jim mk2

Home to Cardiff next (if we win)

Gallagher 91st min

Bournemouth scored.

Of course Sir Keith became a Claret in his latter playing days but despite his Blackburn upbringing managed to impress even the footballing afficiandos (sp?) at Turf Moor. Read this: http://www.clarets-mad.co.uk/news/loadsngl...=ED95&id=114394 and this: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/6...les/newton.html and here is a picture of him. http://www.justcatnaps.com/collection/pict...newtonkeith.jpg

Good idea. Then the manager (whoever he is) can take off Le Saux (presuming he wins) in the first minute and replace him with Sir Keith. Fifty one per cent voting for Le Saux merely reflects the age of those on the board and has nothing to do with the ability of the candidates. I saw Billy Wilson make his debut in 1965 but he was never anything more than solid. Bailey was like Le Saux, a converted forward who struggled when a good winger ran at him. Basil Rathbone, a lower-league scuffler, getting 2 per cent of the votes, almost as many as England international Newton, is ridiculous.

German football faced the problem of declining attendances a few years ago but is now booming with record crowds at many grounds. The reason? Ticket prices were slashed, sometimes by as much as 50 per cent, and lo and behold, the fans came flocking back in. Pretty simple really.

Middlesbrough have been relegated from the Premier League twice. They were founder members of the league but went down in its debut season, 1992-3, and were relegated again in 1996-97, the same season in which they also reached the League Cup final and the FA Cup Final (losing both to Leicester and Chelsea respectively)!

Yes, because he was too good to be omitted.

More random thoughts. We are not the only mid-sized club with this problem. Fulham, with whom we were promoted three seasons ago, have seen their crowds start to dwindle as the excitement of reaching the Premiership gradually wears off. They took only 500 fans to West Brom last weekend - did anyone notice the ranks of empty seats behind the goal when Andrew Cole scored? Television saturation: there is so much wall-to-wall footy on TV now that, quite frankly, it is becoming a turn-off. People are bored. ManU v Liverpool, traditionally one of the biggest fixtures of the season, was on TV last night and I couldn't be bothered to watch it. Television will eventually kill football in my opinion.

I'll make one last plea for Keith Newton - the classiest and best full back I ever saw in a Rovers shirt. Le Saux was a converted winger with all the faults therein. An all-star Rovers team without Keith Newton is unthinkable in my opinion. Whatever next - Tim Sherwood instead of Ronnie Clayton?

And therein lies another tale. Every year a relative of mine buys merchandise from the Rovers catalogue for Christmas presents. And every year she has to ring up the Rovers store to ask them to send her the latest catalogue. Her address/credit card details are on the database so why is the catalogue not sent automatically? Why is the club not bombarding her two or three times a year with literature to spend on Rovers products? If the commercial department cannot make use of that sort of information at their disposal it does not give me much hope that those responsible for ticket sales are any more efficient. Cue someone now leaping to their defence.

I must admit I was shocked when I saw the figure for Saturday's attendance. Talking to a number of (ex) supporters, the sale of favourite players such as Dunn and Duff, the perceived lack of ambition in the cup competitions (especially in Europe), and the generally appalling performances at Ewood in the past 12 months have led to them staying away. People want to be entertained these days - if they don't get it at a football match they'll go elsewhere.

Excellent article on Jay Bothroyd in the top people's paper today.

That is the one thing we can be grateful to Souness for: he jumped the sinking ship so early in the season that Hughes has plenty of time to turn the club around. It's going to be quite a test for young Mark. Even with the poor and demoralised squad of players bequeathed to him by Souness, he will be expected to provide instant results. I, for one, however, will not be turning against him. It was a brave decision by the board to appoint Hughes when other, more experienced candidates were available, but I think they have got the right man.

I presume that Keith Newton did not win the right back vote (where can I find the result, by the way?), so the best full back that I have seen in a Rovers shirt will have to play left back (wherre he did many times). Younger members will have to take it from me: Le Saux and Bailey were good but Newton was CLASS. Look at the number of appearances he made for England at a time when the country was stuffed with class players. This thread is a worthwhile exercise, but, as I said before, an all-time Rovers team without Clayton, Douglas, Newton and Shearer (and possibly Mike England too) is a complete nonsense.

Disapppointing to read all this negative reaction to the appointment of Mark Hughes. We should all extend him a very warm welcome to the club and wish him luck in sorting out the mess left by Souness, starting with victory over Pompey on Saturday.

It's a lower case "c" if you look properly and pronounced keltic instead of seltic. So the Celtic Race isn't a definite article then? Ooops, my mistake, was using it in that sense. But at least I didn't think that Martin O'Neil sits in the Welsh Assembly! Celtic race lower case "r" unless it's the name of a race from Belfast to Glasgow or somesuch. O'Neill is double "ll". Tomorrow's papers say Hughes will be confirmed as manager on Wednesday. Also, the Newcastle players are having a sweepstake on the first one to fall out with Souness! Laurent Robert is the favourite.

It's a lower case "c" if you look properly and pronounced keltic instead of seltic.

Nappy. Remember your roots, lad.

repeat ad nauseum.

IT'S ALL DONE AND DUSTED. Hughes will take over after the Portsmouth match, initially on a part-time basis until Wales have found a successor. He will continue in the Wales role until then while also managing Rovers. Mark Bowen, a member of the Wales coaching staff, will be his assistant manager, while Eddie Niedzwiecki, another Wales coach, could also follow him to Ewood.

Hughes's come-and-get-me plea is rather worrying, suggesting that he desperately wants the job yet has still not been approached by the club. Could it be that Rovers have switched their sights to Dowie? I fervently hope not.

Not the Times, the Telegraph, the Independent, the Guardian, the Mirror, the Express, the Star or the Mail.

It is being reported that Mark Hughes was interviewed for the job today and is set to take over as manager this week. He asked to be allowed to stay in charge of Wales for the World Cup qualifiers with England and Poland and the Rovers board agreed.

Interesting how the Souness apologists - of which there were many at the start of the season - have run for cover in the past ten days. But then it is impossible to defend the indefensible. For me, the sight of him at the match on Saturday - which he should not have attended if he had had any conscience - with his son wearing Newcastle shirt was absolutely sickening. Souness should have been sacked a year ago. His negligence and failure to do his overpaid job properly is the reason we are in this mess. His legacy to the club is an ageing and average squad that will struggle to escape relegation. This is my last word on Souness - I'm just glad he's finally gone - but the weak Rovers board have alot to answer for. They must be grateful that Newcastle have made a difficult decision for them.