bob fleming Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 May. The End Game. âNever cast a clout until May is outâ they reckon. Which apparently means; donât go out without a coat until after May because of the unpredictable weather. I jut used to presume that you were more likely to get a punch in the face on June 1st. Anyway, the next eight days would decide our season. Will we be off to Europe next year? Will it be via the InterTonto? Will I get to a game (or two)? More importantly can we win another game in Europe? And even more importantly than that, after April, can we win another game this season? Saturday 29 April - The race for 6th: -            PLD PTS GD 6th Rovers      35  54  +4 7th Newcastle     36  54  +4 8th Bolton      35  52  +8 9th Wigan       36  51  -4 Charlton Athletic 0 - Blackburn Rovers 2. OK, weâve had a good season. Weâre a hard team to face but we are beatable. Alan Curbishley resigned just before the kick off. Thatâs how far weâve come this season. I donât remember any managers resigning in 1994/95 when they had to play us. Managers, established Premier League Managers at that, retire rather than have to face us. Itâs all credit to Mark Hughes in my book. Before the kick off we were all thinking, âOh great heâs resigned thisâll be one last effort for the manâ, then afterwards some of us were saying âWe won only âcause heâd resigned and they were shell shockedâ. Well make your bloody minds up will you? In truth Charltonâs form had been awful for the last few games and they had several players missing. Half man / half gonk, Tugay returned and made a massive difference in our midfield, we ran the show. Steven Reid opened the scoring with a header on 42 minutes and then the Welsh Weasel forced a second when Chris Powell put through his own net from 70 yards. Great stuff from Rovers in testing / easy circumstances. 6th spot was definitely on. Elsewhere, the football world is left reeling as founder members of the G14 and the English equivalent of Real Madrid are relegated. How was this allowed to happen? I for one feel cheated and the Premiership will not be the same next year without the weekly (or should that be weakly?) comments from âBig Clubsâ many spokespeople. If itâs not Gold itâs Brady, if itâs not Brady itâs Sullivan, if itâs not Sullivan, itâs Elephant Man. A veritable conveyor belt of unpleasant and annoying people. Good riddance. Do us all a favour, donât rush back. Tuesday 2 May - The revenge of the sixth: - 6th Rovers    36  57  +6 7th Newcastle  37  55  +4 8th Bolton    36  52  +7 Blackburn Rovers 1 - Roman Abramovichâs Chelsea 0. Well, what can you say? Well for my point of view not a lot that hasnât already been said on brfcs.com. One of the greatest nights at Ewood for ages, with scenes reminiscent of VE Day (who can forget the celebrations all those years ago when we went two nil up against the Germans in 1945?) Steven Reid netted his second goal in as many games when he breathed heavily on a Robbie Savage free kick just before half time. Apart from some of the Chelsea players falling over clumsily in the second half in a pathetic attempt to win a penalty that was all that was needed to see off the most expensively assembled array of footballers English football has ever seen. Events took a bizarre twist after the match as Jose Mourinho, who must have still been drunk from celebrating their premier title win at the weekend, actually gave us some praise. It just didnât feel right. What else happened that week? Well the Welsh Weasel was named âPlayer of the Seasonâ and Steven Reidâs goal away at Wigan was named âGoal of the Seasonâ. Quite right too in my book. There were other awards such as the âQuickest Bookingâ of the season, âStupidest Haircutâ of the season and the âLeast Appearances from an Italian Centre Half on at least ÂŁ1 Million a Seasonâ of the season award, but I donât think youâre bothered about those. Meanwhile, Mark Hughes and all his back room team (Eddie and Jim) all signed new contracts that will keep them at Rovers until the summer of 2009!! Great news! Is there a clause though? Again no one has a clue. Perhaps we could have a pointless debate? Sunday 7 May - The race for sixth: - 5th Arsenal   37  64  +35 6th Rovers   37  60  +7 7th Newcastle  37  55  +4 Looking at the table going into the final game of the season most of us had quite frankly become a little complacent about qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Not me. Oh no. As weâre all aware, and many like to constantly remind us, you can take nothing for granted in football and Rovers always make things difficult for themselves, always do things the hard way and ultimately let us down (Let's face it, apart from the two cup wins, two promotions and the Champions of England thing itâs almost certainly been one let down after another over the last twenty years). So going into the Manchester City game I was surprised the vast majority of fans thought weâd already done it. I was extremely nervous and was just waiting for the 22 player fight, the pitch invasion or an unsavoury âincidentâ involving Roarina and Ken Beamish that would see us have 10 points deducted by the FA. Hey! But what do I know? None of us those things happened! Weâd done it and qualified for Europe again! We rounded things off with a comfortable win. Johnny Slippers with the first after "Englandâs Number 1", (if I wasnât English that would be really funny, stay fit Robinson) David James dropped a cross at his feet. He couldnât miss and didnât. Then in the second half big Shefki doubled our lead with his eighth goal of the season, not a bad return. Youâve just got to like the fella. Conscious that weâre in danger of not topping the âBully Boy Leagueâ Tugay decided to get himself sent off with a poor challenge that the City player completely over reacted too, rolling around on the floor like a big girly rolling thing. Regardless, Hughes should now walk away with the May Manager of The Month Award. The players wore next seasonâs home shirts and as many experts predicted weâre going to wear Blue and White halves again. A good decision in my view. Some crucial questions; Are they halved or are they quartered? And perhaps more importantly will there be a DVD? Do they do DVDâs? Will they start doing mini kits in the âclubâ shop again? Will they ever know when theyâre getting new stock in? Will I get conformation or a âthank youâ for renewing my season ticket? Whenâs the new home shirt out? Whenâs the away shirt out? Whereâs Todd? When does mega flop Sealdinhoâs contract run out? Does anyone know what Iâm on about? Elsewhere on this day the original âbig clubâ Tottenham Hotspurts, missed out on 4th place and qualification for the Champions League because they came down with the ten bob bits. Iâll just get my violin out again. Well, what a season that was. All credit to all the players and staff. A phenomenal performance. Can we do as well next year? Well âhopefullyâ is the ultimate answer. Of course itâll be harder and the squad will be put under even more pressure due to the amount of games weâll have to play (theyâll be two in Europe donât forget). Who knows what will happen? If Boro can get to the UEFA Cup Final and get beat 4-0 then why not us? Letâs not forget on our day weâre more than capable of getting beat by anybody. Can we break through into the Top 4 in the Premier League? I donât know, weâve come a very long way in a very short space of time, letâs just celebrate that. Hopefully Hughesy will be able to add to his squad as heâd like and take us to the next level. I know one thing though, if we score as many great goals and win as many games as in 2005/06 then weâll be very happy fans. I just hope more people get down to the games and back the club. So thatâs it. No more football until middle / late July when Rovers will no doubt start their pre season friendlies. Itâs a long time to go without. However âcause Iâm good to you guys Iâve been looking on tinterweb and discovered that the following games are on!! The FA Cup Final - tomorrow, Liverpool v West Ham (Iâve got 1600 spares tickets if anyoneâs interested) The Champions League Final - Arsenal v Barcelona May 17, England 'B' v Belarus Thurs 25 May, England v Hungary Tues 30 May and England v Jamaica Sat 3 June. Not only that, and hardly anyoneâs mentioned it, but thereâs also something on called the '2006 FIFA World Cup'. It's on in Germany and apparently thereâs 64 matches on TV between June 9th and July 9th. Other than that though thereâs almost no football on whatsoever. Something should be done. Itâs a national scandal. Iâm not sure whose to blame so Iâll blame Sven Goran Eriksson. Thatâs yer lot for this season sportsfans. Have a great summer, keep taking the tablets.
trueblue Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Bob.... Just brilliant ! Note to the Mods: Get Bob signed up early for next season's monthly reviews
roversmum Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 I have one complaint to make, Bob, you always leave me wanting more!
Jim J Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 That was rubbish Bob. You completely missed out the streaker.
Cocker Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 I have one complaint to make, Bob, you always leave me wanting more! 407187[/snapback] You are talking about Bobs May Review - aren't you
Ozz Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 (edited) The FA Cup Final - tomorrow, Liverpool v West Ham (Iâve got 1600 spares tickets if anyoneâs interested) 407177[/snapback] Which end are they in Bob? The lucky one? Edited May 12, 2006 by ozziejones
ihtd Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Bob your reviews keep getting better and better. Are you going to to do one for June/early July especially for the World Cup in the sub-forum?
bob fleming Posted May 12, 2006 Author Posted May 12, 2006 Are you going to to do one for June/early July especially for the World Cup in the sub-forum? 407201[/snapback] No, I'm going to give that a miss and wait until next season for all things Rovers.
tonyoz Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Excellent and entertaining as usual Bob.......hope they sign you up for next season!
ihtd Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Ok then Bob, fair play to you then, as your reviews thus far have been superb. Keep it up for next season.
Ozz Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 How much longer must we be subjected to this banal drivel and trivial pish? -Gareth Southgate on Mclarens half time team talk last Wednesday.
FourLaneBlue Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Good to see you will be continuing next season Bob, a nice roundup to a highly satisfying campaign for Rovers.
Neil Weaver Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Marvellous stuff Bob. Mods, hope you aren't considering putting a release clause in the contract.
kiwi Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Congratulations on a great season. A reasonably prominent New Zealand sports broadcaster came out recently on the national sports radio channel and claimed that Ryan Nelsen was overated. I'm not sure what provoked this as he and Blackburn Rovers get very little media attention over here. We don't get many Rovers games on the TV here so I'm interested in the views of Rovers fans in England.
den Posted May 13, 2006 Posted May 13, 2006 Many thanks Bob. Glad to hear everyone enjoyed it. I hope we get more next season, your columns are a breath of fresh air and give the site a bit of - sometimes - much needed stress relief. Thanks for taking the time Bob, it's much appreciated.
USABlue Posted May 13, 2006 Posted May 13, 2006 Many thanks Bob. Glad to hear everyone enjoyed it. I hope we get more next season, your columns are a breath of fresh air and give the site a bit of - sometimes - much needed stress relief. Thanks for taking the time Bob, it's much appreciated. 407486[/snapback] Great stuff Bob. Are they keeping you on for next season, I hope so, good lighthearted look at things good chuckles. Thanks.
bob fleming Posted May 13, 2006 Author Posted May 13, 2006 Are they keeping you on for next season407495[/snapback] I was going to sit down with den at the end of the season but after messing him around for a bit I'm going to hold on until after the World Cup and keep my options option. If I'm honest I'm hoping for a multi-million pound deal from www.rovers.co.uk but if that doesn't happen (mainly because Grooby's a bit tight) I've always got brfcs.com to fall back on.
ippy Posted May 13, 2006 Posted May 13, 2006 If itâs not Gold itâs Brady, if itâs not Brady itâs Sullivan, if itâs not Sullivan, itâs Elephant Man. A veritable conveyor belt of unpleasant and annoying people. Now I've gone and spluttered coffee down me trews. Sheer class.
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