Unlucky Sam, looks like the midfield gap was too big in the end. Does he train playmakers?

Indifferent, it depends who we get in as the new manager.

I cannot believe Rovers will let him remain in charge until the next match (if that is what happens).

He's left immediately.

Remember the good times roverite, all good things come to an end and imo it may have been time for a change anyway.

Souness needs defenders at Newcastle, so I suspect he'll look elsewhere.

Big, big shock.

In a way this has happened at a good time for Rovers. Some of his recent tactics had been bizarre (Matteo in midfield ffs!) and overly negative and you sensed that he was beginning to lose the players. He's been fantastic for Rovers but you just felt that maybe he'd lost his spark in the last six months. It's a case for me of thanks Graeme and goodbye. Still the timing and method leaves a lot to be desired and this may well leave a bitter taste in the mouth, especially as Souness had been active in the transfer market this summer (getting rid of his gruesome twosome for example, Andy Cole for all the flack he takes was looking like forming a good partnership with Stead).

Where do Blackburn go from here? I've no idea. Strachan would be the ideal replacement. However I doubt he's ready to come back into football. Houllier (please god no!), Mark Hughes (someone else I'd like to see), Mike Newell (who's had an extremely chequered career so far:s)? We'll probably see Tony Parkes leading Rovers to a glorious victory at St. James and then a lower league manager being brought in I suspect. The next appointment will be crucial, get an imbecile in and we could well go down and end up like Derby or Forest. However if we find someone of the calibre of Moyes then we have a decent core of players (providing Graeme doesn't nick 'em off us) to progress.

Dropped from the england squad aswell! Doing brilliantly

I'd say that's more because Sven seems reluctant to pick players from big clubs (like Spurs ) rather than a decline in Heksey's form. Being the main player at a smaller club could be just the thing to get his career back on the rails, he's only 26 or something remember.

I actually think Heskey's looked quite good at Brum so far, the lad's not as bad as everyone makes out by a long way.

*Retires behind a screen in anticaption of the rotten fruit and abuse that will now come my way.

The list seems to show we haven't been as fortunate with right backs as with keepers. The likes of Neill and Kenna have never been more than solid team members. However I guess this is compensated by the presence of Crompton and Newton, who both sound worthy of being fondly remembered. It surely has to be Crompton for his all round service though.

I wonder if he will end up appearing twice, as a player and manager?

Hi Sam. The fourth placed team seems to play CA every game and has a very weak attack. You should be able to have a chance of beating him imo.

The problem is that irritated is very low already and your ts will be hideous the following week. I think I'd normal both games and hope the first guy doesn't MOTS.

What will happen for centre backs, central midfielders and forwards den? Will there be two votes or will the top two be included?

I've gone for Jones even though I never saw him. From what people have said it sounds like he was a cut above the quality of the rest of the side and performed over a long period of time. He just edges Brad who has been good for us and while he may have achieved a lot on the world stage that doesn't affect his career at Blackburn.

Ok we know he's a left winger but can he play up front as well?

I'd try listing the passable keeper at normal value and hope he sells anyway, there'll always be a few people who will bid. Inadequates will sell for virtually nothing anyway and their wage is cheaper so I'd try and get what you can for the passable.

Can't add much to what's been said before.

First half we were appaling, playing four midfielders against a troubled Saints side in the second game of the season was awful. Emerton didn't look happy as a straight right back and was at fault for loosing Phillips for the opener and Gray was pitifully undersupported on the left for the whole game. Why play Matteo, a defender, on the left? At least he could have played a left footer like Gresko if he didn't want De Pedro. Matteo was annonymous except when he sent a fifty yard pass over to the subs warming up. Yorke looked lively up front in the first half and Tugay was good.

Second half was better, I wasn't impressed by Neill at RB but at least he allowed Emerton to get forward. Emerton was hit and miss as usual, but more hit than miss for once, did well to keep the ball in for the second goal. Dickov was fantastic, although he was lucky the ref didn't see his kick on Le Saux. As for the defence, Nisse looked dodgy especially in the last moments when he consistently looked like a rugby fullback kicking for touch. Short was better but neither were entirely convincing.

I think I'm going to wait until I've heard some more about the older players. I've only seen Flowers and Friedel in action and it would be tough to separate those two. Friedel would probably get my vote for that season. However from what I've read about Roger Jones he sounds top quality.

Sam form is affected by these things:

How hard you train (intensity of training)

How good your coach is

How many assistant coaches you use (and how many goalkeeping coaches you use for keepers)

If a player has participated in a match during the week. This is very important!

A random factor

Higher training intensity and coach skill can help form but overall you just need to sit and pray!

How are your finances now btw? Can you manage a return trip to England next week?

Clowns in my experience provide a minimal boost to ts (if any) and coach leadership is far more important in my experience. I wouldn't bother with one until you can spare the money easily. A clown only works if he has the highest leadership, at the moment with your pleasant/solid already in the squad you have no way of telling if a clown would become your team leader. I wouldn't bother atm.

Interesting that many regard Shearer as a cult hero, despite the lukewarm feeling he seems to inspire amongst the majority of fans.

No Tim Flowers either With his union jack towel and that speech, he'll always be a hero.

I like the idea of polls to find the BRFCS Rovers XI as well Den, possibly the hero should come from outside of the final XI though?

Have back to back matches coming up with #2 in the conference, and don't want to get killed and have my support go back down. What is the best formation to use against 3-5-2? His forwards are only 2* while his midfield and central defense are 3*.

First off ratings are the key, stars can often be misleading (especially for midfielders and wingers where lots of skills are involved). As you're training defenders (I think ) maybe try 5-4-1 pressing or CA? With CA make sure you have decent enough attack ratings (maybe play two wingers) and that you can get within reasonable distance of his midfield. Maybe CA at home and press away??

Sam, try 5-3-2 with three inner midfielders and no wingers. In the lower divisions that should make you competitive although it can be easily countered.

American:

The way to tell if you're losing out on stamina is if you have big decrease in second half possesion.

Imo you don't need young guys outside the position you train. Any guys that are solid and 18 I'd sell, you can make some decent money (if they're passable you might as well keep 'em unless they're 17, you won't make much). If you want to concentrate on training play five at the back each game and try to buy 17yo passables (you can pick them up for around £10K/$15K, inadequate 17yos and passable 18yos should be even less).

These should be nearing solid at the end of the season.

Sam, have a look at This article, it sets out CA in a very clear way. You do know that CA only works if you lose possesion don't you?

The important thing to look at are the ratings, last match he got:

Midfield: wretched (low)

Right Side Defence: weak (low)

Central Defence: weak (very high)

Left Side Defence: poor (very high)

Right Side Attack: poor (very low)

Central Attack: poor (very low)

Left Side Attack: poor (low)

His left side of defence and attack is the weakest point, so playing the right wing back offensive might be an idea, I'd only do that if he has good wing skill though, otherwise it's not worth it. If you do that you might want to set your right centre back towards wing, to stop you loosing too much wing defence.

The other thing that I'd suggest sometimes with CA is getting a midfielder with good passing and defending secondaries and playing them offensively, boosting midfield a little (which is still important) and helping your CA rating. Obviously if you're going to need all the defence you can this might not be the best plan.

Another thing you could try is playing midfielders offensively if they have some passing, as this will boost your attack ratings. If you're planning to train defence long term, it might be worth considering an attacking coach, next time you change coach. Your defence shouldn't need a boost but an extra level on your attack will stop it being completely toothless.

I think pg means those times are best for selling. Also european, weekday lunchtimes can be quite profitable (around 12:00-14:00 HT time).

I only have one economist.

What is the highr debt you can ge before being fired?

The maximum debt is -£333K, which I think is -500K euros (check the rules, it's in there).

I've never been in the situation but from what I've heard, if you are over the limit at the economy update, you get 5 logins the next week to try and rectify the situation (these include logins from manager assistant programmes like HAM or the Hattrix tools). If you're at that points it's probably a good idea to sell players that have any sort of value. Hopefully by the next economy update you'll be above the line and back to normal.