oneandycrawford

I have the utmost respect for Gareth Southgate as a human being. The way he changed the toxic culture around the team and allowed most of the players to display they are decent guys and good role models shouldn't be undervalued. If anyone heard his Dimbleby lecture on the BBC earlier this week then that can only reinforce the need for the good things he brought. However the evidence of last summer is that maybe it had swung too far the other way and the 'edge' wasn't quite there. The displays were insipid for the most part and the players didn't seem to have any spark or real hunger. One exception was Bellingham but that meant he was trying to do too much a lot of the time. I guess time will tell if those displays were all that those players can do or if the change of manager approach will take them to another level.

Totally with you there Tyrone. When I played full-back I was always looking to block those crosses as knew they were a nightmare for the rest of the defence. Shearer's goal at Anfield the day we won the league another great example.

Can I put forward Mike Newell's against Derby in the Play-Off semi-final 1st leg. Not only a great goal but one that totally changed the atmosphere and momentum of the game. Along with Shearer's 2nd against Man U in 93/94 season. In my 50 years of watching Rovers probably the two goals that I reacted to (embarrasingly?) the most! Although falling over after Marcus Bent's goal at Turd was also pretty embarrassing!!

Agreed. And the ground was named after the pub it stood behind! But people's behaviour was (generally) better then. I don't remember coming out of the pub - however pissed I was! - and making loads of noise in the way I hear it now. Additionally there is far more use of taxis now so much more and louder noise. I'm sure if Stanley have the right conversations with the council and put some mitigations in place around noise/times then a solution will be found. The direction from government is about prioritising economic growth and planning policies should reflect this.

My mum came with me and my dad on the Monday night. Only her 2nd time at Ewood and 3rd time 'watching' Rovers. 1st time at Ewood was to get me a voucher for a cup tie ticket!

The other thing those highlights show is the myth around the moneybags tag. Ian Pearce winning goal, David May equalising goal. Money spent in the key areas but bargains used elsewhere.

I was there. The relief when David May scored the equaliser was immense! Interesting to see how seriously the 'big' teams took all competitions then compared to now.

I was working in Manchester at the time so didn't go to watch in a pub. No Sky in my house so ended up listening to it on Radio Lancs. When the final whistle went at Anfield the commentators seemed to forget about the West Ham game. I remember screaming at the radio - 'has the f'ing Man U game finished????'

If anything I probably back the team more in a game I think we'll struggle in. Somewhere in my head I think my shouting louder will help the players 😉 In the Souness/Hughes era the best backing the team got was in games against the 'entitled' teams - Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea. Were the fans always confident of winning those games? Of course not but that didn't stop us giving the players great backing. Of course then we had a team with tons of fight and spirit!

Agree with Norwich fans being friendly. I went to the game where Bothroyd was sent off, they battered us but only scored one goal, and then Dickon equalised right at the death. Good-natured banter and serious chat on the train back to Ely. The fans I met seemed to have a good attitude towards away fans.

Mine was the 74/75 3rd Div championship season. Don't remember too much tbh. Was too young for away games. My first game was Charlton Ath. Started in Riverside stand and remember we all used to stamp our feet to make some noise. Moved onto Blackburn End to stand up. Once I was tall enough we finished up on the Riverside terrace on the half way line - teddy bear dismemberment a special memory!! Then back into the new Riverside stand to complete the circle.

Not sure Jason Wilcox would agree!

Think a lot of this post makes sense - until the last paragraph! What on earth makes you think RM would be a good choice. He was mediocre (at best) at MK Dons and Swansea and then managed to get Southampton to limp over the line for promotion. It's fine having a philosophy but you have to adapt to circumstances when it isn't working or you don't have the players to match that philosophy. Look at City now - Pep is struggling to manage the decline of his squad whilst maintaining his style of play but even he has adapted that style a bit to get the best out of Haaland. City go long ball much more now than they used to so that Haaland's strengths can be used. RM's arrogance seems to mean he can't / won't do that. His style would require a complete rebuild of our current squad.

Are you assuming Waggott would include a promotion bonus!

Agree - but then they probably shouldn't be having a go at Chaddy for taking a different view? For what it's worth in my view a sensible operation would do one of two things here: - go for broke and pay someone like Cooper (with his track record at this level) enough to get him in and go for the playoffs - accept not getting in the playoffs, put someone like Johnson in to end of season (with help the senior players such as Baath) and make a decision in the summer. Unfortunately we are anything but a sensible operation so god knows what will happen 😨

I don't often agree with Chaddy but all he is asking is that everyone on here who is saying all the names on the list are unacceptable (and I agree they are hardly exciting) should name who they think should be on the list. Not seeing many people replying to Chaddy on that.

Or maybe just screams a club that isn't attractive anymore to anybody who isn't: 1. Out of work and desperate 2. Out of work and crap Which probably shows how far away we now are from where we were in terms of reputation in the game.

Bloody hell! Trav would be knackered by half-time in that line-up 😉

Don't see how you can play both Cantwell and ACD in a midweek away match against a tough opponent. If you are going to play Cantwell you'd need someone like Dolan / Hedges / JRC alongside. I accept the fact that all 3 of those aren't good enough but in our position they at least provide some physical presence and /or workrate.

To be fair there's a dearth of goals in the first 85 mins of our games as well 😉

I'd settle for a poor man's Beckenbauer tbh. Fantastic player and would likely have excelled in the modern game.

Lots of late goals is generally a sign of fitness and belief. IIRC that happened with us when Sparky took over compared to Souness.

Lots of people saying who it shouldn't be. Only positive views seems to be for Cooper. Would be good to know who those people think it should be. Maybe the realistic question is who it could be, bearing in mind the shitshow behind the scenes and the likely mass loss of the better players in the next 12 months or so. We are shopping in a v shallow pool of (largely) failed / washed up managers or ones who likely have ambitions better than what we offer at the moment. Unfortunately the likely outcome is whoever will take the job at the lowest wages!

I'm ok with most on that list. Beggars can't be choosers and all that. BUT not Russell 'legend in his own mind' Martin. We'd be better off with the senior players managing themselves 😬

Right call to leave Trav out if (and it's a very BIG if!) we still want to have max chance of play-offs. With Eustace presumably on his way, it will at least throw up opportunities to surface the ongoing issues around the ownership.