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.

Risk to football's betting sponsorship. Went into Bet24's web site and whilst the poker was priced and promoted in $, it focussed on a trip to Barcelona. Bet24 seems to have a heavy European bias- even the basketball betting focussed on the European leagues. Not an expert on online gambling but is Spud's Mansion deal at risk from the US clamp down?

Perfect match to introduce the red and black halves. Even last year's black front, white back monstrosity won't work either. Anyone got the old yellow kit they can lend to the club?

Krakow is one of the most beautiful towns in Europe but the fans have a bit of a nasty reputation. Feyernoord fans are nasty full stop. On footballing terms, just as well we are not travelling to Nancy (played 4, won 4 at home). We can and should win this Group with those fixtures.

So Norwich don't get involved with transfers then? Wrong riposte

Has that been drawn or are you guessing?

Still completely wrong 'drog. Never mind, institutionalised bungs and Lancashire United all add to the entertainment on brfcs.com. The Stevens Report/investigation whilst a damp squib in PR terms will undoubtedly force clubs, agents and the FA to be extremely careful and is probably having a clean-up effect beyond the appointment of additional compliance officers at the FA. 39 suspect dealings being further investigated are sufficient to keep every Prem and ex-Prem boardroom excepting the three newly promoted clubs very nervous. I for one hope the identities are not leaked although the Quest team's activities and direction of questions in the coming 8 weeks will alert insiders to what they are chasing. The longer the period of anxious suspense, the greater the chances of someone cracking and changes oif behaviour becoming embedded.

The rankings are based on country co-efficient plus the club's own performance over the past five seasons. So Rovers' non-winning pops in recent seasons have gained them enough points to be able to laugh at Spuds in pot 5 for whom Europe is a 21st century novelty. For non-english clubs in the top three pots there is a minimum 25% chance of getting an EPL club out of the bottom two pots which is a bit of a nightmare proposition. At least there are no Italian or Spanish clubs lurking in pot 5 to bite Rovers in the derriere. Still it means that Rovers are theoretically seeded to get knocked out and will need to produce something special to get through. Four possible permutations to chew on for the draw: "Thank the Gods- we've got a great chance to come top of this one": Leverkusen, Brugge, Krakow, Rovers, Mlada "Couldn't be much tougher and not box office either": Sevilla, Alkmaar, Rapid, Rovers, Nancy "Do they give us tin hats?" Feyernoord, Rangers, Palermo, Rovers, Haifa "Glamour ties" Ajax, PSG, Espanyol, Rovers, Eintracht

Side-stepping the current bitching (perhaps) - The club has said that Season Ticket sales are over 13,000 this season which means a slight INCREASE on last season at this time, - I'll comment again that the steady decline in attendance coincided with the introduction of the drummers. They clearly annoy many people intensely. - Less tongue in cheek, the ease of availability of foreign TV in pubs in an area where TV watching and pub going are way above the national average is probably a straight causal link to Rovers suffering a disproportionate loss in attendance - without getting 'drog going but when we had 26,000+ averages, we had local rivals doing not very well. Now, virtually all our local rivals are having strong seasons and/or playing in divisions higher than they are normally to be found. I know when travelling in from my mother's the days of seeing masses of fans coming from west and north Lancashire are dramatically a thing of the past. Two observations of hope: - will the Prem attendance group recommend a pause in increases or a general reduction in attendance costs for this summer? Prem clubs will be getting a 60% windfall increase from TV rights so a cross the board 25% cut in attendance charges is EASILY affordable. - in the past, when Rovers have been playing well there has been a general increasing buzz in the town which isn't reflected in gates until suddenly a game comes along which is a must-see and bang, gates permanently shifted up by two or three thousand. In 80/1, league gates were around 5,000 to 8,000 until the Cup run and tickets for the Villa tie went on sale at the Blackpool game. 14,000 turned up and there wasn't a sub-10,000 gate for any game in the rest of the season. Is there any chance of this pattern repeating in modern day Blackburn?

The bias in officiating towards the big clubs is utterly blatant. Frankly, I have got over getting upset about it (although the reffing in our next few games is bound to wind me up again). Linesmen get called to account for bad decisions against Everton and Liverpool. But that numpty in Sheff U v Rovers?....

I think if you look back on the two previous seasons, there is a massive onus on winning your UEFA Group. In the Third Round, third-placing teams get wiped out by the Group winners and second-placers get wiped out by the CL 3rd place teams dropping into the UEFA.