Excellent report on what was clearly a very worthwhile and productive meeting (and very well written, Michael, keep it up!). Looking forward to further updates with the Trust being at the vanguard of Government action to clamp down on bad owners. Leading to our terrible owners being held to account in some meaningful way somewhere down the line. Regulation or legislation and accountability may be the tipping point that makes the Venky's feel it's not worth it any more.

I know a few Accy fans who also follow Rovers. There's also some sadly deluded ones who point the other way (if you know what I mean). It's great to see a local club with a long chequered history doing well. It must really be something to support a team that's never, ever been promoted (within the traditional football league structure) before in well over 100 years! You'd be simply bursting especially as it's so tight at the top. Good luck to 'em.

The problem the LET has, in common with all other regional newspapers, is how to deal with the internet. They would prefer to ignore it, but can't. So they give what should be their most precious resource away for free - their local knowledge and reporting skills (such as they now are). Chronic lack of investment, management indifference and editorial incompetence has ripped the heart and soul out of local journalism throughout the UK. A hungry, talented 20-year-old Peter White would not bother to get a job on his local newspaper sports desk today. Yes, the LET should be playing a pivotal role - both in print and online - in covering Rovers. Either option should be compellling enough for fans at home and outside Blackburn to want to pay for their news. Think about it, we are all on here lapping up Nicko's snippets on Rovers. Why isn't the editor of the LET paying him to reveal all this news and gossip through his paper? Because for years now, the LET, like other local newspapers won't pay people like Alan Nixon decent freelance rates for their stories. So, how the hell can they be anything other than an extension of the club's PR team?

Because the way it works is that, if Chelsea are interested, they make a formal approach to Rovers to ask permission to speak to Hughes. That's why they can have a shortlist. What they should not do is approach Hughes directly or indirectly bypassing the official club-to-club channels. John Williams could refuse Chelsea permission to speak to Hughes, but would then have to deal with any potential fall-out. And Hughes doesn't have a lengthy contract, does he? My gues is, were Hughes to go, John Williams would also be drawing up a shortlist to replace him.

Jim's only brought a touch of reality to the topic. Souness was brilliant for us when he won promotion; got a top 6 spot & won the League Cup. That's trophies in the cabinet, not the 'close, but no cigar' semi-final stuff under Hughes (c.f. Wales). He's going in the right direction, but, as Jim says, the UEFA Cup tactics were all wrong for a competition we could have done well in. Wait until this week's League Cup match & see if Hughes gets it right. Or the next few league games which will be tough & might see us in a more realistic league position. I love Hughes, he's made some excellent signings, made a lot of the players at his disposal and built a solid team. We now need to win something to make him as successful as Souness.

No, he is not. Graeme's argument is this: If he ignored the jibes it might have become accepted that he was gay, thus damaging his employment prospects in the game. If you wereconstantly subjected to taunts of this nature in your workplace, you'd be pretty fed up, too, I guess. The Batty in Moscow incident is in tomorrow's Times.

No, he is not. Graeme's argument is this:

BBC Radio 5 Live have just rung BRISA wanting a preview on the game. Should be on around 11.15am.

I take your point, but your example is about news management. If Hughes is speaking on SSN, Rovers' PR should be turning his comments into a news story and issuing to all media, asap. I think there would be a lot of resistance from the media to Rovers getting involved in image management (whatever that is). It looks to me that what Rovers need is a bit of effective, old-fashioned hard work in the press office from people who understand the media, news and sport. It's about the relationships you build with the media and individual journalists. That, time and respect for the management (and success on the field) is what will change people's perception.

Philip You're wrong on the London PR front. Rovers' PR person needs to be in Blackburn responsive to what's happening at board level at Ewood and at Brockhall. The journalists are up here, too. If you want to pay West End prices for a crap service, fine, bring in your Freud Communications-type idiots who charge big bucks and put juniors on the account. I work with the national media every day across property, tourism and business desks. I had at least 15 cover stories in major broadsheets last year. And my office is in Poulton-le-Fylde. Rovers may well need good PR; they don't need a fancy dan London agency.

Savage is an embarrassment to football. Never mind which club he plays for. And no, I don't even think there's a decent footballer under the hair, the highlights and the histrionics. And what are we saying now? Because other players cheat it's alright for one of ours to do the same? It's always the media being biased/lazy/crap? Turn the record over, for God's sake! I thought Le Saux was pretty kindly to the idiot by telling him - on national television - to do him and us a favour and cut out the cheating. Savage is not fit to wear the Blue and White shirt. Full stop.

I'd like to echo Den's comments. BRISA has the potential to have an active role to play outside Ewood Park. Communicating Rovers fans' opinions to the wider football community and media will be one of our objectives. As all of you who read the national media's football supplements and sports pages will be aware, journalists are increasingly prepared to bring supporters' views into their news stories. BRISA has the capability to make a co-ordinated response to major football issues and the perception of Rovers and us, the fans, in the media can also be addressed in this way. The Fans Forum is not an issue we need to be discussing here. It has a separate role to play and if there's any debate about it, start a separate thread (not wishing to be rude!). This thread is about BRISA and the launch on October 27.

Gotta say I'm with Scotty and Paul on this one. Thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Watching Rovers players perform with heart and enthusiasm and a bit of pride in the shirt is brilliant. The number of times Neill (who had a top game), Mokoena, Reid, et al, chased half way across the field to win the ball speaks volumes for the attitude Hughes has instilled in them. Tugay's 2nd half showed why I don't want Savage. Give Reid a ball player to play alongside. Stead showed optimism, intelligence and was positive in everything he did. Looking forward to Saturday.

In a strange way, knowing our friends in Australia, etc, can look forward to one of Rovers biggest games in years - live, free-to-view and at a very pleasant 9.15pm on a Saturday night - makes me feel a little better. Flights to Melbourne anyone?

Well, that pretty much solves it. You'd want to be in Cardiff for at least 10am to make sure of finding a parking space and getting to the ground, etc. And that doesn't factor in the thousands of fans with the same thought, setting off at the same time and all arriving at a similar time. They've set this up for TV without giving a flyer about the fans, so I'll damn well watch it on TV. Hope they're satisfied. Oh, and when the camera pans round the stadium showing all the empty seats, what's the betting the commentator will blame the FA and their stupid kick off time? If safety, etc, is such a bloody issue, switch the game to Villa Park.