Has he gone yet?

Nothing new there then. One thing I was hoping for this season was a better attitude from the players but the first three games have demonstrated that little has changed from last term. I was mildly optimistic before the start of the season but it is obvious even at this early stage that we are facing another relegation battle. One point out of possible nine and a buoyant ManU to come. Lady Luck certainly isn't on our side, is it Graeme?

Just back from my annual two weeks in Morecambe. Marvellous time. It may have been mentioned elsewhere but I notice Souness was blaming "Lady Luck" for our demise against Southampton. You would have thought he could have dreamt up a new excuse in the close season.

Bring this back to the top. Mustn't let our dear manager think he is never far away from our thoughts. Hope you sleep well Graeme, because wondering who is going to score goals for us this season is giving me nightmares.

Some of Rovers' performances last season veered between tragi-comedy and pantomime but their preparations for the new season are becoming nothing short of farcical. The lead role in all this is, of course, is being played by the grand dame Souness, whose transfer policy (if he has one) continues to defy logic and gives the appearance of a struggling manager who has lost the plot and is making it up as he goes along. In the past week we have had the curious bid for Moore, reported interest in yet another defender, Finnan, and the continuing on/off, is he staying/is he going saga involving Dwight Yorke. All three raise questions about Souness’s stewardship of the club and the prospects for next season. Why, for instance, would Souness want to sign Moore when we already have nine (!) senior defenders, including four centre backs, on the books? And why would he wish to sign Finnan, a right back, when the position is already held by Neill, reputedly one of Souness’s favourite players? Why, also, the about-turn that has seen Yorke, seemingly so out in the cold that he was left out of the pre-season tour, return to favour with hints that he may even be offered a new contract? Yorke did not look remotely interested in playing for the club for most of last season and Souness repeatedly criticised his attitude and lifestyle, so what has changed? Nothing, I would suggest, except that Souness has been ordered to make peace with Yorke by the board because the club cannot get rid of the player and has to continue paying his exorbitant wages. Last season, Souness increasingly gave the impression of a man who did not know what he was doing. His antics as the big kick-off approaches merely reinforces that view in my opinion.

Svengate has claimed its first victim. Mark Palios has resigned as chief executive of the FA.

That Coventry match at Ewood in the 1966-67 season represented something of a watershed for Rovers. If we had won it, we would almost certainly have returned to the old First Division at the first attempt. Unfortunately, Coventry triumphed, won promotion and stayed in the top flight for the next 30-odd years while Rovers slowly sunk farther and farther into oblivion. I remember the Ferguson dismissal well and also another sending-off when he gave the dirty midfielder, Trevor Hockey, of Birmingham, an elbow in the face right under the ref's nose. Not the most intelligent act but Ferguson was a real crowd pleaser who was adored by the Rovers faithful. I particularly remember a goal at Aston Villa circa 1965 (?) when he dribbled round the entire defence and sat on the ball on the goal-line before tapping it in. At least that's how I recall it, but it was a long time ago.

If only the FA had appointed Brian Clough at the peak of his powers c1973-76 instead of Revie/Uncle Ron Greenwood. The press mounted a vigorous campaign for Cloughie but they were ignored as usual. Cloughie was certainly at his most controversial at that time but weren't his "peak years" 1978-79 when Nottingham Forest won the European Cup in successive seasons?

Since when did the press exist to serve English football? Or are they supposed only to print the "nice" stories and ignore the ones that might harm the game? Newspapers did not report Royal scandals in days gone by but the world has moved on since then. Newspapers compete against each other for customers (the same as drinks companies) and the smell of a good story (which this most certainly is) has the houndogs from from the red tops salivating. And who would not admit to lapping up every word of the Eriksson affair as the story unfolds? Had he won either the 2002 World Cup or Euro 2004, Eriksson could shag away for England and he would probably have received a knighthood for it. As is it, both tournaments exposed his inadequacies. At £4 million a year the FA are obviously wondering if they are getting value for money from a man of limited ability who will never be able to deliver the success that the country craves and who clearly has so much spare time on his hands that he is chasing every bit of skirt around the office desks. Eriksson should be consigned to the scrapheap now, following Keegan, Hoddle, Venables, Taylor, Robson, Greenwood and Revie in the Hall of Dishonour for England Managers Who Weren't Up To The Job.

If in doubt, blame the press. What nonsense. The reality is that if any of past managers had been up to the job, England would have won a major trophy. Eriksson is just the latest in a long line of overpromoted ninnies who have failed to deliver results through their own incompetance. The real culprits for England's poor performances over the past 40 years are the dunderheads at the FA who have consistently appointed the wrong men for the job. They even sacked Alf Ramsey, the man who delivered England the World Cup.

Bryan Douglas Mike Ferguson Tony Field All the rest are pygmies by comparison.

Important to keep this thread on the backburner ready for the defeat by West Brom. Souness out.

The change of tactics that brought the win at Fulham and the run of victories that saved us from relegation was instigated by Dean Saunders, not clueless Souness who spent the match berating officials as usual.

COLE STILL HAS HUNGER - COLEMAN By Duncan Bech, PA Sport Fulham manager Chris Coleman believes Andy Cole still has the hunger to succeed after signing the veteran striker from Blackburn. The former Manchester United forward has signed a two-year deal with the Cottagers after slipping down the pecking order at Ewood Park. Coleman has been looking to fill the void left by Louis Saha’s departure for Old Trafford in January, a move which left the London club short of firepower. The transfer of the 32-year-old was announced by Coleman after today’s friendly with Celtic. “We’re delighted to have signed Andy,” he said. “His pedigree speaks for itself. He had a medical yesterday and everything was fine. He joins us for training on Tuesday. There are just one or two things that Blackburn have to sign for his release but everything has been organised and he’s a Fulham player.” He added: “I think Andy’s got a point to prove and he’s still eager. Behind Alan Shearer he’s the Premiership’s highest goalscorer.” Rovers had given Cole permission to talk with Fulham after allowing him to leave Ewood Park on a free transfer. The striker, who joined Blackburn in December 2001 for £7.5million, still had a year to run on his contract with Rovers. But with fellow strikers Jon Stead, Matt Jansen, Paul Gallagher and Paul Dickov all netting in Friday’s 8-0 pre-season rout of German part-timers SG Schorndorf, his exit was on the cards. Rovers boss Graeme Souness has revealed that another former Manchester United star, Dwight Yorke, was his sixth choice forward - and former Arsenal striker Cole has decided to return to London after netting just twice in the final 11 matches last season for Blackburn, who preserved their top-flight status with four wins in their last six games. Coleman has a higher opinion of the player. “We’ve been looking at Andy for some time and now was the right moment to move for him, so that’s what we’ve done,” said the Welshman. “It didn’t work out for him at Blackburn for various reasons but that’s nothing to do with us. We’re very pleased he’s a Fulham player and we’re looking forward to working with him. “We need 11 hungry players on the pitch and Andy is still hungry. He wants to succeed and that’s why we’ve brought him to the club.”

Now that Cole has escaped from Stalag Ewood, stand by for red-top exclusives in the coming days/weeks dishing the dirt on his non-relationship with Souness. Should make for interesting reading.

Cole has now officially signed for Fulham on a two-year contract.

Marvellous. Has Souness phoned Cole yet begging him to come back?

To state as someone did earlier that Cole is not a good striker is clearly nonsense. A career record of 198 goals in 358 league games (Rovers 27 in 74) and 57 goals in 109 cup matches is the record of a top-class player in anyone's language. I would wager there are many Premiership defenders delighted that he will not be lining up in a Rovers shirt next season. In the end Souness keeps or loses his job on decisions like this but it must be obvious even to his his keenest supporters that he is taking a big gamble in relying on the unproven Gallagher and Stead and the dubious quality of Dickov to see us through the season. I forgot to add of course, Souness out.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating or some other such cliche. Middlesbrough have brought in star names and season ticket sales have gone through the roof. In the past two summers, we will have offloaded Dunn, Duff and (as looks likely) Cole, our biggest stars. Meanwhile season tickets sales have slumped. I wonder if the two events are related?

Souness packed him off to Turkey when he complained at being left out of the team. Weeks before, Souness had been lauding Sukur as "one of the best players he had ever worked with".

There was also a spat with Short when the veteran centre half dared to question tactics after yet another home defeat last season. Even Souness realises he cannot do without our best defender, however, and it came to nothing.

Middlesbrough are reporting record season ticket sales of 25,000 thanks to their high-profile signings of Hasselbaink and Viduka and expect to hit the 30,000 mark before the start of the season. Rovers on the other hand are trying to offload a popular player (for the second summer in succession) and think they can replace him with a cutprice non-entity who excites no one. And Williams wonders why he can't shift season tickets.

Souness would never have tolerated Figo in the first place. Figo is a big player with a big ego, the type of player who our manager likes to cut down to size by first humiliating them and then forcing them to leave. If I were Paul Gallagher I would be looking round for another club already. Souness talked last season about him "having his big head on", so the young striker has obviously been earmarked for the Souness treatment.

Don't we know it. Messageboard incontinence, known in the medical profession as fourlaneblueexcessivepostumopinionsoneverysubjectoutofrectumitis

While hardly a surprise in view of the smoke signals coming out of Ewood, this is very disappointing news. Cole has driven me to distraction sometimes but I cannot help feel we will be weaker without him. One can only hope that Souness has another striker of similar quality lined up because (discounting Yorke and Jansen) it places a terrible goalscoring burden on Stead, Gallagher and Dickov, of whom the first two are very inexperienced. A couple of injuries and we are in deep do-dah. Fortunately, at £55,000 per week (!!) I doubt if we can find any club willing to take over Cole's contract, unless we do a Leeds and pay Cole to play for another club or the player himself takes a very big paycut. The likelihood is that the situation will fester for weeks and possibly months to the dissatisfaction of all concerned. Souness out.