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.

Exiled, its all this waiting around for Gamst Pedersen to sign....

In 2012 (earlier if Bush gets re-elected) China will overtake the USA as the world's largest economy. About the same time the number of hispanics in Texan schools will exceed the number of English-speakers. OK I agree, English is THE international language and the growth in its domination shows little sign of weakening, but nothing is forever. After all at the end of the fifteenth century, by far the largest and most powerful nation in Europe was.... Lithuania (it even had a Black Sea coast)

Looking forwards, it is interesting to see how the papers are dividing on Houllier's successor. The Telegraph are arguing there is a renaissance in British managers, that foreigners do not understand how to manage in our peculiar game and are saying Curbishley was approached by Liverpool a month ago. The Guardian are doing a good job in convincing themselves that Mourinho will be sufficiently wary of Abramovich's dealings to shun the hundred millions transfer budget to be spent by his new boss to tens of millions he can spend himself. Meanwhilst the Times are arguing up the case for Martin O'Neill. The most peculiar twist is coming from the Thai press who understandably are less interested in who the manager will be than the fate of the current "make or break" negotiations involving their PM. Apparently 49% of the cash injection will come from Thai Government funds and 51% from a public offering of shares made in Thailand. The Thais are making it a pre-condition that Owen and Gerard be given shares in the football club (I wonder if they would pick up the tax bill their generosity would create?) The Thai relationship has all the hallmarks of a disaster waiting to happen. Their PM presumably expects there to be a PR bonus from this move but all that has happened is that the rapidly deteorating human rights situation in Thailand is being brought sharply into focus in the UK press. Besides which, the morality of a third world government splashing the best part of £30m of tax payers' money on European football transfers is dubious to say the least. There may well be a backlash for Liverpool FC seeing there was a local man willing to underwrite an even bigger investment.

Just read this thread through from the beginning and it is a sheer joy! Prompted me to look at the BBC Big Read top 200 which I found fascinating-I had read my way through just over half of them. Was surprised by the absence of Graham Greene and Anthony Trollope and amazed that there was no Kafka on the list but perhaps I skimmed it too quickly. Delighted to see Bulgakov, Nobokov, Kundura, Marques, Eco all there. The absence of travel books surprised (Bryson excepted)- Newby, Fermore and the inevitable Theroux are all cracking good reads. A book for blowing the cobwebs away from the mind is Thomas Pynchon V. The descriptions of Germany in the aftermath of the War are shattering in bringing home the realities of those times.