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Yea when Toth wasn't proven in the championship. Pears was.

Absolutely spot on Ian. It was seemingly not that much different when Waggott was here either. "Can't" "Wont" "We weren't aware" "We'll look into it" etc.

Thanks for these. If these minutes are accurate, what an absolute disgrace those responses from the Club are and it just highlights what a farce the Forum has become. My main take outs were: 1) They seem far more worried about who might have leaked any info about the kit situation rather than any substantive issues like "Is it the best deal for the Club/the development of the Club Shop and/ or the Supporters?" £80 for a shirt? Holy Cow! 2) Particularly puzzled by Lynsey Talbot's response that work on a drainage sleeve was "planned for that week" What week? The week of the Portsmouth game? Ipswich game? The same week the Forum was held? Was it ever completed? If so, we've heard nothing whatsoever about it. Is it the standard "we're looking into it" scenario? 3) RG treating people as absolute mugs by claiming we've signed "ten players" when in real terms we sold more than that. (Did no-one pull them up on why Hyam was sold in the last few hours of the window without a suitable replacement?) Also desperately disappointing to see that the resolution of the Court case in the owners' favour won't impact the budget in any way. RG again insulting everyone's intelligence by making out we're working to an agreed "budget" which implies a positive net spend when in reality we were about negative £2m net spend in summer plus presumably substantial wage savings. If the owners have allegedly upped their annual contribution to £20m p.a. - and we've slashed wage costs on players - and made a trading profit in the summer which won't be reinvested in the squad - and it's not being spent on the ground - and it's not being spent on the women's team - where's it all going? 4) They clearly seem to be planning on operating without a CEO going forward or at least leaving it as long as possible. 5) No contrition whatsoever about the fate of the women's side. 6) No acknowledgement whatsoever that the "150th celebrations" have turned into an absolute embarrassment.

Rovers 1965-66. Relegated from the first division that season but the core of the team that I still regard as the best Rovers team I ever saw - and that includes the 1995 side And look at those shirts! The previous V-neck shirt was excellent but this round neck version was stunningly attractive, white shorts and socks (mandatory IMO|) with no logos, no advertising, no player names, just brilliant blue and white halves (with a red number on the back IIRC). The best Rovers shirt of all time - no arguments As a side note, I don't know why Ronnie Clayton has white laces and Mike England has his sleeves rolled up for the photo but they were wonderful players so they're excused

The thing for me is, ive attended in excess of 100 meetings with the club, always minuted the discussion and never once have the club asked for these minutes to be changed (they know the answer id give). They've always been conducted professionally, real questions asked and answers reported. Ive attended one FF. 90% of attendees didnt speak, didn't ask questions and bar listening added no real value. The majority are also self elected and only represent themselves and cant be considered to be elected supporter officials. 2 meetings on the trot minutes challenged after a president was set in the previous meeting. Both times the challenge has been ignored by the secretary and chair who have opted for the clubs minutes. With that doing an injustice to the whole supporter base and those who gave up their free time for free to ask the proper questions. Its an absolute disgrace. Even down to the cosy constitution 2 forum members are agreeing with the club without consultation of the other forum members which they have refused to share bar a paragraph which is to validate the fan engagement plan. Therefore handicapping the work being put in with the independent regulator by WATR. Imo the forum should be disbanded and replaced with a modern democratically elected panel where every single attendee must be elected by the supporter base. It should be open to all with a maximum term for each member. 2 meetings a season is all we've got as comms and the FF are explicit in this.

You are correct, born in Wigan, died in Barrow-in-Furness after becoming a teacher in the town. From Wikipedia A wonderful story! You wouldn't see that in 2025

Cracking work @Shirt of two halves I definitely feel a 'field trip' coming on! Also interesting to see how close it was to Alexandra Meadows, I wonder what the committee/members made of 'the big move' as they relocated just down the road. Staying close isn't such a modern idea after all? Also sort of removes the idea of the slope if the pitch was further down towards Granville Road?

Just a couple of points. I believe Fred Else was from the Wigan area rather than Barrow. The front row of the top picture should read Wharton. Graham, Bell, Higgins, Crossan

Not going mad, Picks is the smaller of the 2.

No idea, does it matter? Was he going to change it anyway? I'm not bothered either way to be honest, it's turned out well up to now.

Didn’t Eustace choose to start Pears ahead of Toth?

Think you've cracked it there, more or less spot on Id say. If the Club did own a substantial plot of land beyond the far side of the pitch stretching up in the direction of the Dog Inn ("the incline") that could have provided a very impressive natural "Kop" for the purposes of watching the game. The only thing is if you had to enter the ground through gates nr the top of Leamington St/ Granville Rd it would have been a bit of a ball ache getting everyone in and out to and from the far side. Not really too different to everyone filing into the Riverside at the Blackburn End and walking down to the far end though I dont suppose.

Footballs all about having a good plan to generate chances that is hard to counter, and a good plan to limit the opposition. We seem to have landed on both at once which is rare. Even when we were doing well with JDT it was built on pushing a lot of players forward and leaving ourselves exposed. Its very pleasing to see us able to create without weakening ourselves defensively. Putting myself in Eustaces shoes its hard to figure out what to do to hurt us with the starting XI yesterday. Theres not an obvious way to find opportunities. But with Toth and Wharton out it opens up playing it long down our left and seeing how Pickering or Riberio who dont have the aeriel ability of centre backs cope. Also Tronstad being out could opens up the space in front of our cbs.

Eustace is no fool - he'll tell his players to bang in the crosses and shoot from distance because he knows Pears is always liable to make a mistake. Ismael is going to have to work out a way of setting up the defence to protect him The injuries are very unfortunate and this match against this particular opposition has come at a bad time. I'd happily take a draw

Am I going mad or is Pickering smaller than Ribeiro?

If we play Pears we'll lose. Besides the fact he's awful, Eustace had him worked out when we played them last season - the game was over almost before it started because he just told him team to pile pressure on Pears. He crumbled.

I mean, a basic level of competence would probably be a baseline requirement? Yet to see it from him - and he was our first choice for an extended period of time.

Someone created a fake "South Stand Pies" account and Nixon thought it was the real one, so he'd been sending the fake account private messages. The internet is a crazy place!

Would Alf Ramsey have selected Hurst if Greaves injury had not forced his hand ?

Hmmm i don't think we played badly at all second half. Conceded virtually no chances. If we play that badly while protecting a lead I am all for it.

There are just 2 x Medium (38”), 1 x Large (40”) & 1 x 2XL (46”) remaining in stock. Those measurements are seam to seam - there is some give in the material so a Large may be OK for someone who wears 42” tee shirts that fit snugly for example. Anybody wanting one - please PM me on here & I’ll sort it for you - £63 inc P&P to UK addresses.

See his account is now locked and hidden. Hell of a move for a journalist that relies on engagement. What a mess.

You’ve definitely not misinterpreted. I’ve attended a total of 3 fans forum meetings. The first one saw Steve Waggott, Christina Haines and Lynsey Talbot sat amongst the supporters. At Suhail’s instruction an additional table was dragged over so him, Gestede, Yasir and others could sit at the head of the table, very separate from us mere mortals. The disconnect between Suhail and Waggott was evident, but the meeting was conducted professionally despite some robust discussion. The last 2 have seen the most senior member of Rovers staff lose his rag within the first few minutes and act in a bizarre and unprofessional manner. The issues with the minutes have been well debated on here, and I’m sure will be again. The entire tone has changed and blatant bare faced lies are being told by club officials. Aside from the fans forum meetings I’ve attended dozens of meetings at the club over recent years. From my perspective the culture is absolutely horrendous at the moment. Plenty of previously warm, engaging and competent staff are like frightened children. Everything has become combative and disingenuous. Worst of all there is a complete lack of accountability throughout. I get the feeling that any sign of contrition would be viewed as unacceptable weakness - which gives the impression of most people there being completely arrogant, which coupled with low levels of competence is a dangerous thing. It should be no surprise - it’s a top down thing. The owners are like that, and so are their staff.

Probably would be, I was just going off last night. Picks didn't even make the squad.

Page 3 of this very thread has a couple of sources. The lack of cameras in the era leaves room for debate.