It's a great post Billy. Looking forward to the next one.

I think that might be going a bit too far Billy!

In one of the earlier discussions, I suggested we pick a side to play in a 3-5-2 formation, simply because of that problem. It was a formation that would have covered the modern day player and the players from yesteryear. The inside forwards such as Dobing, Vernon etc wont really have a chance in this poll, but there you go. No-one spoke out in favour of that, so we have gone 4-4-2. So really, Douglas is either going to be selected to play right wing in this team, or nowhere. If he were to fail at R.W. - could he be nominated at central midfield? Well, yes he could, BUT it would be much more difficult to make out a case for his inclusion in a two man midfield.

If you knew your history of Blackburn Rovers, the club you are supposed to support, you would not write that. Jim, you're an intelligent guy. Just explain your reasons. The younger folks on here only have the word of such as yourself, to go off. If you don't tell them why you think Douglas was better than Rippley, they might never know.

Very impressed with the contributions up to now. I'm trying to pick out the fuller versions to highlight in red. I'm also trying not to be biased, so if there's a post that you think stands out and isn't highlighted, let me know. Keep your memories/recollections/presentations coming.

Whether we have a fully experienced team or not, we are good enough to beat Blackburn The Middlesbrough perspective.

Oh, the cheek. I'm just a pretty old looking 43, I'm certain you're much older than that.

Early days, but we need someone to put forward cases for Rippers and Douglas, come on guys!

Played in the cup final, Paul.

not at Rovers Eh??? Pretty sure Noel played on both wings.

First of all - the result of the second centre half position, total votes + percentage of vote: Mike England------------- [ 85 ]..... [64.89%] Henning Berg------------- [ 22 ]... [16.79%] Kevin moran--------------- [ 12 ].... [9.16%] Derek Fazackerley-------- [ 8 ]..... [6.11%] Matt Woods-------------- [ 1 ]...... [0.76%] David May----------------- [ 1 ]....... [0.76%] Stephane Henchoz------- [ 1 ]...... [0.76%] Tony gale------------------- [ 1 ]..... [0.76%] Glenn Keeley--------------- [ 0 ]..... [0.00%] Graham Hawkins--------- [ 0 ]....... [0.00%] John McNamee------------- [ 0 ]....... [0.00%] Therefore the defence is complete: Friedel Crompton England Hendry Le Saux --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So maybe it gets more interesting from here? Onto the right midfield or to be precise, right winger. This is a preliminary list of right wingers that I can remember. If I've missed anyone out then let us all know: Stuart Ripley, Mike Ferguson, Noel Brotherston, Ian Miller, Bryan Douglas, Johnny Price, John Connelly Alan Irvine Louis Bimpson, Keith Gillespie. Brett Emerton Gordon Taylor Howard Gayle George Donis David Thomson Can anyone remember any other right winger that should at least, be in this list? What we need, is for someone to come forward and put in a testimony for a winger that they think should win. Very much as the match previews are done, someone who wants to write an article outlining why that particular player is/was the best. If someone does do a testimonial [for want of a better word], just post it on this thread, let me know you've done it, and I'll highlight it in red. What does anyone think? There aren't many top class right wingers in that list, considering we are looking at a list of "all time" players. Surprising really.

Yup, and the greatest player ever, from the selected team

Thanks for the encouragement guys. It was a gamble starting this topic. It was going to run for quite a few months and could have fallen flat on it's face from day one. What would have happened then? Thankfully, many of you share my interest in talking rovers - historically and modern day.

Bob's got it about right. Thanks for the idea Capt, but really, it seems to be going fine from my viewpoint. The bits I really enjoy are the contributions from people on here who can recall players that I didn't ever see. I find this really interesting, it's one way of saving parts of rovers history, that will otherwise simply be lost forever. I was hoping that somehow the comments and recollections on this thread could be saved forever. With the technology we have now, this is perfectly possible. [nobody's told admin yet] To compare players from different era's is obviously very difficult, if not impossible. However that stimulates debate and that's where the recollections and memories come into our domain. It's not just memories of players from yesteryear that are interesting though. To view peoples opinions of players from recent times is also very interesting. Strange how differently we all rate them. Anyhow, the value of this thread to me, isn't simply whether Le Saux is fit to lace Eckersley's boots and that's interesting in it's own way, it's the stories and memories of the members of this website.

Some people said that didn't they . Crompton and now England [possibly] making the team, should prove that most people are willing to look at things from a wider perspective. Incidentally, I've voted for two players I've never seen - Crompton and Eckersley.

Looking at the voting now, you would think so, wouldn't you. The thing is Theno, if I had nominated the top two centre halves from the original vote, then, so as not to be accused of bias , I would have had to have done the same with the central mids and the strikers. Then a problem would have arisen if say Shearer won 90% of the vote and the second and third strikers had got, say 5% and 4%. It wouldn't have been fair in that situation to appoint the top two from the first vote, would it? If the voting trend in this poll [second centre half] continues, we needn't carry on too long. All I'm aiming for is a fair result, while trying to avoid this becoming a real bore and turn off. [if it hasn't already]

A report from the fa.com

There's nothing wrong with having an allegiance to your country, Scotty. That's admirable. It's not on though, playing with a hamstring injury, knowing full well that aggravating it could/would, result in missing maybe one or two MONTHS of your clubs' games. To me, that's totally irresponsible on behalf of Ferguson and Vogts. That injury could mean rovers having only Tugay and Flitcroft with any real experience of playing centre mid, for the next month or so. Let's hope I'm wrong about his injury. Injuries to Flitty and Tugay would leave us with precisely who, in midfield?

He's already doubtful for the Middlesbrough game. Can't imagine Alex would have allowed that to happen. "seething" Official site

The final result of the greatest centre half poll was, [number of votes, followed by the percentage figure]: Mike England........ [ 59 ] [33.33%] Colin Hendry......... [ 89 ] [50.28%] Matt Woods...........[ 2 ] [1.13%] David May............. [ 2 ] [1.13%] Glenn Keeley......... [ 3 ] [1.69%] Derek Fazackerley. [ 6 ] [3.39%] Graham Hawkins... [ 1 ] [0.56%] Kevin moran.......... [ 5 ] [2.82%] Stephane Henchoz [ 1 ] [0.56%] John McNamee....... [ 0 ] [0.00%] Tony gale............... [ 0 ] [0.00%] Henning Berg......... [ 9 ] [5.08%] So Colin Hendry is elected to the best ever team. The team up to now is: Friedel Crompton Hendry ? Le Saux The fairest way to proceed is to vote the next Centre Half from the same list. So the poll is now up. If anyone wants to reiterate the case for their choice of player, it would really help in getting the right choice. I just get a feeling, this could be interesting.

Private or public is nothing to do with sentimentality BP. It's a state of mind. It's nice.

"over sentimental"? Sentimental is nice B.P. It shows caring. I follow the argument about the rights or wrongs of the minutes silence before the game, but slushy and over sentimental - never.

Fair enough TCI. I have deleted the original comments because you and others were deeply offended by the remarks. The objections are still there to be seen though.

I deleted that post but while i was doing that some of you replied to say what you thought. I wont delete those quotes, so everyone can see how utterly repulsive they are.

Excellent game, i thought. The standard was of a very high quality and that surprised me. First half Stead worked hard but nothing came off for him. Second half I thought he was superb. An all round display that showed to me anyway, that the guy has a touch of real class about him. looks good for the future. Stead's verdict in the L.E.T.