During 90's both of my children were born and both enjoyed free season tickets up to the age of 8. Their (now late) mother chose not to come, so it was 2 free and one paid for by me. They both got the bug and these days my son is as mad a Rovers fan as I am and that is despite them growing up in Bolton and going to school in Bolton. My son moved to Blackburn when his Mum passed away 3 years ago, so that he is nearer to my family and the football ground. My daughter lives in Preston and her son (my first and as yet only grandchild) is a Rovers fan and attended his first match at the age of 4 joining myself and my sin, as we proudly had the 3 generation attending. Who knows if my son and daughters tickets had been free if they would have followed the club as much, but there is one thing for certain, it gave the club the best chance possible of attracting the fans of the future. How nice would it be, if even a £50 season ticket was available to the under 8's were available. Sadly, there is no chance of that happening, under the current stewardship,

I wonder what the equivalent of Forest V Malmo would be these days? Things have not changed for the best in my opinion.

I guess the term, turning a blind eye, being quoted in the article I posted, could apply here. It’s not difficult to find out what goes on, in some of the middle eastern states. The slaying of Jamal Khashoggi was given plenty of coverage in the British and world press, but perhaps a lot of what goes on, is heavily covered up. To give it some perspective, would an announcement that the Russian state were about to buy Rovers, not bother anyone on here?

I guess some people may decide this is biased, but perhaps this article shows whether the take over of our clubs by certain states, should bother us or not. It certainly bothers me, when blood money is mentioned and when a Newcastle Faun is quoted as feeling disconnected from the club. I guess it’s dependent on your morals, but I would not want blood money to be what brings success to my club. https://thewireuw.com/2021/11/29/newcastle-uniteds-blood-money-takeover/#:~:text=This past October%2C English football,western morals and football success.

All I can say about this really, is it could have been us, not Luton heading to their place next years for a huge mauling. The teams now owned by states, seem to be growing, no fun in it for me anymore. I might be too sentimental, but I grew up when Villa, Forest, Leeds and Liverpool, all got to the final or won it, but as the Champions, not because the finished in the top 4. The game at the very top has been ruined.

I guess if the same rules applied, we would have clubs going bust, all the time. It’s a wonder how FFP is allowed really, if football is an exception to the rule. It’s difficult to understand how the announcement made about City being investigated comes out, yet they carry on regardless and Newcastle suddenly become rich and then qualify for the champions league. Further down the pyramid, Wrexham are looking like the next Luton, now that they have wealthy owners and Wigan, who seem to have dodgy owners look like they are heading home n the opposite direction. Meanwhile at Ewood the ground and the pitch carry on being neglected, whilst it is reported that the owners, never fail to sign a cheque. It’s a strange old world, our beautiful game.

I came across this when carrying out some work today and thought it was quite interesting. It may be a different set of rules for a football club, especially one with wealthy owners, but had me thinking all the same. https://www.clarkebell.com/blog/is-it-illegal-to-run-an-insolvent-company/#:~:text=Wrongful trading,-If a company's&text=In fact%2C it is a,to a state of solvency.

He is 20/1 for the Leeds job.

I have some Christmas cards for sale. Let me know if you need a special one.

Blackburn Rovers reveal 2023/24 kit details and season ticket figures | Lancashire Telegraph

A plastic Buzzer.

I watched Real there last year. It finished 1-2. They are about to be relegated from La Liga, which is a shame. They could well bounce back though.

Hope so, as I can drive there. Be nice to play Elche, as I can walk there.

An orange

Playing devils advocate against the devils advocate, who says they had agreed O'Brien's wages? Perhaps getting things in a muddle, with what seems like standard paperwork, could have been a way of showing the fans and even the manager, that they tried, but the pesky deadline went against us. A very convenient and perhaps cunning way of keeping the funds intact in the club and for our friend the CEO to hit his target.

On the machines?

He is probably pissed in some taxi rank somewhere

It won't be snowing if they do it in July, but hopefully we can arrange for an electrical storm to be raging. I have a cunning plan Baldrick!!!

From memory Crawford was a one season wonder and at third tier level too. I would certainly place Back above him, due to his longer spell at the club and for performing at a decent level too, over that longer term. Beamo, is a special case, as he was in some ways the pantomime villain at times. Given his role at the club, once his playing days were done, he is certainly fondly remembered by me and I am sure plenty of other too. I guess, I am neutral on Dack. He earned decent money and probably became a B List celebrity whilst at the club, so probably a decent marriage at the right time. Tony Field was mentioned as a comparison and that feels about right to me.

I think that does put Old Ewood Blues, comment in to perspective. Is he the equivalent of Simon Garner, definitely not.

I watched the game in a Spanish bar with one of my best Spanish mates. A bit like United in England, Real attract quite a few glory hunters from all over the country. I had a chat with one guy before the game, who despite my best Spanish accent clocked I am English. He along with plenty of others, ended up shell shocked. As I was the only English person in a pretty rammed bar, I felt a bit vulnerable, but to be fair, no problems came about. I guess telling anyone, who would listen, that the best English town team in the world are Blackburn Rovers helped. In the Spanish equivalent of the old Accrington Stanley milk advert quien estan Blackburn Rovers, was said more than once.

I agree, those sun glasses are designer and I would be always happy too, if I could afford such luxury.

The big thing to remember here, is that he knows how much Rovers shelled out on him and how much we persevered, but he still chose to wind his contract down and move on for free. That has obviously led to him lining his own pocket. Not only is he nowhere near the likes of Duff, when it comes to ability, Duff also, acknowledged what Rovers had done for him and signed a new contract. That in turn ended up meaning a minimum fee of £17m had to be tabled, before he could speak to another club. The rest is history of course and his hand written letter published in the LT will never be removed form my memory and is what Duffer is a Rovers legend in my eyes, in every sense of the word.

No I didn't mean the trophy for lower league clubs. My mistake, I thought Tranmere won the league cup, but I have now amended the post.

To put some balance on this, yes the Dingles have won the second tier title and been promoted to the premier league, but that is where it ends. For a lot pf posters on here of the Rovers variety, we have not seen them win a major trophy in our lifetimes. For plenty of the posters on here, (including the Burnley supporters) we have seen Rovers be crowned Champions of England and win the league cup. I will ignore the full members cup, but of course that was open to the top two tiers too. Plenty have seen the likes of Tranmere Rovers, get to a league cup final and Wigan win a major honour and also seen the Clarets nearly fall out of the entire league. Not only have Rovers not fallen into the fourth tier ever, the stays in the third tier have been very brief. Overall the success and failure, of both clubs has a marked contrast, strongly in Rovers favour over the last 60 years, so only the older users of this site, will remember it being any other way.