Three years ago I made a decision that would change my life forever. It is the kind of decision you look back on and think ?Why on earth did I do that??. It seemed a good idea at the time although admittedly, I only did it to be a sheep. I did it because a couple of school friends had done it and I thought if they can I can. Imagine making a decision that often makes you the most unpopular person around. Well, that is exactly what I did when I enrolled on a referee?s course!
(more…)

The last few games have told us something; we are in desperate need of cover in certain positions in our squad!

Tugay is on magnificent form but he can?t run the midfield on his own, which is basically what he has been doing in the absence of Robbie Savage and Steven Reid! Mark Hughes said that Aaron Mokoena would be the first name on his team sheet in a five a side game, but he just isn?t making the cut in centre midfield this season! We miss Reid attacking from midfield and we miss Sav?s battling spirit and never say die attitude! This is why in January we MUST find adequate back up for out centre midfielders!
(more…)

So it looks like Blackburn Rovers? season has finally been kicked into gear, after a poor first few games we are now unbeaten in 6 games (including the two legs of the UEFA cup first round vs. Salzburg).

The new strikers seem to be gelling well, particularly Benni McCarthy, who has the makings of an excellent Premiership striker so far! If Franny Jeffers can continue to perform as he did against Wigan, I will be eating my words (from 11/07/06) sooner than I thought. He didn?t get a goal but he played out of his skin getting a great assist for Bentley?s goal in the process, and being unlucky not to get a goal himself but for a wrongly judged offside decision by the unsurprisingly poor linesman. Shabba has made a good start to his loan spell at Rovers bagging a goal at Middlesbrough, the only fear I have in this case is his injury record! Although we haven?t seen much of Jason Roberts yet in a Rovers shirt we know he can cut it in the Premiership. After being the top scorer at Wigan last season, he reaffirmed this status with a smart pass to set up Benni?s fifth goal of the season against Wigan (and he won?t have an easier one)!
(more…)

Football Punter has gotten over his nightmare at backing both West Brom and Middlesbrough yesterday and has been hot on the trail of the best odds for outright winners of this season’s UEFA Cup after having had time to digest the first round draw as covered live for the British clubs by State of the Game.

Football Punter runs his eye over the available odds from VC Bet and looks for any opportunites for fans of the British clubs to make a few quid off their side in Europe this season.

Spurs may be joint favourites with Sevilla on their European return but what about Newcastle United, West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers, Rangers and Hearts, not forgetting European stalwarts such Ajax, Feyenoord, Celta Vigo and Bayer Leverkusen?

Football Punter has all of the details on UEFA Cup 2006/2007 outright betting.

New signups with VC Bet get a free ?20 bet so click on the link or the banner below and get signed up.

We’ll be covering the draw as it happens for the UEFA Cup first round as British clubs Tottenham Hotpsur, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers, Derry City Hearts and Rangers wait to see who they’ll face.

The first-round matches are played over two legs on 14th and 28th September.

A total of 40 teams will then advance to the group stages, where pools of five teams vie to reach the knockout stages.

The winner, runner-up and third-placed team from each group advance to the last 32 where they are joined by eight clubs knocked out of the Champions League.

The competition will culminate in the final at Hampden Park on the 16th May.

UEFA Cup First round 2006/2007 Draw:

Levadia Tallinn v NEWCASTLE
Molde FK v RANGERS
DERRY CITY v Paris St Germain
Sparta Prague v HEARTS
FC Salzburg v BLACKBURN
WEST HAM v Palermo
Slavia Prague v TOTTENHAM

Monaco hosts today’s UEFA Cup First Round draw as 80 teams prepare themselves for their ticket to a European adventure. While the glitz and glamour of yesterday’s Champion’s League draw mightn’t be quite as evident, the UEFA Cup still holds some of it’s old glory and there is a strong selection of Europe’s big footballing names, both seeded and unseeded, with which to make for an interesting tournament this season.

These 80 sides will play each other home and away before the winners progress to the group stages where eight groups of five teams will play each other once.

For today’s draw the sides have been split into seeded and unseeded groups and then further divided into eight pools of ten teams, five seeded, five unseeded from which the draws will be made. Seeded teams can only play unseeded teams from within their own group or pool. Confused yet? Have a look down the following tables to see which of the British clubs involved (Newcastle United, Rangers, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Hearts, Blackburn Rovers and Derry City) have the toughest possible draw.

We’ll be covering the draw live here at State of the Game from 1200 BST.
(more…)

What a wonderful start to the season, for Portsmouth.

I won?t go into detail about the ins and outs of Saturday?s game, as I?m sure everyone has seen the highlights and read the reports, of what was an abysmal afternoon for Rovers.

The glaring issue that jumps out of the match is the need for video cameras to be used to survey the game to watch out for things that referees may not pick up on in games. Things like a bloody good tackle made by Andy Todd in our box, which subsequently saw Todd sent off, and a penalty awarded in Pompey?s favour.

Ok so it wasn?t clearly a brilliant tackle from the view that the referee had, but video evidence clearly shows Todd getting a foot to the ball, before Kanu fell over him. Fortunately this did not have any bearing on the result of this match as the penalty was saved. However it will have an impact on Wednesdays night?s home game against Everton, since Todd (and Lucas Neill, no arguments there) are both suspended, and Nelsen and Zurab are both still struggling with injuries!

As I said above, with the use of video cameras that officials have access to during the game, this sort of mistake can be prevented, along with disallowed goals (Ask Roy Carroll about that one), and dives (no names need named here, I?m sure everybody can think of someone). As is the case with all debates there are reasons for and against, but in my humble opinion, the reasons for outweigh the reasons against; which include the tradition of the game, and the fact that it may slow the game down.

I?m not going to compare the use of cameras in football to how they are used in rugby league on disputed tries, as I?d like to keep football, and egg chasing as far apart as possible. I think it can definitely benefit football in general and is worth a shot!

The only consolation Rovers will take from Saturday?s farce is that we lost 3-1 to West Ham on the opening day of last season, and managed to bounce back and maintain excellent form throughout the season!

Yours Hopefully…

Chris Lockwood is State of the Game’s new Blackburn Rovers guest columnist

For a long time now I?ve been trying to convince myself that we are not a selling club, but the departure of Craig Bellamy to Liverpool has put the final nail in that particular coffin. Off the top of my head I see Shearer, Duff, and now Bellamy as prime examples of those who set The Premiership alight at Rovers then move on when ?big? clubs come sniffing! At least we know that Robbie Savage is staying put.

So out go Bellamy and Dickov (to Man City) and in come Jason Roberts from Wigan, for an undisclosed fee, Franny Jeffers on a free after being released by Charlton Athletic and young goalkeeper Jason Brown from Swansea. I am excited about the prospect of Jason Roberts, he is a strong player, sharp with a good finish and finished as last years surprise package Wigan?s top scorer.

When it comes to Franny Jeffers, however, I don?t have quite the same enthusiasm. Granted he looked promising in his younger days and he has been blighted by injury, but at his last two clubs (Charlton Atheltic and Rangers (on loan)) he hasn?t exactly enhanced the reputation he once had. I sincerely hope, however, that my initial reservations are proved wrong and he gains the form that other players have under Hughes! To date the only signing that Hughes has made that hasn?t been a good signing, in my opinion, is that short period of time when Youri Djorkaeff wore the famous blue and white halves.

With a few more incoming players expected to bolster this season?s UEFA cup squad, here?s hoping that Hughes can again show his shrewd approach to transfers and bag a few more bargains to add to the Ryan Nelsens and Robbie Savages already on display in our hardworking first team. And that he can hold on to players like Lucas Neill and Morten Gamst Pedersen, who are likely to attract the interest of these ?big clubs?.

As a closing note I would like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to, and thank former Rovers captain Garry Flitcroft, who I?ve heard today has had to retire due to injury. He represented Rovers for almost ten years after signing from Man City for 3.5 million in 1996. He was a great servant to us over those years and its sad to see any player, let alone a long serving Rovers player, have to retire at the young age of 33. I wish him the best of luck in the future, and hope to see him back at Ewood again in whatever role he pursues, unless he becomes manager of Burnley!!