Bit of an error there dillo_dillo. You've put "I" instead of "He". (cheap shot number 768 in a never ending series)

Pleasure: - n1 : a pleasure rumour: - a half truth, probably overhead coming from an inebriated shaun wright-philips in a night club at 3.30 a.m. extremely unlikely to occur in the time scales stated, if ever.

Agreed. Reidy needs to work on getting a massive comb over between now and the start of next season. It makes sense (on every level) and he'll look bloody good.

But my mate who i go with forgot to do on early bird so called a couple of days later to be told he cant renew until prices set..so now he's not bothering, if he's honest he just can't be arsed but Rovers have pulled out all the stops to find him the excuse he was looking and made it easier for him to stop going.

This may have been posted elsewhere. According to TalkSport this morning Ballack is on £130K per week. AFTER TAX. So that's £200K a week. I don't know what he sees in the place to be honest.

No thanks Colin, the thing I do on here is great - gives me a whole month to get it together. I'd struggle with the deadlines. Well done LD - your Tuesday column was about the only thing worth reading about the Rovers in the LET. Happy retirement!

I was going to sit down with den at the end of the season but after messing him around for a bit I'm going to hold on until after the World Cup and keep my options option. If I'm honest I'm hoping for a multi-million pound deal from www.rovers.co.uk but if that doesn't happen (mainly because Grooby's a bit tight) I've always got brfcs.com to fall back on.

Good post AMU. Looking back I think you're right to an extent. If my memory serves me right Jack's involvement came about when we got Bobby Mimms in, which he did on the quiet before January, that was followed up towards the end of the season with the signings of Tony Dobson and Steve Livingston from Coventry who were instrumental in keeping us up. I think those two cost about £750,000 ?? So although pulses weren't exactly racing at this point we'd spent more in the last 6 months than in about 20 years. Don McKay went and then the master stroke. Kenny Dalglish and Ray Harford were taking over. It was announced on the radio on the morning of our home match against Plymouth Argyle (which we won 5-2 I think (ironically, see elsewhere in this forum)). There was an air of expectation as to who we would get, we'd bid for Gary Lineker in the summer and even Frank Sidebottom was making jokes about that, so we needed a high profile manager. No one could have predicted that we'd get Dalglish though. It really was unbelievable. They weren't laughing quite as loud now. (Correct me if 'm wrong on any of these points people, it's been a few years)

No, I'm going to give that a miss and wait until next season for all things Rovers.

May. The End Game. “Never cast a clout until May is out” they reckon. Which apparently means; don’t go out without a coat until after May because of the unpredictable weather. I jut used to presume that you were more likely to get a punch in the face on June 1st. Anyway, the next eight days would decide our season. Will we be off to Europe next year? Will it be via the InterTonto? Will I get to a game (or two)? More importantly can we win another game in Europe? And even more importantly than that, after April, can we win another game this season? Saturday 29 April - The race for 6th: - PLD PTS GD 6th Rovers 35 54 +4 7th Newcastle 36 54 +4 8th Bolton 35 52 +8 9th Wigan 36 51 -4 Charlton Athletic 0 - Blackburn Rovers 2. OK, we’ve had a good season. We’re a hard team to face but we are beatable. Alan Curbishley resigned just before the kick off. That’s how far we’ve come this season. I don’t remember any managers resigning in 1994/95 when they had to play us. Managers, established Premier League Managers at that, retire rather than have to face us. It’s all credit to Mark Hughes in my book. Before the kick off we were all thinking, “Oh great he’s resigned this’ll be one last effort for the man”, then afterwards some of us were saying “We won only ‘cause he’d resigned and they were shell shocked”. Well make your bloody minds up will you? In truth Charlton’s form had been awful for the last few games and they had several players missing. Half man / half gonk, Tugay returned and made a massive difference in our midfield, we ran the show. Steven Reid opened the scoring with a header on 42 minutes and then the Welsh Weasel forced a second when Chris Powell put through his own net from 70 yards. Great stuff from Rovers in testing / easy circumstances. 6th spot was definitely on. Elsewhere, the football world is left reeling as founder members of the G14 and the English equivalent of Real Madrid are relegated. How was this allowed to happen? I for one feel cheated and the Premiership will not be the same next year without the weekly (or should that be weakly?) comments from “Big Clubs” many spokespeople. If it’s not Gold it’s Brady, if it’s not Brady it’s Sullivan, if it’s not Sullivan, it’s Elephant Man. A veritable conveyor belt of unpleasant and annoying people. Good riddance. Do us all a favour, don’t rush back. Tuesday 2 May - The revenge of the sixth: - 6th Rovers 36 57 +6 7th Newcastle 37 55 +4 8th Bolton 36 52 +7 Blackburn Rovers 1 - Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea 0. Well, what can you say? Well for my point of view not a lot that hasn’t already been said on brfcs.com. One of the greatest nights at Ewood for ages, with scenes reminiscent of VE Day (who can forget the celebrations all those years ago when we went two nil up against the Germans in 1945?) Steven Reid netted his second goal in as many games when he breathed heavily on a Robbie Savage free kick just before half time. Apart from some of the Chelsea players falling over clumsily in the second half in a pathetic attempt to win a penalty that was all that was needed to see off the most expensively assembled array of footballers English football has ever seen. Events took a bizarre twist after the match as Jose Mourinho, who must have still been drunk from celebrating their premier title win at the weekend, actually gave us some praise. It just didn’t feel right. What else happened that week? Well the Welsh Weasel was named ‘Player of the Season’ and Steven Reid’s goal away at Wigan was named ‘Goal of the Season’. Quite right too in my book. There were other awards such as the ‘Quickest Booking’ of the season, ‘Stupidest Haircut’ of the season and the ‘Least Appearances from an Italian Centre Half on at least £1 Million a Season’ of the season award, but I don’t think you’re bothered about those. Meanwhile, Mark Hughes and all his back room team (Eddie and Jim) all signed new contracts that will keep them at Rovers until the summer of 2009!! Great news! Is there a clause though? Again no one has a clue. Perhaps we could have a pointless debate? Sunday 7 May - The race for sixth: - 5th Arsenal 37 64 +35 6th Rovers 37 60 +7 7th Newcastle 37 55 +4 Looking at the table going into the final game of the season most of us had quite frankly become a little complacent about qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Not me. Oh no. As we’re all aware, and many like to constantly remind us, you can take nothing for granted in football and Rovers always make things difficult for themselves, always do things the hard way and ultimately let us down (Let's face it, apart from the two cup wins, two promotions and the Champions of England thing it’s almost certainly been one let down after another over the last twenty years). So going into the Manchester City game I was surprised the vast majority of fans thought we’d already done it. I was extremely nervous and was just waiting for the 22 player fight, the pitch invasion or an unsavoury “incident” involving Roarina and Ken Beamish that would see us have 10 points deducted by the FA. Hey! But what do I know? None of us those things happened! We’d done it and qualified for Europe again! We rounded things off with a comfortable win. Johnny Slippers with the first after "England’s Number 1", (if I wasn’t English that would be really funny, stay fit Robinson) David James dropped a cross at his feet. He couldn’t miss and didn’t. Then in the second half big Shefki doubled our lead with his eighth goal of the season, not a bad return. You’ve just got to like the fella. Conscious that we’re in danger of not topping the “Bully Boy League” Tugay decided to get himself sent off with a poor challenge that the City player completely over reacted too, rolling around on the floor like a big girly rolling thing. Regardless, Hughes should now walk away with the May Manager of The Month Award. The players wore next season’s home shirts and as many experts predicted we’re going to wear Blue and White halves again. A good decision in my view. Some crucial questions; Are they halved or are they quartered? And perhaps more importantly will there be a DVD? Do they do DVD’s? Will they start doing mini kits in the “club” shop again? Will they ever know when they’re getting new stock in? Will I get conformation or a “thank you” for renewing my season ticket? When’s the new home shirt out? When’s the away shirt out? Where’s Todd? When does mega flop Sealdinho’s contract run out? Does anyone know what I’m on about? Elsewhere on this day the original “big club” Tottenham Hotspurts, missed out on 4th place and qualification for the Champions League because they came down with the ten bob bits. I’ll just get my violin out again. Well, what a season that was. All credit to all the players and staff. A phenomenal performance. Can we do as well next year? Well “hopefully” is the ultimate answer. Of course it’ll be harder and the squad will be put under even more pressure due to the amount of games we’ll have to play (they’ll be two in Europe don’t forget). Who knows what will happen? If Boro can get to the UEFA Cup Final and get beat 4-0 then why not us? Let’s not forget on our day we’re more than capable of getting beat by anybody. Can we break through into the Top 4 in the Premier League? I don’t know, we’ve come a very long way in a very short space of time, let’s just celebrate that. Hopefully Hughesy will be able to add to his squad as he’d like and take us to the next level. I know one thing though, if we score as many great goals and win as many games as in 2005/06 then we’ll be very happy fans. I just hope more people get down to the games and back the club. So that’s it. No more football until middle / late July when Rovers will no doubt start their pre season friendlies. It’s a long time to go without. However ‘cause I’m good to you guys I’ve been looking on tinterweb and discovered that the following games are on!! The FA Cup Final - tomorrow, Liverpool v West Ham (I’ve got 1600 spares tickets if anyone’s interested) The Champions League Final - Arsenal v Barcelona May 17, England 'B' v Belarus Thurs 25 May, England v Hungary Tues 30 May and England v Jamaica Sat 3 June. Not only that, and hardly anyone’s mentioned it, but there’s also something on called the '2006 FIFA World Cup'. It's on in Germany and apparently there’s 64 matches on TV between June 9th and July 9th. Other than that though there’s almost no football on whatsoever. Something should be done. It’s a national scandal. I’m not sure whose to blame so I’ll blame Sven Goran Eriksson. That’s yer lot for this season sportsfans. Have a great summer, keep taking the tablets.

They're scared of Lee, that's why the sheep hired the bull to keep him out. You can often hear him in these parts frollicking in the fields at night. I thought it was the squirrels at first. Most unpleasant. Really great pictures dillo. Reminded me of what someone said about HD TV recently, "it's clearer than real life!".

I know nothing about that, although there might or might not be a release clause in his new contract, I'm certain of that.

Yes. One more to follow though. I'm calling it "May".

Except this time all she's done is made herself look rather silly. Rocco Forte is the name that the Europeans use for their motorway service stations and the Orient Express is actually a train. And not a very good one at that (I seem to remember someone was murdered once). Jan, you'd be better off just flying to wherever it is we'll be playing rather than driving or using the trains. It'll be quicker and give you more time to get roaring drunk. You can then stop in a local doss house at 2 Euros a night 'cause as we all know when you're really drunk all you actually need is a mattress and a blanket. More top travel tips to follow soon.

"If somone talks about my private life I'll give them a good punching. I'm not interested in suing. I like to sort things out my way." Big Phil once said according to the Daily Express. Seems the perfect choice for the job then.

“Hey honey what you trying to say, As I stand here, Don’t you walk away, And the world comes tumbling down” – so sang Jim Reid of top indie pop combo The Jesus and Mary Chain many moons ago in the song “April Skies”. And it’s totally irrelevant. Apart from it has the word April in the title. So that’ll do for me. It’s not been the best of months though has it? I’m doing this now before the Charlton match for a couple of reasons: I’ll have more to say in May and defeat on Saturday would be too depressing to write about. So gird your loins and let's head to the start of the month…. Monday 3 April – Rovers 1 Wigan Athletic 1 – The chase for the champions league spot is now in full swing, no doubt scouts from the likes of Barcelona and Juventus will be tuning in to see what they might have to face next season. Skefki Kuqi. The big fella scored in the 84th minute to salvage a point for us in this one. You can knock him all you like, probably best to use a bulldozer, but you’ve got to admit he’s got some very important goals for us. In fact I’ve just worked it out, using the power of sums, his goals have earnt us 10 points this season. A great return for someone with the first touch of a wheelbarrow. Paul Jewell, the cheeky chirpy Scouser that he is, accused the referee of being a bit rubbish. Just because Lucas “Lion of Sydney” Neill was pushed into their Spanish keeper, Juan-Feelan, who dropped the ball he feels his team was hard done to. Well unlucky pal! What about the goal we should have in the 2nd half when Bellamy was clearly brought down when through on goal? Or when Pedersen scored but the game was stopped as Dickov was adjudged to have put Juan-Feelan off with one of his hard stares? In truth, looking back, on reflection, at the end of the day Brian, a draw was about right. We didn’t play well, they didn’t let us. Oh by the way MGP showed exactly why I think he’ll be a Rovers player next season, he just didn’t fancy it. Thursday 6 April – Fresh from their “Let’s get behind Accy Stanley for promotion” campaign, launched when Stanley were walking away with the league, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph launches a “Let’s get behind Blackburn Rovers” initiative in an attempt to increase attendances….. with three homes games to go. This’ll be followed up in October with a “Win tickets to the World Cup Final” and the inevitable “Help beat the drought” campaigns. Saturday 8 April – Portsmouth 2 – Rovers 2. Two fantastic goals from Bellamy in this one. What can you say about Craig Bellamy? Well other than he scored two fantastic goals in this one you can also say that he’s rather good. I’d even go as far as saying he’s the best forward we’ve had since Alan Shearer. Let’s just pray he’s here next season. Unfortunately we were up against a resurgent Pompey. They scored through Louie Louie and Toddisoff. They look favorites to stay up to me in this form, they did us a favour and drew with Arsenal four days later an all. On the journey back Rovers were hit by lightning. If only Bellamy was flying the plane, they’d have been too quick for it. Apparently the pilot saw some clouds, said they’d be some turbulence and to let him do the worrying. He then weighed the situation up and decided to head straight for the cloud bank instead of driving round it like what I’d have done. It’s so obvious, and it makes you wonder how people get these jobs. What else does he do? Does he stand under trees on golf courses with his umbrella up when there’s a storm? When changing a bulb does he stick his tongue in the light socket to check if he’s turned the power off? Does he have a season ticket for turf moor? Monday 10 April – Rovers sign Zurab Khizanishvili (or Johnny Slippers as I call him, there’s something not quite right about a centre half wearing white boots) from Rangers for an undisclosed fee. I can exclusively reveal though that we got him for free. Rangers felt a bit guilty about the Amourso and Ferguson thing and didn’t have the front to ask for any money. Then again we got Tugay and he signed a new contract that’ll keep him at Ewood until the end of next season, so maybe things have evened themselves out? Nah. Saturday, no sorry, Sunday. Or was it Saturday? Who knows, it’s all very confusing. Anyway, round about the middle of the month we played Liverpool at home. The LET campaign is clearly working as Liverpool sold out the entire Darwen End and we enjoy one of our biggest gates of the season. Blackburn Rovers 0 Liverpool 1. Robbie Fowler scored the only goal of the game. Cisse was so far offside he was spotted in the concourse of the Blackburn End buying a pie. A dreadful decision by the officials as it went against us but the problem surely is that the rule is open to interpretation. Does anyone think that had it been us on the attack, and say for example Bentley was stood in an offside position, then it wouldn’t have been a free kick? Of course it would, the linesman would have had his arm up quicker than Cisse changes his hair style. More depressing news was to follow though I’m afraid. Wednesday 19 April. Big Club 2 Blackburn Rovers 1. Mucky Butt and Fossil with the goals for one of the biggest clubs in Europe, this result briefly got them out of the bottom three. Ex Big Club player and still a favourite with the locals, Roberto de Savage scored our goal, an equalizer on 78mins. It came from a parried shot, which was taken with a complete lack of a sense of humour, but very efficiently, from our German substitute Sergio Peter. Andy Todd spat his dummy out, something that he seems to make a habit of round about this time of year, by throwing the captains arm band to the floor on being substituted for the defensively inept Aaron Mokeona. He nearly gave a penalty away, he’s a liability I’m afraid and should only play in that defensive midfield role. Hey! But what do I know? Mark Hughes was last spotted on the M65 looking for some wheels that have fallen off. Still it’s not all bad news, no game now until Saturday 29 April. Thursday 20 April. 6.50pm. I get a phone call from Mark Hughes. “Here we go” I thought, he’s going to give me some grief about something I’ve said on the website, but no. He starts telling me about the early bird season ticket renewal scheme. I tried to stop him and explain that I’ve already renewed but what does he do? He just talks all over me, extremely rude, he just didn’t listen. Of course I appreciate his efforts and taking the time to give me a call but in the end I just put the phone down on him. I wonder if this is how he does his team talks? Brian Kidd would have listened. And lit a candle. Friday 21 April. Further revelations are er, revealed, about the Brum match. Despite nearly everyone connected with Birmingham City slagging Robbie Savage off in the press for the last 16 months to anyone who’d listen, and there are many, David Gold insists that he is now over that episode and wishes Savage could put it behind him. What a nice fella eh? During the warm up for the big match with the Big Club and with all Big Club’s fans booing his every move, Robbie turns down the kind offer to shake Gold’s hand. Bizarrely Gold can’t understand why. Monday 24 April. BRFCS.com member, half man / half duck, Yorkshire exile and Rovers addict Jordan (clearly no relation to the blow up doll of the same name) wins the prestigious title of Rovers fan of the year. Jordan has been to the last 259 consecutive games. Seeing how he lives in Harrogate that makes them all away games in my book! Well done that man! Tuesday 25 April. The debate about whether or not Craig Bellamy has a release clause in his contract reaches new heights and spins out of control. Does he or doesn’t he? No one knows. It’s exciting stuff. The LET ran an exclusive interview with the jet heeled Welsh weasel earlier in the season where Bellamy confirmed that he doesn’t, since then ‘award winning’ sports reporter Andy Neild has forgotten that he carried out this interview and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph now report that such a thing may well exist. Earlier this year they also point out, among other things, just how expensive it is to go to football these days, how much better it is to be a "Sports" fan in the USA, and isn’t it obscene just how much money the players earn these days. All of which were reasonably interesting articles, but presumably did not form part of their campaign to increase attendances at Ewood Park. With friends like these… So we’re back to where we started, no not the Jesus and Mary Chain, Charlton away. So come on lads! Get back to what you’re good at. Two more wins and this’ll be a remarkable season. European qualification would exceed all expectations. I mentioned earlier that defeat at Charlton would be unthinkable. Maybe, maybe not. On their day our team can beat anyone in this league, especially a hung over Chelsea. It’s in our hands. Two home games to come of a great season, raise the roof, VE Day atmosphere, be the 12th man, roar us into Europe, etc etc You get the picture. Come on Rovers!

Sorry, I'm pretty sure it was Amo as well.

Good work Atomic! I reckon they'll be goals in this one and plenty of them in a high scoring game with plenty of goals. 4-3 to us. All our goals scored at the BBE. Altogether now "You can stick your femoral artery, stick your femoral artery, stick your femoral artery up your arse...! .....Sideaways!!"

Trevor Brooking. Scored the winning goal in the FA Cup Final in 1980. As did Alan Sunderland (79) and Ricky Villa (81). Trevor once scored a goal at Wembley that got stuck in the stanchion.

Brooking. With his head, he didn't get many with his head.

in South Africa.

Garth Crooks. Unwatchable. In fact I'd go as far as saying he's the most annoying man on television. The smug ######.

No more games in March, so here goes.... March. “Mad March”. “As Mad As A March Hare”. “Marching All Together” as they say in Leeds (to worry sheep). “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” apparently. “Beware the ides of March!” -Which is Shakespearean for “Watch yersel on March the 15th lad”. Fortunately we’ve no game on that date, so we should be OK. See you learn something by reading this rubbish every month. It’s not just about the cold hard facts and what happened with the Rovers. Thursday 2 March - Ryan Nelsen was warned about his future behaviour following a charge from the FA of improper conduct, after the home defeat to Everton on December 03 2005. In case you’ve forgotten, and I’m presuming that the FA must make notes, Nelsen stated that referee Mark Halsey has a history of sending Rovers players off. A heinous crime. Fortunately Nelsen has since learnt his lesson and has promised to never tell the truth again. Actually, more to the point, to never tell the truth in ear shot of the FA. Sunday 5 March – Tottingham Hotspurs 3 – Blackburn Rovers 2. What a cracking game. I seem to be saying that sort of thing quite a lot in this review lark. Some of the best football I’ve seen for a long, long time from a Blackburn Rovers side. At one point in a ten minute period we had 84% possession. Which, as we’re all aware, counts for nowt if you don’t win. Robbie Keane scored twice, he punched one in but took the other well after the linesman suffered temporary blindness when awarding Spurs a throw. Pongolle scored a cracking diving header from a Bellamy cross to get us back in it just before half time, making amends for missing an absolute sitter earlier in the game when his legs stopped working. Roles were reversed with our equaliser, Pongolle cutting back for Bellamy who scored with a splendid finish. And that’s how it ended. Oh yeah, apart from Mido scored and Stalteri handled in the box in the last minute, but to no-ones surprise, he got away with it. We drop to 6th. Clearly not the best day at the office for the officials and all credit to Mark Hughes in his post match interview, he kept his cool brilliantly. Here’s a manager who will not be falling out with the men in black / yellow / green / purple as a result of comments made in the heat of the moment. These guys hold grudges and nobody can tell me otherwise, they’re like little egotistic, bad-tempered, power mad chameleons. We’ve had a bit of bad luck in a couple of games this season, maybe we’re due a little more good luck? Still despite the result I was already looking forward to our next game against Villa. Wednesday 9 March. Roberto de Savage (copyright Stuart Hall) and alleged homosexual / confirmed ex-burnley footballer (the only dingle in the village?) Leighton James, have a bit of a do live on top Welsh radio station, Abergavenny FM. James insists that his close “friend”, Wales Manager John Toshack, has never had an apology from Savage after he decided to drop him from his squad, which is mainly comprised of Championship, League One and League Two players, an ex-character from Sky One’s Dreamteam and Giggsy Wiggsy. Never had an apology?!? Is he kidding? Apparently “Tosh” doesn’t have a mobile phone says James - "Why should he?" Neither, it would appear, does he have a television or a radio. Nor does he ever buy a newspaper. Savage needs to write an apology to Toshack, advises Leighton. A bit of a gamble that Robbie, he’s probably boarded up his postbox an all. Unfortunately for the Welsh FA, it would appear that they’ve appointed Howard Hughes rather than the next Mark Hughes. Saturday 11 March. Blackburn Rovers 2 – Aston Villa 0. Todd and Bellamy with the goals, both screamers, especially Todd’s, he’ll not hit one that cleanly again for a while. The result just goes to show what a funny old game it really is *shakes head and chuckles to himself*. We played badly and won, the previous week we played brilliantly and lost. So there was a big debate about what would you rather have? Play well and lose or play badly and win. To me it’s blindingly obvious that Mark Hughes tells the players to go out and play like Brazil in the 1970 World Cup. Unfortunately that’s not always possible. In fact it’s never been possible. Mainly because of the opposition’s childish tactics that prevent us from expressing ourselves. One day though you just never know. Wednesday 15 March. Following his presumed exit from Newcastle United, ex-Rovers coach and the Overlord of All Evil™, Dean Saunders is spotted in Iran with a hung-over Alan Murray, assisting with the development of nuclear weapons. Thursday 16 March. The Liverpool match is moved for the second time. Liverpool announced this on their own web site before Blackburn Rovers did, as though they made the decision. In my opinion we did the right thing. It was just the way it was it was orchestrated that was a bit off…. Rick Parry: “Hello John? Hi! It’s Rick.” John Williams: *silence* RP: “It’s Rick Parry!....” JW: *silence* RP: “Rick Parry from Liverpool?.....” JW: *oh sh1t* RP: “Rick Parry from Liverpool Football Club?...... “ JW: *Here we go, what does he want now?* - “… Oh it’s Rick! Hi Rick, how are you?” RW: “You with me now! Yeah I’m great thanks. You? Yeah, whatever. Anyway right I’ll get straight down to my business. Listen John, would you mind if we pi**ed you about a bit more? We’re going to have to move your home match again. Yes I know we said that 5.15 on the Saturday was fine but that was a couple of weeks ago and we’re out of Europe now so our schedule isn’t so bad. Look, I know it’s short notice so it’s OK if you can’t move it, you’ll just look totally compassionless to the rest of the country. It’s not as though you need any good PR is it la?” Anyway, moving on. Saturday 18 March: Blackburn Rovers 3 Steve McClaren’s Middlesbrough 2. The ground was that empty at 3.00 I thought they’d started laying on free ale at the Hordens an all. But no, it was just the turnstiles breaking down at 2.50. It made me wonder under what circumstances Rovers would actually consider delaying the kick off, surely 10 minutes wouldn’t have mattered? Another home win. It’s almost getting predictable. A great battling performance. Bellamy opened the scoring at 9/2 with a neat bit of his typical weaseldry in their box and he curled a sublime finish low into the bottom corner past a static Mark Schwarzer. Viduka equalised after some Birmingham-City-esque defending on our part only for Pedersen to curl a sublime free kick from an acute angle into the bottom corner past a static Mark Schwarzer. Savage was then sent off for committing two bookable offences. The first saw him tackle someone and win the ball and the second was when a Boro player drove the ball at his hand from five yards. The referee clearly had no option but to ignore any semblance of common sense and send him off. Therefore becoming the first referee to send Robbie off in domestic football. That’s something to bore his grandchildren with. Rickenbacker equalised and it looked like there would only be one winner. Then the Welsh Weasel scored a fantastic third for us. Cutting in from the right he unleashed a swerving, bending, bullet of a dipper (it seemed to move a bit in the air before straightening out and then dipping again and bending, with a slight suspicion of swerve) with his right foot into the right hand corner of Mark Schwazer’s goal. Instead of diving he’d have been better off just being static. A fantastic result for us and the first time we’d won with 10 men since 1932. We stay 6th. Tuesday 21 March – Liverpool fans notice that Steve Bruce has a rather large head during their 7-0 win away win at Big Club in the FA Cup. However it’s worth pointing out that he is not an animal. He’s a human being. Saturday 25 March. It’s all aboard Gav’s European Bus of Culture for a couple of light ales and we’re off to Sunderland. Slumberland 0 Blackburn Rovers 1. They’re really not very good. We’re better. We got the goal and then did just enough to hang on. A bit too confident? Possibly. I’d have felt happier with a 2-0 lead. Still it was yet another three points thank to Steven Reid’s amazing goal. Like a taller, skinnier, Irish Cockney Diego Maradona, with no hair, he collected the ball in his own half and simply tore through the Sunderland midfield and defence as though they weren’t there (…actually, thinking about it….) before unleashing an unstoppable strike into the centre of the goal which forced their keeper to dive out of the way. We move up to fifth, Arsenal didn’t play. That’s the end of the month. A month where we’ve won another three games and played Spurs off the park - but lost. A month that, in terms of points won, confirms us as the best team in the Premier League in 2006 (although ManU can equal that this evening). So the next time someone says to you that they aren’t going to Ewood Park and reels off some excuse for not going (you’ve heard them all before - it’s almost become fashionable to think up new ones) then just tell them it’s their loss. What lies ahead? Well we can make fourth spot. It’s a tall order but as I mentioned at the end of February: “The players are showing a real belief and a desire to win that we haven’t seen for a few years. Maybe we can do it? Maybe this is our time?” Hopefully we’ll still be in with a shout of fourth at the end of April, although just getting into Europe would be a massive achievement. This season is drawing to a close faster than any other I can remember for a long, long time. I don't want it to end! Whatever happens from hereon in Rovers have taken great strides forward. Long may it continue. Thank you Mark Hughes.

Can I change my vote to Big Sam? Grooby clearly isn't ready for this, he thinks it's all a big joke.