asks Stan.

I had a word with young Nigel, our Saviour, Son of Clough, in a roundabout way.

Nige, you still have injury probs. with both Hulse & Commons?

"It's difficult because injuries are dictating that at the moment. We can't formulate too much until we get a clean bill of health. Kris has not trained because of his hamstring but he also had a sickness bug. Rob Hulse trained on Thursday but it flared up over night and he won't travel to Chesterfield on Saturday."

Well, you've said before that they're both needed in the team, so even a million plus wouldn't change that, from Boro for example? Nige? Nige? After all, Boro have £12 million for Stewart Downing from Aston Villa? How much would it take?

Meanwhile, Blackburn are persevering with Christian Vieri, at 36 older than Beckham. Sam? "We'll see how long he wants to give it to see if he can get to Premier League level, We'll take as long as it needs, hopefully to get there in the end."

Yes, well, my prediction is he'll be useful until October, and from Easter next year, which is not quite as long as Santa Cruz.. Or am I still bitter about Fabrizio Ravanelli after all these years?