Jan I am beginning to get the sinking feeling you are spot on. I initially felt that Viola had gone through a bad patch including exposees by Aberdeen and Hibs of "creative" deal making and was trying his luck with Barry. Use of the homesick story to induce a bid from Rangers then bingo with a move to Everton, Newcastle or even the Mancs. I've just seen a Rangers site post which claims that Viola has been telling the likes of Newcastle and Everton that Barry will only play at either Rovers or Rangers! The good news is that he is willing to play at Rovers, the bad news is that Rangers can play a long game with an increasingly unsettled Barry. Of course, it is possible for people to change their minds and the barrage of pieces coming from concerned Scots urging Barry to stick it out and realise his potential in England shows there is no shortage of volunteers willing to do so. I also wonder if the Fergusons are forgetting the goldfish bowl of bigotry they themselves openly talked about being glad to leave? If it was bad before, I am sure the green half will be reserving a special welcome home for the Fergusons. Sad to have to talk like that but that is probably the reality, especially after openly complaining about it so the bigots know they have a soft target.

No, he has actually made some very valid points and well put. OK he had a little dig and he got a couple of big ones back. I fell about laughing when my Everton-supporter sent me Karen Brady's riposte when Moyes bid for Savage. Guess.... "A derisory offer not worth the fax paper... " Perhaps she should buy a lexicon and a thesaurus for the office from the Savage transfer fee. Just goes to show, some clubs manage to conduct themselves with refinement and style (even when Souness was the Manager) and then there's Birmingham City.

That's the FOURTH such article to have come out of Scotland in the past 48 hours! Andy Gray was pretty to the point- if he stays at Rovers, Ferguson might become the replacement for Roy Keane; at Rangers he'll be forgotten. Only McAllistair (whose wife has been extremely ill and quit Coventry's management because of it) has understandably come out in favour of domestic over career considerations. There are still two huge differences between the Ferguson situation and the eventual Boumsong and Savage sales: - our player maybe quiet but he is showing no hostility towards Rovers, in fact he was quoted yesterday as being happy here but would be happier if a move to Rangers came about because of the family. Boumsong and Savage became very antagonistic towards their employers. - Rovers have not budged. "The player is not for sale". If Boumsong (who is Boumsong compared with the captain of Scotland?) could have a £10m sale price stuck on him, then Ferguson can also be worth £10m if Rovers decide that there could be circumstances under which they would sell and need to name a price? After all, the deal for Ferguson to come here could still be £7.5m if all contingencies occur (Rovers qualifying for Europe) and he is a much more experienced player now and closer to his peak- he is still 26 for another couple of weeks. So we are at least six rounds away from Ferguson leaving by my reckoning (Newcastle had to go back four times before they eventually got Boumsong). If the Premiership got a sniff of Ferguson being sold for £3m, I bet John Williams' telephone would get very busy indeed. I doubt John Williams, who is so careful with his press utterances, would have sounded so confident ("music to our ears") when Rangers announced they weren't upping their bid yesterday if he wasn't very secure in his ground. In fact Rangers now have to loose a heck of a lot of face even to make another bid now. I am beginning to think Barry will still be with us on his birthday (2nd February) but I am very confident that if he is not with us, he won't be at Rangers either.

It must be true because you read it here about 8 pages back!

Well we do have one insider unofficial quote that he is happy at Rovers and it is obvious that Rangers are going to play a psychological game because they don't have the wherewithall to do anything else. I am very happy with the examples given by McLeish- look at the prices extracted by the selling clubs! Offering to hand on the £8m from the Boumsong sale might have a loosening affect at Ewood as well.

No. Viola probably misinformed him or he is wilfully misleading the Rangers supporters who must be wondering why he has bid such a micky mouse number. Ferguson's contract expires June 2007. Obviously david murray is wishing his life away!

Hughes talking about Ferguson and Savage in the same interview. "One in, no-one out." Elsewhere he says a straight transfer will bring in Savage so the widely reported speculation of Gray being the makeweight seems to be wrong. Perhaps Rovers want the Savage deal done without waiting for negotiations around Gray to be concluded. Certainly the Mirror got over-excited about Savage in, Gray out, Fergie out, Ball in.

Only David Murray is talking about Ferguson being out of contract next year. Every other comment reports two and a half years left. Murray has spoken in a Glasgow evening peper to the effect that Ferguson has to engineer his own exit from Ewood Park. He has also said that £2.56m falls due to be paid by Rovers NEXT WEEK and that he therefore offered the princely sum of £440,000 in cash! I would say it is almost worth the Rovers paying a day early and sending it up in used fivers with a pink ribbon round it. Apart from that, Murray is very dispassionate- they were alerted to the player being available and they created the opportunity for him. If he wants to go back to Glasgow he can. Perhaps Viola over stated the Fergusons' homesickness and understated his length of contract.

Scott Parker has a broken foot. Ferguson has said he is happy at Rovers according to Andy C's post on this thread. Mark Hughes could not be clearer in saying Ferguson is not for sale. Doesn't Sparky look like a vicar in that Sky Sports picture? Is he no longer going to shock Jan and Roversmum with his language in the technical area (perhaps it should be renamed the swear box)?

So Reid is still out? Flitcroft requires a fitness test according to the official site.

I agree with you Andy- that was my hope for the future. Into pure speculation mode here but Sparky has seen enough in one or more of Reid, MGP, Flitty, Tugay to believe he has enough in midfield with the addition of Savage to operate without Barry, or Sparky has some obscure midfield gem in his targets, or Sparky is OK with a Savage for Barry swap in midfield and will use the Barry transfer money on a very decent striker, or Your contact had simply picked up on the contingency planning in the event of a serious bid for Barry as opposed to the Rangers' joke.

That makes a lot of sense Andy. Also good to see that Hughes is fully in control of the situation. Let's see what happens with the Savage deal but I expect that the details are NOT released. Now let's see, £2.2m bid "not worth the fax paper" + £0.5m forgiveness of the tail end of the Dunn deal + £0.5m bargain price for a 30 yo former contracted ex-England international = £3.2m = saved faces for Sullivan et al at Brum + = a shrewd piece of business for Rovers + = some unhappy Rovers fans but what's new?

Rovers are right to hard ball this. Ferguson is not for sale. Ferguson will only go if He submits a transfer request in which case Rovers and Rangers together will squeeze both him and Viola because Rovers will play very hard on the transfer fee, or Rangers offer £6.5m+, or most likely A two or three way bidding war erupts and an EPL club which can afford it pays £6.5m+ As things stand, I think it is extremely unlikely he will join Rangers in this transfer window. Their offer is derisory.

Aren't the Scots on this board feeling utterly humiliated that one of the two biggest clubs in Scotland only values your national team's skipper at £500,000 cash? ...or less than 10% of the cash value of the England u-21 skipper we sold 18 months ago?

A glasgow paper's take on the situation. Whilst it is full of caledonian hubris (a Bosman is 30 months away and no account is taken of the improvements playing in the EPL will have brought!), the interesting comment is the one that Michael Gray "has been released". Presumably a half-baked reference to the Birmingham link without taking into account we still have Matteo, McEvely and Gresko. ahem, Michael Ball anyone? I think Murray can whistle waiting for a written transfer request- Viola is in for the money.

Krasner's comments confirming the threat of administration. This is tantamount to throwing in the towel. Anyone wanting to buy Leeds would rather let an administrator deal with the £25m debts than buy them off Krasner. The only issue is Championship existance more valuable than life in League1. Frankly no or at least not worth carrying £25m debt for. Sheff Wed are showing it is possible to get decent crowds in the third division and Man City went from that level to the Prem in two seasons whilst Reading and Sunderland have gone from the third to Premiership play-offs the next season- QPR and Plymouth are both in with a shout of doing that this year.

Alan, that story is running in the Mirror this morning. The more I see of our management team the more impressed I become (and I know that comment is going to hack off our perpetual miseries). John Williams is once again proving himself a marvel in transfer negotiations. Gray was undoubtedly on huge wages and had been "found out" by Prem managers/coaching staff rendering him virtually unusable. Bruce has bought another Yorke off us. For all Gray's virtues, he can be turned and left on his derriere and probably 15 out of 19 Prem clubs have players good enough to be certain of exploiting that weakness to set up at least two goal scoring chances in a game. I would be rather surprised if the £3m "cash" figure does not include a trade of some of the more contingent elements in the Dunn deal.

I completely agree Blueboy but perhaps not so colourfully! Thankfully, no reports of Everton interest in the media this morning- yet! One piece of speculation which makes sense is that Rangers and Barry have been asked to wait until the summer so that we can get out of this season as a Premiership outfit. Then I would imagine it will be a re-run of the Dunn scenario as he will still have two years left on his current contract Barry will be offered a contract extension. If he signs fine. If not, negotiate the biggest fee possible- at least Rangers won't be able to play silly with the £2.5m outstanding as it will have been paid by then. This is going to turn me into a Celtic supporter- Rangers were too skint to put in a decent bid now and will be again in the summer if they don't have guarranteed Champs League football.

The Leeds nightmare is returning with a vengeance. Today it is reported that £7.6m was spent on agents' fees (£900K- not too bad in the circumstances) and wages just to get players away from Elland Road and off the payroll. Our own Dominc Matteo is one of the beneficiaries which is good news as I had wondered who was paying the old Leeds contract off when he came to Rovers. More to the point, the Sainsbury consortium have pulled out of negotiations "finally", Ken Bates wanted his £10m to give him 51% but nobody is playing with that particular bundle of fun and a local builder is left as last man standing in takeover/bail out talks with Krasner. Administration is now very likely. A ten point deduction will see Leeds perilously close to relegation again and with Forest surely likely to mount a charge, quite probable. Scott Carson will definitely be sold. I will ask again, are there any promising youngsters still at Elland Road we should go in for? The Leeds Directors must be desperate this morning.

I was utterly sickened when I saw that number. I just hope it is Birmingham talking telephone numbers to support Sullivan's ridiculous outburst which included the assertion that Savage had told them he had been offered £12k a week more at Rovers.

Still nothing on the Everton bid for Ferguson but the Everton boards are reporting that Petrov, Daccourt and Tongue have all turned down moves to Goodison.

Andy D'Urso is the ref. Cue another mind numbing penalty d'ecision and a d'isgraceful d'isplay of d'isingenuous d'ecisions from D'Urso. Changed my mind- we are going to lose this one.

I think that Rangers and their joke of an offer can be forgotten about. Unfortunately, Radio Merseyside are reporting Everton are about to put in a bid for Ferguson. What is for sure, Real Madrid have now made a formal bid for Gravesen. This is a big blow given we seem to have just signed Savage.

The Savage information coming out of Birmingham would tie up with the reported sighting of Savage at Brockhall today having a medical.

I wonder if this will hit the newswires unlike Murray's original statement on the BBC this morning that he had only offered £500,000 cash and wasn't going to raise his bid for Ferguson? RANGERS' FERGUSON VOW DELIGHTS ROVERS By Ian Rodgers, PA Sport Blackburn chief executive John Williams believes Rangers' refusal to increase their bid for Barry Ferguson is "fantastic news" for everyone at Ewood Park. The Scotland international, who left Ibrox for the Barclays Premiership club in a £6.5million deal just over 16 months ago, is understood to be keen to move back to Scotland with his boyhood favourites at Ibrox. The 26-year-old and his agent John Viola reportedly informed Rovers of that earlier in the week and, on Wednesday, Rangers made their bid in the knowledge that Blackburn still owe them £2.5million for the player. Rovers rejected that offer, with Williams insisting the player was not for sale. However, the Light Blues are adamant they will not be making another increased bid for their former captain. And the Rovers chief executive maintains that is "music to the ears" of all associated with the Lancashire club. Williams told the Press Association: "I have seen the quote from David Murray saying they would not be raising the bid under any circumstances. "That is fantastic news for us. I am delighted to hear that and that is the end of the matter. "It is music to our ears that they are not going to raise the bid - it is what all Rovers fans wanted to hear. "Barry is a genuine lad, who has always worked hard for us and will continue to do a good job for us. "We have only had Barry for around 18 months and, sadly, he got injured in the line of duty. "But I find him extremely professional as he was in his rehabilitation from the knee injury. I would be disappointed if he is unhappy but I have seen the mark of a real professional and I am sure he will continue to do a job for us." But Rangers chairman Murray insists the player must negotiate his exit from Ewood Park - or risk missing out on a return to Ibrox completely. Murray told BBC Scotland: "We are not prepared to spend any more. If the deal is not done a week before the window closes we will be signing another midfielder."