and but for the 'Hand of Ped' you might well have had 2 right.

IUt gets worse! According to the latest news Maclaren is wanting to recruit Terry Venables to help him out! Good grief! Maclarens supposed to be the coach isn't he? What a step back and what an admission of his own self doubt. Has in entered no ones brain cell at the FA that we may as well simply have hired Venables? Pathetic. This man is straight out of the Howe and Wilkinson mould.

The European games would provide motivation for the players something that Maclaren obviously could not do for the Sat afternoon bread and butter of The Prem. It is obvious to a blind man on a galloping horse that Maclaren is actually a de-motivator.

I heard that O'Neill insisted on bringing in all his own backroom staff with whom he has worked with for years, whilst the FA wanted the new man to continue with Sammy Lee, Clemence etc. Reading between the lines O'Neill is charismatic and forceful and the FA would never countenance the employment of such a strong personality.

It's an odd feature of the crowd nowadays that nobody seems capable anymore of putting together clever/varied/ ironical/humerous etc chants to suit different opponants and circumstances? For example 'dirty northern bstards' would have gone down well for the last 5 mins from the Blackburn end, interspersed with 'Special one?...... you're having a laugh'. Would have sounded great on Sky for the towns pub based backsliders too.

I cannot remember ever being as incredulous in my life. Anybody can see that the man is a DEMOTIVATOR with no redeeming talents whatsoever. This is not a safe appointment it is international suicide. Good Points 1. It'll be sh1t but not for long! Barwick and Maclaren will not see 2 years in their respective posts. But it will almost certainly flerk up Euro 98 first. 2. The FA will not get all that sh1t ever again from press, media and pundits about appointing Englishmen. 3. The fall out will be that FA may well be knocked from their ivory towers and dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Wembley, Ericson and now this! WTF can they ever get right? Bad Points 1. Maclaren is far worse and less capable of managing and motivating footballers than Graham Taylor ever knew how to be! But he and his family surely do not deserve the unrelenting scorn and criticism that he is now certainly lined up for. It will certainly destroy him as a manager but it could easily destroy him as a person, and his family life too! I always feel sympathy for Turkeys 10 days before Christmas. 2. Gibsons out of a hole. I suspect he must have had some influence here! I suspect Gartside wanted mega compensation whilst Gibson would have waived anything at all. Unless Maclarens teams domestic performance this season improved by next October Gibbo would surely have seen him sacked. 3. Boro have been strengthened, Bolton have not been weakened. Boro will be a greater threat whoever manages them. Bolton will be the same so now we are looking at a tougher fixture list already. 4. The world and his wife will be laughing at our ineptitude. Word of advice do not go to watch England and do not buy a scrap of merchandise of any sort. The FA have chosen to ignore the fans completely so now it's trime for us to ignore them! What a sad day and a shambles.

Spoke to some of the backsliders in the pub afterwards. They said that with the game on Sky TV and the match being cat A (or A+?) there was no decision to be made. Cheering Rovers into Europe and watching the Prem Champions took a back seat to watching TV and swilling ale. Logic states that they have a point but imo they simply HAVE NO SOUL! What is apparent is that they were not repentant and imo will never return to the fold. Fcluk them but it's a shame really for their (and our) kids when BRFC are once again a bit-part lower league team and they only have historical memories to live on and MU to support. My mate did make the point that with the likes of ROF, Mullards, Pickerings , Netlon etc etc etc nosediving over the years the town is now just just depressed and impoverished and full of people to match.

Two things that cannot be coached. Ability and desire. He's got plenty of ability but no fire in his belly, and one without the other is useless. I think he will be on too much bunce to remain a bit part player. Just like Bothroyd Emerton has disappointed me greatly because he does sometimes show the quality that he is capable of but it's nowhere near enough overall. Replace him.

Crikey! It's not often that we agree on something! However if Mido is away on his toes at the end of the season and they intend to keep Keane and Defoe (and the latters a big IF) then I would expect them to go for a big guy up front. Fingers crossed.

Here's a gud un for sorting out arguments guys. (You can make some money out of our neighbours with this too! http://www.european-football-statistics.co...ttn/attneng.htm btw Gav I dont want to cherry pick but check out BRFC v Notlob over the years and especially the 2001 season in Div 1 when we were both promoted. First time all the Lanky clubs have been in the same div for years, all clubs enjoyed a good season but where were the others then? Also t'big club along the M65 with their countless thousands who cannot get in most weeks dont show up too well at all over the GENERATIONS. Unfortunately our recent demise in crowd stats is there for all to see! 10 teams in the 1st div with higher averages is bloody poor. We are defying gravity big time and it cannot go on forever!

Getting our usual two this morning. Arranged to do so over the phone yesterday, I offered to renew by cc there and then but said if they make a note I will call in today with a cheque instead. The chap took the second option.

Why? Arsenal are not being linked with half our team.

That would have made a great bet last August!

Shuiab Khan's column in the telewag last week was very revealing. Whilst wishing the Queen a happy birthday he let this slip........ "Her Majesty turns 80 today and like all good British citizens who doesn't want his passport to be taken away may I say how great it is to have a Queen. The Royal Family is much like my family and many other families I know. They all live together for most of the time. The woman is the real boss of the house and they can get a discount almost everywhere they go." So thats it then! In a nutshell if we are to tap the IndoPak community to support the club then John Williams has to get the family matriarchs interested in BRFC simply by giving them all heavily discounted tickets. I wonder why nobody has thought of this before? It could prove a popular debating point around town.

Lots of girly calenders on the walls I expect?

Anybody know if MGP has a girlfriend?

I wonder who would be championing maclaren if Boro's season had been reversed? I dont care what people say Boro have underperformed given the money they have spent. Why? Because the man is not a motivator he is a de-motivator. He even dulls my senses and couldn't motivate a cub scout team.

Whatever the circumstances I'll bet he's had one severe rollocking today. imo Hughes will not put up with such behaviour.

would mean reverting to 4-5-1 after going in front with axe in deep middle position. It worked last year and with Bellamy's speed available up front it should work even better now.

One recurring fault with us is our ability to concede a goal just after we have scored and just when the opposition are coming at us with all guns blazing. Elation has turned quickly into despair too often of late. In the lsat month we saw it at Spurs, Pompey and last night. Shutting up shop is a necessary ability at all levels but in the Prem it's compulsory.

Not wanting to bring too much doom and despondancy to the supporters of the team that are currently in 6th place in the Prem but I too am a taj concerned about our situation for next season. The results since Jan are ....... Manchester United H 4-3 West Brom A 2-0 Everton A 1-0 Sunderland H 2-0 Arsenal H 1-0 Spurs A 3-2 Aston Villa H 2-0 Middlesbrough H 3-2 Sunderland A 0-1 Wigan H 1-1 Portsmouth A 2-2 Liverpool H 0-1 Birmingham City A 2-1 I've said often before that if we take away the big 3 and Sunderland that there is little difference between the rest. 20 points from 13 games is good without question but imo with the luck against us we could easily have been looking at 3 (home points to Sunderland was the only game that we looked better than the opposition)! Last season we seemed to suffer ill luck with injury and ref decisions etc but this time we are getting it all back and this makes me concerned about next season. Hughes needs to find some quality from somewhere this summer. The only bright spot is that clubs being much of a muchness makes for a good league but it also means that we cannot afford complacency. Furthermore should we get into Europe we will probably suffer the 'euro hangover' that affected Boro and Everton so adversly this season.

In excusable and lazy defending by Lucas Neil. The ball was in the air long enough for Neill to get over and help Kuqi out by closing the extra player who crossed the ball to Forsell down. He has a bad habit of ball watching which I thought MH and his staff had eradicated.

If I rem correctly Bellamy had just had a right old whinge at the other linesman for being flagged offside on the left side of the pitch. Can any sky viewers enlighten us on this?

Crikey you a medium or something? That quote (although incorrect) is attributed to Brian Clough many years ago.

Wigan v Villa Att. 17,330 Gav takes the brass!