THE Robbie Blake soap opera rumbles on and on and it needs putting to bed quickly - one way or the other.

Wigan's persistence in keep topping up their bids by £100,000 leaves me to believe they have been given every indication from somewhere that the player is available.

And after having bids of £500,000, £600,000 and £700,000 turned down, you don't need to be Carol Vorderman to guess what any fourth offer might be!

Burnley are doing precisely the right thing by throwing out the derisory sums, and Wigan know full well they are trying to prise Robbie away on the cheap.

It's all led to a horrible stalemate though - and one that is casting an air of gloom over Turf Moor at a critical point of the season.

Everyone is being affected, from a manager who cannot be happy with all the speculation, through to the players, who will rightly be concerned.

Robbie himself is likely to have his head turned and, last but certainly not least, the supporters are getting mightily fed up.

It's still my belief that Robbie should not even consider moving to the JJB Stadium - a club with limited potential playing in a half-empty stadium most weeks.

A new contract at Burnley - a club steeped with tradition and now not short of ambition under Steve Cotterill, would provide him with a secure - and no doubt lucrative future.

But whatever the outcome, this sorry saga has to end now for everyone's sake.

All this talk has deflected focus away from this weekend's derby clash with Preston - a game Burnley will need all their powers of concentration to win.

It's easy to get caught up in all the talk about bragging rights and local pride and forget about the task in hand.

Preston are no pushovers, despite their 5-0 defeat to Wigan last week (and they need another striker?), while local derbies are notoriously unpredictable.

But on paper, I would still be disappointed if we did not win. You can bet Steve will have rattled a few cages following last weekend's disappointing performance at Plymouth and he will want to see a reaction.

Three points would be very handy to have in the bank ahead of a tough looking Christmas and New Year programme, so it's all set up for a cracker.

Finally, I just want to wish my old pal Stan Ternent all the best in his new challenge as Gillingham manager.

If anyone can roll their sleeves up and get Gillingham out of trouble, it's Stan.