Whether Roma are playing in the Champions League or UEFA Cup Mido ain't going to get a game if he's 5th choice striker! So I don't see that as much of a factor. Similarly if the most likely scenario happens that Juventus are relegated, a handful of top players will relocate temporarily or otherwise to top Champions League Clubs around Europe - it won't impact on us at all.

Prior to the Spurs Worthington Cup Final consideration was given to bringing out a special kit to mark the occasion and one of the options shown to the Fans Forum was a red and black halved shirt which i thought looked superb, and from memory it went down very well with the rest of the forum as well. However on balance the consensus of opinion was that we should play the final in our traditional blue and white halves. From memory I think it was said GS wasn't keen on the alternative halved shirt either - he thought a solid colour would be better from the players point of view. For some reason the red and black halves have never been brought up as an alternative since. Personally I love the "halves" idea as being unique to Blackburn Rovers and I'd be quite happy to see red and black halves as a permanent away strip but tweaked slightly in the same way the blue and white halves are.

My first thought when I heard of the delay was that they might desperately be trying to come up with punishments which didn't involve relegation but which were at the same time acceptable to the Italian Public and world at large.

Exactly my view on it as well..

That would tie in with today's rather bizarre news that Mutu has completed a transfer from Juve to Fiorentina. If that does turn out to be be the outcome it will be a long way from being the "buyers market" philip has been getting his knickers in a twist about all summer. I still wouldn't be surprised to see no-one relegated.

Yeah but the difference this time is none of the England squad are particularly likely to ever be managed by the 25m fraudster again. I would expect some home truths to emerge, although probably nothing too different to what we've all been saying all along.

Say what you like about the Birmingham hierarchy but they certainly drive a hard bargain when someone leaves. 3m for Savage and now 5.5m for Heskey. Good grief! That's 1.1m per goal for Wigan next season then! And then Bruce wastes it all. I caught a glimpse of Jeff Kenna being interviewed on SSN last night with the sound turned down. Is he still playing? I presumed he'd landed a managerial role somewhere.

Sorry, I meant me with the "educated" guess not you. I always understood the "75 % of turnover" type figure i.e. 30m ish to relate to players wages only. Ball park figures that's 1m p.a for every first team squad member and the young kids will be on much much less. Alternatively (ball park figures again) if the 30 first team squad members take up just 15m of the budget that puts the 220 non playing members of staff on average wages of 70kp.a. I want a job in the ticket office if that's the case!

"Educated" guess How can you possibly judge what a "first teamer" is on from the accounts when there are more than thirty members of the first team squad, many of whom will be players on relatively little? Anyhow what was our total spend on players wages?

As with the "transfer kitty" I would venture to suggest the LET figure will be correct. Andy Neild is unlikely to have specified a figure without knowing it is correct.

It's not really a "bum signing" if he can't cut it but seeing that, we aren't actually forced into calling upon him. It is if we have to throw him into say a crucial UEFA Cup tie and we find out to our cost he can't cut it. Will people stop saying "it's costing us nothing" though?. "Heavily incentivised contract" probably means something like 10kp.w. basic for 2 years plus signing on fee, meaning it'll probably still cost us about 1.5m even if it goes belly up.

Yep, definitely. I was just glad Germany weren't outplayed by the better side (again) only to win the penalty shootout. I had nightmarish visions of them doing this and in the final and being crowned World Champs without actually beating anyone from the last 8 onwards. Which would have been indicative of the mediocrity of the tournament as a whole. Thought extra time was very good though. And I've been very impressed with Italy in the last 2 games albeit not in the early stages.

The Rovers Board - loads. (probably in common with all other Boards.) Hughes - only one to date - Kuqi- and even he was of the bargain bucket variety.

Sven has definitely had the "best" (if that's what you can call it) out of the so called "golden generation." Robinson 26 Neville 31 A Cole 25 Terry 25 Ferdinand 27 Lampard 28 Gerrard 26 J Cole 24 Beckham 31 Owen 26 Rooney 20 How many of that lot will be better players (or even as good) in 4 years time? Rooney certainly. Hopefully Robinson, A Cole, Terry, and J Cole. Even Gerrard may be on the decline by then. Cheers Sven. Memo to McClaren (and future England managers) I'm 42 now and reckon I have another definite seven world Cups as a fan. So blooming well shape yourselves!

(Flameproof jacket on) A couple of weeks too late now if he's signed a new contract at Chelski, but for the 4m figure being bandied around, Duff has usually performed well when filling in in that role. MGP just hasn't got enough pace.

I don't see them as that similar at all, Roberts game is all about pace and power whereas Mido is much more cute and crafty with his movement. Although I'm probably getting far too hopeful of signing the latter without knowing if he's even in the least bit interested.

I would be inclined to agree if Roberts and Jeffers were the only 2 striker signings. Logic surely dictates this won't be the case. We got 6m for Bellamy and assuming we paid about 3m for Roberts this should still leave us with 7m available to spend. Don't forget also that since January apart from Bellamy we have also lost Gresko, Amoruso, Flitcroft (all huge wage earners) as well as Jansen, Dickov and Pongolle off the wage bill. In theory if Mido came in on loan we should still have our 7m to spend. Although I'd rather we signed him permanently as if he's a huge success we'll lose him as well in 12 months as happened with Bellamy. Of course we don't even know if he's interested in joining us.

Hmmmm....... good to see Hughesey and the Rovers Board read this m/b. Joking aside this forum has become a real mine of information. Rosie tipped us all off first about the sensational move for bellamy thanks to conversations overheard at a dinner party. We've had the news first on developments with Reid and Mido recently from unleaded. jim gives us tomorrow's news today when anything crops up. And superstella tipped us off today that Roberts was at Ewood. And for sheer comic value we've even got pleasure's contributions!

Sorry but that's absolute rubbish. The Bellamy deal was financed out of the proceeds of sale of Ferguson and Stead and I'm fairly hopeful a big name will be financed out of the Bellamy sale. It doesn't put the Club at financial risk at all. I'm sure Andy Neild hasn't just plucked a figure of 10m for our transfer budget out of thin air either. If you were saying there just aren't any top players available at this moment in time, that's a different issue. For what it's worth I think Roberts is a great and I mean GREAT signing as second striker if we also sign a top quality player as the main man. If he's the main striker, well then it's not good enough. There was a massive feelgood factor around the club at the end of last season as we got into Europe and looked forward to an injury free season for Bellamy. That has long since vanished into the ether and ideally we need a huge signing of the calibre of Mido or Van Nistlerooy to get the fan's juices flowing again. I'd be really pleased with Mido and Roberts as first choice pairing. If we get anything at all out of Jeffers it's an absolute bonus but there's no real reason why the likes of Gallagher/Bentley and Derbyshire can't also raise their game next season.

Completely irrelevant comparison. Nelsen hadn't been to all intents and purposes out of the game for 5 years.

It's not being idiotic, it's being realistic. It's not like he's had a bad season, he's done nothing since 2001. If anything it's idiotic to expect that he will come good.

Too right, the operative words being "many moons ago" I'm all for giving a player whose career has fallen by the wayside another chance but this is stretching things to the extreme. Don't expect too much of him, the chances of him coming good are minimal. After five years of virtual inactivity I really can't see how he can ever regain the necessary physical edge to compete effectively at this level again. And after something like 3 goals in 3 seasons his confidence in front of goal will be shot. If it comes off it will be the management and training coup of all time.

Hee hee......harsh, I know he ain't the best but 90 seconds!

I think everyone is overplaying the penalty thing slightly, if you're not good enough to beat your opponents over 120 minutes, then it's basically a coin flip, in the lap of the gods. At best you're bound to be unlucky some of the time. Far safer to make sure you win the game in normal time. However I heard a very interesting point on the radio today. The caller held the view that the keeper on each side faced five penalties and was therefore more far important than any individual penalty taker. What if Sven had been innovative and instead of putting on Carragher, had put on James, big lad, excellent shot stopper etc. Psychologically it would have completely thrown the Portugese. Got me thinking.

Don't disagree with you there but a few weeks ago you thought Sven was a genius for picking Theo Walcott. I just think the last five years have been a complete waste. Years of meaningless friendlies when he made 9/10 substitutions etc and he arrived at the World Cup still without a clue as to his best line/up formation etc. McClaren now has to be brave and bin Beckham who has completely gone the odd free kick apart. A harsh word or two with our other goldenboys Gerrard and Lampard wouldn't go amiss either.