It also showed in his short cameo appearance that Peter is no way a replacement for MGP on the left wing yet.

The Rovers were fantastic last night and don't take anything away from them. To have got close to 60% of the posession and for Alan Green to say on the World service: "Only the very top teams come to Old Trafford and force United to defend deep the whole game and Blackburn did that." OK we know Kuqi's control is terrible and time and again the ball pinged off him onto a waiting Manc but even he started making damaging contributions to Utd rather than to us. The rest of the team was just magnificent even though Gray made TWO mistakes (gifting it to start Rooney off then bobbling it to RvN) in the first goal but Richardson's pass to Reid for our goal evened up the mistakes. No criticism of Tugay for the second- he was slammed in the centre of his back in as clear a foul as Graham Poll was ever nobbled not to see (ditto the pen on Zura which RvN tapped ball to hand as clearly as there ever was a ball to hand- Ferdinand was also ball to hand but the ball travelled three times as far to reach his hand and was much more debatable). Savage was blatantly assaulted by RvN at the corner at the end of the first half- another body check to the centre of the back and a deliberate kick to the head as he went over him. Only one word of praise for United- Saha was absolutely magnificent and if you watch him in slomo, he waited, watched and scored that winner absolutely deliberately. There is a clear difference opinion between those who were at the game and those who watched it on TV- it was probably the best piece of skill for a goal we'll see all season. Brad Friedel is the greatest. Unbelievable string of saves. But in the end, there is only one word: CHEATED

Getting the FA Cup excuses in early. Well done Graeme, go moaning to the local papers in Cheltenham.

I think every Rover on this board apart from the upside down persuasion would fervently agree with you Eddie. But given the absence of any high quality English contenders (and let's be honest, there aren't any), Welsh is nowhere near as big a no-no as Scottish. O'Neill's wife is sadly still desperately ill so Hughes is the only contender worth looking at who holds a British passport. And unlike any of the English contenders bar McClaren, he does know his way around OT, Stamford Bridge and played in the same Manc team as two members of Sven's little Manc mafia. He presents himself superbly in terms of media interviews, is not roundly hated by a lot of people like Big Sam is, has a far more relevant managerial CV for the job than Jewell or Pardew, and has not yet flattered to deceive in club management the way Curbishly has. Having Todd, Belamy and Savage in the team without a squeak out of them must be impressing Soho Square and scares the daylights out of me for what we will do if he gets the England job. Oops, jim missed the irony button. Yes I was seriously advocating management of Dover as a career path for England.

Yes Either that or we should kick Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham out of the English league system.

Sorry to depress everyone but I did suggest that a couple of weeks ago. Far from just being a serious contender, he's the ONLY British citizen who is a serious contender in my opinion. And he might get the job next week, gulp. As for Peter Taylor, I read down the ranking of English managers and gave up when I got to Steve Cotterill with Taylor nowhere in sight. He's a good lad- some London Rovers will remember him being on the train with us when he was Manager of Dover. Definite qualification to manage England I would have thought.

That's a good point jp. But Tommo will still be cup-tied because of his cameo appearance at Charlton with screamer goal. And won't it be amusing Arsenal sitting out a blank week-end because we are in the Final? Dreams..... PS My link on the previous page works now, I hope!

There is a lot of pressure for an English born Manager but given McClaren is Sven's number 2, no campaign for McClaren (thankfully!). I cannot see McClaren getting it unless the FA want to be burnt down the first time England under-perform under his stewardship. Boro have two banana skin fixtures in the next seven days- Coventry (who hit Derby for six and are suddenly going well) away in the FA Cup and Sunderland (who have been playing well in the last few games) away in the Prem. If Boro win those two nobody will notice but a loss in either game will do for McClaren if SGE goes next week. All the press on SGE is reading like an obit at the moment.

Then why did the agent signal has availability? The Chelsea and Man U jobs are not vacant at the moment are they?

Dave, its a coded message. Because of the Ozzie contract the agent cannot say he can leave Australia so he's said he can leave PSV. The message is out loud and clear- he's available for the England job. And how much compensation would the FA have to pay to get him out of the Oz job? Not a lot in the context of the money Eriksson is on. Unfortunately for Australia, I am all too right on this one. You will have to hope this won't happen. Unfortunately, News International has plenty of reasons of its own to thoroughly besmerch English football before the World Cup. I think it is a decent bet that SGE will be gone from the England job next week. Why? Brian Barwick played the NoTW game yesterday appearing at that press conference with Eriksson saying nice things about each other. To be credible, the fake sheikh would have had to have asked about Sven's FA contract, how the FA would react to Sven leaving two years early, likely compensation levels etc etc. In the process, they must have talked about SGE's relationship with Barwick, what they think about him, any hints for negotiating the best deal for releasing him from the FA (suggest Sven gets a bonus if they pay as little comp as possible...), then get him to talk about how the FA works, the personalities there, the FA Council (always good for a laugh) and round off with a bit of joshing about Pallios and Faria... The NoTW are going to make the FA look right plonkers on Sunday. Let's see.... jim, where are you?

Nice Guardian preview- she's obvioulsy not been watching Gamst and Reid's goals though!

Don't laugh too soon. Guus Hidinck's agent yesterday was explaining that his client has a clause in his PSV contract which says that if a big club wants to talk to him, they can do. Call me cynical but the timing and coding is saying to the FA that he is available for the England job now if they have to get rid of Eriksson.

You mean McClaren? If you add Dario Gradi to the list of English Managers, there are 26 in the 44 clubs making up the two top divisions.

Wigan will sell their 30,000. They love their big days out and the egg chasing fraternity haven't been doing so well and I bet they'll go down to Cardiff for this one! The novelty value alone will shift 10,000 tickets. Gav's bet at risk if we don't sort out the Mancs tonight- this will boost Wigan's ordinary gates as well.

Brilliant! Wigan have done something Real Madrid won't manage; knock Arsenal out over two legs. Come on Rovers, let's have the dream final for real football folks.

Greggy, if they go 2-1 up in extra time or the 2nd half, they'll go on to win 3-1.

You are confusing the FA Cup with the League Cup. Finalists qualify from the senior competition but don't from the other. Wigan to win tonight for me- no ifs buts or maybes.

Leave well alone. Rovers have got a great system going and players are proving more and more interchangeable. Start with Saturday's XI replacing Dickov with Bellamey and Kuqi with Bentley and we'll be OK. I think this rumour of RFW starting with Rooney, van Nistelrooyd and Saha is his mind game for this week. He knows as well as we do that we'll say ta very much for that line-up.

Premier League bungs enquiry

You see you twit, I've seen him as often as you have. And whilst he looks very exciting, I want to see him being just as outstanding in an Arsenal v Chelsea game before he could remotely be considered for this World Cup. If he scores a hattrick on his First Division debut like a teenage Shearer did, then we've got to take him. But as you have back tracked gracefully, I won't belabour my point.

This had me chuckling. The vacancy falls due when? After the World Cup in June and the first competitive match for England after that is when? September And when will the best candidates be likely to be available? After May domestically and after the World Cup internationally So we are advertising for a replacement when? January So the FA are confident Sven is going to last until when? I see the Charlton Chairman has as good as said "please take Curbishley off us". I am sticking by my guns- imagine the hopefuls as Manager of Blackburn Rovers then see if you want any of the English-born candidates.

I enjoy sparring with you shillito as you fall for every trap I leave for you. I didn't say I hadn't seen him play did I? Presumably you think Arsenal Academy, Reserves or subs bench is an appropriate place from which to pick the England World Cup squad? I guess he'll get a bit of a run for the Arse first team but he'll be in and out like Fabregas has been. Don't forget there's the Arsenal signings in Egypt at the moment.

My edit was a misspelling of dumbest which I decided was not the best adjective to use. My point is that the VAT man could have chosen any club to bring this case against- they chose Newcastle. Why, because they clearly did something which made the Excise believe they were the easiest club to get the judgement against. My glee is against Newcastle if you read my post. Yes Newcastle which - took Gordon Lee from us - bought Roger Jones then dumped him in the stiffs one game short of paying the transfer fee they should have done - the Newcastle whose Chairman Lord Westwood was also Chairman of the FA which twice blatantly made judgements against Rovers and in favour of Newcastle which stank as high as the Tynemouth fish docks - which took Shearer off us - whose Chairman FF has said numerous disgraceful things like wanting all the small clubs to go bust - who apply to join the G14 every year - etc - etc Now I think it is pay back time for us Rovers, don't you. Souness walked out on us (not that I am complaining) but that was a humiliation at the time considering Newcastle had been resisted by half the clubs in the land but the moment FF knocked on our door, our manager was out like a shot. I am hugely enjoying Newcastle's discomfiture and the fact there is a Rovers' connection makes it all the sweeter.

I look forwards to seeing Walcott playing in the Arsenal first team.

Souness finds loyal support at Newcastle. Oh boy, Freddie did some cracking deals didn't he? £1m each to Saunders and Murray to sack them as well! Add the cost of paying compensation to hire a replacement team and Newcastle are looking at £8m probably to get rid. Then Newcastle are also about to lose a case against the VAT man over the recovery of VAT on agents' bills where they charge the club that buys the player. (The Excise are arguing that the contractual relationship exists between player and agent and therefore the clubs have no basis for recovering VAT where they pay the agent as well- nice argument!) Of course, of all the football clubs around, the VAT man will have looked for the one who has made it easiest to win against- step forwards Newcastle!