RevidgeBlue

Portugal were the better side but in Souness parlance we were "mugged" by a very poor decision from a referee who gave us absolutely nothing over the game. And the once influential Beckham capped off a woeful tournament by missing his second vital penalty. I look forward to a lengthy AESF rant later on.

If only. Phil I know you have always insisted this was the case, but don't know where you dreamt up this notion.

Don't want to put the mockers on anything by saying we're going to win it but we've been more impressive than at any tournament I can recall since 1970. Were it not for a mad three minutes in injury time v France we'd have had 9 points. Too tight to call with any great confidence tonight, but no reason why we can't sneak it and go on to win the tournament. Need more from former goldenboys Beckham and Owen though.

P.S. If there is any truth in the Duff + Parker + £20m for Gerrard rumours, good though Gerrard is, it represents the best deal ever for Liverpool and would turn them into a real force. Sadly.

Can't agree there Paul. We sell Dunn and Duff for £22.5m. The money comes in over the life of the contracts, say 4 years, at £5.5m per year. We purchase Gresko, Amoruso, Reid, Emerton, and Ferguson for £14m on similar terms costing £3.5m per year. In the meantime we finish 9 places down the Premiership table losing £4.5m. Net loss over the year = £2.5m In addition to that we will be paying considerably more out in wages for the five new players than for Dunn ansd Duff. Possibly an extra £40kp.w.? Loss over the year now = £4.5m

I've not seen him play so I'll reserve judgement. However for a free he could be a very good signing and a two year deal isn't excessive given his age. Weren't we quoted £1.5 or £2m for him in the January window? Without getting into the "have we any money" debate if there were no major departures and if we could hypothetically offload Flitcroft and bring in Butt we might have the makings of a top 6 side once again. Also agree with the new poster who said we need a centre half and decent right back. Mills and Matteo on reduced wages would do nicely. Where are Newcastle waving £3m at us for Neill when you need them?

So should they have come clean after this "huge surge" IMO IF there's no money, the club should stay stchum and just get on with it. Other than the timing of the announcement in s/t renewal week there is of course the question of why comments like this are coming out from the manager a week or two after the chief executive said there was £4m in the summer kitty. a)How many people buy the Telegraph? b)Can the Telegraph be believed or have they printed the quotes out of context in order to increase their sales? Just a couple of thoughts Rev a) In global terms not huge numbers, but I would think the vast majority of our ST holders buy it. b ) Quite possible. Extremely unhelpful nonetheless. As I say there's an article effectively saying "Dont bother buying a season ticket - it won't be worth it" fuelled by quotes from the manager directly above an ad we will have paid for imploring people to buy season tickets!

So should they have come clean after this "huge surge" IMO IF there's no money, the club should stay stchum and just get on with it. Other than the timing of the announcement in s/t renewal week there is of course the question of why comments like this are coming out from the manager a week or two after the chief executive said there was £4m in the summer kitty.

The point is I would have expected a huge surge to renew before Saturday's initial S/T deadline. This article will have a major detrimental effect IMO. It won't affect me renewing but not everyone is as dedicated as Jordan. It's naive to think otherwise.

No just direct quotes from Souness. As soon as it's up on the LET perhaps someone could post the link, I haven't got the hang of that yet.

It's not just the "have we/haven't we got any money" argument. I simply can't believe such a negative story has come out with probably 80% of S/T holders preparing to renew by Saturday. On the front page there's a big picture of Souey looking glum with the headline "Souey: No money for new players". On the back page a huge headline "I've no cash to spend. - Souey frustrated by lack of funds" Underneath that story is no doubt an extremely expensive ad trying to persuade people to buy a season ticket! I really could weep sometimes.

Front and back page headlines of today's LET. Not on their website yet. The gist of it is that GS has now been told he has no money to spend. We might be able to take one or two players on free transfers but that's going to be it. Pederson too expensive for us and the Matteo deal similarly likely to fail through lack of spending power. What on earth are the club playing at? As if sales weren't likely to be bad enough before Saturday's initial S/T deadline we now get a story like this. Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot. The old chestnut about losing £1m on the last day of the season is wheeled out again. Don't remember us having a huge transfer budget as a result of shooting three or four places up the League on the last day in the last two seasons though. Seems it only works one way. So in the last two close seasons we have spent £3m and netted £7m, a total gain of £4m yet there's no money. A very shortsighted lack of ambition which can only end up with us in division one in the medium term.

I hope that is a joke. I doubt it, you see, Souness said David James was a great keeper, and Souey and Rev, well I think they'd manage to disagree if one of them said water was wet. No, it's not a joke - I wouldn't have said it otherwise would I? He's capable of pulling off great saves but just isn't reliable. If Souness thinks he's a "great" keeper we'll have to beg to differ on that. Friedel (Souness signing) has turned into a great keeper.

The ones I've seen in the flesh Roger Jones Kevin Hird Graeme Le Saux (dead heat with John Bailey) Colin Hendry David May (1993/4 version) Simon Barker David Batty Damien Duff Noel Brotherston Alan Shearer Tony Field (apologies to Garns) Obviously if I'd seen them in a Rovers shirt you'd have to consider Crompton/England/Mcevoy/Clayton/Douglas etc.

Calm down dears it's only England not Rovers - thankfully. Although we've done that several times last season as well. For those who are desperately bothered, chins up chaps. I always expected us to lose last night but qualify from the group. Only one person to blame last night, Calamity James. The guy always has been a disaster waiting to happen, always will be. Never even attempted to move for the free kick and a ridiculous challenge for the penalty which should have resulted in his dismissal. Otherwise solid but unexceptional displays from either side. Very little created from open play and all three goals from free kicks/a penalty.

Now you're being totally unfair EIT. It was only the first 32. Then we won four and mentally went on our summer hols early for the last two.

jim has this about right, the acquisition of Dickov and Matteo wouldn't particularly affect our prospects either way. Squad fillers rather than a significant improvement on what we have already. With the Pederson deal looking increasingly doubtful (Would he be the answer anyway?) we can only hope there are still one or two slightly more exciting irons in the fire.

Can't believe that, depending upon how long Matteo's contract has to run that could be a very poor deal. 3 years at 40kp.w. would cost us £6m. We'd be much better off paying more for a younger player on lower wages who'll retain his value. For Matteo £1m and a 2 or 3 year deal on £20k p.w. would make more sense.

Whilst I still think Dickov is a very poor signing I think Matteo would be a decent acquisition. And he's old(ish) and cheap which suits our current player profile requirement perfectly!.

Perhaps I should stress that for under 8's it's completely FREE the still extremely cheap junior price of £70 - £75 is for 8-15 year olds. In the long term we need to keep these offers and try and hoover up all the school age support from Blackpool/ Burnley/ Preston/North Lancs /anywhere else etc.

Whilst many people aren't going to have much time to chew it over before the first claim your own seat/ direct debit deadline of 19th of June I really don't think the Club can be praised highly enough for the pricing structure, a junior can have a S/T under the DD scheme for £7.35 or £7.88 per month. FFS! The problem as I see it is that it is largely a case of preaching to the converted, will people who don't currently go be aware that such good deals are available?

Let's see if you're both right then!

Missing the point entirely. Of course it doesn't really matter if Cole is staying. Rather serious if he is leaving and Dickov is the replacement though.

"G + S couldn't have two better people to learn from than Paul AND ANDY"