Finally managed to get through to OT by phone after three emails weren't replied to. I'll be applying for the Friday too Paul. A packed Old Trafford on a nice sunny morning in the ashes test is marvellous. You wont forget it.

F.A cup third round draw: cardiff v Rovers

Good post Theno. We shouldn't get carried away too much. Too much of when we win we're good - when we lose we're terrible. I think the truth is, we're much better as a side than we were. Unfortunately, we were so poor, that even a percievable improvement means we are still poor. As everyone says, we need to stay off the bottom 'til the new year and hopefully strengthen then. If we can't stay off the bottom, then it might be too late. There is hope though, where there wasn't a month ago.

C.H. wants the tie at Ewood.

Colin Hendry would love to see Rovers V Blackpool, according to Radio Lancs.

So it is. Brotherston deserves more recognition than he's getting on here. I really hoped someone would put a case forward for him, but there you go. Hopefully it's not too late to get someone to put something down on here, so as to keep some memories of him alive. Having said that I voted for duff. There was a problem here for me. I think it's one position where we don't really have a true great. Duffer comes top of the next catageory - he was the best. Not a great, but the best.

Stead still unfit. Bothroyd back from suspension. Team news from official site

Final result: Who should go into our team of "greats" Jimmy Forrest [ 107 ] [54.31%] Tim Sherwood [ 90 ] [45.69%] Total Votes: 197

Time to vote in the last of the midfielders.

Some great posts up to now, well done guys, especially Brownie and Scotty for putting their players forward. Hopefully someone else will put a case forward for one or two of the others? Brotherston or Langton may be worth a shout. Then we can go ahead with the poll.

I can't win Simon. I put him on the shortlist for the right winger, only to be told he was a left winger. I think the truth was he could, and did, play on either flank. I must say, I'd love someone to do an article on Noel, if just to bring back the memories of a truly top rovers servant and someone who sadly left this life a few years ago. He deserves to be remembered in this thread.

OK. Someone should be able to do a great recommendation for him.

Firstly, the result of the shoot out for the second midfielder slot: Jimmy Forrest........[ 107 ]........[54.31%] Tim Sherwood........[ 90 ].........[45.69%] Total Votes: 197 I bet no-one had Jimmy Forrest in their initial team. Well done FourLaneBlue and all who voted for Forrest. So the team up to now is: Brad Friedel Bob Crompton Colin Hendry Mike England Graeme Le Saux Bryan Douglas Ronnie Clayton Jimmy Forrest Now for the last of the midfielders. This is a list of those that I can remember: Mike Harrison Damien Duff Ally McLeod Jason Wilcox Dave Wagstaffe Scott Sellars Bobby Langton Noel Brotherston Wow, what a list! There must be others that I've missed out, let me know and I'll add them to that list. Out of that lot, there can only be one winner? I'll give it a few days for consideration/discussion and if someone wants to put forward a case for the inclusion of any of those players, ala FLB and Brownie in the last thread, that would really help the discussion.

I follow you there LC. I don't think that HAS happened though. If you look at jimmy Forrest, certainly he won 5 FA cup winners medals, but on top of that he was a local lad who played virtually all of his career with rovers and went onto become a club director. It's a combination of factors that make a player great.

When we signed Dickov, I expected that he would be starting on the bench. To be absolutely fair though, there's no way he would, or should, start from the bench. Not at the moment anyway. He's earning his place. Some interesting, and for a change, encouraging reading in tonight's Lancashire evening telegraph.

Not sure about Garner, Chesh. We'll have to wait and see on that one. Duff was one, if not the best left winger, but does that make him great? Don't forget it was wilcox that was part of the title winning side, not duff.

I actually feel a little sad, Brownie. Even though I didn't vote for Sherwood myself, I reckon yourself and FLB have done a great job and neither deserve to lose. it's also been a bit of a special subject for you, as your lads middle name is Sherwood. Every credit Brownie, you've done well. I'll give it a couple more days and if there's no real movement, we'll move on.

So does that answer any of your questions, Scarbelly? If you want to know what the hell's going on, PM me.

Great thread, this. C'mon Bob, Paul, Sox - keep it up! It's the first topic, where I could see it coming.

When I saw that question, I thought - that's just made for Bob Fleming!

I can't see Tommo being up to the CM spot in a 4-4-2. Top Midfielders must be excellent passers and must be able to read a game. Tommo's forte is running with the ball, having a great shot and plenty of enthusiasm. Defensively and tactically, I don't reckon he's up to it.

They've been brilliant haven't they. Getting back to the points about Forrest [for example] having been a player from over a hundred years ago and plying his trade when they wore silly hats. What evidence is there, that the most skilful player from an era long gone, was any less skilful than today's professional? I would say none. The teams from the sixties would get hammered nowadays, but would the top players still succeed in today's teams? Would George Best get into mn Uniteds side today? Course he would. Would Bobby Moore get into one of today's top sides? Of course he would. Because the teams of 1900 would probably lose 20-0, does that mean that Jimmy Forrest was nowhere near as skilful a player as today's pro's? Forrest was apparently the best footballer in England at his time. Why should he be any less skilful than today's players. Why wouldn't he be in today's England team given today's training methods and tactics?

1 No-one knows that do they. 2 Well hundreds have done. GreggyK - I've never asked people to vote for the best player. I've asked people to vote for the greatest player. We want to finish this excercise with a team of rovers "greats". To vote someone in as the greatest player, requires people to look at all the evidence and make a judgement, based on the available facts. At the end of all that, you may come to the opinion that you still must go for the player you have seen, fair enough. That's the way S.A.R. has gone about all this and you can't really argue with that. What makes it difficult is when the odd person will not look at the facts in front of them, read the testimonials or consider anyone they haven't seen play. They simply say they can't vote for anyone they haven't seen Unfortunately, the odd squable might make it appear as though this has all been a waste of time and that there is no agreement as to how we should have gone about selecting this side. I don't think that is the case though. The team that has been selected up to now, proves that the majority of people are very open minded about the whole affair. Credit to everyone who has contributed so far. There have been lots of you and all your views will be recorded as best we can.

AAaahhhh. We need a tongue in cheek smilie.... I'll get me coat.

Well it appears that the guy pleaded guilty to racial abuse. Now that that's been cleared up, surely Yorke had every right to confront that person. What is he guilty of? Legally speaking - nothing The Fa of course should charge him for entering the field of play with the permission of the referee And Ethically speaking there is the old "blowing it out of all proportion" offence. With Mr Bruce his co-accused, The Tabloid press and News corporations are also accessories to this "crime" I think Bruce went about it the wrong way, as I said at the beginning of all this. The after match press conference wasn't the right place to bring that up. The media certainly went to town with the story, everyone would agree with that. As for Yorke - well it appears as though he was quite aggressively and publically, racially abused. He went over to ask the guy to stop. It might not have been the best way of going about it, as David Sullivan was saying, but let's not try to make out that Yorke was a villain of this episode.