His decline has coincided with Man Utd going down the pan, so I'm not sure you can pin his outbursts on hubris and self-denial. Yes, he could play a bit and he was physically brave, but he could also be very nasty. Stamping on Southgate's stomach in the FA Cup Semi or Final I think it was, the replay after a fan had been stabbed to death in the original game was the first time he was out of order. And whatever Haaland did or said to him Keane's retaliation was cowardly and disgraceful, but not unexpected. An unpleasant person, but would probably be a good manager somewhere. And could do a good job in the Premiership still, anyone who believes otherwise should remember teh shock that accompanied news of his exit. Man Utd will miss him for the rest of teh season.

Hargreaves is one of the most over-rated players ever.

Exactly USABlue. I'd rather have someone with bona fide coaching credentials at the club (not that I'm a good judge, but whoever Hughes wants is fine by me).

Thank goodness, someone on here (Simon Says) shows a little balance and perspective rather than beating the drum according to bias and agenda, and twisting the "facts". Brian Kidd bought him, he was talented but ran up blind alleys; Souness took over and sorted him out so he was effective without diluting his talent ... we all know what happened afterwards. It's a personal tragedy for Jansen, and sad for Blackburn. Crazy how someone's life can change in a heartbeat.

I only saw the highlights on MOTD, thought Dickov did OK, took his goal very well. I also thought that Brad pulled out some smart stops. There's no point in having a hidden agenda, being biased or selective; just call it as you see it. Must've been some selective editing on MOTD, as I saw none of Tugay's showboating.

Will be very interesting to hear what comes out once Jansen leaves. I don't think supporters know the whole story about why he's been given so many chances.

Give it ten years and people will talk of Chelsea like they do now of Man Utd ... time was when Man Utd were looked upon charitably as the talented team that just couldn't quite lose the albatross of 20+ years without a trophy. Keane is finished as a player. The three biggest villains of the piece in Man Utd's decline are Ferguson for signing such wretched players over the last three years (Veron for 30 mill stands out, Barthez cost almost 10 mill), and also for letting Beckham go because of an ego clash, the board for not having the nuts to sack him; and Rio Ferdinand for being the leading prat and picking up mammoth wages for not very little. It's a club in crisis, of that there is no doubt. A manager who has lost the plot totally, boardroom shenanigans undermining whatever successes there are on the pitch, the rest of the teams no longer fear them, and an expensively assembled squad whose transfer fees are more relevant to their reputations than any actual talent. As Glenn Keeley noted in the LET, we should be worried as they'll coming for Hughes once they get the guts to sack Fergie.

Because we can't afford a better back-up goalie I'd presume? When Brad eventually does go, then no doubt so will Enkleman and we'll start again.

Hey, I don't want to infringe on your human right to be a plonker. Don't let me stop you. But I'm allowed to have an opinion on it, ta.

What the bloody hell does "it's a football match, not a tea party" mean? yes, I know that it's a bit robust, and you expect mickey-taking, but where do you draw the line? Bricks through a coach window ("it's not a tea party, mate")? Why can't people get to grips with what the argument is? Let's simplify it: - ######-taking at football is good, if there was no banter it would be boring. - Taking the ###### out of someone for suffering an injury that nearly resulted in the loss of a leg is boorish, moronic and unfunny. Only someone with two brain cells would find it amusing. Er ... that seems to be it. Why do people have to be so black and white about it? It's a bit more subtle than "oh, so you don't like humour at football, let's get sarcastic and narky against these horrible PC types". See if you can get to grips with it. I remember singing "you're just a new age traveller" at Ian Marshall, now that was funny. But then it required a bit of imagination, and knowing your typical chav, it wouldn't occur to them. Hence a "lowest common denominator" chant. What's next, "Stubbsy, how's your ball?"

What about the chants of "Lucas break his legs" which apparently sung after he scored then?

That's really terrible, and does such a disservice to Rovers fans - I thought we had a good rep? I remember seeing the piccy of him breaking his leg - it turned my stomach. Was there any forum contingent recognisable in the lot who started the chant?

A dull draw. Bound to be.

Perhaps there's a threshold beyong which extra height is of no benefit. I've never seen him have to leap to head the ball, he's always crouching (sorry) down to meet it. You can't get the same sort of power if you're doing that (I think). If they stuck the ball higher in the air and he leaped for it, he's have to get over it to head it down, otherwise he'd put it into the nearest block of flat.

That was a poor header he got in, you know the one where he should've scored but headed at the 'keeper, you could tell in his face afterwards that he knew. Thought he did OK at the time, but then again I'm used to players doing poorly for England. He'd be better off at basketball, his height confers no advantage in football and he's OK on the deck and can pass, but that's a minimum requirement for a top-flight attacker surely?

Is that the sort of note where the ink runs off? Mike Phelan still is a coach at Old Trafford isn't he?

So ... not Mike Phelan then? :-)

Tut tut tut, you should only say things on the web that you'd say face to face. Or do you regularly go around casting aspersions on people's sexuality just because their views aren't coincidental with your own outdated, misogynistic, smutty outlook. Look this one up: clunt.

... especially in Burnley.

Yeah, maybe we'll scrape 14th or 15th.

Being very pessimistic, it might become apparent that Hughes is the only one who can keep Bellamy on the straight and narrow. If results don't pick up and Hughes is sacked, Bellamy is one of the few class acts we have, would a caretaker be able to keep him onside? Quite clearly, scoring goals is a major problem for us, none of our strikers can hit the target (out of 6 games thus far). If we'd scored before Newcastle did, it would've been a very different story. We don't appear to have teh right grouping of players around Bellamy to bring out the best in him, so why did we buy him? Bring back Tony Parkes!

We have absolutely no cutting edge up front, none whatsoever. No threat in the 18-yard box. Newcastle weren't much better despite the 50 mill that they've spent. They weren't an individual team, they were a team of individuals. And it's they who should be villified as the bully-boys, they should've been down to 10 before they scored. Our strikers still haven't scored. Jansen played OK, so I am hoping for a miracle and he comes back to form after 2.5 years. Do you win the Texaco Cup for drinking a pint of the stuff? Batten down the hatches because we are in trouble. Again.

Exactly which million-pound earners will be out of contract? I seem to have this idea that Amoruso still has a year to go. And I bet the players that remain are hardly paupers, either.

I wasn't making a judgement on it, was just mentioning that it didn't surprise me, we have so few people attending that we can't afford to let some peple in for free. From what I was reading it seems carers get in free at most clubs, and at some clubs they let disabled fans in for nothing as well. Without wishing to pore over the figures, if attendances have been gradually increasing and this couldn't be sustained, then surely the figures would plateau, given that TV exposure is fairly constant and ticket prices not increasing *that* much? In any case, can you say for definite that there's been a gradual increase, and that this is now being met with a gradual decrease? My bet is that attendances showed a sudden jump in the early 'nineties as football became cool again (SKY TV/ Italia '90/ Premiership), and we're now possibly seeing a corresponding fall. The problem is that contracts are a commitment and you can't just tell employees: "revenues are falling, so we're lowering wages", it don't work like that. What comes after a boom?

Will this be the first game in which one of our strikers gets a goal?