As a central defender he has looked very uncomfortable in every game I've seen, but playing in front of the back four he's looked good. Axe started for the first time in how long? In a team that is clearly very, very tired and hit by injuries. Those calling for a striker are going to be disappointed, it has been clear for some weeks there will be no major signing before the summer. Williams has effectively stated the first choice eleven will, ultimately, be made up of players transferred in who are better than those the acadaemy can produce, the rest will come from the academy, frees etc. Contracts are being freed up over this season, several more will go in the summer, when I expect to see 3 or 4 come in. I don't believe either Williams or Hughes are prepared to spend now, the quality is just not available. At the very best we have £14m available, doubtful Hughes will get that in one go, and it would be foolhardy to begin throwing that money around now. The difference in place money is simply not large enough to justify the short-term investment. The only concern I have with this is the academy players; it would be good to see Gallagher back. Danns, did we sell or loan him? BTW talking of the academy, Joe Garner became a Dad the other night.

I suppose the club can do whatever with the away shirt but at home we play in blue and white halves. These should be straight forward halves, simple, I could design that. Please, please do not play around with one of the most famous and distinctive shirts in the country. Of those on offer it would have to be 3 + 3 the rest are just too awful to contemplate.

Have to agree with much of that except that I had a totally different perspective of Saha's goal at the match. I haven't seen, nor do I really want to see, any TV replays but Tugs looked to try and twist and turn past three United players as they crowded him more and more. After he lost the ball he appeared to clutch his head and then touch it several times. looking at his hand as if checking for blood. As for Saha, who I thought was fantastic all night, his goal was the most outrageous piece of good luck you'll see all season. We were sat directly behind the goal and my view was this; a totally mis-hit volley somehow balloned and swung to sneak in at the post. As you say philip the different perspective's from the live and TV game are very interesting. Is there a new tactic developing amongst forward players? If close to a defender in the box flick the ball at his hand/arm and keep running at him to force the ball to be trapped against his body? Clearly a lot of people are calling certain players, yes Hughes would have played a different side with Bellamy and Dickov fit, but this morning I simply remain very, very proud of my team. Our progress in the last 12 months is nothing short of remarkable, Hughes is doing a great job. If you can go to OT with no fear, force United to finish playing 5-3-2 it's about as much as can be expected in 12 months. A year ago we might have lost 5 or 6-1. I think a new striker is highly unlikely before the summer. The real talent is available then, it's just expensive cast-offs now. JW has made the transfer policy clear and Sparky understands the need to make the money count. A rushed decision now will cause longer-term problems though it might be a short-term solution.

Just got home, no complaints. How can you have when you reduce United to defending deep and relying on their excellent strike force to conjour something up? Bellamy wouldd have made the difference but don't all hound Kugi, others didn't play as well as they can tonight. We know why he's here and we know he may well drop down the pecking order after the summer. We won't sign a striker before then. Proud to be a Rover..........shame the dream had to end

My money is on Pedersen to come up with the goods. Just when things look tough MGP will come through and smack one in. Go Rovers Go - this is going to be a good night.

Here, here. I can recall posting on the MB when SGE was appointed it would end in tears, and now it has. Any Rovers fan should know SGE is a greedy, avaricious, self-centred and fundamentally dishonest individual. I'm delighted he is going, it's just a shame it's taken so long. This isn't a question of not wanting a foreigner to manage England, simply that he was never fit for the jhob and should never have been appointed. As for a replacement? I doubt very much if it will be an Englishman, there simply isn't anyone with the experience or, importantly, the reputation to excite the public/fans. Allardyce, Curbishley, McClaren etc. big deal. I would like the FA and/or SGE to explain what happened to the original plan for an English coach to work alongside Erickson and to be his ultimate replacement?

Jim, I'm not taking the mick when I say I'm really surprised to see you asking that. Anyway.......my experience of going to OT is simply to get as close as you feel comfortable with walking. There are plenty of signed, safe car parks for about £5. Post match traffic isn't much of a problem in my experience, we often get home from OT quicker than from Ewood, certainly no longer. Just goes to show what decent infrastructure can do. If you are coming from the Altrincham direction I know a lot of United fans park in Altrincham and take the tram in to the game. Secondly I would not use the A56 Chester Road as it's not that big. I would go round the M60, in through Trafford Park, follow the signs to OT and then park on the Trafford Park side of the ground. The traffic will clear pretty quickly after the game as the roads are big and relatively free of other traffic at that time of night.

Bellamy didn't come on until 71 minutes and he certainly didn't pull up at any point that I can recall. It's the little inaccuracies, like he didn't start against Bolton, that make me doubt the whole story.

No source, I'll believe when he doesn't start

For those who aren't sure, I wasn't, away goals count double at the end of extra time. Clearly we must score at least once to get to penalties. The Rules - see item 6 b iiii

Can we just ask people to be very, very, very careful about what they post on this thread. I don't see any problems so far but please be sure of the source of anyhting you post.

I haven't seen this kid play, I only know he exists through the Chelsea/Arsenal interest but I would agree 100% with the sentiment. It really is quite obscene to consider paying £12-15 million for an unproved 16 year-old. OK perhaps he's playing well at the moment but he is still a potential Jermaine Pennant. If I was a Saints fan I'd be furious. There should be some regulation requiring young players developed by a club to stay until they are 20/21 or so. Ridiculous.

quite probably For me it was enough to say thanks to Matt. The whole thing is a great shame, I hope he does well at Bolton but I can't see it happening. There is no way Sparky would let a player of his potential talent leave if he thought there was any chance of him returning.

5 wins and 2 draws from our last seven games, can't say I'm in any way unhappy. It wasn't a great game and one of those where we were never going to score. If we have to have one better now than in ten days time against United. Fantastic to see the applause for Matt when he came on and the little lap of goodbye at the end. Well done Matt and all the rovers who took the trouble to stay behind. The rest were just ungrateful. Sam Allardyce has a reputation for doing great things at Bolton, shoe-string budget etc. I haven't seen them play for a year but I've always doubted this growing reputation. After yesterday I'd have to conclude Allardyce does not deserve his reputation, does deserve all the stick he gets from Alan Green and should Souness leave Newcastle would be the perfect successor. Allardyce for England? Team of thugs who I'd be ashamed to support.

Delighted to see Jansen is in the Bolton squad. Really looking forward to the chance to say goodbye and thanks.......just leave the shooting boots at home Matt!

No doubt in my mind Rooney punched Savage. I didn't see the tackle and haven't see the highlights, what got me out of my seat was the sight of Rooner clearly run in and punch Savage. I've heard very little of it on here or in the press except one brief report on Five Live suggested is was a fore-arm smash tothe chest. I'm not sure if Savage and Smith should have walked but without doubt Rooney should have done. Kugi had a poor game but everyone seems to have forgotten how much his performnaces have improved in recent weeks.

I haven't bought the LET for years and nothing in that article tells me there is any reason why I should start now. What garbage.

Arsenal team tonight: M Almunia K Gilbert P Senderos J Djourou P Cygan F Ljungberg M Flamini G Silva A Hleb Q Owusu-Abeyie J Reyes Subs: M Poom, N Bendtner, A Lupoli, F Fabregas, S Larsson For the League match at Wigan Jens Lehmann Lauren Sol Campbell Kolo Toure Pascal Cygan Freddie Ljungberg Cesc Fabregas Philippe Senderos Gilberto Robert Pires Mathieu Flamini Robin Van Persie Dennis Bergkamp Thierry Henry I got to thinking about the implication the draw was fixed - I'd hazard a guess the last thing the FL want to see is a Rovers - Wigan final. Sub 50000 gate? One idea I'd like to see introduced is for clubs to name a squad for each cup competition they enter. the squad would be limited in number and teams could only be selected from that pool. The if Arsenal or Chelsea wish to use their reserve team they can, all the way to the semis and beyond. Seems to me this would even up the playing field. It's tough on Rovers to potentially have to face a full-strength United while Wigan get the Arsenal reserves.

Excellent article, the truely relevant bits are below: - The Ground The house that Jack built is still an impressive facility, and a decent place to watch football. The views are good from every seat, with only the older Walker Steel stand suffering from any obstructions. The concourses are bright and clean with television monitors showing Sky Sports and one of those handy machines that pours 6 pints at once to cut down on queuing. They have bookies, which are open (Hull and Stoke take note) and good, clean toilet facilities. There's a big screen in the corner which shows instant replays of every incident though I'm sure that's against the rules incase the referee sees he's made a massive mistake or something - anyway it's a daft rule if it does exist and well done Blackburn for ignoring it! Points lost, as always, for not having the corners filled in, but at Ewood Park it's a pretty minor complaint. Such a shame therefore that there's so little interest in the football team from the people of Blackburn. I'm not daft enough to think that a cup game with QPR is a massive draw, but Rovers have endured sub-twenty thousand crowds six times this season. Only games with Spurs and Everton have seen more than twenty two thousand people come through the gates. Ewood Park is a facility many towns and football clubs would kill for, and it was handed to them on a plate with no lasting debt like other clubs with shiny new warehouse structures have suffered. The ticket prices are affordable and the team is good to watch. To see half of the home end not even open on Saturday, and the ground not full once this season, is a terrible shame. 9/10 5 - Atmosphere Same complaints as outlined in the previous section. Just ten thousand home fans turned up for the game, and those that were there sat down, quietly and said nothing. It was surreal when Blackburn scored because there was just no reaction around us. The QPR fans sang for good long periods of the match and the atmosphere in the Darwen End was jumping at times. QPR spent some time mocking the home "support" but there was nobody there! Just rows and rows of empty seats and people sitting still. Like I say, I don't expect thousands to turn out to see them play QPR, but they're not turning out for the big games either! The people of Blackburn have a wonderful facility in Ewood Park. In addition, now Mark Hughes has had 18 months to mould the team as he wants it, the have a terrific side, packed with international, quality players. There's a good home nations base to the squad as well. After getting so much stick for their style of play under Hughes last season Rovers have really opened up this term and with players like Pederson, Bellamy, Thompson, Reid and Bentley to call on, have turned into a pacy, attacking, entertaining outfit. But there's nobody there to be entertained! People should be falling over themselves to get into Ewood Park and watch this entertaining young side go up against the best the rest of the country has to offer at great prices( half season ticket for £150, we're paying more than £200, £20 to watch them play Man Utd on Wednesday while we pay £30 to watch QPR v Southampton) and yet they're not! FA Cup semi final last season, league cup semi final this season, top half of the league - what do they have to do!? Where are the people that filled the ground when they won the league in the nineties? Shame on them. Further points lost for the eejit with the drum who must have followed us up from Crewe - surely there aren't two people in the North West who think banging incessantly on a drum for ninety minutes is appreciated by the rest of the crowd? 5/10

Poor marketing from the club IMO. I've said it many times before it is simply TOO DIFFICULT to buy a ticket to watch the Rovers. Until this is addressed the chances of crowds improving are slight.

Modi is making some good points. I had nothing to do with preparing this report other than chucking in a couple of ideas, but having seen the original draft and been at all the meetings I can probably help clarify a few things. This is not criticism of the excellent document. but observation to help those not involved understand how it has evolved. The professional writing is, as far as I am aware. entirely down to Scott and, I presume, Mark. Within the document there are several passages, especially towards the end, that have been lifted from brfcs.com or e-mails. In the first draft these cut n paste bits were highlighted in blue, some of them are not so highlighted in this draft but have been made into key points. Two prime examples of this would be items 4.4.2 and 4.4.4. Perhaps they would have benefitted from re-writing? I think they are consistent. For many the drummer is a pain in the arse, yet the atmosphere needs to improve. We need to attract children but this may lead to further dumbing down of the atmosphere. The three points are each important and part of the equation. that they are contradicatory does not mean they should be excluded. BRISA faces this dilemma in many areas. Another dilemma. What should BRISA's stand be on issues such as standing? Personally I've reached the age where I don't want to stand - and the age where I get irritated by the kids who can't sit down for 45 minutes but that's another issue! BRISA is considering involvment in campaigns such as Stand Up/ Sit Down and the FSF. Why? as a young organisation we can learn more from the organisations than we will, initially, contribute to them. We don't want to re-invent the wheel. Within BRISA there are bound to be different views and we are trying to represent all of those. As such I, personally, am happy to support an issue like standing even though I disagree with it. It's about the greater good. There will be issues such as these that all BRISA members will at some point have to take on board. Not a problem. Without objective remarks BRISA will struggle.

If like me you can't get to a TV or radio at 1.30pm here is the FA Link - LIVE CUP DRAW click near the top of the page. Rovers are number 15.

Could you stop at home?

25th January

I'm going for 2-0 on the night and 1-2 at Old Trafford, giving us a 3-2 win. Anyone checked the hotel prices in Cardiff - almost doubled for that weekend!!