On 27/04/2020 at 12:19, Gav said:

I've just watched Tiger King on Netflix and I have to say its absolutely bonkers, only in America, had me captivated all the way through. 

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81115994

For more unbelievable but true stories 'The Jinx' is on most platforms (sky for free) and is fantastic, I binged watched that a few years ago and its just coming to a head now with I'm sure more HBO episodes in the pipeline:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_jinx_the_life_and_deaths_of_robert_durst/s01

But the undisputed TV series, and still unsurpassed in my book, The Sopranos - tremendous, watched it all the way through 3 times and still picking up on new bits.

We loved the tiger king as well, such an exceptional collection of characters. Couldn’t get into the jinx at all and gave up on it. Subsequently a friend told me about the twist and I wish I’d stayed with it! Loved the sopranos as well but I think the wire is the greatest tv ever made, it’s just wonderful and it’s well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it yet. 

40 minutes ago, Mike E said:

What are those marks on his legs? Does Olivia do things we don't want to know about?

I do want to know about those things...

On 23/04/2020 at 08:59, MarkBRFC said:

After Hignett's season at Barnsley the year before, I expected much more from him to be honest.

He was ok, but could never quite force himself in as a regular with the likes of Dunn, Duff and Jansen in the side, always seemed to end up shunted out to the right hand side instead of being central where he had his success at Barnsley.

Didn't really let us down, but underachieved a little IMO.

At the time I was underwhelmed with the signing, not having known much about him before he came to us. I just remember being totally won over by some of his performances. A few amazing goals as well but I can’t get them on YouTube ?

Nobody has mentioned Craig hignett yet, I remember him having a touch of class and scoring some great goals for us. 

Shearer

keane

le tissier 

My top 3. Don’t think anyone can argue with shearer’s right to a place (especially on a rovers forum) and for me le tissier has been one of the most technically-gifted players to grace the English league, and as a one-club man I’d love to see him honoured. Keane was just a machine, drove his club onto achievement after achievement and had technical ability, a winners mentality and the ultimate in leadership skills. Hateful person outside of football all the same. 

7 minutes ago, Doug said:

Swansea were a horrible team to play, players diving, feigning injury, the ugly side of football and they looked devastated when we equalised.

Best part of the day was seeing all the despondent Swansea players collapsed onto the ground after our goal. Loved it. 

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

@The HypnoticI noticed the other night that The Wellington on Livesey Branch Road has re-opened, you may want to start your crawl there as it is just up from the Raglan (it will make up for the White Bull further down that’s closed).

Thanks for the info ? 

If we can’t beat Stoke at home then I think that’s the playoff dream over. Frustrating but who knows what might have been without our injury crisis. Hopefully we’ll have a platform to build on for next season. We’ll need to keep hold of the Crown Jewels (Armstrong, lenihan, Dack, Travis) and Id like us to secure Tosin and Walton for another season as well as invest in a top left back (been crying out for that position for as long as I can remember - when was the last time we had a decent left back? Olsson?) 

I haven’t been able to watch the match tonight but it sounds like a frustrating and dispiriting 0-0. It’s the sort of game we needed to win at this stage of the season so it can’t go down as anything other than a disappointing result.

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

 

2 hours ago, Pedro said:

The club certainly feels better and TM has bought few good players but in truth, out of the 22+ signings he has made, there has also been a hell of a lot of wasted funds and pointless signings too.  The spine of the team in L1 and last year (Raya, Mulgrew, Bennett, Lenihan, Graham, Nyambe, Evans, Williams, Samuel, Conway etc.)  were already there but Mowbray's signing of Dack was his masterstroke and Smallwood, astute.

My main criticism would be there doesn't seem a genuine belief that we can kick onwards and it has developed a small team mentality. Like under Bowyer, I honestly think a lot of the tools are there, they just needed to be freed up sooner and utilised properly - we definitely wasted games earlier in the season with the square pegs in round holes experiment - but at least that's been cut down to just one or two now. I'm glad our youth players are getting a chance now - although I'm not sure where the thanks are owed for the excellent set up - a number of key people over the years and ultimately Venkys I suppose because despite the fears, they invested in it and didn't dismantle it.

Mowbray has led us to safety already so credit where it is due, that's job number one done - but come the end of the season if that is all we get, it just isn't enough for a club of our size, needs and outlay (in my opinion). There's nothing to lose this season and everything to gain now.  We have shot ourselves in the foot a number of times this season, whether that be selections, tactics or mistakes on the field - we must really go for it though because if we are also-rans, our better players simply won't stick around.  If we can make it into the playoffs, who knows?  I certainly fear nobody else in this league.

Every manager makes a few dud signings though. Fergie brought djemba djemba and Bebe to United, Arsene Wenger thought that Francis Jeffers was a premier league great in the making. At least TM has brought some truly great players to us, many coaches don’t even manage to bring decent players to a club. 
 

I see where you’re coming from with the small club mentality. I guess we differ greatly on this point. I’m happy for us to improve on last season, playoffs would be great but for me as long as we’re closer to the top than last year then I think TM is continuing to succeed and should be allowed more time. 
 

I’d love for us to push into the playoffs even if I think promotion is a step too far with this squad and the injuries we’ve suffered from. I agree that if we don’t make it then some players might want to leave but we’ll survive and hopefully use the funds to strengthen the squad and try again next time. 
 

I think we both want our club to be successful but you’re less patient (or more ambitious) than I am! 

On 05/11/2019 at 13:47, Mattyblue said:

Blackburn taxis are the cheapest in the western world.

So if it was me, I'd get a taxi from the station straight to the Lord Raglan and work my way down the hill (Livesey Branch Road).

We’ve gone with your suggestion, pub crawl starts at 12 ? Hoping that we get a win this weekend to set us up for more the following Saturday. I can’t wait, I’ve got a good feeling about this game ?⚪️

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

Clearly?

Is it really?  It seems on a par from when Bowyer was here but with a squad with far less value.  We've still achieved nothing and yet to reach the playoffs. Fingers crossed, by the end of the season that we do make some genuine progress and finish top 6.

I think we have a more balanced squad since then, although I take your point that bowyer achieved a very respectable final league position. 
 

Nevertheless, we have been relegated since bowyer was at the helm so you can’t deny that TM has clearly improved the squad, the ethos of the club, and the league position. I’d also like to suggest that the youth prospects making a name for themselves owe a lot to being blooded and kept in the squad by TM, so arguably we are progressing in development terms as well.

56 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Larry is a legend. New series coming soon too. 

New series is out now. Available for download in a legally dubious way or it is also being shown on sky Atlantic a few weeks behind. Some great jokes in this season which I’ll not spoil for you!
 

Curb is one of the best shows on TV, I hope you enjoy it @allroverasia. 

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Do you watch Curb your enthusiasm? Larry ,the main character, has a look he does at people , reminds me of that. 

Prettayyy prettayyyy prettayyy prettayyy good

It’s fairly obvious that loan signings are used to plug a gap until we are able to identify a permanent signing that is within our price range. That’s a policy that all clubs use, from the bottom of the league to the top. I don’t see what is so confusing about that. Given that we have no chance of signing a player with the pedigree of Tosin I’m glad that the transfer team have secured him on loan.

For me, we would be in a much poorer position without Tosin. When he plays we keep possession, look composed at the back and can play up the field without aimlessly hoofing it. We should do everything in our power to get him on loan for another season. There’s no shame that and I don’t think it’s short term thinking to sign a top quality player on loan when we couldn’t ever afford the transfer fee to have him here permanently. 

Bellamy definitely worked out here but I think we got lucky with him, maybe down to having Hughes as the boss, someone that Bellamy probably had a lot of respect for as a Welsh great.

I’d rather we didn’t sign players with questionable attitudes and I support TM when he takes personality into consideration before making a signing. For every Bellamy that works out there is a Leon Best who becomes an expensive mistake.

I’m sure we’re all aware of workplaces where one or two bad apples can poison the atmosphere. I’d imagine that football clubs are no different in this regard and with everything stake there is no sense in jeopardising what seems to be a united dressing room. 

1 hour ago, The Mighty Chaffinch said:

We do not have a god-given right to win every match and yesterday proved that. We were beaten by the better side and yet for vast periods of the match we contained them and competed with them. Given our injury crisis and the quality in the Fulham side I was expecting the kind of game we witnessed. Luck was against us in terms of the dubious offside decision and every loose ball seemed to drop to Fulham but on balance, they deserved to win. Frankly, given our current situation I am happy that we are competing in every fixture, the lads are giving everything for the cause and our relatively comfortable mid-table position is not a massive negative by any stretch of the imagination. We are seeing youngsters like Travis and Nyambe developing into real talents, we have found a relatively settled and competent back 4 and we have that mix of experience and youth that bodes well for the future. Four games ago we won 5-0 at Hillsborough...another side whose fans no doubt are saying that they should be doing better, likewise Stoke and many others. This is the nature of the division. We are an average sized fish in a moderately big pond. Beat Hull on Tuesday and it's butter side up again 

Well said. Onwards and upwards!

23 minutes ago, Dave574 said:

Knew about a league one team but not Barnsley. Did not know about Mulgrew either.

Thanks for the info and keep up the good work. Always read your posts with excitement ?

I’m actually wondering whether you and bbrovers are the same person? Mods is there any way to check?

33 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

 

 

 

"Name one" to "name one we could sign now" is changing the question.

Ok if bigdogg can’t change the question, perhaps I can ask a fresh one?

@Amo can you name a “cheap, low risk signing who can contribute” that we should go for?

This topic has become a load of nonsense. I saw 10 pages of unread posts but the vast majority is taken up with willy waving and attention seeking from a pretend ITK who demands respect, and a circular argument about whether TM is using transfer funds effectively ?

Maybe we can end the circular argument now @Amo, give us the benefit of your transfer knowledge now and blow Tony Mowbray out of the water for once and for all.

Just now, DE. said:

Tosin has played us into trouble three times now with wayward passes from out the back. He needs to be a bit more careful.

I'm a huge fan of Tosin and I think our whole team plays better with his calm and unhurried style at the back, but tonight he has been pretty bad and his wayward passing could have let them in at least once.. 

19 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Really? 

Yes, really.

Uncle Jack

Kenny Dalglish

Colin Hendry

Tugay

Tony Parkes

Hendry hasn't had an exemplary personal life but he was immense for us, a legendary old-fashioned centre back who still has a lot of affection for the club. Jack Walker and Dalglish need no justification for being on the list and what they both achieved will probably never be repeated. Tugay is the most talented player I've seen play for us and his status as a folk hero to us means he has to be on the legends list. Tony Parkes has always been there for us, saving us whenever called upon.

Great idea for a topic, it has been very informative to me as I didn't know that Tony Parkes also played for us.

On 15/01/2020 at 23:25, davulsukur said:

I was also in the Amstrsd CPC464 club. With green screen monitor to boot.

My uncle gave us a ZX spectrum, the one with the rubber keys and one of my brothers got hold of a Commadore 64 at some point. That took cartridges as well. I remember he got Terminator 2 and there was a level where you were Sarah Connor escaping the mental institution, basically just running forward and clubbing guards with a night stick.

On 15/01/2020 at 13:12, Bigdoggsteel said:

That's exactly what I meant, couldn't think of the name. Tape deck with a green screen, cutting edge stuff.  Never heard of the BBC micro. The other 2 are legendary at this stage. 

CPC 464 was my first experience of computing/gaming and I have so many fond memories of that primitive green screen. Although we eventually got a colour monitor which completely blew my mind at the time, I’ll still have fonder memories of the green screen. 

The experience of loading the tape, waiting 20 minutes for it to load, listening to the weird loading noises, the game crashing and having to be reloaded...

typing in

10 PRINT “Daniel smells”

20 GOTO 10

Some of the games were incredible. Rock star ate my hamster, a music management sim, was hilarious to my 7 year old self. Robocop had great graphics, spy Hunter was just like the arcade. Aliens was freaky and scary. Head over heels had cool isometric graphics, but Sorcery was my favourite game. It was like an early platform game where you had to fly from screen to screen rescuing wizards. 
 

Two other things stand out when I remember the 464. Games never looked anywhere near as good as the cover artwork for the tapes, and my brother used to put 10p pieces through the air vents on the monitor whenever a game crashed because he thought it was an arcade machine. 
 

Thanks for bringing it all back guys.