Something odd has happened. The temperature in Blackburn is supposed to be -3C at the moment and the undersoil heating is supposed to handle -8C temperatures.

Notlob v Boro is off because the Breezeblock undersoil heating failed!

The opinion that matters- Mark Hughes' Incidentally, I was perhaps a bit early in withdrawing my prediction of a good season for Liverpool!

Stead talking about his return to Ewood. Sounds like he preferred the relaxed training regime of Souness. Hmm, finding a few predictions for a draw and even a guy in the Far East taking the odds on a Sunderland victory.

We had exactly this same argument about a year ago and I posted the details then. Enjoy the rest of your Christmas break, give the lads a shout for me and don't let it get to you. PS If you start chanting for United or come on Lancy you might get some strange looks.

Let's just say the Boro Radio commentary were saying the five man Boro midfield had no answer to Savage and Tugay. By all accounts Emo had the the Boro right side in his pocket all game, Thommo was utterly anonymous so by my reckoning Sav and Toogs not only neutralised four players (including Mendietta) between them but increasingly gave Rovers the platform from which they controlled and won the game. Definitely sub-par if you are using a golfing analogy!

It's all right folks, those nasty Mackems won't ruin our Christmas.... Blackburn v Sunderland Blackburn have had a good week with those league and cup wins over Middlesbrough but I think they'll find it difficult against Sunderland. Mick McCarthy's side have struggled this season but against Bolton on Boxing Day they scrapped and fought for absolutely everything, which I expect them to repeat on Wednesday. Full match preview Verdict: 1-1 Phew! I really really thought even Lawrenson would have gone for a home win on this one....

From the Guardian this morning: "QUOTE OF THE DAY "If our supporters were offended, then I apologise. It was not a slight on them or our club. It was an instinctive thing. I thought to myself: 'I shouldn't really have done that'. If people want to hang me for this, then that's up to them" - Bernard Cribbins says sorry to Bongo fans after applauding MU Rowdy supporters last night. No sign of a mea culpa about leading the Blues to 19th in the Premiership, however." More in the same vein here- the Mancs get a rough ride...aahh.

Great preview. This should be one of the best games of the year. Wigan are certainly entertaining and if Bellamy plays 90 minutes he should get change from a defence which is good but also a bit slow and square. The 5,000 Rovers supporters create a fantastic atmosphere and should turn this into a bit of a home game for the lads. High scoring draw on the cards: 3-3, but this could go in any direction. The only risk to the entertainment value will be if we have a rubbish ref.

The Boro commentators credited Emerton for wrecking the Boro wing back system yesterday. His work rate and speed up and down the flank meant that they could not overlap and effectively nullified McLaren's game plan. Nice move by Sparky and well done Bert. Now keep it up!!!

Just reacting to the doom and gloom on Christmas Eve! The club and supporters are caught in a cleft stick- the more cup games we win, the more we play until we eventually draw hard-up opponents like the Mancs who need every penny to save the Glazers from a disaster of their own making and have to charge higher (but not highest prices). JBN got it right when he talked of rich men's support. If the Rovers Trust continue to support the club with £6m a year on average (equivalent to about 50% of Burnley's turn over), of which £3m is discretionary and £3m is automatic, plus favourable loans, then Rovers can survive in the top flight on crowds averaging a bit over 20,000 but getting back the people who went AWOL over the last three seasons is what we need if we are consistently to do better than survive. Perhaps two Manc semis and (fingers crossed), a trip to Cardiff might provide the spark which brings the missing people back. Drog, I know its impossible arguing with you as your ideas are fixed in concrete. But you also ignore facts such as my sponsorship support of Rovers down the years pre-Jack. It obviously might not have occured to you that I am somewhere sunny less out of choice but for health reasons.

Sounds like Sunderland matched Notlob for effort and attacking invention today so this is not the walk-over we expect unless we can get an early goal or two.

How on earth did we manage to lose against Everton????

Sunderland got a draw against Notlob today and will be reminded of their 3-0 win last time they were at Ewood. However, we need shooting if we don't win this one and get our 4,000th goal in the process.

Listening to the commentary- Boro were bad but we can only beat what's put in front of us. Shame Kuqi missed an easy chance to complete his hattrick. Great pair of wins at Boro- I never expected us to win them both. Well done lads!

Despite the fact that league football at Accy will detract from Rovers' crowds (far from merging for the Drog, clubs in Lancashire are increasing in number!) I want them to come back and prove Butcher Bob wrong. Accy Stanley are four points clear in the Conference but their attendances of around 1,500 puts them in the bottom half of Conference average attendances.

For some unfathomable reason, Alan Green allocated the entire World Football programme on the BBC to an interview with Souness. Is it any wonder that it is so difficult to raise interest in the Rovers when the Belfast ignoramus mentioned Souness' meagre achievements as a Manager without including Promotion and League Cup and the only mention of Rovers was: Green: "and then you went to Blackburn for a few years but obviously you jumped at the opportunity when a big club like Newcastle came along." Souness: "That's correct." The hoot was that the remainder of the interview was all about how Newcastle never win anything! One other point- Souness talked in glowing terms about how the great Liverpool side trained- a few sprints and ball work- and how Joe Fagan yelled at him when he asked for matchday instructions after he had just signed for Liverpool: "We didn't pay all the money for you to have to tell you how to play football." OK for football geniuses but when Souness had got rid of the Rovers' crown jewels, we saw what that approach did for Rovers. Who are going to thrash Newcastle tomorrow...?

Ugh, we have got Scrooge on here. The much maligned and vinjayed Walker Trust is the difference between us being an also-run second division outfit and where we are now. If we continue haemoraging support at the rate of 2,000 per year we will slip down but that is the choice of the Blackburn public. On the other hand, if we can get back to the level of support in 1998 (when we truly crap), we should be OK in the top flight for some good time to come.

Get your cash on the Rovers, enjoy the long odds before they fall!

This morning's interview with David Dunn. Pandiani must be delighted he joined such a Big Club by the way.

Sky didn't even put a march report of Boro v Rovers on their web site!

Boro local paper has nice things to say about Rovers (except our ability in front of goal). PS Smart move by Savage to clear Pogatetz- to do otherwise would have given Boro a sense of grievance they could have nursed into the Boxing Day fixture. As it is, they know Pogatetz has been rather fortunate.

It's Christmas so there is an easy question in the quizz today folks. Who wrote this? It seems to happen so often that teams meet again in the league days after a cup tie! Blackburn won in the sides' Carling Cup match on Wednesday - and deserved their victory. But I expect a reaction from Middlesbrough and I think they will up the ante and come out on top this time. Full match preview Verdict: 2-1

Not wishing to tempt fate but there's an FA Cup 3rd Round replay and 4th round tie to fit in as well. The bet on gates will be cheering up irrespective of Wigan having a semi-final as well. At least we have some really juicy home fixtures coming up. Perhaps they are coming too close together for some wallets though.

Stop and think: 1) Is the experience of going to Rovers games going to be better if we recover getting 23,000 home supporters or continue sliding down to 17,000? 2) Will the loyal supporters who went to Boro and/or Charlton boycott the Man U home semi-final? As you said yourself, you will be in your usual seat for the game so you would benefit from the idea either if you hold a season ticket or if you don't but in different ways. 3) Does my suggestion unduly disadvantage people who don't go to the Man U semi-final at home?