He might as well play. Not saying it's party time on Sunday but we're playing in flip flops aren't we? Be more support than the modern football boot anyway.

There were a number of really good performances tonight, in no particular order, Zurab, Reid, Gray, (Who the hell gave him 6.5?) Savage (immense) Tugay (until he tired) Reid. And yes, Neill. On the evidence of the last 2 games he's infinitely more comfortable at CB than RB. Don't centre backs fetch more money than right backs? Without criticising him overall MGP was quite awful on the night. He clearly needs a rest and the season seems to have been about 6 weeks too long for him. Look forward to seeing him fresh and rested next season. Peter on the other hand put in a stunning cameo. His flicked ball to Bellamy immediately after coming on was one of the best I've ever seen. Savage's reaction after the whistle was telling, having a character like that on the pitch and around the club must be a massive boost, what we've been missing for years. The main stars of the show obviously Mark Hughes and his coaching staff. We rode our luck in parts tonight but at the end of the season you generally end up where you deserve and so it was with us. We weren't quite good enough for 4th but then there's always next year...................

I'm getting sick to death of this Rooney obssession. You'd think we had no other players. Time for Sven to finally start earning his 5m p.a. But if he can't come up with a decent attacking formation with players of the calibre of Gerrard, Lampard, Owen, Joe Cole, SWP, Defoe, Lennon etc to call upon it's a pretty poor do.

Yes it can assuming reasonable management on the pitch and the Sky/TV money set up the way it is!

Without wanting to be being wise after the event it wasn't that unpredictable at all -merely a continuation of the form that got us out of trouble in the second half of last season. That's taking nothing at all away from Hughes and his coaching staff who must obviously be a top notch combination.

I think that's a fairly moot point really. Would Mourinho or Wenger fare as well at Bolton or Charlton as Allardyce and Curbishley?. Probably not. Conversely, given the money he's had to spend off Steve Gibson I simply don't rate McClaren.

That's a complete smokescreen imo. A few reporters outside his house so what?Managing Brazil must be far more pressurised. a) He probably didn't appreciate being offered half Sven's salary. b ) He probably didn't appreciate quite how awkward the speculation would make his relationship with his current employers. In any event he has by luck or design got a vastly improved contract to stay on at Portugal.

I think it's ridiculous to blame the Press for Scolari "resigning" from the job even before he'd got it . Blame for the whole sorry mess lies entirely at the door of the F.A. The root of the problem is the way they dealt with Sven. If they considered what he had done to be so bad they should have sacked him immediately. If not they should have backed him wholeheartedly, not reached a ridiculous fudged compromise allowing him to stay until after the World Cup. Ironically after taking exception to Sven discussing a job offer after the World Cup (albeit a fake one) the FA did exactly the same thing by pursuing Scolari who is currently under contract to Portugal. The breaking news must have been intensely embarrassing for Scolari who was on official business with the Portugese FA at the time. Added to that the news that he was "only" being offered 2.5m a year to Sven's 5m and the job must have seemed considerably less appealing. How could Scolari convince his current employers he was fully committed to Portugal? What if Portugal drew England in the latter stagesof the World Cup? And why should any foreign candidate be expected to take the job for less money than Sven? If the FA intended to include another international manager in their deliberations the selection process should not have occurred until after the World Cup. The make up of the selection panel is fatally flawed anyway. If we really wanted the best manager we'd have gone for Wenger or Mourinho but Dein is never going to recommend Wenger leave Arsenal. Dreading McClaren getting the job by default. Allardyce is the pick of the English candidates for me.

Heskey, god no, we already have one big useless lump incapable of finding the net more than five or six times a season. I can't see any point in spending several million quid to replace him with another! Wouldn't mind Forssel. (again, if he can prove his fitness)

Both bookings were harsh when you consider the amount of verbals referees get every week from players of the "big four" clubs with no action taken.

We're lucky we're not heading out to Germany without our TWO most influential figures. The over the top challenge Rooney himself put in on Terry just after they fell a goal behind was a disgrace and could easily have broken the Chelsea player's leg.

Bolton denied a blatant penalty on 74. Stelios brought down from behind right in front of goal with only Jaaskelinan to beat. For once the "big club bias" has worked in our favour.

Agreed. We have to try and get the three points we need on Tuesday night rather than sweating it out on Sunday afternoon. It would take a superhuman effort from Chelsea not to take their eye off the ball slightly.

Wouldn't call Bellamy a first division footballer by any stretch.

Spuds 1 Bolton 0 - 60 minutes.

Great result, the unbelievable events just before kick off clearly knocked all the stuffing out of both the Charlton team and crowd and made it little more than a training exercise for us. Notwithstanding that the performance was far removed from our largely dreary efforts over the last 4 games and the main difference for me was Pongolle. Even though he should have scored early on, we look a totally different proposition with him in the side, intelligent movement, slick flowing football and balls into feet. Reid had another stormer, hope we get him signed up to his improved deal asap. Vital three points, means we can have a real go on Tuesday night and if we field the same starting eleven I honestly think we'll win with Chelski having already clinched the title.

Good job our manager isn't Toshack, he doesn't even have a mobile!

I'll kick this off with Ronnie Rosenthal. Centre half Larry LLoyd. 2nd centre half Gary Gillespie. Left back Steve Staunton Only 6 to go! (Keegan) Struggling to think of a keeper.

I'll beg to differ. Nelsen is a very good player but certainly ain't no Colin Hendry and has been at fault for several goals this season. Bellamy is a class apart and would fully justify the award. Although if the award is judged strictly on players who have contributed over the WHOLE of the season there are only two live contenders imo - Nelsen and Reid and I'd give Reid the edge.

How many times is this old cobblers about Shearer supposedly saying he wanted to stay at Rovers going to be brought up? For the umpteenth time, he never said anything at all about leaving or staying all summer. (Probably for obvious reasons) The "I'm staying" thing was an LET headline incorrectly attributed to Shearer. Looking back and even at the time it seemed totally unrealistic that he would stay, with us not even in the UEFA Cup and us slumping alarmingly due to Harford having failed to make the transition from coach to manager. It's a credit to Uncle Jack's enviable powers of persuasion that Shearer was seemingly undecided up to the last minute. Conversely a couple of seasons later Chris Sutton very publically came out and said that he wasn't leaving Rovers even if we were relegated (not expecting us to be) Of course it was a different kettle of fish when the unthinkable actually happened and Sutton soon changed his mind. Never hear anyone holding that against Sutton in the same way as the thing Shearer never even actually said though! In any event if Shearer was to be as loyal as some people expected, he would never have left Southampton to join us for bigger and better things in the first place.

Abramovic can spend as much money as he likes but it is still a considerable achievement to train, coach and mould the team spirit of a set of players that win the League - especially 2 seasons running. However Chelsea have had 2 seasons where practically nothing has gone wrong for them in terms of bad luck or injury. How many consecutive games has Lampard played? Despite all that there are clear signs in the second half of this season that everything will not be as hunky dory for them next year - I can't remember the last time they played really well, and for the first time they have had two or three really poor results. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Man Ure or Arsenal win the League next year. I still prefer Chelski to ManUre or Boring boring Liverpool any day of the week personally though.

McClaren will probably get it in the face of overwhelming public opposition because he is seen as the "safe" option by the FA. Sadly it's always been the way with the FA. Can't help thinking this reminds me of the 70's when "Uncle" Ron Greenwood got the job despite Clough being the only logical choice. Years of failure followed. Albeit there is no such outstanding candidate this time round. EDIT: Oops sorry Billy almost exactly what you said.

Lot of over reaction on this thread. Great player, currently completely out of sorts and may benefit from starting the rest of the season on the bench. Show me another left sided winger/ midfielder of the same age who'll guarantee you 10-12 goals a season who would be available for 5m, and only then should we consider selling. An offer of ten million upwards might at least give us something to think about - before turning it down.

An extremely churlish way to remember Blackburn Rovers' greatest ever player Gav. Sure he won't need to dash off to the pawnbrokers to trade in his Rolex anytime soon but neither did he deserve to have his final few games cut short through injury. The amount of media attention he's getting is richly deserved as he's arguably the greatest ever English striker let alone our greatest ever player. The only thing brassing me off this week is the countless people ringing in radio stations berating him for lack of ambition in joining Newcastle and not ManUre but.............. 1) In 1996 Newcastle under Keegan were the up and coming team. 2) More to the point it has been recorded many times Uncle Jack wouldn't let Shearer sign for United even though he wanted to. Thanks for everything big Al.

Nothing has really changed as a result of today's (predictable) results. It's still in our hands but we now need ideally two wins or possibly something from the Chelsea game depending on the Charlton result.