Andy Cole on Souness and him. Apart from that he liked the club and the supporters at Blackburn.

The People article. I would say there is a high codswallop factor in this article- either Palace can produce a signed contract or they cannot. I read somewhere that JW and Mark Hughes were meeting unofficially today- sounds like a preliminary sounding out to see if he would apply. The Rovers can only make an official approach to FAW if Hughes is the man they have decided on and they clearly have not reached that point. A bit different to Newcastle offering to half the Premiership before they finally reached S for Souness.

Seems a strange logic to me- are Radio Lancs saying that the backroom staff Hughes or Strachan or Houllier would bring to Ewood are all unemployed layabouts? Surely there will be contracts to be bought out for all the backroom boys just as Newcastle had to prise away the three from Rovers. I have no doubt that when the Board offer and the new manager accepts, John Williams has enough skill to sort out the four contractual issues without Rovers being ripped off for time or money. The only new comment in the Press comes from Scotland where the Hearts manager denies he is in the running for the Rovers' vacancy... Really? The Malta Times carries my denial as well. I suspect the Rovers are having some difficulties with the Mark Hughes' candidacy. I fully expect the statements made by Tony Parkes and Craig Short encouraging Hughes were made with the full knowledge and support of the Board. TP's most recent comments that the days of Rovers appointing big name managers are over could be seen as being part of the same campaign of trying to push Mark Hughes into making a move/ preparing the Rovers support for someone other than Hughes. Perhaps old Sparky has not applied and the Board do not want to be compromised into a situation in which they have to make the approach?

After having seen 60 minutes of the match on TV and had time to sleep on it..... here goes. In all probability we are in deep trouble because whilst there are possibly better players to come back (Amo would have imposed his personality and Thompson could not have been worse than Fltcroft whilst Douglas at least helped keep things quiet in the second half), we are soft and squodgy all over the field. Not surprising given the batterings these guys have taken from Souness that the personalities have gone nd the soft and squodgies remain.... The fundamental problem yesterday was midfield. Flitcroft was played to provide steel in front of defence. He was utterly useless and whilst the o.g. was unfortunate, it also came about through rank bad technique. With Flitcroft wasting space and incapable of passing, Ferguson hd nobody to play with. He is a brilliant footballer but not a one man disrupter when the opposition is allowed to play as they were yesterday. (Incidentally, by trying a formation to attack the Mags' weaknesses, we allowed them to play to some world class strengths) Emerton is clearly a confidence player- he would have been brilliant playing for Newcastle yesterday, just as he showed for Rovers when we ripped Wolves apart and gave the Mancs a fright last week. When things are not going right (note, not only when things are going wrong!), he seems very very lost. On the left, we have signed two players who are heroes in their own countries with multiple international appearances, but on the strength of about 200 minutes in total from both of them, appear to be woefully short of what it takes to be even half decent in the English Premiership. A midfield like that exposing a defence which is short of pace is a recipe for relegation. Final observations about the front line- there is nothing wrong with Stead- the boy is sheer class and those posters saying Souness buying him off us for £3m would be welcome are talking complete and utter rubbish. Hard to tell from yesterday but Bothroyd might be good enough. Dickov is you get what you see which is very good.

What is wrong with chat today? Only me in it!

At the risk of proving jim and jan right, the stories are bound to start coming out about Souness' last eighteen months or so at Ewood. I am not surprised that Tony Parkes said that this week has been a breath of fresh air nor that two players who did not have an axe to grind against Souness have said that he had lost the dressing room. With Souness as Manager, Fat Freddie as Chairman, Kluivert, Bellamy, Bowyer, Dyer and other assorted allsorts in the changing room, Newcastle are the funny farm of English football.

Friedel, Neill, Short, Matteo, Gray, Emerton, Flitcroft, Ferguson, Pedersen, Stead, Dickov. Subs: Enckelman, Nissa, Bothroyd... missed the other two. Parkes and Kelly have the Rovers doing a new warm-up routine.

The Mirror picking up on the Parkes interview saying Rovers need a young Manager who can manage within a budget. They say Dowie is the favourite to get the job but that it will be difficult to get him released from Palace. I thought he had not signed a four year contract although all his backroom staff have committed. The Palace boards seem to be very quiet about the links between Dowie and Blackburn. Most seem to think Dowie has too much integrity to move from Palace but with a Manager without a long term contract, that seems to be whistling in the wind.

Dowie had two problems recruiting for Palace this summer- internal issues with how much he did or did not have but much more importantly, managing a club which was so heavilly odds on to be relegated having just defied all odds to go up in the first place. On that basis, intervening in the transfer market when Palace were the only Prem club looking and there was no tim for others to hijack the deals at least gave them a squad witha prayer of a chance of staying up and was easilly the smartest thing to do. Lets face it, all 19 other Prem clubs would have looked preferable to Palace to an incoming player not least because of lack of money. That has very little to do with the Manager. I remain convinced that Dowie is one of the very few managers around who might have enough ability and stature to take a big club in a small town to greatness. For me, he has handled Palace and Oldham with enormous credit and dignity. Going back to Mark Hughes, seeing the squad lists and results he has achieved hav made me less nervous about the possibility of him being appointed- thanks hasta. This seems to be the most insightful commentary in this morning's press. Somehow, I think TP might be hinting that he wasn't Grame Souness' biggest fan but I might be being mischevious.

Both tthe BBC and Skysports have predicted a comfortable win for Newcastle. Let's show 'em.

Dowie is the lower risk option all round. Virtually no compensation as he hasn't got a contract. For those who don't remember, he kept Oldham going up the table whilst the club was going bust and players were being sold all around him. That for me was the most impressive piece of football managing in terrible circumstances. No way should alace be in the Prem. They were battlng wth the dngles for the drop from Div 1 when Dowie took them on before last Christmas, yet he took them to the play-offs and through a win at Cardiff to the Prem. Again outstanding management. The Rovers are a club full of talented players who are not currently producing their best. If Friedel, Amoruso, Gray, Neill, Ferguson, Tugay, Emerton, de Pedro, Jansen, Pedersen, Gallagher, Stead, Bothroyd to name some of the more gifted can be motivated and guided to do what they are capable of, WE DON'T NEED ANY TRANSFERS. We have players good enough to finish top six and win cups already at Ewood. Everything points to the Rovers' transfer kitty being as low as our attendances. I do not believe Souness was denied access to transfer funds for any other reason than they were not there. Since then, the receipt of £500K compensation from the barcodes and £250K for Yorke don't exactly equip Mr Big Name to go and bend the ear of his galactico drinking buddies. Getting a big name who can bring in expensive new signings is the equivalent of taking Joan Collins to a photo shoot and leaving the slap behind. I'll be delighted with Dowie and so will everybody on this board when we are in the top half by Christmas and playing great football.

Very little in the Press about the Rovers position so far this morning. The Guardian report as a fact that the shortlist has five names on it having reduced the initial field of thirty applicants. Five is the number I would have beeen aiming at by this stage with perhaps one or two reserves in case of changes in circumstances or the initial list disappoints when they are interviewed. Another paper says the Rovers are going to approach the Welsh FA formally for permission to talk to Mark Hughes. The Daily Mirror have written that Gary Megson is about to be sacked following a complete breakdown in relations with his Chairman at WBA. One thought- the Southampton vacancy has gone very quiet hasn't it? Hey ho, about to leave for the airport.

LET Mark Hughes the players' preference and the overwhelming favourite of the fans who eexpressed a preference to the Telegraph. It says that Strachan has applied.

Sturrock is reported by Skysports as having applied for both the Preston and Blckburn jobs. Rover 6 heart beats a little faster.

The news coming out of Villa indicates that relations between O'Leary and Ellis are not exactly good at the moment. Toshack lambasts Wales with a few barbs for Hughes. Reading that puts a very different perspective on the Welsh "revival". Should make us all a bit more nervous about the betting folks' favourite.

On a website? Shouldn't that be read rather than heard a rumour? Hughesey, you are great entertainment. Definitely fiction not fact.

The Mirror are reporting that Flitcroft and Ferguson will start in midfield. If Flitcroft is the midfield aggressor with Ferguson more free it could work but not if Flitty does his usual disappearing trick.

Can you back up Allrdyce being unhappy at Bolton with hard evidence? He didn't exactly go skipping to St James's Park did he? The rest of your assertions can be backed up by quotes and snippets though.

It was interesting reading the panel discussion with John Williams from last summer seeing he was expecting the club would push on towards 30,000 average gates. The short fall of 5,000 against what was hoped for (budgetteed?) must have hit the Rovers very hard. Then reading that in the context of the Chairman of the Walker Trust talking about new external funding to further develop Ewood Park and there must have been a palpable feeling of enormous let down around Ewood twelve months ago. Perhaps not surprising we went on to have the third worst season at home in the club's history. In this case, the blame has to go on the general public not responding to a remarkable achievement in Rovers finishing sixth in the League aided and abetted by the press campaign to transfer Duff. Back to our new manager- looks like self-destruct buttons are being pressed at Villa Park and Goodison if today's press stories are to be believed. If the Rovers want to consider them, it could be that both O'Leary and Moyes would be serious candidates. Elsewhere, interesting to read that neither Hughes nor Strachan have actually sent in applications for the Ewood vacancy.

As it's a PA article it'll be most of them, all slightly reworded. However, whilst Jim's always bob-on about the artciles, the articles themself are often bobbins. No doubt Coventry and Rovers will deny the story tomorrow and as there are no quotes it's definitely a "flyer" by the paper concerned. Yesterday they had McCarthy in the frame. As I said, its all a betting scam. The reporters make this rubbish up then lay bets against the suckers who believe it.

Its all a betting fix involving the Mirror reporter so jim is on the wind up. Lets face it, there is stupidly easy money to be made from the suckers who believe the Daily Mirror and place betts on Peter Reid as a result. The Board don't even meet until tomorrow to consider the initial analysis of applications. Calm down everybody and bet against Reid becoming manager to make yourself a bob or two.

As I wrote this morning, the choice of Manager is going to indicate how the Board and Jersey Trustees see the immediate future for the Rovers. A "big name" manager and presumably the funds are being made available to attract the sort of players a "big name" is intended to attract. However, if those funds are not available, give us a Dowie or a Jewell who seem to have the management skills and ability to pick players to do the job of keeping us in the Prem.

Our good friend Jason.

Isn't he the new coach at Roma? Arrgh Jordan- I'm not advocating them, just speculating who the three Premiership managers rumoured to have applied might be. The straight answer to your question is Curbishley, obviously. Personally, I would be absolutely delighted if either Dowie or Curbishley were appointed- very little downside risk and a huge upside potential from both of them.

How do you calculate that. Two from four plus a third. Just joining in the fun speculating who the three current Prem managers are who have applied- assuming LDRover's inside information is correct.