This sad news makes me feel VERY old. Another player who gave 100% for our cause back in the day has left the world too soon. RIP.

You've really got it in for Grayson, haven't you, Sparks? Any opportunity to rubbish him; you'll take it.

You must be the chap I spoke to in the Riverside stand on Saturday, wearing the "I am silently correcting your grammar." tee-shirt.

Are there still branches of Burton's the Tailors? Becauseif there are, I'm prepared to show my a*se in one of their windows if Bennett's named in the team to play Fulham.

Right; I'm up to date, and agree with everything that has been said in the last few pages. I haven't the stamina to go onto the match thread tonight. I have my blood pressure to think of!

That has to be one of the most damning comparisons any fan of any team has ever uttered. The sad thing is it's right; about a minute before we equalised - we'd been pressing for a while and the ball was passed to our right full-back. He was in Charlton's half of the pitch; so what did he do with no real pressure on him? He kinda aimlessly passed back and our momentum was lost.

Or Elliot Bennett?

I've deliberately not read a word of this thread since leaving home this morning to get to the match so I apologise in advance if any comments like the one I'm about to make have been overtaken by other comments. BUT, having been at the game, I agree with the comment which is implicit in Angry_Pirate's comment that, at best, Bennett should be a substitute. The bit I don't get is the word 'impact'. I'd only ever be tempted to bring Bennett on as a substitute if we were something like 8-0 up with 90 seconds to go.

And, as I'm fairly sure others have pointed out on one thread or another on here, it could also be seen as a marketing opportunity missed. Each of us passing through the turnstiles that afternoon could - should - have been given a flier advertising season ticket prices for the first season back in the Championship with an application form. Many of them might have been thrown into the bin, but for each one that was completed & returned to the club, we'd have had a new season ticket-holder - possibly more if the form was completed by a parent/grandparent.

I'm the total opposite of an ITK; I'm just a dyed in the wool Rovers' fan who gets his season ticket, 'invests' [?] in Rovers Readies, regularly chants "Rovers till I die" on certain Saturday afternoons throughout the year and generally just wants This Great Club Of Ours to succeed at the highest level possible level. What this dialogue has got me wondering, though, is if the foundations aren't being laid for Mowbray to become the club's General Manager with Damian Johnson succeeding him as Team Manager. Many pages ago, I'm sure I read a suggestion of Matt Jansen being encouraged to apply to succeed Johnson as Under-23s/Academy Manager which if I didn't ❤️, I should have. It brought back memories from the 1960s to the '80s of the Liverpool 'boot room' when, after Bill Shankly retired, he was succeeded by a dynasty of internal appointments and former players - Steve Highway as something like Academy Manager springs to mind - working inside the club. We had the germ of this idea in the late 1960s when Johnny Carey came back as General Manager with Eddie Quigley as Team Boss. Ajax and, I think, Bayern Munich work on similar lines; and I'd like to think we could establish a similar system. Having read the Times article about Mowbray on the train up to Newcastle in January and having read similar comments about him recently in this thread, I'm one who thinks that he's a decent human being, who's been a positive influence even if his team selections are sometimes somewhat, erm, bewildering to us. For me, he would have a fitting legacy if the club could be seen in years to come to have set up something similar to the Ajax set-up on the football management side of Ewood.

Most certainly! I'm a Sandgrown - native Blackpudlian - Rovers' fan. When I go back to my old school's Old Boys' Dinner, we raise our glasses for the loyal toast, "The Queen, Duke of Lancaster." We did so before local government reform in the 1970s; we did so this year. Oh, and back on topic; Finney, by a country mile.

"Hark now, hear the Rovers sing; ... ?" What a day that was; to quote Max Boyce, "I know; I was there!"? [And many others on here too, no doubt.]

Isn't that because he started out as a midfielder? We - and his country - have used him as a centre-back. I agree that, if we'd had a stronger back four, he'd have been ideal as a latter-day Tugay but now that we've got Johnson,

Where did I suggest that? I was merely drawing attention, as so many others have on here, to the phrase the manager trots out so regularly and which may have cost us players - e.g. Bauer - in whom we were supposed to be interested. Trust me, I'm not stupid.

From the club website: 'So will Adarabioyo be thrown straight in against Charlton Athletic for the opening game of the season? The boss added that the youngster may well have to wait. ' "It may take him a couple of weeks to get to grips with the team but then he'll be looking to force his way into the side." ' It's TM's mantra, isn't it? I bet he'd use exactly the same phrase if we'd signed, say, Messi, or Bale!

There is a silver lining, then!??

I preferred Joey's choice; but I fear that your amendments will be the team Mowbray uses to start the game.

No; as with many of the players who've moved on from Ewood over the years, we could make a good claim to have had the best years of his club managerial career.

I believe Sir Ferguson also made a similar comment about Jones.

Wonder whatever happened to Sparky's overseas scouting network??? ?

I don't know if some far more computer-literate than me - not difficult! - member can transfer this thread to the "In memoriam" Board? I've just visited that Board and had a wonderful 1/4 hour reading about my heroes from the era beginning with the team that got back to the old Division 1 in 1957. So sad to read how many of those players have died so young.

So no more "Tugay-substitutions", to allow the player being substituted to milk the applause as they walk from the Riverside to the Jack Walker Stand, then?!?

It was my first time of seeing him playing, too; and, like like bluebruce, I couldn't see - on Saturday's display, at any rate - what much of the fuss was about. I was also a bit worried about the way Saturday's Ref felt the need to have a quiet word with him. I wasn't aware of Blackpool targeting him, but he seemed to commit a few niggly fouls within a short time of coming on as a sub. Obviously, I don't know if the Ref was considering yellow carding him but the quiet word seemed to do the trick. Maybe a point for the management to consider?

And Gigg Lane could easily be a prime house-building site, very close to Bury town centre and just off a prime commuting route to Manchester. The vultures could be circling.

Equally, it may well be Citeh who are asking for assurances about the lad's playing time; assurances which may not be easy for us to provide, given the loyalty our management seems to have to our current back four. I'm sure I read recently about a penalty clause in a loan deal - maybe a couple of seasons ago - between Liverpool and Bristol City where because the player didn't play as much as Liverpool expected, Bristol City had to make a fairly hefty extra payment.