My comment was aimed at you Dave, it was aimed at people like the one that Abbey quoted. I am sure that you have a very strong affinity with Australia, as you say you have spent the best part of your life in the country. My comment was aimed at people who are born, bred and live in this country. I can fully understand people of Indian and Pakistani heritage wanting to support those countries because they are proud of their heritage. But what I cannot understand is why the would take great pleasure in England doing badly against a team that they don't have any real affinity too, that was the point I was getting at.

Well done to Australia, thoroughly deserved to regain the Ashes. We have had an absolute shocker. Good to see Stokes show some fight and get a superb 120, the rest need to have a good long hard look at themselves. We need to regroup and start planning to regain the ashes in 15 months. It always surprises me that certain people who were born and bred in this country, taking such pleasure when England does badly. I would understand if we lost against a team that they supported, but to take such pleasure when we lost against a country to which that person has no affinity to does surprise me.

Defeat is almost inevitable, but at least we have taken into day 5. Let's try and take it beyond lunch if possible so as put some miles into those Aussie bowlers legs with the Perth test being back to back with this one.

Good day for England but should have been so much better, three dropped catches could prove to be very costly come the end of this game.

Checked with contact at Venky's. Glen's info was correct, there was a meeting. However it was just an informal meeting and doesn't look like there is anything going to come of it at the moment. No idea what was discussed, they may have even just discussed Venky's football in India programme. But of course there is always a worry when these clowns have meetings with the likes of Judan Ali. My contact told me that Bowyer has an excellent relationship with Mrs D so I doubt that she would do anything without running it past him first,

I have heard from a number of people in the last month that Venky's are desperate to get in a Director of Football, maybe this is the role for Judan Ali, I pray that this rumour about Ali isn't true as otherwise we are back to being a public circus again.

No problems with sledging, but I do feel that the Aussies crossed the line twice during the first test. The first was Warmer coming out with the stuff about Trott in his press conference and the second was Clarke, sledge all you want from your fielding position but walking upto Jimmy and abusing his face to face I felt crossed the line. None of this affected the result as simply the Aussies were better than us and deserved to win.

Oppppsssss what an absolute dismal batting effort from England, credit to the Australian bowlers but we have to bat better than that. Will take a miracle to salvage anything from this match now,

Possibly but it does looks like a very good batting pitch so it looks like a par score on that pitch is close to 400.

Great first day for England, we need to get the last 2 wickets as soon as possible tomorrow and then see if we can press home the advantage by producing a solid batting display. Well done to Broad and thank you to the Brisbane Hearld, your front page was all the motivation that he needed.

For me Akbers is the best Indian restaurant in N/W. The 'desi' style curries are as good as you will get at a restaurant.

Went to Zouk about a month ago with 3 friends, the 2 of us who had meat (lamb) both got food poisoning.

Anyone suggesting that Cook, Trott and KP aren't world class needs their head testing. Anyone with the averages that these guys have is world class. You also have to factor in that in England you don't get many flat track wickets, unlike in the Asian Subcontinent where you often see flat track wickets which has inflated the averages of some players. 3-0, 4-0? I don't really care, we have won the Ashes and that is all that matters. I also very much enjoyed the winter, dominating India in the second and third test to win the series.

Those 2 hours in the evening session is some of the best cricket that I have ever seen. Broad has been fantastic in this match, but for me it was Bell who set this win up, his innings was crucial. So very proud of the team and feels fantastic to win three Ashes series in a row.

Weather forecast seems to clearish this morning, with showers during the afternoon. The forecast for tomorrow at the moment looks like heavy rain during the morning and then persistent rain during the afternoon with a possibility of some play late afternoon. It could mean that at maximum over the next 2 days the Aussies have around 100-120 overs to force a result. With that kinda forecast I would enforce the follow-on if they get into that position. Hopefully Prior, Broad, Swan and Jimmy can firstly get the runs to avoid the follow-on and then eat as much time up as possible.

Fantastic team performance and well deserved victory. The scary thing is that thus far our big three batsmen (Cook, Trott and Pitersen) haven't fired yet. Hopefully we can wrap this up at Old Trafford.

Sorry very sorry to hear this news. RIP Warren.

Nervous wreck after that! Great stuff by Jimmy. Hats off to the Aussies for their fighting spirit, if they can sort out their top order then they can put us under immense pressure. Off to Lords we go!

In that unhinged rant, he conveniently forgets that Rovers could easily have had a penalty when Morris seemed to be taken out in the box and that the Palace right back somehow didn't get a second yellow card when he took out King.

Millwall v Rovers Highlights: http://www1.skysports.com/footballleague/championship/video/8670058/Milwall-1-2-Blackburn

For me we deffo tried to pass the ball/retain possession against Derby and Huddersfield. Even during the first half against Watford we were decent in terms of possession and managed to frustrate them, however it all fell apart as soon as they scored. Hopefully Hanley being back in defence tonight will help us to tighten up again.

I view this as a “free hit” in terms of we can only improve our position in terms of points so we might as well go for it. The 4 goals we conceded against Watford means for me that we can no longer rely on GD to keep us up. Hopefully Bowyer sends out the players with positive intent, if we play the ball on the ground then we can expose Millwall’s limitations at the back.

He was due back tomorrow but people in Pune are saying that he is still there so no chance that he will be back tomorrow.

Very shocked to read this. RIP Kelvin. I have got to know him quite well over the last few years, have exchanged countless e-mails and PM's. A genuinely nice guy who cared deeply about Rovers and the wider community. My thoughts and prayers are with his family at what must be an incredibly difficult time.

Reports in the local and national media have confirmed that Gary Bowyer, Shebby Singh, Derek Shaw and Paul Agnew are all in Pune to hold talks with the owners. Reports in the local and national media have confirmed that Gary Bowyer, Shebby Singh, Derek Shaw and Paul Agnew are all in Pune to hold talks with the owners. Shebby Singh has been in Pune since Thursday with Shaw, Agnew and Bowyer joining him today. Sources have suggested that Venky’s want to talk to Bowyer about Rovers dropping into the relegation zone and how he intends to deal with the situation. The owners also want to address the issues between the executive board which have led to an alleged breakdown of communications between the board of directors amongst many other issues. Unconfirmed reports have also suggested that club secretary Ian Silvester, finance director Karen Silk and supporters liaison Lyndsey Talbot are all set to leave the club. We have not been able to establish whether these reports are true. There have also been suggestions that Gary Bowyer could be removed as caretaker manager, at present there is no suggestion that this imminent but with talks continuing in Pune the situation could be change. BRFCS understands that Steve McCLaren and Berndt Schuster are both very interested in taking the Rovers job but would need certain re-assurances from Venky’s. Since the sacking of Michael Appleton Rovers have plunged into a crisis both on and off the field. On the field Rovers are on a 10 game winless run which has seen them fall into the relegation zone. Off the field there have been various reports about splits between the exectives and even suggestions of an investigation into Henning Berg’s contract as he is prepared to take the club to court regarding monies that he feels that he is owed. More on this developing story as we get it. View full article