COme off it. At the last world cup our side wasn't that great, no Rooney or Gerrard. Similarly at Euro 2004 we looked decent with Rooney onthe pitch but when he was injure the overall quality was not as good as 1990 with Gasoigne gone. THe squad is only maturing now and you want him out the door. We do now have an exceptional side but how you imagine a manager of dubious record such as Allerdyce, Pearce or Curbishley (who have only six months and three or four friendlies to get to know the team) will perform better than one who knows them inside out and has garnered very good results and has pedigree strikes me as verging on the insane.

Name an England manager (apart from Alf Ramsey) where this hasn't been the case.

I personally don't think that there is anybody better qualified than Sven to do the job and I think a lot of people are going to wish we hadn't done this. Even if it was a free choice of any manager in the world I would guess there would only really be three that anybody would be unanimous in the belief that it would be a good choice- Mourinho, Benitez and Wenger- and they are all F-ing foreign. If he does go before the World Cup, which must now be quite likely, then we should go to Arsene Wenger on our knees, cap in hand (and presumably with a large check) to ask for him to take charge just for the world cup with Stuart Pearce. That is the only arrangement where I could see the side actually benifitting from this whole fiasco. If we end up with McClaren or Allerdyce some of you clowns are going to be sorry. No time to build up and get to know the team, tactical styles that don's suit the English side. Well done England for doing the best we can to screw ourselves over.

He played striker for Monaco under Wenger before that but then was switched to the wing because they had a Brazillian up front (junior something, can't remember exactly). Defo started out as a striker though. Also he was rated. Juventus paid Monaco 14 million pound for him.

Henry sort of, although he was a striker then a winger then a striker again. I think SWP was a striker who became a winger. Duff did a decent job for ROI as a striker as did Giggs for Wales.

Goddammit!!!!! Without him we are looking a bit screwed. Kuqi and Bentley up front isn't going to drive the Man U back four to tears is it

This is going to need a supreme effort from us to get through, but I reckon we can do it. Utd are missing key players and will be tired after busting a gut against Liverpool while Bellers will be fresh for us. A bigquestion mark is who to play up with Bellers. I can't imagine Kuqi causing Brown and Fedinand too many problems. The other options would be Pedersen or Bentley. Who knows? My guess at the team:

Well I think by common consensus he is Manchester United's and England's best player and one of the most coveted talents in the world. I mean that's like me saying Cahill rubbish because he hasn't won a trophy. I would say if Walcott makes an imapct over the next few months and looks a better bet than the player he is going to take the place of then of course we should take him. Thats how football works.

I am not sure what you have just said there is entirely rational. Im against the cards but we would hardly be opressing the Irish to have them if they came into our country, it would just mean that everybody would be on an even keel.

pah! I meant suspended, slip of the tongue.

We will have a better side out than Newcastle on Saturday but I just have a feeling we are going to lose this one, I hope I am wrong. Dickov and Bentley as an attacking force might not fare that well. If Bellamy was fit I would think we would stand a much better chance. Side I would expect: 1-2 Savage, Shearer, Solano

I do rate Hughes as a better manager than Pearce, although I am impressed by psycho I have to say. The thing is ptting a swede or an italian or a brazillian in charge of the team is one thing. Putting a welshman, scotsman or irishman in charge is quite another. I don't think the FA would go for it, I don't think the fans would go for it. And for that matter I don't think Hughes would go for it. Saying that I dare say they had a look at Alex Ferguson and would of given him the job if he was interested, but he is the most successful British manager of all time so therefore a bit of an exception. So if Hughes was a bonafide top draw, tens of trophies under his belt manager the FA might have a look, but if he is just "up and coming" they are never going to give it to a welshman. Also there is an issue of pride as many weshman considered Hughes ultimately a failure for wales. Would the FA want to employ a man considered to be a failure for Wales. Never going to happen. ps. I bet you £ 200 that Hughes will not be the England manager within the next four years.

They would never put a welshman in charge, I doubt Hughes would be interested in managing England and even if he did come in his solid defensive approach would draw vast amounts of criticism from the off. Poisoned chalice. Hughes is too bright for that.

benitez would make a decent england manager. For all the stick Sven gets he has done well fo England. I cannot think of anybody who I would put a ton on having a better record with the national side over 4 years. If it had to be an english manager then my order would be: 1. Pearce 2. Curbishley 3. Allerdyce 4. McClaran 5. Bruce None of those exactly inspire you with confidence do they. Lay off the swede until somebody actually has better idea.

The way one of my mates, who works in the home office, explained it to me was that the main reason for the cards were to clamp down on benefit fraud. Apparently there are around fifty million who qualify for NI numbers but there are 80million in circulation... I personally really dont like the idea of them. They proper relationship between the public and the government is that the government serves the public. The introduction of ID cards skews it to being more of a case of the public serving the government, subject to their invasions of privacy. Also while if used responsibly they present a real resource the scope for abuse is enormous.

Well, I would guess that the guy is going to be an absolute superstar. Wenger is one of the best pickers of talent in the world and if he is willing to pay 12-15 million then he must be absolutely certain. Plus it is not just Arsenal's opinion, five premiership clubs including CHelsea have been sniffing around. If he is not an England squad regular in four years I will eat my right leg. As for the rule thing, you cannot restrict the movement of labour. It is his talent and he is his own free individual, he isn't an indentured servant. He, like all of us, can work where he damn well likes. It would be nice for players to show loyalty but that is up to them, it is not somethingto be forced upon them. (and anyway, if he didn't want to stay he would just throw a wobbly until eventually they had to let him go).

Well,okay, not "top". Perhaps "proven" is a better word. Three million is, i imagine, the most we could afford, and could get us a good striker if we scout well.

We should certainly do this if we can get no one else in. But really we should be looking, like Rev says, to give Hughes three million or so to sign a striker who the manager is absolutely convinced by. If we don't have the cash then fair enough, but if there is a possibility to raise it then we should do it. Another top striker would make such a difference.

WHo put a bee in your bonnet? Anybody would think we havn't gone seven games unbeaten, be in a semi final which is still very winnable, played some excellent football and moved into the top half of the table. Reid is a decent if unspectacular player who would look at home in 15 of the 20 Premiership sides. Indeed the likes of Brum, Newcastle, Everton, VIlla are all crying out for a player of his tenacity and power. Tugay is an important player for us but I wouldn't say we depended upon him. We can win games without him, we just don't look as pretty doing it. A creative midfielder is required for the future but why all the slagging off? Hughes and the players are doing a fine job at the moment.

Strange choices. All of those have been excellent in some games recently, and I would say only really Kuqi lacks genuine quality in his position.The other three are not world class but sill more than decent. Reid was good against Bolton, he drives and drive, gets the tackles in, moves the ball around. He was the one player, apart from Bellamy when he came on, who looked to consistently hurt Bolton by running at them. I do agree that we could have done with Tugay (I would of taken off Savage myself) and that Reid is not a great long range shooter. But to suggest he isn't good enough for the team is ludicrous.

I thought he did us a favour really. I don't think anybody would of paid a fee for him and he was obviously still costing us a fair bit to sit on the bench. The other option was him staying at rovers for the next six months eating up more cash without playing. I don't understand how he can of done anything 'conniving'. Hughes plainly didn't want him. The only annoying thing is he signed for Bolton. But life goe on I suppose.

Realistically we are going to find it difficult to go through. If we manage to get another decent striker in before the match then I think our chances will be much improved. Pretty much the worst thing that could happen would be Man Utd signing a decent central midfielder before the game. Hopefully Ferguson's inexplicable blindness to this problem will continue. Personally I think Gravesen will turn up at Old Trafford. As Phillipl says the two weeks till the game should be quite eventful.

I've actually got a feeling that there will be another striker at Ewood by the time the second leg comes up. With Jansen gone we are only left with three proper strikers, Hughes can't possibly be hinking of finishing the season on those. One injury and we are in real trouble. Whether it will be a class player or someone to make up the numbers I can't really say though.

Actually to combat that I think Hughes will ring in the changes: We could really do with another striker at the moment, or at least recall Gallagher, to try and combat the fatigue.

Chaeck out these comments by MGP: What a love-in! To be honest when can you remember any of our managers being that highly praised by the players, including King Kenny. It is the sort of flowing tribute that is usually reserved for the likes of Wenger, Ferfuson and Clough. Maybe young ed is just sucking up but, as if this hasn't been mentioned before, we have a real gem on our hands. Hopefully he can defeat the master again today!