a 'Blackburn lad' though, in that he matured alongside the likes of Dunn, Taylor, Johnson in the youth team - even Jansen latterly. Heady days in terms of young committed lads with a real allegiance to the club.

Although his pace might have gone, I still have a hunch that a smart manager could still find a role for Duff in the midfield. The amount of time he used to buy for our midfield with his intelligent runs meant a lot of pressure subsequently taken off our defence.

Used economically Duff could still be a useful player.

Of course, the Mags would have to pay up his contract before we could even consider taking him, so it would probably not happen.