It really is very heartening to see a young Blackburn lad coming through from virtual football obscurity, and getting into Rovers first team and England U21's. Now we are begining to hear outside voices tipping him as a candidate for the full England side in the not too distant future. Well done Matty; we are all very proud of you, and I feel sure you will continue to progress in the same modest way without letting this alter your size in head gear.

Well what can I say? There is not much that I can add to that which has already been said on here, except to say I absolutely agree with every word. Besides which, there seems to be something wrong with my eyes just now, so I will just leave it at that with maybe one addition. As well as you all singing "There's only one Jack Walker" on Sunday at the very top of your voices, it would be very fitting and nice for the team to do their bit for the occasion and make darned sure that they win the match! Do it for Jack! THERE'S ONLY ONE JACK WALKER.

Some people are attracted to the smell of money like dogs to the smell of (insert your own word here). Animals both!

Watch out for Benni being unfit to play on Thursday then! I am fully prepared to be called all kinds of a cynic, but as you can see from the above: I did expect this to happen! In today's match at Boro, Benni apparently gets badly hurt with a head injury, and is on the ground recieving attention from medics and club doctor for about 5 mins. Then he is led off the pitch receiving oxygen and taken to hospital accompanied by the club doctor. But (surprise surprise) the hospital does not find much if anything wrong with him and he goes home on the coach with the rest of the team. A few years ago I slipped on some ice and banged my head causing me to lose concoiusness for a few seconds. I was taken to hospital although by then quite able to walk and talke sensibly. I was given a thorough examination at the hospital A&E and questioned to establish normal thinking etc. I was NOT allowed to go home but was kept in overnight and interviewed again the following day by a specialist before being allowed home. Compare that with Benni's experience today! As I said in the previous post; Watch out for Benni being unfit to play on Thursday!!

The way that article reads would suggest that it is at least a month old in spite of the date being given as the 8th of Aug. (References to"when the tranfer window opens" and to "McCarthy's most recent take on the situation".)

Hmmmmmm!!! Every time I click on that link I get a 404! :ph34r:

This information should be classified TOP SECRET, unless of course we want to lose Mark Hughes

Well at least that answers the question! "What the hell are they talking about?"

Alarge proportion of the people I was talking about (including all but a couple of my relatives) were regular attenders at every match and went to all the cup matches that year.

Not trying to be pedantic, but that should rule Ossie Ardilles out too.

I knew someone would ask. Letchworth Town in the Isthmian League. They were one of the top amateur clubs at that time.

Thank you Jan. Got us guys out a nasty situation there.

Right then I want one volunteer to explain to Dillo where that is coming from. That man there;You'll do!

According to my relatives that were regular attenders at Ewood in the late 50'/ early 60's Dougan was indeed a very good player. I saw very little of him because at the time I was living and playing myself down south, so only very occasionally got to Ewood in those days. I got back to regular attending at Ewood in April '66 just as my own playing career came to an abrupt end.

The training in the my days (50's and early 60's) was nothing like it is today. There was no tactical stuff at all; players were expected to (and did) play from instinct and visual awareness in the game. The only training we had on a regular basis apart from fitness training was "Basic Skills" and "specialist skills" The basics consisted of general skills such as trapping a ball coming at you from any height, direction or speed with either "killing" the ball or "touch and move". To do this we had to be able to bring the ball under instant control and using the inside or outsid of either foot. Or using your head or chest as appropriate for touch and move. Other general skills were tackling, shooting, passing, crossing etc. The specialist skills for me as a winger were all about positional play and dribbling skills. Again it was dribbling with inside or outside of either foot, plus things like how to beat an opponent with the ball and to make accurate passes or crosses to colleagues. Things like push and run, or body swerve technique, or stopping suddenly and change direction etc. So I really can't understand what Dougan was getting at when he said "just lapping the track" That was not my experience.

OK TCJ let's leave it at that now. I think we all understand each other now and I certainly don't consider you to be a bad person (why would I?).

I can't remember the exact figures that were being bandied around at the time, and in truth I don't believe anybody outside of the Rovers themselves ever knew. However when the Rovers were given their allocation by the FA the figure that appeared in the press was around 30,000 for each of the two clubs and the rest for distribution by the FA to member clubs. Allowing for the expected allocation of tickets (say a dozen or so) to every member of the Rovers staff including players (which we believed was the norm) this should have meant over 29,000 for sale to the public with ST holders getting first choice, and then the rest going on open sale. I can only speak for my own circle of friends and family that were all die-hard fans (about 15) then including workmates ( another 50 or so). Out of those I only heard of ONE person that actually got a ticket. This was my brother-in -law who got one ticket that he WON in a raffle at the YMCA where he was a player for the football team. I never actually met anybody else that got one. Where did they all go? You tell me!

Sorry TCJ I don't want to judge you or anyone else, but you did say in your own words that you "cheated a newbie" in a poker game. What are people supposed to make of that? Later on you appear to retract that statement by saying that all you did was play poker and followed the rules with the result that the "newbie" who obviously did not properly understand the rules lost out. If the situation was as you say in the second statement then fair enough he did deserve to lose his money, but only because he was a fool for playing poker in the first place when he did not know the rules. As far as I am concerned anyone who gambles is taking a fully forseeable risk and if they lose it is their own fault. Also playing within the rules is not cheating. I don't gamble and never have done. Firstly because I am not a fool and I am absolutely not prepared to risk a penny of my hard earned on gambling. Secondly because I don't believe in taking money from anybody who is IMO silly enough to risk their cash.

Well that has completely shocked me. You are 100% right USABlue, but it is not that you are right that shocks me, rather the fact that you have had the honesty and guts (yes guts) to come on here, in this the 21st century where morality is itself becoming a dirty word, and to actually lay yourself open to mass ridicule by making a statement like that. I salute you Sir, and I genuinely mean that. I know full well that there are many others who believe the same way but I wager few of them would do as you have done. You are obviously a man of integrity and high principles. Respect!

Well now Dillo Dillo, to try and answer your query on "what is a Dingle?" Where this term originates from is a TV programme that runs every weekday at 7pm on the ITV main network and is seen in all regions of the UK. In this programme the Dingles are a family of very dubious character, and very "scruffy". They seem to all live together in the one cottage in a fictitious village called Emmerdale in the Yorkshire dales. The programme is called after the village; "Emmerdale". Now this family of Dingles are cast as being very stupid and very ugly (well most of them) and there is an unspoken but strong suspicion of inbreeding with them as well. They don't seem to be gainfully employed but always seem to have enough money for smoking and drinking to excess in the local pub. They are also involved most of the time in all sorts of dodgy deals and scams. Thats it really, except to say that somwhere along the way some Rovers fans must have noticed the strong resemblance of the Dingles to the Burnley fans and the name has stuck ever since.

By "speak no ill of the dead" I was meaning the other things I could say about him.

There is probably a whole lot more that I and others of my generation could say about Dougan's time at Rovers, and I am not meaning to imply it was all bad, far from it, but now is not the right time to be airing these things. Speak no ill of the dead.

He was a very good CF for Rovers, but I too lost all respect for him with the way he asked for a transfer on the very morning of our appearence at Wembley in the Cup Final. That certainly added to the feelings of outrage amongst many 1000's of Rovers fans already angry at the cup tickets scam. Still 69 is very young to die and nobdy deserves that, so RIP.

Just to set the record straight; I don't want to lose Benni either. All I am saying is that if he decides to throw a strop, and goes all bolshi on us, then we have a decent range of options available. Also, if some club wants to offer very silly money for him ( over £15m?) we should certainly consider it, especially as he has made his intentions fairly clear.

Does that really matter;as long as he gets the ball in the net around 20 times in a season? Who cares if he hasn't got Benni's little flicks and step-overs? He is faster over the ground than Benni will ever be. He has an excellent first touch, and he knows where the net is. What more do you want? Oh yes; and he doesn't get caught offside anywhere near as often.