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.

I honestly don’t wish it upon him, but I see him being a flop at Villarreal. Spanish football won’t suit him and it’s a big step up is La Liga from the championship. His first 5 games will be crucial. Score a couple and who knows. A fast start may prove to make or break him, but I see a return to the championship in pretty rapid time.

If only it was the past tense when it comes down to the owners. I guess you could say JDT has done well, despite the owners and the people they have appointed, such as Waggott and GB. Keep him if we can and go again next season.

For any manager to achieve 7th with an arm tied behind his back, is a minor miracle. The chaos in January, is typical of the way the club have operated, since these owners rolled into town. Yes, he has made mistakes, the biggest one probably not giving Wharton his head, but the costly mistakes were not down to him. I would be sad to lose him now, as I think we are 3-4 good signings away from having a decent side for next season.

He really wouldn’t mind, so long as the money was right.

Me too. I think the January window and in particular the O’BRIEN fiasco has sickened him. Hope he lets the idiots know how he feels, if he does resign. I’m convinced he will.

It’s a good job we didn’t do that. Questions would have been asked.

It was on that famous muuuuunday the 8th day of May.

I agree. I had mine delivered a few weeks about, from the previous batch, but only just got back to the UK as I was in Spain from early December. Best shirt I have ever had too.

Yes, in certain countries it is. I always prefer the Rovers TV to sky and will be back in Spain for the game, so will tune in there and hope for un Milagro grande.

I have a feeling, we will really fold in this one and lose without a whimper. I will be watching from abroad as usual though, with everything crossed.

Rovers to win and Sunderland to win will be around 7/1 for the double. Stick a few quid on that and it might become a bit more palatable. Personally I think we will get properly tonked by Millwall, so it won’t matter

Coventry V Birmingham too, is an important one. I suspect Coventry will win it and are priced at 1/2 with the bookmakers. If they don't though, then it means the Luton game could become very important to us. One good thing I guess, its that we will know how the others games have all gone, prior to kick off.. The fat lady is not quite singing yet.

That's an interesting statistic and given that both have had spells in the conference, even more so.

Fair pay about the retraction of the comment on armchair supporters. I have lived abroad for the last 9 years, but subscribe to Rovers TV so that I can get most of the games. That revenue goes to the club, so I am doing my bit, but watching from my armchair. Having been following the club for 50 years though and buying may season tickets, including one for each of my kids, for many years, my love for the club is as strong as most. I do still get back for the odd game too, I am in the UK at the minute. On Wharton, he is living every supporters dream, so I guess, it is only natural we want to see him play more. My view, is he could certainly have been used more, even if it was as a sub, bit I do respect that people at the club do have to manage him and be careful about the too much too soon syndrome. He certainly looks to be the real deal and I look forward to seeing him progress, with great interest.