Easily solved. I told mine she supported Rovers or went to live in the garden shed. Fortunately, it was never a problem as she has always been Rovers through and through. I took her to her first match at the age of 3. Comments ranged from "What do the players do if they want to wee during the game?" to "is this football or rugby ?" She did have a point though. Jimmy Fryatt was built like a prop forward.

Don't you mean the 5-0 thrashing they gave us at Ewood in 1965-66, the year we were relegated from the old first division ? Dennis Law at his imperious best.

Glad to see Hughes agrees with me after that chat I had with him last week. Live television ultimately will kill professional football as a spectactor sport.

Why should "they" do something about it ? The "big" clubs with all the power - Arsenal, Liverpool, ManU, Chelsea, Newcastle - still sell out most weeks so they don't see a problem. It's only the "smaller" clubs such as Rovers that are crying for help. But when did we ever count .... ? Williams's pleas are likely to fall on deaf ears.

Not entirely correct. Rushen and Diamonds are penniless and rapidly heading back to non-league football after Max Griggs, the owner (he of Dr Martens fame) sold the club for a nominal £1 to a supporters trust just to get the club off his hands. There are many fans of the old Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds who want nothing to do with the merged club.

Falling attendances is a Europe-wide problem (television the cause ?), with the only exception probably being Germany where gates are booming on the back of huge new stadiums being completed ahead of next summer's World Cup finals and drastic reductions in prices. Only 27,293 fans - of whom 22,838 were season-ticket holders - turned up to watch Juventus beat Lecce 2-0 in Serie A yesterday, leaving 41,748 tickets unsold. Juventus are so concerned about the drop in support and lack of atmosphere in their ground that they are considering leaving the Stadio del Alpi (built 1990 and disliked because it has a running track) to a much smaller stadium (perhaps they could share Ewood with us). Bundesliga fans prefer to be there in person rather than watching at home. The new and refurbished stadiums are not only plush, they are also vast, and the clubs are able to offer massive numbers of tickets for both standing and seating at cheap prices. Germany’s biggest team, Bayern Munich, have moved to a new 66,000-capacity stadium this season which is expected to sell out for every one of their 17 home games. It is little wonder when you consider the prices they are charging to see the likes of Roy Makaay, Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn in action. Season tickets start from as little as £60 and the club sold all of the 35,000 available. They deliberately left the remaining 30,000 seats to be made available match-by-match in order to allow the 100,000 members of the official supporters club a chance of seeing their team regularly. A ticket to stand at Bayern’s Allianz Arena costs from as little as £8 while the most expensive seats - excluding executive suites - are sold for £33. Elsewhere, Arminia Bielefeld fans setting off for their derby in Dortmund on Tuesday night will be allowed access to the 83,000-capacity Westfalen Stadium for just £8.

Hughes is starting to worry me. Wales supporters turned against him because of his inflexible and one-dimensional tactical approach and he appears to be going down the same path at Ewood.

Good old Rovers, always the fall guys. Newcastle's first win of the season, Owen's first goal for the club and Shearer scores his usual goal at Ewood (and first of the season). Pathetic, Hughes.

Herbert Chapman ? Or more likely Bill Shankly.

Used to live near Ronnie Clayton. Quite often he would sit for hours in his Mini on the driveway. Always thought he was thinking about his football but it was probably because his wife wouldn't let him in.

Don't know if this has been posted but Bolton have sold only 14,000 tickets for tomorrow night - their first game in serious European competition.

Not quite correct. White settlers in Australia were hand-picked by the best judges in England. The real Australians are those dark-skinned chappies in the Outback.

Apparently, the Sydney chapter of the Barmy army is hiring an open-top bus for a triumphal parade around the city this Saturday. They will be looking to rub as much salt into as many Australian wounds as possible and will be stopping at one or two pubs along the way. Sounds like fun.

Some humble pie being eaten. Happy reading. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...%5E2702,00.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...5E12270,00.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...%5E2722,00.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...%5E2722,00.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E7583,00.html

Get real. A despised enemy has been defeated. Today was better than VE Day.

Victory parade in Trafalgar Square at the moment. Wonderful sight.

Fantastic, nervous last day at the Oval, a real privilege to be there. "Warney's dropped the Ashes" was the best chant but "Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio" to the departing sheep worriers was sweet. Hope they had a miserable journey home. The baritone singing Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem at the tea interval was very moving. Made one proud to be English. This young England team is nowhere near the finished article and will get better. The fast bowlers are the best quartet since the West Indies of the 1980s and although Ian Bell has struggled he's a class batsman and will be better for the experience. Ed Joyce of Middlesex is the next batter earmarked for promotion. 2-1 did not reflect England's superiority over a fading, ageing team. England will win the next Ashes series 4-0.

Poor decision by Bowden: Giles took a big stride and was clearly not out. Why is an Antipodean umpiring anyway ? they're all thick as thieves (literally in most cases).

Weather will be OK for the weekend. It never rains when England need it !

Tut, tut Scotty. Get back in your box.

I didn't say Marsh hadn't achieved anything but by general consensus Fletcher has been the catalyst for England's resurgence. Don't know what Lillee has got to with anything apart from being a boor.

The man who has turned around the fortunes of the England team over the past five years is Duncan Fletcher. Marsh's contract is ending soon and many are glad to see the back of him. The umpiring in the series has been very good. A few decisions have gone England's way but that makes a very rare change.

On that evidence, Eriksson has "lost" the dressing room. The players obviously do not want to play for him. Forget the World Cup: England have a lame duck manager.

Idiotic. Recognised by whom ? Not anyone in this country, who generally regard Australians as boors. And what is the highest level ? Government ? The bloke upstairs ? The greatest team in all sports ? Odd then that you're crap at football, THE world game. You are good at two things though: whingeing and losing badly. Masters of the art in fact.

This is marvellous. Very pleasing to see after some time away that the tone of the board has been raised by the presence of a "university" graduate. There is nothing more stimulating than a good intellectual debate.