I have to agree with this in regards to the UK. Over here in the US there is almost universal acknowledgement that individuals will have to assume some risk until COVID-19 is fully controlled. Britain is trying to legislate a one size fits all approach that is extremely strict and it won't work. Footballers will be tested regularly, and will probably have it drilled into them to follow all recommended precautions to keep them safe. There should be no need for extra coaches.

If all the players wear masks, and are tested regularly, I would assume that they could carry on with their usual arrangements. I think the football authorities are over thinking certain aspects of it all. The cost of testing is small beer to what the overall cost of not completing the season would be.

Not too bad. It's certainly different. It's a top level football match in an empty stadium. The only noises aside from the commentators are players and coaches shouting. There is only the action to concentrate on so I feel that I can see a bit more of what players are doing.

Me too.

I bet that Premier League bigwigs will be watching today's Bundesliga viewing figures closely. If there are big numbers I expect a fast track to resume playing come Monday.

I reckon that ref's are the safest of all on the pitch. Although close to the action they are not in it. Linesmen too.

Regarding Sherwood. Dalglish signed him from Norwich during the 91-92 promotion season and he didn't play much. I thought it was an odd signing if he wasn't going to play. Although Cowans was class. Yet come August 1992 he was in central midfield and by the start of the 1993 season he was captain. He must have had something about him for Dalglish to do that with the likes of Moran, Hendry, and Shearer around. I don't remember him being a fair weather player. He'd always put a shift in. I think that the acrimonious end to his Rovers career has clouded judgement. I do remember his shooting prowess. He always had a go but usually smacked it miles over. Wikipedia had this gem; During his time at the club Dalglish wanted to sign both Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry, who were playing in France for Bordeaux, but Rovers owner Jack Walker reportedly said to Dalglish: "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?"[4]

I asked a few questions about this season in another thread. Maybe the change result one. I did a bit of Wikipedia reading the other week to catch up as I don't remember much about it. If I recall I think it went south halfway through his first season. his 1998 was horrific. He must have done something to lose the dressing room. He was ahead of his time back then. My money is on players, more than likely the British ones, not taking a liking to a bloke who never played the game coming in and trying out new ideas learned from abroad. Sutton and Gallacher being injured for most of the season didn't help either. Blake and Ward up front. Enough said.

The UK government hasn't helped here. Football was expecting a clear message from them on Sunday and got a load of waffle. Now they are stuck having to work it out themselves and no matter what they decide they'll get blasted for it. Germany, Italy, and Spain are all back in various stages of action, surely the football authorities can work something out. As a football fan who watches on TV I can't wait for it to return but it's looking iffy due to incompetence.

I see both sides on this and luckily I'm not the person tasked with finding a solution. Players value their health so want to be sure. Also players are supremely fit and highly unlikely (although it is possible) that if they do get the virus they'll get seriously ill. Charlie Austin and Mikel Arteta are two people in football known to have had it. What were their symptoms? I've read that clubs have put massive proposals together to figure it out. Testing players regularly, PPE for all staff, and even a special exemption for old man Roy Hodgson. Surely if the Germans can do it Blighty can too. After all it's 75 years since VE day.

This is why the Prem will vote to restart next week. They'll not want the Germans to corner the market on lucre. I assume that the football league will follow suit. "Project restart" needs 14 of the 20 teams to vote for the league's proposals. No fans at neutral grounds (those that aren't in residential areas) seems to be the way they are going. Ignoring a plethora of arguments I'll assume that those close to the bottom would be the most eager to cancel and start again once all is "safe". Here's the current bottom 7, Villa have played 1 game less than the rest. Southampton 34 Brighton 29 West Ham 27 Watford 27 Bournemouth 27 Villa 25 Norwich 21 Would all of the bottom 6 vote to cancel the restart? I'm sure owners would but managers and players would rather play, knowing that it could end in relegation anyway. I reckon that Southampton will vote to finish up as they have enough of a buffer to stay safe which would give the league the 14 they need. Man U, 3 points off 4th, could potentially put a fly in the ointment. But if they voted no they'd miss out on earning necessary revenue this season, something the Glazer's would be mad to do, and they'd blow their chance of claiming 4th, which is certainly up for grabs. I also wonder how much governmental pressure clubs are under to finish up? It would definitely give people a lift if football starts again. Not only would it give a lot of people something new to watch but it would give football and the government plenty of good press.

The Bundesliga is to restart possibly next weekend; German league up and running Let's see what the UK football associations think up.

You may be right. Sellars was like Messi to Rovers fans. Would he have played for England without his injuries? Warhurst has been spoken about quite a bit on here recently. Another who's career was blighted by injuries. He would have been an England regular without them. He oozed class. Tony Gale was brought in by Ray Harford. I think that he was ready to retire but due to the squad being short on numbers during the summer of 1994 he gave it a whirl. He was very composed and was happy to step aside when everybody got fit. I like his commentary too. He's on over here quite a bit.

One of the best Rovers games I've seen. I couldn't stand Dickov, but he was effective for Hughes as he set the tempo of the rest of the team which allowed Hughes to create his "bully boy Blackburn" style of play. Wilcox got no end of stick from Rovers fans. I have no idea why. He was a great servant and a good player. When he broke through I used to stand on the enclosure. All game I'd hear "bloody Wilcox" from the same group who used to stand near us. Rovers should have signed him permanently. He did a very good job. I remember when Short chose Derby instead of Rovers in 92. I think his reason was that he didn't want to move house. He was at Notts County I think. I though that he'd made a terrible decision, then years later he turns up at Ewood. He was another solid player who brought stability and nous in the post Hodgson/Kidd mess.

One of the articles in Alex Rover's link says; "A big change in dynamics was the Live The Dream rave in the village of Tockholes on September 16, 1989 I've no idea if that was the beginning or the end. I was 12, too young to understand. I do remember driving to Sunday morning football matches across East Lancs and having to follow diversions because of road blocks. My dad had a mate who was a copper in Accy. I remember him telling stories of the chaos at Monroe's. Who could imagine today that a dodgy nightclub in Great Harwood would be in the middle of a movement.

If the result went Rovers way and promotion achieved would there have been a title in 1995? There would have been no need for Dalglish as Mackay was able to do it. He would have had the keys to the club too as he managed it all on a shoestring budget.

I'm glad that you enjoyed Bosch. I like the way the stories flow. I also liked how they made LA look quiet. Something it definitely isn't. Tiger King grew on me. I asked on here a few weeks ago about it and got a muted response. I think it was only after I'd finished it that I realised how barmy it all was. I saw a few memes that had me laughing. I was out on a bike ride the other day. I rode past a house which had a sign out for delivery drivers. It said Did Carole Baskin do it? With 2 arrows - 1 yes, 1 no. I'm with you on the Sopranos too. Class all around.

Inside the ground? That would be weird. I was talking about TV only.

If/when Sky etc. show games in empty stadiums will they pipe in crowd noise for viewers?

If the club had any semblancy of normal he'd have gone after that Bolton loss just before Christmas. It was an atrocious performance against a local rival who also happened to be fighting relegation. The atmosphere was nasty too.

Add in that 1995 title winners Le Saux, Berg, Ripley, Hendry, and Pearce all left under his watch as well as the talented Bohinen. That's a lot of experience gone. Hodgson was, and still is, a talented manager - I'll forgive his England mess. Maybe the Rovers job came a year or two too early for him.

I'll argue that the rot started the day Dalglish went upstairs. Harford was a great coach but never a number 1. I was surprised that he lasted so long. Rovers should have gone all out in the summer of 1995 by buying 3 or 4 quality internationals and securing a top manager. Jack Walker's loyalty got the better of him. Having said that I agree with you that Hodgson did contribute. Here are all his signings; 17 June 1997 DF Stéphane Henchoz 24 June 1997 DF Patrick Valéry 8 July 1997 FW Martin Dahlin 8 July 1997 FW Anders Andersson 1 August 1997 GK John Filan 8 September 1997 DF Tore Pedersen 10 September 1997 GK Alan Fettis 10 February 1998 DF Callum Davidson 21 May 1998 MF Jimmy Corbett 9 July 1998 FW Kevin Davies 21 August 1998 DF Christian Dailly 26 October 1998 MF Oumar Kondé 30 October 1998 FW Nathan Blake

I'll not get this messageboard in trouble posting unproven allegations but if you look at the way Hendry's life has unfolded since it explains a lot of the rumours. As renrag said; Hendry had signed a new contract then left shortly thereafter for a hefty fee - which would have included a nice signing bonus, and his Rovers contract being paid up. That's lots of cash in a short period of time. Some people need money quickly, others don't. He signed some dross, but I also wonder what else caused his demise. Rovers were flying when he first started but it didn't last long. He only lost 2 of his first 20 league games, one of which as at Old Trafford. His 1998 was awful. 31 games in charge, 19 losses, 7 wins. I'll guess that players weren't used to his methods. Back then he was ahead of his time. I'll wager that what he learned in Europe around concentrating on fitness and diet as well as tactical discipline caused a mutiny.

I'm still derailing this topic but the more I read the more I remember. Sherwood was sold too. Was this the year he fell out with Hodgson, or was it the year before? Having the club captain leave half way through the season wouldn't have helped. Nathan Blake and Ashely Ward weren't Premier league calibre. Davies never got going but he was an odd signing as he wasn't a Hodgson type player. I had a mate get Davies on the back of his brand new Rovers shirt almost as soon as he signed. He'd binned it by Christmas. Hendry left for Scotland. There were plenty of rumours as to why he left too. Was Rovers Kidd's only ever managerial job? Ferguson said in one of his books that he wasn't up to being a manager. He was right.

I still don't remember much. I was at university in the USA and it was a bit of a mad year. Also back then there was no NBC Sports showing game after game on easy to get to US TV. There was a game or two a week max on Fox Sports World. I had a look on Wikipedia to get a refresher; Rovers 1998-99 Looking at the squad it's easy to see why relegation happened. Excluding Henchoz defenders who played that season included Darren Peacock, Christian Dailly, Gary Croft, Marlon Broomes, and Callum Davidson. Did Flowers get injured too? Another result I'd like changed is the 2-2 v. PNE at Ewood in the 2016-17 relegation season. Conceding that late equaliser knocked the stuffing out of the team, and fans too. They lost the next 3 after that which really put the screws on.