Troy Archibald-Henville has scored an o.g. to give the Rovers the lead in the Youth Cup tie against Spurs at Ewood (and I typed that without a hint of a chuckle).

Strongest team for tonight's PA Youth tie at Ewood.

Hughes on Jansen (Correct link this time?) So no loan, no departure and no strarting place! He's one of Rovers' four forwards- Bellamy, Kuqui, Dickov, Bentley, Johnson and Jansen.

Oh yes we do!

Whilst we are talking about Chelsea and Bentley, this comment by Richard Williams in The Guardian this morning is aposite: "Not for the first time it seemed appropriate to reflect on Wenger's apparent distaste for the home-bred products of his own academy. Whereas Jose Mourinho has taken three talented Englishmen and made them into even better players, Wenger has shown no similar inclination. "It is instructive to contrast the unsteady progress of David Bentley, a 21-year-old playmaker now on a season's loan at Blackburn Rovers, with that of Cole, once a player of similarly precocious gifts. Yesterday the Chelsea man demonstrated Mourinho's success in persuading him to blend his exquisite technique with a ravenous appetite for hard work." Hopefully, Mark Hughes and David Bentley both read that and accept the challenge.

Go on, let's have a vote on it!

Unfortunately, we are not going to get good crowds this season for any game this season. Look at when the "big" games are (Mancs on a Wednesday evening) and the TV schedules (announced and likely to be announced).

Not doing well with the "easier" fixtures are we? And with Dickov, Neill, Bellamy and Nelsen in all probability out of the Boxing Day trip to Boro, that's another defeat to be expected. Having a good run of wins Sunderland, Wigan, Pompey suddenly looks rather important if a top half finish is to be achieved.

Doh, it is a one year loan isn't it?

Regardless of allocating blame, we are seeing Souness-esque defending again. Positives at the back: Neill still inconsistent and occasionally homicidal but his inconsistency now ranges between OK and fantastic with dire cut out of the repertoire. Zura was pure class until recently. Brad needs stability and organisation in front of him. To be honest is not looking as vulnerable as he did towards the end of Souness' time at Ewood. Negatives at the back: Nelsen still good but not as commanding as last season. Lets hope it was injury niggles and not being sussed by Prozone that is the problem. Todd back to the Todd of three seasons ago- a bit of a soft touch for teams willing to be creative and quick combined with moments of psychopathy. Zura of the last three games- this is why the Gers only asked for £150K. Gray is vulnerable to pace and what do all Premiership clubs have in spades? pace. His restored confidence is visibly ebbing away- Matteo's recall is looking inevitable.

He just turned round an ran back to the centre circle. Are you confusing Dunn with Duff?

So Bruce changed his formation twice using two of his subs in the first 35 minutes. The man's a genius. You've got to admire his ice-cool nerves of steel.

Good stuffing for Brum today. The BBC are reporting Dunn was substituted after 35 minutes for tactical reasons. I wonder what that is about?

I don't know what sex has got to do with it either. Just had a look at Celtic's accounts. Their wage bill is about the same as Rovers but employ getting on for twice as many people and their Directors collectively take more out of the club. So reports that Keane broke the Celtic wage structure are almost certainly true. Generally speaking I would believe a club's CEO unless he was talking about the major benefactor's cash. I was thinking about the highest paid players in the SPL- they all played in the EPL at one time or another, the wee ned of course using Rovers as the leverage to double his wages at Ibrox. No doubt Petrov has noticed that he needs to go south.

From reading two match reports, it seems that Todd was at fault for Fulham's opener and our defending was attrocious for the second. Emerton contender for miss of the season and MGP hit the bar twice. We need Hughes to get us tight at the back again.

...and you are always right

Any truth in the rumours that Savage has done a hamstring?

How the big boys are snapping the best up young. When Terry Daracott retired, Mark Hughes said it was an opportunity to reshape the Rovers scouting set-up. No doubt he had the challenges Arsenal and Chelsea are setting in mind.

Every report I have read in the Guardian, Times or BBC has Desmond paying 50% of Keane's wages personally. This puts the signing in perspective.

I am honoured. Yes it is- thankfully, Gerard and Lampard have stepped into the breach since I wrote that sometime ago. Dunn back to his best is good enough to get into the current England squad. He's certainly good enough to save Brum single-handedly from trips to the dingles which is why I am not banking on Bruce getting Brum relegated.

It's great to see those positive comments about Gally. Those are exactly the sort of comments ALL our loan players should be getting in the lower leagues. Hughes seems to have a very cool head about the loans- he hasn't extended Luke at Cercle and said no to Jemal going there (he pulled Jemal back from PNE sharpish as well)- perhaps he doesn't rate Cercle's coaching set up as Peter was a flop there and came back to Blackburn and immediately started looking good in the Reserves. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gally sold in January- if Hughes doesn't rate him as a Prem prospect, the lad has put himself in the window with his performances at Stoke and his contract is running down. In the meantime, I guess all at Ewood are glad Leeds signed up Douglas for a year - he might as well kick a ball around in their reserves on their payroll as do nothing at Ewood. Great 4 year contract decision by Souness.

...and you are suggesting Robbie Fowler on another thread? From my viewpoint, if this thread lets the Rovers know the fans would (on the whole) be very enthusiastic about a return of Dunny, then its done its job. Dunn was pretty inconsistent for us but his purple patches were brilliant enough and long enough for us all to know what we are missing from a Rover through-and through. He played his part for Rovers despite playing for a Manager he clearly despised (that's stating fact, not a Souey debating point). If Hughes decides he's good enough for Rovers, he's good enough for me. I doubt he will come back as there is no way Hughes can plan on it. You can immagine the response that would come out of St Andrew's if we made an approach in January! That loud sound of expelling of gases will be repeated whenever (if ever) we make an approach. If Brum go down, I fancy we would get him and whilst it is a reasonable bet that Bruce is a bad enough manager to get Brum relegated, I would be looking elsewhere for players if I were in Hughes' position. I'd still have David's grandfather round for a cup of tea every so often.

He isn't going anywhere this January. Brum have a tough job to survive even if they get their players fit. I would guess we could pick him up for £2m or less (only one year left on the contract), if Brum goes down and he says he needs Prem football.

Big exageration there. It is an Irish/Scottish and Irish/Scottish ex-patriate thing. Catholics on the European mainland are totally unmoved by the Rangers/Celtic thing and try getting any interest in it in the Phillipines or Latin America! If it were a worldwide phenomenon, do you think the SPL TV rights would only be worth £35m for the whole league? About the same as Real Madrid's income for three months.

It remains to be seen whether the gulf between the EPL and SPL is big enough for a player who hadn't played a decent game for the Mancs for the past 18 months can be a superstar north of the border. With regards to Petrov, the Keane signing probably makes his exit more likely. Desmond has dipped into his own pocket to pay £40K per week for Keane. Celtic's upper wage limit before Keane was something under £20K per week. The average wage of Premiership first team squads (that's all 25 of them at all 20 clubs) is £17K a week. The odds are pretty heavy that Petrov would get £30K a week at Rovers and £50K a week at Newcastle. So is Mr Desmond going to dip into his pocket for Stan having set a precedent and then the next one... until Celtic have doubled their wage bill? Putting the finances of the EPL and SPL into context, the bottom two clubs will collect as much cash from Sky this season as Setanta are paying to the whole of the SPL.