Old Bay

I really hope Leicester hold on. East Lancashire Derby this weekend. Plans of Rovers fans to wear dust masks at Turf Moor as to not 'catch a disease' while in Burnley.

Probably could go in the Owned Thread, too, but Ben Marshall got drilled by some friendly fire (Simeon Jackson) in our victory over Boro on Tuesday.

Hooray, I can play, too!

China drawing more players with major cash splurges. FIFA's going to have to get that league on board if big names keep going over there.

Bummer, Liverpool. You could've had a chance to knock us out 2 years in a row (highly likely).

With these massive TV deals they're telling fans that that money and experience is just as good and in some cases better than the real thing. Television is often more affordable/attractive than the actual game day experience. I guess they'll push until it's broken, but it seems like a contradictory way to run things.

Franchise versus club is a huge difference. I know the Premiership and FA work together and stuff, but it seems more like a patchwork confederation than a solid front like any of the leagues over here. But maybe my interpretation is off. And there's no sort of relegation system in the US that I'm aware of. But, it's not just American investors that are bad, though I guess there hasn't been an example of a good one yet in the English game? But getting someone to run the club that's solid is also very important outside of investment. Venky's messed that up, trusted the wrong people and we've had a bad 5 or so years because of it. Seem to be working their way out of it, but you never know. I don't think Blackburn has fully gotten into the '20 is plenty' and other types of campaigns but their ticket prices are generally some of (if not the) lowest in the divisions they've been in. I don't think they've raised prices once since they've taken over.

Such a terrible tactic. It should be the opposite approach.

Meant to pop in here after the transfer deadline but I've been under the weather. Blackburn business for anyone interested (just me?...ok...) In Danny Graham (loan) Tony Watt (loan to purchase) Elliot Bennett Simeon Jackson Jordi Gomez (loan) Elliott Ward Out Jordan Rhodes (Middlesbrough) Marcus Olsson (Derby) Sacha Petshi (US Cretel-Lusitanos) Bengali-Fode Koita (Kasimpasa) Tom Lawrence (Cardiff) Shame to see Rhodes and Olsson go. Olsson was, in my mind, our best left back and our player of the year last year. He wasn't going to resign, though, and was out of contract this summer. We got nearly 1 million for him so that was good business. Rhodes had been wanting to leave for a while and I can't blame him. The dealings this go 'round with Boro were maddening as the deal was on again off again and didn't go to late and hampered any last day business we may have been interested in. He was by far our top scorer but he didn't really look settled with Lambert in charge, with the money we got from him I think Lambert can build the squad the way he wants it. Didn't look like Rhodes was fitting his style. Petshi never played and Koita looked lost, so just getting them off the books. Wish them all well, and both Rhodes and Olsson may see Premiership football soon. Needed a creative midfielder, pace and a decent target man (Chris Brown not that good). Got all of that in this window. Even got cover for the defense in Ward and he looked solid in the FA Cup. Still weaknesses in the team, don't even know how all these new guys will pan out, but it's a start.

Such a waste, that's a shame.

Wow, Byram's been a highly rated young'un for a while so it's good to see him test himself in the Premiership. But at the same time the feeder club thing really stinks. Though he's not been but a utility man for United I'm still somewhat morose about losing Phil Jones. Outside of Henley and Hanley he was the last of our youth (and the last best). I don't think our academy is all that good right now. There's a lot of young guys I hear about but none of them are really getting a shot in the first team which isn't really promising.

Rovers have signed Danny Graham on loan. We score no goals now, not sure if Graham will change that. There's been rumors that we are after Wes Hoolihan which I just can't see happening. Ah, and we just signed Elliott Ward on a free from Bournemouth. Good cover at the back considering we're kind of thin there. Though, our defense is playing well now. If we could get the defense of Lambert and the offense of Bowyer going together we'd be in good shape.

Little heavy on the profanity, but I do like his takes. He gets pretty insane, lol.

Hey, you guys could still have Andy Carroll. I hear he's back on the training table, so I'm sure you could get him back for cheapish.

Was hoping Hue Jackson wouldn't go to the Eagles. Wish him well in Cleveland, he's got a tall task ahead. He did great in what limited time he had in Oakland so if anyone can do it, it's probably him. I understand the Giants not wanting to change things too much on Eli, but forcing out Coughlin and then just letting everything else ride is just weird. I don't think it's going to work as I don't really think the problem was Coughlin. We'll see, I guess, but I think it's got failure written all over it.

QPR effect.

Coughlin walked right past Mara without acknowledging him after his departing press conference. Looks like he was pushed out then, which I figured. Retiring/resigning lets Coughlin save face. http://dailysnark.com/tom-coughlin-gives-giants-ceo-john-mara-cold-shoulder-leaving-press-conference/

Watching interviews, etc. of Klopp, I really like him.

ES soccer fight: https://youtu.be/hEZrDJSOJA0?t=3m

I'm not a local, so I'm not sure my vitriol could match. Some of the things I've seen my fellow fans say makes me blush.

I feel like I need to start a feud with the Leeds supporters to keep pace in here.

Yup. I saved that documentary dealy for later. I enjoy watching that sort of thing.

Unleash Roberto Di Matteo... Early link between Blackburn and Kenwyne Jones.

Yeah, gotten out of the group once. Not super illustrious there.

Just so you Liverpudlians know how much you've gotten into my brain... In my FIFA career with Blackburn I'm in the Europa league and doing well above my hopes and expectation, which was to just get out of the group. I'm in the quarter finals against Liverpool and my immediate thought was "I need to win now or I'll never hear the end of it from those guys on ES."