England will go out in the quarters. If the group had been stronger I would've thought they'd go out right away, but Switzerland and Croatia certainly don't impress me these days. I don't think a different manager would matter either, there simply isn't enough quality to be fighting over a place in the final IMO. Gerrard, Beckham, Campbell and some more are very good, proven players, but the lack of an in-form striker and any wide midfielders can prove fatal. And judging from what I've seen (very little) and heard from the Iceland games it seemed like they had very strict orders not to risk injuring any England players. And when you can't tackle properly, the goals start coming. Obviously good in the way that it boosted confidence and gave the usual benefits (albeit not as much as a "real" game would) but not really a true measure of the team's quality. Italy to win, Pauleta to be top scorer.

I'm really not keen on Zenden. Whenever I've seen him he seems to shoot as soon as he gets the ball in the oppositions half. Sure, he does nice things sometimes but he hasn't impressed me. That being said, I'd much rather have him than Douglas on the left.

Despite me being an admirer of Bazza I have to start wondering where our goals will come from. Even if we sign a good left-sided player (MGP or Karyaka?) then I fear it'll be like last season with Emerton, that we only have one creative outlet. Hopefully we'll have 2-3 of those (New player, Emmo (Now that he's not alone), Thommo, Bazza) and I'll look stupid when we put 4 past Liverpool, but I'm worried. I would really like to keep Tugay for one more year in order to get a proper replacement. Kim Källström would've been perfect. 21 years old, cost £1.6m, will be a starter in Euro 2004. He can play behind the strikers as well as in a deeper role. Great set piece taker, scores quite a few goals (Had 11 goals in 13 games from midfield some way into last season). And guess what? He's left footed. Too bad we didn't move for him in the transfer window tho as Rennes got him Berkovic would've been a good signing as well, even if it was only a short-term solution.

All the Leicester fans I've seen comment on this are really disappointed to see him go and believe he is quality. Scored a bunch of goals last season as well. But obviously we all know better because we've seen him twice this season compared to theirs 30+ And as you're aware, the less you see of a player the better position you're in to judge

Except for maybe the LET, the press knows nothing about Rovers. Cole is staying, but they keep going on about the stories from earlier in the season... don't bother listening to that.

Precisely what I was referring to.

well, Liverpool turned down Duff, didn't they?

we take our time to learn your language, so then its only fair that you do the same, right? Wasn't sure if it was a wind-up, but some Swedish friends told me the toast 'Skol/Skal' is derived from an old Scandinavian language and as the same word as skull. They also told me that legend has it, that this was because the skulls of conquered foe of some of the Vikingswere used as drinking cups, and when celebrating, the craniums/cups were banged together as drinkers shouted 'Skol'. Not sure if it's true, but a good story all the same Heard that one too, but as with many of these kinds of stories it might turn out to be false. The word "skål" also means "bowl", and so the toast would obviously come from banging them together. Then again, the word "skål" might very well have come from "skalle" or "skull" in the first place. I'm not really a linguistics expert And as for MGP, I really hate when things drag on. Would've been much better to just get the news in two weeks time that he's signed without hearing anything beforehand. Waiting for a month is just horrible..

"According to reporter Andy Neild of the LET there'll be a bid of £1.5m"

I'm starting to have doubts here, either that the transfer won't go through since Tromsö wants to keep him until October, or that we will pay over the top in order to get him now. However the second scenario isn't really a problem if our other targets are really cheap. And to go OT again: USA, I can't be arsed to go on really. And btw, I said exactly what you did, that the previous post was rubbish. And if I (according to you) don't believe everyone has a right to say what they want, then you certainly don't either. Anyway, you think you made some good point there, I disagree. Lets leave it at that. Regarding languages:It's not ignorant to ignore other languages if you have a good reason. If you're not ever going outside the UK/US and the english-speaking tourst resorts in Spain, Greece etc. then you don't have a reason and is not ignorant (EDIT: The reason for not going outside those places, however, could be that you're narrowminded. Besides the point tho). That I have a completely different taste in holidays is another matter However, if you don't care about it because you have the opinion of "All other languages and cultures are crap, the UK/US/Aussie/whatever culture is the only right one. Who cares about the frogeaters and eskimoes anyway, huh??", then you're ignorant. Which is quite obvious I suppose

I had a really good response to this load of crap, but I figured the mods wouldn't like it very much. And how ironic to have someone needlessly bring WW2 into this, make a nonexistent point, and then urge people to gon on topic? After which he goes off topic yet again...

Yeah I'm not really much into languages either. Didn't pass Spanish with much of a margin, and although I did get a ~B (We have a crap grading system) in my latest French course I still don't know very much. I'm finding English quite easy though, and I'll take some English class in uni later on, hopefully going to study for a year or so in England (Or maybe the US, not sure)

Ofcourse I don't expect anyone to learn small languages like Norwegian. One interesting thing about learning languages is that the Scandinavian languages as well as English are apparently comparatively hard to learn. While it's much to learn with the grammar in German and French (We were supposed to know ~30 forms of each verb. Easier than it sounds, but still), at least there is something to rely on. In Swedish there are no rules when there should be "a" or "an" etc. I bet I wouldn't have learned English well at all if I hadn't heard/seen it every day on TV, the internet and so on. And I do know that some English people speak other languages, it's just that among those I've met (both IRL and on the web) there seems to be an unwillingness to learn. I'm not taring everyone with the same brush, I just feel it's unneccessary to include a "obviously not everyone is like that, I know there are plenty of people out there with a keen interest in <inser topic here>, and I'm certainly not talking about them" every time I post something like that.

You could at least learn ONE other language Some other big language like French, Spanish or German. Apart from Swedish and English I've also taken Spanish and French at school. Can't say I speak either of those very well tho. Btw, is it mandatory in English schools to learn another language apart from English? From the general knowledge (Or lack thereof) of foreign languages I'd venture a guess at "No", but it'd be nice to know.

Very briefly: Blackburn have decided to make a bid for MGP after other clubs have joined the race. According to TV2 Blackburn are preparing a bid worth £2m during the next few days. Tromsö manager Per-Mathias Høgmo claims he has no knowledge of this. He says they have no comments until they have a concrete bid. Aston Villa, Newcastle and Man U have also targeted MGP and want to see him in action against Molde on May 20. So it's an old article.

Ah. You learn some Norwegian every day I suppose I figured it could mean "tillåtet", which means allowed. But maybe I should've gotten that, it made sense and we have the word "tillgift" as well.

Well, speaking as a fan of a club that's been in Tromsös situation many times; When a foreign club, especially from a good league, makes a bid for one of our players we expect him to leave. And who could blame them? Even if they "only" got £2k/week they'd still make much more than they do now, at least thats true for most players in the Swedish league. Pretty sure there's more money in Norway, but not sure about Tromsös finances.

I'm not Norwegian but Swedish. Can translate anyway, although there might be some minor errors "In this article it's revealed that TIL (I suppose that's Tromsö) is in talks with Blackburn regarding Gamst!! They're (TIL) selling him to the first club that comes along! (Could also be "the first and best", but doubt it) It makes me snap! There's no reason to sell him now. We MUST have a good replacement first. You can't sell players when you're on top of Tippeligan (Norwegian PL) and is the best-playing club! It will never be .... (not sure, could be "allowed")! I think attendances will drop considerably if he's sold" So basicly it's an angry fan, even if I may have some details wrong

Tbh it's less of a gamble to bring a Scandinavian player to England than it is a southern European one. The scandinavian style of football is similar to the English, we all speak english and the difference in culture and lifestyle is smaller. Not much difference between a Norwegian and a Brit really Maybe that's what Souness meant, the type of player rather than the actual nationality. I don't really think he cares whether it's an Irish or English player, even if only one of them is a Brit

USA: I believe they only use a couple of different URLs for Rovers news, so that new ones replace old ones but with the same URL. Quite a stupid system really. American: He's been instrumental in our late surge. Setting up two of Stead's goals (The winners vs Fulham and Everton) as well as putting in the cross that led to Dabizas own goal. Not to mention opening the scoring vs Fulham. And he's forging a nice partnership with Stead. I also don't think Souness will get rid of him, as he's started every game (I think) since his bust-up with Souey and he's been playing really well. I don't think Souness is stupid enough to get rid of him, especially if Andy says that he wants to stay. The players Souey has sold (With the exception of Duff who we recieved silly money for) have all been underperforming. Dunn, Taylor, Yorke (soon), Mahon etc.

I really want Souness to turn things around, but the way we've been playing is nothing short of disgraceful ;( If we don't get three points on Monday we should, IMO, give someone else a chance to turn things around in the last few games.

I'd really like to hope so too, as I rate especially Ferguson highly. But although we were playing better before his injury, we still didn't pick up enough points. I'm afraid he'll be rushed back too soon and will either not play to his real standard or will get injured again. But I really, really hope I'm wrong. And regarding Souness... I've always thought this was a temporary thing, that things would turn around soon. But they don't seem to do that. I'm worried what this team has turned into, with little skill and more workmanship like players. That's normally just fine, but when the players aren't working hard or showing commitment it's really, really bad. Instead we're starting to look like a dirty team that gives away needless freekicks constantly. I'm not sure what sacking him now would achieve, it might only makes things worse. But unless things improve drastically I think him and Rovers go separate ways in the summer.