You were a few years ahead of me. There were two lads from Leeds tipped for big things who would have been about your age. They both went to Auxerre in France. They must be. I played against Kilbane regularly and never walked off the pitch thinking that that he was special.

I don't know what to make of this; ESPN - Mickelson on joining the Saudi golf league The irony in this line from Mickelson is outstanding; "The Tour likes to pretend it's a democracy, but it's really a dictatorship,"

I was thinking about this. There weren't many lads who I played against in my age group who went on to big things. Two I can remember are Phil Neville and Kevin Kilbane. Phil was a class above - better than his brother. I reckon that Phil would have been at Man U his whole career but Gary beat him to it and never looked back. Kilbane surprised me. He was nothing special at all. He must have been a late developer.

Bournemouth v. Forest tonight. What result would be best for Rovers? Bournemouth win and they pull 3 points further away, yet Forest fall further behind? Or a Forest win to make it all closer?

Looking at that squad Rovers should have signed a central defender and a midfielder. What about Gary Speed and Craig Short? They both went to Everton that summer. Both would have been excellent. Batty was fit in 95/96. It's a shame that Warhurst didn't make it back to his level after his second leg break or he would have been another gilt edged player at Rovers disposal.

It does look like Liverpool have sorted out the personnel problems that cost them last season. Ox, Gomez, Matip, and Origi were also on the subs bench. It was fantastic for Elliott. I think that he is a superb player, but he didn't play well last night. In his defence it was against an Italian team who were at home and pressed well. Klopp's subs changed the game. Henderson immediately got hold of midfield, and as is becoming customary with Liverpool they scored off a set piece. Perisic is a good player. He gave Alexander-Arnold a difficult time. In the other tie Bayern were outplayed by Salzburg, but got away with a draw.

The first two knockout games were yesterday. City tore Sporting Lisbon apart and won 5-0, away. Bernardo Silva scored a cracker. PSG beat Real Madrid 1-0 due to some last minute brilliance from Mbappe. Messi looked lost and also missed a penalty. City are through. PSG will be kicking themselves. They should have scored more than 1. Real played not to lose, didn't have a shot on target, and now have 2 players suspended for the second leg in Madrid. However, PSG have a history of failing to do what they need to and at only 1-0 down and playing at home Madrid won't be feeling like Sporting today.

That was him. I nearly described him as a big lad when I asked. I do'nt know the other one. I do know Briggsy though.

I'm not mistaken they are 2 separate people. Jim Beattie and James Beattie. Jim was an apprentice who never played for the first team. James went to Southampton not too long after turning pro. @Sparks Rover, was Jim Beattie a central defender?

I thought that it was a decent enough performance. Rovers are usually good for rolling over and giving a new opposition manager an easy win. Lots of missed final passes as usual but Brereton was half a foot offside, Buckley was unlucky with another, and if Khadra knew how to pass he could have laid it on a plate for someone else instead of shooting from an almost impossible angle. Alas it was a draw. No goals conceded should be treated positively.

It will take me a while to get through this one. The last episode I watched was the one with DJ Screw in. He apparently died of an overdose after drinking too much of something called "purple drank". It's a concoction consisting of prescription anti-nausea medicine mixed with Sprite. You live and learn. I highly recommend the podcast series Slow Burn. It's effort on Tupac and Biggie is excellent. I think that it's season 3.

I started Hip-Hop Evolution on Netflix the other night. It's a documentary/reportage on the history of hip hop from its beginnings to the present day. I'm only on episode 3 but it's superb so far. @K-Hod, definitely one for you.

Looking at the Man U line up I agree with you. Pogba and Sancho playing. McTominay is going to be busy tonight covering for those two, plus Fernandes. Ronaldo sub too.

Facebook reported its quarterly earnings this week. They noted that for the first time ever Facebook's daily user numbers dropped. It was slight but it occurred. As a result their share price dropped 25% yesterday and old Zuckerberg became $31bn poorer. Facebook shares drop - BBC They certainly aren't struggling but I hope that the trend continues. Facebook is an amazing story, and a hugely profitable business, but as far as I'm concerned it does more harm than good.

There have been lots of strange goings on at Man U for years. Rangnick is just the latest iteration. Neither Martial or Lingard have been getting any playing time so I can see how if Rangnick asks them if they want a game they shrug and gave a sarcastic answer. I never rated Martial. He cost a fortune and rarely lived up to the fee. Lingard is a funny one. He was great for England in 2018 but has gone the way of Dele Alli. He was superb for West Ham 12 months ago.

Thanks for that. I remember very little of the game. Mimms was in goal. A Rovers player was fouled in the build up to City's first, around the 35 second mark. Moran's foul for the pen was outside the box. Robbed by the ref's again.

1 keeper, 5 central defenders, 1 winger, 2 central midfielders, and 2 strikers. How about this; Flowers Marker Hendry Moran Dobson Atkins Sherwood Andersson Wilcox Wegerle Newell I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of that back 4. Here's the season Wikipedia; BRFC 1992-93 Of those in the squad that played it looks like Ripley, May, Berg, Wright, and of course Shearer, were out.

That was the game. 2-0 up and coasting. I've not looked up the match report yet but did Sherwood score?

I'll put this here as we don't have a footballers on rape charges thread. How bad does that sound? Greenwood looks to be in a whole world of trouble. It's hard to to presume guilt before a trial but it's looking pretty damning for him. Another blot on his character is that Southgate kicked him out of the England squad last year. He and Foden broke Covid rules by bringing a couple of Icelandic girls back to their hotel. What does that say about the standing his girlfriend has with him? Benjamin Mendy is in deep water but is getting less attention. Can the Everton player who got arrested last summer be named? It's all gone quiet with him. As to Ched Evans, his conviction was overturned at trial; BBC - Ched Evans not guilty Not to be a moralist but he had a girlfriend (maybe fiance?) at the time and asked his mate if he could "join in" with him and another girl.

I watched Rovers lose 3-2 from the Kippax. 1992-93 season I think. I remember that Patrik Andersson played. I decided to tag along with a couple of my dad's mates. They had decided after a few beers the night before that they were going. They asked me. I went. We got to Maine Road, tickets only for away fans, no sale on the day. For some daft reason we decided to pay to go on the Kippax. An interesting afternoon.

It's low risk though. Bruce is solid and unspectacular. He won't be a bad appointment yet he won't he be the next Guardiola either.

That is an excellent succinct summary of post-Moyes Everton. They have signed some utter rubbish. Here's transfermarkt; Everton signings 2016-2017 is mightily impressive. Theo Walcott, over the hill Rooney, Mangala from City to name 3. 2019-2020 is up there too; Fabian Delph, Andre Gomes, Iwobi, Moise Kean in that venerable class. Chaddy (has he really done one from this site?) reckons that home town boy Rooney would have come in and fixed it all though.

The Luca Toni links always made me laugh. As did the perennial Ray Wilkins has bought a house in Wilpshire.

Confirmation of the arrest from the BBC; Greenwood arrested Not a good start to 2022 for him.

Another clean sheet. Not losing at Luton isn't a bad result under the circumstances. Not many on here were confident of a win. QPR and Bournemouth winning makes today looks bad but they'll have hiccups too. Fulham drew, and West Brom lost again. Plenty of games to go. The most surprising aspect of today's game is that Cameron Jerome is still playing. What wasn't a surprise is that he still can't shoot.