I disagree. We have a very good midfield and decent defence IMHO but no decent strikers which is a shame. Someone mentioned recently that we have the poorest forwards in the league, and I do not think thats far wrong. We have a nasty habit of far exceeding our opponents chances on goal but putting nothing away. Still, our all round side at the moment is certainly better than last years effort. If only Andy Cole was here, we could use that kind of ability to hold up the ball. Lets see what Hughes comes up with on loan. As for Ferguson, I hope he assumes the attitude of just getting on with it and performing to earn him a good move in the summer. Playing poorly or throwing his toys out of the pram will do him no good at all. A Savage-Ferguson partnership promises alot. It is a ridiculous position to be in, a fine midfield and desperately bad strikers- but that is what we have. Oh, Savage at the club could allow Ferguson to get forward in the way that so excited him at the start of the season.

Hmmm... looks like Phillipl could have been right. Will the fans be able to forgive Barry? Unless Everton or Newcastle come in it looks like he could be lining up against Colchester....

We would of had much better distribution of the ball, although I agree it would be a bit much to call him a match winner.

For what it is worth I thought we played okay. Allerdyce did his homework and knew we had better players than him so he packed the midfield and soaked up the pressure, hoping he could hurt us on the break. It worked, through some shameful cheating, and they won. We had most of the posession but lacked quality in the final third. None of our strikers could hold up the ball so we found it difficult to create openings. Expect to see the Ferguson money be used to bring in a Forward. It is not all doom and gloom. We looked the better side against a decent team, we have won a few gamess recently and have quite a few good players on our books. Some difficult games coming up, it will really test the mettle of our side.

Nonsense, we have quality players. Emerton, Reid, Pedersen, Savage Thompson, Dickov, Gallagher, Todd, Niell and Friedel are all good players for a mid table team. We cannot win every game FFS. I cannot see how Mokeona and Flitcroft are much worse than the players available to other teams in our position either. Can we inject some realism please. If Ferguson goes it will be a loss but we should get a decent price and the addition of a quality striker could see us improve dramatiacally. ps. Are you suggesting that Rangers have a sell on clause? I do not think they do. The money that we still owe will be budgeted for so no matter where Barry goes the money will be available for transfers.

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, how about a winning team playing attractive football ? We were doing that a few seasons ago until the manager got rid of all the best players. I say this hesitatingly because I cannot attend regularly due to not being able to get down from edinburgh, but if we need to play good football to get decent crowds we are screwed. We cannot sustain a Premiership club on the attendence we get, and except for a few purple patches it is unlikely we will always play good football. We will eventually be replaced by the likes of Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Forest, Ipswich, West Ham, Liecester, Sunderland who can attract the fans even when playing dire football. It all comes down to catchment areas. Wecannot complain about prices because we are the cheapest in the Premiership (for season tickets, anyway). If people want them lower we will need to drop down a league. It is just the raw economics of it.

I would watch want you put down on this board, I would hazrad most of us do not want that kind of bile on here. It does not impress anybody and could land you in hotwater with the police. As for Diouf, surely he must get a ban?

....because he has played his last game for the club. He will be back at Ibrox by Friday, if not before. Insider infomation Jim, or a gut feeling? Will they pay 6 million? If they do I would think Hughes will be happy as Larry...

No Ferguson. Bothroyd, Gallagher up front. Niell keeps his place, Neksen not even on the bench. Friedel, Niell, Matteo, Mokeona, Todd, Emerton, Pedersen, Savage, Thompson, Gallagher, Bothroyd

I cannot quite credit that it is all over yet, it will only finish when Barry comes out and says he "only wanted to leave because he was homesick but he will honour is contract blah, blah, blah...." or some other banal but appropriate excuse. Thompson is a decent player who can stand in so there is no need to play Ferguson unless the boy wants to play himself. If he does I would cheer rather than boo him- I cannot see how booing him off the park is going to help Blackburn Rovers at all. I wont be at the game though so, as Waggy says, I will be distanced from what the supporters feel.

That i disagree with. Gallagher might not have tricks but he has a footballing brain and creates space with his running and passing, much like Sheringham. Stead has a fair bit of strength and while being genrally ineffective this season he has not performed any worse than Bothroyd and has been better than Jansen. Stead and Gallagher should be given the nod on the basis of their decent performances as a partnership last season.

You should not be too disappointed, you have got a massive fee for the player at that age and if Bruce can find a decent young player and come out of the deal better than us. We have now got someone who has an exceptionally good relationship with Hughes and who can be a leader on the pitch. The fact Mark was willing to pay so much means that our manager really must feel he is going to make a huge difference to the way we play. Savage is interesting- pidgeonholed as a tenacious defensive midfielder but recently shown his ability as a creator and scorer of goals. If Ferguson does go it will be fascinating to see what kind of partner we will go after. I do not know why you spout off about there being a riot. We are about as unviolent bunch of fans as you will ever meet and if you treat our supporters and our team with the respect we deserve as we will treat you then there will be no trouble.

No, Shillito, I don't. If he is living in the real World - and from what we know about Ferguson he isnt - then he would reluctantly have to agree that he was never a £7.5 million player just because he had a few successful seasons in Scotland. £7.5m was Rangers valuation of the player. That's what Rovers had to pay. What anyone on here values him at doesn't make any difference to anything. If Rangers valued him at that price then, why should they value him at any less than that now? Rangers are counting on Barry forcing our hand. We are counting on Barry having the decency not to force it any more than he has done. It really comes down to that. I think what Williams and Phillipl are getting at is that there are certian 'rules of engagement' where all parties have to act with a certain amount of respect. We could have waited for Savage to decline to play andtry and force Birmingham to take something like a million. It was a possible option as long as Savage was willing to do it- but we paid a fair price "significantly above City's investment". We are hoping Barry and Rangers will do the same. But there is no way we can make them if Barry decides to undercut us unless we put him in the reserves which is throwing 30-40k a week out the window. If Rangers and Barry do play silly buggers it will be a new low not seen since Campbell screwed Spurs thoroughly.

Are you insane? Parker is the finest young midfielder in the Prem. He will be as good, or near to it, as Gerrard and Lampard. If he would come then we should take him! I like Barry Ferguson as a player but he is not as talented as Parker by a long way, unfortunately. If Parker goes I think evrybody in the league will have a look at him. There was talk of Valencia nosing about too. Dream world, but it might just happen......

Sadly, I think that sort of behaviour might be part of the course at Rovers with Mr Robbie Savage set to become a regular. I have to say, it was a bizarre decision to move MGP up front. Surely, it'd have made more sense, if we were looking for more defensive solidarity, to sub MGP for Reid. Anyways, we live to fight another day. Which is the good thing. Well you seem to of seen sense and abandoned the Donelley soap box (I wanted to see him given a chance but frankly gave up a long time ago- two manager and a pelthora of different FL clubs have not taken him on loan) and I think it is about time you dropped the MGP stuff too. Go on, delete it from your signature- it just looks silly.

The team, after last nights performance, seems to pick itself: Couple of things: If Thompson wants to be our midfield playmaker, something he might be able to do, he has to stop shooting all the bloody time. He scored two yesterday yes, but neither goal was a 35 yard screamer which he always tries. His main priorities have to be ball retention and trying to play the strikers through. Paul Scholes, the finest English attacking midfielder of the last decade, despite having an amzing set of shoting boots restricted himself to chances where he might actually be able to hit the target. I am a defender of Niell but he has to be dropped. Matteo has never looked capable, unfortunately, Im sure he used to be good....what did we do to him? Mokoena should keep his place. Stead and Gallagher to be given the first chance to stike up their relationship from last season. I cannot see how Jansen will feature. If Ferguson is fit it might be interesting to see if Hughes has the balls to play him- not going to win him any fans but might be attempted to try and scare Rangers into upping their bid. 2-1 Rovers (Gallagher, Emerton)

Arrrrgggghhh ! Two different players entirely. How can Thompson - the original headless chicken - perform a holding role in midfield ? I would hazard that Savage will hold the midfield while Thompson get on with his poultry like performances. Not a bad backup plan but capturing a player like Parker would be better.

I dont mean to seem like I am getting on your back, but thats just nonsense. Souness got together arguably the finest 'town' team in the country since our own Championship side of 95. He bought most of them, trained them, made the tactics. We finished sixth and were outstanding. Friedel-Niell-Berg-Short-Gresko-Thompson-Tugay-Dunn-Duff-Cole-Yorke He spent a fair bit to do it but others (notably Birmingham, Fulham) did also and never produced a team of that quality. To even consider that the playing staff left this season is worse than that when we were in the First is ridiculous. Despite the hamering they have taken Emerton and Reid turned out to be very decent players, Gray was our finest player in the second half of last season, Friedel is quality, Thompson even Pedersen. Ferguson, the boy of the day, is not a bad player either. What planet are you on? Souness bought players will continue to make up the core of the team and that is no bad bad thing. Many fo them are first class. He had his time with Blackburn, he lost it towards the end but the legacy was not monsterous... your agenda is just baffling.

I would not say that at all- he is not Einstein but he comes across very well. His interviews and ideas at the end of Vogts' reign seemed insightful and steered well clear of the 123 of Football cliches. To infantalise him seems a bit severe. He is no innocent- he clearly wants to go. The question is does he have the decency to not let us get completely screwed?

It is utterly disappointing that Ferguson cannot stick it out but he must have a couple of decent bones in his body so this is how I feel it should be set out. Williams, Hughes and Ferguson should sit down and talk it out, if they already have not done, and see how this can be done to everybody's satisfaction. This essentially means Rovers recouping 5 million (write off the debt plus 2.5-3m cash) and Barry going to Rangers. It should be made out to the player that as our Captain and employee he owes us nothing less than to stick by this. Vast sums were spent on his rehabilitation and wages while he was injured, to weaken our hand further would be absolutely unforgivable. Essentially Barry must agree to continue as a Blackburn player until Rangers, or any other club he can stomach a move to, pay that amount. He cannot feign injury, he cannot disrupt the team, he has to give 100%. He must recognise he owes the club, the fans and the manager. I am reasonably confident this can happen as it did with the likes of Saha, Boumsong etc where the player worked with the club to gain a decent fee. As for a replacement- Parker would be ideal but it might be a little triky to convince him the future is blue and white. It cannot however hurt Hughes to ask.

It is not really an enviable position for Hughes to be in: The only established regulars are Friedel, Todd, Emerton and Dickov. Possibly Johansson. Three players of definate captain material have arrived/will arrive but none can really instantly take the armband: Mokoena, Nelsen, Savage. The only sensible thing to do, and what I definately do think Hughes will do, is install Todd as a temporary captain and make it clear to him that is what is happening. If he shows he is capable after a couple of months he will keep it, if he does not I would imagine it will move on to Mokoena or Savage as they will have had time to settle in. Johansson, Thompson, Emerton and Dickov do not really look like captain material for various individual reasons, Friedel would be an excellent captain but his position precludes him.

Just pulling your leg, I am not particularly sympathetic to either of the old firm (nominally a Hearts fan due to my cousins) but I guess what I was getting at is there is a flavour of slight decline at Celtic and slight improvement at Rangers. Anyroads both clubs have huge problems in attracting decent players as they have niether cash nor the pulling power to do it. Interesting about McGeady, thats a huge claim to make. At present Duff is one of, if not the finest, left winger in the world. To displace arguably Ireland's most talented player ever (well him or Roy Keane) would require a fair bit I would imagine. And see him go to Chelsea no doubt.

How are you feeling about Celtics problems at the moment? Poor strikers apart from Sutton and a number of key players perhaps looking to move down South (Balde, Petrov). O'Niell worked wonders with what was available but McLeish seems to of seized the initiative in the transfer market. Prso, Boumsong, Ferguson (should they get him) all seem to be massively more enterprising signings than O'Niell has achived in recent times (Juninho, Camara) It must be frustrating when you are competing for players with the likes of Portsmouth, Southampton, West Brom. Oh, Celtic would kill for a player like Ferguson- you cannot deny that. Although you will.

Team I would like to see: Thats presuming Flitcroft is still out- is he? 2-0 Rovers (Gallager, Thompson)

Heres an interesting question that Radagast or RangerRovers views might shed some light on: Would Barry be playing in a better squad with the Gers or Blackburn? Personally as a Rovers supporter in Scotland I would say it is a reasonably tight balance but Blackburn edge it in terms of squad depth. Plus Rangers face the problem of their debt making it harder to improve than Rovers.