Sorry but I'm going to hijack this thread for a moan after tonights game. For a change from the Blackburn End I went in the Jack Walker Upper. I challenge anyone to give me an answer to the question. Why oh why oh why, when there is only ONE bar open in the stand are there only TWO staff on it. I know it's an age old gripe but I went to the bar 2 minutes before HT and got served just as the second half kicked off. Lots of people werestood in the queue for 10 minutes before just giving up. They must have lost far more money than an extra wage and generated bad feeling to boot.

I was going to list quite a few points after watching that tonight but Bellamy11 has more or less told it as I saw it. Emerton was far and away the MOTM for Rovers. Over the last 3 games his confidence has gone up a mile and he looks a player again. MGP played well. He should do against the likes of Bournemouth but he did and I think he'll take confidence from this and go on. De Pedro just seems too slooooow. Agree about Douglas. He did a good job under drastic circumstances last year but he's not good enough. Also agree about Jansen. He's still got a shot on him but his close control and abiity to run with the ball seems poor. One final point. I'm not overly bothered what Gallacher's attitude off the pitch is like. Cantona came across at times as the most pompous twit you could meet. Once he's on the pitch he seems to give 100% and seems to have the ability to back it up. If there's one player who now needs a run of games to prove himself at the required level it's him. Problem is where does he fit into the team?

Tommorows game is not in the calendar. Scandalous.

Why do you have to sign up to the official site for ticket info. What is the point of 'restricting' this information against the casual punters who might just be looking out of curiosity. At work yesterday I was telling a few people with kids that they could go down to Ewood on Wednesday for tickets £12 or less. I got told today that they tried to look at the official site to check what areas this applied to and the price for kids but couldn't get on as they weren't registered and didn't want to (or couldn't be bothered) to sign up. They might not have gone down but we'll never know now. For news, interviews reviews etc... then it's fine to require membership but for the ticket info it's just plain stupid. Lee ?

I think the feel good factor of Hughes' arival and our first win will certainly help the attendance. I wasn't sure I was going to bother (cue abuse ) but after Saturday and at £10 I'm a definate. I reckon we'll get 8,500 on. Oh, and we'll win 2-0.

Just seen Cole's sending off against West Brom today. I suppose if your going to get a red card you might as well make sure you deserve it. He throws a looping right hook at Clement that De La Hoya would be proud of. Digraceful. but great viewing

Like all I was delighted to see jansen back and scoring. However I'd hate for people to see him as 'returned' like some messiah to rocket us back up the table. His first touch and general control still seem to be lacking. Hopefully a good 90 minute runout against Bournemouth on Wednesday will tell us more. Bothroyd was a big plus on his debut. After a string of what have seemed poor recent signings from Souness (sorry but Pedersen is dangerously close to being included in them) maybe Souness has left us with one that could prove to be decent. Big lad who seemed comfortable with the ball on the deck, he seemed to also have a decent workrate which was a concern of mine. Welcome aboard! Love him or loathe him Ammo does add something to the team. Whether thats because he's the best of a bad lot I don't know but I believe he should start before Matteo. Great result but I feel it's still a long and rocky road we have to tread over the next few months.

True enough but at least Sparky will be able to buy and bring in players - something that international managers can't do. If our defence get ripped to bits on Saturday cos the players aren't good enough it wont be hughes fault. Like with Wales he can only do it with the players at his disposal (which is still worrying for the next few months). ( On second thoughts I'd suspect that Neil, and Gray probably would get into that Welsh defence which shows what any Welsh manager is up against)

USABlue, go and look at the Welsh defence. Also look at some of the journeymen and never-will-be men who pad out the rest of the Welsh squad. Jones, Delaney, Collins, Gabbidon, Thatcher, Oster all played against NI. not any of these players would get a sniff of an England B side. I don't care how good a manager you are. With that defence you will have bad results such as the two Wales have suffered. The thing Hughes has been able to do is also produce good results such as those against Italy, Germany, Argentina and the Czechs. The fact that Wales were disapponted not to qualify for Euro2004 after a playoff defeat just shows how far they have come since the mid to late 90's. I can understand your concerns with Hughes with regards to lack of club managerial experience and a step into the unknown. It's for these reasons I would rather have had Dowie. However I think throwing the last 2 Welsh results as examples of Hughes managerial shortcomings is unfair. As regards to how long will he stay how long will anybody stay. Souness was quick enough to drop us and leave and he wasn't even doing that well. Any successfull manager will eventually be eyed up by supposed bigger clubs and it's naive to think that a love of blue and white will keep them at Ewood. Sven was quick enough to drop us for a better opportunity and he never even managed 1 game. Dowie and Strachan would be no different. At least from reading your posts over the last few years I know you will hold your hands up and admit your fears were unfounded if that proves to be the case. Let's hope for all our sakes it is.

YES

Hughes & Robson .... Kidd & McClair.....Hughes & Robson .... Kidd & McClair.....Hughes & Robson .... Kidd & McClair..... No, not keen on this ex-Man U dreamteam lark. Im sure I've seen it before.

I suppose the problem with trying to attract an investor is competition. I'm sure the vast majority of clubs in the 1st division (sorry - The Championship) have had similar thread to this. Anyone with a stupidly large amount of bucks and no loyalty to any club is always going to look for a glamour side such as Abramovic at Chelsea and the Far-Eastern interest in Liverpool. Unfortunately for us anyone with just 'big money' will probably look more towards teams like Derby, Sheff Wednesday or Forest which are 'perceived' as bigger clubs than us. I fear the only way we can attract investments is by a local or fan such as Jack Walker or by John Williams showing powers of attraction and persuasion beyond what we can hope. In my view, and I hope to god I'm wrong, we should enjoy Premier League football while we can. On our attendances it is only a matter of time before we do fall through the trap door back into the football league and without Jack there is no reason why we should have any better chance of bouncing back than others that have fell before us.

What did you expect. They had Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur as their main game to concentrate their whole program on.

Strachan is in the studio on MOTD2 tonight.

The way McLeish is shaping at Rangers (7 pts behind Celtic after 5 games) Levein will probably end up there in in a few weeks.

Has Craig Levein ever had any involvement with English football either as player or coach/assistant anywhere. Not that he neccessarily needs it. Just curious?

JOE ROYLE MANAGERIAL RECORD Oldham____P608__W225_D165_L218 Everton____P118__W47__D36__L35 Man City____P171_W74__D47__L50 Ipswich____P97___W47__D21__L29 Wheres since 1989 Alan Ball has lost more games than he's won at every club he's been at (4 in total) apart from Southampton (W22 L21). I had this argument about Royle at work already this week in that statistically his record is not that bad. It's certainly not as you put it 'shocking' unless your refering to something else with reputation. Not that I want him though!

Hi Palace fan, good to hear your views. I'd imagine that the backroom staff are paid far far less than the manager. Therefore the compensation might not be that big an issue. I think I'm right in saying that although there's been not much national comment on Dowie our local paper, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, has put his name forward and as they're quite close to the club they usually don't involve in idle gossip. I'm sure Dowie is in Rovers' minds but no-one knows whose number 1 choice and whose available. I guess we'll all have to watch with interest but for different reasons.

It's fair to say that despite what JW has said after yesterdays performance we are desperate to get the new man in ASAP. Hughes seems to want to jobshare with the Wales job which we (BRFC) don't seem to agree with. Dowie might not want the job and also may be under contract at Palace. No-one has confirmed if Strachan is even interested. It's common knowledge Advocat wants the job and has applied. Also the LET think he may be on the shortlist. Oh Dear BTW, Dowie is now my No.1 choice.

Nope , he bottled it. (Unless of course Dowie told him he wouldn't answer questions on his future before the camera's rolled! )

I'm sitting through the pompey - Palace game just to hear Dowie's interview. Hope the interviewer asks the question.

And that just about sums up the Welsh team.

No I think he went straight to Valencia after Chelsea.

I feel it's time to put Mark hughes Wales record into perspective. Mark Hughes was thrust into the Welsh seat in 1999 at a time when noone expected Wales to qualify for anything. Apart from a flirtation with qualifying for USA94 Welsh football had been oblivious during the 90's. After hughes appointment things started looking up. Yes there were better players but results seemed to be at an even better level. Now consider their squad:- Coyne (Burnley), Crossley (Fulham), P Jones (Wolves), Ward (Norwich), Collins (Cardiff), Delaney (Aston Villa), Edwards (Wolves), Gabbidon (Cardiff), Melville (Fulham), Page (Cardiff), Roberts (Tranmere), Thatcher (Man City), Davies (Tottenham), Fletcher (Bournemouth), Johnson, Koumas (both West Brom), Oster (Sunderland), Parry (Cardiff), Pembridge (Fulham), Robinson (Sunderland), Savage (Birmingham), Speed (Bolton), Bellamy (Newcastle), Blake (Leicester), Earnshaw (Cardiff), Hartson (Celtic), Taylor (Nottm For), Giggs (Man Utd). For an international side that has no depth whatsoever. Like the majority of Welsh sides they have decent players going forward. However their defence is shocking. Not one defender would have a sniff of the England side. Unless they are exceptional, no side can carry a defence like that and not expect the odd poor result thrown in. Anyway, prior to the start of qulification for Euro 2004 Wales produced a series of excellent friendly results:- 13/02/2002 (H) Argentina 1-1 27/03/2002 (H) Czech Rep 0-0 14/05/2002 (H) Germany 1-0 21/08/2002 (A) Croatia 1-1 The Euro 2004 qualification campaign reads as follows:- 16/10/2002 (H) Italy WON 2-1 9/03/2003 (H) Azerbaijan WON 4-0 10/09/2003 (H) Finland DRAW 1-1 11/10/2003 (H) Serbia & Montenegro LOST 2-3 7/09/2002 (A) Finland WON 2-0 20/11/2002 (A) Azerbaijan WON 2-0 06/09/2003 (A) Italy LOST 0-4 20/08/2003 (A) Serbia & Montenegro LOST 1-0 Wales finished 2nd in their group, into a playoff with the results:- 15/11/2003 (A) Russia DREW0-0 19/11/2003 (H) Russia LOST 0-1 Whit a squad as thin as the one they possess and a defence as poor it's hardly a poor qualification campaign is it?

Indeed just cause such a manager is favourite it can count for nothing at the end of the day That is true. however if you look at the first post by Brownie on the Souness Going To Newcastle thread he said he was susipcious because Souness had been backed in to favourite. This was apparantly before Souey had even told our players he was leaving or the press had been informed. Similar thing has happened with Advocat. He was in from about 33/1 to 9/2 and nobody had even mentioned him. 24 hours later it turns out that he had contacted a player and then put in for the job. It certainly doesnt mean anything for definate but if theres a large amount of money being staked theres sometimes a slightly stronger reason behind it than speculation.