The Observer and Guardian bloggers join in the Rovers' gate debate.

I think we should all back Benni. Racism is unpleasant and unnecessary and at the end of the day hurts clubs' attendances.

How come the Bolton media are all excited about this fixture and the low prices and the Blackburn media are ignoring it? There will be infiltration all over by Notlobers because of the LT not giving it the push they should have done early enough. I cannot see us winning this one. Rovers 1 Bolton 3 and Anelka finds his form.

I don't think there is the same passion about following football in France and Switzerland as you will find in the UK, Poland and the Netherlands. Marseille has a fanatical following who travel but you don't see mass movements to away games in France and Switzerland in the way you get the feeling that half the country is on the move on Saturdays in England. Anyway, a warm welcome to anyone from Basel or Nancy.

Excellent result from a very good performance. The way the Polish lads are coming on here saying how we were lucky just shows the gulf in class between Polish football and the Prem is so great that they cannot see it. From my perspective, Rovers were always in control of that game and capable of stepping up a gear which is what Hughes got the lads to do in the second half but even then we had a huge amount in reserve. The Poles had some good players (have to to be top of their league- I liked the play of their winger) but never really threatened and pressed us in the way Premiership opposition does. MGP is beginning to become a major weak link for us. When Bert floated that cross to him in acres of space inside the box (the Polish defending positioning was pretty poor all game- sure the big boys can head and tackle but any invention from Rovers and they were lost), I was certain he would score. If he cannot put those away reliably, I think it is time for Gally to get a run or go with three forwards exploiting Benny's willingness to drop deep or go wide. Benny was pretty quiet by his standards but Nonda was good. Unfortunately I didn't see anything of Roberts as the signal failed in the 70th minute but it looked like his additional strength was needed against the Wisla brutes at the back. It was a nailed on penalty when Neill got body checked in the first half by the way. Channel 5 were awful. Hodgson didn't have a clue what he was talking about- he didn't even know the names of the Rovers' players. I really got the feeling of "let's get this out of the way so the Spuds and Newcastle can provide the real games" attitude pervading the whole procedings. It is looking very good for qualification. The Basle-Feyernoord draw is great news as a win against either of them or draws against both pretty well assures us of third place. However, the Group is opening up nicely for us to go for top spot and a relatively easy draw in the third round knock out when we would get a third place team from one of the other groups with second leg at Ewood. In terms of UEFA coefficients, the wins against Salzburg and Wisla combined with the extremely strong showing by all the Premiership sides in Europe so far this season will be moving us up the rankings dramatically already if we qualify for Europe again in the coming seasons.

Re the comment that the special offers cannot afford to last, next summer the TV pot jumps by 50%+ and if John Williams does his stuff on the Premier League, there will be a shift of distribution towards the smaller clubs as well. Rovers probably can and WILL extend these cheaper ticket offers IF the Blackburn public responds. The Bolton game is a critical test. If there is a significvant upturn of home support, everyone who says price is a key issue will be proved right. If not, then why should Rovers cut the prices?

Excellent preview- who from Rovers is going to do one in Polish? If we play like we did at Liverpool, Rovers should be OK. Even so, the long awaited away win might not be here just yet. Wisla 1 Rovers 1

Ryan Nelsen amongst the current Rovers for academic achievement. Brad always comes over as a very intelligent guy.

Feeling rather disappointed. The prospect of having a load of pet hates all rolled up into one BIG CLUB package disintegrating is not altogether appealing. Would prefer Brum to gently subside rather than fall to pieces so the loathesome Bruce can be desposed of in a protracted will they fire him/won't they agony. The perfect end for anonymous non-entities.

Loftus Road before being rebuilt was something else. Open stand, zero facilities, ground a sticky bog of cloying London clay. Altogether now: "Rochdale's ground is better than this." Selhurst Park is a particular dump even though geographically it is the closest ground to our home in London after Fulham/Chelsea.

An interesting piece on how football has failed to attract a large part of 8% of the British population.

This will be an interesting one to watch. A totally realistic scenario at Christmas could be Rovers, Newcastle and Liverpool all top half, outside the first four but within a decent run of results of making a CL berth. In those circumstances, Rovers would be far better served with Lucas rotting in the reserves rather than crucially strengthening an opponent also chasing the £10m CL pot.

Well said Fife! The "what's that?" factor of the dingles in 2nd place is only surpassed by the pleasure of seeing BIG CLUB slithering down the table. Fancy the Baggies will be a good side now they have got rid of Robson. Mowbray certainly buried their away day hoodoo in style yesterday. I guess the M65 will get a bit busy when there are the Bumley v PNE play-off games.

That is bad news. I was wondering if it was very serious when everything went so quiet. All the best for a full and quick as possible recovery to Stephen Reid.

That's all credit to the Aussie guys. What I scribbled last night was whilst I was winding-down after a mamoth set of contract negotiations and 41 hours without sleep. Anyway that Liverpool game was another hugely promising game for Rovers. Liverpool are a mega-side; if they cleared off to some G14 league, you could be sure thewy would be top half of it come the end of the season- yet Rovers controlled them pretty well. Really pleasing was - Rovers' fluidity of passing and movement is coming back particularly after we had scored and controlled the remainder of the first half. One or two echoes of Spuds away at times in the controlled short passing and you cannot say higher than that. - When Liverpool upped the tempo and equalised, we upped our game and they didn't really get much of a look in for a winner which shows the mental strength as well as physical ability of ouyr side. I don't normally do this but a team analysis: Freidel is back to his commanding best, getting his angles right and working fully in tandem with his defence. Neill is a great player. OK some of his distribution and link-up was wayward but the lad is magnificent. Got to get him signed up somehow. Emerton actually had a quiet game and not as impressive as recent performances which says everything about how the rest of the team was playing if your right back is relatively anonymous at Anfield. His powerful forward runs towards the end of the game are a potent weapon for Rovers although his choice of pass at the end of them is as poor as ever. Now he's right back, that problem is not as evident. Thankfully he is a much bettter passer when he's in his own half. Zura/Ooijer are beginning to gel. Both are extremely classy centre halves. Todd will not be seen again whilst these two are not injured or suspended and even the great Nelsen will know his reintroduction to the team is no formality. Perhaps as well because the Rovers can give him a bit longer to make sure he really is the mythical 110% before playing again. Tugay had a good if unspectacular game before the Axe came on and did a thoroughly good job. The fact Toog's passing wasn't missed after the Axe was introduced just shows what a good player Aaron is developing into. Savage- what an engine. The Liverpool midfield simply couldn't settle and Gerard's anonymity was very much down to Savage completely wrecking the rhythm of the Liverpool team. Sav put in some remarkably good Tugay-like passes yesterday as well which was great to see. Bentley is just getting better and better. Shame Reina did so well with that late chance Bentley had but this lad is becoming a complete footballer. We are unlikely to see Reid on the right wing any time soon even when he is fit. MGP had his moments but is clearly the player who is struggling in the Rovers' side at present. Neill increasingly covering for MGP when last season it was MGP's athleticism which helped make Gray such an improved left back. Was pleased Hughes pulled MGP off fairly early- after a hesitant start Gally was excellent on the left wing and he, rather than Peter, is the real challenger to MGP's position. That is a huge opportunity for Gally and I hope he rises to it and takes that place off MGP. Sav fired in a couple of superb free kicks so we wouldn't miss that aspect of MGP's game apart from the curlers from the right side of the box. BENNI- what a gem!!! This lad is looking like he can become an all time hero. Phenomenal engine and work rate, clinical in front of goal and his flicks ARE now going to Rovers players. The commentators repeatedly called his play "showboating"- Rubbish, he was doing it deliberately and it was working. Thew Liverpool players didn't know what to do about him when Benni was on the ball which meant they stood off him a bit to avoid being made fools of by tricks if they got too close. Nonda perhaps had his least impressive game since his debut wich shows just how good he is. The Liverpool defence had too much for him physically but when he gets 100% that is not going to be a problem. Roberts looked great when he came on. Not only enormous physical strength but extraordinarily good control and ability to kill the ball in an instance. Finally, it comes to something whem we are purring about as ordinary a performance that Clattenberg put in. Yes Neill and Sav were fortunate late on but both their actual bookings were totally undeserved if you watch the replays. This is very very encouraging from Rovers.

Good point. After this game, there is nobody in the Prem Rovers should be apprehensive of. I'll echo the positive points about Zura and Ooijer but I thought Emo and Lucas looked off the pace, making some bad passes and wrong option selections. Some of Rovers first half play was a dream. Second half we were upping the pace and rang them ragged.

Have to say, there is a certain inevitability that the dingles will win promotion this season. Having come 7th so often, they will make the play-offs and that small squad is sufficiently tight that they'll see off all-comers in the end of season kick-about. It seems to go in cycles of one relative small team from an area making it up a level and the neighbours follow... then the dingles.

That's right- they are so backwards, they don't have medicals.

No way would Hughes be tempted. I think Hughes (and his wife) have the ability to look at the totality of the football club. Newcastle haven't failed for 50 years because they have had 50 years' worth of bad managers. It is because the club is rotten from the top and nobody can turn it into a successful club until they sell it to somebody who knows what to do with it other than ripping it off.

I can offer a few suggestions if you want.

Just seen the replay of the match. I'm still laughing at the goals but the England performance was far worse than the press reported it to be. This was Turnip Taylor all over again. At least Malta beat Hungary 2-1 and that was fun!!! The only interesting question concerning England now is when McLaren gets the sack.

Feeling confident about this one and whenever that happens against Liverpool, the result is something like Liverpool 3 Rovers 0

100% agree. There were two passes from Tugay against Salzburg which were utterly sublime and for me were the highlights of the game. I wouldn't rule out Tugay ending this season with 3 goals or more either. I expect someone is not going to close him down on the edge of the box from corners this season and will pay the penalty for it.

You don't have a positive gene in your body do you? Of course the Rovers will lose out financially compared with charging Category A but the Salzburg game showed that there might just be some price elasticity of demand. Rovers have deep enough pockets to see if they can re-stimulate it. Well done to the club's management. Boo to the grumbling curmudgeon with his stupid fixations.

Once again, it shows that the LT (LET) sports desk are a complete bunch of no-brain numpties. I think Boro said that their run to the UEFA Final netted them something like £2m last year. It will only get really interesting for Rovers if they qualify from the Group and Spuds and Newcastle flop in their's. Basel and Nancy are not going to be the greatest TV box office draws so I guess JW will just be happy to qualify from the Group stages without any red ink.