Couple of interesting scores lower down. Rochdale 4 up in the first 25- when did that last happen at Spotland? Ugarte already has a hattrick for Wrexham at Stockport. Leading 4-1 away not doing them much good because other scores and their 10 points deduction are conspiring to send them down at the moment.

Jon Stead 1 ******0

No this has to do. Southampton equaliser and City in the lead.

Norwich and Boro both score early. Very quiet at st andrew's. Elsewhere, Celtic are 1 down at home to Hibs- understandable, who'd want to win the SPL anyway? and Ipswich have got an early goal against Crewe to set nerves going in Wigan.

I remember him scoring a very nice goal for us at Sheffield Wednesday. ....and didn't he get a brace in the 5-2 against Newcastle?

Mark Lawrenson predicts defeat for the Rovers so God is in his Heaven and all's well with the world! He also makes a snyde remark about Savage despite the official announcement about honouring the gentleman's agreement is several hours old now. Just looked at the table- defeat in this one and we could drop two places very easilly, three if Pompey win at Man City. Very important not to lose it if we are to build a decent transfer kitty. With Sav out, I feel a bit more optimistic about our chances, especially when I think back to watching Brum's no show effort in their 3-0 humiliation by Citeh.

The BBC preview speculates about Savage recovering in time to play. Sky Sports quotes Mark Hughes in saying the Rovers will honour a gentleman's agreement not to play Savage.

An out of court settlement is not a foregone conclusion but I would be surprised if one is not reached. The cost to the insurance industry of the trial upholding the original verdict is too great for them to risk it is my guess.

Bazza - the Rovers will receive a pay-out. The amount is the issue. FLB- the Rovers will not receive more than the the original award. That sort of extortion is not exactly legal! Anyway, all the information as far as we have it is on the thread.

Well £xm "other" would be a give-away but the players' account is usually well over £10m of income and expenditure. Plus the amount could legitimately be split into the component elements the insurance could be argued as providing cover for (loss of gate income, loss of club winnings, medical fees, wages spent on an unavailable player etc.) then the club could also put a monetary amount on time and expenses involved in pursuing the claim and allocate a proportion against that. Lets hope the club is in the happy position of receiving a sufficiently large sum that disguising it in the accounts is a problem.

If it is settled this year- yes. If the Rovers want to honour a confidentiality agreement with the Insurance industry in any settlement, there are a few captions in the published accounts where even quite a large number could be "lost" under.

Quite possibly a mamoth game for Spuds contesting 7th place and entry into the UEFA Cup. In all likelihood at least £500K at stake for the Rovers as well. Perhaps Hughesy can join in the fun?

Souness and the cartoons bottom at Christmas will do me fine so long as we beat them on the way. Martin O'Neill doesn't seem to be having Bellaritis but I have to share the concerns expressed. Then again, Benni is no saint either.

No Speed of thought not quick enough out wide so no way can he be relied upon to lead the line.

0-0 draw. The really ugly one was at the Hawthorns looking bored tonight. Don't think he will mave learnt anything to tell his blue nosed underlings. Wonder if there will be a bunfight in the Boardroom.

Got home from watching both games. AC were no way two goals better than PSV but PSV froze in front of goal and that certainly went for the guy with the complicated name we are supposed to be watching. At The Hawthorns, I thought the ref was a disgusting homer. Many of the pro-West Brom decisions were dubious and MGP certainly pulled out of the collision with Hoult for which he and Lucas both got booked. Rovers controlled the game, were clearly the better side but are so utterly toothless going forwards it is embarassing. Eventually, something was going to break and Stead was so unlucky with his shot, Emo took his chance well and yet again Reid had a great chance in injury time which he flashed wide. The problem is not Stead, it is the play of Emo and MGP. Emo seems incapable of selecting the right ball and MGP's thought processes are simply not fast enough for the Premiership yet.

ditto

Sorry the site was hanging when I pressed enter.

The original judgement was I believe in favour of upholding Rovers' claim for £4m payout under the insurance policy for Dahlin plus £500K costs. If Rovers win the Dahlin case, they will immediately claim for Peacock as well- reported to be worth something over £1m in potential payout. Obviously if there is a non-disclosed settlement, Rovers cannot pretend not to know what it is even the rest of the world is kept in the dark. Therefore, it is inevitable that in any out-of-court settlement both parties will want to wrap the Peacock case into the agreement otherwise the Rovers would go straight back to Court and start to chase that settlement using the knowledge gained from fighting the Dahlin case. The Insurance Industry is probably far more worried about stting an exploitable precedent for the rest of pro sports to make successful claims under than they are about whether they pay the Rovers something over £5m or not. As Revidge I think pointed out, the Appeal did not so much over-turn the original verdict as held there were other factors to be brought into consideration in determining the quantum to be paid out. It therefore invited both sides to settle or go to trial. So long as the Rovers convince the Insurance Industry that they have the determination and cash to go to trial (where the Walker Trust parent comes in), the Insurance Industry will be very nervous about fighting such a case in open Court which could set highly expensive precedents against it. I suspect and hope the Rovers will be able to drive a very beneficial but utterly secretive out-of-court settlement. The give away would be a brief statement presented to the court that both sides have agreed and the case is withdrawn.

I would imagine that Rovers would negotiate in a very tough way in the out-of-court settlement attempt: 1) They will have to show support of the Walker Trust and convince the insurance industry of the Walker trust's determination to fight this one in Court- if they do, the insurance industry knows that the WT pockets are deep enough to take them on. 2) There is a decent enough track record of trials in Court supporting the original judgement. 3) The Insurance Industry must be paranoid about the original judgement being upheld in a public trial- it would cost them a fortune if everybody holding a sports injury case used it against them. That has got to be worth something to make the Rovers go away. I hope that we never get to hear what the settlement was for but that a settlement is reached (for Peacock as well as Dahlin). That way the Rovers get their cash in time for the summer market and the insurance industry avoids their test case judgement.

waggy you are like a broken record! Brum and Fulham can overtake us at the cost of £500K each (plus Newcastle and Pompey sneeking through to take another 2x £500K). If we win those two games and overtake some of the clubs above us, there are more £500Ks to be won. In short, there are a couple of year's funding of the Academy or a signing still at stake in this season. Nobody is arguing that any of the youngsters are close enough for the first team- even your mate Rover6 is not running an equivalent of "pick Donnelly" for any of the current youngsters. Give them a run now and you'll destroy them rather than save us a transfer fee.

The Baggies went 3-0 up in the first half. We pulled it back to 3-2. I think one of Garner's first goals for us was our second. 18,000 gate and a lot of Rovers supporters there. "oh I do like to be beside the seaside... ...f.... o... West Brom" Remember that one? Like other posters on this web site, I used to go to watch the Baggies in the late '70s when I could. They were a marvelously entertaining side who could destroy any opposition on their day. Sadly, WBA never had the motivation to hit the heights they should have. Junky Johnson was one of the best wingers I have ever seen.

From the BBC: Uefa is considering a change to the rules regarding Champions League qualification that could see Everton overtake Liverpool even if the Reds win the competition this year. (Daily Express, The Times) Looks like I am not alone in thinking its a UEFA rule Rev.

I like our new hard boy image. Was down the Britannia Bar in Gzira watching the Mancs play Souness Pansies and started getting some stick for supporting the Rovers. All I had to say was "we will kick you" and the bar fell silent.

Follow Follow in its entirety shows that Glaswegian comedy didn't die when Billy Connelly shagged Pamela Stevenson under the table in a Wimpy Bar then left for Hollywood.