It's a disgrace that people who should be setting a good example as role models, who earn more money in a year than most will in a life time and who play the sport they love can commit crimes over and over and get away with it every time. I'll be honest, I haven't even read the article on what he did as yet, but I'll bet you anything he gets off scot free. He could kill a man and probably get a slap on the wrist, any footballer could. The only way he'll learn and the only way a good example can be set is for him to serve a full sentence and to be given no special treatment.

It wasn't only last season Theno. At the beginning of the season, we did this to great effect, playing long diagonals to Derbyshire and Pedersen. Against Arsenal, in particular, they caused were very dangerous. I haven't seen it employed for a long time. Oh, and like most of the team yesterday, Pedersen was shocking.

4. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank I don't listen to a lot of music, so this is far and away my favourite album of the year.

That's a good summary there FLB, but I'd be interested to know what you think Hughes should do to resolve the situation? I suppose a lot comes down to the right replacements being available. It is all well and good getting a trouble maker off the books, but if there is nobody as good, or better, available, then we weaken the side as a result. Better to have an unhappy player than none at all. What we need is another Roque Santa Cruz so that we can let that sulk McCarthy go. We'd probably make a profit in any transfer roundabout too!

It could be that we need two new strikers come the end of the season. Could be a testing summer for Sparky.

If I were the Rovers manager, Pedersen would be benched immediately for his inability to beat the first man on a corner and I would have him down the training ground every other day practising over and over again until he got it right. I'm not joking. Hughes should have had him doing this two years ago.

What baffles is me is that we have two superb centre backs, an excellent left back and a consistent and, for the most part, solid right back, yet we ship goals left, right and centre and make some absolutely dreadful mistakes. It really does confuse the crap out of me! Our goal difference is getting to the point where it will be extremely difficult to catch that of the teams around us, which might come back to haunt us come May, if we are looking for a European spot. I heard a statistic a few games back that said we had conceded the most goals from set pieces out of all 20 Premiership clubs. With Samba and Nelsen at the back, this just shouldn't be happening. Hughes must be aware of this, and yet we continue to concede from them. I've been going on about this for years now, but if Hughes cannot see that our corner routines aren't working, then he is absolutely blinkered! We concede from too many set pieces and fail to score from our own. This has to be addressed. Shipping five to Wigan is just embarassing. Just losing to Wigan is embarrassing enough! I agree with AESF that our victories these last few months have been somewhat fortuitous - Spurs and Newcastle come to mind.

I'm not quite sure how anybody could have it in them to boo Carson. Likewise, Barry was one of very few to perform well when he got into the England team.

I'm surprised that Martin Jol doesn't even appear as an option of any betting web sites. Available, good club record, high profile manager, speaks English... Looking realistically at the situation, my order of preference for the England job right now is: O'Neill (Presuming his recent remarks have been somewhat faceitious.) Mourinho Capello Unfortunately the first two names do not appear interested.

I'm very pleased to see that Capello's odds have fallen sharply.

Absolutely. If you ever had faith in Robinson, you would have kept him for today's game. Carson has all the makings of a top class keeper. He was amazing at Sheffield Wednesday and has been consistently solid since. Let's remember that he is only 22(?). For god's sake, I'm 22 and play in goal and would buckle under far less pressure than he was under tonight. He really was under IMMENSE pressure. It could be argued that a great keeper should never succomb to pressure, but let's wait and see. I have faith in him.

The FA are too gutless to admit they were wrong, and won't appoint Allardyce. O'neill is building for the future at Villa, while Mourinho has too much sense to take the job. There are no obvious English candidates, so I think the next manager will be foreign. Lippi and Capello (I heard on another thread that Capello might be ionterested?) could be offered the job, but I think the FA will make a disastrous decision and appoint Shearer as manager, in an attempt to appease the English fans. One day, I hope he becomes England manager, but now now, when he has no managerial experience.

Is there anywhere with odds for the next England manager?

Well I'd say he has certainly alluded to it. Read the quote again: "Every player wants to play as much as possible. I've always been patient, but I don't like sitting on the bench. I started more games towards the end of last season, but it has been more frustrating this season once again." That sounds like disillusion to me. I'll put this to you: if you were to be continuously frustrated in your job, not being allowed to perform duties that you beleive you should, that you love to do and that you feel confident in doing, in an industry where you have precious little time to achieve what you want, would it be unusual not to look for a new job, perhaps taking a lower salary - although still huge. For the record, I never suggested that he were looking for a new club.

I don't think that that is a story out of nothing. He is obviously disillusioned with life at Ewood Park because he is not playing - he pretty much said as much in that quote! Mokoena was excellent toward the end of last season, but he will never be good enough to start. He is a great squad player, but if that is not enough for him, then I guess he'll have to move elsewhere. He would be missed if Savage was ever outfor a prolonged period.

EDIT

EDIT

Neill definitely did a very good job toward the end of his career at Ewood, especially as he isn't a left back. However, Jan is right, Warnock, as a full back, is a far better player and has been far more consistent since joining the club. We look so much better with Emerton and Warnock. In fact, Emerton has performed consistently well too since being put at right back.

I have to disagree. There were long stretches in that period where Neill was terrible, a down right liability. He was, however, a fundamental part of the defence by the time he left for West Ham.

LOL, I wonder whether you actually believe this or whether you get some kind of incredibly sad pleasure out of annoying a messageboard's membership. Seriously, read that back and think about just how ridiculous that sounds. Hughes gets about a 9.5/10 for me.

I'm shocked that there is no mention of David Batty...

YES, so happy that we aren't losing Samba. In an ideal world, neither McCarthy nor Mokoena would have to go, but realistically, I think South Africa were always going to qualify. Of the three, I'd say losing Samba would be the biggest blow because we have such excellent cover for McCarthy, while Nelsen adn Samba have developed a terrific partnership.

Flamini played for Arsenal, but then so did one of the world's greatest centre midfielders - Fabregas...

He sure as hell doesn't deserve a hero's welcome after his exploits for Chelsea in front of the Blackburn supporters.

Dunny barely played for two seasons at Brum. Duff was also superb for Chelsea before his injuries hit. It is an injury and fitness situation for Duff as well. I fail to believe that Duff's fall from grace is the result of an attitude problem! As for Robben, £25m was a good deal for both sides. Duff wouldn't have gone for as much, had he gone in an inflated transfer market, but it would have been a lot more than £5m. I use the Duff and Robben comparison because both wanted to leave because of not being guaranteed first team football.