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Even as someone who desperately wanted Dunn to come back, I am being pleasantly surprised by his current form. He is heading back towards England contention.

The Times economics spokesman advocates dropping the war on drugs

Which particular shower of pigeon droppings did this bunch of Whammers come down with? If Bolton can block them from buying Anelka, how do they reckon an offer £12m less than the number Sparky has said Benni is worth more than will work? West Ham are all too gay to be serious. Back to the real world and Sparky is encouraged by the first start for the Benni/Roque combo. I thought it looked very promising. If we get Reid back to full fitness and the quality he had pre-injury, the thought of him charging into the holes caused by Benni dropping off and pulling the opposition defense all out of shape is salivating to say the least.

Covetous Manc eyes on Sparky. Sparky is already managing one of the top clubs in Europe.

As I commented on the match report, Benni's off the ball running and positioning is what opened Everton up so easily in the first half. Too bad you guys weren't watching carefully.

I thought Derbs was poor when he came on and he scuffed a late chance that Benni would typically have scored even though he had spent 90 minutes of the rest of the game having a stinker.

Mourinho said that the cheque book is closed for another window.... at the press conference for the signing of a very expensive 31 year old.

Other than Nugent who is seemingly already in the about to be off-loaded list at Pompey, Derbyshire's only young English striker competition at present is Lita at even less fashionable Reading. Therefore if Matty keeps getting amongst the goals at Rovers and England u-21 level, the absence of strikers who can score at senior level will heighten the press interest irrespective of playing for Blackburn.

Nobody has picked up on the fact that he is described as a striker.

More fuel for the debate

It was not just the first half either. After Chelsea had scored their second, he effectively closed out the game for them with decision after decision going against the Rovers.

Alan Wiley once again showed how difficult it is going to be for any non-Big 4 club to break into the Big 4's monompoly of the first four places.

Police warn Blackburn Pubs about illegal screenings I guess it will be an easy job to ring up all the usual suspects and ask if they are showing it and visit the ones that say yes.

Click on Hughes the Daddy to see Sparky showing Roque a trick or two.

The Santa Cruz song is both quick and irregular beat. So it will either shut the drummers up or they will ruin it.

McClown- the rake bit. To be honest I haven't followed the who is in/out sagas but McClaren comes out of that Guardian blog terribly.

Derbyshire tipped as England's future hope

Wow that was wide of the mark!!!! (except of course to help persuade players to sign). Precisely At the very least we should insist that the amounts required to invoke release clauses actually reflect footballing reality. By judicious use of clauses we acquired Bellamy for £3.7m and Benni (if a clause exists...) for £2.5m- of course the purchase prices were market reality... when has a release clause actually benefitted Rovers? Getting £17m from Chelski plus remember Rovers have a history of activating far more release clauses with players at other clubs going back to the purchase of Bohinen If you transfer at below market rate as a player, your cut of the transfer fee is correspondingly lower. So typically Agents negotiate some compensating benefit.

It needs to be stressed that is an oipinion piece and does not include any new Benni quotes. I am watching the Drogba injury with concern though. Another Chelsea forward getting crocked before 31 August and we will be sweating. I guess a lot is going to hang on Rovers making a bright start to the campaign and then going for the new contract in September

Sparky hits absolutely the right note in setting the targets for 07/8 in these comments in the LT. And more on the same lines from the LT Incidentally, plaudits to the LT for having vastly improved their Rovers' coverage of late.

Platini's gallic take on the takeover of English football He sees the road to ruin in the over-heating of the player market. For all the capital flooding in, 62% of clubs have increased their overdraft facilities. To be honest, beginning of June was the ideal time to chat to the bank manager if you were a football FD- always best to talk overdraft increases when you don't actually need it, have a revenue surge just round the corner and good reasons to "invest" speculatively/react to opportunities. I am sure Rovers had done the same whilst stalking Bellamy.

Times story Good news: whopping big new contract for Benni Good news: no mention of clauses Total destruction of credibility: picture of Eastlands (or is that our new home when DW closes Ewood?)

The Mail still on its own with the story about the £5m release clause Irrespective of the release clause, Rovers are bound to look to renegotiate with Benni this season: - reward for last season locked in plus an element of relativity - he is of an age where 5 year contracts are becoming the norm because of the players' contract buy-out rights a year from the end of the deal.

Let's forget the fact that the Press are not interested in Rovers. Two days have elapsed since Chelsea target and runner-up in the Golden Boot refused to sign a new contract and a release clause was exposed. Has nobody in the press bothered to follow up this story?

Just scanned the papers and as yet I have not seen anybody else has picked up the Daily Mail story. That is a statement of fact, not an optimistic comment.