With a bit of luck, Rovers wil be so frustrated and mad about tonight's 91st minute give away, they'll rip Citeh on Sunday.

We're in the whatsit if they get a lead at Ewood but we can look forwards to TV coverage if we get thru' as the pinks sorted out the Whammers tonight. Might pop across for the second leg to see Palermo finish the chirpy cockneys off. Nice to neighbourly.

Woohoo- going to win my 0-0 bet as my Chinese mate has fused the stadium.

Oh dear den, too quick on the draw for me- missed them!

Looks like Kevin Bond is being fingered by the Panorama programme. Apart from being son of John of blessed memory, Bond junior was deputy to 'Arry and is now deputy at Newcastle. Perfect CV. The Guardian also runs a piece about the likely West Ham takeover not concluding anything much otther than the Russian/Georgian/Iranian chaps are secretive and seem to know a certain Israeli agent rather well. In terms of the future of the game there are two significany pointers: - West Ham are of course close to the 2012 Olympics site which is having difficulties making the sums work and a soon to be brand spanking new 80,000 seater stadium. Perhaps Berezovsky will show his gratitude for a British passport by funding West Ham to fund the stadium on cash that in part came through Brasil??? - Spuds are seriously looking at taking advantage of the unholy mess involving Multiplex and the FA by buying Wembley.

All of our strikers can- thankfully we don't play Barnsley.

If PSV v Liverpool was the game offered up to the British public you were terribly short changed. I was able to watch the Barca and Bayern games and they were both cracking entertainment. Barca were everything Chelsea are not at the moment- fluid, incisive, brilliant whilst Bayern cramked up the luckiest 4-0 win I'll ever see. How the Russians didn't get their noses in front in the first 50 minutes, only Oliver Kahn and the Gods will know. Even after Bayern had started scoring, Moscow still kept creating fantastic chances. From what I have read, Benitez indulged in a massively cynical selection which produced a massively cynical result. Hopefully there are more Evertons than PSVs lurking out there when it comes to playing Liverpool. Tonight's CL games have also set off with a rush of goals. Clearly with the massive increase in TV exposure, fans are demanding far more high quality performances and entertainment. The desperate need to preserve status for financial survival unfortunately is producing more desperately negative and cynical football which is another self-destroying cycle afflicting our game.

...and of course Boumsong went to Juventus so there is nothing dodgy about that.

0-0 is probably the best we can hope for- my prediction.

Given the bizarre way that Perez left Rovers, I always felt uncomfortable about that one. I hope Rovers were the innocent party- we certainly lost an outstanding player. The fact that Marseille were involved in all the deals names by the Express might not be a coincidence. The Guardian names the agents in the Newcastle VAT case. It also explains how and why agents get paid by the clubs in transfer deals. They certainly screw the selling club but they also screw the player the agent is supposed to represent. I find it astonishing that the article asserts players are unaware that the agents are working for the clubs this way. I wonder if Newcastle have any VAT to reclaim on the Duff transfer?

Baz, that is cruel posting that here. The Windy Miller blast over the top looks even worse now. And as for that penalty....

Banned for 8 matches and a further 15 match ban suspended for two years. I wonder if the second ban will get triggered if the Ralph Welch incident gets proved to be deliberate? City are appealing Dabo's red card at Reading- I don't know if the ban would start after their game against us anyway. Anyone see that red card incident?

The start of three games we have to win against clubs who will be looking at us as decent three point opportunities- that's the price of making a poor start. Thankfully, this Citeh side is pretty poor and will be missing some of its competitive umph following disciplinary problems. Rovers 2 Citeh 0 Hopefully a repeat of last season's routine end of season match.

I restrained myself, believe me.

Agreed Gav- I still feel that numb nauseous pit-of-the stomach gut- renching utterly helpless frustrating overwhelming misery and sense of desolate dejection whenever I hear "Glad all over". Courtney was an utter **** that day- no way was that ever a penalty. Mind you quite how Howard Gale managed to hit the corner flag with his penalty when we should have gone 3-0 up at Ewood is another matter. I've also detested Joe Lovejoy for the last 16 years for his preview of that game at Selhurst Park. Apart from that, yes it was fun winning the Premiership, the Worthington Cup and six forays into Europe.

Colin Hendry is first team coach at Boston united.

The lack of goal threat/shots on target tells its own story but I join in with the comments that Jeffers probably had the most effective 90 minutes on the pitch in the last 24 months. He was actually unlucky to come away without a goal. Short run-up penalties look super cool when they come off but the taker looks an almighty pratt when they don't. That apart, I could not fault Lucas for attitude or application in any way at Bramall Lane - a massive improvement compared with his approach at Pompey.

You didn't even try did you? Back to the "debate", Palace are in the Football League so they are responsible for sending the registration papers. Could be the Rovers offered to help out and sent the papers to Lytham St Annes themselves.

As I understand it, the creditors of Leeds are taking a vastly reduced payment over a period of time with all kinds of triggers increasing their return in certain circumstances- e.g. promotion to the Prem giving them a booster. That period over which most of them exercise such rights in return for delayed payments is finite so I can only guess that not only do players cease getting paid from the old days (including our own Dom Matteo by the look of things) next summer but the more onerous terms for some of the old debts time expire as well as by that time Leeds will have paid the scheduled reduced payments. If a new creditor pops up from the bad old days such as this VAT liability, then they would all have to negotiate again if the creditors' agreements do not specifically exclude that from happening. Back to Mike Newell commenbting on the Stevens Report. It is due out on 2 October. This is even more fun- Lucas Neill's agent has been filmed by the BBC under cover in a Panorama programme currently going through legal clearance.

Every game this season- you mean all four of them? Except Pompey where he admitted we were poor, so all three of the ones afterwards.

Jilted John is spot on. Kuqi had a storming good game for Palace yesterday, Bellamy was man of the match in the Mersey derby and Hughes will be fired on Monday.

From the BBC: Shefki Kuqi's move from Blackburn to Crystal Palace nearly fell through after his registration forms were accidentally faxed through to a chip shop rather than the Football League, as the numbers were similar (People). Given it was the Football League who were being written to, it must have been Palace faxing the chippy. Anyone know how the big man did this week-end?

There is little sign of the Stevens report but Newcastle are up to their eyes in the sticky stuff with the VAT man now that their case has gone to the Tribunal. The Sunday Mirror presumably calling their payments to agents the way that it is. If they were willing to slip an agent £660K to talk to himself, what else were FF and his mates willing to sanction? More details in the Guardian. It is fun trying to work out who each of these colourful players is! Just as pertinent is the prominence given to Paul Stretford... The Newcastle case was based on 21 transfers between 2001 and 2003 and focuses on the fact that agents cannot be employed by both the club and the player under FA and FIFA rules. Therefore to reclaim input VAT from invoices from agents employed by players was by definition not permissable and the VATman won his case. Newcastle are appealing. Arsenal are reported to be facing a £700,000 hit and Leeds are very nervous as a retroactive VAT claim from the publicity Pete era could upset their delicate recovery. No reference to Rovers or Souness in anything I have found.

So three of the four penalties and Todd's sending off were perfectly OK? All this gathering of refs to analyse games by the professional refs is all well and good but it seems to be leading to a levelling down of standards rather than improvements. In particular, they all seem to have decided that Rovers are fair game. The fact that we are not playing well doesn't detract from the awful refereeing we are suffering from. I am not saying we are angels. I am saying that I can see no reason why Rovers are conceding a penalty a game and are bottom of the fair play league in comparisson with at least half a dozen other Premiership clubs this season. Hughes obviously has an opinion on it.

Why?