Couldn't agree more about the first sentence, one poster on here seriously suggested that Savage was as good a footballer as Ferguson and labelled him as bad a buy as Grabbi. As for the second sentence well I'd suggest a certain Tim Flowers may well lay claim to that spot behind Shearer but you know best. I wouldn't want to be labelled an over-critical smarmy numpty for daring to disagree.

Nice to see that age has mellowed you. I thought age made you more cantankerous.

Listen you ignorant person, Newton didn't get in because at right back he was beaten by Crompton and at left back he trailed Eckersley by a mile regardless of how Le Saux did. Just because you don't get your own way is no reason to chuck your toys out of the pram and start slagging people off. p.s. Fully agree with Capt Kayos below. If it stays at 4-4-2 then it will be England & Hendry for me and Sherwood won't be near my side.

It's the formation that won us the league and the one that most can associate with. As for centre half we were chatting about it the other day. Mid 80's was the start of my Rovers following but I never took to Faz that much but always loved Keeley, not in a funny way you understand. Kevin Moran was the one that stood out for me and made Hendry the player he became. That first season in the Premier I thought Moran oozed class. However despite that it would be wrong not to say Hendry even though he blotted his copybook with me. A great servant, some great memories I can still remember my dad singing 'one Bobby Bolder' to the Charlton fan who had been singing it all game at Wembley. Colin Hendry no doubt.

You hit the nail on the head yourself...that is an old concept. Any remotely successful team now knows that you have to play your way out from defence, if you just lump it up the opposition will just get the ball back straight away and the defence is under pressure again. Defences now are too good to be beaten by long balls out from the back, it's a tactic that we need to get rid off as soon as possible. A decent long ball played into the right areas will still cause problems and is used regularly by Man U, Arse & others. However to suggest the concept of not taking chances is old is just nonsene. It is exactly why we have stuggled at times. We created half of Charlton's chances last night by poor passes in our own half. There is only one thing worse than seeing our defence hoofing the ball up the pitch, that is trying to be too clever with it and getting caught out. I have no problem with the defence playing it out, it's what I want and expect, however the problem last night was that poor first touches, sloppy passes and casual play meant we were our own worst enemy.

I'm confused now. Surely it's worse to play yourself into trouble in your own half as it's more risky. The old adage of don't take chances springs to mind.

I'd say because he constantly gave the ball away, played himself into trouble and other players into trouble. Poor crosses as well as being out of position a few times but apart from that he was ok.

The reason why he didn't sign for Bolton was because he wanted a 2 year deal and they would only give him 1 year. Money wasn't the issue.

Because we are struggling at the wrong end of the table and not creating enough decent chances.

Spot on that Den and very good of you to post that point. Inevitably people will go off personal experiences first and foremost but most are prepared to listen to the opnions of others. Some of the comments from some members because of the number of votes Le Saux has got are out of order. The difference as i've said with this position is that because of how good Le Saux was then someone would have to make a hell of a case for a player that as you say Den many haven't heard of. I enjoyed reading the opnions of the posters who have seen him but despite that I still voted for Le Saux. That shouldn't be seen as a kick in the teeth as it's not but it's my opnion based upon what i've seen and read. I haven't said I would never vote for a player i've not seen and neither have most people but they have said that they would give more credence to their own experiences. It's unfair to slag off posters for doing that as it's only natural and does not in anyway make the poll a joke. I firmly believe that come the end of this poll you will have a fair mix of players from a number of era's.

Nonsense. Just because he played for England does not make a "great". Carlton Palmer anyone? Equally, Simon Garner qualifies as a Rovers "great", but he never came anywhere near a senior England cap. No one is "deriding" Le Saux and you are probably right that he was the best left back in the league at that time. But he is not the best left back to play for Rovers, not by a long way. Carlton Palmer played once for England Le Saux played 36 times. Notice the word often or did you just choose to ignore it. He may not be the best ever left back but he's the best i've seen by a mile and nothing i've read convinces me to vote elsewhere. If that is so upsetting for other members then i'm sorry but that is the point of a poll to vote for what you think.

Not seen either so just have to take the reports i've read. Have you seen Saddam in action?

You don't play for England as often as he did without being great, or win Championsip medals either for that matter. The difference between this and the right back is that we haven't had a decent right back for so long. People can deride Le Saux but many on this board watched him regularly and know first hand that he was the best left back in the league at the time. It's difficult to ignore that for a player that many will not have even heard of let alone seen play.

winder away at least we felt able to support our team without someone pumping 100's of millions in - something only a few regulars at deadwood can say today A few regulars? You seemed quite sensible when you started posting but if you want to volunteer for the role of board idiot then Sam Dingle already fills that role i'm afraid.

I'll post more tomorow but I just have to say that the team Hughes put out was more than good enough to win by a mile. Certain players were poor, others were not that even that good but they still should have won. We lost partly through crap defending but mainly because when we did get on top we played the old game of pass the buck. No you shoot, no you, no seriously it's your turn.

Well i'm sorry but it's attitude's like yours that give ammo to those with hidden agenda's trying to score points by labelling everything pc nonsense or liberal rubbish. I've not really noticed any underlying racism at all merely people arguing rightly that the Asian community should be no more entitled to free tickets than any other. There are many Asians that I see at Ewood certainly in the JW lower in fact Blue Phil's mate Lord Patel sits near me fairly often. I've never noticed any dodgy comments or people being funny with them and neither would I. If certain people don't come to the football because of fears of the reception then I think that's a shame but I think the club and football in general has done loads to improve the games image and really it's a case of what more can you do. The very thought of attracting a certain group with free tickets, unless they were children, just irritates me and also goes against the whole notion of multi-culturalism to me. How you can you argue for more integration when you single out one group for special priveleges?

That sums it up perfectly and nothing more needs saying really.

Couldn't agree more.

Yeah that's the article I read Damo. Not sure what you mean about subscribing The Gull as I'm not subscribed and I can read it. Not sure anyone can paste it due to copyright laws though.

If you mean the one in the times then it is indeed an excellent article and certainly makes me hopeful for his future at Rovers.

Fair point Brownie but if wasn't for Yakubu's poor finishing then we would have been behind thanks to a typically casual piece of play from Mr Neill. Admittedly Matteio didn't help but it was nothing short of pathetic the way he gave the ball away their. He was just trying to get a throw-in off Fuller but had no need to be so casual. Lucas Neill is a good footballer but unless he stops playing with such a laid back attitude then we will need to replace him.

What was it last year? Dunno - had to check the FL web site to find out for this year. I think he's getting at the fact that it was the Carling cup last year as well.

"I thought he said have a 'nice bath'"

It's not a question of not liking him. We all have players we like and dislike. You however regularly post how you despise the man. That either makes you a numpty or 16 yr old with no idea how to express proper opnions. How can you despise one of your own players, in fact any player.

Fergie's book didn't come out until late 1999 and Kidd privately stated he felt it led to his downfall at Ewood. I've thought many things of Kidd, most not nice, but having met him in Manchester once I can testify he is a lovely fella. This was after his sacking by the way. The fact that he always resisted the chance to reply to Fergie's comments says wonders for Kidd. All he said was:- 'If you work for a person for more than 10 years, you get to know a lot about them. I've chosen to respect that relationship. Clearly Alex has not.' Privately Kidd was devasted by the attack which was in fact highly vindictive and stunned many even at United, Dave Fevre was one who backed this up. It's one of the many reasons why I've always said about Fergie he will go down as a great manager but never as a great man.