I will back the manager. But that doesn't mean I won't condemn the behaviour of our club captain though. What a sick joke. The man who others turn to for inspiration when the chips are down. The one to take games by the scruff of the neck when the team is playing poorly, to drag the performance level of others up by his own example. Not only can he not stamp his authority on Premiership games, he is not man enough to see his original move through. If not staying for the length of his contract then at least staying for a reasonable amount of time, allowing for his 6-month holiday, whoops recuperation. What a pitiful example. What idiot made this guy captain (whoops ...)? Is this the best we could do? Shameful. Where is the sporting spirit in football? Where are the heroes? The inspirations, those who play for the love of the game, not mammon? As if that spitting prat didn't set a bad enough example, we have over-rated footballers captaining their club and country acting like pussies. What would Dave Mackay make of that? We can't have little boys wearing the arm-band. Look at athletics, Kelly Holmes suffered loads of injuries, could've quit but she had a big heart and kept going. Not because she thought it would make her rich, but for the love of the sport. For the glory of competing on the greatest stage her sport had to offer. Our brave captain just wants Esso coins for trophies and a deep-fried curly-wurly for tea. See ya.

Like a win, draw or loss? Perhaps humiliated was over-the-top, but we seem to have had more disasters than triumphs in front of the cameras.

Maybe we could just get Ryan to change his name? Seems easier than getting people to spell his name right.

So thats why you paid all that money for him??????????? You'll have to ask Graeme Souness about that. The rest of us are puzzled.

I'm not going to look through the last 63 pages but I think I've been pretty consistent as well. An averagely-talented Scottish gaylord. Tada.

We'll hold out for what we think is a fair price. I don't care if he wants his teddy, his needs come second to our finances in this case. What a puff!

Rangers bidding at a maximum 4.5 mill is an admission that they ripped us off for 2 mill. Maybe they should have the decency to send us 2 mill back. At the moment everyone is a loser. Feguson is at a club he doesn't care for, Rovers have a high earner on the books whose heart isn't in it (yes, another one!) and Rangers haven't got their man. Now that they've succeeded in de-stabilising our club, they should do the decent thing and make their way towards our valuation. I don't think it's dead either, they've gone this far, they may as well go teh last mile. What an unholy mess.

Humiliated in front of the nation!

Yep, it's our very own Och Aye Don Mackay scouting at Boro' doing very well for himself

"a former player of ours"

Match Preview - Chelsea - 2nd Feb Next Wednesday brings the visit of Chelsea and their expensively-assembled squad to Ewood Park. It promises to be a nerve-jangling encounter for Rovers fans, and not many will be looking forward to it. RECENT LEAGUE FORM: Blackburn: LWWLW Chelsea : WWWWW It quickly becomes apparent just why Rovers fans have every right to be fearful. Chelsea are in an amazing run of form, stretching back past the last 5 league games - they just keep on winning! They are high-scoring and don't let many (or rather, any) in. Arsenal and Manchester Utd have now begun to be left in their wake and unless there's a twist in the tale, it looks like Chelsea will romp home with something to spare. The last time they last in the league was October 16th, the same day we were hammered by mighty Middlesboro. Rovers on the other hand, have had a mixed bag of form. They've suffered two losses - one down to poor defending, the other to a despicable act of gamesmanship. On the other hand three wins have been notched up - that's one more win in the last five than had been managed in the eighteen before. Mark Hughes is slowly turning the Exxon Valdiz around, after tightening things up at the back, games that were being drawn are now being won, albeit by slender margins. SQUAD COMPARISONS: The Chelsea squad is littered with internationals (and also contains the marvelously-named Lenny Pidgeley). Rovers also have a fair few internationals, they're just not as good/ well-paid. Chelsea have obviously benefitted from the munificence of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil oligarch, recently the subject of an investigative television program. Rovers, in comparison, appear to be paupers. Football has been dominated by money since the inception of the Premiership, it's a game of haves and have-nots. Despite both playing in the top flight, there is a massive financial gulf between the two clubs and this may well, sadly, be reflected on the field. GOALKEEPERS Peter Cech is widely acknowledged as one of the best 'keepers in the division, if not the best. A position occupied not too long ago by Brad Friedel. It's difficult to tell whether Brad's standards have slipped or whether it's all the fault of the shenanigans going on in front of him. DEFENDERS Chelsea have Bridge, Galas, Johnson, Ferreira, Carvalho and Terry. The Rovers have Andy Todd, he came close to leaving the club this season, after a string of immaculate performance, Rovers must be very glad he didn't. After that, the cupboard looks bear for Rovers, and it seems a real mismatch. Neill has Premiership experience, and can play well on his day, but all too often goes about his task in a slapdash way, being caught out-of-position a speciality. Mokoena and Nelsen have three games between them, Short is in Emergency Ward 10 all the time, and Amoruso is to defending what Abi Titmuss is to Puritanism. Enough said. MIDFIELD With Barry Ferguson about to depart, a mediocre-sized hole has been left in midfield. Hughes can call on Flitcroft, Tugay, Mokoena, Thompson and Savage in central midfield, with two of Reid/ Emerton/ Pedersen/ Thompson on the wings. In opposition there is Cole, a former player of ours, Lampard, Geremi if he's still there, Robben, Makalele, the new arrival Jarosik and "Where's it hurting?" Smertin. It's likely to be hurting all over with Rovers, with Lampard and Robben in fine form and Rovers midfield in disarray. It is likely to be artists against artisans. ATTACK This is where the gulf between the teams appears largest. Drogba cost Chelsea £24m, summer signing Dickov cost less than a tenth of that, yet most of Rovers hopes fall on his diminutive shoulders. Chelsea don't seem that reliant on their forwards to score, they seem more likely to core from midfield. Yet their other assets include Gudjohhnson and Kezman. In contrast Rovers also have two youngsters struggling to find their way, a former England prospect struggling to find his feet after two years rehabilitation, an Arsenal reject struggling to justify his wages ... and that's it. Conclusion - on paper, Rovers are well-beaten. It will take all of Hughes' organisational-acumen to keep the back door shut and perhaps nick a goal. This looks unlikely unless someone dives blatantly in the box, perhaps. ROVER STATS Ignoring substitute appearances, only Nelsen (1W 0L), Todd (4W 3L) and Thompson (2W 1L) have experienced more wins than losses for Rovers. At the less-dignified end of the scale, notable mentions for Amoruso (0W 2L) and Gray (1W 6L). All but one of Rovers losses have come against top twelve teams, the exception being the unfortunate loss to Soton. Rovers draws have been distributed fairly evenly through teams in league positions 3 to 20. We've not beaten any current top-six team this season. Top scorer this season is Dickov with 7 goals from 21 appearances. of the forwards, Gallagher and Jansen are both on 2, Stead is yet to score. Which makes 11 goals from 38 starts between them. Our squad is more prolific with red cards. A red each from Amoruso, Bothroyd and Thompson; between them they have 13 starts. Tugay also got a red against Middlesbrough, but at least he has made it into double-figures for appearances this season. I was going to have opposition vox-pop, but my mate is expecting a baby in March (well, his Missus is) and hasn't replied to my e-mail. Not surprising since he only recently became a Dad. OK chaps, that's the preview, now let us pray.

When was the last time we had a decent barney on here? Must've been Tris and Jim aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages ago. Livens the place up I guess. Over to Phil ... PS: And I do think Ferguson will go before the transfer window. I'm not sure what figure will be haggled but if Jim says so, it's likely to happen. PPS: On a related subject - does anyone think Bellamy engineered the latest bust-up so that Newcastle would get shot of him, as he had heard that Hughes wants him? You never know ...

Denise Hendry was well at the time Colin moved from Rovers. It was when they moved back down here she went in for plastic surgery and got very ill indeed. There were a lot of potentially libellous runours flying around about why Hendry was so keen to play for Rangers ...

You forget that he stopped off at Villa ... he really did take some stick for leaving them.

incontinence pants more like it ...

Nowhere near England ... and nowhere near Blackburn with any luck.

Sounds like we're paying Bothroyd Money for Nothing ...

I didn't particularly rate him, but he does leave a hole in midfield. Given the lateness of his request, we have very little time in which to get a replacement in, and I find that very disappointing. What would be even worse is if Rangers don't meet the 6m valuation and leave him here to rot. What if we'd already gone out and bought a replacement?

There's more chance of Hell freezing over. And this is coming from a Rangers season ticket holder! Murray will not up his bid and sell us short on this one. There's going to be some very unhappy Gers fans this weekend. Jim's normally rigth on these occasions. (Please say it's so!)

Problem is now the player has put a transfer request in. Has he burnt his bridges (in the eyes of the crowd)?

Of course I didn't know about that. It's not something I would've joked about. And in any case, it's not something that's ever been publicised down here. Is he in a wheelchair then?

He's painted himself into a right corner! What a prat. He might have to take a transfer somewhere else now, as the fans will probably get on his back, and given the rumpus caused, may not forgive even with the passage of time. And unless David Murray does some sponsored wlaks or something, maybe sells his dirty underwear on ebay as well, then Rangers won't be buying him. What a mess.

No I haven't read a Premiership footballer's contract - I should imagine they're real page-turners though! It's something that's cropped up only once or twice in the past (unless my memory deceives me) that a footballer has wanted to do something daft like skiing, but has been prevented from doing so by a club reminding him of his contract. I made the not-unreasonable deduction that this would be common feature of such contracts.

Footballer's contracts regularly prevent them from skateboarding, skiing, going on a moped around Rome. If he was permitted to do that under the terms of his contract, I'd say it was pretty shabby. and I don't think his contract has been extended since.

Well, someone's going to have to change their attitude. - Rovers won't sell unless the bid is upped. - Rangers won't up the bid but are giving it the big "uppity" tart stuff by gobbing off through the media, hoping that will in some way change the situation. - Barry wants his nappy changed. It's a stand-off at the OK Corral. I just hope we're not firing blanks.