Vocal support for the first home game of the season was pretty feeble and once again we were outsung by the away fans. Those people who wanted to get rid of the drummer dont seem to be making up for his absence by singing. Or maybe it was the lack of having much to cheer about on the pitch...

Not to mention the managers they've gone through. Souness hasnt worked since. Allardyce isnt exactly hot property. Roeder at Norwich, hardly a massive gig. Bobby Robson, a supposed Newcastle legend, had the end of his managerial career soured by their bad handling of his departure. 12 months from now and the fairytale will probably be over for Keegan. St James Park is career suicide. They go through more managers than Leeds Utd & Leicester combined, and screw up peoples' careers in the process.

He's been in prison, his son was up for stealing last month, he's played for Burnley, and by public consensus he's not very good at his job. If he never appeared on our screens again it would be a treat. I'm sure we're not supposed to say this but I dont doubt for a second that he wouldnt have been given the time of day by the BBC had he not been available for a pundit's job at precisely the time they were desperately trying to get as many black faces onto the telly as possible.

My heart sank when I saw Fatty Wiley waddle out to ref the game on Saturday. That pie-boy missed every decision in the game - both sides had legitimate reasons to complain - but the argument that the bad decisions levelled themselves out simply isnt good enough. Fans of both sides had paid their money and turned out in good numbers expecting to see a fairly officiated contest, not a comedy of errors in which players who grab others by the throat are allowed to stay on the pitch because the ref was too knackered to keep up with play and both he and his comedy 'assistant' failed to see it. Dunn was also lucky to stay on as his hand ball was stupidly deliberate and deserved a booking. Benni was pulled back in the box for a clear penalty; their disallowed goal was offside in the replays but the confusion at the time ought to have been allayed by the ref taking time to speak clearly to both captains to explain why it was disallowed. Another inadequate referreeing performance in a season of farce means it must surely be time to bring in video replays on key decisions (penalty shouts, dodgy offsides, bad challenges, etc.) The fourth official & the technology are there, so why not use them? Oh, and stick Wiley on a diet or dont let him ref again.

Cases like Keith Addy & Ron Atkinson are totally out of proportion to the severity of the so-called 'crime', and a sad reflection on our soft-touch nation today. So much for sticks & stones, theyre only words, albeit ones which the majority of us are smart enough not to use. If they'd been racially aggravated (or any other sort of aggravated) physical assaults, then fair enough. But a bit of namecalling gets someone the sack? Come on! A reprimand would have sufficed in both cases. Even black players who played for Big Ron said the same thing. And you can say what you like about Ron, I went on that Atkinson diet of his and lost a stone in a week.

Fair enough. Maybe its not a case of not having a drummer, just having a better one! Abbey, I'll keep my seat in JW upper but promise to initiate the chants from up there if you take over the drumming for a match and show us how it should be done!

Except for the people who sit next to or immediately behind him, I cant understand all this animosity towards the drummer. The bloke is clearly passionate about 'drumming up' vocal support for Rovers and instead of being cynical he's doing something proactive & leading the chants. Without him there in recent games the level of vocal support from the BBE has been weedy. All very well slagging him off but I cant imagine anyone other than a miserable bugger would wilfully not chant just because of the drummer. Get behind the team and stop moaning. Lord knows they need it at the moment!

Highly unlikely I know but if we could persuade ManUtd to swap Giggs for Pedersen, even given the difference in their ages & how long they have left in playing years, I'd snap their hands off. In fact, if Spurs come back to us with an offer of any kind for MGP I'd say 'go for it!' If he's still with us by the end of January I'd be seriously worried about Hughes' judgement.

McCarthy made no secret of the fact that he was joining Rovers with the intention of impressing one of the so-called big 4 clubs that he was Premiership quality. He was last season's top scorer outside the top 4 and probably expected to be snapped up last summer. Mourinho has left Chelsea, Santa Cruz has joined Rovers, and all of a sudden Benni isnt the main issue. His primary motivation has gone and he needs to get his head around the fact that success doesnt have to mean joining another (richer, more successful) club. He needs to play his heart out for the club who showed faith in him - we know he has the ability - and stop sulking! He's still our top scorer with Santa Cruz inexplicably goal shy after his impressive start, so its vital Benni refinds last season's form and ensures its his goals which allow us to challenge for a top 4 finish at the end of the season. And should we sell him? You must be joking! NO!

LOL You're right. Maybe the managerial 'dream team' of Steve Cotterill & Stan Ternett? And change the England white home kit for claret. Might as well, we're already the laughing stock of Europe!

IMO there's only 2 serious candidates and they're Jose Mourinho & Martin O'Neill. Mourinho would be best by a mile. He's as thickskinned as they come, so no worries about dealing with the media. He already knows about English football but he brings an international perspective, but best of all, he's a winner. Even given the same players to work with last night there's NO WAY we would have lost that match with Mourinho in charge. Unfortunately, the FA probably will want another boring yes man or someone they perceive to be safe. God help us if its Shearer or Pearce or anyone else with random England credentials. We want a world beating manager. They botched it with McClaren & if they botch it again it should be the FA bigwigs resigning or sacked en masse.

I think part of the problem is that the overall quality in the Rovers team at the moment is so much higher than 12/18 months ago when MGP was at his best. If you look at our forward line, we've got Santa Cruz, Benni & Bentley all with considerably greater skill and ability than the likes of Dickov & Kuqi. No wonder MGP looked so much better back then! Even so, he's clearly off the boil this season, his set pieces alone are awful, he's struggling for confidence and not worth his place in the team. If we can get anything over 10 million for him from whoever during the Jan transfer window I'd say go for it and use the money on that creative midfielder we so desperately need. Dunn has looked capable enough on the left.

Tugay is irreplaceable given Rovers budget. All talk in the past of finding 'a 26 yr old like Tugay' is dreaming - you'd be looking at £10 million minimum. So lets be realistic. When Tugay finally stops being a regular in the team we're going to have to reorganise the midfield. Mokoena is no-one's idea of a creative midfielder. Reid is out long-term. Savage is combative but again creates little. Dunn has the ability to find forwards with passes from midfield. Listen to the CD of Rovers promotion season & the number of goals scored by Jansen, Duff etc running onto passes from Dunny was surprisingly high. I think Dunn brings more creativity into our midfield than this discussion thread gives him credit for. I think he'll play higher up the park than Tugay allowing Savage to play deeper, winning balls & breaking down oppposition moves then giving the ball to Dunn to thread wide to MPG or Bentley or forward for Benni to chase. If he stays fit (big if i know) then I think this could well prove to be a fruitful signing. Especially given the money involved, and given the fact that we've got a player in the dressing room who no-one can doubt is 100% a Rover. Oh, and expect him to share the captain's role with the Admiral next season..

Sold for £5.5 million in 2003. Plays 27 times & receives a fortune in medical treatment. Passes medical and returns to Rovers for £1 million (+ £1 million perf related) in 2007. A big thank you to Steve Bruce and the astute business brains at big club Birmingham City. Next time we want to make some easy money on a crock we'll know where to come!

All excuses about ticket prices being too high went out of the window tonight. The Blackburn board are treating their fans better than any other in the Premiership with such cheap prices and the Blackburn public have responded by saying that they're just not bothered. A tenner to support your hometown team in Europe against a decent side with Rovers fielding a full strength team playing quality football - and the best we can muster is 13,000? Pathetic.