Why, what time do the Pubs close in Brum? Being local I also like the 5.15 kick offs. It gives you all day do to any family type stuff you have to do and then 7.30 is a great time to hit the Pub for Saturday night out afterwards!

The atmosphere in Jack Walker upper was a hell of a lot better on Sunday, I can only put it down to large numbers of people transferring over from the potting shed to experience some decent facilities!

Thank god for that, had 20 quid on Liverpool, WBA, Man Ure and Coventry in an accumulator today. Liverpool and West Brom were home and dry after half an hour in the 3p.m. games, the Red Scum made me sweat but Saha scored fairly late on. I'd given up on Coventry as they were one down with about fifteen minutes to go but they evidently won 2-1!

One thing I will agree with philip on is that I thought MGP had a vastly improved game yesterday, whereas Bentley is still nowhere near his best form. The difference with them yesterday though was that even if something didn't come off there were no question marks about their commitment whereas there were with McCarthy. If phillip is going to be (as usual) gratuitously rude about Blackburn folk I could respond in kind and say that you foreign based guys are desperately trying to look for something that simply isn't there because McCarthy is the established international who happened to notch 24 goals last season etc. It seems to be a case of you can't believe he could possibly be so poor and are desperately looking for something else to say.

Sorry phillip, that's absolute rubbish imo. If we did manage to attack effectively in the first half it was because Santa Cruz was here there and everywhere pulling players out of position and we were getting plenty of attacking support from MGP, Bentley Dunn and Savage. There was something clearly amiss with McCarthy's workrate and performance yesterday. We all know he's not the hardest working player but it's one thing loafing around most of the time then exploding into life in the danger areas like he normally does, and another doing nothing at any point in any area. Yesterday he did nothing.

Is the time fast approaching when the only logical and workable solution will be for the TV Companies to make ALL Premiership games freely available live, and pay the clubs accordingly more, allowing them to admit supporters into the ground for nothing?. If some sort of system could be worked out whereby it cost say a tenner to watch a match on TV whether at home or in the Pub, but it was free at the ground, people's priorities might change somewhat.

The Mail aren't entirely on their own, Thursday's Sun reported that we have offered Benni a bumper new deal to try and keep him out of Chelsea's clutches. (Without mentioning any clause) The Sun article was very vague whereas the Mail has been very specific both as to the amount in the clause and when it takes effect. Out of the two I would tend to believe the Mail because of the detail provided. My reading of the situation is, if we can't persuade Benni to agree to improved terms (minus the bloody clause) before the window shuts he'll be gone.

Hope not, that will mean our top scorer has 4 goals.

Just seen that Bryan, what a strange thing to say. Obviously we get a far better sale price in the event anyone does want to leave. In Bellamy's case (sans clause) we could have held out for about 12m and I'm sure pre Gilette and Hicks Bellamy would still have been at Ewood. Or (unlikely) we'd have made an extra 6m. In Benni's case, we now seem to be in a lose lose situation. Either he has a poor season and no-one wants him or he notches another 18 League goals and we have to sit and watch and wave him bye bye for 5m at a time when the going rate a striker that prolific will be around 15-18m.

It just seems easier and a lot more sensible to offer the "improved terms" (minus clause) in the first place to me.

1) We don't know that, allowing Bellamy "a clause" and paying him less enabled us to get him cheaper initially but it cost us on the pitch and financially in the long run. 2) We sign them without clauses making it less easy for them to do one, and also allowing us to make a decent profit if any do eventually leave. Bellamy was rotting away in Newcastle reserves when we signed him, and no-one else had come in for Benni at the point we signed him.

Today's Daily Mail states that McCarthy has turned down a new deal at Ewood to try and secure Champions League football in the knowledge there is a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for 5m next summer!! (If I recall Mark Hughes precise words he did say there were no clauses "this year") It would also explain Benni's constant references to it not being his decision and being in the club's hands. He might even have been trying to do us a favour by touting himself around this summer! If it's true, following the Bellamy situation, when will we ever learn?? It does though put a whole new context on the situation if a big enough bid were to come in for Benni now doesn't it? I mean 15m for Benni now, or 5m in 12 months? If you were Sparky and knew the full amount will be available to spend on the team it's a no brainer really. If prices continue to go up, in 12 months time 5m won't buy the bootlace of a decent striker.

Delighted with the news and nothing at all wrong with the contract length IF the Admiral returns to his pre injury form. I thought he was understandably some way below that at times in the second half of last season. Would also have thought that bombproofing Samba's situation would have been at least as if not even more of an urgent priority.

Interestingly, there was a very good in depth article in the middle pages of the LT today about Dougan courtesy of his brother. His brother claimed the reason he put in a transfer request on Cup Final day was due to a dispute about bonuses. Supposedly the players had been promised the earth in bonuses the further they got in the competition , but these weren't forthcoming. As a result, all the players got together and supposedly agreed they would ALL hand in transfer requests on the morning of the final with a view to negotiating with the management. Come Cup Final morning it's claimed Dougan did as was planned and handed in his request but looked round and was left embarrassed and let down when no-one else did! I must admit I take this claim with a pinch of salt as it's the first time I've ever heard it advanced from any source. Interesting though and if there was any truth in it, it would give a logical reason for what on the face of it was an inexplicable act.

Don't listen to our silly friend from Manchester Dillo, that isn't even in Lancashire anymore due to boundary changes!. All true Lancastrians know the only good thing coming out of Yorkshire is the road to Lancashire!

Sorry, can't have any real sympathy for someone who asked for a transfer to our opponents on the morning of an FA Cup Final.

Same old same old from Benni. We seem to have frightened off Chelski and unless West Ham come in with a completely ridiculous offer he'd better get used to the idea he ain't going nowhere.

at Newcastle? To be fair the prospects of Benni leaving appear to be receding. The club seem to be resolute in rebuffing potential suitors and that is exactly the right message to be sending out. Of course if WHU come up with a totally ridiculous bid that may change but not seemingly at the 8-10 m figures being bandied about thus far.

And rightly so. If Pearce really believed all that "when your country comes calling you put your country first and yourself second" claptrap he's been coming out with he would call up Rooney without a second's hesitation. But he wouldn't dream of it. If questioned on it he'd probably say something like Rooney has developed far beyond under 21 level, is a particularly important player for his club and has to be kept as fresh as possible for their League and European campaigns next season and the 2008 Euros. Much the same applies to Bentley, even though he is not a certain starter next summer. Maybe even if we didn't have an intertoto campaign DB could have played in the under 21's and simply reported back for pre season later. As it was something had to give. I do also think that Rovers have hung him out to dry somewhat. I find it pretty improbabable given next season's domestic schedule he wasn't instructed by Mark Hughes to withdraw from the under 21's.

I have some sympathy for Pearce for being a man down but the more I think about it the more I think he is being hypocritical in publicly slating DB. If he's that bothered about having the strongest side out he should just select Rooney. We all know there's not a snowball's chance in hell of that happening as both Alex Ferguson and the player would tell him to go forth and multiply. So it's hypocritical to apply one standard for say DB and another for say Shrek.

If we're being honest, we're all being a bit two faced about this, if it was any of the other players who had pulled out, we'd all be going "bloody disgrace" "who do they think they are" and "too big for their boots" (that is if we cared that much about an under 21 tournament) Whilst fans of their respective clubs would be applauding their decision. Andy Townsend was consistent all morning in saying DB had made a professional decision, he was about the only one of the under 21 squad with a realistic chance of playing in the Euros next summer and therefore had made a career decision to give himself the best chance of having a good season next season and accordingly being fit and selected for then. About right imo.

Excellent post Tris. I have to confess I nicked your point and texted it in to Talksport this morning. It was read out and Mike Parry and Andy Townsend who were being broadly supportive of Bentley's position disagreed with that particular point saying McClaren couldn't predict who was going to get injured etc. and was entitled to select the best players available to him. It really was compulsive listening this morning. DB himself rang in and spoke at great length and with great passion on the issue. He said the decision wasn't made on a whim, he'd considered it in great depth and taken the advice of former professionals before coming to his decision. Again it's a measure of the guy, he really didn't need to ring in and open himself up to a potential slagging off, but did so and spoke with great honesty. One thing DB hinted at, and it wasn't really picked up on, was that he communicated his decision to the England hierarchy some time ago so he "didn't understand" why Stuart Pearce was now in the position of being a man short and being unable to call up anyone else. The timing of it is arguably one of the things you could have sympathy for Pearce on, so if DB could clarify that point and it was indeed the case that Pearce knew of DB's decision in time to call up a replacement, yet selected him anyway, people would have a bit more sympathy for DB's stance. As it was predictably many contributors to the show were of the "He wants to try working down the pit" viewpoint including one lunatic journalist from the Sunday Mirror who predicted DB would never pull on an England shirt again.

You can understand it from Pearce's point of view, where would he and England be if everyone did the same and pulled out? Similarly, you can see it from Bentley's point of view. He's nothing to prove to anyone at that level, he's not some raw seventeen year old kid. I know I'm being thick here, but shouldn't "under twenty ones" mean precisely that? What's the upper age limit?

I'm not certain how your source could be privy to such info but if there is any truth in that whatsoever, 7m is an absolute joke for someone who registered 24 goals last time out.

Nail, hammer head. Although imo it's not a recent thing, that has been our failing at international level for almost as long as I can remember, probably since failing to qualify for the 74 world Cup.