looks like the last post worked Come on Wavering Rovers fans, splash the dosh. Bellamy has just injected the oooommph factor

A raging battle is going on between Sourness and Bellamy and I just wonder who is going to come out better off in the scenario. NUFC cannot attract a high profile centre forward due to Shearers capacity in having a say so on matter regarding incoming signings, they have been turned down by the likes of Smith, Vieri and the like but still have a class forward who is now told to take another week off and find another club. I cant see the bar code cupporters putting up with this. No high profile signings, bitterness in the papers/media, sourness laying down the law and bellamy being told to ferk off and find another club. Bellamy has priced himself out of moves to Celtic, Villa, Everton and Blackburn, he has turned down a move to Birmingham and he is told to leave Newcastle. I think if anyone wants to earn a quick buck then get your money on sourness leaving the club by November. Bellamy or Sourness ? it aint over till fat freddie sings

here here RB it would provide a massive oooomph factor for Rovers fans wavering on a decision whehter to sign up or not. Come on Rovers get out the dosh

if we are to accept every negative suggestion/idea regarding this discussion then one thing is evident above all others. BRFC is being paddled slowly but surely to the Championship I for one thing the board are doing a fine job. They cant please everyone and I think they are well aware that Rovers performances over the past 2 years have been truly awful at home. Its time to bring the good times back to the home of Lancashire Football, that surely is the starting point for trying to boost our home crowd and to bring back our missing supporters. Once this is addressed the fans will come back.

preparing for work whilst watching the Aussie batting collpase has put me in a good mood. optimism about the ashes will come later as I think we will see exactly what the Aussie attack is made of today. Mssrs Lee, McGrath and Gillespie will no doubt have the bit between their teeth as they defend a very low score by their own standards. They have done it on many occasions before but today I think the English team will have their own way.

cant believe you have been given ANOTHER day off, your obviously pulling the right strings

a front line up from Cole Jansen Dickov Kuqi sends shivers up my spine I am pretty sure that every Premiership defender is babbing themselves

Is the appointment of Mr Brown a forerunner to the club being sold on ? I think there is a hint in JW's statement that movement is nigh. So sorry to see Mr Root move backwards, a reet decent and fine gentleman and a TRUE Rovers fan

why the Blackburn End Lower ? why not rid the darwen End lower of seating and leave the away fans upstairs ? The Blackburn End is a significant part of BRFC

From www.blueandwhites.com an interesting read Author - Danny Woodworth Mark Hughes vs Graeme Souness Date - 20:19 Friday 24th June 2005 When Graeme Souness left Blackburn Rovers to join "one of the biggest clubs in the world" last September, he must have been relieved to have left a club that was struggling at the wrong end of the table - pundits too believed that Souness had a lucky escape to Newcastle, but who has really benefited from it all? Mark Hughes and Graeme Souness were both legends as players in their respective eras, so it was inevitable that both of them would delve into management after retirement to try and rub off some of their skills into the clubs that they take over. Graeme Souness was officially appointed as Newcastle United's manager on Monday the 13th of September 2004, a week after resigning from his post at Ewood Park, replacing Sir Bobby Robson. Mark Hughes was appointed manager of Blackburn Rovers a few days later, on Wednesday the 15th of September 2004, although he was only fully committed to the club after his last game in charge of the Welsh National side, in mid-October. Souness is a veteran in club management having been in the business for over a decade, whereas Mark Hughes has only been in club management for 9 months - so would it be expected that Graeme Souness is the better manager? Statistics & Performances Statistics don't lie, and the following table shows how: with a smaller club with less expectations, with significantly lower transfer funds, a significantly lower wage budget, significantly lower income (through TV revenue and gate receipts), much less talented players (quality and quantity) at his disposal, and a short managerial career, Mark Hughes has still managed to do a better job in the Premiership with Blackburn than Graeme Souness has done with Newcastle. Manager Pld W D L F A GD PTS Mark Hughes 33 9 13 11 28 32 -4 40 Graeme Souness 33 9 12 12 38 48 -10 39 OK, so Mark Hughes has had some pretty shocking performances - Fulham (H), Bournemouth, and Chelsea (A) all spring to mind, but Graeme Souness has endured some pretty torrid times in his spell at St. James Park; after missing literally hundreds of chances in a game at home to Fulham, Newcastle still managed to lose the game 4-1. There was the disbelief of watching Souness' first-team side struggle to overcome a club 6 tiers below themselves in the FA Cup, and then there was of course talk of Newcastle winning their first trophy for 50 odd years, only for the Toon Army to watch their team bow out of two competitions in the space of four days, conceding four goals in each game. Mark Hughes' Blackburn have been criticised for being over-aggressive and producing rubbish football (mostly through a lack of goals), but considering Newcastle had talented strikers and midfielders more than capable of scoring hatfuls of goals (like Shearer, Bellamy, Kluivert, Dyer, Jenas, Bowyer and Robert), to just score 10 more goals in the league than Blackburn did (during the two managers' respective stints at their clubs) is a bit of joke. Reputation First impressions are always vital, and the reaction the two sets of supporters displayed to their new managers just showed how much respect Mark Hughes and Graeme Souness have in the game. Fans in Blackburn were confident that Mark Hughes was the right man to take the club forward, and Hughes enjoyed a fantastic reception in his first game at home to Portsmouth. On the other hand things weren't so rosy up in Newcastle after fans had learnt that Graeme Souness would be the successor to Sir Bobby Robson - disgusted Geordies vented their disappointment of appointing a manager that was only weeks away from the sack at Ewood Park. Souness was so endeared by the Newcastle public that they created a special website for him - www.souness-out.co.uk! In terms of first reactions from the club's players, Mark Hughes did have a slight advantage because he had already spent 2 years as a Blackburn player, and therefore did know a lot of the players at Ewood Park well. But his coaching techniques and the impact he has made at Ewood Park has certainly not gone unnoticed: "Mark always struck me as a forward thinker - he's always coming up with new ideas. I always thought he would make a good manager, he's much more of a thinker than a shouter or a brawler." Craig Short "It is a huge achievement [to move away from relegation in Hughes' first season at the club]. When Mark came in we were in a bit of disarray, but from the day he arrived we worked on our fitness - everyone is better for that, and it has shown in our performances." Brett Emerton "Although Mark has not been in club management that long, I still rate him as one of the best. I know what he did with Wales, and I can see him doing the same with Blackburn." Robbie Savage ...just a selection of the many tributes Mark Hughes has received. But, up in Newcastle Souness' reputation is about as respected as the Crazy Frog - Craig Bellamy's face when he was interviewed just after learning Souness had been appointed was an absolute picture. So far Souness has managed to fall out with Craig Bellamy, Kieran Dyer, Lee Bowyer, Laurent Robert and Patrick Kluivert, and those were just the scuffles announced publicly. With all the players Souness has fallen out with in his time at Blackburn and Newcastle, we could probably make up quite a strong starting 11. All these little disagreements between Souness and his players don't even scratch the surface though. There was all that bother with Newcastle's players behaviour in a hotel a few months ago, and who could ever forget the fantastic fight on pitch between Lee Bowyer and Kieran Dyer after Aston Villa were trouncing Newcastle 3-0? Souness' reputation with the FA hasn't exactly improved either. He was recently given a £10 000 fine and a 2 match suspended touchline-ban after complaining about Barry Knight giving Everton a free-kick that lead to Newcastle conceding a goal...Knight's not an Everton fan is he Souey? Souness the disciplinarian? Don't make me laugh. Signings With the ability to attract better players with a bigger club reputation, more transfer fees and higher wages, Souness should have been able to put together a decent team by now. Having just signed Scott Parker, and being linked with the likes of Figo, Emre and Andy Johnson, Souness looks to be doing something right in the transfer market for once. So far Souness has spent around £20 million on players since taking over last September, and the most of them have not had a major impact on his team; especially Nicky Butt, who has had a torrid time in the centre of the Magpies' midfield. Hughes' transfer slate isn't completely clean either though - Robbie Savage has not impressed much, and Youri Djorkaeff was a one game wonder. But, by finding Aaron Mokoena and Ryan Nelson from virtual obscurity, he has really installed confidence in the Blackburn fans about the type of quality player he is capable of finding, and on a shoe string budget as well...the new Sam Allardyce? The Future After successfully steering Rovers away from the relegation zone (when it looked more than likely that Rovers would go down under Souness), Mark Hughes now has at least two more years left on his contract to start moving Blackburn Rovers up the league again. He might not have extravagant transfer funds to spend, and he might have to put up with home games that are half-full and seriously lacking in atmosphere, but Mark Hughes has the full backing of the Blackburn fans, as everyone connected with the club up to the boardroom level has full confidence in his ability. Hughes has two more years left, Souness will be lucky to get two more months left once the season starts, if Newcastle continue their notorious trend of starting poorly to every season. Although Souness has been spending lavishly his £20 million budget for this season, most of his squad will probably be knackered by Christmas anyway as they have a nice campaign in the Intertoto Cup to look forward to, starting in the next couple of weeks. So who had the lucky escape then? Blackburn Rovers, not Graeme Souness.

Thats kind of positive considering the lack of incoming player(s). Lets say if Rovers can pull off a signing there may just be a positive push for a further couple of thousand wavering supporters taking the plunge. Basing on what the article refers to in the LET, Hughes has his sight on a top 10 finish. This indicates that he is happy with his lot apart from the striking options and the bringing in of a midfieler and a defender. The club have to give him the help he needs. If we make 9th Place then that alone will bring in an extra 3 million pounds of prizemoney, it virtually pays off any potential extra outlay. Come on Rovers McCarthy is the man

Rovers a big 8-1 shot for relegation. Mark Hughes at 16-1 to be the first manager to be sacked or leave. Rovers 500-1 for the Premiership title.

as that are the kick off times given by the FA !

Not a bad spread

when nobend are at home ROVERS are away. Its a Police thing, Rovers and Nobenders are two teams that cannot be at home in Lancashire on the same day

heard from a nobend fan that PNE are away first game of the season meaning that if it is true then Rovers will be at home for the kick off. fixtures are released 1000 tomorrow morning. How I would like to play Bolton home to start the season off. what about you? who do you fancy ?

That last comment jim might bite your ar£e, worst ? I thnk not. They are just going through a transitional period. they are a different proposition altogether with Lee and Warne in that team. I dont think they have ever come across a batsman with the awesome power of Pieterson, in fact the guy is a phenomenen in how he deposits the ball to the seats. I have only ever seen mssrs Botham and Richards drive the ball with so much power. Yes the aussie are hurting but watch them thrash the bangledeshis tomorrow

Hope you lot out ehre have had a great laugh at the all conquering world beaters Aussie gyppo's Well done bangladesh, your team played superbly and deservedly got you the result that leaves the aussies rock bottom. How nice it would be if England can do them tomorrow and then the bangladeshi's follow up with a further shock win or even a draw in their next game versus the whingers

did anyone else see the current marketing strategy of Darlington FC ? A drive via dvd for potential season ticket holders. Touching base with ALL persons who have purchased tickets from the club over 5 years. Offering season tickets at a frozen price. Free home shirt with the season ticket. Now thats a club doing the business and it would appear to have gone down very well with the people of the town. I am not too sure about a comparison to Blackburn and Darlington but thats a marketing strategy that SHOULD and COULD be very useful to a club like ours. A lesson to be learned from the small clubs perhaps ?

this coming season is my 36th

why not have a guestimate of how many season tickets Rovers will sell thsi year. my view 12890 tickets MAX

dickov or stead ? dickov or stead ? dickov or stead ? the equation totally baffles me, can anyone help ?? totally saddened and will be very disappointed if Rovers do not replace him with quality

isnt there a policy of trying to revert the games back to the more tradional time of 3pm for this coming season ? I am sure it was mentioned at the last SKY contract dealings. My wife will tottle off down to Ewood am tomorrow to renew mine. people can save money by changing seats etc, not ideal but how good it will be if we the lower darren end a sight fuller as the camera angle fails to pick up the Upper JW seating ! Just a thought.....

There are a couple of points actually, espcially if you watch the game CLOSELY

I didnt hear it myself but apparently Rovers, Portsmouth and Wigan are Talk Sports favourites for the drop next season. Did anyone hear it on the radio or is my mate (manurefan) pulling my plonker ?