Match Report by Scotty Just about feel up to commenting on the game now - it was just all too depressing yesterday. We were the better team for half an hour because we passed the ball better and were quicker into the tackle than West Ham. We unsettled them and they couldn't cope with the way we quickly pressured the ball all over the park. As a result we deservedly took the lead and could easily have gone 2 or 3 in front. However, West Ham slowly found their feet, picked up the pace of the game, and started stringing a few passes together of their own. They finished the first half on top but 1-0 at half-time was still probably a fair reflection of what had gone on. We were caught over-committing at the start of the second half. We lost possession deep in West Ham's half, they broke quickly, and we just didn't have enough bodies back behind the ball. All four midfielders and our right back were caught up field. West Ham were lifted and they started to overrun us in midfield. Hughes rightly decided to address this by changing to a 4-1-4-1 formation but I thought he took the wrong player off. Kuqi was doing OK and we'd have been better off if one of our ineffective wide-men had been subbed. The removal of Kuqi meant that we didn't have an outlet up front so we just kept giving the ball back to West Ham. This, coupled with some rank bad individual defending, resulted in us conceding another two goals and getting thoroughly outplayed. Dickov's mindless sending off just put the tin hat on an incredibly depressing second-half display. There's little point in singling out individual players for criticism as the whole team were crap in that second half. I was particularly disappointed with our wide-men though. Emerton was at his frustrating worst and Pedersen was just awful. Bellamy didn't look fit, Kuqi did a few good things but didn't stand out, Savage and Reid started well but found themselves too far up field too often in the second half, and the whole defence were poor. West Ham: Carroll, Ferdinand, Gabbidon, Dailly, Konchesky, Reo-Coker, Benayoun, Mullins (Noble 84), Etherington, Sheringham (Newton 72), Harewood. Subs Not Used: Hislop, Ward, Zamora. Goals: Sheringham 46, Reo-Coker 62, Etherington 80 Rovers: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Mokoena (Dickov 72), Matteo, Emerton, Savage, Reid, Pedersen, Kuqi (Gresko 55), Bellamy. Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Flitcroft, Tugay. Sent Off: Dickov (81) Booked: Savage Goals: Todd 18 Attendance: 33,305 Referee: A Wiley

Huddersfield Preview by Modi Travel back in time and you’ll discover an interesting fact about the teams facing off at Ewood on Wednesday 21st September, both clubs were the first “threepeaters” in the top two football competitions. Rovers were the first team to win the FA Cup three times running, whilst Huddersfield Town hold the honour of the being the first team to win the league three years in a row. However, this is the League Cup and fortunes have not been as kind historically to the two teams. Whilst Rovers had a memorable win against Spurs in 2002, last season they suffered a forgettable loss at the first hurdle to lowly Bournemouth. Town, on the other hand have never won the League Cup (their best performance was in 1967/68 when they reached the semis) and they lost to local rivals Leeds in the first round in 2004/05. Click here for Expert pre view and fans predictions

I cant argue with your sentiments, but I cant any longer argue with those that are ready to jack it in. I just havent got a valid reason to convince them why they shouldnt. Supporters of football in general, not just Rovers are thinking very hard about where their financial priorities lie. Fans want value for money and at the moment there isnt any. For £5 more than a ticket in the BBE my lad bought a return flight ticket to Berlin. And when he gets there he will watch Herta for £7. Plus the match ticket price includes for public transport to and from the game within Berlin.

I would suggest one or two supporters would prefer to sake the players by the troat.

Same feeling here, I cant be bothered re arranging work schedules to accomodate Rovers or football anymore.

I woke this morning at 3am and I'm still depressed. I've tried to find something positive about the game however ps Was Bentley really making his home debut. Or was it Tugay's invisible friend with the number 29 shirt.

I’d love to find something positive to post about Sunday’s game against Newcastle, however like a lot of supporters this morning I feel depressed and angry by another failure by the team to win a game that for 60 minutes was there for the taking. Tagged by the media, as the premier league bully boy, Rovers couldn’t even get that right against Newcastle. Only one yellow card compared to Newcastle’s 5 yellows and 1 red. For the first hour both teams huffed and puffed up and down the park, with neither team taking control of the game. The statistics would indicate that Rovers had 24 attempts on goal whilst Newcastle had 4. The big difference and more telling of those stats is that 3 of Newcastle’s attempts hit the back of the net. I suspect it was written in the stars that Alan Shearer, making his final competitive appearance at Ewood, (if he does retire at the end of the season) would break his duck of not scoring for 18 games and that Micheal Owen would open his account for the barcodes. Both world class strikers, seem to score on a regular basis when they play against Rovers and there lies the difference between both teams. Rovers have the ability to defend in depth and I suspect on current form there will be an abundance of goal less draws this season, however once they go behind they don’t have a player capable of finding the back of the net from open play. Rovers have continued this season where they left off last season, playing with a sole striker up front so it’s no surprise that they haven’t scored since the first home game of the season. With a total of approximately 380 minutes since they scored, it’s no surprise that attendance for the game was less than 21,000. Rovers: Friedel, Neill, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Gresko (Jansen 76), Savage, Mokoena (Tugay 67), Reid, Pedersen, Bentley (Kuqi 67), Bellamy. Subs Not Used: Emerton, Enckelman. Booked: Neill. Newcastle: Given, Carr, Boumsong, Taylor, Babayaro, Faye, Bowyer, Clark, N'Zogbia, Shearer (Bramble 74), Owen. Subs Not Used: Elliott, Harper, O'Brien, Brittain. Sent Off: Taylor (72). Booked: Clark, Boumsong, Given, Taylor, Babayaro. Goals: Shearer 62, Owen 66, N'Zogbia 85. Att: 20,725 Ref: M Riley

Front page of this site NEWS. Newcastle Preview.

Had a long and lengthy chat with Tim Flowers when he was at Leicester which eventually resulted in THIS Top bloke, I will allways remember picking up the phone and hearing. Hi Al, it's Tim. have you got them questions ready.

In this corresponding fixture last season between Rovers and Newcastle, Ewood Park experienced it's biggest games of the season, 29271, when Newcastle brought with them a following of nearly 7000 supporters. However at present the Barcodes have only sold in the region of 2500 tickets for Sunday's game, which is extremely disappointing for a club that proud themselves on having the best supporters in the country. I'm not suggesting that Newcastle fans are less passionate about their club, than they were last season, it's more likely that they are being influenced by the cost and indifferent form of their team. Unless clubs wake up to the fact that negative displays, rearranged kick off times to accommodate TV coverage and pricing policy, then I fear that the national game will become a televised sport requiring sound effects and computer graphics in order to achieve an atmosphere. Sunday's game will provide mixed reactions from Rovers supporters, with the return of Souness and Shearer to Ewood Park. Despite the early glory days under Souness when promotion was achieved followed by winning the Worthington Cup and finishing sixth in the premiership, he will be perceived as public enemy number one on Sunday as a result of his final years at Ewood, when avoiding relegation was the norm. Meanwhile Alan Shearer, one of the greatest strikers to have played for Rovers, will be making his final bow in a competitive game at Ewood. Whilst during the game he will be more than likely be booed, prior to and after the game he will be given the applause that he rightly deserves as one of the greats of English and World football. Two people trying to mark their influence on the game, will be recent signing Micheal Owen for Newcastle and Craig Bellamy, if declared fit, for Rovers. Owen will be attempting to score his first goal for the barcodes, whilst Bellamy will want to rub salt into the wounds of the manager who kicked him out of Newcastle. Amazing after spending in the region of £50 million at Newcastle, if Sunderland beat West Brom on Saturday, Souness will start the game at Ewood bottom of the premiership. A win for Rovers and a goal from Bellamy would more than likely herald the imminent departure of Souness down the same path as Sir Bobby Robson. If the game is anything as good as last season, it should be a thriller and with one or two Rovers players having a point to prove, hopefully the result will be in favour of Rovers with Shearer getting a consolation penalty at the Blackburn End as the fans pay homage to one of the greatest players to have graced Ewood Park, when he helped the club to win the premiership back in the 1994-95 season. Click here for fans views of the game

I sat next to the one and only bob flemming in a pre season friendly. Such a shy boy Bumped into Keeley at Asda back in the late 70's, I still have the bruise

13.09.05 Fixtures It was a mainly successful night for Blackburn Rovers loaned out players as Paul Gallagher scored the only goal for Stoke last night in their 1-0 win away to Hull. Matt Derbyshire helped Plymouth to a 1-1 draw against Crewe last night when his cross lead to Scott Taylor scoring from close range. Jay McEverley was also involved in a draw last night when he made his home debut for Ipswich in their 2-2 draw against Southampton. After scoring for Leeds on Saturday, it was not such a good night for Johnathon Douglas as Leeds lost their Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday 1-0.

Gallagher got the winning goal for Stoke in a 1-0 win, he must have thought he was still at Rovers as he also got a yellow card

Jay hopes to be fit - LINK

I must admit I'm not a big fan of county cricket as it takes to long. 5 days for a draw. However I have enjoyed the test series. What it does show is how bad the behaviour of footballers have become. Whilst playing the cricketers are full of agression but there is no arguements about umpire decisions and there is a sporting attribute between both teams. Well done to both teams for a summer of entertainment.

Rovers 2 Sunderland 2 Goals from Jemal Johnson and Sergio Peter gave Rovers Reserves a share of the points against Sunderland Reserves at Ewood Park last night. Johnson equalised for Rovers just before half time after Sunderland had taken the lead in the 32 minute, when Matt Pipers shot was deflected off Eddie Nolan and over Richard Lees head. Sunderland regained the lead through Daryl Murphy, before Rovers equalised again in the 70 minute through Sergio Peter’s fierce free kick. Match Report. - Courtesy of Rovers Official Web Site

Paul Dickov, and Lucas Neill will be available following their suspensions, however Andy Todd starts his three match suspension and wont be available. It will be interesting to see whether Hughes includes new signings David Bentley and Zurab Khizanishvili in the starting line up, ahead of any of the current squad. Of the two, with Todd's suspension Zurab has the best chance, although Hughes may stick with the tried and tested Mokoena, in order to combat Bolton's high ball game and the aerial threat of Kevin Davies. Who'd have thought that or believed that the former £7 million miss fit at Ewood would have now been classed as a threat; full credit must be given to the lad for turning his career around and to Big Sam for gambling on the player when he was released by Southampton a couple of seasons ago. Who'd have believed a couple of season's ago that Rovers wouldn't sell out their allocation of tickets for a local derby and tickets would be available on the day at the turnstiles. At £32 a ticket, for a game being televised live at 4pm on a Sunday a large majority of supporters who would have clamoured for tickets, are boycotting the game, choosing to watch the game either at home or in local bars, including Rovers own Blues Bar, that are screening the game.

John, in my opinion the players think their better than they are, and asume that they can go out on the field and the oposition surrender. Look at the difference in attitude from the cricket players.

Sorry AS, neekoy, I merged all the Ireland game posts ito one topic. Didnt want to loose track of the NI victory against the mighty English in the so positive Germany World Cup topic.

Quote sky sports. "Thomas Myhre of Charlton Athletic is a key man in goal but danger man Morten Gamst Pedersen is sidelined through suspension." Another Rovers bully boy

The season restarts again this weekend, after two weeks off to allow Sven to prepare for World Cup qualifying games. For those who have lost sight of the league programme, Rovers take on Bolton at 4pm Sunday the 10th September at the Reebok Stadium. At lease the enforced break gave some of our injured players time to recuperate and does give our international players an additional day to recover after jetting around the world to represent their respective countries. Fortunately none of our squad had to suffer the embarrassment of representing England in Belfast. Reports would suggest that Craig Bellamy will have recovered from injury, in time to be included in the squad for Bolton, however I suspect with our limited squad size, Mark Hughes’s main concern will be that those players on international duty, all return injury free. Click here for fans preview of the game

LINK

Thanks Captn and Roversmum. Unfortunately I cant send the posting as it stands to newspapers etc as it is copyrighted to another web site. Fortunately they do allow me to a duplicate my correspondent reports on this site.

The economics of watching football no longer stand up for the supporter on an average salary, let alone the working class family with children to bring up. Ticket for next week's away game at Bolton are thirty-two pounds and thirty-two pounds again for a ticket to watch Rovers at Merchandise United. Admittedly there are cheap seats at Ewood for home supporters, (£22 in the Riverside outer stand) but these are in limited supply, when the local rivals comes to town. The costs behind the goals, Darwen End and Blackburn End for home and away supporters when Bolton and United visit Ewood will be in the region of £30. Clubs like Rovers were built up as the bastion of entertainment for the working class, where they relaxed from the toil of hard graft in the mills, factories and mines, when watching the team cost no more than a pint of beer and players were on a maximum wage, not much more than the man on the terrace. Even in the sixties and seventies, it was known for players to live in the same street as the supporters, in properties of similar size, to do their weekly shopping in the local store and drink in the same pub as the supporters. These days you wouldn't get into a conference game for the price of a pint and players live a completely different lifestyle, so different to the supporters that it is unimaginable, to a point that fans queue to get their autographs, should a player deem to visit a local club or bar. With sponsorship and TV money, even the average player has become a superstar. There is no affinity or loyalty to the club, let alone the fans. How many players these days get a testimonial for ten years service; not that they need the money if they've invested correctly. Yet the average fan, who will spend a lifetime paying off his mortgage, is every season being asked to pay more for the privilege of being herded like cattle, by over enthusiastic stewards, into stadiums to watch these mercenaries. Attendances for away games have been declining for some time, and now that trend is starting for home games. Admittedly over the last couple of seasons the entertainment factor at Ewood has declined, however the increased costs must have a big impact, especially when the game can be viewed in the comfort of ones own home or warm local bar. For the average working class family with a couple of kids, it will cost them for a Class A game, in the region of £100, for tickets and travel cost, let alone the cost of refreshments and a programme. With a the minimum wage of approximately £5.50 the joint earnings of working couple could earn on a 40 hour week in the region of £440, before any deductions, such as tax, rent, food, clothing, transport, so how can they justify paying a quarter of their earnings on 90 minutes of football. When you can take the whole family to see a film for £20 to £30, football is no longer the entertainment release of the working man, but the fashionable hobby of the middle to upper classes. Clubs outside the top six are currently relying on the loyalty of the core supporters, but there will come a time when even those die hard fans will say enough is enough. When that happens and tv sponsorship dries up, clubs who have spent heavily in the transfer market and negotiated superstar wages to their players will be in financial disarray. I can see the logic behind the Rovers recent transfer dealings, despite my misgivings of not adding another striker, Rovers have strengthened the squad, sufficiently to maintain premiership status, without making a major capital outlay. We no longer have a financial benefactor the last thing any Rovers supporter would want to see is the club following in the route of Leeds. or Leicester. The main way for the club or any other club of similar standing, to finance new players is through fans paying at the turnstyles, however this will only happen if the entrance fee is set at a realistic level and the product on display is of an acceptable standard.

Flopsy, havent you heard of the saying. "Dont get involved in domestic disputes."