philipl

I am completely opposed to the use of all drugs including tobacco except alcohol and have rarely indulged in that to excess and would urge/encourage everyone else to stay clean. I am not disputing that drugs cause harm and unpredictable harm depending on the psyche and physiology of the user. But we've reached the point that - perhaps 10% of global GDP is controlled by narco gangs - the largest single commercial enterprise in Italy is drugs running - our insurance premiums on everything are at least 15% higher than they should be because of drug crime - criminalisation is completely screwing up getting help to those vulnerable individuals who need help In other words criminal prohibition of drugs is a completely failed and discredited way of tackling the issue.

Henry Wintour on Sparky. Wintour goes half way there in his analysis. Yes Mark Hughes is an emergent football managerial genius but he is in the perfect environment at Blackburn Rovers to nurture that genius. In the final paragraph, Wintour almost anticipates the Rovers upsetting the Liverpool and Man U bandwagons in the next 12 days.

Not a feeder club but Rovers co-operation agreement with Cercle Brugge has been extended for another three seasons. They are going well- 3rd in the Belgian League last time I looked. Drew 0-0 with Anderlecht in front of nearly 20,000 at the week-end. The very promising youngster Macky .... is there on loan at present.

Is the Axe going to be our new Super Atko?

The ever reliable Tribal has quoted Chris Samba as saying that MGP is very happy he (MGP) turned down an offer to join Spurs this summer.

Yes, you are right EiT.

I remember seeing what I think was his first goal- a 20 yard blast in a pre-season Manx Cup game against Burnley in 1977 probably.

Hughes interview in the LT. Quite lengthy comments about what was wrong at Spurs.

Another stimulating article about Mark Hughes. Interesting the way the Spurs connection is so summarily dismissed.

Graph of Rovers' attendances over 12 years to 05/6. 06/7 saw a marginal increase over 05/6 whilst this season had been averaging over 2,000 up on the same fixtures last season until the Reading game which I think was down as the corresponding fixture was the last game of last season. The Sky December re-shuffle has probably killed the chances of really big gates over the Festive period so I guess we are going to need the Rovers to do something really special on the field to get the crowds consistently up by 3,000 or more.

Hiddink's comments

The LT explaining what Rovers have done to help get Benni back to his best.

The drums are embarassing- simple as that. - embarassing because they are not talented, they cannot handle syncopation or rapid chants - embarassing because they run behind the opposition keeper - embarassing because like Portsmouth with f***ing bell, we are Blackburn with the f***ing drum when in reality we are Pompey and Rovers in the top six of the World's richest sporting competition - embarassing. Full stop.

That's an understatement if you look at how the five Greek League sides have qualified for the 2nd round of the UEFA. Also a little matter of the Greek population being around 20 times that of Wales.

Soaring rates of A&E admissions because of alcohol

Amongst young people, the rates of 15 year olds trying cannibis (40%) are about the same as the numbers trying tobacco. In the population as a whole, 13% have taken cannibis within the past 12 months according to official statistics. Cocaine usage by 4% of the population and heroin by about 3.5%.

Tobacco consumption is down to about 22% now isn't it? About the same proportion of the population that admits to taking illegal substances.

Chief Constable advocates legalisation of all drugs

Tossack showed us all what a brilliant manager he is again yesterday.

There is your answer. Andy Kennedy, a legend in his own pants (or out of them).

A little noticed fact but Benni has scored 20 in 42 Premiership starts now. That career goal to game ratio is probably ahead of everyone except perhaps Andy Cole and Van Persie amongst the players currently registered in the Premier League. I think Rev is fighting a losing battle with his line of argument. That said, won't it be fun if Hughes has found the formula to get Benni to produce a Brum second half type of performance most games he plays now (preferably not on a repeating three games dropped, second half blast basis!)?

Great to read that 'drog. Very often those individual instances of flashes of genius live in the memory long after the rest of the game has faded away. What formation did Rovers play when Benni came on? Was it 1-1 or a conventional 2 up front. Or was it 2-1 with both Benni and Bentley in forward roles just behind Santa? Not had chance to watch it yet.

Emerton on the travel challenges of playing for Australia.

I think it was established that Benni had one-to-one training then watched the Academy game on the day Rovers were at Sunderland. At least that is what my understanding is.

Dunn on Big Club