The World will not end, the moon has not changed to green cheese and Lawrenson has predicted Rovers to lose.

Not that good either. A free transfer from the dingles on the subs bench? How are they doing in Europe BTW?

Will the Rovers field the best possible side for this game or will they be putting out an under-age side like they have been doing in recent Academy League fixtures?

Well said Tris. The crude facts are that Rovers are operating in a market place which is probably 50% smaller than the next smallest Premiership club's target market (if you multiply available support by incomes of that support). Bolton and Wigan both have hinterlands double the size of Rovers and when it comes to Charlton, they are addressing a potential market with spending power at least ten- quite easily twenty times the size of Rovers. Yes they are going up to 40,000 capacity and yes they will fill it. Messrs Finn and Williams are decently remunerated but are earning a pittance compared with Birch, Gill, Kenyon, Bernstein, the Newcastle jokers, Brady and most of the other Prem chiefs which they routinely run rings round. They are a class act in an industry pitifully short of class acts.

Some clarifications are in order although I know some of you guys hate facts: - the seeding came out of a weighting system pulled together by FIFA. So joke or not, there was a combination of past performances that made England second best, - England played three or four abysmally bad games (including Belfast) but in fact have a cracking record overall since the last World Cup. We also won a Qualifying Group in which the second placed country (Poland) did well enough to get automatic qualification as well. So relative to all other European countries we qualified better than all of them except Sweden. And there's the rub- I just don't get all this we got an easy World Cup Group rubbish. We have drawn the third best South Americans (who will know howto handle themselves) and a Sweden side which is the strongest that country has produced since 1958 and which is capable of destroying any opposition with bursts of utterly sublime football. The thought of Ibramovich one-on-one with Ferdinand should be giving every England supporter nightmares. On the other hand, if England do the hard stuff well and win their Group (don't rely on goal difference- Sweden banged 8 past Malta so could do that to T&T as well), the route to the semi-finals looks pretty easy assuming the Germans don't come second in their Group (and they will have to be rubbish to do that and so not be much of a threat if we do meet in the last 16). Could be a very exciting summer!

As I had always predicted, Wigan will be a complete sell out with at least 7,000 Rovers supporters in the ground- only 5,200 free pies though!

Now seen the goals- Zurab and Reid were worse than pathetic on West Ham's second- that was attrocious. But not as bad as West Ham's defending against Shefki. They should have formed a guard of honour- at least they would have conceded with dignity! As for the penalty. What is the fuss about?- it's blatant. A long throw in so what is this garbage about ball to hand? The ball was in trajectory for a very long time unlike Todd's decision last week. Repka first of all fouls Bentley by preventing Bentley from getting a jump for the ball then puts his arm out to wait forit to be hit. The Rovers crowd and the two players close by immediately appeal for the pen and it was a certain goal if Repka hadn't handled as the ball was going directly to Savage two yards from the goal. The press coverage is full of sympathy for West Ham this morning. Absolute rubbish!

I think everyone welcomes informed opinions even if they are not agreed with. The problem you have vinjay is that your opinion is not only fundamentally ill-informed, you stubbornly refuse to accept it when your factual errors are corrected. Once and for all, the Walker Familly do not control assets worth £600m+. The Jack Walker Trust controls the assets and run the assets according to the instructions laid down by Jack when he vested the assets in the Trust. It has been commented that the Trust had done well growing from £300m to £680m- it has done well and the Trustees are obviously doing what Jack told them to do. Jack was a successful businessman and his ethos continues. Both Blackburn Rovers and the Walker Family are beneficiaries of the Trust which clearly is accumulating at the moment- principally driven by Flybe which is currently for sale. Blackburn Rovers are also owned 99% by the Trust (the other shareholders are the people or heirs of the people who owned the club before Jack came along and got watered down by Jack's capital injection). The Walker Family do not own Blackburn Rovers. Do you understand Vinjay? I strongly recommend that you get banned the next time you bleat on about the Walker family not supporting the Rovers.- it is NOT THEIR DECISION HOW MUCH MONEY ROVERS GET BUT THE TRUSTEES ACTING ACCORDUING TO JACK'S WRITTEN SIGNED INSTRUCTIONS.

Pure class Colin- brilliant stuff. Haven't seen anything of yesterday's resurrection against the Hammers yet so cannot comment on that other than to say that the performance of the treatment room seems to be the most important determinant of the game at the Cottage. But boy we are showing some real pluck and determination now and those qualities ought to be too much for Fulham no matter who we put on the park next week.

Also mildly amusing.

They had a vote and rejected it.

Now behave Flopsy, no personal abuse against fellow message board members.... no matter how accurate it might be. The kid obviously cannot read or else he would have realised that his emnity towards the Walker family is totally off-beam. The Walker family are a beneficiary of the Trust according to the Trust's terms, just as Blackburn Rovers are. As a fellow-beneficiary, the Walker family are no more in a position to sell the Rovers than John Williams is at liberty to cut off their inheritance. Everything is pre-determined by the settlement Jack made in establishing the Trust. Let's just be thankful for the £6m a year we have been receiving since Jack died. Anyway if Bellamy is out for four weeks, its curtains for any hopes of good league finish or surviving the League Cup draw at Boro.

Apart from me being perfectly happy to see someone other than the Mancs chasing Chelsea, the Manc problem in a nutshell is: 1) The hedge funds take over if the Glazers don't hit the financial performance targets for the Manc business, 2) The hedge funds have written limitations into payroll and transfers. 3) Six months after the start of the deal, the first tightening of the hedge funds' control over the Mancs will now be happening, 4) Six months into the deal, what stunning new marketing initiatives or money-making deals have the Mancs announced? Where is this American business chutzpah which is going to show the Eurpoeans how to run a soccer franchise? Lets say you are a hedge fund manager. You have put £210m into the Manc borrowing by the Glazers who have conveniently helped you exercise control over the Mancs by putting your debt onto the Manc balance sheet. Either the Glazers find some £370m over the next five years to pay you off or step by step you gain operational control over Man Utd until you get ownership of the whole pile of whatsit. Now are you going to help the Glazers by relaxing the rules? Only if the Glazers pay through every orifice of their being are you going to. Are the Glazers going to keep on gambling to ever more ridiculous extremes? That is the only question left to be answered. There probably will be an attempt to salvage the wreck but I fully expect the Mancs will become a net selling club living within their means. If I were the Glazers, I'd fire Fergie, hire someone like Mark Hughes, flog off Ferdinand (before Ruud/Rooney et al flog themselves) and bring in the likes of Gravesen and another four or five proven Premiership defenders/midfielders using the allure of OT to unsettle and get them at knock-down prices. Of course, the Glazers are not savvy with English football and no doubt will hire one of the Italian magic roundabout managers who are perennially available- here's hoping so. Meantime, last night in Lisbon hasn't helped getting a replacement for Vodafone any easier. In fact as Vodafone are a pan-European brand, they exited the England-bound Mancs with perfect timing.

As a life long Manc hater, this down turn in fortunes is mildly entertaining. It will only get to rib tickling proportions if they slip to 5th or below in the Prem- Rovers and Boro apart, Prem clubs have made a poor fist of exposing a rather vulnerable Manc team. Shilito is correct except for the reasons jim and Flopsy pointed out. They have a seriously under-powered squad (even by comparisson with most Prem clubs- I'd take Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Newcastle when fit, Boro subs benches unhesitatingly ahead of the Mancs and rate their subs no better than most other Prem clubs except Fulham and Sunderland) although Rossi is a gem coming through. I suspect the Glazers didn't sanction any transfer spending of note this last summer in order to save for a rainy day- well its raining. The Glazer plan is heavilly dependent on pushing season ticket prices up. Unlike the Chelsea supporters, numerically the majority of the 67,000 deluded fools are no better off than folks living in Blackburn so I suspect there will be resistance to price hikes. Another 7,500 seats to fill in the corners next season remember. Interesting times. Anyway the Glazer softies haven't fired Ferguson yet and today is the ideal time to do it. With Ferguson talking about three more years etc., he will have to be got rid of because he won't walk so they might not have a better time to get rid than now. Oops, just seen shillito's most recent post and hadn't realised jan was right. Shillito, haven't you noticed that the Mancs are now "owned" by the Glazers? The Mancs are £500m in debt having been used to achieve all the forms of borrowing known to man and then some more besides. The hedge fund contracts specify exactly how much the Mancs can spend on transfers, wages and sure as penguins is penguins won't allow for any more borrowing unless the sugar daddy Glazers reach into their own far from voluminous (relative to the Manc problem that is) pockets and put the cash in personally. As I wrote at the time, the Manc adventure by the Glazers is a big gamble for them as they simply don't have the financial clout to be sure of protecting themselves. The guys who I expect will own/control the Mancs will be the hedge funds who have actually structured a very nice deal for grabbing Man U for themselves in the rather likely prospect of the Glazers failing.

Zura simply under hit a 20 yard pass directed at Savage who stood and waited for it not knowing that Murphy was running towards him and marginally got ahead and collected the ball. Murphy then ran diagnoally at the Rovers' defence riding two tackles (including Zura) before beating Friedel. It was not the sort of horror mistake Amo made in one or two games for us nor was he as hopelessly out of position as Todd was for two out of the three goals at West Ham (nobody except Emo gets the blame for the third at Upton Park with his fancy back heel dink to Sherringham). Todd good, Zura better and Zura has a one game start on Saturday to prove it. If he funks it, Todd will be back at Fulham although I'd far rather have the more mobile Zura playing at the Cottage as Fulham's threat comes from the speed of breaking players like Malbranque.

The Press is unanimous in saying that Ferguson will go this summer. If the Glazers are hard nosed, they will retire him in Manchester today. Put Queroz in charge for the pre-Christmas programme. If he produces stunning results keep him but prepare selection of a top dog coach with a bit of pocket money for January. Of course, the United finances might be stretched so tight the Glazers might have to dip into their own pockets to do it. Now this is going to be an interesting moment to find out the colour (color?) of the Glazers' interest in soccer.

I wonder if other Prem clubs are going to follow the lead of Rovers and Boro and start playing a very ordinary Manc side (with 2 and a half exceptional individuals- Rooney, Roonaldo and Ruud) with no fear and no respect. If they do, the Manc slide back down the Prem could be precipitate.

Mancs bottom of their Champs League Group. This morning, the financial damage of being knocked out was being minimised by the Manc spokesmen but it must hurt. Still, if the Mancs want to see European football in Greater Manchester, they can pop along to watch Bolton.

A timely contribution given the BRISA meeting on attendance tomorrow evening. There is a Managers' list. Mourinho tops at £20m. Our own Mark Hughes appears at number 6 with about £5m. Of course this is a list of declared/visible worth. Seems strange with most Prem Managers being former footballers at the top of their profession and earning £1m+ per year that the numbers are so relatively low.

Steve Bruce: a model of clarity and motivation. The Torquay United Chairman has said today: "We would have preferred to play a big club away but this will do." They have drawn you know who from St Andrews in the FA Cup.

Vinjay, do you know how much Doug Ellis has put into Villa during the last five years? Here's a helpful hint- take the amount the Walker Trust has invested in Blackburn Rovers over the same period and divide by five. You are a complete tosser, aren't you?

Rangers are guarranteed about £1.5m for the two games in the last 16. They are also guarranteed getting knocked out if you look at the line-up of Group Winners (unless Benfica beat Man U tonight and top Group D).

jim makes a very valid point- Rovers' support south and south west of the club must have taken a battering from the rise of Bolton and Wigan. When I lived in Darwen, there was negligible support for Bolton in the town- even when they were in the first division (proper). But I bet Rovers' support in places like Belmont and Horwich is close to non-existant now. Back to the QPR debate. Lee has made two valid points on the official board- Rovers are probably proposing £10 and £1 pricing but don't hold your breath because, QPR ticket prices for their game against the dingles this week-end are appreciably higher than Rovers are charging for the visit of West Ham.

After a couple of cracking draws against Croatia and Bulgaria, Malta is looking forwards to the European Nations draw with the hope of not coming bottom of whatever group they get drawn in. Anyway, England. Not getting carried away as Brasil are so good. Little question of whether it will be the Belfast version of SGE coaching us or the Geneva one.

I read thast Telegraph article- it was more about which rich football chairmen have been successful in hands on running a football club and which hands on guys fail disastrously. On that basis neither Rovers nor the corporate structure Abramovich has put in place at Chelsea come within the scope of the article. If you follow Lee's posts on here, that pricing idea is precisely the sort of in itiative Rovers take with visiting clubs. BUT, if I were QPR, I would have none of it. They get 25% of the gate money and a guarranteed small five figure sum for getting knocked out of the FA Cup. All the recent Rovers pricing experiments in Cup competitions have shown a very low price elasticity of demand (in other words, terrible gates irrespective of fantastic pricing incentives). So QPR should demand category B status and have done with it- they cannot give a damn about Rovers' problems and the hoops fans who travel will come irrespective of Rovers' pricing unless we push it well north of £40. However, there might be a fairy godmother at Loftus Road or JW might bring his negotiating skills to bear successfully. As for the suggestion that Abramovich is as likely to pull out as Romanov- that is a joke. 1) As an oligarch he's far safer in London. 2) As the Chelsea boss he knows that Putin is unlikely to risk the public reaction which would be stirred if anything happens to him. 3) On paper, Abramovich is probably 50% up on his cash investment in Chelsea already. (Property value x3 the price he paid for the whole club and what price on Mourinho, Kenyon and all those players' contracts now?- AC, Inter, Barca, Real et al are still around to pay megabucks). 4) Roll forwards to 2013 and Abramovich will probably have paid another £250m out but if Kenyon has made Chelski the number one football brand as per his plan, Abramovich could probably cash sell out of Chelsea for £2bn+. A cool 300% return on investment.