What a deliciously accurate article! Signing Savage is proving to be the double whammy coup Chelsea/Abramovich indulged in two summers ago. Get a good player but cripple a potential rival whilst you are about it. They did that to us and Charlton (both sides could have gone onto make Champs League challenges but for losing pivotal players) and now we've put Brum in the melting pot.

Agreed Revidge. That's why I was leaving the experimentation (easing seasoned pros back from injury) to the bench. Dickov is doubtful with a knock and I doubt Tugay will be given three full games in eight days so he's either going to sit this one out or be spared the Bridge. Just wonder if he'll start with Jansen and Bellamy though. This could be the sort of game for Matty to make his mark. Having read this Leeds preview and its description of Leeds' style as being to allow the opposition space up to 18 yards from goal, it sounds like the sort of game Tugay would really enjoy. Leeds fear extra time because of the huge game against Reading this week-end; this could be a cracker with two sides going all out for a win in normal time.

I hate to win an argument through the Rovers losing but Drogba has destroyed much better players than Todd- look at what he did to Carragher at Anfield! This is the match in the season when we will really miss the extra class of Nelsen. Zura won't be a match for Drogba's physical presence either. Analysis of Everton's approach to Sunday's game v Chelsea. Of course, it could be argued that Hughes invented this tactic in last season's game at Ewood. Perhaps Hughes will adjust his game plan of keeping it tight for the first 15. If I were Mourinho, I'd wind up my lads to give Rovers a right going over in the opening stages of the game and certainly have Robben or Wright-Philips on from the start to expose Gray. Chelsea have now shipped the opening goal of the game in three of their last four games and I bet Mourinho doesn't fancy repeating that against us.

This will be a high scoring game. The Leeds defence is vulnerable and the midfield has weaknesses but we can be sure they will be playing out of their skins and that their rather useful forwards (Blake sub again) will be looking to enhance their reputation. Our squad should be strong enough now to allow some rotation but what really matters is Hughes getting the lads into the right frame of mind. Ideal game for Kuqui and Bellamy to build an understanding and to have some fun whilst they are about it. I'd rest Tugay and Dickov completely have Mokoena, Jansen, Tommo and Amo on the bench and play Bentley in the middle and Emerton out wide. 4-2 to the Rovers- quite possibly after extra time. Incidentally, there is quality in the Championship. Where do you think all the British-born players who would have been perfectly good Div 1 players fifteen years ago are plying their trade now?

The last two paragraphs of this Birmingham report will make salutary reading to bluenoses.

Gold's comments don't tally with the way he looked when the Sky cameras focussed on him on Saturday. That said, there is an element of "beat Everton on Saturday or else" about the quote. Having seen Everton's performance against Chelsea, Brum are going to have to raise their game a lot to get anything from that game. Sunderland play Pompey so the bottom four are all playing each other on Saturday. Shame, such a nice BIG CLUB.

An enjoyable preview JP! Just read the Telegraph's online report on Saturday's game which says that Nelsen is out for two weeks and Bellamy is being eased back suggesting he will start on the bench on Saturday. On that basis we are close to no hopers despite Everton giving a good demonstration on how to ride good luck against Chelsea. I fear the game will be out of reach before Bellamy is introduced. Of course, it could be Hughes mind games. Just hope we give them as big a scare as we did at Ewood last season but still think we will get beaten 2-0.

Its great to have hit the top half of the table (just-tenth) but it will be a minor miracle if we are still top half four games from now. Thus far, our fixtures have been disproportionately against bottom half opposition but now comes the reality check: Chelsea A (100% winning record at home for Chelski) Charlton H (100% winning record away for the Addicks) Man City A Arsenal H (unless Sunderland spring a big surprise, we'll be facing another 100% home winning record) With very few injuries (although Nelsen is a big doubt for the Chelsea game), Hughes will have that rarity- the full squad to chose from. So this is the big reality check for how far we have come under Sparky. My guess is that there will be plenty Blackburn are filthy headlines, at least one red card and any number of yellows and that we'll collect three points from the 12 theoretically available.

Comment in the bleeding heart liberal Murdoch flagship (aka The Sunday Times): "Blair and the boy David bring us the politics of cowardice Simon Jenkins "Of course David Cameron should have said whether he has used illegal drugs. The Daily Mail and the BBC were right to ask him. He should have answered. The view of Cameron’s friends, that standing as leader of the Conservative party should confer immunity from the criminal law, is absurd. "The 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act embodies Burke’s dictum that bad laws are the worst tyranny. The act is so useless as to constitute a major threat to social order. All drugs are in some degree harmful and should therefore be properly regulated by government, as are nicotine and alcohol. In Britain they are not. They circulate uncontrolled in pubs, clubs, colleges, schools, police stations, even prisons. They fuel a third of all property crime. For many normal families they threaten their one brush with criminality. Yet MPs lack the guts to abolish the act and bring drugs within reach of statutory regulation. "Now a Tory leadership contender feels unable to say whether he has broken this stupid law. I am sure he would unashamedly protest his innocence of fraud, rape, violent assault or treason. The use of a class A drug in Britain is, by order of both Conservative and Labour governments, an equally serious criminal offence. Some 30,000 people are in prison as a result of the drug laws. Why should senior politicians be exempt by virtue of the past tense? Is criminality to be a matter of dates? "Cameron and his aides protest that drug taking is “a strictly private matter”. Really? Opinion polls suggest that a majority of British citizens take that view, but unfortunately that does not constitute a majority of MPs, least of all Conservative ones. Cameron may have favoured last year’s reclassification of cannabis, but that is trivial. Reform of the 1971 act is now critical to combating the anarchy that the rampant market in drugs has brought to Britain’s towns and cities. Both parties treat it as taboo. "Last week Cameron was given a golden opportunity to break the taboo and win the sympathy of millions of voters, young and old. If he had broken the law he could have said it was a daft law that was wrecking lives less fortunate than his own, and pledged himself to repeal it. Where the state has intruded too far into the private domain, he would drive it out. He would curb the drugs market and tackle addiction other than through imprisonment. In the event he seemed more concerned with the views of backwoodsmen on Planet Suburb. In short, he funked it."

This reporter at the Independent likes Bruce and the BIG CLUB almost as much as we do...

Now that Bahrain are facing Trinidad and Tobago for the honour of being the worst side at the World Cup Finals, I think its worth observing that the penalty fiasco which forced the replay of the Uzbek game was absolutely disgraceful. I am not suggesting that FIFA wanted an oil rich arab state in the Finals but their decision was absurd in the extreme. Looking forwards to the first time a big country tries to exploit the precedent they created.

Bad news on Nelsen- tweaked knee ligaments so is definitely out on Tuesday and highly doubtful for Chelsea. I could have seen Nelsen coping with the huge physicality of Drogba/Crespo but Todd will just lose his rag.

Post match comments relayed on the BBC World Service: Savage: "I knew we would come good in the second half as we are much fitter than they are." (presumably he would know having so recently been a Brum player) Bellamy: "we are such a hard working group of lads that I knew they would make two chances for me as soon as I got on." It is great to see such confidence in their ability, stamina and work rate running through the team. Tremendous credit to Mark Hughes and his backroom team. Once again a dodgy ref. Hate to say it but the game was effectively dominated by him. First ten minutes there were three extremely sloppy passes- one from Gray causing Nelsen's injury as the underhit ball and a determined Heskey (who made an honest studs down ground level attempt to get a ball which was there to be got) arrived at his feet at the same time. Was unfortunate on Nelsen but not a deserved booking for Heskey. After that, Rovers tightened up and were building up a nice head of steam when the ref proceded to make seven mistaken decisions on the run- all favouring Brum. That's what ruined the first half as a spectacle and let the seriously poor Brum have the better of it for twenty minutes- including three corners, every one of which he got wrong. When the penalty came, it was a 50/50 incident but we were so overdue some sort of break I felt it was the least we deserved from the ref and it makes reading the post match comments from Steve Bruce all the more amusing- "the worst penalty decision I have ever seen". From his angle on the touchline, Bruce would have seen Upson hold Dickov then put both arms round Dickov's neck and shoulders from which the wee fellow somehow lost his balance- exactly the same view as the ref had. So a routine no-sweat victory against the BIG CLUB who played as badly as their 19th place deserves. Savage was more subdued than I expected but his tenacity combined with sublime passing from Tugay was the difference between the two sides in midfield. MGP had another quiet game whilst Bentley had me wishing for Emerton who didn't disappoint when he came on. Dickov and Kuqui are not the quality we need unfortunately for all their pressing and discomforting of the opposition central defenders. Dickov's two misses at the end of the first half and the snatched volley wide when unmarked at the start of the second half were seriously bad. Bellamy is at another level and although he got his fair share of criticism at previous clubs for not being a natural finisher, the difference between the way he handled being put through on goal and the way Dickov handled his one-on-one opportunity was immense. The side footed push was the same but look how much closer Bellamy took it to Taylor and how he forced Taylor into moving before he struck. A very quietly satisfying lunchtime. The stone cold look of anger on Gold's face in the stand spells BIG TROUBLE at the BIG CLUB.

Yes- I took a double take when I read it as well! Shame about the prediction but its the real result that counts. Hopefully Brum are going into this match with the same humility Pandiany showed prior to the Brum derby: "Aston Villa are clearly an inferior team to us and we will clearly show that this weekend." Clearly! That said, Brum have been travelling well so far with only one defeat to date. Getting excited about this one- just about to get ready to go to the bar for the build-up.

Unhappy bunnies around Old Trafford

"Relegation battle"? At least the Brummy Big Club seem to know their place now.

Smokescreen. Wouldn't trust anything coming out of that bunch of desparados. They still hate Rovers with a passion over the Savage affair and it will be the first time they will have to face Sav on the pitch. PS If Dunn is out, at least he can watch the match from the Blackburn End.

Dunn lasted 56 minutes and Lazaridis the first half for Brum reserves on Tuesday. Neither Tiny Taylor nor Alex Bruce featured which either means they are injured or are being saved for Saturday. Kuqi's younger brother played as well. My guess is that Dunn will be a sub tomorrow but Bruce might be playing mind games and will start with him and replace him in the second half. It seems unlikely Dunny will get a full 90 minutes.

As you can see from the figures above, tobacco causes far more fatalities proportionately to its adicts than illegal drugs as a category do to those adicted to those products. I am anti-drugs as much as I am anti-tobacco and anti-drunkenness. You actually raise the strongest point in favour of legalisation. In a legalised world, the legitimate organisations selling this stuff would have to get product liability insurance. The victims and victims families who suffer loss would presumably have recourse in law to obtain compensation from the legitimate suppliers. Putting that lot together, the pricing is inevitably going to be a great deal higher (even without taxation) than the cost of an Afghan subsistence farmer tending his poppy crop yet the fact that unadulterated product would be available unlike the junk being peddled now would break the illegal trade.

This was the point I started the thread from. Approximately 11 million British adults have taken illegal drugs. 6,406 drug-related deaths were recorded between 1997 and 2001 in England and Wales: 369 from cocaine, 145 from ecstasy and 5,188 from opiates. In the same period alcohol killed 25,000 to 200,000 and tobacco was involved in about 500,000 fatalities. There is no logical reason for banning drugs whilst tobacco and alcohol are legal. Either ban them all or make them all legal.

This columnist in The Times is an excellent pointer to where society has arrived at concerning drugs. Interesting observation about how totally out of touch the hard right of the Daily Mail is with society and the Tory Party.

Perhaps we'll see another ex-Rover, Alex Bruce, make his debut. Could be interesting to see four ex-Rovers: Taylor, Bruce, Johnson and Dunn on the pitch together. Shame Yorke isn't still there- sounds like they might need him if Sullivan is so upset with Heskey, Pandiani and Forsell.

Assuming Flitty departs at the end of his contract this summer, he could be a good back-up to Sav and the Axe. I see Douglas as being rather similar to Damien Johnson. Not an exciting player but one whose all round game could be good enough to make him a decent Premiership regular.

A very high proportion of the smuggling is down to the creation of alternative business flows created by the enormous drugs business. Interesting to read that comment by the US Senator at the end. He'd legalise "soft" drugs but would get voted out of office. I wonder if there will suddenly be found a majority for legalisation when everybody realises it is a wholly decent and reasonable position to take?

This is very serious for Ronaldo. Given the time it has taken from the incident to the arrest, I'd guess the Police were making sure they have got a case that will stick given the profile. Something is very wrong in football land with two of the most exciting young players coming through in the Premiership facing rape charges.