He began the match with a spiteful foul on Joaquín and then sent the Spanish keeper Casillas flying through the photographers. He ended the match in a fit of childish petulance by stripping off the black armband worn in memory of Emlyn Hughes and hurling it to the turf. The following month against Bolton, in a flash of temper, Rooney raised his hand to Ben Haim's face. Wayne was yesterday booked against Liverpool for recklessness again. When will he ever learn? At Goodison Park, Rooney literally had more yellow cards than goals. His disciplinary record for a striker is dreadful. I remember in particular one disgraceful two-footed challenge that he made while playing for Everton - for which he was rightly sent off. Don't know about anyone else but he sounds like Fergusons ideal player

I would give him a good reception, as I liked him and was a bit gutted when he left. He seemed to go crap when Jansen had got injured then was out for ages, and the arrival of Yorke seemed to bring out the worst in him too. But I wouldn't cheer him because of recent events, I would have given him a good reception anyway. Cheering him because of what happened at the Birmingham game might seem sporting, but it might also appear that as individuals and collectively we have something to prove - which I don't think the majority of Rovers fans do Basically if you thought he was good whilst a Rovers player, show it. If not, give him some ( politically-correct ) grief. Or do nothing at all, ignore him and support your team.

Is that not like saying "Well we have a defensive crisis... Perhaps Jansen, Stead and Gallagher should learn to be defenders?"

Yes! And a lot of supporters give Emerton grief for this, without fully realising that it's not his preferred position. At times he looked really fed-up with having to backtrack to get cross the ball with his other foot. I'd much prefer to see him on the right. Then again Reid played well there.

"Morten hasn't been playing for us recently because....uhhhhhh.....well, I don't think he's good enough." That would achieve what? Since when have we expected our managers to go to the press and justify his team selections? And very very unlikely seeing as the club paid 2.5m not so long ago for him. I reckon he'll get his chance sometime, he's been talked up too much not to.

The thing is. A reporter walks up to you when you are minding you're own business and asks you what you think. You briefly tell them your thoughts, and they release one sound-bite to the press. Reid, or any other black player, is more than likely not going to be happy. But what's to say that he didn't also say that it was blown out of proportion with only a couple of fans amongst over 20,000 being a problem - but that would hardly thicken the plot - if you're a tabloid journo (or a wannabe tabloid journo). So it doesn't get in the paper.

Much agreed

I'm in agreement. Infact insulting him for his skin colour was just plain stupid and nothing to do with football - giving him grief for his attitude when a Rovers player had EVERYTHING to do with football. So these few (and by that a mean, less than a handful) of people who took part in the racism yesterday actually made Yorke (and everyone else) miss the entire point of why Yorke was getting some (non-racist) verbal abuse.

That's going a bit far. If this hadn't been highlighted by the press you wouldn't have known about it, so how does it affect you enough to not want to go anymore? I wouldn't let a couple of people ruin my entertainment. And on the wider issue, I think the club needs to make examples of these people as soon as they can be identified. Yorke deserved some grief, he's an arrogant waster who showed no passion for playing in a blue and white shirt - and at the time he was a Rovers player, he was reportedly the highest earner too. So give him some grief by all means, without resorting to the lowest form of insult. I can't see how having a go at the colour of his skin would reflect quite how crap he was as a Blackburn Rovers footballer. He has more than enough shortcomings as a footballer to take the mick out of which shows that these people are obviously not real fans anyway

While I think Tony Parkes is and very well should be an Ewood Legend, I think that him leaving was always something that was going to come up some day. It's just Mark Hughes happened to be the person who did it. However the 'leak' of his departure was truly pathetic, and a terrible way to treat someone with Tony Parkes history with the club. And like some members have said, it's just so unprofessional and if he's thought that little of, then how are the rest of the staff (inc playing staff) treated? Like cattle? It's not Hughes fault though. Yes he made the decision, but he didn't decide how the decision was going to be made public. So chanting 'only one Tony Parkes' will be sending some echoes of discontent, which may have an effect on the players - and at the moment we need to stay in the premiership. If there's one thing to gain from this, it's that Hughes obviously isn't keen on 'hangers on' (though I hope that's not how Parkes will be ultimately seen) BUT if this is the way forward then hopefully they'll get rid of all the other hangers on, and those that don't seem to ever do their jobs properly. And perhaps then there will be some professionalism to the set-up at Ewood Park.

I also thought that Batty was a much better player than Sherwood and I wish we had someone like him now. Someone who could really bully the opposition midfield, but do it with some intelligence so not to get sent off every match. I can't believe Sherwood is almost the top midfielder too. Is this the same Sherwood who 'gestured' to a berating Blackburn end? Is this not the same player who started a revolt in the changing rooms? Is this the guy who strolled across the pitch in his suit, coming in through the Walkersteel stand turnstyles while the rest of the team were training? I think I remember Dalglish (may have been Harford) once saying that the thing with Sherwood is that everyone remembers every bad pass in a match, and never the really good ones. And I think that sums him up because some matches there weren't any really good passes to witness. He could play brilliantly some days, and some day he couldn't pass a ball to someone a couple of metres away. It's the same with Atkins (though Sherwood was much better than Super Atko). Good servant though he was, he was never a great player. And the Super Atko tag was always in-jest wherever I was standing/sitting. And believe me I got around that ground when Atkins was playing - Blackburn End, Blackburn End Enclosure, Darwen End, Walkersteel. Not once did anyone shout super Atko for a bit of skill - more they did it when he passed it to a member of the opposition and people were taking the p***. The thing about Atkins was that most of the time he gave 100% - but that doesn't make him great. But it's an interesting debate chaps

Put it this way, I wish Shearer was available for England selection now Rooney hasn't proven himself yet - Shearer has. How can you make a comparison yet? And 'the odd goal', nearly fell off my seat laughing Perhaps we can say that Shearer was better in the loyalty department than Rooney though - though I'm sure some people would debate that

Short term, I thought this was good news. Apparently he's only signed a 6 month contract, and we need all the help we can get. Even if he's rubbish all we've lost is 6 months of wages - and he might turn out to be half-decent. A shame he's quite old for the premiership, but it's worth the gamble. Wasn't he training with Fulham who were about to sign him? Sorry, I didn't have time to read the whole thread

Has anyone used the carparks surrounding Ewood. We decided enough was enough a few years ago, and decided to pay for a space. Great, we thought as we crawled towards Ewood in the jam-packed roads. And after the match we got back in the car. Then we had to wait, because they'd filled the carpark up with too many cars and we were blocked in about 5 deep. Then we had to wait for the coaches. All the coaches. So we waited, and waited, and waited. Then when we got out we spent an hour getting from Ewood Park to Uncle Jacks pub. If we waited any longer it'd be match-day again. On the subject of investment, I was talking about it the other day to my mate who used to be Ken Beamish's assistant in the PR dept. He reminded me of the day that Jack Walker let the club know of his illness. Ken Beamish (allegedly) said that if anything happened to Jack, all the financial interest would go because his eldest son (who the responsibilities were passed onto) wasn't interested in the Rovers at all - or football for that matter. His daughter apparently is Rovers-mad. - stick her in charge! Anyone else know anything about this??? If it's true or not? My mate swears that KB said this to him and a few of the girls in the PR office. I didn't believe him at the time because I thought that JW would pass the responsibilities to someone who like him, was Rovers through and through.

I used to work in a place where there were a few idiots - one in particular - who used to arrange fights with opposition fans after the match. He used to even ring up the oppo's fans from work and let them know where to meet to start a ruck. Complete nobhead. I told him that I should report him, and he said it was just a bit of harmless fun and they made sure no kids got involved. I found out he lost his job shortly after I left for better pastures too. Thing is, this guy really loved Rovers. The saying 'they aren't real fans' just didn't hold true for this geezer, he was blue through and through. And if you saw him at the ground he'd be friendly and be there for the match. As soon as he was outside the ground at the final whistle it was a different story. Sad but true that there are a few hooligans amongst the Blackburn faithful.

Before the stadium got redeveloped, didn't Jack Walker research the possibilities of a new ground being built which would have easier access for out of town fans. At the time I hated the idea of leaving a ground with such memories and heritage. But they were thinking of relocating to somewhere near the Whitebirk Industrial estate weren't they? If the ground was relocated in a position where the catchment area would be better for attracting new fans, and easier to access for out of town fans with motorway links like Boltons ground or Wigans? I know the cash isn't there to do this now, and it's an unpopular choice but when I saw the stadium at Wigan for the first time it made me wish that it was as easy to get a space at Ewood to park up and stroll into the ground. Bloody residents only parking has lost a lot of supporters I'll bet

Wow, the managerial merry-go-round, in full-swing and Rovers are at the heart of it

I can't comment on Bob Crompton because I didn't see him play, so I'm going for the ever-dependable Henning Berg (who's been giving Souness some stick in the press since GS left - Berg Backs Pederson. And despite what some have said on this thread about anyone being a good right-back in the championship winning team - he was a good defender when he returned and we didn't have the same strength at the back. We've not been the same since he left.

Martin O' Neill would be fantastic... And there's nothing wrong with dreaming...

Yeah but Allardyce goes for those types of players because that's what he's limited to at Bolton isn't he? At least here there'd be a bit more money to spend, and I think Allardyce would be an excellent appointment if we could get him. Personally I'd like to see Strachan in charge - he's managed a premiership team on a budget before and got them firing. He seems the most qualified for the job. Someone with the experience at managing at the highest level on a budget, and NO not Hoddle! Nor Houllier for me, or Evans. Venables seems to have his problems, but he's a good manager - but would he be what we need. Bryan Robson likes to bring in too many expensive unproven foreigners. Curbishley would be a good second behind Strachan imo.

Don't tempt fate...

I think he means he disagrees with Souness earning the right to lead Rovers into next season.

Williams said they will not increase it financially, but are looking to alter the deal in other ways to make it more attractive to Tromso in the LET article. Expect a deal wearing a mini-skirt and lingerie then...

For the money, and as a replacement for Yorke it's a good signing and I do think that he'll score a few goals, as well as make a few. He's a different player to Cole and I do think that in the last 15 minutes of a game he's the sort who will really run the oppo's tired defenders ragged, hopefully allowing Stead more space to score a winning goal or two And if he's son is a Rovers fan then he's going to put in all the more effort to make his kid proud

I do believe we have better players than back then though Bryan - if someone could get the best out of them they could get a decent set of results. We had some good young players I suppose, but they weren't ever presents back then - though Duff was still a handful. Back then we had (if I remember correctly) Filan, Grayson, Short, Dailly, Kenna, Dunn, Carsley, Wilcox, Jansen, Ward, Ostenstad, Davidson, McKinley, Mcateer,Peacock, Duff, Johnson, Gillespie, Gallacher, Blake, Croft (can't remember anyone else who I should be mentioning). Just typing Ward, Blake and Peacock made me want to cry... Not to mention Davidson