frosty

You should take a leaf out of @Mattyblue's book and visit some other club's forums, you'd be amazed at how well-mannered and balanced (in addition to well-organised) this is in comparison to most. And to answer the question directly - yes, fans of every club will always give their honest opinion on potential signings, and whether they're in favour or not of the deal (if it's the latter, it doesn't mean they don't want them to succeed). It'd be strange if only Rovers fans out of the entire football world did that.

That's the one. Baros got a bad injury too - then the next time they came to Ewood, Cisse broke his leg. Granted those two were just freak injuries. Here's a video of Neill on Carragher. It's an absolutely shocking tackle to be honest!

It was a daft challenge but a quiet/stern (depending on manager style!) word with him in the aftermath would have sufficed rather than keeping him on the sidelines for so long at an age where game time is so important. Whether it was Travis, Smallwood or whoever, red cards can happen. Not a starting place nope, hence 'in and around the squad'. He is a regular starter now yep, it just took longer than it should have done given that he is indeed talented and offers something different, same for Rothwell.

He got sent off in the 92nd minute of a game in February 2018, to be banished from the team until a couple of days before the new year while Evans and Smallwood were plodding around the centre circle was crazy. He'd shown enough promise before that red card to suggest he should have been back in and around the squad after his suspension, not almost a year later.

He was quality. Jermaine Jones, Phil Jones and N'Zonzi in the middle. Samba and Givet/Nelsen behind them at CB. Rock solid - yet he who shall not be named still nearly took us down.

Jan 09 I think, just after Big Sam came in, yep great goal that. Also scored a nice finish v City in the FA Cup quarter final in 2007. A great long pass for a Pedersen goal v I think Southampton a couple of years earlier also comes to mind. He definitely wasn't the most graceful on the ball (though who would be when often next to Tugay?) but he had his moments! Him and Nelsen were massive signings by Hughes in his first transfer window, it was around then that we gained the 'bully boys' tag which I loved. That team would knock the current one into the middle of next week. As we signed better players The Axe started fewer games but he still had a good role to play for us.

Indeed, I hope any good players we sign this summer become regular starters before next April!

Has to be Bre-re-ton, never heard anyone pronounce it differently.

They're amazing. Anyone seen Juventus are trying to copy us? This is apparently their new shirt - they've worn stripes since 1903.....someone's had a stinker there.

Aye, 'tis cheaper in France, from experience at least. Paid about 12 euros for a lot of Lyon home games a few years ago when studying there. Behind the net but still. Bon match !

Yeah, you could say that, though you'd have to be blind to completely ignore a prospect like Travis coming through the ranks. Even if Mowbray did take credit for identifying them, I'd say it's clear both Travis and Rothwell should have been regular starters far earlier than they have been - and I'd say the fact he says them every day in training and can see how good they are makes it more mystifying that it's taken so long!

He's been good all season, he stood out a mile the first time he came on as sub v Millwall at home. We'd be quite a few points better off if it hadn't taken Mowbray until April to make him a regular starter - so I agree with 'finally' in that sense. Hopefully Mowbray has realised now and he can be a regular starter from now on, like Travis mainly has been after for some reason being ignored until Christmas.

Thought that too. Don't mind if it's Messi or someone else we're never going to come up against and therefore completely separate from Rovers, but it's weird for a player in the same league. We should be aiming to be up there with teams like Villa and their 'ridiculous' players, not admiring them online from the bottom half of the table.

I was so tempted to watch that game, but prior to last night I don't think I'd sat down and watched Messi play all season, so it had to be the Barca game. Ajax-Juventus is a classic CL match up though. Proper 90s/early 2000s feel to it. Love it.

Excellent that, how things can change in the space of a few days. Delighted for Rothwell. He simply must become a regular in the starting eleven, and even then it'll be unbelievable it took so long. With our standard line up we're pretty bereft of creativity and reliant on just two or three players for goals - Rothwell will help in both of those areas as he showed tonight. Travis and Reed were excellent. What I loved in particular was how they kept us on the front foot, and Travis especially was still bombing forward in the last few mins and getting shots away. With us 1-0 up, Smallwood and Evans would have been camped on the edge of our 18 yard box and who knows what'll happen then if you invite pressure. No panicky moments late on as we stayed on the front foot. Mentions too for Lenihan, Conway whose crossing was very good, and Dack who was in the mood. Team selection on Saturday will say a lot. Don't revert to type Mowbray.

Bennett over Nyambe is embarrassing. Mowbray's obviously more worried about keeping his 'senior' players on side than he is about results and his job....

Dreadful! We were indeed all over the place that game. Things got better after this so it tends to be forgotten about, but at the time it was one of the lowest points of the previous 7 years, as it was then. And the lowest in the sense that it left us in the relegation zone of League One. Speaking of poor line ups, a couple of weeks after Doncaster we tried to beat Burnley with this team: Raya, Caddis, Ward, Mulgrew, Williams, Feeney, Smallwood, Whittingham, Chapman, Gladwin, Antonsson

Surprised nobody has predicted it yet so: 0-1

Can't remember in terms of pre-season or when he first joined, but I remember being impressed with him when he came off the bench in our first home game against Millwall.

Crikey, what a frightening list that is.

Anyone who thinks that would be mad. Probably the same people who say that PSG and Bayern can't win the CL because their league is uncompetitive in terms of a title race. It can't work both ways..... Re. Ruben, I don't think Michael Appleton and Gary Bowyer not knowing what to do with a player with very good technical ability a bit rough round the edges means one league is stronger than the other. You could say that King wasn't good enough for us in the Championship yet he banged in 16 in the PL the other year and probably isn't far off this season. But there are loads of factors that come into play with things like that - such as a quality manager in Hughes (as he was then at least) being able to get the best out of Samba from Hertha Berlin reserves. All world class players play for teams good enough to have other world class players. It would be bizarre if that wasn't the case. So if he moves to Juventus in summer, a team with other world class players who've just won their eighth title in a row and scores say 25+, you'd think more highly of him? He's got zero to prove.

That third goal is just unreal. Amazing. @Gavlar Somerset Rover! which Barca game are you going to? Might have to do that myself in the next year or two. Also amazed at some stuff I'm reading about the league from which a variety of teams have dominated Europe for the last decade.

I'l stick up for the JW upper. Given that there's no atmosphere anywhere in the ground anymore apart from the top corner of the BBE, I'd rather be where the best view is. If Ewood was rocking everywhere apart from the JW upper then I'd consider moving but I'm more than happy there (despite being mid twenties!).

Mowbray thinks he's got a few senior players that he can trust and rely on but they'll end up costing him his job if he's not careful!

Embarrassing result.