This awful opinion piece on the BBC web site says exactly how the BBC views the Premier League and Rovers' place within it.

Sure Eddie, and which Manager of the calibre Man U are likely to want is going to be happy with RFW still around. Remember what happened when Sir Matt stepped down? And the timing of RFW's retirement- his decision or the club's? That could turn nasty.

Good point 'drog. Leeds' precipitate fall in footballing terms came with out of the blue big priced sales just as it looked like they had made the big time. United are hardly going to sell Ronaldo or Rooney whilst Ferguson is still there and they are challenging for the two biggest prizes but a new guy could find himself inheriting less than he thought he was getting. The RFW retirement timing and succession is a huge huge issue for them. The guy still has his destructive/vindictive side undimmed and it could easily turn nasty. Hughesy, what you say is true .. to a point. The Glazers have probably already mortgaged the brand and its potential for more than they would be able to in the current financial climate and possibly for more than can be squeezed out of it within the timescale of their loan deals.

United's Finanancial results published. £58m loss, total creditors £764m, borrowings up to £666m, debt charges £81m of which £42m was paid and the rest put into increased borrowings. When you are posting numbers this bad, the chances are that all the judgement calls every business makes in making provisions etc. will have been taken by United to make the numbers look as good as they can be reducing room for manoeuvre in the future. They are probably going to be OK- just. However, as £92m income through gates receipts remains the largest single item in their turnover, the Glazers remain heavilly dependent on Mancs paying higher prices which have yet to be charged and media/marketing deals which have yet to be struck. United also owe £56m in transfer fees not yet paid and it remains to be seen whether the rest of the football world will continue to lend to United so that United can beat them on the football field. The biggest risk on the horizon has to be the transition to the post-Ferguson era. A dip in performance for just one season on the field (such as finishing 5th and not having a good CL campaign) is going to make this financial high wire balancing act precarious.

From what I've read, Pezzoni's innate lack of speed of action was something no end of coaching/training was going to resolve drawing the conclusion he couldn't make it in the Prem. So the club facilitated getting a good home for his career to develop elsewhere whilst he still has the cachet of that German u-21 appearance. Even informed people who are uncomfortable with what is happening at the Academy concurred with this decision. With Keita, a good offer came at a time when there was no certainty he would make it and the player was obviously very interested by Hamburg but I don't know if there is the same belief it was such a correct decision- more a balance of probabilities.

Brad praises Hughes and the club's transfer successes.

Scientific article

ITV's bias against the Rovers at least has the preceived commercial aspect of getting comatose bums in front of TVs watching adverts. The BBC MoTD bias is simply a disgraceful abuse of license payers' money as the arrogant smug replies to the complaints show. In the past you'd get a "we are sorry you feel that way and we will see if we can schedule more time in future" reply. Now the reply from the BBC reads "I am powerful and a know-all arse and you are nothing."

Just to up the temperature a bit more, here is Kevin Pezzoni scoring for Cologne as they press for promotion to the Bundesliga. I guess he proves both sides right- he is undoubtedly a talent but given the way he turns, he would have been disposessed before he got to 90 degrees round in his pirouette if he tried that in the EPL, never mind having time to get an unclosed down lob/shot away. I understand the Rovers received transfer fees and have sell-on clauses for both Pezzoni and Keitel.

The Match of the Day running order is in, though be warned - it is subject to change: Man Utd v West Ham Fulham v Birmingham City Reading v Tottenham Bolton v Sunderland Middlesbrough v Portsmouth Aston Villa v Wigan Blackburn v Derby What a surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is a very prescient comment. It has been a roller coaster ride for Rob Kelly since leaving as well.

That's interesting but I am sure I saw him sitting at the back of the stand just after Liverpool scored- bit difficult to tell as the picture was made fuzzy by the falling rain reflecting the stadium lights.

Forbes have attempted to put a value on football clubs. This is for the 2006/7 season and shows Man U as number 1. Of course in 2007/8, the new media deal kicks in which will have boosted the English clubs at the bottom of the top 25 list by around 30% and those at the top by 20%+. Interestingly the Rovers' 2007/8 turnover will be comparable with what Everton and Villa's was in 2006/7 which placed them at 21st and 24th respectively. Those two clubs have an enterptrise value of around £100m each according to Forbes which points to a very good deal all round when Randy Lerner bought Villa. It also indicates that the £150m all up spent by Mike Ashley for Newcastle was correct. It shows the indebtedness of Liverpool and Man U very starkly- the cost of having their new American owners- and the extent to which Valencia are in deepest trouble. Dortmund of course had a very rough time not long ago and are still heavily in debt. On the other hand, if reports are correct, the new owners at Newcastle and Man City have wiped out the debts shown here. The countries of origin of the 25 richest clubs are: England 10 Germany 5 Italy 4 Spain 3 (including the technically bankrupt Valencia) France 2 Scotland 1 In 2007/8, Celtic and Marseille would probably drop out to be replaced by two more English clubs- quite possibly Sunderland and Portsmouth, whilst the big 4 will move closer to occupying all the top 4 slots. If Rovers had been finishing a couple of places higher and won the FA Cup this season, we would be getting very close to that top 25.

Good point jbn. Incidentally Sunderland got away lightly with that list- some of rover6's pet loves from the Cocal Cola League cost £5m a pop and Kenwyne Jones apart have been very poor.

If only he had gone to Spurs when they came in for him instead of pricing himself out of that move, Souness would have been a Rovers legend and all those horrors of his last two years would not have happened.

rover6, the Axe can and does do a job. Treacy is a player I have not seen and like all the players pushing for Prem places (olsson and Peter immediately come to mind) has been unavailable at precisely the moment the opportunity would have been available (red cards and injuries). Treacy was crap when the whole team was crap against Coventry. I have laid Saturday against Hughes- cardinal rule is you don't make substitutions when defending dangerous set pieces. Nelsen saying he didn't have chance to organise the defense is tantamount to criticism of the substitution and you can be sure that Queeroz and RFW will have coached their lot to whip it in fast immediately the opposition has just subbed. The camera at the Nuttall Street/Darwen End corner shows Axe arriving in the box from the bench and look around for his man as Scholes is back heading it to Tevez. Axe is not to blame for that unless he had been specifically told to get on the little ginger one from the corner.

The Setanta stats had us shading first half attempts on goal 6-5. Shots on target were 3-1 in Rovers' favour.

Garth Crooks bias against the Rovers knows no limits: "team of the week".

No- it was rubbish before and is still rubbish now. Sorry and all that but there is no such thing as a least demanding position when you are playing Premiership football, least of all when facing Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez, Scholes, Carrick et al. What yesterday did show is that Emerton besides being a supreme athlete is also developing a cracking good footballer's brain and that he can use his pace and close control inside as well as outside. It also showed the value of Vogel's experience and ability in that Emerton was able to play alongside him like they had been playing together all season.

and move the ANC into 2009!

Being reported today that Curbishley has been ordered to clear West Ham of players on excessive wages so Lucash and Ljungberg are to be sold. Presumably Upson and maybe Bellamy will also be out of the door if they can ever get them fit.

Its been a "cool" spring so far then, bang- today is by 2 degrees C the hottest April day since Maltese records began. 31.3C (that's 88F) in the village I am working in an hour ago. Tomorrow is going to be a more normal 22C (that's 72F).

Bang up-to-date all time Prem table from Statto I was looking for something else!

Thank you bish. Another thing to bear in mind is that as we move towards 2010, the world's press will increasingly beat a path to the door of the host's captain and record number of caps holder. He will become a one man publicity machine for whichever club employs him.

I'm not spinning- we've established on another thread that £26m in January was spent on three decent players (Anelka, Defoe and Diarra) and another £120m blown on over-priced non-impact players in the Prem. Given that an extra year in the Prem is worth £30m, I would think all three clubs coming up this season will need Mokoena-type players; solid no-nonsense defensive midfielders. Rovers won't want to sell so I guess it would take £2m-ish to prise him away. Value is what people are willing to pay- look at Derby, Fulham and Sunderland getting through £70m between them this season on below average Prem players who ought not to be holding down regular places but because they bought nothing else, they are doing. I know many don't hold the Axe in high regard but the lad does a job at Premiership level and a very good job if you play 4-5-1. And for Rovers, it worked- we are still in the Premiership. Something the promoted clubs this summer will be desperately working out how they can manage to achieve whilst "only" spending £10m to £20m on transfers. Anyway, thankfully Rovers have now an altogether different quality of beast in Johann Vogel. I just hope the fans are patient with him- he might well have some Ooijer-like early horror performances before he adjusts to the Premiership.