jim mk2

There are many skills in football. Tackling and heading are skills. In Jansen's case, I would define it as his silky touch on the ball, which was rarely less than perfect. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

Is this the Chinese year of the football joke ? Bellamy is not unskilful but Jansen in his pomp had tremendous skill, particularly with his back to goal and turning and twisting past defenders. Van Persie at Arsenal is very similar. Bellamy's great asset is pace, which Jansen never possessed.

Souness was on radio last week professing his love for Rangers (he is a lifelong supporter). I think he would go back there tomorrow. For Hughes to get near the Barca job he would have to win a trophy in England first. The league title back at Ewood would do me fine.

Events, events. The unexpected always happens, particularly in football. There are stories circulating in Scotland that McLeish is finished at Rangers and that Souness is being lined up for a return to Ibrox. If that were to occur it would set off the managerial merry go round in England once more. Hughes for Barcelona is way off beam: he is far too low profile and was not a success there as a player.

One of the best stories of the year so far. Has anyone seen a full transcript of Keane's "video nasty" or have United confiscated all the tapes ? Hughes knows United is a poisoned chalice and is too sensible to go there. The decline at Old Trafford is wonderful to behold: all dynasties come to an end and the comforting thought is that it will eventually happen to Chelsea too. I still expect us to lose Hughes to a "bigger" club however. Probably next season.

Certainly Bruce's fourth year at St Andrews has been his least impressive, and one that adds weight to Gordon Strachan's theory that three years is the shelf-life for most managers at any club True. Viz Souness at Ewood.

My sympathy is entirely with Ronaldo and, before him, the Arsenal goalkeeper Graham Stack, who was accused of rape before the case fell apart in court, because this is a sad indictment of this country continuing to copy America. Years ago there was a US film, starring Alan Alda, in which a man committed suicide after being named by police investigating a rape claim. As it turned out, no charges were brought and but the man took his own life because of the public humiliation and trauma. Towards the end of the film, Alda's character says the US should be "the same as England, where people are not named until they have been charged with an offence". In fact, the film was wrong, because the right to anonymity in Britain used to go much farther than that. During their investigations into serious crimes, particularly in sensitive cases such as rape, police usually issued a terse statement, saying that "a man is helping them with their inquiries". Even if charges were brought and the case went to court, the accused was still not named. Defendants were not named until AFTER THEY HAD BEEN FOUND GUILTY. In other words, if the defendant was found not guilty, he could walk from court with his freedom and his reputatation intact. Now, footballers (and others presumably) are being named when they are merely being interviewed over a charge that may or may not be brought. Why ? And if the interviewee is named, why not also the girl making the accusations ?

Must admit I can't wait for Newcastle v Sunderland this weekend. A bad result at St James Park and the Geordie hordes will be baying for Souness's blood. No doubt there are one or two former Rovers players wishing him well too.

Why so ? The fact Le Saux's future wife did not want to live in the best part of England, and he agreed to her wishes, makes him even more contemptible in my eyes. And to think the little weasel was voted in the best-ever Rovers XI. Not fit to wipe Keith Newton's derriere.

Scientic argument based on a novel. Marvellous. And coming soon to a cinema near you: a Hollywood film based on historical fact.

Succinct, and totally correct.

The train lines from Piccadilly and Victoria join up near Salford so I would expect your train to carry on to Liverpool as normal. Have you checked with Network Rail ?

If he can recapture the excellent form he showed at Norwich before his injury Bentley could be our Rolls Royce.

Because he is injury prone and always has been. Kuqi has found his level, scoring goals against a second division defence.

Notice the number of Notlob supporters over there ? More than at the Reebok.

Well said matey. Is that a first ?

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.