Talk Sport was claiming tonight that Michael Owen was at secret talks today at a location in Northumbria with Freddy Shepherd, Shepherd's son, Souness, Shearer and Dean Saunders. Not even fat Freddy would be daft enough to let Souness spend 18m on Owen and then sack him a few days after would he?.................

Just a couple of after thoughts from Saturday. I really really don't understand the Jansen situation. The only way to resolve this is for him to have half a dozen starts, this is the only way we'll be able to determine if he can still do a job. If he can't then assuming he's on a pay as you play type deal it's time to draw a line under it. It does us or him little good to have him permanently hanging round warming the bench (for which we presumably have to pay him) The other thing was I've rarely seen Savage so subdued on a football pich after two excellent games previously. Wonder if someone "had a word" after his 3 consecutive yellows? I think I'd rather have him giving it his all and running the risk of a yellow.

I've never understood why anyone would spend fifty and sixty quid and all day travelling to an away game and then not really watch it because they're too busy hurling insults at a section of opposition fans. Then again, having read this thread I'm not that surprised. Wouldn't you be better off just watching the game and trying to get behind the team on the basis of what happens on the pitch? The other thing is if you spend all afternoon winding up the opposition fans and or the stewards, you can hardly then act all surprised and hard done by if you get thrown out and /or foreign objects eventually start flying in your direction.

I dnt sppse e cn spel porl

That 17223 for Wigan v Sunderland must have been a small home crowd given Sunderland's likely following? All totally irrelevant however (apart from Gav sweating on his 50 quid. ) Of far more relevance is the fact Wigan recorded their first victory and we don't look capable of notching a goal until bellamy returns.

Just got back from watching it live on foreign TV etc. I'm almost too angry to type after that first half display, we simply didn't turn up, two yards slower to the ball - how the hell do you get over run in midfield with five men strung across the middle? Second half we still didn't play well but at least made a contest of it by competing. It wasn't like watching the same team as Wednesday, the players are taking the proverbial out of the fans already this season with their displays, excellent v Spurs, OK but rescued by two stunning goals v Fulham, couldn't be arsed turning up first half today and second half at West Ham. I had grown to expect these sort of showings under Souness but hoped they were a thing of the past under Hughes. No -one emerged with any credit today. From a technical viewpoint. - With the benefit of hind sight it would have been better to minimise the disruption to Wednesday's relatively successful formation by putting in Andy Taylor at right back and leaving Reid in midfield. Flitcroft was unspeakably bad. - Friedel sold himself completely for the goal, Todd had started to push Baros wide and if Brad had stayed on his line Baros would have had to produce a hell of a shot to beat him. As it was he got caught in no man's land gifting Baros an easy finish. If you come for the ball you've got to get it. - Even at this early stage we have to accept that the gamble on Kuqi hasn't and isn't going to work. The guy's commitment isn't in question but he's been so far off the pace in the opening 4 matches it's got to the point where it's embarrasing for the lad. Dickov is of a similar standard (plus the reds and yellows) So if it's not felt any of the other strikers on the books are the answer, then we have to bring someone else in, or face another 32 goal season. And we won't survive another of those. It's little wonder people won't come and watch us with either of those 2 up front. Not happy. And that's an understatement. Can almost start to understand the cricket is best viewpoint"

A point a game is relegation form.

The Ashes are on now, and they are far more exciting and engaging than a bunch of brats more concerned about their wages than winning trophies. 342073[/snapback] Don't disagree that the current test series is good stuff but it just seems to be one of those contests that comes around every 20 years or so that happens to be enthralling viewing like Botham's ashes in 1981 or the series before that in the 70's(can't recall the year) that was hijacked by activists. This series has combined two of the closest finishes ever with the emergence of Flintoff as a nationally recognisable Bothamesque figure, even to non cricket followers. Much test cricket is played out to a boring stalemate on a track as flat as a pancake or peters out to a draw as a result of weather interruptions. Wouldn't be at all surprised if the current cricket mania is a temporary fad and football for all it's many current faults is firmly back as number one by next summer's world cup.

After his display on Wednesday night it will not necessarily be a bad thing if Kuqi is unavailable. Maybe Jansen or Derbyshire can grab their chance.

Can't see us losing but can't see us scoring either. 0-0, another two winnable points going begging.

Oops well spotted! No wonder Owen doesn't want to commit himself there full time. GS had all summer to bring a striker in knowing full well Bellamy wasn't part of his plans. He's left it until the last minute after bringing in umpteen midfielders and now faces either missing out altogether or paying wildly over the odds for someone.

Just thought I'd drag this back up to the top, 180 minutes, no goals, one point. The sad thing is he'll probably get the chop before he can send them into terminal decline.

Fair do's, I was actually sat next to two Tottenham fans working in the Edgworth area and at the time they said they couldn't understand those decisions either. Unless they were frightened of me

The game ended as a spectacle when Neill was sent off after 77 mins. Up until then I thought we played extremely well, infinitely better than against Fulham. However I also thought it was heartbreaking to see us completely dominate possession against a very good side and fail to capitalise because we had nothing up front. A bit of quality up there and we'd have won comfortably. As for the sending off, watching the game live at full speed I thought the first yellow was extremely harsh, the second tackle a bit overenthusiastic and a marginal yellow, but that overall commonsense should have prevailed. Savage's yellow was a complete joke, he made a perfect tackle and took the ball as clean as a whistle. Despite that he earned his his third yellow in three games, when maybe only the one at West Ham was justified. Certainly in his case and with the team overall we seem to be suffering from a severe case of "give a dog a bad name" ( Didn't spot the alleged headbutt if true Todd deserves any censure going) Overall the game highlighted just how good we could be with some quality up front and the need for quality cover at right back and centre back given our disciplinary indiscretions.

Quote thenodrog: "Jack Walker allegedly had a sign over his desk with "Think Big" written on it. We should honour his memory by doing so." Agreed tnr, unfortunately the trustees don't seem to be falling over themselves to bring Michael Owen to Ewood Park! One of the main reasons for the decline in attendances isn't listed - "changing demographic makeup of the town" Lack of crowdpleasers is undoubtedly a factor, who wants to watch Dickov when you've been watching Duff? Not sure lack of success should be a reason though, if we had somehow managed to sneak into the top flight pre Jack we'd have had no more, in fact far less, chance of success than we have now. It seems people are starting to be slightly more picky with their fixtures which if you look back over the years is how attendances have been in the past 11-12,000 for low profile fixtures and 35,000 for Man Ure or Liverpool. It's only relatively recently that the home support has remained nearly identical throughout the season.

Crucial game, the result could set the tone for the season. When the fixtures came out I really thought we should have been looking at 7 points from the first 3 games. Win and it's a very good start. Draw and it's an average start and lose and it's a poor start given the fixtures. Desperately hoping for 3 points but think Spurs are finally a decent outfit under Jol. Reluctantly tending towards a draw, 1-1.

As long as the Premiership maintains a collective stance as at present then there's no partivcular reason why Rovers top flight tenure should be shortlived. All established sides should have a huge advantage over the 3 promoted clubs every year. If Clubs ever have to negotiate TV rights individually, that's when we'll really start to struggle.

Gordon, you make some very valid points as always but think you're well wide of the mark by continually beating the "Lancashire United" drum. If hypothetically BRFC were unable to draw more widely across the white indigenous population of the North in future, why on earth would Lancasshire United be able to? It's one and the same thing, asking people to support a different team to the one they're used to! Besides does anyone actually know anyone who would pay to watch a combined "Lancashire United" I certainly wouldn't, being an interested armchair observer would be as close as I'd get. And that would be extremely doubtful.

As I recall that gate was artificially capped at a lower level because the new Ewood was in the early stages of construction. As far as the goals are concerned, Shearer was the greatest Rovers player of all time for me, but having seen the superb build up again to MGP's goal I can't recall a better goal from a Rovers player. Big Al or no big Al.

There's no point pussyfooting around the issue any longer. Whilst the sale of star players and poor performances on the pitch have been contributory factors the major problem or issue facing the club over the last few years has been the question of how to get more of the local Asian population down to Ewood. Up to now the question seems to have been periodically raised then swept under the carpet. Without beating ourselves up about it, as the town rapidly moves towards becoming predominantly Asian it stands to reason that our attendances will decline unless either a) A far greater proportion of the local Asian population can be persuaded to attend or b ) We draw in support from further afield. Far from easy to crack but frankly John Williams is paid more than handsomely enough to come up with some solutions.

Strange game today , thought the game was generally poor but was rather undeservedly graced by two of the finest goals I've ever seen at Ewood. (Stuart Hall apparently said MGP's goal was the best he'd ever seen) On the down side Fulham were dire yet we so nearly let them back into the game due to a lapse in concentration immediately after half time, as at West Ham. Emerton was dismal once again, how he survived 90 minutes was a mystery. He must be dropped if only to send a message that you can't get away with playing like that and retain your place. There was no lack of effort from Kuqi but on today's evidence he looks a long way away from being Premiership quality. Once again playing 4-5-1 I feel we offer little by way of attacking threat. On the plus side, I thought Savage was very good, harrying the opposition to death, much more of what you expect from him. A rejuvenated Neill desevedly MOM. Wednesday's game against Spurs will give a much better idea as to our prospects, we need to show more up front and can't rely on 2 wonder strikes from midfield to pull us out of the fire every week. If we can nick a win it will be an excellent start though.

Amazing how the emergence of young Andy Taylor as potential competition has seen a complete transformation in Neill after two years of crap displays. All credit to him for today's performance though. Although he did completely switch off for the Fulham goal (along with the rest of the defence)

Edited

Whilst every supporter wishes their club could be that bit more successful, surely watching us compete against the best with players like Cole and Bellamy in the blue and white halves makes it all worthwhile? If you're not happy with that then there's no point being in any of the lower leagues either as the ultimate goal of promotion to the Premiership becomes pointless. That's not to say there isn't a point at which the product becomes simply too expensive.

I liked the "competition" element of that article. The sooner Chelsea, ManU, Arsenal etc clear off and have a European Super League the better (why do they want to compete with the likes of Blackburn Rovers?) - then us mere mortals such as BRFC might just have more of a chance of taking part in a meaningful competiton - who knows it may even be interesting and affordable. 339894[/snapback] Not sure I agree with that part Bob, for me a large part of the attraction of being in the Premiership is watching us pit our wits against the big 3 or 4 and trying to figure out a way to beat them. Take that away and you almost might as well be in the coca cola league playing Forest, Wolves Derby etc.