Merry Xmas Axe and Paul Mani! Are we really ringing in this festive period in style by bickering with our fellow supporters over some player recruitment from years ago?! Do you realise how crazy that sounds? Instead of running to a mod to referee the situation, can you not just either debate civilly, or agree to disagree and move on please.

There should be a blue plaque on t turf with that on it

I’m going to say that’s very harsh on Watt. Edinho Jr needs to be in there somewhere, genuinely think he was the worst player to ever play for the club in my lifetime.

I think somebody being with us from being 17 is entirely warranted in being described as one of our youth products. Then there's the ones who have moved on, O'Connell and Mahoney. I guess you wont count Mahoney because he came to us when he was 16? You don't have to raise them from infancy. Players move between academies all the time. I'm sure there are a few knocking about elsewhere who spent some years at our academy.

Rovers winning 2-1 at Newcastle half time. Buckley and Chapman with goals.

I'll never forget that one it was Radio Lancs phone in gold. 'If we were in Rovers position we'd.....' - STILL get smaller gates mate ?

Bought from great harwood

I thought he was totally decent. Too many people have their minds made up about him and it would take a run of 20 incredible performances to change that. I thought it was a good return from injury and, hopefully, he can keep improving. Not sure why so many want to see him fail. Will be end up justifying the fee? Don't know. Could we have done something better with the money? Probably. But does he look like he could be a useful player to have a round? Quite possibly.

I would take Raya back without a second thought.

Let's keep it simple. Standard back 4 with Downing back in. Not sure I trust Bell to have another good game. Let's go with the stats and get Evans and Travis back together. Also Evans is in the form of his life, which is rare, so let's capitalise whilst it lasts. Dack, Holtby Armstrong for me . Armstrong is on form and therefore merits a place, Holtby I think may have a bit more nous - although wouldn't be disappointed with Rothwell there and his battling brought to the mix -and Dack because he is essential Graham up front because he is better than Gally, more likely to get a goal and has a better partnership with Dack. Keep a winning team where possible and let's keep the run going.

Well bully for you mate and good luck to the Preston lads mentioned, but I'm not here to argue if Rovers academy is shit or not I'm talking about developing players Rovers players I couldn't really give a shit about Preston to be honest and you have shown you haven't a clue when it comes to Rovers academy players with you spouting they are all shit, it sounds to me like someone nay have an axe to grind, did you or a family member get binned from Rovers academy or something as you seem to have a real downer on it And the players are there if you don't know about them go and watch the 23s for a few weeks you may get to know if these lads are shit or not as I can't see what your basing this part of your comment on (probably nothing) Also no investment, you really are clueless with this comment it cost in the region of £3mill a year to have a Cat 1 academy and to sustain that during the difficult last few years, with City, United, Everton and Liverpool on the doorstep and compete with them is a pretty top achievement for me I won't be responding to you after this as you really havent got a clue and you've never watched the 23s over the last few years I can tell and so for me most of your points are mute

Have I misunderstood this post or have you taken leave of your senses? We have a category A academy (which literally requires expenditure to do), finished what, 5th or 6th in the top flight of u-23 football last season, won the 'regional' Lancashire Senior Trophy or whatever it's called these days, and in recent years have produced Nyambe, Travis, Raya and Lenihan for the first team. We currently have a few youngsters rated as being on the verge of breaking through. If what you mean is solely the pathway, there is room for improvement there sure, but we are still getting players into the first team despite that. I feel like you must have been talking about another club and I've got the wrong end of the stick, because our academy is demonstrably, empirically, not crap, has had players breaking through in the last few years and doesn't lack investment.

Sounds about right for the kind of saddo that apparently screenshots websites for his twitter account. You'd think being a journalist/blogger of some sort he'd be able to generate his own content. It's actually quite hilarious how obsessed he seems to be with trying to paint the site in a particular light while driving web traffic here as a result.

2 goals for Buckley 1 goal and 2 assists for Chapman Good times

Sorry long time lurker not much of a poster. But something’s bugging me... Nyambe by his own account was scouted by Rovers at 13 and signed... That was straight from the horses mouth on one of the recent videos.

I’d class Leigh as local enough as far as bringing through talent goes

Henley yes, Lowe was from Leigh but his family were long standing Rovers' fans.

I think it’s a really good idea and a nice gesture to give bury supporters tickets. who cares what the unwashed think

I have to totally disagree Eddie: First off, I'm certain nobody wants him to fail. You only had to be at Ewood to see the ecstasy when he did actually score (against Bolton I think). He's been here for 18 months and has never demonstrated anything to warrant signing him at all, never mind the multi million pound fee. I once described him as a modern day Myles Anderson in terms of a signing and I've seen absolutely nothing to alter that opinion. I'm not normally a knocker of players but there are better centre forwards up at Blacksnape on Sunday Mornings IMO.

I wouldn't really class 'clueless' as an insult, not much of one anyway. Its like calling someone 'silly' or 'stupid'.

Think this is the right thread - apologies if not and please feel free to move it - but Macclesfield have been docker 6 points for not fulfilling fixtures. I do wonder how those in the football league can actually look in a mirror. A TOTALLY different punishment to Bolton within 6 months of each other. I mean, even for the EFL that seems overly hypocritical and incompetent. Not forgetting the Boro precedent either. It almost seems as depending on their view of the club, your punishment differs. FIFA, UEFA and the leech that is the Premier League are rightly criticised for their avriciousness and corruptness but the EFL is just as appalling it seems.

Could be argued Wagner's real achievement was getting Huddersfield promoted in the first instance and then keeping them up for another twelve months with what he had to work with

Walton Nyambe Lenihan Tosin Downing Evans Travis Holtby Dack Bennett Graham I think Bennett would be well up for this too, so I would give him the nod. I have such a feeling there will be a red in this game

My parents go to every home game. They say he has had a good impact in most games. Back to his omission though, facts are, Mowbray can't pick shite players out of position for the best part of a year, then criticise the attitude of players who he hasn't given anything like the fair crack of the whip to. Rothwell was another obvious choice that was overlooked and treated unfairly in terms of the criticism aimed at him in the press and how quickly he was dropped...yet TM consistently picked unfit players like Johnson and is kinder with his criticism of the experienced pros. Despite very recent results, I for one am not buying into the Mowbray love in just yet. I've ranted about his failings for at least 12months and if anything, he has cost us a shit load of points and a heck of a lot of ground on the automatic spots with his ridiculous selections. I hope I am wrong but history suggests tinkering and a long run of draws and defeats are around the corner.

Happy enough this game is on Monday night. If results go our way this weekend we could be in a position knowing that 3 points will put us into the top 6. Im expecting to see this team. Walton Nyambe Downing Tosin Lenihan Evans Travis Bennett Dack Armstrong Graham. I'd probably have holtby in for Bennett but have no real objections if Bennett plays wide right. Let's go rovers. 3 points and let us all enjoy Xmas day in the top 6

Every club has its idiots and the like so I wouldn’t lose any sleep, it’s a bit sad to people post posts on Twitter, I’d have thought people would have better things to do. Didn’t realise it’s 20 years since Jack passed in the summer. What a fitting tribute it would be if we could get lucky this year.

Maybe that is why he was top of the class in Year 7!

I know you were mate. I just can’t believe you’re having to rack your brain to name Lowe and Henley (who were utter bobbins) but somehow win the day because they lived near Blackburn. Mind blowing

Right. I agree with you just naming two local lads that came through to the first team in recent years

I'd tend to agree although don't most Spanish clubs recruit only in their region and that breeds a stronger identity in the team and possibly bond with the fans? I'm not too sure but I wonder if we couldn't learn a thing or two about bringing youth through from Spanish clubs. Also on the local front part of me feels it'd be better if they were local - easier to settle/convince to join and perhaps this improves their chance of making it, but then given we are locally competing with a lot of clubs in the north west including some.powerhpusr clubs perhaps further afield is better after all. Sorry bit of a Friday evening brain dump! As long as they are coming through at a decent rate and quality though that's the main thing. Always room to think about how you improve though.

My view on Walton and the goalkeeper situation is that, Raya wanted to go, TM had a few targets that he couldn't sign and ended up with Walton. He has looked a lot more assured since he's had a settled back 4 in front of him. He is obviously a stop gap until we sign our own first choice keeper, and I think to be fair on him, the fact that only 2 keepers have kept more clean sheets than him this season, would warrant him a higher rating than 3.

Many more of those attendances at the mighty Turf that season.... legend has it though they had to terrace Pendle hill for the Orient game!

Rosado came on one game (think Huddersfield away under Berg) and did look like he at least had some idea. Edinho on the other hand just looked like a little school kid out there.

Yeah I totally can see this and think you are quite possibly correct. On paper I would possibly go with this too. Thing is though Arma's recent form necessitates that he is in the team. 2 goals and 2 assists in the last 6 games is a good return and if we are picking the team on performance levels I'd have to have Arma in there. Great we are debating who is best to go in the team rather than least worst!

99% with this, total sense. Personally i prefer Arma as a sub at the min and Rothwell despite him not always tearing up trees brings a bit more balance to it from the off imo.

I'm wrong? You're going on about PNE who don't even have an u23s team, and have a Cat3 academy so any youth player they send out on loan is coming from either their18s or is not getting any game time due to being to old for the 18s and not good enough for their 1st team, so a loan to a non league club is about the LEVEL they are at as football is about levels (but you seem to have more knowledge about that than me haha, yeah right) and their youth players are nowhere near the level of Rovers Yes I've seen a hell of a lot of Buckley, in fact the only people who may have seen more of him are his family, he may be slight but he is very technical, he is a clever footballer who knows how to carry the ball well and protect it, if Buckley was made available tommorow the clubs chasing him would be ridiculous trust me, I've been watching youth football at the highest level for the last 15 years (not just Rovers) I know a decent footballer when I see one and I also know what footballers need for development, and your idea is antiquated in fact it's going back to the 60s and 70s so sorry if you don't get football mate, that's not my problem Buckley is so far above Conference level he would get kicked to fuck and that is not developing anyone what so ever Rovers is a different animal, as I've stated and if you knew about academy football you would know that the U23s play against the top youth players in the country, ask yourself this, would Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Everton, Arsenal, Spurs, Leicester City ect ect ect send their youngsters to the conference North, would they balls, Man United u23s are a division below Rovers u23s, you won't see any of their lads anywhere near the conference North, the players they have out on loan are at Southend, Tromso (Norway) and Morecombe to name a few that's because it doesn't suit player development to place them in a club at a level we'll below the developing player, (see levels again) 1st and foremost it's about the football nothing else, simple as that, but you expect Rovers to send their youngsters down there, even the one that has shown he has something about him and is actually involved day in day out with the 1st team, I think you are the one that is Wrong massively, so if you have nothing more than send him to a conference North team to toughen him up or whatever don't bother responding to this as it will show me your LEVEL of knowledge, which at the min ain't much mate

he can`t be without ability surely,you don`t make it to this level without having something about you though he`s never showed us anything to suggest he`s even a footballer ,he does`nt even look like he belongs on the pitch,you could take on of us from the crowd and you won`t notice the difference,at the moment im`e struggling to understand why he`s so lacking in every dept,if it`s a confidence issue he needs shipping of to a lower league for 3 months to recover it

That's what I was suggesting too. But the original point from Pete was that Graham is going to struggle with 3 games in 6 days.

All recent comments from Mowbray and Waggott lead me to think we're in for another dry January. Hope I'm wrong on that though.

He did win our player of the year one season though, so I think it's a bit harsh to list him as one of our worst.

If they can fix up some loans out or better still sales or loan with a view to buy then Smallwood, Gladwin, Samuel out. That's saved a good few grand to start with not much need for anymore pruning. Brereton i'd loan out it'll do him good to start a bit more further down the leagues. Whilst i don't want to pan him iv'e also heard enough of this boo hoo he's no confidence it's a shame, wrong position etc etc. Sheer fact is at this juncture in his career the lad is out of his depth it was a shocking gamble of millions so lets try and salvage something. Give him the rest of the season to cut his teeth somewhere then get him back in summer hopefully confident and refreshed to try again. I hope there is a bit of ruthlessness in all this now to free up a few quid and get at least one quality player who'll contribute more than that lot put together.

Sorry this ended up being longer than I thought! My Grandad was a huge Rovers fan, and my mum was/is a huge Rovers fan too, she was a bit of a tomboy growing up, she went on Ewood all through the 70's and early 80's up to giving birth to me, she tells me all her friends used to joke that she would actually give birth to me on the Nuttal Street stand, what a sight that would have been! Due to a marriage breakup when I was a baby, and relocating us Cheshire where my grandparents had moved to she had a few years off going to Ewood when I was born, and started up again around 1988 taking me on infrequent visits as a very uninterested 5/6 year old. She tells me my first game was a home game against Oldham at the start of the 88-89 season, followed by an away game against Stoke shortly afterwards as that was only a 15 minute train journey for us. I literally have no memory of either game, or the other games we attended during that and the following season, I was more interested In running around and playing at the front of the stand apparently with some other children. My first real interest in Football was during Italia 90, something seemed to click there as a 7 year old, I was hooked and watched every bit of the tournament I could, started using all my spare time kicking a ball around in our back garden. I started taking an interest in club football the following season, wasn't particularly bothered about Rovers as they were 60 miles away and you got very little coverage of clubs like that back then, my mum took me to a few more games early on in 90-91 season, I vaguely recall actually watching a bit more of the matches but still wasn't too fussed, I was actually a bit more interested in Liverpool as I think literally everyone supported them in my school back then, with the odd Man Utd/Stoke fan knocking about too. Everything changed in January 1991 just after Christmas, my mum got us tickets to the Rovers/Liverpool FA Cup tie, with the carrot of watching Liverpool and being the envy of all my school pals I was itching to go, and this is where my first real memory of Rovers comes in, I had my old Rovers Perspex shirt on despite only really being excited to see Liverpool, I would say that changed within 5 minutes of getting into Ewood, I couldn't believe how full it was and the atmosphere was rocking. Simon Garner scored and the place erupted and sounded much louder than my other visits to Ewood, I was genuinely hooked and actually cried when Mark Atkins scored that last minute own goal, despite my tears my mum and grandad were absolutely beaming, they knew that they achieved the goal of making me a fully fledged Rovers fan. From then on I have been an absolute Rovers fanatic, constantly asking them when the next match we could go was, and my mum from then on took me every home game she could, which for a single parent, who didn't drive was some dedication, because the trains were not very frequent to our town back then we used to leave at 9am and get back at around 8pm most games. We got season tickets after promotion in 1992, and with the exception of the Coyle season I have had them ever since. Other great memories growing up are going down to Plymouth with my mum and grandad for the weekend on bostocks coaches for the game in 1992, getting the train to Wembley for the play off final in the same year, and going to Oldham in 1993/94 with my grandad which turned out to be his last ever away game, and moaning at him the whole way on the mammoth walk from the old Oldham Mumps station to the ground and back again. The best one though is obviously Anfield in 95, we didn't get tickets for it to which we were genuinely gutted about, but a couple of my mums friends were Liverpool season ticket holders, and obviously knowing my mum was a lifelong Rovers fan, single parent etc, they very kindly gave us there season tickets for the day so we could attend the game, my mum surprised me with them on the morning of the game, and never mind favourite Rovers memory I think this is my favourite memory of my entire childhood, they even drove us to the game and went to watch it in a local boozer, an incredible gesture that I have never forgotten, and one I would like to think I would repay to someone if there was ever a similar situation.

This is why I despair at Venkys and Bowyer and more recently Waggott and Mowbray. Yes, it takes money but it also takes ambition. Jack talked up our club, then put his money where his mouth was and put the town on the map. Think big!

Stick this up in the training center https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16175595.blackburn-got-little-bit-ahead-themselves-says-wigan-boss/

I'd guess it was the certainty of the post give that he's hardly played, rather than the content, but I don't want to put words in his mouth. For what it's worth, it's hard to get away from how he's looked like a little boy in his cameos, but it's far too early to read anything into that in my view. I remember listening to a podcast with Gary Neville when he was asked if there was a Man U teammate he thought wasn't likely to make it, and he went on to say that he couldn't for the life of him see how someone of Paul Scholes' size and fitness could make it as a footballer when they were younger. Not for a second saying Buckley is going to be Scholes! But if he has got where he has based on talent and a brain, let's wait to see where they can take him before we say he's going to fall down the leagues!

This window we should really look to be getting players out (loan or otherwise) Smallwood will go, I'm pretty sure. Gladwin will probably get released on Feb 1st. Most, if not all of Butterworth, Davenport (Burton?), Samuel, Chapman, Mols, Buckley, and probably Brereton, should be loaned.

Would be a good signing for us..

Eh?? I have never mentioned Rhodes in years! What are you about? My answer to that is not to play him! Loan him out and pray for a miracle is my solution.

Football behind closed doors is as bitchy as a hairdressers. Everyone will know exactly what happened with Kean and hence he dosent get touched by a shitty stick. To my knowledge both Bury and Plymouth have knocked his applications back previously.