According to the LET, Rovers are negotiating on the basis of a wage cut for Matteo.

Exiled, to be honest I was unfortunate in not seeing much of Waggy- quite a few games I went to he was out through injury or suspension and he was not at Ewood that long. That was the reason for unashamedly picking Garner over Tony Field- so many wonderful memories of the great man over the dozen years he was playing for the Rovers. However, I do remember Waggie's stopping backspun passes. Another amazing passer was Duncan McKenzie- a 60 yard driven diagonal which picked Brotherston with about a yard of space between two Forest players but an angle to run onto in that League Cup Game at Ewood in 1980 is still one of the greatest passes I have ever seen. As for bringing in Big John McNamee- why not pair him with Killer? They would have to mark the Ewood goal area with cremation ashes and tombstones if those two had ever played together! What a thought.

Probably going no further tha Portugal= all the other teams are there as well. Any further west and they'll get wet.

Great show lofty, you are in my team! Anyway, I'm going to hijack the thread. Forget about best ever Rovers team, these are the players who gave me the most pleasure- the ones I always really looked forwards to watching play for the Rovers: Arnold Hird Bailey Keeley Hendry Tugay McKenzie Duff Douglas (how I wish I'd seen him in his prime) Garner Shearer Subs Brotherston Kendall Ripley Jones Sutton

It is hotter in Blackburn than it is in Malta if I read the weather reports correctly and it is sure hot as hell in Arizona. Not much happening on the transfer front, the Euro Championships haven't started yet and deep down we all expect that Zidane and Henry will continue where Puskas left off... Welcome to the Rovers (we really do support the same team honest..) chatboard.

The calculatons are probably something like this. Leeds- get rid of Matteo as SOON and with as little financial damage possible. Any transfer fee would be a bonus but that would only happen in an all out bidding war between several Prem sides. Part of their tactics will be quiet disclosure to Matteo that they are in very deep financial trouble- still/again. He has probably been told that leaving the club will be a noble sacrifice which will help it to survive. Matteo- staying at Leeds means drinking lots of Coca Cola and burping instead of playing decent competitive football. Scottish caps are at risk at a time when for the first time in his career there are signs the Scots might be putting a decent side together. He has just gone through a period in which his salary was only part paid and he has no confidence he will see the £6m over the next three years if he stays at Leeds. Besides the club have made it very clear they want rid. Rovers- get Matteo but not at any cost. Therefore publicly announce that Matteo is in talks as soon as they start and rely on JW/GS track record of getting their targets to put other clubs off enterng the race. GS sayng no fee but we take the contract is a way of avoiding unwelcome pressure coming onto the Leeds board to find other buyers. So far Rovers are in the driving seat. The club has the cash and Prem league position to offer Matteo an elegant way forwards. Likely deal: Free transfer, smallish goodbye payment from Leeds to get rid of the contract (by saying they want to get rid they effectively have to buy him out), Matteo comes to Ewood on a contract of 35 to 50% less than he was on at Leeds, glad that he can look forwards to receiving a still very handsome wage with certainty and delighted to be back in the Prem with the prospect of regular appearances.

My gut feel is that a new reality is settling on the Prem. The English G14 and G14 wannabes are financially in a league of their own- not just here but internationally. Only Real, Barca, and AC can really live with them. Debt and lack of sugar daddies are catching up with the other Serie A giants. The same goes for the middle tier Prem clubs of which we are one. English Prem wages are now far ahead of comparable wages paid by middle tier clubs in other leagues. That means that unless a never-expect-to-see-it-again £100m plus is injected for a club to have a go at competing with Chelsarse Utd, the rest of the Prem clubs are scrapping amongst themselves. It also means they DO not have to compete on wages- there are more than enough Prem quality players coming onto the market so for the first time in a long time, it is a buyers' market for the clubs. How many £1m+ transfer deals this summer have been struck by clubs which are not Champs League qualifiers? I now expect a gentle decline in players' wages, particularly as the clubs get the wages to income ratio down and prepare for a probable 30% drop in TV income when the current deal expires (more if the G14/EU negotiate for individual club bargaining rights). Therefore, the Rovers are probably doing the very best thing financially for long term Prem existence by taking older players on short term contracts.

Viduka and Milner by any chance?

Great news if the Mirror have got it right. Tugay to sign a one year extension.

All a bit academic now. The LET are reporting the Rovers will NOT increase their offer for MGP. Time to look elsewhere.

Too many of the posts on this thread are missing the point. I argued last summer that Souness' track record with the Rovers in different circumstances placed him at least the equal of Kenny Dalglish- I stand by that retrospective assessment. But football, and espacially a club like Blackburn Rovers, is about the present and the future, We spent most of the twentieth century living the glories of our achievements in a glorious decade in the nineteenth century. Are we similarly going to spend the twentyfirst century living on the remarkable achievement and transformation of the Jack Walker decade? More to the here and now, has Souness got what it takes to move Blackburn Rovers forwards again? Last season suggested not- dumb tactics, bad player management and repeated failure to motivate the team to beat lowly opposition (for the third season running!). A very interesting article here on the changing demands of English Premier League Management. On last season's performance, Souness does not measure up well to the new demands of achieving in the Premiership. Let's face it, Rovers are defying gravity. Blackburn is not a Premier League town and the Council does not understand that Blackburn Rovers is the biggest asset the town has by far. In fact Blackburn Rovers IS Blackburn so far as 99% of the world is concerned. That means the club has to be continually moving forwards, having a vision of how it is going to be ahead of the game- in financial and footballing strategies. We have the good fortune of being able to live off the fantastic Academy and other football infrastructure Jack built. But in footballing terms, that is all I see we are doing- living off the past. Perhaps the Lonsdale deal is a ground breaker- well done to JW and the team for doing that. But is Souness the man to keep the Rovers ahead of the pack in a footballing sense? I doubt it.

Absolutely delighted. Tugay is one of the best footballers to have graced Ewood Park in my lifetime. Hopefully, the backroom shifts means the Rovers can go back to playing the sort of football in which Tugay can keep the ball whizzing around the park to colleagues with spatial awareness. It is true he has slowed down but he's still good enough to find a blue and white shirt making themselves available. Last season was the hide and don't take responsibility season. Symptomatic when the boss is ruling by terror.

Liverpool Thai deal about to collapse Good

I'd love for none of our players ever to get injured, booked or sent off... Welcome to Paul Dickov, you are needed.

£100K

Ranieri says NO to Spuds.The man has gone up in my estimation as much as his bank balance will go up with his Chelsea pay out.

Spurs are talking to Ranieri - poor man!

This is Chelsea's current squad: Goalkeepers Carlo Cudicini Neil Sullivan Yves Makaba Makalamby Marco Ambrosio Jurgen Macho Defenders Winston Bogarde Glen Johnson Celestine Babayaro Marcel Desailly William Gallas Mario Melchiot Wayne Bridge John Terry Robert Huth Midfielders Alexei Smertin Claude Makelele Frank Lampard Joe Cole Damien Duff Mario Stanic Geremi Emmanuel Petit Scott Parker Juan Sebastian Veron Alexis Nicolas Filipe Oliveira Jesper Gronkjaer Boudewijn Zenden Strikers Adrian Mutu Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Hernan Crespo Eidur Gudjohnsen So next season, Zendon, Veron, Gronkjaer and Petit will have moved on but it is highly likely Beckham and three members of Porto's midfield will have arrived. Parker and Cole will not get a kick whilst Bridge will be sub to Roberto Carlos at the back.

Rovers smarter than Hughesy I for one hope this is successful.

Chelsea are apparently back in with a mega offer for Ronaldinho. If Abramovich's millions are to benefit the English game, surely it is to bring the game's megastars to the Bridge. How SGE copes with half of his squad playing Premiership Reserve League South football then becomes an interesting question.

Ranieri has been sacked.

Two pointers: - evedryone knows he has a £10m war chest yet he has managed to keep Charlton out of the gossip headlines - he has quietly moved to take Earnshaw from Cardiff and Carrick from West Ham. On that basis, so far so good. I wonder what the odds are on Parker being back at the Valley on a loan deal are? Back to MGP, I will be happy if he arrives but will not be convinced until he puts in some strong performances for Rovers. More a case of hope than expectation. The move for the Olomuc winger is probably smart negotiating to show Tromso we are not desperate but could be indicative of Souness concluding MGP will not do a better job than the older player and therefore keeping his transfer budget back for other purposes.

Millwall are reported by the People as preparing a bid for Todd.

Pedersen hit the post and went close again just before half time.

These 8 pages are a cypher for the Duff and Shearer experiences at Rovers. Apart from winning things and dominating the league/Europe (unrealistic), the next big dream is that "one of us" becomes a super star but stays his career at our club (seemingly more possible but in reality just as unrealistic). Unless you are a member of the big boys club which for three heady seasons the Rovers were and for two heady seasons Leeds sold their club for. I have never met Alan Smith so what I am about to write might come over as very unfair. From what I have seen of his personality/character, I am not in the least bit surprised that he has moved to Man U. After all, even on his past season's performance (and certainly on his showing as an England u-21 international), he would have got to go to Portugal ahead of Vassell. Perhaps having his particular personality in the squad was not an appealing proposition. The guy has a football talent, great energy, a thoroughly unpleasant character and is seemingly not the brightest. The only surprises are that anyone other than Leeds fans should react with shock/horror and that how little he was sold for. Did NOBODY else want him? Looking at it from Smith's standpoint: 1) He was undoubtedly sold the Ridsdale dream so was encouraged by Leeds to expect perpetual Champs League and all that pertained. 2) Had he said "no, I am staying at Leeds" then Krasner and co would be handing the keys to Elland Road over to the administrators this morning. There was no possibilty on earth that he could stay at Leeds. Either the club sold him or the break-up specialists would have got rid. Smith is simply guilty of being stupid enough to have allowed himself to have become the fall guy for the Leeds' fans' anger. Krasner has played a blinder in getting his hands on the best part of £7m of cash or near cash and force-sold an iconic player without getting any abuse for doing so. In doing that, he has done at least twice as well as McKenzie did when he offloaded Kewell in not dissimilar circunstances last summer.