bazza

Ferguson McEvoy Pickering Douglas Harrison - wasn't bad! And before those we had:- Douglas (aged about 18), Crossan, Briggs, Quigley, Langton. That wasn't bad, either.

Maybe we got spoilt when three or four times a season Dobing would play a real "blinder" yet in a lot of other games the crowd got frustrated with him. It's only my opinion. I hadn't realised his goals/games ratio was so good. Anyway we both have happy memories of those "good old days".

The only one on the list I have never seen play is Jack Southworth. Even though his scoring was so prolific he took a lot of persuading to come from Olympic to Rovers and later played for Everton. Hmmmm . Dobing was never as good as Vernon in my opinion; not as consistant. Neither of these would I class as out and out strikers. They were both attacking midfielders. It's funny how quirks of fate can change a footballer's life. Look at Dave Whelan who may never have become so successful in business if he hadn't broken his leg at Wembley. Fred Pickering playing, at full back, got injured during a game. No subs in those days so Fred became a "passenger" and was duly moved to centre forward for the remainder of the game, scored two goals and opened the manager's eyes. Andy McEvoy was used at right half in place of the injured Clayton and was pretty hopeless. Probably due to other injuries he was used as a utility player and was moved up alongside Pickering. Both became prolific goalscorers. McEvoy wasn't a good footballer in any sense other than he could "poach" goals. And boy did he do some poaching. Tommy Briggs was a firm favourite although all his goals were in the second division, not the top flight. I saw his seven in the 8-3 victory over Bristol Rovers. I also saw Rovers beat Middlesbrough 9-0 and Tommy didn't get one! I suspect Simon Garner is in the lead and IMO quite rightly so. I'll soon be voting when I've finally made up my mind.

Bloomin eck, Nayef, I like your photo of Chris Sutton

I haven't voted yet, Den; cannot make my mind up. Keep it open for a while yet

Just watched the highlights on TV. Brad beaten again by a shot from the left.

There was a target man on the bench but he wasn't used. AMORUSO If he had come on up front for the last 10 to 15 minutes I reckon we may have got something out of the game. But I'm pleased with overall performance especially MGP,Mokoena,Todd and my MOM, Ryan Nelsen. Brad got beaten by a shot from their left for the umpteenth time. This is one of his weak points and should be worked on to improve.

Well need to call out the army to escort us in and out, again! What a draw!!

three quarters of an hour to go. My prediction....................Nott'm Forest away I'm always wrong. That's why I can't win the lottery

Ten men Rovers hang on to scrape a draw 2-2 after Savage is sent off on his debut. I hope I'm wrong.

Who was the most prolific striker ever to play for Rovers? Shearer? Briggs? No, you may find it's one JACK SOUTHWORTH. If you check goals scored per games played, I think Jack even beats the two mentioned.(I haven't looked up the stats). If Forrest and Latheron were discussed at length, why hasn't Jack at least been put on the list of all time greats??

Just come on to this thread and voted straight away before reading any posts and was surprised to find that I wasn't the first to vote for Jan. Flitty is still Rovers captain to me even though he doesn't get picked too often and Bazza was made Capt. after him. But "that swine Ferguson" wants away. SO!!.....There is no really permanent person in the squad to be capt . Except Neill (yuk) and Brad. I don't agree with goalkeepers being captains. Todd is playing well at present so he should continue for now. Love to see Jan with the armband on showing us how she can score goals like King Kenny.

Reid and Nissa came on for Gally and Tugay. Nissa replaced Mokoena at centre back. Mokoena replaced Tugay in midfield. MGP replaced Gally up front. Reid went to right wing and Emerton went to left wing.

Congratulations, James No7! It's not very often that someone predicts not only the correct score but also the goalscorer(s). Take a bow. How are we going to do against Cardiff City?

anus?

Scott Parker who can't get into Chelsea's first team would be ideal.

I went to that game with my mates. We stood behind the goal on the end nearest the town centre. I was amazed that there were groups of Rovers fans and Wanderers fans all side by side. When we won a corner we all clapped but others were deathly quiet and when they won a corner others were cheering and we were quiet. It was quite weird. Sam Allardyce was playing in that match. Roger Jones was magnificent for us. The following day's football headlines read "33,000". There wasn't a space to be seen on the terraces.

The ref had a good game. Two physical teams were allowed to go at each other without (as it turned out) a lot of malice. I hate refs who want to card every tackle.

2 horse race. John Lewis and Jack. three horse race. Wasn't there a Lawrence Cotton in the early twentieth century whose money helped win two league titles and build the riverside stand?

Am I the only one who thought that Spurs played really well. Rovers were the poorer side except for the opening period of the second half up to when Spurs scored. We tried our best but lost to a much better side.

Let's have a break over Xmas and come back to it in January. I tend not to go on the computer much during Xmas/New Year.

We have eight quite wonderful left wingers in the poll and I haven't voted yet. It's time to vote. Here is a message to all the spotty faced ones. You know how us old geezers keep harping on about Clayton, Douglas, Eckersley etc.?? Well..........You've seen a player in your lifetime who (IMO) is as good as (not better than, but as good as) Bryan Douglas. Yes, Duffer is as twinkle-toed as the great Duggie. It is a pity that circumstances have dictated that he could not spend more of his career with the Rovers. Because of his quality I have to vote for him. He is truly the best left winger (note the old fashioned position name) that I have ever seen play for Rovers.

Just look at your recordings of the great seasons of the Jack Walker era and see how many goals are created and scored by Wilcox. It is quite amazing. He was never fully appreciated by the crowd and was, IMO, the most under-rated player of that period.

Burscough Bob ; the left wing wizard. Bobby Langton was born in Burscough, Lancashire on 8th Sept 1918. He joined Rovers from Burscough Victoria when he was 19 years old, initially as an amateur, soon turning professional in Sept 1938. He contributed to the promotion winning side back to the top flight of the 1938-39 season scoring 14 goals in 37 appearances. He was a very fast left winger who could cross a ball from every angle. He liked to cut inside from time to time and unleash a shot like a cannonball. I remember one of his goalbound shots cannoning off the forehead of John Charles, the Leeds United centre half, and bouncing on the roof of the Darwen End. The crowd stood in awe as Charles just shook his head instead of collapsing poll-axed. (This was in the 1950s.........I’m not THAT old). As well as being a winger, he liked to go into the centre forward’s spot to score goals . He could dribble too. Wartime disrupted everything but after playing for Glentoran in Ireland as a guest and thrilling the spectators there, he made a total of 42 wartime appearances for Rovers scoring 7 goals. After the war he scored 5 goals in 70 games between 1946 and 1948. When Rovers were relegated to the second division Langton was sold to Preston North End for £14,000 in August 1948 where he scored 14 goals in 55 games. In November 1949 Bolton Wanderers bought him for a club record fee of £20,000. He scored 16 goals in 118 appearances for the Trotters. He played in the 1953 FA Cup Final. He returned to Ewood aged 34 in Sept 1953 to be part of a well-remembered forward line of Douglas, Crossan, Briggs, Quigley, Langton. Although age had slowed him down he had lost none of his guile and still thrilled the Rovers fans. In those three seasons he played 105 games scoring 33 goals. He was capped for England 15 times; seven of those whilst with Rovers. My father-in-law reckons he was better than two other great wingers McLeod and Harrison in that he was more skilful than just sprinting down the touchline and crossing the ball; but that was in his young days, not the fifties. So Bobby was fast, a good dribbler, a good crosser, liked to get into the penalty area and score goals, had a rocket shot and took the penalties. Also he got capped for England in the heyday of Matthews and Finney.

And before them were Wagstaffe, Harrison, McLeod and Langton. That's another four in my lifetime.