The problem is...these ARE Hughes' tactics, he used them for Wales...I was hoping that that was down to the fact that Wales had a limited number of players and he wanted a way of fitting them into one team...but our tactics are starting to mirror those that he used for Wales. He would often play just Hartson up front on his own (Dickov), mess with his wingers which included Giggs playing right sometimes (Emerton). If we stay with one up front we will go down, we won't magically stop conceding goals so we have to make sure we're a threat at the other end...if we stick with one up front we'll have to the worst attack in the league as well as the worst defence. Relying on a First Division quality striker like Dickov to fire us to Premiership safety is nuts. There may be an underlying issue here. Hughes was trying to form a decent Wales team with limited talent and players - sound familiar ?? I agree that Hughes tactics are similar to that used when he was in charge of Wales, but I hope thats becuase we are in a similar situation with Hughes trying to make the best of a poor squad. I agree that using Emerton on the left is ridiculous - I could understand this if we had no naturally left sided players and he was trying to find the right man for the position. MGP should be given a chance here - I am a firm beleiver that an average left winger playing on the left is far more beneficial to the balance of the side than a decent right winger (who on paper may be a better player) playing out of position. I think the only real answer to our problems is a lot of transfer activity in January.

Already we seem to have one or two suggesting that Hughes is not the man for the job. Ok, we have had poor start under Hughes, and we all had bit of "head in clouds" syndrome where a little part of us thought that Hughes would come in and turn things around immediatley. Realisticly this is not going to happen, whether Hughes is top level management material is not the question here - and I for one beleive the jury is still out on that. At the end of the day whovever came in would only be as good as the players that go out on the pitch each week and train with him each day. These are players that the manager has inherited - and it may be that in an ideal world Hughes (or any other manager) would not choose a single one of them to play in his team, but at this stage, with the transfer window closed he has no option other than use the tools he has. (B&Q's own brand instead of his usual Stanley ones !). Although water under the bridge, there is only one place to point the finger and that is firmly in the face of Mr Souness. The team we have now that goes out on the pitch was moulded and constructed over a period of time by Souness. In my opinion, what he has done to Rovers can be talked about in the same manner as John Bond and the dingles. Souness inherited a reasonably talented team (with at least two top class home grown players). Over a period of time he spent heavily on new players with full financial backing. But in general all he has done is get rid of higher quality players and replace them with ones of a far poorer standard. This is the simple reason that we are in the position we are now - a good team does not become a bad team overnight, it happens over period of time and that period of time was whilst Souness was in charge. Ask yourselves this question - did we have a better team when Souness took over than we do now, I think that you will only come up with one answer - yes we did. This season will be a long hard battle against relegation. If we stay up this season under Hughes the man deserves a medal. Souness should be summoned to court to account for his gross negligance and mis-conduct whilst employed by Rovers ! He spent all our cash and left us with sunday league eleven.

Decent player who can pass the ball (something we don't seem to be able to do consistently at present) , good short term signing - but more importantly he is AVAILABLE IMMEDIATLEY ! certainly can't do any harm. After last nights game a quality central midfielder must be a priority (along with a right back, centre half, left winger, centre forward ) even if he is only a short term solution.

This is the earliest oppurtunity I've had to get onto the board since last nights game, and to be honest reading through the posts I cannot beleive the amount of negative comments. Agreed last night was by no means a classic performance (by either side). First half we were poor, but second half I thought that was the best we have played for quite some time. Okay we lacked a little quality in certain areas but we attacked and attacked for almost the whole 45 mins, and we had 66% possesion (which for the away side I think is outstanding). We perhaps lacked a cutting edge in front of goal and the quality of the final ball needs to improve, but I can't help but feel optimistic after the performance - we looked 100 times better than under Souness. Lets be realistic, Hughes has been in charge for 11-12 days, already there is an improvement, the rest will take time to come. I just can't beleive that people are being so negative, give the guy at least some time to sort things out. What is the point in giving Hughes and the Team two premiership games (one of which we won for those who seem to have forgotten - and at home as well !) and then start moaning again. We should all be behind Hughes and the players 100% and give them the time needed to get things right. The man is not Merlin, he cannot wave a wand and make everything like it was 10 years ago. I for one am under no illusion that this is going to be a tough tough season, but lay the blame at the door of the man that built the current side not the man who has inherrited - and also lets get behind the players as negativity and criticsm will harm the CLUB in the long term.

Really? News to me! Don't think that is a set rule on this either way, some of the great players make great managers, some don't. Some great managers were only mediocore or poor players. Personally, I think that players who had good level of intelligence both on and off the pitch stand a better chance of making it as a manager. (e.g. Dalglish). I think Hughes ticks both of those boxes.

About the experience thing, everyone has to start somewhere. Look at the managers that start in the lower divisions, do really well there, move up to prem level and flop ! I think that managers working in the lower divisions "manage" in a completely different way and play a totally different style than that in the premier league. When they move up they are like a fish out of water. With Hughes starting at the top level, lets hope this proves to be the formula for a successful manager at the highest level.

Good Post. We were only talking about this in the pub a couple of weeks ago (before Souness had gone) and we all said pretty much the same thing. Our feeling was that Souness had had more than enough financial support over the length of his reign, and based upon last seasons performance maybe the board weren't prepared to release any more funds for Souness as his future was no longer as secure. I honestly think (and hope!) that when the new man comes in, transfer funds will be made available. This really will be the basis upon on which the new manager comes in - we will stuggle to appoint anyone with a decent calibre if they have no money to build their own squad.

You obviously don't live in the Crystal Palace / Croydon area then, As grim has a whole different meaning there !

I'd go for Dowie over Houlier, Hoddle and Co without doubt. Dowie vs Hughes - for some reason something tells me Hughes would be the better appointment, dont know what just a gut feeling. Neither are experienced at this level of management, maybe its that Hughes may attract a better calibre of player. Can't really justify to myself why i'd prefer Hughes........... Lets just make the decision based upon Potters weird gut feelings !!

Regardless of whether the short list includes 3 or 5, surely if anyone on the list is already in management Rovers will have to ask for permission to speak to them. John Williams talked about interviews, so if Dowie has made it to the last 5 or even 3 (Which I hope not) we would have to approach Palace just to interview him, this doesn't mean he will get the job. I hope this is the case anyway, Dowie may be an up and coming manager but he is not what we need the present time - 6 months success at Palace does not add up to a top name manager in my opinion

I had a feeling Jansen would return to the squad. Lets hope he gets a run out, sticks one in and shows Souness that he can still do it !

Guys, please don't shoot me down here, or liken me to Hughesy. My brother in law just called me, he has dropped his car off at Westwood Mercedes in Blackburn late this afternoon and reckons Mark Hughes was coming out of there as he walked in. Swears its true and he's normally reliable. Can't myself see what he'd be doing in the Merc Garage, but just passing the message on.

Been thinking about this all day, following my earlier posts I am now posting my conlcusion ! I think that Souness was a fantastic manager for us an we owe a lot to him for getting us back on track. However the fantastic manager bit only applies to his first 3 years. He had 3 great years followed by 1.5 poor ones. That says it all really, I think that a change is the best thing - we've been on the decline in recent times with no sign of an upturn.

I agree with you Duffers, they were decent signings. I didn't make my point particularly clear - what I was trying to illustrate was the fact that people saying that Souness did well for Rovers on a limited budget is not really true, if we look back his budget wasn't really that limited. The fact that he will have more money to spend at Newcastle doesn't, in my opinion give him any more advantage than he had at Rovers. At the end of the day I think that he is an average manager and that won't change no matter which club he is in charge of. Sad to see him go but I think it may have been time for a change anyway, he'd took us as far as he could. We MUST MUST MUST make the correct appointment now, it is so critical.

I think most Rovers fans were more surprised by the news Rikko. I cant speak for everyone but I think the general feeling is that once the shock wore off no one was overly bothered. Souness will bring you discipline, but don't be surprised if he falls out with some of your top players along the way. And also dont be surprised to see Shearer on the Left, Kluivert at left back and so on !! Positions don't seem to mean a great deal to Souness ! In my opinion he is not a bad manager - but not a great one either. Tactically he is very suspect, there have been many occasions where people have felt that his tactics have cost us points. Also he will surely have money to spend at Newcastle, something he didn't do on the whole very wisely with us. Despite what some people on this board may say, over his 4.5 year reign Souness had a fair amount of money to spend at Blacburn, £7m on Cole, £7m on Grabbi and £7m on Ferguson without even thinking about it. I think he got away with this 'cos it was largely overlooked by the press. I hope that he does well for you but If I'm honest I dont' think he will set the north east on fire. My prediction is an improvement in the short term but this will soon fade and you'll be back to sqaure one. Sorry !

Strange feeling really, gutted in one way and happy in another - can't really work out if I'm glad or not. I think I'm dissappointed at the betrayal side of things, didn't think he was the type. On the other hand this may be good for the club, Souness record over the last 12 months has been very very poor, although I think the first 3 years he did a fantastic job in turning the club around. Maybe that was the problem, he turned things around and didn't know where to go from there - as others have said he took us as far as he could. What is crucial now is that we make the correct appointment. In my opinion this has to be a big name. An untried but promising manager from lower leagues is a recipe for disaster. Whoever we go for the board will have to find some transfer funds for them in the January window, as any high profile manager will insist on having money to spend. If they do not do this then we will end up with an unknown. Also on another note, did anyone else notice that JW didn't seem to try to hard to talk Souness into staying - maybe his days were numbered anyway !