From Rovers Prem years backwards Boxing Day home games used to be nailed on for a win. I think that the trepidation is warranted though. I watched about half an hour of the Wigan game. It was poor. It should be an easy win. Let's hope for one.

I have a couple. I'm a bit rusty on the years though. Wigan away on NYE 2005 ish. Pederson and Reid with wonder goals. Liverpool at home on Boxing day 2009 - I may be way off on this one though - it was a full house, the last Ewood has seen?

In years to come looking at the above list should give clues as to the disaster and dodginess that unfolded when Venky bought the club. Not one of the Portuguese players were up to it. Did Vukcevic want to become a monk at one point? This is a lost decade for me. I have no real idea of what went on. The worst player I actually saw live was Chris Brown. He was horrific.

I don't watch much Europa League but the Champs League group stage is usually a foregone conclusion. There maybe one surprise every year. Ajax last. RB Salzburg came close, and if Inter Milan had anyone but Lukaku up front they'd have probably gone through at the expense of Dortmund. I'll watch games as they are on but the excitement is in the knockout stages. Last year will be hard to beat. There were some fantastic games.

Here is the draw for the last 16; Borussia Dortmund vs. Paris Saint-Germain Real Madrid vs. Manchester City Atalanta vs. Valencia Atletico Madrid vs. Liverpool Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich Lyon vs. Juventus Tottenham vs. RB Leipzig Napoli vs. Barcelona

Any of our Irish members have comments on this; Irish FA going broke Ireland has long outsourced the development of its national team to England and to a lesser extent Scotland. Now the home front is struggling.

This season's group stage is now over. Here are the knock out round qualifiers; Group winners: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Liverpool, Man City, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Valencia Runners-up: Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Lyon, Napoli, Real Madrid, Spurs Permutations for English teams; CHELSEA; Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig LIVERPOOL; Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Real Madrid MANCHESTER CITY; Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Napoli, Real Madrid TOTTENHAM; Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Valencia

I thought that it was interesting. Not living locally I miss out on stories that are out there but don't make it to press. There were mentions on here about Coyle's Krispy Kreme fascination, now I have another source. I thought it was funny that Coyle always played 5-a-side because he wanted to score and went bananas if he didn't get decent service. No wonder he's a failure. Getting Burnley up was pure luck. I did go down a bit of a rabbit hole with those podcasts. I watched a bit of Matt Kilgallon's. He said that 2014-15 Rovers team he played in under Bowyer should have been promoted as the squad was talented enough. I also looked up Chris Brown's Wikipedia. He stole a living from football. A striker with almost 400 appearances and less than 70 goals, a paintball incident, and a sex tape. He seems like he's grown up though.

Barring injuries he should stick with the team that is winning. History points toward a disappointing performance but let's hope for a good result.

Both this season and last Rovers have a negative goal difference. Also both this year and last every team above has a positive one. I'd call that terrible. There's no way a side is getting promoted shipping the amount of goals that Rovers do. It's been a problem for Mowbray since day 1 as has conceding late goals. I'd love for the recent upturn to stick but I fear for reverting to type.

Good graphic. Not much has changed in 12 months. Rovers goal difference is still terrible.

I did know then. I didn't know George Burley was that way inclined.

I don't. What I do know from a PNE supporting mate of mine is that Davies should be nowhere near a football club. As to Mowbray I think that he'll be here as long as he wants to be. If he does go who knows who Venkys will bring in. Probably not the next Mourinho. There are concerns about him. He hasn't figured out how to set up a defence which is weird for an ex defender. His teams don't seem fit enough, which is down to his staff. Do these warrant potting him? I'd say no. Yet as a club Rovers are a bit zombie like thanks to Venkys. This site always leans toward the pessimistic. The majority wanted Allardyce gone so it's no surprise that the knives are out for Mowbray.

Add in the extra participants too. Euro 2020 has 24 teams, up from 16. Prior to Euro 96 there were only 8 finalists. It used to be harder than to win than the World Cup.

Montenegro are a poor poor side. However, England have some real attacking options. If Stones can find his form, Gomez gets a regular run for Liverpool after Christmas, maybe even if Tomori keeps on playing like he is at the mo England will be more solid at the back.

You may be right, but overall footballers, especially when in groups with fellow footballers, act like daft schoolkids. One on one they may be different. I'll also suggest that an England call up should help them grow up. I did read an account from Jimmy Bullard about how he and David Bentley acted in one of Capello's squads. It was embarrassing.

How many footballers aren't? Especially those under 30. I also disagree with your characterisation of him. He's been given all sorts of grief by the press. I think that he's handled himself quite well. He's still relatively young and has been playing first team football since he was 17. He's had to do a lot of growing up in the spotlight. As mashed potatoes points out he's had some bad press. I seem to remember on his way to training a while back that he was set on and racially abused by a bloke because said bloke's girlfriend said "look, that's Sterling".

Raheem Sterling won't play against Montenegro. He's been dropped for allegedly trying to get Joe Gomez in a headlock after reporting for England duty. It happened almost as soon as he arrived at St. Georges Park. Media reports state that although Sterling smoothed it over with Gomez after the game he managed to rile himself up after reading social media reactions to the confrontation. He supposedly apologised to Gomez and the rest of the team/staff after the altercation but Southgate had already made his mind up to drop him. This could get tricky. Southgate has to show that he can stop this dead. Any simmering could could problems further down the road.

Correct. After his failed attempt at Rovers he moved on to the Rochester Rhinos. That one didn't work out either for him. Rochester are currently not playing, they hope to come back next season.

It really is. Rovers were the premier team in Lancashire for as long as I can remember. My football supporting days started as a kid in the early 80's. Rovers were always in higher divisions than Burnley, PNE, Bolton, and Blackpool. Stanley were a non-league side for many years so weren't even a factor. Fast forward to today; Burnley look like they are staying up for another season (implosion notwithstanding), PNE are top of the Championship (for now). Stanley are fighting another season in League 1 with Blackpool sniffing around the playoffs in the same league. Only Bolton are worse off. They are also a side who had a decent few Prem years followed by decline. What a difference an owner change makes.

Venkys have ensured that their reign has been far too cringeworthy for existential reasons but I have one form a few years back. I think it was during Rovers first Sky Monday night game. My memory is hazy but it was an evening game, and it was probably Sky too due to the sheer embarrassment of it all. They brought out a cheerleading crew at half time, along with some two-bit singer nobody had heard of. The poor cheerleaders weren't very good. The girl's song was bad too. She could sing but the song was crap. Anyway, in true football form Ewood en masse started booing and drowned the poor girl out, then the Blackburn End started with the all too predictable "get your tits out for the lads" over and over. Crigneworthy. Who thought that it was a good idea wanted sacking.

When can we start? noon on Saturday? I foresee a home loss. For years Rovers have been the most charitable team in England when it comes to handing a new manager an easy win.

Anderlecht have been fined by the Belgium FA for not having a coach with a UEFA Pro license. Said coach is Vincent Kompany; Fine for Anderlecht It reads like they tried to circumvent the rules and got caught.

Its is. One of the best club managers of his era, Fabio Capello, completely failed with England. Hodgson is another one. A very good club manager who was woeful as England manager. I think that Guardiola would be a terrible international manager. He's too hands on and thrives on details and repetition. The national team job requires different skills. Hopefully the FA has learned from this that the next boss shouldn't be Mourinho, Alex Ferguson, or Arsene Wenger but someone who can command a room, and have a coaching staff who are good at setting up a team.

Southgate has been a breath of fresh air. I think that Allardyce would have been just as good. He would have had plenty of time in between games to develop and exploit the margins. The England job should be a figure head one. He only has the players for brief periods. His job should be to motivate and make sure that the squad meshes. He's done that. He can't help that the country is short on quality defenders. He was also heavily involved in the youth set up prior to him becoming manager. There is no doubt that there are a lot of talented young players in England now.