Correct - and that's what most of the PC brigade don't seem to realise . Blacks (Christians ) have infinitely more in common with Whites (Christians) than they do with the Muslims , who are culturally and increasingly politically out on a limb of their own making . So why does it always come down to bickering about "race" ? The answer to that , I'd suggest , is that for too long people have been brainwashed into believing it's all about race . Kids are bombarded with mis-information from day one of their lives from groups and organisations (CRE for eg ) who have either vested interests (it keeps them in jobs) , or they have naive political dogmatic ideals that ALL races and cultures are capable of living together . Tell that to the Palestinians and the Jews. The end result ? We are told that we are all the same - but yet we are all different . We must all live together - but diverse communities are encouraged to flourish seperately (faith schools ?) . We are in the post Christian secular era - and yet we have to promote Islam at all costs so as not to "offend" the newcomers. This leads me to a question Shaddy posed . Just so I can nail some thing down about your postion on this: As long as everybody was culturally identical, or at least culturally compatible in your view, you would have no reason to kick them out? Skin colour/racial history is completely unimportant in your eyes? Cheers.

Um, for once on this messageboard we seem to have a consensus. A line should definately be drawn in the sand. I in no way endorse capital punishment (it is, in my opinion, indefensibly morally wrong and as someone has pointed out- what if you get the wrong man?) but we need to tighten up on this. Mandatory life imprisonment would recieve my vote. On the other hand a draconian regieme of punishment and prejuidice that BP and TND are after is a bit frightening. What is the "liberal conspiracy" and what is the alternative that you are suggesting? Here you wish to annihalate peadophiles, something that is understandable- but from the rhetoric you use you inspire little confidence that that is all you wish to annihalate. Broadly arbitrary deportation of illegal immigrants seems fairly high up the list, TND is looking to have pick pockets having their thumbs chopped off, you obviously dont like liberals so what are you going to do to them if you cannot vote them out? I cannot accuse you of going for something really outrageous but there is just an aggressive flavour to your language that inspires a very, very deep fear of the day you, or people like you, might find themselves in power. I would take dull, confused, nicey-nicey, cant we all be friends, bumbling politicians over that. That vague notion aside there is just one other thing I would like to disabuse you of. There seems to be some crazy idea that sixty, or even a hundred and fifty, years ago before the leftward shift in British politics we were all better off. We were not- sure, Britain had an empire- but the money from it (made as, I guess, illegal immigrants) mostly went to banks and big business- not a town like Blackburn. Nationalism that you espouse drove europe to war twice with calamatous results (indeed the framework for peace has large been driven by a liberal concilliatory framework that you despise). Living conditions were in squalour compared to the USA across the country. No Health Service, no decent public education. What golden era is it that you want to hark back to, what streets paved with gold did the liberals steal from your grandfather? Fair enough, it might have gone too far now but the socio-liberal ideal gave most people a vote, an education, a health service, peace, prosperity in parts. Give it its due.

yes that's correct, and that's because society does not treat people of different races equally correct, but I'm sure you understand that language changes depending on the context or the inference. are you a a smiths fan who's anti euro or are you a fan of the anti-european smiths? I don't get it. no, would you take it seriously? you don't get it don't you? as the dominant race in this country then this "inverse racism" that you are so concerned about has little or no effect on you personally, are you going to be denied opportunities, or your dignity or be chased in the street because of your ethnicity? Do you feel hard done by in the same way that Shaun WPhilllips feels hard done by? Can you go about your daily routine without having people throw bananas at you? IMO the research and effort that you have put into digging out old crime reports and then singling out the injustice from the colour of their skin reveal nothing but borderline racism and seething resentment. And way to go for pointing out some obscure lyric from some obscure song from some obscure pop group, that's explosive evidence in proving that the tide is indeed flooding in. Amazing! A simply awesome analysis of this whole inverse racism thing. It's actual existance is minute yet it is conjoured up by people as pervasive in society. Just a afer thin argument for prejuidice to hide behind. Don't mean to be abusive AESF but the views you are purporting are just unsustainable and, to me anyway, extremely distasteful.

How about this for a side: Defensively a bit, well a lot, shaky but going forward has awesome possibilites. If Gallagher and thompson are given instructions to close down as much as possible but not dive in to tackles I think it could work well. Stead has done little to deserve his spot but I still feel (despite his two goals to Steads none this season) he offers more than Jansen. I suppose an alternative would be to stick Emo on the right, Pedersen on the left and drop Stead for Gallagher, but I really feel the formaton above shows real BALLS. We cant defend for toffee so lets give them a display of fluent attacking football. 4-2 Rovers Thompson, Gallagher, Stead, Dickov.

He should be ok - he seemed to hate being at right midfield as he was always drifting into the centre, so can't see him drifting out to the touchline when he's supposed to be in the centre! I would say it was more of an issue about whether he will drift forward too much behind the strikers and leave Ferguson exposed. However there is no question that he will be an improvement over Tugay.

Dont be ridiculous. Dunn has had about four good games since he left us. He is full of unrealised potential, not a good player. To say he could be one of the worst sales we made is nonsense. He would struggle to get in the City team if everybody was fit...... thats pretty damning. At the moment it looks like one Souness' best transfer decisions (of which there were a few- Friedel, Thompson, Tugay, Gray, Stead). He is a local boy and all that, but you cannot justify that statement. ps. If he had three years left on his contract there is no way he wouldnt of signed it. He would of got an increased pay packet and his movement would not of been hindered as plaayers are only held to the club for two years irrespective of the length.

The hard line against racism has been one of the few glowing achievments of recent times. There is no way to defend racism, at least not on a modern rational basis, and as such should be irradicated. Why undermine it? Why try to drag the carpet from under the feet of something to be proud of? If Dwight was not subject to racial abuse then there is a case to lay blame at his feet or diminish it as over sensitivity. However if he was subject to such abuse do not belittle it. The obvious slippery slope argument aside it just shows we do not believe in those libeties and rights that we hold close to our hearts. It should never be just part of our culture.

Dunn showed some real class- the cheeky stepover and cross to the back post for example. But, if he wasn't from Blackburn and English, nobody on this board would want him at the club. He has only managed about a third of birminghams games since he signed and drifts in and out of the ones he has played in. Nothing suggests he would improve our team. When Birmingham have all their players back I imagine he will return to the bench and be saved for a late cameo role. Blessed with that sort of powerful physique of Gascoigne or Marradona he looked at the start of the 2001/2002 season like he could be the next big thing, or english big thing anyway. What has become painfully evident however is he has neither the mentality, the desire or the discipline to succeed. He is naturally a great player but not as great as those other examples above. To try and emulate pissing it all up the wall like they did is stupid, he does not have the ability to do that and get away with it. He is going to look back at his career and realise that if he had the discipline of Michael Owen or Barry Ferguson he could have played in two or three world cups and maybe won some more silverware with rovers. Crying shame.

Hear, hear. If there's one thing that gets my goat it's the blaring, tinpot beat combo "music" that passes for pre-match "entertainment" at Ewood these days. Destroys the atmosphere while deafened supporters sit in stunned silence at the banality of it all. In't good old days the brass band would march up and down the pitch from half an hour before kick-off and there would be a gradual build up of excitement leading to the teams running out on the pitch. Believe it or not, the players used to come out to a big cheer from the crowd, supporters sang songs and the actual kick-off was accompanied by a roar. Compare that to the excruciating pre-match "experience" nowadays. Ban pop music and bring back brass bands. Who needs booze to deaden the senses when you have proper entertainment ? It might just catch on. I think your showing your age old boy. I don't think anybody has called a band a 'beat combo' since about 1965. Maybe there is a hippy under that tired old type face...... Jim in the summer of love, flowers behind the ears, frolicking across the fields. Its an endearing (or frightening) image....

With Tugay getting hauled off last game and looking pretty bad all season save the game against Liverpool Hughes must have the balls to drop him. Thompson has been excellent for the reseves and looked the part in the first team. Bite the bullet Sparky!

Bloody hell...what utter, utter nonsense. Sven has faults but that is certainly not one of them. He always brings young players in when they deserve it, just look at the average age of our squad and how different the starting 11 is now from the one that was starting when he took over. Yes, the only players that are still going who Sven is still playing in the first XI that he 'inherited' are Beckham, Campbell, Ferdinand, G Neville and Owen. For all of those it is virtually impossible to make a case for them to be dropped. They are the best in their positions, although recent form (particularly in Beckham's case) has been disappointing. To change them would be a risk. And thats the main problem, Sven doesn't take risks- but its hard to blame him for it. The first XI are already of a high quality and any 'tinkering' would have to produce steller results or the papers would just get him sacked. This conservatism has been bred by a bloodthirsty public. Who wants to innovate in that kind of amosphere?

How many Games has Dunn managed in the last two years? Has to be under 50%, probably less. You have to say Souness did well to get rid for over 5 million.

Um, there is NEVER any call for Bryan Adams. Ever. How about the Rocky themetune? Inspiring, enlivening, inane. All the things you want from a good themetune!

After seeing a bit of Emerton's excellent performance last night I am looking forward to seeing both him and Thompson running at Birmingham. I really feel both should start with Reid being converted to a holding midfielder. A bit of a gamble, but the benefits could be huge. An attacking triumvate of Ferguson, Thompson and Emerton would be frightening! If only our strikers could finish.....

As posted on another thread I hope the team lines up: Friedel, Todd, Johansson, Niell, Gray, Reid (holding player), Ferguson, Thompson, Emerton, Stead, Dickov Subs: Enckleman, Short, Tugay, Jansen, Pedersen Defensively frail but a fair amount of firepower from midfield. I cant see how pussyfooting around is going to help us- Tugay has been pretty awful, get Thompson in. Plumped for Pedersen over Djorkaeff as he has a left foot. We need him to come good if we really want to improve. 2-1 Rovers Thompson, Ferguson

Um, fair enough you have to run a business and all that but there is a balance. It is, after all, compassion which makes us human. You make a well functioning society sound like a pack of wolves, culling the weak......

Thompson has to start next game. I think Hughes will let him. Unless Stead is injured he will stay with him I think. Jansen was okay but still not quite as good. As much as he is a psycopath we need bothroyd back. I want to see this lineup get a whole set of games to settle with the only real change bringing Bothroyd back in two games time (barring a Steadinho recovery) The Reid holding player thing is not my idea exactly. I nicked it off other posters, but I have come to agree with them. I am not sure he has ever really played just sitting in front of the defense (indeed I have a feeling he has played on the wings most of his life) but he has all the right qualities to do it well- athleticism, agression, good(ish) tackling. His passing is a bit poor but I cannot see it being more dangereous than Tugay's. Thompson is always going to be a better player going forward so it would seem stupid to curtail both his and Ferguson's game by playing him in the middle. Also I'd just like to say how impressed I am with Dickov. He got a lot of stick when he came here and I was doubtful of him but he has already made a huge contribution to the side. Works his heart out and has a lot more talent than people give him credit for. We might think we are in trouble up front at the moment. Imagine if we did not have Dickov! Quality player. Finally the team is taking shape. Roll on Bimingham!

To be fair to Souness you have to say that in the 2002/2003 season he organised our defense superbly. It was more our defensive solidarity rather than attacking prowess that got us to sixth. The big problem Souness suffered after that was his inability to maintain that solidarity. I dont know what was going on in his mind. It was absolutely crackers to get rid of Berg for Amoruso. Fair enough, he couldnt count on Niell and Greskol suddenly becoming abysmal but tacticlly he had no answers. Until Gray turned up not a single one of our defensive players had two good games in a row. You certainly get the feeling that if Graeme gets his way he can whip a team into shape and drive them up the table but if things start to fall apart he has little ability to arrest the decline. This has been evident here, at Liverpool and at Rangers.

Team should definately be, IMHO: Can't see how anybody can argue with that, unless Short is back from injury which I dont think he is. The only question mark is over Thompson who, although he had a good game in the reserves this week, combined with Barry in the middle could leave us very lightweight defensively. Still, when the other options are Tugay and Flitcroft I say give him a go! Feeling reasonably confident, provided everybody can stay on the pitch. 2-1 Rovers

One big problem for us in this game is that our central midfielders will not get any space. With the exception of Ferguson our midfield (Emerton, Tugay and Reid) cannot cope with close man marking very well. Brett has shown some ability to turn a man on the left but it is going to be a whole different kettle of fish to the Liverpool who stood off us. Saying that, we posess so much more quality than them we have to get a least a 'convincing' draw (ie. we looked the better team) or a win. The team should remain unchanged. If Thompson is fit, stick him on the bench. Pedersen too. 2-1 Rovers

We are really suffering from having very little defensive bite in midfield...... goddammit. If we put out our best attacking eleven we would look quite good: Unfortuately, as some will know, away at Chelsea we would be torn to shreds extremely easily with a midfield like that. This neccesitates the inclusion of either Douglas, Flitcroft or, uh, Matteo to pair with Ferguson. I tell you, one quality player to partner Ferguson in the middle would transform the side- fair enough we need a striker on form and a decent defence but I honestly think that is the most crucial problem. I think it is likely Hughes will elect for a side looking more like this: More defensively solid but I cant see us being able to hold the ball up at all. We could well get stuffed.

Just for my tuppeny worth..... I agree that we need to make ourselves hard to beat but the fact of the matter is we lack any players to really do this with. All are central defensive pairings appear awful, we have no dogged tackler in the middle of the park and our full backs are vulnerable to decent wingers. I cannot see how sitting deep is going to help us as we have no one with the pace to hit a team on the break. Goddammit, we have a team that is certainly technically proficent, we just lack the abilty to score and prevent conceding, so we might as well pass it a bit. A quite possible team to shake things up would be: Flitcroft should sit resolutely within fifteen yards of the central defence and just soak things up as best he can (which is pretty awfully). Gallagher has to get a game. Bloody hell........ are we going down?

Hmmmmmmmm..... News just out is that Todd and Reid are available for selection while Thompson is going to have to wait for another week. We have so many players now it is hard to see who to pick. Friedel, Short, Gray, Ferguson, Djorkaeff, Emerton and Dickov are- at the moment- automatic picks but beyond that it is all much of a muchness. I desperately want to see Stead, Pedersen, Reid, Bothroyd and particularly Gallagher given a decent crack of the whip but the only real likely starter out of that is Pedersen coming in for Jansen. Gallagher and Reid are going to struggle to even make the bench. Paul has a great range of passing, movement and finishes well- in many ways he is exactly the kind of player we need at the moment. Is there no way we can fit him into the team? I know it would reap dividends.

And no doubt at the players request. Theres no two ways about it i suppose. If any of the big five came in for Ferguson he would be off like a shot- he is an ambitious bloke with little connection with Blackburn now Souness has gone. I am no really sure you can blame him for that, 90% of players are like that (even the ones who have been at a club all their life like Duff and Parker). He is however a man of integrity, or appears to be anyway, and i am certain he will do the best for this club and show it some respect (ie. not talk up a move etc.) while he is here. I hope he is here for a very long time too, he is a quality player.

I am wondering what sky is actually thinking about all this as they hold the key to the leages future. Their over riding concern will be how can they increase/maintain their pofits for the forseeable future, so in that context the two big questions would be.............. 1. Would a more competitve premiership (one where 10 clubs could compete for the championship) bring in more subscribers than the current oh so predictable version? and 2. Would a European superleague generate more cash for the Murdoch clan than either versions of the premiership? I cannot see why Sky would not be investigating this, they have to make sure the 'product' (god I hate that word) does not get stale. I am sure that if over the next ten yeas we just see Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal winning the title supporters will vote with their feet...... but if they all just park their arses on the sofa and watch it on telly that might just be what Sky want. Its a hard one to call, but the game wuld be immesurably improved by a leveller playing field. Unfortunately money, rather than entertainment, will be the deciding factor.