This is the kind of thing people have been asking for. Get them young and all that... https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/march/ewood-express-a-great-success/ I taught near Chatburn and that side of Clitheroe still has a sizeable Rovers contingent in my experience. Without attention though, plenty could be attracted to Burnley.

We’re 8th in the second division.

Can't knock them when they actually try stuff, seems a decent idea. Really need some attacking football with a bit of energy on the pitch though as if anything is likely to get them hooked it's something to cheer. So often these good deals end up falling flat on the pitch.

I dread to think what kind of meat would be in a pie for a pound!

@chaddyrovers I'm not surprised you see nothing wrong with 3/5 of our best back 5 being loans but I struggle to see how this is the case. 1) defending is built on continuity - how can that happen when the defence changes each year? 2) how can you build a long term style when you don't know the players you will have each year? How does it help the rest of the team gel given they have such a changeable back line each year. 3) what if we can't get the players of the right quality in? That's a lot of defensive reinforcements to find. We need 3 successful defensive signings to stay even. That's a lot of pressure to do in the summer, not to mention other parts of the team. 4) issue with loan signings, especially youngsters - what if they are recalled or take half a season to settle. The latter in particular (see Walton) means we're constantly dipping in quality even if we get the loans right. And if recalled where is the recompense for us? Of course there's always a risk and negative to loans but when the majority of the defence is made up of this then those risks and problems become huge. Can't really believe anyone doesn't think this is an unhealthy position to be in. @Oldgregg86 I think you are spot on about how transfers will occur. On the upside whilst I am a tad sceptical of Messer's Bereton Gally and Samuel we also will have Dack and Holtby and hopefully Gally will play up front more which can only help his goal ratio. so not all doom and gloom going forwards, especially if we sign a winger.

Sky have now got this on there listings as being shown on the red button.

Mowbray has tried to justify what happened with Raya going and nobody coming in. I'm afraid I simply don't accept that selling our 1st choice keeper to a club like Brentford without anyone else lined up to come in is reasonable or appropriate. Mowbray can repeat excuses about the market until blue in the face. It isnt acceptable. For the manager to be talking about recruiting an entire new defence this summer is ludicrous. No matter how you want to dress it up. It is a consequence of over reliance on loans and cutting corners on those positions and is not healthy. This has been going on since 2012. The owners will not allow funds to be used on those positions. Imagine if we got up in late May and then had only a few weeks to assemble a defence ahead of a Premier League season. Madness. Likewise any hopes of going again with momentum next season to go one better hinge upon us getting early good business done and those players settling in quickly. Won't work on past evidence, when it took all summer to get Tosin in and Cunningham at the 11th hour once we found a taker for Mulgrew.

This is the problem with 'painting yourselves into a corner'. Anybody who denies Walton hasn't improved massively over the course of the season is simply in denial. He's a good goalkeeper and is showing that. If we managed to sign Walton in summer I'd be delighted. I would like a number 2 but having Walton as our number 1 is good enough for me. This talk of signing Walton as a number 2, "only being worth 500k" sounds full of bitterness and is overly unpleasant just for the sake of it.

At the supporters meeting he was asked about the 'defenders are coming' comment and he said that defenders did come. Whilst that happened it's stretching the truth somewhat as the three that came are all on loan and reading between the lines he doesn't inspire me to believe they will be back either on loan or permanent. I terms of improving the squad we will be in the same position this summer as we were last summer.

"We probably need to recruit a whole back 4 for competition" TM Nothing like forward planning! Not sure how this counts as a slow build progress needing 4 defenders and a keeper. (Actually 2 keepers if Leuits is the back up). Although if I am honest I may have heard him say this before...

Is this post just to disagree with Chaddy? Walton has had some great games and when he has little to do,appears to keep his concentration and deals with stuff as well. "He isn't worth 500,000" You are surely on the wind up?

He’s going to be pretty shocked by the wages players want too.

Tony strikes me as a pudding chips and peas kind of guy

It's bizzare. It's impossible to see things ending well for him when he eventually finishes up playing. He is paying at least 4 women child maintenance. I suppose he has a few things on his CV that means he will get clubs in crazy places like Iran and Azerbaijan.

They did. I highlighted the Clitheroe bus as it's closer to my own experience. There is no particular reason why a kid there would choose Rovers unless family already went. Currently, Burnley are the club in the Premier League and there's always the glory hunting Liverpool/City approach. This is a way to get relatively affluent people who can afford the full kit and plenty of food & drink spending their money at Ewood. The article also references another bus picking up Asian children from around Blackburn. This is less likely to increase revenue in the short term but longer term we all know it is far more important. Reduced prices are often mentioned but Rovers always come back with "Don't want to revalue the product." or "Defeats the point of increased footfall." A little short-sighted IMHO.

Potentially our best season so. My point remains that some need to enjoy it.

Are we having our best season? We still had a chance of the top 6 going into the last day under Bowyer in 2014. Lets see where this lot are in May.

I think if we step away from comparing him to Raya it gives a better idea of what he's about. Raya i think is a bit of an enigma you'll not find many better at getting down quick and reflex saves but some things with him i'm not sure he'll ever improve on. What we need is a steady keeper who's going to settle here between the sticks for a number of years. Not stop gaps and experiments to see if we can make a few quid just a reliable sort, solid if unspectacular. Walton looks like he might develop into someone steady, well by this eras standards anyway. I prefer to look at him as a better version of Steele at the min. Not saying much i know but he's doing ok it would have been easy to go backwards after a ropey start but he's improved so must have something about him.

Yes I think it is hard be it the pub or internet to find the middle ground. For me I think perhaps for me it's a bit of both - as in he is showing us both ends of the spectrum of how bad and how good he can be. Can remember some awful games earlier on but equally some impressive performances of late. I also wonder if the balance is hard to find based on the prior keeper(s) they are replacing. Anyone after Friedel would have looked bad but more realistically anyone who could catch a cross compared with Raya would look more solid, anyone's kicking would suffer in comparison to Robinson's and anyone after Steele would look like Gordon Banks.

We are having the best season since we were relegated from the Premier league, at least try and enjoy it

We've heard all this before. Rightly or wrongly there will be no appetite to overhaul the defence in the summer, even if by some miracle the owners authorise significant expenditure on it. Mowbray attaches a lot of weight to trust and doing his homework on players. He won't want to risk upsetting the apple cart by bringing in 2 keepers and 3-4 defenders. I expect one of the first pieces of business will be a new contract for Bell and possibly also Leutwiler.

He strikes me as the type of character who would revel going back there for a battle.

Whilst you are right with your first sentence (as was Mowbray) I don't think anybody thought that 60% of our first choice defence would be loans. In anybody's book it's not healthy and smacks of a lack of succession planning. We are better defensively, without doubt but in the summer we are pretty much starting from scratch again from a defensive point of view. Do you think that's a healthy situation for a club with supposed ambition?

He's settled down enough to show he's capable of further improvement in the future helped no doubt by the defence gelling a bit in front of him. The tombola has had it's wings clipped a bit as well so that helps imo. Worth a punt if he's affordable but talk of 5 million as daft as 500k and i'd be worrying again if they paid that much, time to look at the connections seeing as they brought Gallagher as well ! In this day and age you're talking a million down with add ons being a reasonable deal i reckon. He's got solid championship pedigree now as well as a bit of potential. Raya went for 3 so anything more than that would be wiffy to me, i'm saying undisclosed fee of about 2.5 that's my prediction. Of course Nixon or someone will be putting 3 other clubs after him and quoting 5 million before the end of the season !

And yet we only have 5 recognised defenders in the squad. 6 if you count Cunningham but that's still pretty appalling. It's not solely about the defensive improvement, which is highly laudable and a step in the right direction, but the fact we have only 5 defenders and the fact our improvement leaves in the summer! This suggests the "defenders are coming" comment needed an amendment - "but they won't be here for long."

Thank you, it means a lot. Really proud of this issue. Crossword possibly trickier than normal too - got to give a challenge to those who have crazy encyclopedic knowledge of the most obscure Rovers players out there!?

I’ll be honest, I don’t think that’s true at all. He always seemed inhibited on the right wing, even if Mowbray selected him there the most, then when he eventually played in CM alongside Travis, amazingly, he played his best football!

I’m sure TM does have plans and players he wants, after all he’s worked in plenty of normal clubs. However, the fact that here nothing ever moves until after that yearly meeting means we will always be playing catch up.

ISSUE 100! It's only taken us 30 years to get there! We've put together a memorable 48-page special edition which celebrates this significant milestone and it's still just £1.50. To order your copy please visit our ONLINE SHOP, or to purchase through eBay CLICK HERE. Season subscriptions are also STILL AVAILABLE HERE for just £9.00 (includes P&P) which gets you all five issues from 97 to 101. If you prefer grabbing a copy in person, the fanzine will be sold outside Ewood before the forthcoming home games from an hour before kick-off (at the bottom of Kidder Street). Issue 100 includes: Interviews with the creators, All 100 front covers printed and catalogued, LOTS of memories (e.g. 'Flying Over You', 'The Thatchcard' & how we once duped Blackburn Council!), 'I'll Always Be A Rover' (an incredible take on a Billy Joel classic), Colin's Cheeky Bits!, Confessions of a Teenage Mascot, I Support Rovers Because..., From The Terraces, 'Who Were You?' #15 Richard Witschge, 101 Great Rovers Goals #7, Voice From The Valleys, Rovers' Own West Lothian Question, Fantastic Fergie, Just Look At Them Now!, Rovers-themed Crossword…. plus much much more! Thank you and here's to the next 100... maybe!

Not got the answers - been late for the last couple of games so missed out on buying a copy - I'd say (with a lot of help from the initials) Lars Bohinen, Zurab, (don't know - yet), and Graham Fenton

Whilst I applaud the idea, cost is the factor I believe. This is one of the more affluent areas of the Ribble Valley, they should be doing this across all the primary schools in and around central blackburn (Asian areas and poor areas)and giving a very reduced price to get in for kids. The bus could get round Blackburn at least 5 times before a game..

This is exactly the sort of thing that gets suggested on here a lot. So long may it continue and hopefully grow in scope.

This

Hope so it would be nice to see the Johnson of his Derby years a bit more often. Think fitness has been a big issue for him.

Compete over exaggeration.

Well defenders did come in tho whether on loan or permanent. Think people including myself expect 4 defensive signings. Would you not agree that Tosin and Cunningham were improvement on the players they replace? Of course we would like permanent signings but didn't happen that way. Going off his comments about summer signings I would hope we make 3 defenders and 2 keepers signings.

Haha, thanks very much for buying then! Initials are LB, ZK, JM and GF!

I like that formation, the Klopp style. I would have Downing out for a rest and have Johnson kicking people at Defensive Midfield and have Rothwell and Travis, both with energy supporting forward.

He’s stronger than Raya in the height department, you say?

We need a win. We aren't going to move upwards by drawing or losing and hoping our rivals all drop points. Sooner or later we need to make up the ground. We've wasted 3 good opportunities in the last week to do so, and now the requirement is to do it away from home at a ground not many teams win at. A draw is a good result if you are happy with a mid table finish. If you want promotion then 0 wins in 4 games isnt good enough.

More claret than blue, is that what you mean? To call Chris Sutton Vin de Table is well wide of the mark, I’m afraid. Collymore on the other hand...

According to Tony “It was great that he scored today after the week he’s had," Mowbray told iFollow Rovers. Hope Gally has got over the scathing and heinous attack in the press

Well firstly I've always said we wouldn't be able to afford price wise. I've rated Walton for most of the season and see improve and development in his game. Plus his confidence is much better And I think Gallagher did impress during his loan spell here

Johnson CB? God almighty and the stuff you lambast Mowbray about.

I got it on ppv last night and watched it having avoided most spoilers(I knew Moxley won,saw it on instagram") Now,I don't watch dynamite. I catch the odd dark,bit I do follow on social media. So I said I would take the plunge. With the nonsense booking WWE are throwing out,I do hope someone can push on. Thoughts, I think AEW have the advantage over all non WWE companies with their commentary team. The familiar voices are priceless. Now the commentary wasn't great, a few awkward moments, but it is a difficult job these days. I felt nobody knew what to say when Nyla Rose was on for fear of offending someone. Some tip toeing going on. Not just during that bit. Commentary just has to be a bit bland now. Stu Bennett is one of the best on Power. He gets it. Hager and Dustin was grand. I think Dustin got too much in though. Hager is just a bit bland really ,isn't he? They tried to RVD things up a bit with the kiss beforehand,but meh. I loved Guevara v Allin. Think the wrong person won though. I think Guevara could be a star. Both of them actually. Get a cruiserweight title on the agenda immediately. The tag team match was class. Very good. I agree about the finishes though. How is Matt Jackson kicking out of a buckshot v trigger combo? Makes the buckshot seem so weak. Granted he eventually won with it,but I think the damage was done. Great match though. Rose v Statlander was awful by comparison but also because Statlander doesn't look athletic. Ok they said she had flu,so maybe that's what it was. She botched a lot of moves. I thought Rose looked ok. Some drop in quality from previously though. Cody and MJF was very good. Again though, makes Cody's finisher look weak by the fact MJF hit him after 2 of them. I know he fell over then as in it was his last bit of energy,but nah. I thought the tattoo was fake. I still think it must be. It can't be real,can it? Brandi a good addition at ring side Oh ya, I thought his entrance was a bit much. I thought the same with Jericho's. Pac and Orange was surprisingly good. I feel pac should have bet him down afterwards to make him look more sadistic. Some good offence from Cassidy,but I don't see what longevity he has. His character will need to evolve I feel. The title match was ok. Seen better from both, good power bomb on the bell by Jericho. It was a bit odd that he just gave Moxley such a beating for so long without any help from outside. The help from outside did pick up though and that told a better story. I think Moxley will be a good champion. The crowd love him and he gets them involved. Decent show. They are trying stuff, which isn't all working,but it's super(intended) to have a wrestling company that at least tries to give the fans entertainment and what they want to see.

If Mowbray thought Harrison Reed had to learn the CM position from Smallwood and Evans I'd be concerned for Travis's future development.

Crazy how Andy Cole only got 10 caps in his career. Class player. There were some excellent English strikers back then though.

What a bloody awful shirt. Was that really the best Nike could come up with ? Everything is wrong about it. I haven't bought a shirt for about 20 years. I'm still waiting for the club to bring one out worth wearing.

Can’t believe you didn’t mention Fryatt’s equaliser in the Man City cup tie Kamy - easily the highlight of a grim couple of years back then.