den

I don't know what the situation at some of the big clubs is - I never buy tickets from them. Nor do I know whether the ticket office is doing all it can. I do think though, that the situation as it is, particularly for our club who are desperate for the fans to come out and back them, is unacceptable. The problems aren't simply for the season ticket holders either - they're for anyone who wants a ticket. Have I got an answer? No, because I don't know the problem. Is it lack of staff or the lack of technology? In this day and age people shouldn't have to put themselves out to such an extent. Let's hope lessons are learnt.

It's been done before Oz, it's been done before!

total votes cast = 1977

I can dig out all the stats. It means trawling through the original threads. If there's something in particular you want, I'll help if I can.

The latest message on the phone lines is that anyone joining the queue will have to wait more than 1 hour. They advise ringing back at another time.

This is the full team that you have voted for, in the BRFCS.com poll for the greatest ever team. [% of votes, each player won by.]* Brad Friedel [40.8%] Bob Crompton [49.68%] Mike England [64.89%] Colin Hendry [50.28%] Graeme Le Saux [48.03%] Bryan Douglas [57.63%] Ronnie Clayton [67.28%] Jimmy Forrest [54.31%] Damien Duff [74.88%] Alan Shearer [82.11%] Simon Garner [50.93%] *for the Ch, CM and striker, the percentage shown is for the vote where they were selected. The result of the last striker poll was: Simon Garner..........[ 109 ].........[50.93%] Chris Sutton............[ 26 ]...........[12.15%] Matt Jansen.............[ 22 ]...........[10.28%] Tommy Briggs..........[ 19 ]...........[8.88%] Jack Southworth......[ 12 ]...........[5.61%] David Speedie..........[ 10 ]...........[4.67%] Kevin Gallacher.........[ 7 ]............[3.27%] Fred Pickering...........[ 3 ]............[1.40%] Roy Vernon...............[ 2 ]............[0.93%] Andy McEvoy.............[ 2 ]............[0.93%] Mike Newell...............[ 2 ]............[0.93%] John Byrom...............[ 0 ].............[0.00%] Duncan McKenzie......[ 0 ].............[0.00%] Total Votes: 214 Now then, as a matter of interest, rather than selecting substitutes, a greatest ever reserve team, based on the same polls would be: Flowers Berg Moran Fazackerley Eckersley Ripley Sherwood Latheron Wilcox Sutton Jansen That's how it is when counting the total votes in all polls. That's basically it folks. I've really enjoyed it. Without all the input and research by yourselves, this would have been a nightmare topic. Some people scoff, but it was just a bit of fun and a chance for everyone to put their views on their favourite rovers players. Some memorable moments as well. We had the "spotty faced oiks" - correct me if I'm wrong , and some GREAT testimonials, from lots of contributors. [That made the whole topic worthwhile]. To me, the highlight was the Sherwood/Forrest shootout, Brownie, FourLaneBlue take a bow. Anyone for the greatest ever player/ greatest ever manager, or should we leave it at that?

Well I can't get through either. Without going back through the whole thread, has anyone got through on the lines yet?

Of course I meant third ever.

I must say I'm a bit bemused with the support for Jansen. Matty was a "good" player, but the second ever, greatest striker to wear a rovers shirt? As a footballer [or should I say striker - because there is a difference], he was nowhere near the quality of Pickering, Byrom, Newell or Sutton. I didn't see Briggs or Southworth, so don't know how they would stand alongside Matt. As a rovers great? - someone better explain that to me. I wouldn't know where to start. BTW, that's just my interpretation. Everyone's different.

You're the first one to mention him. I don't know anything about him - maybe someone can tell us?

Last votes on Monday, chaps.

Gotta vote for the good looking one. Debs it is.

Ferguson McEvoy Pickering Douglas Harrison - wasn't bad!

Shall we continue the chat on the preview thread?

Well, it's always been for a bit of fun and to get on record the memories of lots of the fans on this site. So to say the whole thing's flawed - that's putting things a bit harshly.

Actually in the 1996/7 season the Sutton/Gallacher strike partnership was the highest scoring in the Premiership I just wanna tell ya - that wasn't my post.

The queue through Leyland are getting a little frustrated and the police have been sent for.

The strange thing is, that no-one has put forward a case for Jansen. Still, there you go, it's all a matter of opinion.

Tango - that's two I had missed. I missed that one because he finished the previous vote with no votes. I'm sure they're all there now. Can't see the two late entries making any difference to the outcome. There's loads of time and plenty of votes to come in yet.

Loads of time. Into next week at least - longer if necessary. Basically as long as votes are coming in

jan - really sorry. It was a technical error. Let's see how the final vote pans out and take it from there.

There's nothing else to be said. Think carefully, it's the last piece in the jigsaw.

The second, best EVER rovers striker? For me it's between Garner, Briggs and Southworth. Matt Jansen - a good player but never one of the best. Speedie - again a good player, but same as Matt. He certainly had an impact at this club though. Sutton - British record fee needed to get him here. Did really well and won the prem. We are looking for a "great" though and like Le Saux I felt let down by his method of leaving Ewood. Fred Pick - better than all those mentioned so far. Local lad as well. Once more he didn't stay around long enough to earn the accolades. Roy Vernon - didn't see him play, but those that did say he was a superb footballer. Haven't read enough about him in this topic though, to sway me. Andy McEvoy - now we're talking! The second best finisher that I've seen at Ewood. For two/three seasons he was unstoppable. He wasn't a powerful player, he was simply supreme at passing the ball into the net. He just used to turn and pass - into the net. Wasn't around long enough either. John Byrom - the golden boy of English football when he came into the rovers side at 18 years of age. He was fortunate enough to take his place when Douglas had moved to inside left and he benefitted from that considerably. Don't underestimate how good a player he was though. Sadly, he spent most of his days playing down at Burnden. Mike Newell - possibly the best form of his life at Ewood. Him and Shearer had a great understanding. He fell away quickly. Too quickly to be the second best ever. Duncan McKenzie - what a footballer. Saw him destroy the then first division Coventry at Ewood, by a third division rovers, in the F.A. cup. I thought that was one of the best individual displays I'd ever seen from a rovers player. "great" doesn't exactly fit though. So, Southworth, Garner or Briggs? Well the testimonials on here for Southworth are extremely good. A local lad as well - that always goes down well with me. Violinist at the Halle orchestra! Simon Garner - he's probably going to win. The highest goalscorer in the history of rovers, that takes some beating as a reference.There's only one snag with voting for Garns - he only ever did it in the lower leagues. If he won though, I wouldn't have a problem with that. and finally, Tommy Briggs. 7 goals in one game*. 30 goals a season, four seasons on the run! Thanks Billy, really good to have your recollections of a player that was the best rovers centre forward apart from Shearer, in many peoples eyes. So, who to go for? I don't know. *Those seven goals in one game were scored 50 years ago last Saturday. The day we played Dickov as a lone front runner. What would Tommy have thought about that?

We're still awaiting the preview for this weekends important game, so I'll start off. Some people reckon it's a game we have to win, some suggested that if we lose, we'll go down. It's not that vital surely? It's a game we must not lose, that's the bottom line. Will Hughes go with the 4-5-1 formation again - I'd bet this weeks wages that he wont. Personally I'd go with Dickov and Stead. Stead hasn't really had a fair run of games. It's time to give him the chance. Bothroyd and Gallagher have both underperformed and what's happened to Jansen - is he injured? IMO, it's too much to ask Jemal Johnson to take on such a vital role. Stead has the movement that Gally hasn't and he has the workrate that Bothroyd doesn't. Maybe Tugay will come back into the running and maybe Reid, who didn't do anything wrong will come back into the side. We will see. Comments?

It was a mistake to play 4-5-1 at Boro, with hindsight. Hughes' thinking would be that with 5 midfielders behind Dickov, at least one of them would be able to get up and support him. Out of those 5 - Emerton, Savage, Thomson, Mokoena and Pedersen you would expect that at LEAST one of would have done.