Going to adjust my forecast to a 3-0 defeat. That's what happened the last time we played a club with all its regular midfielders missing.

Perhaps good administrators in football clubs are like referees- you realise how good they are when you don't notice them. John Williams has been at the club seven years (?) and it is an astonishing achievement that I've heard virtually no criticism of him from within the club or those close to it. - The same goes for Tom Finn by the way. They are either Joe Stalin or very good at what they are doing. Contrast that with the recently appointed Secretary of Shrewsbury Town (whose blurb suggests he went there straight from Ewood and masterminded the Rovers' rise to the Premiership- at least he had the good grace never to admit he worked for the Dingles). Scarcely a month went by without some story circulating about the prowess and competence of John Howarth when he was Secretary of BRFC. Equally think of your own work situations and the respect and reputations of managers you know. There are four other points to consider: - apart from Peter Kenyon who has the global brand to build or Trevor Birch (deep in the mire others created), how many GOOD football chairmen or administrators are high profile? - the Walker Trust clearly prefer a low profile as indeed all Trusts do. They have a job of administration and good husbandry and that style extends to their commercial operations as well e.g. Flybe is a remarkable success story but that airline has a very different profile to Ryanair or Easyjet. - I'd far rather have a low profile JW and his track record of securing a very high percentage of the transfer targets identified by his Managers than the track records of the Chief Execs of Everton, Villa, Spuds (until recently) or worst of all, Karen Brady. - the Rovers are building a very effective presence behind the scenes in the broader corridors of power. We could only have joined the G14 in 1996 (and would have the embarassment of being kicked out for getting relegated in 1999!) but that organisation didn't start until after we were sliding out of contention. Apart from being a G14 member or Chelsea, probably no other single club wields as much influence as the Rovers do and have done down the years. A higher profile wouldn't help- better to be not noticed and effective than the other way round. At the end of the day, we are a football club and our fame comes from the team on the football pitch. And yes I will help if there is anything needed.

I don't know what its like after the game but for such a vibrant match, the crowd were extremely restrained in Istanbul. MGP and Vratty won't be joining Lucas and Bert at the WC. Seems that they came through unscathed (although Vratty didn't make a single pass to a colleague in the 15 minutes of the Slovakia v Spain I watched). Similarly Bellamy in a wretchedly bad performance by Wales which has set John Toshack moaning. Of course, all eleven players and subs were better than Savage would have been! An amusing description from the BBC: "Wales did sporadically threaten but their only dangerman was Craig Bellamy. His pace got him in some dangerous areas, but he was also too fast for his team-mates - and too often his crosses were wasted because of a lack of support." Given he was partnered by Hartson, I sincerely hope that we are not reduced to buying him.

That was one fantastic match and the Turks nust be wondering how they failed to get to Germany. A Sanli hattrick in a 4-2 win but switzerland do it on away goals.

Now watching Turkey v Switzerland. What a cracking game- Switzerland scored a pen in the first minute when Alpay was caught out by a chip back which he handled- tough but correct decision. Ref then didn't give two blatant pens for Turkey and has been so pro-Swiss as to be ridiculous. Even so, Turkey are winning 2-1 at Half Time and are playing some fabulous stuff. Our old friend Hakan Sukur scored the second. Emre will be very lucky not to get a second yellow card in the second half but the way Turkey are playing, the 4-1 win they need is very much on the cards. Arsenal's Senderos is playing up front. He very nearly created a chance by taking a keeper's clearance full in the face in injury time- the resulting shot from distance was straight at the hopelessly out of position keeper!

Just been watching Bahrain v T&T. Oh dear, the winner of this will be everybody's first pick for the Group stage in Germany. T&T much the better side but not showing in front of goal and their keeper has twice had Calamity James moments (Shakka Hyslop on the T&T bench by the way). T&T are basically a third division outfit- if that. Bahrain are physically so little you would worry for them against any European side. 0-0 at the moment so Bahrain in the driving seat. Oh yes Dwight Yorke is on the pitch according to the team sheet. Elsewhere, here's hoping Bellamy survives the attentions of some pretty physical defenders in Cyprus tonight. South Africa are lined up to play England in a friendly if we get an African country in our Group when the draw is made so The Axe better go easy on the chopping! Finally, Turkey v Switzerland is the likeliest game to see a reverse of the first leg lead amongst the European games this evening. Turkey have three big names coming back after suspension whilst Switzerland are hit by injuries and suspensions (Hakan Yakin and his brother both out for them). Quick update, T&T have taken the lead so the Manama samba can begin! When did Wrexham and Port Vale last have players at the World Cup? Will Dwight Yorke be the sole representative of the A League? FULL TIME: T&T go to Germany. Jack their keeper pulled off a fabulous save in the last minute to keep the score 1-0. Before that Ali Baba got sent off for pushing the ref after another Bahraini player had kicked the ball out of Jack's hands and stuck it in the net- couldn't make it up! So Gillingham will have a player at the World Cup as well.

Gary Harkins has gone on a month's loan to Blackpool. Is that six youngsters out on loan now? The fact that Rovers can place so many platers like this must give the Academy real heart to show youngsters considering coming to the Rovers that we are able to develop careers even for the ones who might fall short of the Premiership level.

Watching the Aussie game, its going to take a miracle to get a performance out of Bert and Neill on Saturday.

I know- every time I've seen him, Bruce has been a gratuitously offensive and arrogant nasty piece of work. Its no wonder the porn pushers of Brum love him. Dunn went from the frying pan to the fire in terms of escaping from Souness.

Why not stick a permanent link to the BRISA site on the tool bar?

'drog your question is an old one and I answered the last time you asked it. When I was in the UK I was a season ticket holder (which was of dubious value given as the most I got to was 20 home matches and usually 10 to 12) and sponsored the match ball and took an executive box at least once every season. And that went from Division 2 to the Championship season and beyond. Now tell us all about your financial support of the Rovers.

A one man chorus of "jingle bells" on the journey back?

Snigger snigger at the LET's headline. Steve Bruce or not Steve Bruce's tactics fetched £400 on E-Bay.

Hope I'm wrong but Rovers aren't the finished article yet and won't turn in the exhilerating display of the Charlton game every time. A frustrating low key nothing going quite right performance and a 2-0 defeat to put a damper on things I'm afraid.

Yes and no Stu- No- do like for like comparisson of the matches we've played (Newcastle gate this year v Newcastle gate last year for instance) and we are still some 2,000 down on average. No- the away support seems to have really fallen away this season and what is to say Everton, Mancs, Liverpool etc will bring the same numbers they have in the past? Perhaps the club has numbers it would share with BRISA? Yes- surely with the way Rovers have got back to winning ways playing entertaining football at Ewood more people will be attracted to Ewood to support the Rovers? Wishing/hoping we will reach 26K gates in our big games is probably ambitious yet that was the average attendance in 2002/3

2005-2006: 19,468 (Premier League) 2004-2005: 22,315 (Premier League) 2003-2004: 24,376 (Premier League) 2002-2003: 26,226 (Premier League) I rather think that track of Rovers' support has blown a bit of a hole in our club's budgeting as well. Are Rovers really so much worse than they were four seasons ago that average gates are deservedly down by nearly 7,000?

Fair play blue and white. After watching the highlights of some other games, Brasil were only playing the UAE but they did score seven in awesome style in the second half- precisely we have a chance but WHO can knock the Brasilians out? Let's just hope they draw Germany in the last sixteen!!! France and Germany was nothing particularly frightening- France are still a lot less than the sum of their parts and there are some less than convincing newcomers in their team. Italy were awesome in the Netherlands- of the continental Europeans, they are going to be the best value at the British bookies by far to win the World Cup. England will be one bad bet- the bookies reckon £1.5 billion might be staked on an England victory.

Just been looking at t'internet for Man City and their average crowds are down over 3,000 this season meaning there should be 5,000 tickets going begging. Also noticed that they are on a bit of a bad run- lost five out of their last nine whereas we've won six out of our last nine. What is striking is that they've had a fixture list like Wigan's- apart from Man U away and West Ham home, they have been playing all the bottom clubs so they are probably in a bit of a false position at the moment. Presumably this thread will become the preview thread at some point?

Man City's bank manager and SWP's bank manager would definitely disagree. I always felt SWP was the sort of player who could turn out to be a short term wonder- take the pace away and he is a basic Prem player. His future at Chelsea in part depends on whether the bust up with Robben (who is very special) is terminal or not and in part on developing his all-round game to a much higher standard. It is quite ridiculous that he cost more than Duff who is at least twice the player that SWP is.

...and both Parker and Carrick ahead of King.

I agree about Ferdinand- in a theoretical world, if he were at Rovers, he'd get picked ahead of Todd, would be a toss-up between him and Zura and no way would he push Nelsen out of the team. We were poor defensively as a unit for both the Argentine goals (and the three early chances and the Crespo off-side goal). Terry was not his normal self but then Ferdinand is a long way short of the quality Terry is used to playing alongside. I'd have gone for Campbell who at least is a leader as well as gives a physical presence which was needed yesterday and will be needed against the very mobile big forwards we'll be facing if we last the distance in the World Cup. At 2-1 down and 80 minutes gone, I was thinking that it was a shame we were going to get nothing out of the game as we deserved a draw at least.... so I disagree with the assertion that England were lucky. It is incidentally the first time I've felt that SGE's in-game tactics have been good for a very long time. The really good news about yesterday is that it will do our World rankings a power of good ahead of the draw in early December.

Souness has certainly made a habit of over-paying for Rangers players. Is there any evidence that he was pocketing from it? In an article considering Rangers' plight this morning, The Guardian points out that firing McLeish and his backroom team will leave Rangers over £1m worse off and that Rangers' finances were already in the have to sell to buy category. It doesn't list Ferguson as a saleable asset- "Only Dado Prso, Fernando Ricksen and Thomas Buffel would command decent transfer fees, so how Murray juggles the finances is the biggest question hanging over the club at the moment." Obviously Ferguson is damaged goods playing for a club in serious decline. Murray's only hope of salvation is that Romanov's ego or property-developing instincts wreck Hearts.

He has done if you are referring to the Reserves. He partnered Todd in one game.

What an admirable chap to have skippering your team.

Another article about the "mainstream respectability" of drugs. I am passionately anti-drug, I just don't see that prohibition is the way to deal with it.