Ha! You're not the only one. The Savage thing was bad enough, but this is a complete pain. It's worse than teh Savage transfer saga. And I can still barely believe that he wants to go back to Rangers. Where's his ambition?

Well, you'd have to bid 4.4 cash as we will be paying you 2.1 in August, and you can't actually stop that as far as I know. And if you can't take a silly joke then I think you need to calm down. Mind you, what a Glaswegian sees as being even-tempered everybody else considers to be homicidal! Joke!

Can't he just go down teh shops and get his own bl00dy DVD player? If the 2.1m owing is cancelled (and it won't be, Rovers are determined to pay it), then we've paid 4.4m for him. According to my log tables 4.4 does nto equal 2.1.

Steve Bruce was on the back page of The Mail today moaning about it *still*. Even better, he was whinging how it'd gone on and on! Oh the irony Steve. And there was a quote from Savage inside saying how people should look to themselves before they question the loyalty of others. Eh, Steve?

I now have absolutely no idea how this wil play out next week. It still surprises me that ferguson handed in a transfer request so late. Ignoring the possibility that he's completely thick, perhaps he needed to see the lie of the land first, and only handed in a request when he thought Rangers would be able to definitely meet his valuation. Which wouldn't make sense given their derisory bid. Perhaps the most decisive element will be the resolve of Rangers to sign him. We've not heard any noises from them, let alone an increased bid, for a while now. They had made noises that they were willing to pursue other targets if they couldn't get Fergie. Which brings us back to John Williams saying Rovers wanted him more than Rangers.

Oh please! What you mean is, he doesn't kiss the badge while celebrating. Why do players kiss the club badge? Because they can't kiss their pay-packet on the field! I didn't realise Irishman Duff was Blackburn "through-and-through", strange as he's recently made comments to the effect that he wants to stay at Chelsea for good, so maybe now he's Chelsea "through-and-through". As for Dunn, he was so Blackburn "through-and-through" he consigned his Rovers career to the dustbin by being a tub of lard and picking fights with the manager. So let's not disguise this with ersatz club affiliations, footballers only have one loyalty and that's to themselves. It's not about that, anymore than Shearer to Newcastle was about "boyhood club" dreams. It's about backbone, and repaying faith shown in you by your employers. He doesn't have to stay here forever, but neither should he be allowed to take the micky out of the club. The club captaincy will have to be taken off of him even if he does stay as he has no moral courage at all. Which made him a great candidate for it in teh first place - another good spot that, Graeme!

I hate to sound thick but why has he left it until now to hand in a transfer resquest? Board will announce decision tomorrow, probably 5.30, unobtainable over the weekend, only 5 days in which to sort it and there's more loose ends than the Savage deal. Time running down will probably be used as a bargaining chip in our favour though as Barry is off, methinks. Timorous Barry has done it all wrong. Should have nailed his colours to the mast end of December.

But we made a serious bid for teh player with every intention of getting him. Rangers made a joke bid and are seeking to make our captain as unsettled as possible so as to force through a transfer to suit their straightened financial circumastances. Totally different.

If Rangers can't make an acceptable bid, that really would be a nightmare scenario. You'd have a player unhappy at Rovers, who'd be unhappy anywhere but Rangers, who can't afford him. How could that put him in the right frame of mind to play for us? He'd either play in the first team, but at best be as tepid as ever, or be banished to the reserves, in which case his value would dwindle to somewhere probably beloiw what Rangers are currently offering. What a mess. Rangers are completely out-of-order in this, they've been as bad as Brum.

Phil, I don't think there's any argument that Rovers are handling this better than Brum P*rn Peddlars Inc handled the Savage thing. Just a bitter acceptance that Rovers will lose out in some way over this because Souness didn't do his homework on Fergus0d's temperament and family situation. Losing Duff was bad enough, but wasting the transfer proceeds it gave us was worse. Tragic for the club, sadly.

Yeah, but Scotty, say if we did reductio ad absurdum. Rangers just bid £50K and say that we still have to pay up in full. And they will not increase that bid. So we would've paid 7.5m for an 18-month loan. Since Barrae Puff doesn't want to go anywhere but Rangers, does that mean, that they will get him for 50K? We can't just let him go because he wants to, the bidding club has to make a sensible bid. I suppose what Rangers have done is bid at pish-take level, waiting for the disruption, and then will bid at barely-acceptable level. For all JW's semantics (and I think he's clever in what he says) we are probably still fighting a desperate rearguard action to salvage a face-saving amount of cash.

It's not going to be written off, it's going to be paid no matter what, according to JW.

Damn well said John Williams!

Going to be unveiled Friday. I suspect he's been given tomorrow off as he's knackered!

You've really gone doo-lally, haven't you? You were crowing the other day about not letting him go until you had a replacement. Not so happy now, eh?! Firing off random jibes doesn't help you much either. What with you being a "bigger club" than us, Porn Gold having more money than God, Jobbie Savage being past his best blah blah blah, it really seems to have got to you doesn't it? I suspect you're miffed at losing him and are just trying to make out it's what you wanted all along. Feel free to come back and have a go all you like, there's been so many mickey-takes on here it just ain't true.

And still it's not been done! I can't remember a more protracted transfer!

... is a dirty cow between the sheets, doesn't like credit cards, has her own money, can hold her ale and is happy for her partner to go out on the razzle while she stays in. Two a penny those birds! :-)

So let's get this down in black and white. We pay them 7.5m Autumn(?) 2003 over installments, we have so far paid 5m for him. He manages 12 non-descript months for us, plus is out for 6 months, during which time he gets medical attention second-to-none in British football. We then let him go back to his old club, who cancel the remaining payments and pay half a mill on top. So effectively having him on loan for 18 months (6 of which he was unavailable for) has cost us 4.5m. Is that right? Sorry, bit knacked this morning. Even bigger rip-off than Grabbi, that.

I hope we give them the money in 1 p's.

I'll be angry if Souness doesn't register an interest in Ferguson. Newcastle's midfield is a joke and Souness rated him so highly when he signed. If he doesn't register an interest it will make me very suspicious about his purchase from Rangers for 7.5m. It will seem even more like a favour for Murray. The possibility that Souness lost interest in his last year and between him, Fergie and Murray they decided to stitch us up can't be discounted in my book. Thanks God Souness wasn't given any more money. BTW, Dyer is well-named.

Let's play fill in the blanks! Gibbon? Banana? Ahhhhhhhhhh, could be "Mickey", but is that an expletive on your side of the Wall? Trouser? "Are you taking the trouser, pal? Eh?! Eh?! EH?! I used ta clear oot the mashed pie dishes in Barlinnie mate! I'm gonna McEwan's Export ye, eh! Pal!"

TDI, I feel that that is spin-doctoring that would put Alistair Campbell to shame. How can you admire the bottle of one of our own players in handing in a transfer request? He never showed any bottle on the park and he hasn't shown any here by scuttling off to a poorer league because he can't hack it here. Let's face it, he's been upstaged by far greater talents, and hasn't responded to the challenge. As for finding out the real reasons for the transfer request, we'll simply never know, we just have to use our intuition.

Interesting Link

Box of caramel wafers and the Krankees Greatest Skits on DVD.

Oh yes, indeed. And do you know why? Because he's a soft fanny, that's why! Are his balls still in Glasgow, is that why he's going home to Mammy? With 20/20 hindsight, buying him for 7.5m was a calamitous transfer. As bad a piece of business as Grabbi. Jim - thanks. Toogs - yep, loyalty is a foreign concept to these dudes. But then teh same could be said of Savage, their first loyalty is to themselves. And Ginger was totally rigth about Rangers' incendiary remarks. No class these guys, they're obviously as tight as two coats of paint and don't care whose noses they put out of joint as they try to get him back for a box of Tunnock's Tea Cakes.