OBVIOUSLY, "gutter" tabloids can print just about anything they like, seemingly with total impunity.

I refer, of course, to the excesses prior to the England v Germany semi-final which amounted to little less than incitement.

"It was just a bit of fun," we were told.

If any private citizen behaved in such a manner, they would almost certainly be arrested.

Concerning the repeated speculation with regard to Alan Shearer and Man United, despite repeated denials by both clubs, could these be actually blatant attempts by the Manchester-based trash merchants to make such a move happen?

What if they were successful and Rovers lost the finest player in their history? What, then, would be the reaction of the Blackburn public?

Would they stop reading this rubbish? Somehow I doubt it.

Come on, Blackburn folk, wise up and stop buying this garbage - like so many people in Liverpool did after the Hillsborough tragedy.

F ARKWRIGHT, (MR), Lynwood Road, Blackburn.

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