Subbuteo

Played at highest Norwegian 3 div (4 th tier, not high level then, only 2 highest divisions are national, this was regional) Biggest moment was playing Viking in a cup game. Roy Hodgson was manager and Hangeland played. Big moment for our little village of 3000 people to have them visit. A fun rule in that cup is that the lower division club get one penalty for each division in difference before the start of the game. We scored 4 of 5 and ended up losing 5-4 in the end.

I played or a really good local team full of good players although I was more of a water carrier, win the ball and give it to somebody who could play. I also played in the Blackburn Sunday League. I fractured my femur in 1982 and took up refereeing and amassed over 1000 games, 500 of which were at professional level over a 23 year period.

I doubt it was ‘dropped’ , Joe. The lad is 17 and has gone into hard competitive football playing a daft amount of games including England last week . I think Liverpool would expect us to look after him a bit not flog him to death .

Enough with the broken bones.

Thanks Stuart - just to reiterate - hours of work behind the scenes here from Stuart & Andy to keep this train on the tracks. A round of virtual applause ??????

Why not ask Wayne Bridge and Anton Ferdinand.

I'd be happier if shooting wildfowl or indeed any animal for fun in the name of sport was banned.

Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)

Sett End. Second only to Quito for football pitch altitude...

Hey everyone, I'm one of the boot room staff here at BRFCS, I look after the servers and make sure they don't fall over ... or rather, get them running again when they do, I'm BRFCS' Mike Pettigrew if you will. With that in mind that I've been doing some work with the admins and mods to try and make the site a bit more resilient, it's no Vince Grella for staying on it's feet as it is, but it's no Derek Fazackerley either, it could be better. Over this coming weekend there will have to be some downtime (not during the game, I'll be watching that) as I start the work, then again in a few weeks there will be a bit more while I do some more work. I'll try and do it during quiet times, but inevitably there will be some who cannot access the site when they would like ... sorry about that.

Probs most important thing for Gallagher is what sort of partnership he strikes up with Douglas. Thats where his crosses are coming from in this system. They should be working on that every day in training. Ideally you want to get it where Conway and Gestede got to, where Conway knew exactly where Gestede wanted the ball. We haven't really had much quality crossing from the left to be honest since Gallagher has been at the club. Downing ended up playing more centrally.

I played for the local representative teams as a lad. When I started work at 16 I was playing for the works 2nd team for a while. This was a company that employed 3000 people at the time ! After a year I was playing for the first team in Div 1 of the old Manchester Industrial league. That was a high standard, most teams had a few ex pro's in their teams. The standards of the facilities were high also, Brazil used one of the grounds ( Manchester Ship Canal ? ) as their training ground in 1966. That toughened me up no end, I could go toe to toe with anyone irrespective of their size. I'd played in some sort of testimonial at Bacup Borough's ground at the end of one season and had a good game. After that game one of the staff there asked me about coming for a trial at the start of the next season. I was all ready to go there when I broke my leg playing for the works team in a pre-season friendly that turned out not to be so friendly. I got going again but broke the same leg in the same place in another bloody friendly at the end of the same season. After that I only played a few more games out on the grass, I wasn't the same player although I still looked the part in 5 a sides in the gym. It's all what might have been. The dream was over at 18.

Mowbray did specifically say after PNE that “On my board we’ve got 11 fixtures between now and the new year and players like 17-year-old Harvey Elliott can’t be playing all of them." I dont think there would be any realistic expectation for Elliott to play every single game, and having got a knock I hardly expect that Liverpool would be in any way annoyed should he not start tomorrow, I think obviously its a different matter should he have ever been regularly out of the team and we would have been financially penalised should that have happened. No doubts from me that Elliott is a better player than Gallagher but I think the latter could feel hard done by should he be dropped tomorrow. No need to make any changes to the starting line up.

Wilson Pickett - Mustang Sally

Me too. Used to be that it was considered really common to have tatoos. You avoided lads with tatoos as they were likely to be from a bad background. Now its all kinds of people who have them and don't get me started on the way footballers look. Old fashioned? Snobbish? Yes, on this issue I'm both

Holtby has the credentials and quality to leave another beloved and indelible mark on the history of our club...a few years back some people were unimpressed by the signing of an ageing Turkish midfielder whose name escapes me (not!). That turned into an enduring love affair that still runs deep in the hearts of many a misty-eyed Rovers fan, didn't it? Just saying like, let's be thankful for what we've got and hope it goes even half as well here for Holtby as it did for the legendary Mr Terimoglou..

Hard Fi - Hard To Beat

Johnson back in but Dolan and Elliott impact subs for me - Big Sam has earned a slot, wide forward or not!

Full kit wanker.

He's gone early this year. Wharton needs an extended run to show what he can do. The shirt should be his to lose now. Ayala will have to wait, if he's ever fit.

I don't have any tattoos, although I am actually thinking of getting a couple of mid-life crisis ones done. The Jam on one calf and The Beatles on the other. I did think of having that famous Welsh railway station tattoed on my knob but the guy said he could only fit Rhyl on. I agree with what Dreams says above about people making snap judgements of heavily tattoed people. My PA is absolutely covered in them but I think it looks great and she shows her 'full sleeve' very proudly on our staff photograph.

He needs balls he can run on to, not balls were he has to control them under pressure.

12 goals for Gally as a striker under Coyle. Bears repeating. And if we are going to start playing him a bit more infield than he has been stuck out on the wing, his performances will surely improve. He has to get in the box more, it's as simple as that. You don't see Salah and Mane stuck on the wing for 90 mins, and we are meant to be copying Liverpool's style. Hopefully Mowbray has worked it out.

Play him in that old " inside right " role and give him some decent service and he'll be a threat. He needs the ball early and he doesn't want to be out on the touch line.

More of my mates are covered than aren’t, indeed a long time friend is a tattoo artist and has a studio. One of my closest mates is covered right up to his neck and on his hands, but he works off shore, so it doesn’t interfere with his work at all! In fact, he earns far more than I do! I’ve absolutely no issue with people having tattoos, to be honest. I take the approach I take with most of life- ‘if they’re happy and not hurting anyone, does it really matter what they do?’

Nobody ever sees my tattoos unless I want them to. I think on the face, neck and hands you have almost painted a picture of yourself in the eyes of some small minded people. I don't personally have any issue with them and quite frankly can't wait until society moves on and sees personalising your appearance as a good thing and not a bad. Who wants to be uniform and looking the same anymore? In my job I do need to remain professional though so a long sleeve shirt sees to it nobody at work knows about them. It is a shame you have to do that really because I have spent a lot of money over the years and my friends work is brilliant. I'd like to show it off more in my everyday life. I think it is one of these cases where if you care what somebody else has on their skin then really you need to get over yourself. It isn't any of your concern. As long as it isn't offensive of course. You hear people say how horrible it makes people look but personally I think wearing Velcro shoes and out-of-the-catalogue rain macs are ugly but I won't judge them for it.

I played briefly in the same Blackburn & Darwen schoolboys team as Mark Patterson, and also played alongside him at Park Lane Rangers and in men's football at Darwen Olympic when we were both 15. I was a decent enough player I suppose, good in the air and at holding the ball up and bringing others into play, which was rare in schoolboy footballers then, they all wanted to try and turn when the ball was played into them. I also led the line well. Unfortunately I did my ACL when I was 16 and was never the same player again. My pace had gone. I was still able to play lots of games at amateur level though, and scored my fair share of goals. If I had a fast lad next to me they were guaranteed chances in every game. I moved to Scotland when I was 30 and got a new lease of life up here playing in a veterans league which contained a few ex pros, including a couple in our team, and I held my own. What I wouldn't give to be fit enough to still play now!

I remember Harry Bassett (I think) saying if the top teams go long it's a pass but if Wimbledon did it was a long ball. Perception is huge in football and sometimes a reputation just sticks.

Yes it counts. Played with Gareth for Rovers A & B teams. Hes a year above me. Did work experience for a month at rovers and Gareth was my mentor. Basically showed me how to mop the changing rooms and pick litter up in the terraces.?

Would love to see Dolan starting...tricky and dangerous and offers a different threat. Common FFS Rovers! 2-0

My personal highlight was QEGS 3rd XI...rarely troubled a trophy engraver let’s put it that way.

On the psychiatric clinic: “Madness is terrifying. In the clinic I felt like Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”... In the clinic there’s a guy who thinks he’s Robinson Crusoe and no one believes I’m Maradona.”

If I remember correctly, South American clubs dominated the World Club Championship from its inception for decades. Yes the lesser lights of the Brazilian League were and still are as tinpot as, say Burnley, but the top club sides were really tough. Many phenomenal players got nowhere near selection for the national side. So I don't buy Pele's 1,000 goals coming against useless opposition as a basis for dismissing him. I remember talking to Ronnie Clayton about playing against Pele when Pele was just a teenager. Clayton's view was unequivocal, Pele was the best he ever faced and is the greatest. Cases can be made for Puskas and Eusebio in the pantheon of greatest ever listed by Revidge.

I'll start to worry when he's Mr January in the rovers 2021 calendar

At least you got my drift WIR !

I really struggle with this theory that Brereton has suddenly turned his performance level around because there are no fans. As others have touched on, Brereton has not been unfairly abused by the fans, in fact we have been very patient with him. No need for our own fans to make us out as a raging mob. Also, if the difference is down to playing behind closed doors then the improvement is worthless if as soon as crowds return, he will return to being an incompetent clown! That theory does him a disservice anyway. His application and effort have gone up lots, the change in style and formation seems to suit him and have found a role for him and he looks like he has bulked up. All more constructive explanations as to the changes in his game.

Super Johnny Bairstow

Mungos Hi Fi - Traveller

Alternatively, I see Rooney is in charge against Wycombe and if they win both those games - which is possible - they'll probably panic and end up giving him the job. Which would probably end up being hilarious.

No doubt in my mind that SG will start tomorrow, he had a good game against PNE and a goal so deserves to and Elliott picked up a knock. I hope that Elliott is fit enough to feature off the bench. As others are saying Elliott cannot be expected to start all games.

I played in the same team as Gareth Ainsworth, does that count? I'm a level 2 FA coach as well though, and that changed the way I watch football, helps you understand some of the decisions managers make that might not be obvious.

Sett End!

My role as a manager within a school department was to create the conditions where other members of the department felt confident in coming up with ideas which drove us all forward. What pleased me even more was when key pupils in a class setting felt confident enough to inspire their peers and positively influence their learning. I smiled when I read that article and got exactly what Mowbray was saying. From afar he seems to have got the conditions spot on for moving positively forward.

Im not sure that it tends to work out too often when clubs try to mould Sporting Directors and Head Coach partmerships to try and cover all bases in terms of experience and new ideas.

I think there being no crowd has hugely helped Brereton. It is way less pressure without fans in the stadium. I think the majority of fans were very supportive of him but I'm sure he could sense the frustration everytime he got the ball and mis-controlled it or gave it away (which was pretty much every time he was on the ball!). His rise over the past 6 months has been incredible. We'll struggle to keep hold of him in the summer at this rate. In fact, the whole of our front three prob won't be here next season if we don't get promoted.

The Toy Dolls - Nellie The Elephant

Stone Roses - Elephant Stone

Very true. However, I also think there is something seriously wrong that despite having the best GD in the league, and the leagues top goalscorer, we still sit in 12th!

Wharton and Lenihan are great. Just 2 no nonsense , no frills DEFENDERS.