Right now I wish I could just stop supporting this club, that is just how upset I am with that team. Sadly, this is the same day that I'm buying myself a new shirt, the life of a footballer supporter eh?

Well, I've had a little time to reflect and I feel a little better about it, but only a little. I do feel very let down by the team, who we all hoped would simply continue as last season, instead we will have kept the bully boy tag and we've been played off of the park, well done boys. Let's hope we don't come across anymore 39 year olds, then we really might be in trouble.

I'll start it. 5-0 Fulham. (whenever I say we'll lose we win...so it's pessimism in an optimistic way.)

Well couldn't be much more upset. Totally let us down, especially after the first 20 minutes seemed to be us pushing for that workmanlike win. Can't believe, just wish I could each player a punch right now. We need to add players to this squad...optimism gone.

That gave me a good laugh, you'd have no idea how many fall for that trick. Best way to get out of them is to just tell them that they didn't ask you and that you have no money so tough titties.

450-500. The next partnership will really decide the sort of score we are looking at. If they put on 100 then a big 500+ score is there for the taking, anything over 500 would be great.

Well the previews are flooding in thick and fast it appears, three up now and we haven't even played a game. Do remember that when I wrote this I thought I wouldn't be putting it up until after the West Ham game, so thought the season would actually be officially underway. Well the football season is underway and life can once again return to normal. After a long summer of being linked with players left, right and centre and attempting to get that sporting fix from tennis, rugby, cricket and athletics we can finally turn our attention back to events on the hallow turf of Ewood Park. For a first home game of the season we face a Fulham side that has changed little during the transfer window from the side that we played in our last game of the 2003-2004 season. Apart from losing perhaps their best, if not certainly one of their most influential players, they have had a few relatively minor comings and goings. Perhaps the one piece of good news is that this year we need not fear the chance of Andrew Cole scoring a goal against his old club. Our encounters will Fulham over the past few seasons seem to have always turned out to be significant, and are almost always good indicators of the state of our season. Just last year our 2-0 away win was the turning point in our fight against relegation, the time when Souey’s Sissys turned into Hughes’ Heroes. While our emphatic 4-0 win at Craven Cottage a couple of seasons ago was when Souness’ side perhaps reached its greatest point, and the only game any of us will remember Hakan Suker for. In many ways though, our clubs are the total opposites of one another. Though we can both consider ourselves to be two of the smaller sides in the division, based on fan base, stadium and media coverage, they are the flashy Londoners and we are the unassuming boys from Lancashire. When promoted they claimed that they would soon be challenging the likes of Manchester United for the title, we just hoped that we would stay up. Harrods United have always been the slick team, nice to look at but never quite fulfil either the potential or the hype. We go about our business and no one really cares, apart from when we’ve done something horrible like upset an arrogant Portuguese man. Hopefully this season we can continue to separate ourselves from the likes of Fulham, teams who are exactly what the media and the rest of the Premiership would like them to be. We may not always be pretty, nor pack the stadium, but hopefully this year we will see a continuation of what we achieved last term, and that would include getting results. Finally, my last point for any visiting Fulham fans who may think I’ve talked ourselves up too much: at least when we had a sugar daddy we did it right…

Well I have my preview for the Fulham game all done but I was going to wait until Saturday night or Sunday to post it, but I guess I should put it up today, but after that nice long piece you've written I should probably add something to it, thanks for making my life even harder philipl! Great preview. I don't have a great feeling about it either, but who knows, have to see what early season form is like, but a game we could win.

If you have one of those little handheld radio things where you can listen to radio 4 longwave while there it's useful, depending on where your seat is seeing exactly what is going on all day can be difficult. Make sure you have someone to talk to. I don't think it should be too much of a problem because I expect this game to be much like the last two and be very exciting, but a couple of years ago I went to England against South Africa at Lords and sat there all day while south africa piled on the runs. No wickets were taken until the very end of play, if memory serves mcgrath bowled smith, this happened while I was walking out. Hearing the massive roar was the first time I found england taking a wicket depressing. The atmosphere and the great cricket mean that I'm sure you'll have do little to enjoy it, just hope for an england win!

The last time we had a great start to the premiership season we were total pants for the rest of it, so I won't read too much into the result either way.

I think most thought England were gone at that point, obviously they hadn't stopped trying, as the result proved, but a win was looking unlikely, so I don't blame him for saying it, he was just being honest. I know from playing sport that there are times when you feel the game running away from you and you know it, but you don't stop trying to turn the tide, but part of actually being able to do that is realising the exact situation you are in. When it comes to Brett Lee I actually think being dropped for the 17 months, or whatever it was, was the best thing to happen to him. Before then he was a total prat, since then he seems a bit less full of himself and does just get on with it. Couldn't stand him before, but he's alright now.

There was no doubting Jansen's quality, and had it not been for that injury I'm sure he would be in the England squad now. He had an intelligance to his game that can't be taught, combined with great ability, and of course the advantage of having a left foot. Since his injury he has shown glimpses of his old self, with a few very well taken goals, but simply can't do it game in game out. This does make it clear that whatever problems are still there are mental rather than physical, hopefully he can over come them, until then we all live in hope, if Jansen was back to his old self than Jansen and Bellamy would certainly be one of the best pairings in the premiership. For anyone to knock the Jansen of old is simply ridiculous. I can understand why some believe that by now we should have moved on, given up hope and let him go, but what the boy did before his injury was great. If only we could get it back.

Add to that the fact that in past ashes series we've been plagued by injuries, never heard the aussies calling it a hollow victory. Let's not be too english.

Aye thanks for that...really puts some pressure on me to produce something good with the second one! Good preview though and hopefully it will be an equally good start to the season for us. A win would be nice, certainly possible and really these are the sort of games we have to win if we do want to push into the top half of the table (interesting that after the community shield coverage on sky they mentioned us as a possibility for pushing into the top 6...quite a change eh?). Having said that, if we do lose it isn't the end of the world and what I'll be more interested in is the performance. If we can look like scoring, continue to look solid at the back and just have that same attitude about us then I'll be happy.

Most certainly the greatest ever test I've watched. The range of emotions from day 1 to day 4 was almost unbelievable. I couldn't watch towards the end of that, but the feeling of winning was fantasic, leave it to England though to do it in the most difficult way. Well done boys, let's just follow this up with 3 more good performances.

The first lesson I was taught about Cricket, one that I'll live and die by one, is that you can't know what a good score is until you've seen both teams bat. Just over 400 seems a bit low, but I doubt it is so low that Australia will be able to post a target that in itself would put England out of the game. At the same time, if Australia are all out for 300 or less, with them batting last they could easily find themselves in a very difficult situation. Should we have scored more? Yes, but hell did I enjoy todays cricket. I couldn't stop watching and I was never bored, and isn't that what sport is about, entertainment? Hopefully tomorrow will skittle them out and everything will be great, it probably won't happen, but I enjoyed today. If England can entertain me then I'm happy. Let the ageing aussies have their last day out. We had a small glimpse of Australia without McGrath today, imagine them in a couple years without a few more of their 32+ players.

Or perhaps he sees shifting Enks on as a way to make some good money. If we can find a free replacement to be the back-up keeper who can do the job in a decent manner, considering how infrequently Friedel is injured, then we may be able to get, let's say, 800k-1 million for Enks and then use that money in areas of the team that need to be improved. Perhaps not a smart move considering Brads age, but just an idea.

Yes, all are good, though the rollerblading is only on friday nights.

Just a few other good tips for you. Make sure that you go to Sacre Coeur, a lot of people don't go, despite the beauty of the site as well as the stunning view, great art on show in the area as well, just watch out for the odd pick-pocket. A boat ride on the river is also nice, you get to see basically everything all in one go and it is also very relaxing.

I'm sure that as soon one of the big jobs does become available you'll be hearing O'Neill's name again.

Don't worry Bryan...Hopefully you'll eventually have me!

Well the target wasn't under 350, if it had been and we had been 80-0 I think the Aussies would have been worried and those coming in next would have been in a postive frame of mind and not felt like they were fighting a losing battle. Whether or not that would have really helped our failing middle order I'm not sure, but it's nice to think that it would have.

This is horrible to say, but at least he wasn't arab.

The only good thing you can say about Kidd is that he bought Jansen.

It's got a few hills, plus one big rise around the middle which is a really big test (where most will give up), so be prepared for that. Really though, if you are a good runner and have been doing training it should be a breeze. Not sure if I'll be doing in this year because of going to univeristy, but if I do I look forward to seeing that blur!