Err, that's why it's called news. It's what sells newspapers and makes people watch TV. If the buffons purporting to be England "fans" had not terrorised half of Portugal, there would be nothing to report. Please engage brain before posting drivel.

So, De Pedro has an "unknown" problem that frightened off Saints, plus he's had a falling out with Sociedad. Sounds like his agent has done a perfect selling job on Souness. Good old, Souey, the Arthur Daley of football. He'll take on all the rubbish no one else wants.

Dear Javier Welcome to Ewood Park! Here’s hoping you have a long and successful stay at the club. Forget the fact that I said I would not be signing any more “Johnny Foreigners”. Unlike other Latin types to venture into the cold northern tundra, I think you can adapt to English football despite evidence to the contrary provided by Messrs Perez, Grabbi, Baggio, and Yordi, some of your “Johnny Foreigner” predecessors. Blackburn is not alot different to Sociedad and I’m sure you’ll enjoy dining at the town’s many Spanish restaurants. You can of course try the local cuisine. The chippy at the top of Shear Brow does an excellent steak pudding and mushy peas with gravy. Better than paella I’d say! You will get on famously with the Rovers players too. Most, of course, are also in the 30s, so you can discuss the merits of Duran Duran and Wham and talk about your investment and pension plans with them. Garry Flitcroft, the captain, is a big property investor, so he might show you round some hacienda in Oswaldtwistle that you might like to buy while Craig Short, our veteran centre half, is a director of Stannah lifts. Perhaps you might like to buy some shares in his company? All in all, I think you will have a great time in Blackburn and I am completely confident that you will not follow the example of Sebastian Perez and beat a hasty retreat to Southern Europe when temperatures dip below 50F in October. G Souness (BRFC Manager and SunLife Pension salesman of the year)

Correct. Souness shows no interest in cup matches. Anyone who saw the players going through the motions at St Andrew's last season will know that. The bottom line for Souness is that his job and overinflated salary depends on survival the Premiership. Anything that may jeopardise that, such as cup ties, are regarded by him as irrelevant.

This is excellent news though the timing is admittedly rather odd. Souness will now have to earn his vast managerial corn by using his exisiting resources better and displaying superior tactical knowhow than he has shown hitherto. He is a compulsive spender in the transfer market but his record is patchy; perhaps the board have pulled the plug to save Souness from himself.

Unfair criticism of Eriksson and England. England played the perfect defensive game last night. They sat back to deny Henry the space to run into and sought to hit France on the break, which Rooney did. Beckham's penalty miss the was the turning point. As Sir Alex Ferguson said in one of his more lucid moments: "Football, bloody hell!"

I'm tempted to agree with the original poster but I'll wait and see if Souness can pull some better rabbits out of the hat before I give him my first literary broadside of the new season. Dickov and Matteo, two over-age never-wasses, relegation fodder doth make I'm afraid.

jim has never had a good word to say about Souness Not true. I complimented him on the quality of one of his sports jackets. Once.

That all seems very tenuous. Warrington has a really blossoning economy but no football club. Leeds is also a boom town but the football club is going down the pan. Reading, Swindon, & Oxford are on the M4 growth corridor but none are pulling up trees when it comes to football. A successful football club is the "icing on the cake," I think that in economic terms your average club employs very few people of which a minority snaffle up lots of the wages. Not much gets spread around in the local economy. Clearly a load of old horlicks. Liverpool as a city was going down the pan in the 1980s yet the club (and Everton too) enjoyed unprecedented success. I hate all this "punching above our weight syndrome". It assumes that every club has a natural level above which it should neither rise nor fall. A bit like the class system.

Not a bad signing, as long as he is not going to be a first pick. Souness will have to do better than this.

Don't worry, and I'll ignore your personal insults too. I'm just surprised you fell for it.

Duly wound up. Aye thank you!!

The managerial merry-go-round is speeding up. Ranieri is said to be heading back to Valencia, where he was coach from 1997-99, to replace Liverpool-bound Benitez. With Mourinho going from Porto to Chelsea, Ranieri from Chelsea to Valencia, and Benitez from Valencia to Liverpool, how about Houllier to Porto?

I posted this three days ago. Get a grip. Interestingly, Dowie's wife and children are settled in Lancashire and he refuses to move them south (very sensible in my opinion). These long-distance domestic arrangements rarely work so I wouldn't be surprised to see him jump the Palace ship and move back North next season. Hopefully there will be a vacancy at Ewood Park that he can move into.

Chelsea's treatment of Ranieri has been deplorable and the way he kept his dignity as the "Dead Man Walking" over the past few months does him every credit.

Don't be a silly Euro billy. Smith is just like anyone else who has been offered the chance to treble his wages and play for one of biggest and best employers in his industry. Just ask Damien Duff.

Houllier's impending departure is potentially excellent news for Rovers. That means there will be two fantastic coaches looking for jobs this summer - Houllier, who is already based in the North West, and Ranieri, who has already stated his desire to continue working in England. I'd love to see either of them in charge at Ewood. Now comes the difficult bit - have the Rovers board got the gumption to replace clueless Souness, or will they do nothing and leave that decision (which will have to be taken when we run into more problems next season anyway) in the "too difficult" file? If the board are doing their job properly they should act now.

the heart scare is totally irrelevent to his ability to manage a football club. I take it that you would like him in charge at Ewood then Jim? Nah, not much, just that he cares so much about it that it affected his health. I'd love to know why the way he looks is relevant to his ability to manage a football club though. Perhpas you could produce an identikit picture of how a football manager should look? And yes, I wouldn't mind him at Ewood. He's a fine respected coach.

On the contrary, Gerard Houllier is a decent articulate man who has behaved with absolute dignity while the illiterate bigoted hordes on Merseyside have been demanding his "Froggy" head. He is also lucky to be alive having suffered a life-threatening heart scare under the stress of trying to bring back the success that the Liverpool scum so desperately crave. Can you also enlighten everyone on what a football manager is supposed to look like? Graeme Souness, for example, his face contorted with anger as he argues with match officials?

That could come back to haunt you!

On another note, Hignett, Davidson and McKinlay have all been shown the door by Leicester today. Gillespie is available on a free transfer.

Cole is at Highbury tonight............... turning out for an England XI in Martin Keown's testimonial. I must say that despite some of his hands-on-hips performances over the years, I do not think it is in our best interests if Cole leaves. He has scored 11 goals this year feeding on mere scraps, he knows his way around the Premiership and remains a talismanic figure for the younger players. Souness knows best though doesn't he?

Thug - vicious or brutish ruffian according to the dictionary. Describes perfectly a "footballer" who lumps his team-mates on the training field.

Worth a read on the nigger debate. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20020304&s=hitchens Interesting that the word Tory used to be seen as malicious but has since become an accepted part of the language. It's still a swear word in our household.

It's difficult to comprehend how a cultured footballer such as Colin Todd could have produced such a thuggish offspring in his son Andy. Colin Todd was indeed an excellent player and would have gained many more England caps had he not had the misfortune to be around at the same time as a certain R Moore. I did wonder about Colin Todd the man however: I remember watching him on TV in his Derby County days mouthing racial insults at West Brom's Laurie Cunningham when black players were just breaking through into league football. As a manager he was very tense and extremely difficult to deal with. His teams were non too exciting either. I'm glad Andy is leaving the club.