Mike E

One of my first European games. Emerton was one of my favourites at the time, and I loved the reception they gave him.

Just been offered a freebie by a STH mate who’s opted to boycott. I’ve accepted it, but not actually going, just to make sure nobody else takes his place. Does that make me officially part of the boycott too?

You did it when it wasn’t a crime, but now expect others to break the law on your behalf.

Have you done it yet?

I’m interested as to why folk keep putting British players in their line-ups. I appreciate even the OP put a Welsh player in there, but I took the migrant bit quite seriously!

Friedel (USA) Berg (NOR) Samba (CON) Nelsen (NZ) Olsson (SWE) Emerton (AUS) Tugay (TUR) Nzonzi (FRA) Duff (ROI) McCarthy (SA) Santa Cruz (PAR) I chose this because I feel like it’s the best available players in each position, given the restrictions. Some are undeniable (Friedel), some are debatable (Pedersen vs Duff, Olsson vs Givet) where nationality then restricts others (Pedersen vs Berg? Nzonzi vs Givet?), and some are made obvious by lack of alternative (Emerton is the only quality foreign player I can recall who was a suitable RW). A really interesting one, great idea. Edit: Occurred to me that I could pull Emerton back slightly and turn that into a back five and give Duff more room to roam behind the strikers.

Brave to go one player short no matter how good they are!

He was a year or two above me at school, and he was an arrogant twat then. When he tried setting up FC Rovers, he was 20 or 21, and it showed. His grandad was Rovers through and through, but he’s all about himself imo.

I think she just didn’t realise how much she knew until she wrote it down 😅

Who the FUCK forcing out managers on the verge of playoff places in favour of this shit?

I’m not THAT bothered about the tannoy, I’d rather you told Venkys to fuck off.

The only thing this deaf fan wants is for them to upgrade the ancient tannoy system to something consistent and manageable and for Venkys to fuck off.

I’d have attended if I could, just to ask some difficult questions.

To add my tuppence to this: I don’t think the manager trusting more academy players than expected reflects badly on him, but it reflects badly on EVERYONE involved in our transfer business and their bosses. The results reflect badly on them AND the manager.

January 23/24/25 we had a very good shout of promotion/playoffs. The administration of our club ensured we fucked it. January 26, we’re hovering above the relegation zone, and have an even more appalling bunch of dickheds running the club. I have no hope we’ll stay up.

I thought it was pretty clear what he meant tbh 🤷‍♂️

If the quality of the squad isn’t less, then he’s admitting he’s a shit manager.

Sums up my logic perfectly. When I say ‘I’d rather have administration’, this is what I’m thinking about.

I also offer faint praise for the away kit of the L1 season. Again (as mentioned above) a fantastic kit worn by players who deserved to wear it.

Finally some decent (I hope useful) info. I shall quote her in full so none of it is my fault if incorrect: ‘Hey Michael, more than happy to help. Admittedly all of my murals have been commissioned by councils so a lot of the sites have mostly been approved but I have a rough idea of procedure. Firstly, it's worth talking to the council regardless because they might know of some funding pots for national heritage funds and prosperity funds. Especially with it being the legacy of Rovers. Murals aren't cheap so the more funding assistance the better. They might also have council owned walls for your project. Owner's permission is a big must. Double check that buildings aren't listed or very close to a listed building. If so you'll have to go through a long drawn out planning permission process and it can take ages (personally from experience) It's worth getting planning permission in general though. It protects you from the keyboard warriors. Planning permission can involve a consultation phase, like letters of notice stuck to lampposts and letters to neighbouring homes that a large mural is going to be on site and then people have a chance to oppose it. Once you've jumped over that big hurdle, if people complain during or after the mural is done then... Tough! It's council approved! If you don't have planning permission, sod's law you'll get a Venkys revolt against the hard work, complain really loudly (on Facebook usually) and then the council will come and tell you no.’ To her credit, she is not a football fan, and hates Venkys vicariously through me.

‘I just turned up and did the mural, no idea how it works behind the scenes’. Useless as ever.

My ex was one of the artists for that. She’s recently done the skate park at Great Harwood too. I’ll try and glean some info.

In the year Mrs Desai dumped on the women’s game from a great height.

No it isn’t. Because… oh wait, I appear to have reached the end of my argument.

To compound the embarrassment of this 150th year, the year Venkys reduced our women’s team several leagues, Keira Walsh, Ella Toone, and Georgia Stanway are decorated with MBEs.