I'm more interested in average of positions finished, points amassed and trophies won to be honest.

My point is, we should appreciate how fortunate we are to even consider going for players like Bellamy, McCarthy etc. With that sort of pathetic gates, we shouldn't be able to compete with the likes of Villa, Charlton, Boro, let alone Newcastle.

Sometimes I think we've been spoilt with our success on the field and off it (which is easily overseen)

Things are looking good (on paper) up there, and increases Rovers need to get in the market and stay ahead of a close rival.

Newcastle's average attendance: Around 52000

Blackburns average attendance: Around 22000

Answers on a postcard, for the attention of John Williams.

Was listening to the radio today and it seems the geordies would rather have spent the £5m on a striker and not Duff. While there's no denying Duff is one of the Premierships best left winger, Newcastle have currently a midtable strikeforce in Ameobi and Luque. Not to forget, they already have NZogbia, who is slowly developing into a formidable winger.

my renewal letters came with the wrong seat numbers

Is this the postcard?

Received an email today from the Club, about the claim your own seat deadline next weekend. Wonder how the Bellamy departure is going to effect the ST sales. Let's hope we get a player or two (hopefully both strikers) next week to compensate the loss.

Could do with getting our preparations back on track, was really looking forward to next season.

A polite 'p1ss off' if Brum come back me thinks!

Why bother with being polite?

Brady and et al have no idea what that means.

Offer us £7m and we might consider selling his right boot, although they would have to pay for the postage.

Can we please beat them, I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever win a game this season and also I've still not recovered from last seasons defeat at Ewood.

Rovers, give me a belated xmas present. DO IT!

and I thank you- Santa came late this year!

Can we please beat them, I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever win a game this season and also I've still not recovered from last seasons defeat at Ewood.

Rovers, give me a belated xmas present. DO IT!

No, it means the club dont want to admit that we got shafted.

That's my view on it aswell.

If the club wanted Cole out, why didnt they get rid of him earlier in the summer so that we could have had more time to find an adequate replacement.

I have a strange feeling that we'll be struggling for goals this season and then next summer the board will find some 32yr old striker from Bolton or Levski Sofia and then they'll say that we've got a stronger squad than this season and that they've finally struck the balance in the squad.

I was very close to wanting Souness out last season but after this whole last week, I'm giving him until December and if the team doesn't improve than I will hope the board gets rid of him and moves on because he's partly to be blamed for the arguments with Cole, Yorke, Dunn, Gillespie et al and the board have stuck by him and got rid of those players but Ive had it with the fights and constant bad publicity the past few seasons despite having some decent results.

If I'm not mistaken it came about when everyone was blaming him for our performances last season.

I thought it was for his involvement in WW2.

Funny thing that dawned upon me whilst watching the finals - Chelsea have just bought Paulo Ferriera for too much from Porto. And Porto are replacing him with a far better player in Seiteridis.

There was a shot of Abramovich looking pensive during the match, maybe he arrived at the same conclusion as me!

I was thinking the same. Even Miguel (whom Newcastle are rumoured to be interested) is a far cheaper and better option than Ferreira.

£13m - could be next seasons Grabbi!

Well you can't keep a good man down.

Big Sam may have lost out in signing Rivaldo but he's making up for it by going for another superstar in...er....Les Ferdinand. 37 years young.

Ferdinand in Bolton talks

He'll be a good signing.

He won't start every single match but it'll give Big Sam another strong target player who's good with his head to bring on when they revert back to their lets kick the ball to the striker asap system.

Also heard that Hierro is on trial with their squad in Bormio.

Paul, I understand what you're saying and I can see your point-especially the bit that it's not good for the future of Blackburn Rovers. What Sky is doing is breeding the youngsters into tele footy watchers who with all the angles and rubbish commentaries soon start thinking that it's cheaper and probably better to sit and watch the footy on the tv than pay £20 odd quid to go watch it live. I've seen and met quite alot of people who share this opinion, which is sad and especially for a club of our size who's fighting to get more fans.

But I think it comes to a point where the blame has to be also pointed towards the individual and not the big corporation trying to earn a few bucks. I'm a strong believer in having options and I think there should be an option for those who can't afford to go to live matches and that's why I think what SKY is providing is a good thing and that it means that more people not just in this country but also abroad get to watch Rovers. People that watch Rovers play will then realise that we're a small club that probably play the most attractive football (or atleast capable) outside the top 5 teams in the country and this may lead to more people becoming Rovers fans.

I'm just hoping that people that watch Rovers play this season or whenever on tv realise (sooner rather than later) that football is best watched live and our club could do with more fans coming through the gates.

Bolton sent their Season Tickets (the old type, you know, a book *snigger*)

Bolton were one the first clubs in the country to use the smart card system. They're using a different system to ours, theirs is called TeamCard.

The English media, in particular the Sun, are making a complete t1t of England with their hate campaign against the ref, Urs Meier, and you're being laughed at by the rest of Europe by not letting go of this "issue". Get over it.

If you want to direct abuse at me personally, then my email address is:

itwasafoul@hotmail.com

Excellent post.

What I'm disappointed with is the Sun's whole "hate campaign." It's almost like an adult abusing someone else infront of his kids- his actions is showing these kids that it's ok to abuse someone and violate his rights. I hope the media or journalism authorities (whoever they may be) take action because what the Sun has done is just stupid and dangerous- what if some idiots get egged by this campaign to go and take action against this ref or his family? As a paper they need to have some sort of moral responsibility to the public.

The ironic part is that not too long ago they plastered the faces of the hooligans that were sent home and now they go and act just as foolish and stupid as those yobs.

Maybe The Sun should plaster their front page with the faces of the idiots who are responsible for this stupid campaign.

Interested to see that the Portugal v Holland game is to be reffed by a Swede. A ref from the country beaten by Holland in the last round. Exactly like England and Portugal, is this a EUFA policy or are they just hoping the ref will harbor enough ill will towards the Dutch to tip the game the Host Nations way. Perhaps a controversial disallowed goal, or is it a smoke screen to disguise the fact they set up the England game.

and the paranoia continues......

The more I think about it the more I admire Gerrard.

It was reported that by joining Chelsea he had the chance to double his (admittedly exorbitant) salary from £65,000 to £130,000 a week. There are not many people, when given the chance to double their wages, in whatever walk of life, who would do that.

His quotes today also demonstrated his deep feelings for his club, the love of the community in which he lives and his sense of loyalty to the Liverpool supporters.

Contrast his attitude with that of the treasonable Duff, who sold his soul for laundered Russian roubles without a backward glance to the club that made his name and the supporters who worshipped him.

I know what you mean (and I agree with you) but you do wonder if he would have "stayed" loyal to Liverpool if Houllier was still around.

As for Duff, well I just think he had the wrong (naive) people around him. If I'm right his agent doesn't have any other player in his books or atleast none as good as Duff and a couple of million in his pockets would be enough to see his future sorted.

But can you watch highlights of the other matches aswell or do you only get to pick one of the matches on the Saturday?

I'm a qualified ref too, although I gave up due to the amount, and personal nature, of abuse I was receiving (and this was in kids football btw!) and the laws of the game usually begin with the phrase "If in the opinion of the referee..." - so it really is all about opinions, which is one argument against the introduction of a 4th referee who has access to video replays - his opinion of certain incidents may be different to those of the man to the middle. Video replays can only really be used to help with matters of fact - like the disgraceful dive by Jesper Gronkjaer last night.

The facts concerning Campbell's 'goal' are that Terry's arm was across the keeper's shoulders. The opinion part comes in as to whether or not it impeded the keeper. Personally my opinion is that it did impede the keeper and so I would have given a foul - most other people on here have a different opinion, but in the end the only person's opinion that really counts is the referee's and in his opinion it was a foul. End of story.

(Surely all of us have watched football for long enough to know that Goalkeepers usually get the benefit of any doubt in these type of incidents as well.)

I find it really distasteful the way we are making out that the ref cheated. He made an honest decision based on his view and opinion of the incident, and I really think it shows us up to be extremely bad and ungracious losers to have this constant abusing of the ref. Fantasy Football last night was terrible, in the worst possible taste and extremely offensive about a man who was just doing his job.

Let's put this behind us and move on - ultimately we were beaten by the better side on the night.

Well said!

Chelsea are doing what Inter, with Massimo Moratti, did for most of the 1990s - on an even larger scale. Inter didn't win much, I wonder if Chelsea will.

Another negative about Chelsea's 'player collecting' is that youngsters like Carlton Cole, Alexei Nicholas and even Joe Cole and those who are in the youth teams, will have no chance.

By now, Carlton Cole should be competing for an England squad place - he's that good. But it looks like his career is going to be a series of loan moves at first, which is definitely not good for his progress.

Inter did it but so did Lazio when Sven Göran Eriksson was their manager and although he did win the Serie A title, it did go pearshape the following year (some claim it was due to him announcing his departure) but I think it would have happen sooner or later.

Swopping and changing won't help anyone - players or management. The manager will be under huge pressure to win things and the players won't be happy sitting on the bench/missing matches, they may tolerate it while the team is winning but that'll change the minute they start to lose matches.

Chelsea has to be toughest job in football and Mourinho may have won 2 European titles but that was without any pressure from the fans nor board whereas at Chelsea, throphies will be demanded and it'll be interesting to see how he copes.

Another name to add to that list Rover 6 is Filipe Oliveira, the young Portuguese player. Very talented striker.

Against Portugal if I was Sven I would have taken Beckham off.

The question is how fit was Kieron Dyer because if he was fit, he would have been a better option to bring in with 20-30mins left - to run at their defence. Rooney had a good tournament, just like Owen had in 98 because of their ability to run at opponents with pace. If we had a fit Dyer or even Wright Phillips- that would have been a great option to bring on when the game plan was counter attacking.

No one with half a brain thought that Beckham was a skilful player.

Where did I say that I thought he was a skillfull player, infact I agree with you and roversismylife- he is overrated but you'll be surprised at ammount of people who think he's skillfull.

If I was a defender, I would rather play against Beckham than Joaquin. Infact I'll be worried of playing against an inconsistent Gronkjaer than Beckham. To stop Beckham's game is to stay close to him and don't give him the a yard or two to cross the ball.

You are a pillock. David Beckham doesn't run without the ball? I think this has only happened as a result of him playing in Spain. You are talking about one of the fittest players in world football, one of only two athletes I know of to have COMPLETED the bleep test, the other being Lance Armstrong.

His only skill is crossing and free kicks, oh how terrible that a right midfielder is only good at passing. He's not bad with his head, and is a good tackler. Spain may have ruined his work ethic, but before his move there he was really something else in that sense. He was never considered the kind of player who would beat people, he has his style of play, he's not a Giggs or Duff.

if anything your last post shows that you're an ignorant person who needs a lesson in football.

The bleep test has been completed by Beckham and Armstrong and many others including a Swede, Håkan Mild many years ago.

But what does the bleep test have anything to do with Beckham running without the ball. The bleep test is to test your fitness- I never said anything about his fitness- just that he rarely runs without the ball. Go check the next time Beckham plays and see if he actually runs without the ball. What you're most likely to see is that he jogs casually and most of the time he's actually behind the player (teamate) with the ball. A wide midfielder runs without the ball is Ljungberg and if you want a few from examples from the English team, have a look at Gerrard and Lampard- their workrate is far higher than Beckham. Infact I think even Ashley Cole and maybe even Gary Neville run far more without the ball then your fav idol Beckham.

The point about his tackling and heading just made me laugh, if you think he's even remotely good at that then I'll just rest my case. Beckham- good at heading and tackling- what a joke!

My point is, as you have said, continental football is less physical. However, what you have not said, and this is what I am getting at, is that as a result of it being less physical, meaning that players are given more space, the games are slower, plenty of open space, the players are given more OPPURTUNITY to show off their skills. As a result of this, many are seen to be more skilled, when in reality, it is simply that in England you can't try and play that way.

I don't doubt that if a lot of English players went over to continental leagues and played 2 seasons there, they would get used to having the extra space and would start to use some of the parts of their game that could previously only be tried out on the training ground.

What my point is that players you may think are skilled in this country wouldn't even be classed as skilled in other leagues. As for Beckham, he's been found out. People in this country thought he was this big time skillful player but if anything it's proven that all he has in his game is his crosses and freekicks. His defending is useless, no pace, doesn't run without the ball and it's no wonder he has had trouble adapting to the Spanish league.

Of course if English players move over to other leagues, it will improve their game but I think because of the money in the game in England there's no need to move which is a shame because I think England would have won far more international throphies if they had more players playing in Italy and Spain.

To be fair, from the clubs perspective it's better if they do not say anything especially if it's not going as well as expected. However if it's going better than expected than announcing it might attract more fans to buy them aswell.

If you think players like Duff and Giggs have had to "change" their games, this is strange as it's the only league they have played in. While Henry has become a more skilled player while playing in england. All but the bottom clubs in the premier league have their fair share of skilled players, they simply aren't allowed the time on the ball that is required to show the kind of tricks and flicks that we so admire in spain, well at least some of us do. *

Arsenal in the past few seasons have done well in the Champions League. With the odd team getting up there, Chelsea this season and Leeds not too far back.

Yes, the stlyles of play are different. England is more physical, but those who say that there is less skill, and fewer skilled players in england, don't know what they are talking about.

Yes, players like Duff and Giggs have had to add the physical side to their game or they would have ended up like Veron. You don't have to play in a different league to make you want to adapt your game. Those two players wouldn't have played in the Premier League if they didn't have anything else but skill.

As for Henry- he didn't get his skills from playing in this country. Have you seen him play before he joined Arsenal? Instead what he and most foreign players have got from the English game is organisation and the physical attribute. Which without a doubt made them better players, Henry for example wouldn't have been a better striker if he didn't have those attributes. He may have been a winger (thats why he was played as one at Juve) but never a striker in the top leagues because he wasn't tough enough and in Italy there would be only one winner between him and a defender.

See you claim that all but the bottom clubs have their fair share of skilled players, yes they may have- but the question is how many of those will be classed as skilled in any league outside of the Premier League?

Very few!

If anything the players with skill in this country would probably have never become as skillful as they are if it wasn't for the influx of foreign players like Zola, Bergkamp etc or foreign football matches shown on tv.

If your definition of the beautiful game is flicks and tricks then you definitely have been watching too much English footy because those tricks can be done by any kid on the street in most countries.