I once inadvertently found myself between a mother beaver and baby beaver in a lake in Lithuania. They make a shrill whistling sound when distressed.

Weren't transfer medicals introduced into the English game because of the Martin Britt fiasco? Typical of Rovers' luck at that time we ended up on the wrong end of that particular misfortune. Glad to see Parker gets an "honourable" mention. Parker and Shepstone were attrocious. Given they both played at times when Rovers were close to their all time nadirs, awarding them the "accolade" of all time worse is probably accurate. The youngsters who are nominating the likes of Dailly, Davies, Grabbi, Peacock et al simply have not got a clue what went before! As for the suggestion of Cowans- he was one of the most skilful players seen at Ewood in the 40 odd years I've been following the Rovers and would have definitely made it into the greatest votes in the way Waggy did had it not been he was playing for us on the cusp of the great side of the early/mid 90s. Speedie rightly was a hero for scoring so many goals with such elan but "Sid" was the wellspring of that team. Jimmy Quinn did put in some decent performances for us (as well as for Swindon ) and Paul Round is exempted because he scored two crucial goals (good ones at that) when we beat Stoke (I think) 2-1 when we perilously close to going down from the old second division and sparked a revival of belief in the team.

I would say it is obvious- Savage will replace Flitcroft. The prospect of Reid playing in the hole between the front man (hopefully a fully restored Stead) with MGP and whoever has coordinated his head with his boots between Thompson and Emerton is an exciting one for the balance of this season. Reid deserves all the plaudits going. Hopefully, the tightening of the muscle which forced Reid's substitution yesterday is nothing serious as we desperately need him at Cardiff. I would say Ireland's need of Reid is as great if not greater the Rovers' if they are to sustain their challenge for a place in Germany 2006.

Brilliant sox! So onto Arsenal and the most valuable game of Rovers' season (unless there is a chance to leap five places in the Prem in the last game of the season!). Victory will assure the Rovers of at least another £1.5m in revenue from FA Cup semi-final winnings and Cup Final gate receipts and no doubt will increase the value of commercial sponsorships during the summer. Added to that the probability that Bumbling U will beat the half of the bar codes not suspended in the other semi and a win for us in the semi is likely to secure UEFA football at Ewood for the third time in four seasons. Unfortunately, Arsenal will be able to select the team which went unbeaten in the Prem all last season for the first time in the current campaign- all the injured and wounded will be back refreshed with T Henry quietly limbering up at the rate of a hattrick a game in his previous two Prem outings before Boro yesterday. Wenger has tipped his boys to pass their way round the Rovers' increasingly respected defense. Let's face it all logic points to an Arsenal victory. No way can Rovers be expected to still be in the Cup by the time next Saturday's Prem programme kicks off. So clutching at straws- >If Arsenal score first, its probably curtains. But the way we ripped into Chelski at Ewood after going 0-1 in the fourth minute gives a scintilla of hope. >Arsenal see Rovers as a bit of a bogey side. If we can frustrate them long enough, the obdurate blue and white shirts facing them might begin to pray on the Gunners' subconscious. Desperate straw clutching. >Even a full strength free flowing Arse are going to find the current Rovers' defence plus the Axe and probably Savage disrupting their supply lines a tough proposition. Then we need a superman performance from Brad. Not so much straw clutching as utterly essential to avoid a humiliation. >MGP in front of goal when not kicking fresh air is pretty lethal. We will get a chance or two. Hope and pray they fall to MGP as he's the only player up front likely to convert them. Extreme straw clutching. >If it is 0-0 at FT, we will be as fit as the Arsenal in terms of surviving the next 30 minutes. Then we might have a 20% chance from the penalty shoot out given our miserable track record and the Arsenal's regular qualifications through them. Straw clutching-it's an outside chance. My forecast is Arsenal 2 Rovers 0 and we are left to dream for another day.

To be fair, Southampton have suffered some ill-fortune against the Rovers on occasions- a remember a completely unwarranted red card at Ewood a few seasons ago and us being played off the park a couple of times and still winning. However, for Andy D'urso them coming back from 1-3 to 3-3 Osgood getting John Bailey sent off. TIME TO GET EVEN LADS

If we achieve a result which continues our average over the last 12 Prem games, we will win by 0.7- 0.5 Depends which way you take the rounding, I suppose.

Paul, BRFC already do cheap tickets - they are the standard prices! However, if the initiative brought prices for Rovers supporters going to Stamford Bridge or Highbury into line with Ewood prices, surely that would be a very good thing.

I know a Virgin trains inspector who is an avid reader of brfcs.com.

I think Lucas is an excellent player but not the best. If Souey is sniffing, the fee should be a silly one which should allow plenty to get an even better replacement.

What a pathetic excuse for not being at the match jim j! Congratulations and all the very best for the future (PS don't listen to Abbey on the subject of women at the moment!). This brings a sense of deja vu- I got married the day we played Southampton at home. That day we lost 0-2 and Roy Hodgson got sacked so we don't want any repeat of that. No Savage by all accounts and I wouldn't be surprised to see Dickov's rest continuing so he is fresh for biting Arsenal ankles in Cardiff. I expect Southampton to treat it like a home game and attack freely in an unexpectedly open and entertaining game. Rovers 4-5-1 to work out, with either Tomo or Emo to surprise us by playing well and a 2-1 win. Stead to get them both to set up a selection poser for the Semi-Final.

If Souness goes in for him, the money will do the talking- wages for Neill, silly money for the Rovers. If Boumsong = £8m, Lucas = £?m. I would get a pet hack to start talking big numbers if I were JW/Sparky to get Fat Freddie acclimatised. A straight Neill/Bellamy swap? Why not be cheeky. He is good but there are better RBs out there.

That £7.75m list starts from 1 July. Add Darren Purse £500k, Martin Albrechtson £2.5m, Richard Scimeca undisclosed (rumoured £1m+) who were bought in June 2004 and its in the £12m range. I thought Horsfield, Gaardsoe and Kinsella (another £4m to £5m for those three) were closed season signings but they arrived last season. Contra is a loan and Kanu and Campbell were completely free transfers. OK I was wrong - but its still a significant transfer outlay.

Look at the Baggies' current form (three wins in four). They are the team down there producing the results at the moment and with the near £20m spent on transfers, they probably have the most class, most depth and best-balanced squad of the strugglers. They had two against the woodwork as well as the one they scored against Everton today. The 4-1 win at Charlton two weeks ago didn't flatter them either and unlike Palace and Saints, they kept their good run going inspite of the long break. I don't fancy our chances of getting three points when we go to The Hawthorns and am only grateful that the Semi has pushed that fixture back. As for the sun, it has been 13 and raining all day today.

1864, four draws against Palace, Soton, Baggies and Fulham will see us safe on 37 points even though that would be massively disappointing in terms of looking up the table for place prize money. Apart from anything else, it runs down another game for the clubs below/around us to make up the points deficit. In that scenario for us to go down, two of these three unlikely outcomes have to happen: Southampton to get 9 points from the other 6 games West Brom to get 10 points from the other 6 games (assuming they don't overhaul the 9 goal difference disadvantage) Palace to get 10 points from the other 6 games. It also assumes, Pompey pick up 6 or 7 points from (h) Charlton, Liverpool, Southampton, Bolton and (a) Man City, West Brom (that could be a tasty end of season affair!) For the record Fulham have (h) Man City, Newcastle, Everton, Norwich and (a) Bolton, Boro, Rovers so I don't think either they or Brum (already on 36)are in any real trouble. My end of season prediction looking at the fixtures: Norwich 23 Palace 33 Soton 34 Baggies 35 Pompey 35 Rovers more than 37 Southampton's game at Ewood next week is absolutely MASSIVE for them.

Well we are through the nightmare run of fixtures and sure enough, had we lost all four we would have been a precarious 1 point above a relegation place. Fulham winning by a margin of two has dropped us to 15th on goals scored whilst the win for the Baggies against Everton not only makes Liverpool favourites for 4th place but really stirs things up at the bottom. Palace, Southampton and West Brom are in a two from three scrap but with Pompey somewhere between dead slow and stalled, they may well be in deep trouble very soon as well. Rovers have a bunch of games coming up which we have to avoid loosing- victories would be nice but not essential in terms of Prem survival. Seven games to go, six points and goal difference in hand should be more than sufficient to see us OK, especially as the strugglers have a preponderance of fixtures against the top half clubs with European places at stake. It is easy to see the Prem survival mark coming at around 36 points this season because the battle to avoid the drop is going to produce some heroic performances. Rovers might not be in the battle themselves but how we play against Southampton, Palace and West Brom could well determine their survival and relegation issues. It all adds to the clubs at the bottom looking at their remaining games and counting the Rovers as amongst the likelier sources of three points. Far from having opponents sitting back and defending, I suspect the next four games at Ewood will be amongst the most entertaining this season, even if we play 4-5-1. Here's hoping we see no wild celebrations but lots of tears at the Darwen End. "You're going down with the Norwich"

Well its what I think and feel about ManU. No doubt RFW and the chorus are reciting all the poor hard done by tales of missed chances and hitting the woodwork... diddums. We have still got at least five or six games of outrageous good fortune to come before we are even with the scum.

Just got in (I didn't watch it). Great result and yah boo sucks to the Mancs!!!

Steve Cotterill is too good for Burnley!

Somehow, I don't think Robbie will be responding to this Toshack effort

Cracking piece of analysis from Asian Betting Handicap: Man Utd giving up a +1.5 start to Blackburn looks a bit too much for me, and therefore this is a decent bet @ 2.00 from Sporting Bet. Blackburn are presently the 5th best performing side 'away' over the last 5 matches. They are showing better form on the road than they are at Ewood Park, and the showing from the players in their last 3 games against 3 of the Top 5 , is a clear indication of the improvement that Mark Hughes is still bringing to the club. Beating Everton 1-0, then drawing with Liverpool 0-0 were good results , although not very pretty to watch, but then again "Sparky" has never claimed to be a proponent of 'total football'. He gets the job done in anyway possible. The 1-0 loss to The Arse was a performance that Hughes will have taken a lot from. As poor as they have been in scoring - worst in the league- their attitude on the pitch has often verged on GBH!. "Intimidation" is an accusation that Norwich's Worthington levelled at the Rovers , and he's not that far off the mark. They are very aggressive and physical in their style, which is why i see them being tough opponents for Manyoo on Saturday. Keane, Rooney , even Rio all have a fancy as hard men, so throw the little princess "Ronaldo" into the mix and there should be enough to keep the ref busy for 90mins...and more. Physical sides are more likely to put Manyoo off their stride as there is less time for the one touch style of play. It's all go from the whistle, space is closed down and harder to find than an englishman in the Arsenal team. The last 2 meetings have gone 3pts to Blackburn and a draw: both at Ewood Park. In fact the last 7 meetings overall have gone 3-1-3, with both winning on home ground , but Manyoo getting a draw last time out at Rovers. Only once have Manyoo beaten them by more than 1 goal : April 2003 :3-1 :Old Trafford. No doubt Blackburn will have the usual 5 in midfield , leaving Fergie with thoughts of last week's display against Fulham, when they failed miserably to capitalise on their dominance. If they couldn't do it against the Cottagers, then they will struggle even more with Blackburn , a side who appear to revel in frustrating their opponents. As I've said on many occasions, Dickov is an underrated player who gives so much grief to all defences, goading them, hassling them, really getting under their skin, and I think that Mark Hughes will be acutely aware of how much of a weapon this is when playing the 'Devils' on their own ground. Get them rattled , EARLY!! ....that's the way. No time to settle. Blackburn have scored on each of their last 3 visits to Old Trafford and should do so again, forcing Manyoo to find 3 for us to lose out on this bet...possible, but I don't see it. Securing only odd goals wins over Fulham and Portsmouth in their last 2 home games isn't inspiring, and with RVN still not on his game, plus Ronaldo's often poor decision making in the final third adding to the permutations, I am very happy to take this handicap. And for "balance" , the view from Manchester complete with Spelling mistakes. Go Ryan!

The LET doing its bit to drum up support There is a club plane flying down from Blackpool- £325 with all trimmings!

Perhaps the sceptical Rovers supporters would believe you jim if the LET had updated Ewood Eye and a Rover All View. There are two cracking articles previewing a cup tie away at Turf Moor on their web site.

Assuming we are still level after Extra Time and Penalties, we will keep taking penalties till somebody misses. Does that mean the TV coverage will disappear if they are still taking penalties at 3.00pm?

Who is Fernando Ricksen?

One thing is for sure. Before every Wales game with Toshack in charge, the Press will only talk about Robbie Savage and Mark Hughes. Here is this morning's version for instance! As for non-playing Managers, Wales had one in Mike Smith.