oneandycrawford

Bet he isn't one to duck out of a challenge

And to be fair he wasn't a good right-back. Remember him taking a lot of stick from the Riverside (no surprise there!) Moving him into midfield was inspired though. Was that Tony P or Don Mackay who did that?

So 6 midfielders (only Dunny and Flitcroft with a tackle in them) and 2 forwards. 2 spaces left for defenders - now that would be entertaining and make the JDT era look very cautious!!

At least as a full back it is only for 45mins!

Let’s have your predictions in the following categories: 1. Winners of the Championship Leicester 2. Automatic promotion (runners-up) in the Championship Ipswich 3. Four Play off semi-finalists in the Championship Southampton, Sheff Utd, Middlesbrough, Birmingham 4. Three relegated sides from the Championship Sheff Wed, Oxford, Charlton 5. Where will Rovers finish in the Championship? 16th 6. First Championship club to change manager (after the season starts) Wrexham 7. Winners of the Premier League Arsenal 8. A notable wild card prediction of something that will happen in the Rovers universe during the season (e.g. Donald Trump visits Ewood Park) The scales fall from Chaddy's eyes, he launches a coup, and replaces Glenn as leader of the opposition to Venky's. Next he launches an official boycott of the club and sets up a picket line in front of the gates on match days.

That sounds pretty reasonable. Not sure about West Ham though - suspect they may get dragged into the relegation scrap.

To be honest we got battered - deserved to lose. Going there for a night match was the Div 2 equivalent of when Arsenal had to go to Stoke year-after-year. Luckily we only had to go once!!

They didn't away at Cambridge that season. I was at that game and we really struggled- although we missed a chance late on to get a draw IIRC.

Out Wimbledon'd Wimbledon in the wind up the opposition stakes. I seem to remember things like the away dressing room only having cold showers.

How is that Eustace 'fucking us over'? Baath - we didn't offer him a worthwhile deal (as far as we know), and Derby did. Beck - not our player. Presumably Liverpool happy with how Eustace used and developed him so makes sense for them to continue that. Whereas they don't know VI and he has form for playing back 3 - even though seems to be playing with back 4 for now. Liverpool mainly play trad back 4, as does Eustace, so again makes sense for them to send Beck somewhere that means he can slot into Liverpool's team if for some reason they need him. I get the frustration that Derby are taking 'our' players but Eustace is merely taking advantage of the situation in the same way anyone else would. Kendall did more damage to us when he went to Everton IIRC.

Perfect response! And but for Szmodics we would have been relegated. And he's not here anymore. IMO the squad is lower in overall quality than either 1 or 2 years ago (assuming Brittain and Trav leave). Will depend on any new signings as to whether squad has more depth. E.g. Are two ok RB's better than 1 good RB with a U21's player as cover,?

And Bobby Mimms?

Guess it was good business for someone in the background?

It's what v young players tend to do unfortunately. Trav produced a really bad challenge to get sent off at Portsmouth v early in his career. The key thing is no to be reliant on them to fill the positions as regular starters so they can be taken out of the firing line Unfortunately our model seems to be to have them as starters!

Think this time round they have a better chance (unfortunately!). As well as Leeds and Sunderland I suspect Bournemouth and Brentford could struggle. Palace possibly as well if they lose Eze or Mateta - although with how Parrish plays hardball they would undoubtedly have decent funds to reinvest. Not sure West Ham are in a great place either. Bugger! I seem to have talked myself into giving the Dingles a fair chance of staying up 🙁

Just stumbled across this article in the Guardian. Don't have any memory of this game - was away at Uni at the time. I must have watched it on TV I guess. I do remember the Oxford match as was part of that rivalry we had with them that season. Blackburn v Manchester United: the Cup tie that made Mick Rathbone famous | Manchester United | The Guardian

Although the 92/95 team wasn't a one-man band - as could be seen by how they maintained performances in the 2nd half of the 92/93 season without Shearer - it is fair to say that without him we wouldn't have win the league. The 2000's teams under Souness / Hughes / Allardyce were much more a sum of their parts and less reliant on an individual talisman.

What made it worse IIRC was that Ashby refused to review the decision later and therefore Berg's red card stood and he was suspended. I had no problem with ref's making mistakes in pre-VAR days - even if I didn't like the decision - but that was just bloody minded.

Unfortunately for any other left winger they have to get past Duff. The first season back in the Premiership he virtually kept us up single-handedly.

In some ways you could just pick the whole 1980 back line as one - Arnold, Branagan, Faz, Keeley, Rathbone. Once they'd fully gelled under Kendal they were the football equivalent of a castle!

We really were blessed with some great keepers in the 70's /80's weren't we.

Love the lower league team - mine would be very close to that. Possibly John Bailey in for Chris Price and Kevin Hird switch to RB?

I think Batty was one of those players who you only really appreciate by watching live. So much of his good work was done off the ball - when Le Saux was rampaging forward and we lost the ball the opposition would naturally look to utilise the space left. Batty just naturally knew to cover those spaces. Similar to Tronstadt in many ways 😉

In my watching years and trying for a balanced team: Friedel Berg Hendry Nelsen Le Saux Ripley Dunn Flitcroft Duff Shearer Bellamy Bit worried about the defensive abilities on the left flank - that's one of the reasons Flitty is in there. Almost went for Batty as he was brilliant at covering Le Saux - at least until they started fighting each other 😉 Feel a bit guilty about no pre-92 (other than Big Col) in there. Just think nowadays Duff would probably play on the right!! Maybe another theme is best pre-Walkers team and best post-Walkers team. Although the second of those might makes some of us almost suicidal!!

Impossible task to say who greatest Rover was. Depends on what criteria. Bob Crompton probably ticks most boxes but as he is, even to our oldest forumites, a name in the record books he doesn't get that emotional pull. Ronnie and Dougie will be the ones for those watching from the 60's I guess Garner for my era as a hero - but not the greatest player tbh. That has to be Shearer. I feel for those who have only been watching since 2010. There might have been a 'cult' hero - Dack for example - but with the constant circus that is now our club - the likelihood of another club legend coming along seems very remote. Sad times indeed