It is extremely quiet now! Rangers are going to have a lot of morale rebuilding to do irrespective of whether Ferguson signs. Ball, Shota and the Serb have all been publicly offered to Rovers as makeweights and who knows who else might have been privately offered as well. If Bellamy does sign for Celtic, I wonder if Murray will break and pay the Rovers' asking price? There is certainly no incentive for Rovers to soften at the moment knowing Bellamy is in Glasgow.

Just had a scout arround the web. There has been no news since Williams' comments about 11 this morning. The Rangers MBs are triply depressed: - Bellamy going to Celtic - concensus they have offered £4.5m at most for Ferguson - realisation Ferguson will not be signing for them. The only hopeful Gers are those deluding themselves that Rovers accepted Everton's £5m bid this morning when in fact it was rejected.

This move is as much a battle of wills between Hughes and Ferguson as it is between any other protagonists. Sparky clearly believes in the ability of Ferguson and in his own ability to get the best out of the player. I am sure he is adding to the resolve of the Rovers in getting the £6m for him knowing how difficult Ferguson would be to replace and also expecting that every £1 less paid by Rangers would be £1 less transfer budget when the next window opens. In a face off between Ferguson and Hughes, I know where my money would go.

...well, there's always the replay.

There are some mighty confused headline writers out there- "Rovers still chase Ferguson" is one or "Ferguson: Ball is in Rovers' court" when the story is actually a quote from John williams saying the ball is in Rangers' court. I suspect that Rev's version is pretty accurate!

Four games will go live so I would expect we will be one of them. They gave us the south coast derby live in the previous round so surely they've got to cover this north east lancs derby. Newcastle are going to have to do it the hard way if Souness is going to win any silverware this season. Will Everton get the better of Roon Utd?

Brilliant draw- we have the best tie of the Round

Bolton v Derby/Fulham West Bro,/Spuds v Forest Everton v Man U Charlyon v Leicester Burnley v Blackburn Rovers Southampton v Brentford/Hartlepool Newcastle v Chelsea Arsenal v West Ham/ Sheffield U

Radio 5 Live just now- it looks like Bellamy linking up with Hartson again at Celtic (they were both at Coventry)

BBC 5 Live just reported that a third Rangers bid was rejected this morning but that Rangers are still talking.

Deep despair on the Rangers boards- they are convinced Bellamy is going on loan to Celtic.

Hughes talking to the LET about Ferguson. I know its a couple of days old but the first time its been up on the Internet.

"Blackburn have confirmed that Rangers have re-opened dialogue regarding Barry Ferguson." latest words used on SSN. Whilst Williams is talking to that lot, he's not talking to Bellamy, Sokota or any of the other targets.

We are number 3 in the bag. Looking at the names on the other 15 balls, there are three which probably mean exit if we get them, six we could be confident of beating and six which would be a toss-up depending on how we perform on the day.

Not the way I read it. There is a lot of Rangers abuse going in Murray's direction and respect for Williams holding his ground. Anyway, Radio Clyde1 has just said that Ferguson is signing for Rangers and Radio Scotland has reported the move is stone dead. Guessing games.....

Is that a Freudian slip?

If the Gers MBs are to be believed, Radio Scotland has just reported that Rangers' third offer has been rejected as "miles away" from what Rovers wanted. On the basis of having gone up by £500K increments thus far, Rangers will still be beneath the £5m offered by Everton this morning. However, nothing on the newswires at present.

This Independent article indicates its a straight decision between staying at Newcastle and going to Birmingham for Bellamy.

Oh! To be a ticket tout.

As opposed to febrile message board postings (including our own), the only newspaper coverage I have found is this from Scotland. Buried in the report about Rangers going after a new keeper to replace the injured Klos are a few comments that Rangers might make another new offer for Ferguson. The comment that Mladonovic is on standby to be makeweight on the deal indicates that somebody has not taken notice that Rovers have said cash only and have already politely refused the offer of Mladonovic. According to that report, Ferguson was in Scotland yesterday at a family event. I guess the Rangers MB posters who had him at the christening of Viola's nephew might have been more accurate than the much more numerous posters who had Viola replaced by Horner to facilitate a complex three club shuffle. I hope I am right when I say this doesn't have the feel of an impending deal. Hughes is implacable in saying he does not want Ferguson to leave and there is no sign of the Rovers Board abandonning their manager on this one. I suspect "£6m guarranteed" means what it says. I was being a bit naughty when I repeated the claim that Viola had been fired. - Ferguson and Viola are property speculating together as we know from previous Scottish newspaper reports and quotes from Viola, - Viola would be very exposed to legal action from anyone of Rangers, Rovers and Ferguson or any combination if he had lost control of Ferguson yesterday with nothing resolved. Tempus fugit on this one today- all Ewood energies are likely to be on Newcatle with telephone calls to/from La Coruna, Lisbon and Istanbul more important than talking to Glasgow.

The Mirror have reported that Bellamy has rejected Birmingham. The Independent's report of the Colchester game includes a sentence that Rovers are ready to step into sign Bellamy if he rejects Birmingham and that the finance is in place without needing to sell Ferguson. Probably, the Walker Trust are stepping in the way they did with Cole but that the repayment of their loan would probably be taken from the insurance money if and when it comes in.

I reasoned that if Dado was so sure of himself, perhaps the Rangers message boards would have picked something up. Well they are mega-sweaty up there with all kinds of Barry has signed stories and there's a press conference at 8am tomorrow (I kid you not). ...all made possible by Viola being replaced by Horner if you believe one of the versions which seems to be generating the most excitement.

...and have yet to answer directly a single point I have raised. For instance, raising £52M leaving debts of £23m is no good when you are making losses of well over £20m a year, now is it? How can any club accept an appearance-related fee from Rangers after the Michael Ball episode? Has Ferguson fired Viola this evening? I'm sure you know something about Scottish football, but your analysis of the inter-dependent relationship between Sky and the Premiership is way wrong.

Sliema Wanderers- only marginally less successful than Rangers in Europe this season. There is a lot of winding up going on Dado- been on any of the Rangers' sites? Same BF signing stories, very different details. Mostly at odds with any Blackburn Rovers reality which is the only one that matters. Is it true Ferguson sacked Viola and appointed Steve Horner as his agent this evening? Thanks Lathund- I simply observed that the reported Everton interest at £5m destroys Rangers' argument that Ferguson is only worth whatever derisory number they were dreaming up.

Bit of a dampener but the last two newswire stories both say Rovers going in for Carew on loan because Sparky says that is the only way we can get a striker at present. PS Now you know its Steve Horner, are you going to let us in on the reason for asking, Ossydave?