Beaten by two France goals in the last two minutes; the agony and drama of another penalty shoot-out. How much gut-wrenching emotion do you want? Looking back over the years, I've had far more kick-the-cat moments with England than I have with Rovers. The problem with England is the hope, because it always promises to be fulfilled but never is. With Rovers, I do not expect to reach the promised land, so I am never disappointed.

Again? First time in six matches actually. For someone born in Blackburn, a Lancastrian and an Englishman, you are are a disgrace to your country.

For once, Revidge is way off beam on this thread. Perhaps in his own little cocooned RoverWorld, the concept of patriotism and the country desperate for England success after 40 barren years has not reached his consciousness.

Pardon? It's certainly headline news if sales have slumped. Or is it a case that the club only likes to report "good" news.

France have not looked in good order since the championship began. It's history now I know, but if Beckham had put away that penalty we would have beaten them too. Shame.

Bill Shankley Bill Shankly. Coming from an era when goalkeepers were not the "untouchables" that they are today, the great man would no doubt have had a robust view of last night's events. With regard to Swiss referee Urst Maier's performance, it is worth recalling one of his other classic quotes: "The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game."

Very odd point of view Revidge. This is our national team, after all, playing in a major tournament, so I would be very disappointed if the country were not getting excited. Even the carers in my residential home, none of whom are real footy fans, have been glued to the telly over the past fortnight. Generally, I don't take alot of interest in England friendly matches but for the big tournaments I get as wound up as if I were watching Rovers. I even put my best teeth in so that I can shout at the TV properly.

Perhaps there is more passionate support for England because the players look as if they take pride in their shirt and care about playing for their country. By contrast, remember the number of passionless and uncommitted performances we had to witness by Rovers last season. If the players give the appearance of not caring, neither will the fans.

Flippin' giblets, if I were Liverpool I would snap Chelsea's hand off.

Mods ganging up on a rocker. This is just like the 1960s all over again. Let's hear it for lofty. Hurrah!

It would not be surprising if it were to happen. Souness has only limited contacts within football so tends to sign players whom he knows from his previous clubs. Souness gave Fowler his debut at Liverpool and tried to sign him for Rovers before the player left Anfield for Leeds. A fee in the region of £11 million was mooted at the time. Matteo is another player who played for Souness at Liverpool, hence our interest in him also. I would not welcome Fowler at Ewood Park. Annoying player that Cole can be at times, he has twice the hunger for the game as the lazy and ineffectual Fowler. No doubt Fowler is looking forward to joining the other ageing players in the Rovers pension scheme. In order that the scheme remains solvent in the future years, I would suggest that the club changes pensions for new members from final salary to money purchase.

I would include members of the 1928 FA Cup Final-winning team but I doubt if anyone on here except me ever saw them. I've looked at some of the teams and the farthest they seem to go back to is the 1960s, so my selection from then to the present day would be (in the old 2-3-5 formation): Roger Jones Keith Newton John Bailey Ronnie Clayton Colin Hendry Barry Hole Bryan Douglas Andy McEvoy Alan Shearer Simon Garner Dave Wagstaffe It pains me greatly to leave out Mike Ferguson, the 1960s right winger and a crowd favourite, and Mike England, but there you go. Barry Hole, a tough tackling left half, is relatively unknown but was a favourite of mine.

I cannot believe some of Hegg's decisions as captain recently. It's bad enough with Rovers, I don't think I can take a relegation battle in the cricket season as well. Never mind Souness, sack Cumbes, Watkinson and Hegg. What say you?

You could have knocked me down with a feather. Positive Jim. Not only are there little England flags on your Datsun Sunny but now you expect to win the thing. Is there any chance of this positivity being extended to Rovers for the upcoming season? No. In fact, the prospect of another nine months of agony scrambling for points and sick with worry over relegation fills me with dread. I'm just enjoying the cricket season at present. I wish it could go until Christmas.

Absolutely spot on. The trouble that has been reported is similar to trouble you see in every holiday resort, I'm not condoning it but it is a fact that there is trouble in the Algarve with British Holiday makers every year. We should be focusing on that and not trying to link it to the football. I'm suprised nobody has picked up on the massive problems in Birmingham and London after the France defeat. There were fights over here too, I suppose that was all down to the fans over in Lisbon as well was it!!!!. But there WAS significant trouble in Portugal and there just happens to be a football tournament being played there. What do you expect the press and TV to do - ignore it and pretend it did not happen? I'm sure 99.9 per cent of the England fans in Portugal are well behaved and having a good time, but, as usual, it is the ignorant few who spoil it for the rest. The trouble in Boston, London and various Hertfordshire towns after the France match was well documented on television and in the newspapers.

Fear not. England will win Euro 2004. It is pre-ordained, like the rugby World Cup.

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.