Suffer, Fergie, suffer! Love it, love it that we beat United.

I find FM2006 fairly hard. I had a terrific first season with Rovers - 6th - but finished something like 14th in the second season and now 11th in the third season. I did win the Carling Cup in the third season, though. I am also finding it terrifically hard to keep the wage bill down. Figures, since I keep getting players in (usually free) but can barely get a player to leave. I have all the same problems as tchocky when it comes to getting rid of players, especially with them not wanting to leave when someone bids for them. My squad is fairly big. It's typical for players to play no more than 20 games a season.

My prediction: Kuqi to have a blinder! Rovers 3 - 2 West Ham Kuqi (3), Dailly (2) Well, Kuqi's all set to have a blinder, but I'm taking the ###### with Dailly.

Nice preview! Since we're mucking about with formations, I would go with the following: Friedel Neill Khizanishvili Nelsen Grey Emerton Mokoena/Tugay Savage Pedersen Bentley Reid I fancy trying Reid as a striker. Since he has a powerful shot, yet is usually too far away to make it count, we could try giving him the opportunity to get closer. if he isn't pushed out of the game, it could work real wonders.

Can anyone here display the third home shirt, or at least link directly to it? For some reason it is not showing up on the official site. The others are displaying just fine, though. Will list my preferences once I see it.

"Steve Bruce, meanwhile, is 12-1 [for the England job]. No, seriously. It's amazing what beating Pompey can do for you. I'd rather the FA signed a deal with ITV to produce Manager Idol." http://www.football365.com/opinion/f365_op...ry_175084.shtml :D:D:D

Football Manager 2005 was really poor at producing good regenerated players. In 2006 this has greatly improved. The academy is producing a gem or two, and I am buying young players with potential in need of massive development here and there to invest in the future. Some of those investments are already starting to pay off. It could barely be done in 2005. I like the realism of the transfer market too. Rarely are there silly prices and it is especially hard to get rid of out-of-favour players for free, nevermind for money. The only big disappointment is that it seems like everyday a player runs to the media, disgruntled at not getting first team football. A bit less of this running to the media business wouldn't ago amiss, especially in relation young reserve players who from any standpoint should not be even demanding first team football. There should also be a way to deal with this in-club.

I bought this card recently because it was simply Matt Jansen and I just had to get it, even though I had no clarification on the signature. I'm not overly concerned if it is fake, since I bought it cheap and never plan to sell it in any case, but I would like to know if it is genuine. If you have anything signed by Matty then it would be really nice if you could compare the signatures. I'm sorry for the poor quality of the photo, but that is the best I can get with this camera at the moment.

Apparently that's a retort he has stuck with at Aston Villa.

If there's any way the board can give even more backing to Sparky then they should give it. The man is doing an absolutely brilliant job and really knows what the hell he is doing and where the hell he is going with this club.

Boos all over St. James' Park! And well done Rovers. We certainly are on the rise when we're winning these sorts of gameson top of getting the ones we should be winning. Not the best match from what I could tell, but it's a win nonetheless. It's a good time to be a Rover.

Tugay shakes referee's hand.

OMG. I thought that meant "keep [Harchester] players data". So I unticked it. Would make more sense, that would.

Speaking of fake sugar daddies, is anyone annoyed at that fake team Harchester United being in the game? Even though I turned the Harchester options off (unticked) before I started a new game weeks ago, they still exist in the game and dominate the headlines. I think that option only stops them from being promoted. Grr. They are also very active in the transfer market, buying and selling players, and now some of the fake players have diluted the realism of the game that I liked so much. D'oh.

This might be it. Source

Anyone in Australia know whether this match will be live on Fox Sports? There is a live football match listed on the Fox Sports website at the same time as Rovers-Newcastle, but no team names are listed.

It was a very frustrating match to watch. I cannot believe how much we always let ourselves down by either a lack of penetration or desperate Bolton defending, despite our domination. The most frustrating part of it all was the woefulness of Pedersen's crosses from corner kicks. Hughes really needs to put his input into corner kicks in training and get the players to put something into effect that work. If he has intervened in training, then he should suggest something else! If that means a change from Pedersen to Savage or Emerton, so be it. He simply isn't doing the job. I'm sick of near-posts. I also thought the referee was poor in this match. He was really pedantic and he virtually became one of the attractions of the game. He stuck out like a sore thumb... referees should stay ordinary thumbs. But for all his pedantism, he really should have dished out more cards. Another thing about him was that his pedantism got in the way of his decision making. He many-a-time gave free kicks against us that simply should not have been at best, and should have been given to us at worst. Overall, I suppose the point is good, given the physicality of the game, but it's still disappointing not to get all three points against ten men. Our finishing really blowed, to put it not-so-nicely, and stopped us from earning the win... Vaz Te slip or no Vaz Te slip.

What were they?

As much as I hoped he would stay and recapture a bit of form, it was inevitable... I know those of the older generations are less inclined to hold Matt Jansen in high regard, but for me the name "Matt Jansen" and "Blackburn Rovers" are almost synonymous, and so he will be sorely missed. Ah well. Time goes on. Good luck, Matty. I sincerely hope you do well wherever you go. It's time for another Rovers player to make a similar lasting impression...

Fantastic! I want to quote that whole paragraph for both truth and for archival purposes. http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/...1681617,00.html Brill-i-ant!!!

I thought he would start and he did, notching 90 minutes in the process. Bellamy needed that to get match fit. I don't think it would have helped at all to have him underdone for the upcoming games, especially the United game on Wednesday. Now that he's got 90 minutes done against somewhat easier opposition where he wasn't under immense pressure we know he is ready. Anyway, well done Hughes on everything today. That Peter is looking quite an asset.

Does anyone have a radio link for this match?

I always thought that Lee just put any old list of players in his news items, hence "the manager is likely to choose from". I'm sure I once didn't see Jansen listed yet he ended up on the bench, not too long ago.

A history lesson for all of us. Versus Portsmouth 2-1 January 2 2006: Friedel Neill Khizanishvili Nelsen © Matteo Bentley Reid Savage Pedersen Dickov Kuqi Enckelman Emerton Bellamy Mokoena Tugay Versus Charlton 1-0 January 3 2005 Friedel Johansson Matteo Neill Todd Emerton Ferguson © Flitcroft Thompson Dickov Stead Enckelman McEveley Gamst Pedersen Reid Gallagher What a difference a year makes. The first 16 are certainly looking a lot stronger than that miserable rabble (that being said in the nicest possible way) we used to have a year ago. Stead, Flitcroft, and Johansson being the main players who really have made a difference... by leaving or not being played by Hughes, as is Flitcroft's case.

Ten points and in last place, doomed to relegation. http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=372076