Scotty, it's not a good situation- I'm not pretending otherwise. But equally, I think your assertions are ludicrous. Tell me. I don't know what you do but aren't there other companies in your industry you would fancy working for or other locations you would like to work in? Have you ever been for a job interview whilst still working for another company? If you have, does that make you incapable of working for your existing employer? Sure you get excited at the prospect of moving, get low when it doesn't happen; but you realise you are happy where you are and get on with it. There will be very few people looking at this who will not recognise themselves in those situations. Doesn't mean they are doing a lousy job where they are employed does it? Of course every footballler would play at Stamford Bridge given the chance but they cannot so get on with doing a thoroughly professional job where they are. If your existing employer knows you would prefer to be somewhere else but are basically happy where you are, what does a good and caring employer do? I would suggest he tries to facilitate a transfer making sure no harm is done to his own business but if that is not possible, the employer will sit down and work with you to ensure your motivation and that the disappointment doesn't cloud the fact that you are already happy where you are. That was exactly what Mark Hughes did yesterday- he opened the door for Barry to go to Ibrox so long as Rovers were not damaged financially. I know it is different in the hot house goldfish bowl of football but only by degree. A different analogy. Company A buys Company B for £6.5m and the Directors of Company B sign a four year service contract with Company A. Eighteen months into the Agreement, an Investment Bank comes to the Directors of Company B with a proposal for a Management Buy-Out of Company B and together they table a proposition to buy out for £3m to Company A. Company A is quite happy with the acquisition- its not hitting the top end of forecasts but it is one of the better performing divisions. It is pretty ###### off with what has happened and declines politely and firmly. It indicates it wants a profit from its investment which would suggest an £8m buy-out price, otherwise the matter should be closed. If the Investment Bank and the Company B Directors then persist but now pursue their scheme using non-cooperation to the extent that £3.5m of value is destroyed, then I can promise you, m'learned friends would be briefed, injunctions issued and they'd be seeing each other in the High Court. Football is a different world but not THAT different. My reading of the situation is that in their childish, yah boo (football) way, Brum showed what a football club can do when its best asset decides to hand in a transfer request whilst under a long term contract. The statement by Gordon Taylor that footballers do not have all the power in these contractual situations and that the contract enabled Birmingham to make a substantial gain had two intents: - PR to diffuse any backlash against footballers and the PFA, AND - a clear warning to his members who are on long term contracts that if they put in transfer requests, they can ONLY expect to move if the selling club makes a PROFIT. And by implication, don't expect much more than sympathy from the PFA if it doesn't work out for them if the selling club doesn't make a profit and as a result takes whatever action it deems fit. 1864 Roverite's post at 18.22 yesterday on page 37 sums up the situation exactly as it is. BRFC holds the whole stack of cards. The analogy is perfect- you can have a great hand in the crap game, but you still have to play the hand with skill to win. I'm simply pointing out that Rovers are playing their hand with great skill and to the extent anyone from Rovers read this thread, they need to understand there are supporters out there who: - understand and appreciate that - will be very angry if we loose out financially when we don't need to - will be very happy to welcome Back and be very supportive of Barry Ferguson in the blue and white halved shirt when the club has resolved this mess.

Actually Ranger Rover, I had forgotten about Hendry. Yet another example where the selling club extracted a huge price from the purchaser for a player they did not want to sell but the player wanted to go. As I have previously pointed out, there are parrallel markets depending on the length of contract left. Measured against £8m for Boumsong, £7m for Distan, sure Barry is worth £8.5m. That's the market he is in and saying he is worth no more than £4m is empty- it doesn't buy anything except perhaps a lawsuit from Blackburn Rovers against the player and agent to recover the value they have destroyed. This transfer is particularly odd as the player has by all accounts prevented an open auction in which the Rovers could get highest price. The newspaper cutting quoting David Moyes saying that he would have bid for Barry had the player not said he would only leave Rovers for Rangers is no doubt sitting in an appropriate file. The key difference with Savage and Everton is that Savage rebuffed Everton after Rovers and Brum had agreed a deal and after Brum had made a fat profit on him. There has been no public movement on this matter today so my odds now swing heavilly towards Rangers failing. I am sure the journos are tracking the key people so there are unlikely to be secret meetings happening. One poster on this thread showed how Rangers had already spent the Boumsong money so Murray is clearly going to get nowhere near the Rovers' requirement unless he is willing to lend more personally to Rangers. The only question left on this issue now is how an elegant solution can be engineered for Ferguson to carry on playing with the Rovers.

Teamtalk saying the same thing Meanwhilst the Scots dream on... However, it is interesting to see that the majority of that report is given over to what Blackburn Rovers have to say about it all. Hitherto, the Scottish press were treating this putative transfer as purely a matter of when David Murray applied the coup de grace. It still is if he offers £8m

This is part of the other half of the Soccernet article which appeared about ten minutes ago: "Rangers have already had one £3million offer rejected and Blackburn, who still owe £2.5million from the original £6.5million fee from the Glasgow club, insist they will hold out for much more. "Hughes said: 'It is very difficult for myself and the board to really understand which way this is going to go. " 'Rangers have not come in with anything like a realistic bid and it is very difficult to say which way we can go with it. " 'We will be speaking to Barry and his representatives on Monday and maybe then we will have a clearer picture.' "Ferguson has also handed in a transfer request but Hughes denied it was exactly the same situation as had existed with Savage. "He said: 'The difference is the level we wanted Robbie at. We made Birmingham a significant increase on their investment and Rangers have not on ours and unless they do he will remain our player.' " This is significant in that having effectively called the bluffs of Rangers, Viola and Ferguson, it is the FIRST time Rovers have talked about a transfer fee- A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE OVER OUR INVESTMENT. Of course investment can be interpreted as including wages, expenses and medical fees plus the experience of playing in the Prem So it is put up or shut up for Rangers. They said they wanted it resolved a week before the transfer window closes- here is the chance. Clearly Rovers will be sitting down with Ferguson on Monday either with an acceptable offer from Rangers in hand (highly unlikely) or on the basis of Rangers having failed to follow through and therefore getting him to withdraw his request without the club ever having to refuse his request. If Rangers play games, it is Mark Hughes talking, with JW, the Board and the Walker Trustees all held in reserve. Beginning to look like we might see the Savage/Ferguson partnership make its debut on Monday evening. Which two from Emerton, Thompson and MGP will be with them?

This is half an article which appeared on Soccernet about ten minutes ago- doesn't look like peace is breaking out just yet : Robbie Savage today insisted he will never forgive Birmingham for the way the club treated him before his £3million move to Blackburn. Savage said he had been deeply hurt by being made to train with the youth team and play for the reserves after he handed in a transfer request. The 30-year-old, who was unveiled by Rovers this morning, said: 'I have gone through a lot and I think it had gone too far and had become on a personal level. 'The bottom line is that I'm 30, I'm a father and I was being made to train with the kids or on my own. 'To treat me the way they did was something I could possibly never forgive them for. 'The last couple of weeks have been horrible, I have not been eating through all the stress and worry, I have lost about 8lb. 'Birmingham have been coming out with things about me almost every day and I want to pay tribute to the way Blackburn handled this. I just kept my mouth shut for a change, I wanted to say what I felt but I couldn't.' Savage also responded to criticism of his insistence that moving to Blackburn would make him closer to his parents in Wrexham. 'That was pretty hurtful for people to belittle me and say that Blackburn was further from Wrexham than Birmingham. 'I lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and it took me two-and-a-half hours to get to Wrexham; now I am playing for Blackburn I will find a house in the Cheshire area 35 minutes' drive from my parents.' The Welshman admitted there had been times when he wondered if he had taken the right course of action, such was the vitriolic response from Birmingham fans. He added: 'To put in a transfer request was perhaps a pretty bold thing to do. I'm not sure I was adored by the fans at Birmingham but I think I was respected, and there were times I was thinking if I had done the right thing, but now I'm here at Blackburn I know I have. 'Mark Hughes was my hero, I had pictures of him on my wall when I was eight and I think as a manager he is the best. 'Now I just want to prove myself to the Blackburn fans, £3million for a 30-year-old is quite a lot of money.'

OK fine. But why make the comment without disclosing what it is he knows? Just comes over as a supercilious know-all. Of course there will be a multiplicity of reasons why Ferguson has suddenly pushed a move to Rangers to the top of his agenda. ...and what were the rumours about Cantona?

Its just been confirmed that Ken Bates has bought Leeds for £10m. Doubt it will be as lucrative as the 1p he spent to buy Chelsea or as much fun given Leeds have been busy exiting the property-ownership business already!

Shearer- statistically must be getting towards being one of the top if not the top striker in English football since the war. Will anyone ever equal scoring over 30 goals in three consequetive Premiership seasons? I am keeping my powder dry to advance the case of my second nomination waiting for the second vote. But I am unhesitatingly opting for Simon Garner.

Moerpho, you could be right about the gentleman's agreement with the Board about poaching. Certainly, the Rovers could have made his passage to Newcastloe a lot rougher than it was and no doubt they got something from Newcastle in return. Nothing much in the Scottish Newspapers this morning apart from hopeful comments about the inevitability of Ferguson's return and it only requires an extra £1m on Murray's original offer (you mean raising it to £1.5m ) to secure Blackburn's agreement. Some interesting comments in this article from a journalist who has steadfastly criticised Ferguson's desire to go back to Rangers on footballing grounds. The derision he heaps on Murray's management of Rangers and the extremely tenuous position McLeish's job is in are highlighted. Given Rovers have the larger turnover the comment about Rangers being a much larger club needs a little qualification as well. The comment that Ferguson's "unhappiness" at Blackburn is linked to Souness' departure is another sign that even the enlightened Scots are very out of touch with reality or have chosen to ignore at least two press comments made by Ferguson within the last two months. Elsewhere, I saw a comment that Ferguson's very best mate at Rangers was Craig Moore- of course he is no longer there. However, the most telling observation I saw from north of the border was the comment that if Murray is to succeed in securing Ferguson, he will have to dig deep into his own pocket. Therein lies the rub. Murray is totally exposed on this one. I suspect if he doesn't get Ferguson now, Ferguson will never go back to Rangers. How could he when having publicly encouraged Ferguson to put in the transfer request from Rovers, Murray fails to follow through and pay the neccessary amount to secure the player? One final point for now. The reason why tapping up charges are so rarely seen is that the successful buying club pays enough to buy everyone's silence. Villa got charged by Southampton after an alleged failed tapping up. Rovers might have enough dirt to have the ability either to force Rangers to buy Ferguson at their price (if they want to) or have Viola and Rangers face a UEFA investigation which would be a bit different to the FA exercise O'Leary has just been through. Perhaps someone who knows UEFA rules could help but wouldn't Rangers and Viola be suspended from transfer activity whilst the accusations are investigated?

Gordon Strachan on tapping up with a fleeting reference to Savage. Izzitnot, in my experience Bruce is not nice. He is mean petty and ungracious. But then I've never been on the same side as him having seen Rovers in opposition to him from Gillingham to Birmingham.

Click on the blue writing in the first post.

I love it when these football journos increase their own self-perception of having everyone think they are on the inside and therefore valuable fonts of knowledge who gullible football fans will buy pints for just to listen to the titbits using "I know something but I cannot say it" comments. Phew. Must happen at least two or three times on different subjects every week in the incestuous world of journalists interviewing journalists dressed up as factual programming. Back to Ferguson, the guy is going to have the rather big carrot of re-establishing his reputation if he stays at Ewood. He will also be playing for the Rovers to offer a decently remunerative (as opposed to perfunctory) contract extension. Then it will be the Dunn test. Either he signs up for a two year extension or he gets sold on the Rovers' terms to the highest bidder.

Hasta, you are dead right and that is why it became so acrimonious. If you have ever met Steve Bruce, you will know how conceited and self-righteous he is. He will be in agonies over this. Savage probably brought his parents into this simply because saying "I would prefer to play for Mark Hughes and Mark Bowen" was not going to help matters at St Andrews. Gold and Sullivan have very high opinions of themselves and deep down are probably sore about the cheques they've been writing for messrs Dunn, Taylor and Yorke. I also suspect they would have been uncomfortable about the Yorke abuse row and how they ended up saying different things and backing a player whom they were about to ditch. Having Rovers march in and take Savage in very similar circumstances to how they took Bruce from Palace must have added insult to injury. As for Karen Brady, she's cute and quite sharp but I'm not going to write or say what I really think has been going on there.

Just read that article- sums Birmingham City up perfectly. Conceited, contradictory, abusive, easilly offended and basically ****-scared that with their injuries and loss of Savage, they could be in deep trouble. What a vote of confidence in Diao "Blues Legend"?!? I have got a brain which hordes useless information, particularly remembering players Rovers have played against but no way can I remember this guy playing at Birmingham, Man City or West Brom. Dear old Simon Garner is much more of a national household name. Incidentally, isn't it interesting how people deride history when they don't have any themselves?

At the risk of stirring a hornet's nest but Hughes has said he has never known a dressing room as quiet as Rovers' when he took over. No doubt it was a lot quieter than the one he played in as a Rover. I suspect Todd has got the band because Hughes is signalling it is OK to have a mind of your own and to have disagreed with Souness. That was a huge reason for getting Savage and why he liked Mokoena and Nelsen. That is the typical legacy of a bullying Manager- all the characters, motivators, movers and shapers leave and the timid, the conformist and the downright frightened are left. I am pretty certain the arm band will go to one of the new boys.

Of course Scotty, that would have to be part of the rehabilitation deal. If Rangers are not willing to pay anything like Rovers' asking price and he has stuck himself into this extraordinary "it's only Rangers or Rovers" corner, what other option does he have short of going on strike and losing his income? Incidentally, Birmingham effectively used a lock-out against Savage; footballers' contracts cannot be that good then.

Krislu, John Williams has said the £2.1m (the real number) will be paid when it is due at the end of August and is irrelevant so far as the Rovers are concerned. Scotty, I think Murray's reputation is massively overdone when it comes to running the business called Glasgow Rangers. Look at the Gers' fans' forums- they clearly think there is a high bullshit factor so far as their Chairman is concerned. The guy has made a fool of himself on the Ferguson deal already- most statements he has made have included a significant inaccuracy which was easilly disproved. Rangers did a Leeds and plunged £75m into debt, but unlike Leeds, Murray was able to bail them out through his own pocket. Over recent years, Rangers have been a selling club because of the huge debts- in the last two and a half seasons their transfers out raked in £35m whilst transfers in cost £9m- of that £6m went on Arteta and £1m on Mladenovic. Neither could be said to be good deals. In the good old days, Murray blew £12m on Torre Andre Flo from Chelsea and an amazing £5.5m on Andre Kanchelskis from Fiorentina when the winger was already way past it (basically dumped out of Everton) and Fiorentina were as good as bust. My candid view is that Viola has set this thing up too soon for Rangers who cannot afford Ferguson without the certainty of Champions League Group matches which they won't have until late August- if they qualify. Murray probably planned to bank the Boumsong windfall and is being opportunist in reacting to events rather than determined about Ferguson. In fact, I would go so far as to hazard a guess that the bad timing is in part due to McLeish desperately trying to save himself from the sack and in part to Viola working the Fergusons very hard to get them to say they want to go to Glasgow strongly enough then jumping the moment he got the words he wanted (Bryan's very good point about the poor timing relative to the window and remember it took John Williams to bring the matter to a head). Nobody has got Ferguson to say they he has changed his mind about being happy in the Blackburn area or Barry's satisfaction with the Hughes team and the way they are going about things. Your point about the fans would carry a little more validity if Ferguson had come out slagging off us or the club. However, I think Hughes has established such a high regard with the fans that if he as our Manager continues to throw his weight behind Ferguson, the fans will follow.

Scotty, of course it is not a good position to be in and I am sure deep down the Rovers hierarchy are livid that this has happened when they should be using the window for securing targets and off loading players they adjudge as dispensable. By strong, I am saying the club's negotiating position against Rangers and Viola is strong just as Gordon Taylor pointed out very publicly this morning. Time is on the Rovers' side and they are using that and their public statements to perfection. City have stonewalled Newcastle into offering £7m for Distan this evening. A very ordinary player. Rangers have already benefitted to the tune of £8m from Souness splashing Fat Freddie's dosh. Is Ferguson as good as Boumsong, better, 75% as good or only half as good? To all intents and purposes, 3.5 years left on a contract are as good as 2.5 years for all Murray's pseudo bullshit seven days ago. Here's another one for you, which of Boumsong or Ferguson would sell more shirts in the Ibrox shop? The club owns the shirt. Rangers cannot pretend they are not receiving an unplanned £8m from Boumsong. So fair dos, they should hand it over if they want Ferguson.

Come on Izzitnot, allow us the moment of excitement at signing a new player. Do you know whether Savage can play on April 30 or not? There seem to be so many different stories going about. How roused are the Birmingham rabble that Sullivan is rabble rousing?

A slightly more robust version of what John Williams has said already. Head in the sand time BP- you can see that clubs are paying big money to get target players who are on contracts of over two years' duration. You ducked the straight question that if Rangers and Birmingham got huge fees for Boumsong and Savage (and it looks like City will get a ridiculous amount for Distan) why on earth shouldn't Rovers also get a huge fee for Ferguson? The Walker Trustees own the club and John Williams would not have said what he did about the Board being sacked if they take a £3.5m loss on Ferguson without a nod from Jersey. The Trustees is where the ultimate decision will be taken, certainly not by bitter fans, not by Barry Ferguson, not John Viola and David Murray's only role is to sign a very substantial cheque, or not as the case may be. If Ferguson stays, it is up to him to win the fans back onto his side. You can boo him, the majority will not if the PR is handled OK. The fans can't even get Matteo dropped so they are hardly going to force Ferguson out of the club now are they? Mark Hughes is making it very clear he wants Ferguson to stay and no doubt he will tell the fans that again in his usual clear style if Ferguson stays. Are you going to boo Sparky for that? So, taking your premises, firstly if Rangers don't want him badly enough, he's not going back. Secondly, the fans can be won round. (Go back through this thread, what %age are from Rovers fans implacably opposed to Ferguson even now?) The Rovers are in a strong position. In the last 24 hours or so, Rangers, Viola and Ferguson have done nothing in the face of Williams' obvious delaying tactics. The Rovers' position has strengthened with the effluxion of time as of today (of course it could change tomorrow and we don't know what is going on behind the scenes). Next week is the last week of the window by which time Murray has publicly said if Ferguson has not got himself out of Ewood Park, he will be looking elsewhere for a midfielder. At the moment, everything is being handled in a respectful gentlemanly manner at Ewood and no bridges are being burnt unlike the shrill screaming which is still going on down at St Andrew's so I believe it is perfectly possible for Ferguson to come back into the fold. My gut feel is that Rangers are too far down the road on this one and that Ferguson will go to them on a transfer formula which allows Rovers to recoup ALL the transfer fees paid AND give us opportunity for upside. It may take another Premiership club to come in or an intemperate outburst by Viola "speaking for Barry" to push it along but that is my 50% outcome with the player staying at Ewood or going to another Premiership club both of which I would put at 25% likelihood. If there are no public developments by Monday morning and we are still waiting for Rovers' response to the transfer request, it will have shifted to 50% on Ferguson staying.

Rovers winning a riproaring local derby on Monday night and a satisfactory resolution of the Ferguson saga (be it a chastened BF declaring undying loyalty to Ewood Park or a very substantial transfer fee) would help as well.

The Brummies are laughing about that interview. Apparently when Savage starts making exaggerated movements not to look at the camera, he is not to bew trusted.

Welcome back. Thank God you are OK. Have you seen the pictures on the thread about it on the official site?

is that the A330-200 or -300 series? The technical answers are here. (I was a little bit out by the way). The perjorative answer is a hell of a lot further than Barry Ferguson.

Gives a huge incentive to beat Colchester first time! Otherwise we are looking at playing the top 6 in the Prem in 6 consequetive games with presumably the rescheduling of the Liverpool game (for the League Cup Final) taking precedence over Norwich given Norwich are also out of the FA Cup and Liverpool have European Cup commitments.