philipl

Don't worry Kimberley, I don't think that was addressed to you. But you are correct, no need for the abuse.

Espanyol qualified for the UEFA Cup this time and were within two points of making it to the Champs League: Primera División OVERALL HOME AWAY P W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A Pts GD Barcelona 38 25 9 4 73 29 14 4 1 40 12 11 5 3 33 17 84 44 Real Madrid 38 25 5 8 71 32 15 1 3 43 12 10 4 5 28 20 80 39 Villarreal 38 18 11 9 69 37 14 4 1 41 10 4 7 8 28 27 65 32 Real Betis 38 16 14 8 62 50 12 5 2 36 22 4 9 6 26 28 62 12 Espanyol 38 17 10 11 54 46 12 5 2 34 18 5 5 9 20 28 61 8 FC Sevilla 38 17 9 12 44 41 10 5 4 25 19 7 4 8 19 22 60 3 Valencia 38 14 16 8 54 39 11 5 3 31 17 3 11 5 23 22 58 15 Deportivo La Coruña 38 12 15 11 46 50 6 7 6 25 29 6 8 5 21 21 51 -4 Athletic Bilbao 38 14 9 15 59 54 11 4 4 39 24 3 5 11 20 30 51 5 Málaga 38 15 6 17 40 48 8 4 7 19 24 7 2 10 21 24 51 -8 Puts Saturday's result and quality of opposition into perspective. As does Deportivo's double over Newcastle. Quite a scalp for a pre-season "friendly".

...and a more detailed account in the LET. Don't know why they did two articles.

I don't know the veracity of the shirts deal numbers. The number quoted by the Telegraph for Rovers seemed to be unnaturally low. However, we do know that Lonsdale signed up the Rovers World and shirt supply deal with Rovers which the club were delighted with. Then when HSA dropped out as the main shirt sponsors I remember John Williams commenting that there was little sponsorship interest in the Rovers so perhaps the £300k is what Lonsdale were willing to add on to the existing deal to have their name in big letters as well as little letters on the shirt- I am guessing. It is possible that in addition to being small, unfashionable and a long way from London (for the corporate freebies), all the press coverage about dirty Rovers made us a name which was too risky in PR terms to be associated with. Let's face it, the first controversial incident Bellamy, Savage, Todd, Neill, the Axe (or any other Rover for that matter) get involved in, the red tops (and perhaps the "qualities") will have their picture under an appropriately abusive caption- and the distinctive shirt and logo will be there for all to see. That prospect alone will be enough to scare off the financial services sector and their likes who need respectable association for their branding. I do remember that when someone did a comparisson of Rovers and Bolton's last published annual accounts, Rovers earned some 40% more than Bolton in commercial income and that wasn't including the Walker Trust donation. On the basis, you pay for what you get, the Rovers have invested for two top ten finishes and have significantly under-performed in the last two seasons on the pitch (having over-performed the two seasons before). The Rovers have continued to spend commensurate with a top ten finish in hiring Hughes, his back team staff and Bellamy- there after delivery is the province of the football professionals. My advice with Leeds having over-taken Manchester as the major financial centre of the north would be for the Rovers management to work their way through the companies based or operating in Leeds as prime targets for future corporate deals. I fancy Leeds will struggle to gain promotion this season thus giving Rovers a bit more time to build relationships and do the deals.

A west Ham preview of the match. I will stick my kneck out and guess that neither club will make a signing before the deadline to be available on Saturday and I will venture that Bellamy will be on the bench and not in Rovers' starting eleven. That would be a shame as his pace would probably unsettle the Hammers backline but my gut feel is he simply won't be ready for his Rovers' Prem debut and we might be without Nelsen as well. I doubt Jansen will even be on the bench. That West Ham piece leads me to think Banayoum is the only serious threat and that containing him will be about physical presence and curtailing supply which Rovers much-derided pressing game of last season seems ideally designed to achieve. Interesting that the Hammers are looking to Christian Dailly to provide the Premiership experience and stability. This is an archetypical cup game. West Ham will be on a high and will try to give it everything they've got with what is patently an inferior set of players. Hughes will need to get Rovers to quieten the crowd and then expose the vulnerabilities of the likes of Repka and Dailly (not forgetting some blasts from the edge of the box to test Roy Carroll's security). If we do that effectively, a win is very much on the cards. However, I'll go by our experience away to Coca Cola sides last season in the FA Cup and forecast we will do no better against West Ham than we did at Cardiff or Burnley. We won't get above 50% of the posession and therefore I think this has 0-0 written all over it.

We live in hope that Matty can get back to his best and I rather suspect that Hughes is calculating he will do. I'll happily take a big girl's blowse scoring 16 goals and powering us to a Cup win - which is what he did first season back in the Premiership

...and Bolton who came up, spent little, stayed up, were innovative, qualified for UEFA whilst being generally despised and have just announced a significant drop in club borrowings to under £30m despite spending net more on transfers than Rovers have this summer.

Everton play Spanish opposition (well Latin american in reality) mid-week in the Champs League qualifier. So perhaps just acquainting himself with the way good teams in La liga play.

I hadn't realised the attendance had been so low for those two games. Neil, I guess you know what the evidence points towards. Lowering prices in the last two or three seasons has had almost zero impact in improving the attendances.

Yesterday's attendance was disappointing considering we topped 10,000 for Barcelona, Sporting and even Chievo (I think) in previous pre-season show cases. The risk of local "friendlies" is that they aren't. I know that Espanyol were downright hostile blood thirsty hoodlums but generally playing top flight international opposition is a chance for an excellent test without the passion of a local derby. Besides which, apart from Wigan and Bolton, all the neighbours were opening the coca cola yesterday.

If MH with his Spanish knowledge had an inkling that Espanyol might be a touch "competitive", I'm glad he held Bellamy and Ryan back. Otherwise, the injury situation is a bit concerning ahead of the big kick off.

Thanks for the clarification. Seeing as they have photographers, perhaps they can start looking for writers!

I know its a rival site but some great pictures here. A huge tribute to the powers of digital cameras and an 80% empty ground allowing supporters to be DIY roving press photographers! PS I'm won over by the new kit- think it looks great and even the flash on the bum works.

The Guardian's entry. Makes sense apart from overlooking the astute signings at Charlton. Says nice but realistic things about Rovers in the article. For lazy clickers it reads: 1 Chelsea - Whichever team they choose to put out 2 Arsenal - Won't miss Vieira that much 3 Liverpool - If they can stop depending on Gerrard 4 Man Utd - Plenty of goals, but suspect farther back 5 Tottenham - Davids still a class act 6 Middlesbrough - Little by little.... 7 Aston Villa - O'Leary knows what he wants 8 Birmingham - Second city second again 9 Bolton - No one likes playing them 10 Blackburn - Bellamy player of the year 11 Newcastle - Why did we sell Bellamy again? 12 Everton - Close, but no cigar 13 Charlton - Can't think of anything to say 14 Man City - Stuart Pearce's hair turns white 15 Portsmouth - Fancy relying on Laurent Robert 16 Sunderland - The new Bolton 17 West Ham - Teddy Sheringham knighted 18 Fulham - Down in last-day drama 19 Wigan - Took too long finding their feet 20 West Brom - Should have gone down last season In a very entertaining read, individual fans of clubs give their forecasts. Note the muppet from Brum tipping us for relegation On the basis that six of them have nominated either Rovers or at least one Rovers player as the Premiership hate figure, I'd say we're in for some rousing receptions on our travels this season.

There is a thread on the official kiddies' board complaining about "music" being played when Rovers score. Perhaps it wasn't Sky dubbing it on after all. GET RID!

Very sloppy bowling by England now- Australia are being let off the hook.

That's great news about Matty. So is this: Crewe 2 Burnley 1. Last minute decider for Crewe.

Studs first over the ball into his leg at pace- doesn't sound good for Matty.

That is terrible. What are Espanyol playing at? Two red cards in a friendly and many horror tackles. An absolute sickener for Matty- desperately hope he hasn't suffered a serious injury.

Anyone picking up commentary?- I'm listening to the cricket.

Not letting Australia get off to a flyer is going to be essential- England have got to be tight in the field and accurate with the ball and the pitch will do the rest. Catches win matches.

Nissa handball gave Sheff U their second penalty. Sheff U made some good purchases this summer- especially Ifill. 4-1 Sheff U

49 for last wicket so far!

For my observation that 20-4 at stumps last night equals disaster looming, read 31-4 at eleven o'clock this morning. The Aussies will be really fancying this!

Great preview ozzie. Unfortunately you've set a new high standard by getting it out so early- den is already chasing for my preview and I've forgotten which one I'm down for! I thought the Hammers fans were pretty fair in their responses to your questions- it was 7-1 by the way and the sliced clearance which became an o.g. was one of the most comical sights in football this decade. Too many imponderables to predict a score at this stage but I'd say Rovers have too much for them in every department on the field- West Ham don't look much more than a very useful Championship side even after the signings they've made (at least Sparky and Rovers know about their ex-Cardiff defense). Pardew has said he is looking to sign two new forwards but that he will not forecast having them before the Rovers' match.