I'm not a fan of Souness's constant excuses involving refs, nor do I feel there's a widespread conspiracy re the club but the managers previous run ins with D'Urso obviously came home to roost on Saturday. At some point in the second half GS was ranting as usual on the touchline about something pretty innocuous, shortly thereafter D'Urso started giving every decision against us. Ferguson received his first caution for a nothing tackle, Johanssen his for a clean challenge and I don't believe Ferguson would have received the second card on another day or if he was wearing a Manchester United or Liverpool shirt. The penalty decision was a joke. Short is entitled to defend that situation and did nothing at all wrong. I remember 1974 World Cup Final referee Jack Taylor saying you couldn't give a penelty for every bit of contact in the area or every game would finish 12-11. Unfortunately that's what happened on Saturday. All this hard luck stuff though overshadows the bigger picture regarding the club. Last week I called for Souness to be given fifteen games to be judged fairly this time round. I still stand by that to some extent but it has to be subject to him knowing his best eleven players, fielding a settled side, and playing a workable formation. I won't repeat what everyone has already said about individual players but you don't have to be one of the manager's "know it all" fans to recognise that playing players out of position generally doesn't work. The worrying thing for me is that Souness seems to have lost his nerve. After the opening games against two of the poorer sides in the division I am sure we would have had four or even six points had we gone out with a positive line up (see second halves) to try and win the game rather than stop the other team playing. Souness has said (again) this is his strongest squad yet so why is he showing so little faith in them? Whilst we aren't going to win the League we're certainly capable of giving any side a match on the day on equal terms. So why are we starting games as if we are a Conference side playing a 3rd round FA Cup tie at Highbury? Souness has to show confidence in his players or they will not perform with any confidence themselves. We've seen already the negative tactics simply don't work.

Souness got the tactics badly wrong first half on Saturday IMO but it goes without saying it's far too early to be jumping up and down after one game. I would have sacked him last season but as the decision was taken that he 's still the manager he has to start the season with a clean slate. If we don't get a result on Saturday then it's not impossible we will be propping the table up on September 11th with one point from five games. I shan't be too worried if this happens PROVIDED the performances are good. There then follows two respite games v Portsmouth and Charlton before four potentially tough looking games in October v Villa, Boro, Chelsea and Liverpool. So again there is the possibility that by October the 30th our League position still won't be the best. November sees four easier looking games against Norwich, City Brum and Fulham. In the event we do struggle at the start then fail to improve over this period, I will be worried. It will also be 15 games in which I think will give enough time to give a reasonable assessment of our chances.

Similar story at the Woodlands on Preston New Rd. They're considering not getting it for the first time, they said it was £2,000. As for the game itself Southampton seem pretty ordinary under Sturrock so in optimistic mode we might just be able to sneak a 1-0 win. Which would keep everyone happy whilst at the same time maintaining my 100% prediction record.

Excellent point USA, that is one of my my abiding memories of Sir Roger as well. Must have had superglue on his gloves. Unfortunately catching the ball and holding onto it as opposed to punching it seems virtually non existent these days. Might be largely to do with the ball. Was speaking to Terry Gennoe some years ago and expressed the opinion that Tim Flowers whilst an excellent keeper maybe didn't command his 6 yard box as well as he might. Terry dis agreed and said when he was playing opposition players just used to hoof 50 or 60 yard balls straight down the pitch which were meat and drink. He was of the view that in the Premiership especially with the lighter balls crosses came in so fast from all angles you simply didn't have the time. I digress. Sir Roger for me by a hair over Friedel.

Let's not beat around the bush, Souness cost us the win today by playing a ridiculous formation first half. You can't afford to be that negative at home, let alone against a team like West Brom. The second half with a reasonable formation was quite good. Individually Friedel - not much to do (as with West Brom keeper) Gray - extremely solid display as always since he joined Short - a rock as always - still our best defender Matteo - poor display- hopefully capable of better Amoruso - unconvincing- couple of really serious errors Emerton - very poor display Ferguson - excellent performance - man of the match IMO Gresko - never a central midfielder De Pedro - come back at christmas when you're fit Stead - poor by his standards Yorke - Excellent in the second half when he dropped off the front two and played deeper but never going to provide much of a direct goal threat. Subs Tugay - should have started with Ferguson, made a big difference Dickov - runs about a lot, but will have few opposition defenders or goalkeepers worried. Not Premiership quality. Gallagher - not enough time to make an impact but surely either he or Douglas a better option until the Spaniard is fit. Overall, assuming we start with a sensible formation (not 6 defenders) you would have to be encouraged by the much greater amount of control and possession we have in midfield with Ferguson as opposed to Flitcroft but be worried by the lack of punch up front.

First time I've read Sox's and Scotty's preview. Wonderful stuff. Carlsberg don't do posts but if they did they'd probably all be like that one etc..... As for the game, I think the opening day is a bad time to be playing West Brom. They'll be all boinged up and Megson will be particularly determined that they make a far better general fist of things this time round. Looked at in the context of the season the home games against the promoted clubs are "must win" fixtures for us and I think I'd rather we opened with a fixture we wouldn't necessarily be expecting too much from and then faced the Baggies after 3 or 4 games when harsh reality has set in for them. The heart says Rovers 1 WBA 0 (Stead) The head says (and my actual prediction is) 1-1. Is anyone keeping score of a prediction League this year?

The offence of causing death by reckless driving was technically replaced by the one of causing death by dangerous driving. The maximum penalty was originally ten years imprisonment. I think there were then proposals to increase this to 14 but I'm not absolutely certain if that was brought in or not. EDIT: The maximum penalty is now 14 years I believe.

With the squad as it is at this precise moment I feel the decision to let Cole go for nothing and replace him with Dickov will lead to another desperately disappointing season, the saving grace being the three promoted clubs should still be worse than us. 1) Arsenal 2) Chelsea 3) Liverpool 4) Man Ure 5) Newcastle 6) Spurs 7) Fulham 8) Villa 9) Boro 10) Brum 11) Charlton 12) City 13) Portsmouth 14) Bolton 15) Southampton 16) Rovers 17) WBA 18) Everton 19) Palace 20) Norwich

Jansen isn't going to recover his form coming in off the bench or coming in for one game and being replaced the next. He needs a run of at least 8 -10 games. If he's not physically capable of that, or if he gets that sort of run and can't do it, then time to call it a day.

4-0, was there a game on? Semi recovered now after a liver transplant this afternoon. The boy Fleming's fault. Bit daft really going all that way and not being able to remember anything about the match. Hope everyone who went had a great time and got back safely.

Have just spotted a poll in yesterday's Sun the results of which I think would be representative of a lot of people's views on here. A vast majority (70%) disagreed Sven should be sacked for bringing the FA into disrepute after having two affairs. Similarly 67% disagreed his affairs undermined the image of the England team. However a similar percentage (68%) thought that at £4m p.a. he hadn't given value for money. Wouldn't disagree with any of that.

That trait is not exclusive to the favoured England players under Sven. Every time a team is in relegation trouble and a manager is in danger of the sack the players chirp up about what a thoroughly bloody good bloke and manager he is. (Why didn't you play for him then?) Then as soon as the new man comes in (which invariably sparks an improvement) it's all about how much more enjoyable playing and training is under the new guy!

Think me and Waggy have been saying this about Neill for a couple of seasons now. Can't defend but the next "super atko" in the making.

So the pre season scoring stats for the forwards are Gally 5 Stead and Dickov 2 and De Pedro 1? Interesting.

Imagine us as a publically quoted Company. The season ticket letter from JW is the flotation prospectus and the comments from Souey are the interim trading statements. "The aim is not to go bankrupt (be relegated) this year" is not going to encourage anyone to invest (buy a season ticket) in the first instance and is more likely to have people stampeding to sell (not renew) It's just about promoting the club and our prospects in a positive light.

If only the FA had appointed Brian Clough at the peak of his powers c1973-76 instead of Revie/Uncle Ron Greenwood.

It's little to do with whether he had an affair (again) at work per se. It's about whether when asked about it by his employers he deliberately lied about it to try and cover his own arse thereby inducing the FA to put out an official release which turned out to be false.

Sh!t, Simon, you're so right. Souness should shut his mouth and cease these ridiculous utterances. Good lad Tris. Glad we're finally agreed. If the words in red said "Enable Blackburn Rovers to be in the top half of the table a year from now" he'd be on the right lines PR wise. None of which desperately matters if we're actually performing on the pitch of course.

Ermm........Amoruso, Short, Matteo, Johansson (Todd, McEveley) Stead, Gally, Dickov, Jansen (Yorke) Dead heat?

But is anyone really that bothered? Personally I tend towards the point of view that any number of people could have perfoermed as averagely as Sven has given the talent he has at his disposal. EDIT: In any event there is no chance of Sven simply "walking away" and forgoing £14m compensation. If nothing else he is motivated by love of money.

I'll start it again, and I'll keep on about it until he stops coming out these daft comments. I'm sure it hasn't escaped your attention it's emptying Ewood and progressively eating into season ticket sales regardless of whether you feel it has any effect on performances on the field. (I think it does) A simple "I'm happy with the squad I've got and we're going to give it a real good go" or "let's do the best we possibly can" or "the aim is to improve on last season" etc would be far more helpful.

Regardless of the ifs and buts surrounding his future with the club, I cannot see any reason whatsoever for not keeping him in the squad. It's just a waste of money and resources. Same with Andy Todd, although it seems Wigan are preparing to take him JJB-way very soon. I was wondering if there was any way back for Todd given Yorke's miraculous pheonix from the ashes type situation. Guess the difference is someone's willing to pay something for Todd, but no-one's willing to take on Yorke's wages.

Good to see we're aiming sky high as usual. If the extent of our ambition is quite that low, we can't possibly do anything else but struggle. It's this more than anything else which perplexes me about Souness. He was so warrior like as a player but is obviously now content for his team to scrape by on the bare minimum, i.e. finishing 17th is a successful season.

Plus ca change etc.....

Actually no he hasn't. Jeff Powell was anti-Sven when he was appointed on the basis that he wasn't English. He came out with the comment that what can this country of skiers who spend half their time in darkness teach us about football. Typical Daily Mail really. However when Sven got some good results he changed and seemed to forget everything he had previously written. It seems he has now done another u-turn. The FA won't sack Sven because they can't afford to. If, as he says, he hasn't lied about an affair they can't do anything about him. If they want to get rid because of football reasons fair enough but this stuff is just nonsense. "Oh yes he has!" INSERT REPLY HERE I'm quite aware Powell's vehement opposition to Sven's appointment was on the basis he wasn't English and anything he writes about Sven has to be read in that context. Just enjoyed that quote that's all. Can't honestly recall him ever changing his tune and saying much complimentary about Sven either but I'll take your word for it. The FA might be entitled to sack Sven depending on what has actually gone on. IF he wilfully misled them into issuing an official statement which was false and subsequently had to be retracted, then that could conceivably amount to gross misconduct, especially taken in conjunction with the Ulrika "scandal" and his discussions with Chelski.