It doesn't make it right chaddy just because clubs have the funds to bypass the system and pay for private tests. In the meantime care workers in nursing homes can't get the tests and won't all get them until the end of June - if they're lucky - according to the government. Finishing the football season really isn't a priority when the death count mounts on a daily basis.

I think you'll find care workers can't which is why the government said - only last week - that they planned to have all care workers in care homes tested by the END of June. The point you seem to miss is that if there are private tests available why aren't they being made available to the people on the front line who need them. A care worker in a care home is surely far more important, in terms of needing regular testing, than a footballer.

Regarding Mr Walker, i remember seeing a documentary from the old factory in stancliffe street, it was Christmas time and apparently the walkers were going to close the factory, until Jack appeared and told the staff go to the pub enjoy Christmas come back and there will be new wagons waiting for you, I used to work at Primrose third Axle in Blackburn, again in deep financial trouble, Jack gave us his fleet of trailers to make supplied the steel, he could have got them cheaper elsewhere but didn't, so for all his perceived faults and alleged nastiness, i think thats just sour grapes, in every factory people fall out with the boss and the mindset changes. there are other stories which i'm sure people on here can share of Mr Walker good and bad, end of the day you dont make millions being nice all the time.

‘Class’? He’ll be 33 by next season and he’s spent his English career at Harrogate, Burton, Bradford and third division Sunderland. Looks like the expectations of Sunderland fans have fallen even more than ours.

This. Jack was almost certainly a bit of everything. Thankfully he loved his football club enough to do what he did, that's all I really care about now.

I should really leave it alone but I'm going to bite anyway. You appear to be the only person comparing Jack with Fergie, nobody else has done unless I missed it, and in a similar vein nobody on here anyway has described Jack in the terms you have used, highlighted above. Its just he wasn't the saint that you want to think of him as. As for firing Mackay; I don't actually agree with you on that either. The Don was very popular with fans, and Jack knew it. To sack him straight away might have put Jack on the back foot a little bit and he was nothing if not shrewd. Plus Dalglish becoming available was a game changer and ultimately Jack's pursuit of him had to involve a vacant manager's office. To ask people to 'name names' in respect of Jack's Walkersteel employees is bizarre, but there are now two people on here telling a similar story of Jack's ruthlessness - and why wouldn't he be, that's how people get to own huge companies - I love the man for what he did for Rovers, and have no axe to grind with him or his memory Nor am I a Fergie defender. All we are saying is things are never quite as black-and-white as they seem, especially when you don't personally know/knew any of the people involved.

Good point on the maths but it doesn’t change the argument. The government cannot buy them because the company can sell them for more money privately and to the PL mega bucks. It’s immoral. I really hope this PL bubble bursts sooner rather than later.

I know we keep blaming the government, but 90% of Care homes are privately owned, seems to me the owners responsibilities are getting off Scott free.

Players seem to be too worried to play but sure as hell don't seem to see a problem about ignoring regulations and going to a party at their mates, crashing their Range Rover into a line of parked cars and fleeing the scene, partying at their house with ladies of questionable repute, or flying to Paris to party with models. And that's just the ones who were caught.

This long ago stopped being about ‘sporting integrity’ in the PL. They know most fans aren’t particularly arsed if they just put a line under this season and point per game it like the rest of U.K. football will be doing, in fact it would just be a relief all round as we hear increasingly daft conditions placed on the matches - further diluting the sacred ‘integrity’. Yet, they stagger on creating an ever bigger PR disaster, absolutely desperate to grab as much cash as possible to pay their mind boggling wage bills. It’s all so very unedifying and I believe the game will be in for an all mighty shock when crowds dwindle away in 2021, they are just very, very lucky that the TV deals aren’t imminently up for renewal or the whole house of cards would have come crashing down.

Basement Jaxx - Red Alert

Ha ha nice one Lennie. I'm not a fan of either of the old firm but I do pay my taxes - a lot of them - and always have done and if anyone thinks Rangers would have been bothered to 'fight it all the way' if Motherwell were being crowned champions and not Celtic then wakey wakey.

Just on the naming names thing, if people do start naming names, the posts will be hidden and warnings handed out. The site CANNOT afford legal battles against the Walker family.

I've only seen him in the flesh once but I liked what I saw. He pulled off a world class save when a defender theepenny bit headed a clearance right under his cross bar. He'd not seen the ball for 15 minutes before that and he was well out of his goals but he anticipated the cock up and scrambled back to claw the ball out from under the bar ! He ended up tangled in the back of the net. It showed he was wide awake and on his toes. He looked calm and collected at all times and seemed to be very assured.

I can pretty much remember every game between 1992 and 1996. Yet if you asked me about most matches this season I’d struggle...

Great videos Herbie. I have to admit that for the first 3 seasons of the Prem I kept a scrapbook containing press reports from the LET and others of Rovers astonishing progress. Ive forgotten a lot of those games and these videos of yours have brought the excitement back to me. Thanks for your effort in bringing them to us.

All tests should be made available to the government for use by the NHS, not held back for the highest bidder. There is no such thing as different stocks, there is simply global manufacturing capacity and global need. We have companies creating and donating PPE yet (as always) big pharma will always coin it in. The only person delighted about this approach is Kier Starmer because it’s a stark reminder of how when the chips are down for the nation the rich will always be favoured. What happens when a vaccine is finally found? PL players before frontline NHS and vulnerable people? What a country. The priorities are upside down. Football is nothing right now and its reputation is falling fast. Yet some people not only think this is ok but try to justify it?! I hope none of you stand outside your house clapping on a Thursday evening.

Meat Loaf - Everything Louder Than Everything Else

Everything but the Girl - Missing

? Hence my profile pic!

Public Image Ltd. - Rise

It's got honour killing written all over it

Simply Red - Something Got Me Started

Ouch! It is almost as if you could have written that in Latin lol

Of all the nonsense you've posted today this takes the biscuit. Even Steven Gerrard will admit that Celtic deserve to be crowned champions (although he obviously has one eye on England when he says that!). You're obviously a big fan of tax dodgers. First Jack Walker, now The Glasgow Rangers 2010 or whatever they are fucking called these days?

I remember that Tony. I'm sure deep down and now that they are both in their advanced years, they have a grudging respect for each other but there was absolutely no love lost back in the day. Its almost certainly a Glasgow and Liverpool/Manchester thing.

Rangers will fight this all the way. Hopefully win as well. Rangers over Celtic all day long.

You are right Andy and insiders say it seems from Ferguson not taking Alan Hansen to the World Cup in 1986. In a live interview Dalglish was asked a question about Ferguson and he indicated towards his baby daughter in his arms and said 'ask her, you'll get more sense out of her' or words to that effect.

What does the bit in bold even mean? Also, your big hero Jack split up the SAS, not Ray Harford.

Actually care workers can't get a test every day , my partner is a Home care worker looking after the elderly in their own homes, we have tried to get her a test just for her own piece of mind, but because she has no symptoms cant get one, also no free pizzas, parking, free mobile blah blah, , Care home workers dont seem to matter.

Not only that but today you may be clear tomorrow maybe not, even clear in the morning but in the afternoon caught it, So testing is really only a mind set of Oh i'm okay, what you really need is a vaccine. To add we have Flu vaccines but these dont always work for everyone, who's to say the Covid-19 vaccine will work for everyone, we just dont know, Also if this country counted the covid fatalities like the rest of Europe, i will use Germany as an example as they have started off the football, our figure would apparently be something like 3500. Controversial bit here - We have to live with this (thanks China, i did say in a post on here weeks ago this started from a lab in Wuhan) so herd immunity i think will be the norm just like it is with flu every year.

Pulp - Disco 2000

So in your world that's alright then when far more deserving cases can't get them. FFS this government can't hit their own testing targets but football, with all its riches can jump ahead and pay for them. But it fine because you will be able to watch PL football soon eh?

I was there that day - suffering from vertigo like all the other Rovers fans. I seem to remember Michael Owen missing a few chances for them but the buzz when the winner went in was fantastic!

Care workers can get tests every day. They can get home test kits which they can do themselves or go the test centre either at Preston or Manchester. My family and friends have all gone and been test who work in health and social care sector at least once. Blackburn Hospital has a test facility but it looks it just for staff at the hospital. Football went private to ensure that none of UK taxpayers money was used to fund their kits or use NHS resources. They arent using Government test kits, facilities or staff.

I don't remember him coming on here but he was all over the Twitter and Facebook sites defending his lad (which you would expect I suppose, whatever we thought of his behaviour at the end of his time at Ewood). He would have been better advised to stay away from all that and I'm sure the 'passionate' way he went about it wouldn't have been good for his health. I assume he died of a heart attack or stroke as it was very sudden, and 53 is no age. RIP.

Presumably though, the tests for football aren't coming from the same source as the ones the Government are using, and the Clubs are paying for them themselves so the ability of nursing homes and the NHS to obtain tests is completely unimpeded by and unaffected by anything football does. It might appear slightly unedifying but as I posted above the sport can't be expected to pay for absolutely everything and frankly it has enough on its plate already trying to ensure the professional game survives.

Loving the baggy 90s suits

You’re right, the government should be stepping in and saying footballers are not a priority for tests. Let alone 1,600 PER WEEK. And that’s just the PL. The rest of football? Well, you’ll just have to cancel because you don’t bring in enough money.

That's down to the Government. You can't expect football to sort out every single aspect of Society

They need to test a few for STDs too. The ones with their brains in their crotch.

Meanwhile, the local nursing homes just have to keep working blindly.....joke

I spoke to a friend of mine who is a Sunderland season ticket holder about the Sunderland keeper and he said the following. I heard the rumours hes Class I love him hes tall great shot stopper commands the box comes and wins corners everytime hes made 2 miskates in the 2 seasons that's it , if you get him ull get a great keeper I'll be gutted if he goes

According to gossip we have yes. Experience may be preferable but amongst many other key criteria, notably quality. If you want an experienced keeper, surely David Seaman would be a good addition? Or less jokingly, someone like Lee Camp, Jason Steele or Adam Federeci, all experienced but all shite? Just because he is experienced doesnt mean he is the one. Interestingly, even during last season when he was supposed to have impressed most for Sunderland, he missed out on the League team of the season to Adam Davies who has since collected dust as third choice at struggling Stoke. I am just pointing out that his calibre is hardly one that in normal circumstances, would have a promotion chasing side jumping for joy. That doesnt mean that he isnt up to it, players that I have been skeptical about in the past who I have had more knowledge about have flourished for Rovers, and conversely players that I have been excited about have underwhelmed or crashed and burned. As it is, my main point that we could be signing anyone and it would be difficult to be overly excited simply because there is a good chance we wont see them play for a long while. With income very limited for the forseeable and money presumably scarce, being pro-active and agreeing to sign a freebie such as this to fill a void considering that we dont have any contracted goalkeepers signed up for next season may be a shrewd move. My main opinion was not a negative one regarding the player, it was about the overall situation and how it may make the signing a better one than expected. In regards to your fanciful ideas about vaccines, this isnt really the thread but it remains to be seen whether a vaccine will ever be created and indeed whether it isnt a judgement call regarding the current rate of infection rather than the full closure of a vaccine as to when the players no longer need to go through the motions behind closed doors. No matter how many speculative and optimistic articles you post about vaccine progress at this stage, I suspect that before the turn of the year, never mind September, for the vaccine to have been created, trialled and tested and then mass produced would be an incredibly welcome but unexpected pleasant surprise.

In the what could have been category. I'm watching bits of Union Berlin v. Bayern Munich. If it wasn't for the Icelandic volcano eruption Rovers may have had a few years of Robert Lewandowski up front.

Derbyshire's cock up against City sealed his fate with Big Sam. Anybody that brain dead shouldn't have been playing Premier League football.

Get him on a podcast. Be like Fear and Loathing in Parochial East Lancashire

I've just watched the Liverpool game in full on Sky, how many chances did we have in the last 15 mins to wrap things up? Sutton open goal fluffed his shot, Shearer 7yrds out blazed over the bar and a deflection that wrong footed James and went inches wide? I still found myself wanting to jump off the settee. brilliant, just brilliant. The height of my ambition as a Rovers fan growing up in the 70/80's was to possibly make an FA Cup semi final, I never thought for one minute we'd win the league, win the league cup and travel the length and breadth of Europe following Blackburn Rovers Tremendous, can't thank you enough Jack Walker

Hignett. Quality player, unsung really and was always one of the better players in the seniors soccer sixes on Sky a few years after his retirement, a proper player