I like the shirt and il be buying one today! Just wish the club would release the squad numbers.

This should shut up a few of the doubters. Nelsen commenting on speculation that he wont stay with rovers or sign a new contract. (Taken from the Lancashire Telegraph) “It’s not that im refusing at all. The teams over in Holland at the moment and iv’e been in England so there’s nothing to sign at the moment. The manager has the squad to worry about at the moment. Id be really happy to sign the papers. The newspapers have blown this thing all out of proportion. Im happy at Blackburn, everything is going well, were in Europe so il let the suits do all the talking.”

Tomorrow according to Sports Soccer. Any news on squad numbers and then i can get my shirt printed?!!

Any offical news on the Season Ticket sales?

Im looking forward to the season. In my opinion our forward line is much stronger with having two good strikers, rather than 1 good striker and 1 moaner! We have also taken on Jeffers who has a point to prove and like everyone keeps saying could end up a big bonus. If not then it isn’t a risk as he is on performance related pay. Our midfield is stronger even though we haven’t added as I feel that Reid & Pedersen are improving every game under Hughes. The same could also possibly happen this season for Bentley. Also I think Gally might be given his chance on the right this year and he has the potential to be a useful winger. Our defence is good and Nelsen will NOT be leaving – Im willing to bet against anyone on this. Hopefully we can also sign Ooijer and possibly 1 other for defence. We still have steady Friedel in goal and looking at last night’s performance a young keeper who has big potential. So my bet says Rovers will finish either 4th or 5th and they will go far in the cup competitions. Im expecting a cracking season under Mark Hughes & his teams shrewd leadership. The Futures Bright, The Future Blue & White

Really don’t understand why people take the score line in pre-season too seriously. We started the game with a very experimental team. Goalkeeper – Brown Defence – Neill, Mokoena, Todd & Matteo Midfield – Gally – Acuna – Douglas – Peter Strikers – Kuqi – McCarthy So out of that entire team we had 2 or 3 1st team players. We still had a lot of the possession and we still had plenty of chances in the 1st half to be out of sight. Don’t worry people! Have faith in Mark Hughes & his team.

Hardly any companies accept change of details over the phone, however email should be accepted.

Axe helped to coax Benni into signing for the club so he deserves a new contract! He is also a useful member of the squad to have when we need to start to defend late on – like with Chelsea @ home last season.

Anyone know where i can pre-order one of these for November??

I think the reason the prices are high is because they know that these type of clubs will bring more supporters and therefore make our attendance up, whilst still charging daft prices. I think there should be 3 categories A - Those clubs that finished in the top 6 (or 7 if your one of the top 6) B - 7th - 14th C - 15th - 17th + those promoted.

So for anyone that actually saw the game – How did McCarthy do in his 1st game?

Jungle book

I honestly believe with one or two more signings we are capable of landing 4th place. We have a team with ability as they showed last season, that is improving all the time. Hughes & his team will not be looking at 6th place again – they will be looking beyond that because he is full of ambition. McCarthy has come to England with a point to prove and he strikes me as having the desire to be a massive hit. He seems really keen to play for us.

I don’t think Henry will score as many this year. With Ruud now gone – rovers should set Benni the target of being 3rd top scorer behind possibly Henry & Shevchencko. Or maybe a target of 20 league goals This season we also need to see our centre midfield chip in with more goals than last year. Hopefully a new right winger may help the midfield cause for goals.

Has anyone got a list of the top 10 goal scorers last season? How many would he have to bag to get 5th going off last season?

He’s a top guy Roy. Not stuck up his own backside in anyway. I think that we have several players who have the potential to be top class players and that went along way in their progress last year. I think the likes of Pedersen, Reid, Peter and possibly Bentley could all improve even more this year and I think they will get stronger and stronger for the next couple of years.

He was never going to leave. His girlfriend - 'kathleen' loves it up here and they are settled in thier house. 2 nice 4x4's sat on the drive and a very nice house. Why would he leave!

No its true – Interview is also in the Star and the Lancashire telegraph. Villa, Tottenham, Boro (Twice), Everton and Chelsea have all been in for him in the past - according to him. He also said that Chelsea were interested last season too and that Porto wanted him to move but he didnt want to be a squad player and would prefer to play for us as he would get more games. Porto weren’t happy and tried to convince him to go to Chelsea (Obviously for an inflated transfer fee) but he wasn’t interested. He believes he can be in the top 4 or 5 goal scorers in the league this year and believes we can get 4th place. I love this quote from him also- “If I’d had the opportunity to go to Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United I still think I would of preferred to come to Blackburn , because you don’t stab a team in the back if they’ve done so much for you, and shown so much interest.” Take note MIDO! Top man Benni!!

Any ideas when the new season ticket cards will be sent out - for those that will be getting new cards that is??

Last season i had - 11 Bully Boys Might stick with that again or i might go for McCarthy this year

Kuqi gives 100% and aslong as he does that then i am happy for him to play for us. If he gives everything then he will always be another option for us. Remeber 1 important thing. Mark Hughes was a striker of the top class and he will know better than anyone who the right type of strikers are to sign. Therefore i predict our strikeforce will be a big hit next season

A couple of songs for benni! Oh Benni is a magician He wears a magic hat And when he went to rovers he said I fancy that He didn’t sign for Ev-er–ton Or west ham coz there sh!te He signed for Blackburn rovers Coz there fookin dynamite! To the tune of the Viera song. To be sung at West Ham, Everton, Bolton, Pompey etc. McCarthy Wooohoaa McCarthy Wooohoaa He never signed for you Coz you’re a load of poo

Benni McCarthy & Roberts or Bellamy & Dickov. Id take McCarthy & Roberts any day. Bellamy was injury prone and I often felt that we could have done better had he not be part of some of the attacks we had. Quite often players would get into good positions and then instead of receiving the pass it would get knocked onto Bellamy instead. I felt we played to him too much. Now we have a partnership upfront which is full of pace, strength and power. McCarthy has excellent runs and he scores some classy goals. I honestly believe they are both capable of at least 15 goals each.

Love these comments from the West ham board 1 Jesus they'll thump us if we're not at our best when we meet. They do lack a little bit of flair. Must say though to be fair wouldn't class them as boring - remember when they played spurs at white hart lane - they were awsome. 2 Great signing for them. We were after him for a lot more than that. Need to be careful though guys or we could end up with our faces covere in egg, being realistic they won't go down. Go through their team and you'll find like i did they've got one hell of side. Freidel, Nelson, Neil, Reid, Pedersen, McCarthy - not a bad backbone their. Hope i'm wrong, but just have a feeling they'll be up there again this season.

Its time for McEveley to but his injuries behind him and make that left back position his. I think once we have signe Benni that our team is almost complete. I think if we can keep Neill then we only need a right winger & a creative midfielder.