Here’s whats been going on:

First off, Sunderland stole three points from us. With more corners, shots, and two disallowed goals, stole is the only word to use.

Sam comments on the Rovers’ luck and even about Stephen Warnock here…click BBC Sport.

But Sam is resigned to him leaving with Villa still putting bids in…..click FoxSports.

And on top of All that….Injuries out the arse.

Cup tie against League One side Gillingham tomorrow. Really hope we don’t slip and bow it here; the lads really need the morale boost. Highlights from the Black Cats game after the jump.

You can read the article here (click) and from some of the quotes, you can almost sense Nelson being just as annoyed with all the speculation and being linked to EVERY striker in the world.

“The club is being linked with different strikers everyday, but we ignore all the speculation. We are just concentrating on getting ready for the new season.”

Solid, that’s what I want to hear coming from the Captain leading the squad through pre season. Let’s see what else he had to say…

“I am sure the manager will make the right decision in the market, his track record suggests he will. Until then, we will carry on doing what we are doing and looking forward to the season.”

Sounds like he has more than enough confidence in Big Sam and how he is handling the transfer window, while still pushing the fact that we do NEED a striker. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

What it comes down to though, is Rovers have to play the waiting game. We need that one transfer to spark the movement in the market, because right now, we have a ton of strikers looing to move at silly prices. Once someone lowers their fee and gets snapped up, a lot of other striker will follow suit.

Case and point, Sunderland took their bid off the table for Peter Crouch today, not going to wait around to pay silly prices. So it would seem that all clubs that aren’t Man Citeh are content to sit and bide their time while they wait for some sense to be knocked into the transfer market. Smart, calm, and wise I’d say.

But as a fan, the waiting is horrible for my mental health and my nerves as everyday I look to see who we’ve signed, only to be linked to another striker I’ve never heard of.

Hang in there my friends, this has to turn out right in the end. Or else we’re screwed. UP THE ROVERS!

During a slow news week, figured any news is news. Hopefully we can pull Sbragia from Sunderland to fill the role.

Rovers are just wrapping up a friendly against Cambridge United away, so hopefully I can find some highlights and a few reports to write up a report tonight. Any transfer news not a blatant rumor, we’ll have it up here for debate and discussion. Till then, UP THE ROVERS!

In this interview with SkySports, Sam talks about how Ruud is now out of contention and the Rovers attention.

“I think probably Ruud, from a salary point of view, is out of our reach. And I think he is not going to be fit until September, so that is not going to be what we are looking for at the moment.”

Not what we’re looking for. He’s gotta be healthy and he’s gotta accept a lower salary and neither of those things seem to be happening. However, take a listen to that interview on the video before the article. We see how Sam hasn’t brought in a striker yet. In the interview he says he’s waiting to see who some other teams bring in. Looks like we’re waiting to see who’s going to get off loaded and pick up a striker with some Prem experience. Could turn out to be a good move. We’ll see.

Moving On…..

Peter Crouch has been ruled out after the £14million price tag has left Rovers realistically out of the picture of swaying him from Portsmouth. Not too upset about that one, never really believed the rumors he would move here.

Christian Vieri is training with the club now, according to SkySports. Why Rovers? 35 year old washed up striker, so why? I don’t think this will amount to anything. We don’t need another Fowler running around taking up wages and space….and food.

The DailyMail is reporting today that Chelski new boy Yuri Zhirkov is a Blackburn Rovers fan! Hm…how long is his contract for again?

In other linkage, I will now steal a segment from Around the Horn, a show on ESPN in America, called BUY or SELL!

Daily mail linking us to Luis Garcia? Sell.

The Mirror has linked Ricky Sbragia with a move to the backroom of Rovers as Ince steals mate Robinson back to MK Dons with him. Buy or Sell? I’m going to sell this one. But not because I wouldn’t like to see Sbragia at Rovers. The guy knows his stuff and could only help BFS. Selling because he has a job for life at Sunderland and probably wouldn’t leave for us.

That’s all for now, comments are always welcomed and encouraged. I would love to have a new striker to write about soon, but we’ll have to wait and see. UP THE ROVERS!

Everybody (well, two places off the top of my search) seems to be linking us to Tal Ben-Haim. Reports say him and his old Gaffer, our very own big Sam, worked well together so Sam is lining up a bid. We’ll see.

Greeks table Derbyshire bid. Or so SkySports says. The end of the article is probably the most correct thing about it, saying Sam will probably need some time sizing up the squad before a decision.

We shall see…..

The legendary Brad Friedel returns to Ewood Park tomorrow as Aston Villa visit for a Premier League clash. It’s no secret as to the quality of the Villa side this year as they’re riding high in 4th and have been unbeaten in their last 6 with 4 wins. I’m not sure what MON is up to over there, but it is clearly working. The best owner is one we don’t hear about and Randy Learner is only ever being talked about for all the right reasons. That being said, this isn’t the Villa blog so down to the business end of things. (I just like Villa as they can hopefully break the “Big 4’s” hold on the Prem and Champs League)
Ince’s side were beaten 3-2 earlier in the league this year and having been unbeaten under SA, Rovers look to avenge that loss. With (shudder) Diouf (ugh I hate it) RSC, Benni Mac and Jase Robs all available, the upfront is looking formidable. The midfield starting 4 is anyone’s guess because I can’t be too sure anyone knows who will be in the starting XI, not even SA. And according to this report click, SA is loving the selection dilemma. From the official site here:

“Boss Sam Allardyce will be missing only long-term absentees Steven Reid and Brett Emerton for the visit of Martin O’Neill’s side tomorrow afternoon.”

The back four looks alright with everyone available, although maybe Ooijer could do some good not in the starting XI as Villa’s pace on the break would maybe suit Zurab better.

All being told, I’d be more than happy with a point from this match, however, I think it could go 2-1 either way. Here’s hoping it’s the Rovers way. UP THE ROVERS!!

And the Outs?
Frank Fielding (Rochdale, loan)
Eddie Nolan (Preston, undisclosed)
Sergio Peter (Sparta Prague, £500,000)
Jamie Clarke (Rotherham, free)

So only a net loss of £2.5m and we held on to Roque. But Emerton has been ruled out for the season and we didn’t get a center midfielder. This leaves me a tad but worried plus I’m still trying to handle how I should be feeling about Spit theDoof on our team. Rovers take on Sunderland…again…today at 20:00 GST or 3pm EST. Hopefully a nice win will boost us into a strong winning run. As always, comments to help me retain my sanity or provide clarity (particularly on why we signed Spit) is always a help. UP THE ROVERS!

Side note: As you saw we draw Sunderland this weekend, so that means we get to play them AGAINNNN. FUNNN. not. Tedious and annoying. Yes.

Match tomorrow. Bolton sit only two points above us and a full three points tomorrow would 100% percent turn the season around. Grella, Dunn, Derbs, Roberts, and Ooijer are all likely to be fit as well, which is a huge boost to the squad which was looking borderline depleted. BFS playing his old club will be a good tie for him to stamp his name on his Rovers career start and could continue the climb back up the ladder. Hopefully will get to see the match, if I do, will be live blogging. If not, highlights as soon as I can get em. This one is huge. UP THE ROVERS!

A Big Sam soundbite and some interesting facts here. IE: Blyth Spartans are 118 places below Blackburn in football’s pyramid system.

A preview from The Guardian with some cheek quotes in it.

Big Sam- “Nothing to gain and everything to lose.”

Also, the winner of this Match will face…Sunderland! Again! Really……again. I’m starting to dislike them simply due to playing them so much, but not a terrible draw and we didn’t draw the links of Man U, Villa or Chelsea.

Maybe a live blog later on today, but for now UP THE ROVERS!….(who should win 7-0)