Thanks fellas. I completely forgot about him. I assume he'll replace either Dolan or Markanday. Which is fine for me.

The better team won, which is a good thing. Rovers worked extremely hard, could have scored a few more, and didn't give West Brom much. Scoring goals will be the problem. Conceding them won't. Hyam and co looked very comfortable. Pears looks to have got bigger, although his kicking was a bit suspect. Were Rovers small or West Brom massive? I'm not a fan of Dolan. He grafts but offers very little attacking threat. Adam Wharton is a very good player, it was no surprise that Rovers improved when he came on. He had a mad few minutes when he gave the ball away a few times but luckily it came to naught for the Baggies. There are a few comments about the team being under strength today. Who was missing? Sam Gallagher gets plenty of abuse on here about being not good enough. Ennis just arrived from what was a League 1 side. Anyone else?

I remember it well. I was at uni in the USA. Back then ESPN had the rights to Prem football and they showed the Monday night game on a delay. There was no TV coverage of it and internet was in its early stages so I was able to shield myself from knowing the result. I remember sitting down ready to watch when my phone rang. It was my dad. The first words out of his mouth were' Did you watch that? 7-2. What a game". I still watched it but it lost a lot of the excitement had I not known the score. How times have changed. There is no way I'd be able to do that today. Even over here.

Dare I ask what would your equivalent be for the Australians? Border, Warne, McGrath, S Waugh, Ponting, Lee I remember off the top of my head.

Not that I know of. We had dabs but they were said slices battered and fried. That's it. They weren't good either. The potato was always too hard.

I missed this earlier; ESPN: Spurs owner Lewis arrested on insider trading charges. Reading the article it seems that he was trying to be nice to people by offering tips. However, those tips were, allegedly, private information.

I think that this is an odd signing; BBC: Zaha to Turkey He'd been at Palace all but 1 year of his pro career. What made him decide on Turkey?

I'm putting this here as to not clutter up the transfer thread............ All the talk of John Bull's got me looking. I grew up in East Lancs and had never heard of one. Thanks to YouTube and Holly Tree Chippy I now know. YouTube: Holly Tree Chippy John Bull It consists of mince sandwiched by 2 slices of potato, then battered and fried.

He did somewhat lose his way when he went to Juventus. Covid probably played a big part in that though. Bellamy went to Cardiff at the end of his career too didn't he?

Signings like this are thin on the ground these days. Once good players don't tend to drop down a division and keep playing. MLS, China, and now Saudi Arabia are popular destinations. Or they retire as they have plenty of money. It reminds me of Rovers signing Gordan Cowans. He was superb. I'm not speaking ill either but Aaron Ramsey is a far better player than Whittingham ever was. Is Rooney going to Derby a better example?

I didn't know that Everton's overlord was sanctioned too. Abramovich got all the attention. They really are in a pickle then. Gordon got them a few quid. Maybe Onana is next out. He and Pickford are about all they have left who is worth anything. I've written enough on here about the absolute disaster that Everton's signings have been over the last few years. They have signed some dross. Dele Alli is back with them now too.

I see that Everton have signed Ashley Young. It's impressive that he's still getting Premier League contracts at 38 but he's not going to be transformative. Have Everton no money?

I'm surprised that he lasted that long. He had good games but made too many mistakes, wasn't that good with his feet, and was awful at saving penalties. Paper talk had him on stupid money too. Ten Hag has done well to get rid.

I think both Colwill and Trafford will play for the full side. Colwill in particular looked very good. The rest, probably not. Prior iterations on England u21's usually had a lot players nobody had ever heard of, and who then never made the leap. This team has Prem regulars all over the park. At a guess I'd say that Kane will hang up his international boots after World Cup 2026. Rashford will be 28/29 by then so hopefully he can take over. I've seen stories about Mason Greenwood making a comeback. That one will stir some debate if he manages to do it and get back to what he was.

I thought that this deal was a bit off; BBC: Ruben Neves leaves Wolves for Saudi Arabia If reports are true Neves is going to be loaned to Newcastle for 2 years. I mentioned this on here not too long ago. There is nothing stopping the Saudis buying whoever they want for their PIF owned Saudi teams and sending them all to their Prem team. All the while costing Newcastle absolutely nothing. What's the Geordie defence on this one?

How you both described it was evident whilst watching the TV broadcast. It sounded like an athletics event (or dare I say women's game) rather than a football match.

Fear? Where do you get that one from? Foden is a class act but seems the opposite for me; he looks a bit scared playing for England. He has time on his side though.

I reckon that Southgate had a chat with Klopp beforehand. Klopp moving TAA into midfield coincided with an upturn in Liverpool's form. His defensively frailties are getting worse, Klopp needs midfielders. It's a win win for all. England have some real talent. Bringing on Grealish and Foden is a luxury prior England managers never had.

Maguire hasn't put a foot wrong for England in 2 World Cups and a Euro's. He wasn't worth the money Man U paid for him, but unlike many previous generations his performances improve in an England shirt.

He will be. He captained West Ham at 21. Is an ever present for club and country. He's strong, mobile, and has lots of composure. Oddly, I realised how good he was against some non-league team in the FA Cup. West Ham were struggling. He decided to take the game by himself and set up (or scored?) the winner late on. If he played for Blackburn Rovers we'd all be talking about how he is one of the best ever.

If the Saudi's want the 2030 World Cup they'll get it. FIFA like nothing more than lots of cash, and the Saudi's won't hesitate to provide enough. I was listening to one pundit on the radio the other day. He was speculating that one or more of the Saudi signings may end up at Newcastle for a loan spell next year. Newcastle will get Benzema for half a season and they won't have to pay a penny for him. Messi to Miami is a coup for MLS but he won't be there for long. Miami is a tough place to make football work. It is full of South Americans who tend to support Real and Barcelona but they'll flock to see him but will leave as soon as he does.

I always thought that there would be more golf talk on this board. Anyway, big news today in the professional world; LIV, the PGA, and the DP world tour are merging; BBC: golf merger happening. Saudi money proved to be too powerful.

I'll go with no. His first order of business, along with Levy, is to sort Kane out. He has 1 year left on his contract. They could get a fee for him now or he could go for nothing in 12 months. I have no idea if he wants to leave or not. Common wisdom says that players want to win trophies ergo Kane needs to leave. He might not care. He earns enough, scores plenty, and has a young family. In light of previous discussions regarding the Brendan Rodgers speculation. Spurs ended up a man who has had the same success in Scotland as him but without any of his Premier League experience.

An awful advert for football. Far too much play acting and histrionics. Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver had their hands full, but did well. Mourinho pulled his usual. This time he threw his runners up medal into the crowd. I made this comment in the Champions League thread but it does seem odd to me having grown up with football Italia, Roberto Baggio, and the all-conquering AC Milan teams of the late 80's/early 90's to see Italian teams featuring Premier League also rans. Roma had Smalling, Matic, Abraham, Patricio, Wijnaldum, and apparently a former Rovers loanee playing. A far cry from the heady days when the Premier League got Serie A cast offs. Erik Lamela, Alex Telles, and Jesus Navas were ex-Prem players featuring for Seville.

I stand corrected. I thought Spurs were the first. I looked it up. PNE did it in 1888-89. Villa in 1896-97. No wonder I had no idea.