WHEN it comes to supporting England, I'm as patriotic as the next man.

But I've got to say the whole idea of playing a full programme of international matches just a couple of days before the Easter programme is nothing short of lunacy in my book.

The Easter weekend is notorious for deciding relegation and promotion issues.

Yet managers like Rovers boss Graeme Souness could be forced to go into the biggest three days of their season without key players due to injuries picked up in international friendlies just a couple of days before.

Take Rovers, for example.

Irish wing-wizard Damien Duff and Turkish duo Tugay and Hakan Unsal are just three of the players on international duty tonight.

And if they were to pick up knocks then that could seriously jeopardise the club's survival chances as they prepare for two vital six-pointers against Leicester and Southampton in the space of three days.

So, yes, the World Cup is important and it's vital that England get to play some friendlies in the build up to the finals in Japan.

But it shouldn't be to the detriment of the country's top domestic clubs.

It, therefore, gets my goat to hear people like French manager Roger Lemerre lambasting the Premier League for playing too many games in the wake of Robert Pires' injury against Newcastle at the weekend.

Okay, the brilliant Frenchman has been ruled out of the World Cup altogether with a cruciate knee ligament injury which is a devastating blow to France's hopes of retaining their title.

But just remember who pays Pires' wages in the first place and, as far as I'm concerned, that means Arsenal can do what they want with him.

Meanwhile, back to the Easter weekend and I believe it's absolutely imperative that Rovers pick up at least four points from their next two games.

Given some of the fixtures coming up, this is a golden chance to pick up the results which would virtually guarantee the club's Premiership safety.

The way the rest of the teams at the bottom continue to eek out the odd victory, it's becoming increasingly clear that the safety margin is going to be 40 points-plus.

So Rovers need to find at least three more wins from somewhere and they won't get a better opportunity than against Leicester on Saturday to pick up the first of those.