Pretty petty and stupid gripe to be fair Philly. Brum have loaned these players for one reason, which is to help get them promoted. At the moment it looks like a good move by Brum, as these loan moves are really paying off. Would you whinge if Rovers got promoted mainly becaue of loanees? Thought not.

So Everton got a lucky win and we can't be as bad? Or is that Everton won despite playing @#/?, and we have no defence. 4-1. (To Everton)

hawaii501 you clearly are an angry, angry chappy. Now calm down dear, dab on the clearesil and look forward to making some friends in our wonderful interactive environment.

The Sun predict us to finish 9th????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD THE SCUMBAGS!!!!!!! Don't be so stupid and realise that 9th is perfectly realistic, and I can see many reasons why a neutral would put us down to finish about 9th.... Reasons such as selling our best player and having to concentrate on Europe too.

But it also limits how much we can offer in wages, as we probably pay a much higher percentage of our income on wages when compared to teams like Man Utd, Liverpool, Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham, Man City,... Infact, most teams in the EPL! If teams could only spend 65% of their income on wages, then those teams would be able to spend 65% of a larger amount of money than Rovers could.

:ph34r: Wonder how much the clauses' in all these contracts amounts to in transfer fees?'.

How would a salary cap help? That would suit only the big clubs, with consistant high attendences, shirt sales etc. Trading is an idea I like the best. If Man Utd want Bellamy, we'll have Saha tar. Arsenal want Reid, we'll have Gilberto and so on. Also, like in America, allow trades like.... Chelsea want Duff, we'll have Gudjohnson and Zenden, as we think Duff is worth twice as much as both players. Works well for everyone IMO.

One word.... Good. Ps. This 'Ps.' is only here to satisfy wakefielddrawks.

3-1 Pompey. No defence,... No hope.

Hope nobody got McCarthy 17 on their new shirt in false expectation...

Everyone seems convinced McCarthywill be 17, but I'm convinced it's always been 77 he's wore, so why would 17 be a dead ringer? I think he's just as likely to be 9, 10 or 11. Maybe 77, is that allowed in the EPL?

David Beckham is a world class right sided midfielder. The only world class right sided midfielder has. Dropping him to win some brownie points for ''Not just being a newer Sven'' is not the way to go. The way to prove that is by winning some bloody important football matches.

Sorry to put a downer on Dens' good news, but as I haven't renewed (I'm moving to London in October) I recieved a letter from Mr John Williams himself today explaining why I should (Even admitting that without the Bellamy clause he wouldn't have signed) renew. In this letter he also wrote ''Season ticket sales are almost at the same figure as last season,'' or something to this extent. My guess would be we might equal last season at best with one or two more exciting signings, or a great start to the season.

Innit.

Comfort should be taken from this report.....

The irony of all this is, go on a Pompey messageboard and I bet they wouldn't be too overexcited about the prospect of signing Nelsen for over £5m. In fact, given the choice, I bet most Pompey fans would prefer Distin or Huth over Nelsen.

No need to be so defensive, so I'll just ignore the end of your response. In my opinion though, selling Bellamy for £6.5m and replacing him with a 28 year old European Cup winner with a impressive strike ratio at Domestic, European, and International level and another 28 year old proven Premiership striker for around £4.5m is good business. It also represents squad and team strengthening. Last summer many people said that though they were pleased with the Bellamy arrival, he was many peoples second choice to McCarthy. I hasten to add he was also Hughes' second choice. I personally would rather have McCarthy and Roberts than just Bellamy. That's what we have. We also have £2m left over. Ryan Nelsen is a very good player, and our best center back. We signed him for free. However, if we had the chance to replace him with a player such as Huth, who in my opinion, Jose Mourinhos' opinion, Bayern Munchens' opinion and many Premiership clubs managers' opinion is a very good player, for less money than we recieve for Nelsen, then it is something we should seriously consider. Here we have the opportunity to sign a 23 year old German International defender, who has much Premiership, Champions League, UEFA Cup and Major International experience, and who will only get better and better to replace a 28 year old New Zealand International, with no Major International experience and no previous European football experience. Further to this, it is unlikely Nelsen will get much better, if better at all. Add to this we could also add a Dutch International defender who has played in European Championships, World Cups and Champions League/UEFA Cup as well and potentially still have money left over from the Nelsen sale. Again, I personally would prefer Huth and Ooijer as opposed to just Nelsen. This I suspect would still leave us with the original transfer kitty still untouched. One thing I would like to make clear is I in no way want Nelsen to leave. What I am trying to stress is that there is every reason for Rovers to seriously consider the scenarios I have highlighted, and that the fans shouldn't be disheartened at the prospect of this particular piece of business going ahead. Ps. I believe there is a high possibility of Huth, Nelsen and Ooijer all playing in the same Rovers team this season, and obviously that would be the perfect scenario, unless keeping Nelsen meant we couldn't splash out on a creative midfielder. Imagine Petrov, Huth and Ooijer. Would Nelsens' departure be quite so painful then?

Yes but that is why it is important to have a good manager. In the examples I have given Anelka, who was a world class young striker who had just banged in 20 plus goals for Arsenal was sold and replaced with a winger flop who was rotting in Juventus' reserves. Overmars was a world class winger who was replaced with a French World Cup squad substitute (Pires) who couldn't get in the team due to the previously mentioned flop, and had only ever proven himself in a less superior league with Marseille. Petit was a world class defensive midfielder who kept Vieira out of that team and was replaced with a Brazilian who only shot to fame due to Emersons' injury just prior to that World Cup. And let's not forget at first Petit was actually replaced for a season with Ray Parlour in the centre, a Right Winger who was hardly renowned for his ball winning capabilities in the engine room. Trust must be put into the manager, who in all the above cases was proven 100% correct. Imagine the Arsenal fans uproar prior to the campaigns when all these pieces of business took place. Furthermore, ask them now how they feel about those pieces of business.

Does nobody understand the business aspect of football at all? Rovers sign Nelsen for free. We have reportedly turned down a £5m bid. So let's say Nelsen is sold for £6m, that is a £6m profit, on a 28 year old player who has injury problems, and no matter what you might say with your 'Blue and White shades' on, a player who is highly replacable. It is common sense. Look at Arsenal, it's how they've run their ship for the past decade... Petit, Overmars and Anelka were all bought for combined fees of around £7.5m. They were sold for combined fees of £53.5m. They were then replaced by Gilberto, Pires and Henry for combined fees of £19.5m. Obviously we are talking a different level of player and club stature here, but for arguments sake, we sign Bellamy and Nelsen for combined fees of £3.75m.. We then sell the two players for fees of £12.5m.. The replacements so far would be Roberts, McCarthy and Jeffers, combined fees of around £4.5m. I believe we could then sign Ooijer and Huth for combined fees of around £5m. This leaves Rovers £3m up, with a stronger and deeper squad (In my opinion) which also doesn't include two injury prone players. Adding this £3m extra to the transfer funds we already had, plus any income we seem like we might get for Emerton, it could leave Rovers with a deeper squad, which has a larger spread of quality in comparisions to last seasons, with potentially £10m or so spendable money, which could obviously be used for one or two special players, or three or four more good quality Premiership players. This, with no questions ask, leaves us a much stronger team and squad, and represents great player trading by Rovers. It's the way football works, and when done properly, ala Arsenal, leads to great success both on and off the pitch. Obviously to do this you need a good board and a good manager.. I feel Rovers are lucky enough to have both.

This picture is golden, and gives me nightmares about the prospect of the axe playing right back for us at the start of the season.

I vote the Batman theme.

McCarthy Vows To Fire Rovers Into Top Four Damn you daren.

Honestly think Fat Sam has had enough of Bolton now. He has dne a miracle job at that club, and I think his constant whining is just letting bigger clubs that he is available should any vacancies become available. He probably desereves a shot at a slightly higher level, though I hope the big fat whalrus never gets it.

To be fair, seeding is useless in the competition. How many of those teams seeded above Rovers would actually strike fear into you? Not many, so I'm not too fussed about who we play and where/when we play them.

It is the worlds most horrible argument as it has nothing to do with the enjoyment of the music, but anybody who can seriously suggest that Oasis are a 'technically' better band than M use are just silly. In all honestly, without being a hardcore fan, I think M use sh*te all over Oasis in every respect; The music, their live show, their image/coolness, and of course, musicianship. Ps... Cocker, my comment about the promo CD was intended to be a sly dig at the half hit wonder Scumbags from Manchester.