AS A lifelong fan of Blackburn Rovers, and, until moving, a regular at Ewood Park, I am stunned and can't believe it has happened.

I really did think we were too good to go down.

But looking back on this disastrous season, I think the changes made at management level were justified.

Roy Hodgson failed to get us going in the right direction, but Brian Kidd also failed, having been given some 28 games - two-thirds of the season- to turn it around.

The plain facts are both Hodgson and Kidd have bought second-rate players - panic buys for very large sums of money. Not many clubs would have allowed that to happen.

Everyone makes mistakes with players but not what's gone on at Ewood. We all expect a large clear-out of those players who are simply not good enough. I only hope Kidd takes more care about who we buy and at the right price in future.

I'd keep John Filan, but why not start our new team building with that big, very agile Colombian goalkeeper who I believe is now available?

But what a pity some of our so-called superstars will want away now because they are too good to play in Division One, even though these same players have put us where we are now and on, I might add, some of the best salaries in the country.

What price loyalty?

H R STANDEN, Hamilton Drive, Rustington, Littlehampton, West Sussex.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.