Just tried it and got a scrambled signal message.

Uefa are funking it as well. They have postponed a decision on AC Milan meaning they go into the third Qualifying Round Draw. Meantime the two guys appointed to clean up Italian soccer are on the point of resigning whilst Moggi claims he is just on holiday...

It was all about the money. The rest is guff for gullible Geordies.

The Dutch genius who presents UEFA seedings in a digestible format has done it again: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/seeduc2006.html For the first round proper, he is assuming all the seeded teams from the 2nd Qualifying Round get through. Rovers are comfortably in the top seeds whereas Spurs and West Ham will be hoping for 2nd Qualifying Round seeds to fall as they are both unseeded. If Rovers survive into the Group stage, at the moment they would be in the bottom bucket of five for the Group draw but anyone of the 31 clubs seeded above Rovers going out would put Rovers into the 4th bucket- it would need an improbable nine higher seeded clubs to fail for Rovers to make it to the third bucket. In the Group stages, the top three go through- there is a huge advantage for winning a Group (as Bolton and Boro both showed last season) as in the third round you face a third placed team from another Group with home advantage in the second leg. The killer position is second in the Group as you get drawn against a third placing CL Group Stage club home leg first- practically all the CL clubs prevailed in those games last season. If we get through that, there is no more seeding!

There is no scudetto awarded for 2004/5 now. The Italian Press seems unimpressed according to this agency report which I cannot seem to get to link to: Italy press slams softened penalty Afp, Rome The Italian press on Wednesday slammed magistrates in Serie A's match-fixing trial for their dramatic climbdown which saw Lazio and Fiorentina reinstated in the top division and AC Milan allowed into the third preliminary round of the Champions League. The three clubs received softer penalties after successful appeals against their original sentences for influencing the outcome of match results in the 2004/05 season. Juventus, the ringleaders in the scandal, had their relegation to Serie B confirmed but with fewer points deducted for the new season. "A rotten trick," headlined Il Libero newspaper. "The usual fudged Italian compromise. This isn't justice. Once again the magistrates have chosen the 'Italian' solution." La Repubblica were equally damning of the judges' u-turn. "The embarrassing and disheartening appeal verdict saw everything swept under the carpet," it wrote. "Only Juve pay, the rest are pardoned. It's the same old timid handling by the sports tribunal. "Discounts for everybody and an incredible gift for AC Milan. It ended with reduced sentences for all and an unpleasant feeling that football wants to pretend that at the end of the day nothing happened. "It's scandalous to put your head in the sand and make out that it was just an hallucination." Juventus, the club most heavily implicated in the scandal and whose last two league titles (in 2004-05 and 2005-06) were stripped from them, were given a 17-point penalty for the start of next season rather than 30, giving them a chance of a swift return to the top division. Lazio and Fiorentina won back their places in Serie A with penalties of 11 and 19 points respectively, but together with Juventus were prevented from participating in European competitions next season. Most surprising was the leniency shown by the judges towards AC Milan. The club owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi received a potentially lucrative reprieve after they were allowed to take part in next season's Champions League preliminary round. If they win the two-legged tie and qualify for the main draw, they are likely to earn millions of euros in gate receipts and television money and will fancy their chances of going far in a tournament in which they have had great past success. "A little sting," headlined sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport. "Reductions in sentences for everybody. The biggest beneficiary on an exhausting day was AC Milan, given a chance to reach the Champions League." The presidents of Lazio and Fiorentina have said they will take their cases up with the civil courts in attempt to win back their places in European competition. However Wednesday was deadline day set by UEFA, European football's governing body, for the entry lists for their competitions. As it stands, Inter Milan, who are expected to be awarded last season's league title, and Roma will have direct entry into the Champions League group stages, while AC Milan and Chievo will go into the third qualifying round. Palermo, Livorno and Parma will take part in the UEFA Cup.

Any decision on the stripped 2004/5 scudetto? Just watched a Reuters report which suggested that Juve can keep their appeals process going well into 2007. You can see what is coming- a dirty deal whereby Juve et al drop t5heir appeals and all but get forgiven. It is going to be very important that UEFA take a stance about not allowing clubs found guilty of match-fixing to compete in UEFA competitions. Whether they will or not remains to be seen but there is probably enough self-interest elsewhere in Europe to kick the Italians whilst they are down. G14 have been very quiet- are we going to see the G14 insisting on the re-instatement of the match fixers in return for the match fixers not using their exclusion to drive a super-league? Anything is possible in the ultra-murky world of international soccer.

I wonder if either USA or American have had the "pleasure" of meeting Steve Bruce personally?

If you were being paid £70K a week to do so, I am sure you'd say Jacques Delors and Saddam Hussain were great Smithy.

Sparky on the Hamburg game: http://www.lancashireeveningtelegraph.co.u...on_progress.php MGP on the Hamburg game: http://www.lancashireeveningtelegraph.co.u...s_influence.php

Perhaps Christmas is coming early. Then again regardless of being crocked, its taken DD three and a half years to fall out with Steve Bruce- I don't think it would take three and a half minutes for most of us to tell him what we think of him and his crackpot club. From a Rovers' perspective, far better to see Dunny prove his fitness, sign a January 2 pre-contract agreement and winkle him out of Brum for a nominal sum for the second half of the season. Seeing Rovers turning up to drive Dunny home in the next five weeks is bound to be too emotional an experience for Golds/Sullivan/Brady/Bruce and likely cost us a couple of million at least.

You forgot their impressive defense.

According to the BBC, there is another level of sporting appeal to go to before the clubs turn to the Regional Courts which a few years ago over-turned a previous match fixing relegation penalty leading to Serie A expanding to 20 clubs! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/5216866.stm With Juve, Lazio and Fiorentina all appealing their FIGC-imposed European bans, who knows which club now qualifies for what? UEFA must be close to throwing the Italians out sine die which would be cruel on Inter.

This report is not altogether surprising: http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/story.asp...276938&t=soccer UEFA banned Marseille for match fixing 13 years ago and are looking at that precedent when they consider the FICG's nomination of AC Milan for the Champions League. What is not in doubt is that AC are guilty- punishments are duly being administered following both a hearing and the appeal and as such UEFA are within their rights to say they are not wanted in their competition. Even worse, Galliano's ban has only been reduced by three months but because its not effective yet, up he has popped today saying all kinds of derogatory things about Real Madrid and declaring war over the Kaka transfer bid. In England, he'd be hauled up for disrepute had he said a tiny fraction of the stuff he mouthed off this morning. All in all, the attempt at sporting justice by the Italians looks discredited/questionable at best or a down right sham at worst. What new evidence was presented to the Appeals Hearing? How was it so decisive in changing the sentences? Why did such new evidence only come to light at the Appeal? ALL of football deserves to know. Italian football had the opportunity to draw a line under its dirty past and the Appeal judgement completely funked it. I hope the Civil Court Appeals are slow, the Criminal Court hearings unveil new evidence of naughtiness that the Sports World will want punishing and that the Sporting Tribunals into Reggina and another as yet un-named club, plus the separate Messina, Sienna and three other smaller clubs all go to protracted appeal. Far from starting four weeks late in September, the legal mess the Sports Tribunal has now put itself into could well drag out the start of the Serie A/B seasons for months- after all nobody will know what division all the clubs are in until the last judgement is delivered.

If anyone doubts the coming crisis for the England national team, how many of the lengthy lists of names here, http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/New...~871913,00.html qualify for England? I doubt Rovers are by any means the worst Academy in the Premiership in this regard.

To repeat, there are three transfer markets: 1) Willing buyer, reluctant seller, player contract >2 years. Pennant at £6.2m, Boumsong at £8m, Duff at £17m, Rio at £29m etc 2) Willing buyer, confused seller, player contract of 1 year. Duff at £5m+ lots of bits, McCarthy at £1.8m (we hope) etc. 3) Bosman To equate 2) to 1), multiply by at least 2. If we get £2.5m for Bert, we will have done very well. If Lucas forces our hand, it will be a miracle if we get £3m for him. Back to BIG CLUB, BIG MOUTH has been talking again. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1830135,00.html So everything football is now measured in Heskeys! What was Sullivan doing allowing super manager Bruce let Heskey get overweight? What is noteworthy from that article is the way BIG CLUB are struggling to spend their transfer budget with players unwilling to go from the bench at low-ranking Premiership clubs to the Championship. Makes the fear of relegation even greater. Then again, perhaps the personalities of Gold, Sullivan, Brady and Bruce are the repellant. I think the suggestion made by somebody (1864?) that Dunn has an understanding that he'll come to Rovers in January could be the most accurate observation made yet on the subject. With all this cash flowing in, Brum will fight like crazy to keep him if we bid now. Whereas in January, we can sign a pre-contract agreement with Dunn coming a free agent next summer and a relatively small fee should prise him away for the remaining few months of his Brum contract. By that time, we will see if he has remained fit and survived the clogging he'll get in the fizzy pop league. It will also give him a platform to parade his talents the way the Rovers' time in the wilderness did when he was a youngster.

So they've rigged it for Milan to stay in the CL!

Liverpool are reported to have had a £6.2M offer accepted.

So Juve and Fiorentina go into next season's Champs League and AC go into the UEFA if I read that correctly??? Will UEFA agree? As for Juve keeping two blatantly rigged Scudettos, have the Italians no shame? Inter fans will be furious. Carry on fixing lads. Unfortunately, this looks like it could be bad news for Rovers- will be more difficult to keep Neill and the trickle down will stop/be reversed. Have to say the Mancs have missed out big time and Real and Barca are the real winners in this Italian farce. Of course the Italian League will be delayed- they haven't started on the likes of Reggina, Sienna and Messina yet. And what about all the allegations going back to 2001?

Don't you need to add Sergio Peter to the list?

Liverpool have bid £3.5m for Pennant who is not for sale but will sell him for a higher bid according to Karren Brady. At this rate, Liverpool will have more jailbirds on the pitch than in the stands. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/t...ity/5213422.stm

Sorry to spoil the general high spirits but the Mirror report Arsenal taking a close look at Ryan Nelsen as the Sol Campbell replacement. That is the one transfer this summer which could really crock us.

UEFA have told the English game that the way we appoint referees opens us up to corruption: http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1828196,00.html Personally, I feel the FA is the most curruptible of England's footballing bodies being an arcane mix of blazers and the professional game. I'd only want the refereeing set-up changed if the Burns Report were implemented in full. As it is, having the FA, Prem and League all involved makes it a little bit more difficult for a bad apple from anyone of those organisations to turn the whole barrel. As far my personal opinion, I'll be convinced the English refereeing system is not bent when I start seeing unbiased decisions at Old Trafford.

I always enjoy reading this sort of thread than the infantile puerile (NcCarthy's better than Mido) stuff which populates 75% of the transfer thread. Great to get the first hand experiences of people who were there. From seeing snatches of the game live, my impressions were: - Hamburg were not mucking about - Hamburg were playing at very close to full strength at the start - Rovers did not look pre-season rusty until the subs started - Agathe didn't convince as a full back or wing back Overall, I think it is excellent that Rovers have got four continental top league opponents, two of which are Champs League clubs and one went a long way in the UEFA last season. The portents are there for Rovers to be better prepared than most come the start of the season. Makes a change from stuffing non-entitities 10-0 in the Souness days.

My feelings exactly neekoy. As for the £5m fee, it is a sign that Newcastle are under such financial pressure that they have had to do a deal which almost certainly has massive contingent performance payments attached. Two explanations of why Chelsea got rid here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...25/sfnche25.xml The funny thing is that the reporter seems to have forgotten that Blackburn Rovers play in England.

A general overview on the continuing impact on Italian football for some time to come: http://www.footballingworld.com/index.php?..._from=&ucat=84& The financial impact begins to be assessed: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/23/business/tv24.php