Dreams of 1995

Definitely. When I was younger the local ABC was ran by "Mad Frank". MMA was up and coming back then and most of us went to Frank's to box. Some of the roadmen lads at school would come down occasionally and Frank was perfect at bringing them down to 'normality'. He'd put them in the ring to spar with one of the better lads and they'd walk out with a different mindset. Mad Frank died when we were 15 sadly, and unfortunately a few of the roadmen lads who boxed with us are either dead or in jail now. I can't help but think if Frank had stayed around a few of them might have stayed out of trouble. One of the best boxers I've seen is doing a 10 year stretch for armed robbery right now. There's certainly a dozen or so success cases from the gym. I think it has since shut down. Personally speaking I was always a bit of a tearaway as a youth. I always lacked mental discipline and it got me in a bit of trouble. I started wing-chun and Brazilian ju-jitsu after hitting it off at Dark Circle MMA gym in Wolves when I was 17. Without blowing my own trumpet them two martial arts have instilled a discipline I never thought possible. Whether it was solely the art or a mixture of that and maturing I'm uncertain but, without it, I wouldn't be the person I am now. From Birmingham there are two big success stories: Leon and Fabian Edwards. I saw Leon train at the Erdington UTC (now a washing machine wholesalers!!!) and he's a whole different animal physically. The level of fitness them pro fighters have is breathtaking. Fabian is a bit different: he recently done time and has come out the other side. He's now in the Bellator and smashing it so will no doubt see him in the UFC at some point. As a final note, both of them have said in the past without MMA they'd probably be in and out of jail all their lives.

Infinite Limousine Pile Up - Dead Players (any grime fans give this a listen, including Sox ?)

The infamous Marcus Maddison. I wonder whether it was him or the Peterboro director who couldn't strike an agreement? I can't wait for another summer of being tentatively linked with him.....,.

Oyster and Otter was decent the first time I ever went there. I don't know what happened but the longer it stayed the worse it got, yet the prices kept going up and up. My old man lives in Feni and in truthful the prices round there are outrageous for Blackburn. They pretty much match Brum city centre prices for pints.

No, they definitely didn't. You have misunderstood my point. My Grandad isn't annoyed by the lack of refund because he's in the old-school category of supporting your club in the ground. He's 82 and has bigger worries than 50 quid. If the offer was given to him for a refund he wouldn't have took it. That doesn't mean the option shouldn't have been given to him though. There will be plenty of people out there, including myself, that see it as a consumer right that you should be offered an alternative to the live football game you have paid for. iFollow doesn't match the product you purchased hence why the refund should be on the difference in cost between the two. However, this idea that because you have iFollow you've been provided with your service is wrong. It doesn't cater for people who either aren't technology savvy or don't have internet access. So for that marginal group of people the Club have completely failed them. In fact, I'd go as far as to say, my Grandad has effectively been stolen from. He has no way of watching another game this season despite having paid for 23 games of football. The Club have no way of providing that service to him therefore the club should give him his money back. They aren't though because they are banking on him being the type of person he is. That's wrong. Put it this way, I don't think the owners before Venkys would have acted in the same way. It simply isn't the way Rovers fans should want their club to be run.

To be truthful he doesn't care. He never kicked up a fuss about the refund or not being able to see the games. He's firmly in the category of "I watch my Rovers games in the ground". It was more my beef with the clubs actions. He has Sky and will be kept entertained by the PL, so as a family we aren't particularly "put out" by what has gone on. However, in business terms, if another company had treat my grandad in the same fashion they would not receive another penny from us. In my eyes that is taking advantage of your consumers because, and the club realises this, we aren't "just customers".

You have a fair point about supporters not equalling customers. Although I see it in a different light to you. We are better than customers. We guarantee repeat purchasing and will stick with the brand despite any potential PR nightmares, ie: Venky's. It is for that reason why we should be treat better than an avaerage customer down Asda for example. Yet, if I prepaid for my online shopping at Asda, and they didn't have the product, they'd either supply an alternative or provide a refund. Rovers are not offering that same consumer protection. What Rovers have offered is good for some people, like myself, but for someone like my Grandad it is pointless. He doesn't even have internet at his house so how, in the current climate, can I make sure that a man who has been going for over 50 years is seeing a) his football and b) value for his hard earned money? By rights my Grandad should receive a credit refund of £52 from the club. He won't though, because the option to use iFollow is available....if you have internet. The Club has let my Grandad down massively. He's never let them down, bought his ticket every year, got all his grandkids replica tops, season tickets, hats, scarves, programs. The only time in his life when he's probably looked at the club for something back and the men in charge are nowhere to be seen. Sadly it is exactly what we have come to expect from the current management of Blackburn Rovers.

It is only right that, in business, if somebody has pre-paid for a service and you are not able to fulfil your responsibility you offer the chance of a full refund or alternative. It wouldn't have meant diddly squat for the club in real terms. I'd say out of the 8k (?) ticket holders it would only be a maximum of 5k who would apply for the refund. Some rough maths tells: On an average ticket of £299 per season, spread over 23 games = £13 per game 4 home games left = £52 £52 for 5k supporters = £260,000. Is £260,000 really that big of a figure that the club wouldn't at least risk the chance that people claim the refund? Even if all 8k supporters claimed it is only a liability of £416,000. Again, in the grand scheme of football, is that figure substantial enough for Rovers to potentially turn away a few ST holders? As the iFollow is a credible alternative given the current circumstances then the refund should have been calculated as the pro-ratad difference between iFollow subscription and a ST, even then only as an "option".

I think attempting social distancing in a football ground is cloud cuckoo land Matty. I think more and more about this virus is coming around each day. The world won't wait for a vaccine before things open up again. This is just one of those things we as a people will have to learn to deal with. In any case, the vast majority of people will have probably been in contact with the virus already. I'm not holding my breath for a vaccine but I was always under the impression the 'experts' believed a reliable anti-body test was key to opening up the world again. I don't quite know where they are with that though but by all accounts it doesn't take as long to develop as said vaccine. I suspect we will be back in football grounds and attending mass events before we know it. You will then have to make up your own mind if you want to risk it and attend. That could be just as catastrophic for us as it could be remaining behind closed doors. A lot of our fan base is quite old and probably won't bother attending - the JW Upper will be vacant.

Living it Up - Damien Marley

This isn't for the Clubs to work out though, Paul. Imagine if they tried to make Ewood "Covid-Secure" (its the new buzzphrase in industry right now) and then half of the BBE ended up with it after a game? There'd be claims going in left right & centre. The only easy answer to getting people back inside is a vaccine but as you say, is that even possible? Society has to move on from this whole episode eventually. The balancing of risk is something to be considered carefully by the health authorities, not by our clubs. If I was running a club the only way I'd entertain letting fans back inside is if clear guidlines were issued for me to follow, and the health advice was that mass events were allowed again. Then again, we are in a fairly good position to stay 2m apart at Ewood these days and not have any of our usual attendees miss out....

2 old fogeys

Man, one of the lads told me he was surprised that when he looked at the back of most chocolate the first ingredient was milk. In America it is always sugar. It was a 50/50 split between them as to which tasted better too which surprised me. It was unanimous between everyone else that our milk chocolate is way better. I guess I was blessed with American friends that are brilliant cooks then. I’ve never been to America. I am just saying jambalaya beats any English dish by a country mile imo...but I guess that isn’t truly “American”. More the range of spices on offer, some English flood is bland in comparison In terms of quality then American exports does itself no favours. American mustard and cheese in particular stand out as exceptionally crap

Funky Friday - Dave

Don’t get me wrong, the way they cook and prepare food means it’s delicious. Whilst at uni I had a fling with a girl from New Orleans. She made my 2nd year, 2nd semester a very happy place. American food in terms of taste is infinitely better than English food. Even they admit the standards it is produced in is shocking though. Funnily enough, the whole American exchange crew ended up having a thing for “John Smiths”. For whatever reason yanks could not get enough of real ales, IPAs, Guinness etc that kinda drink. Bit off on a tangent but it always confused me. As an Englishman you are not used to seeing a group of stunning girls turn up to a house party with a crate of John Smiths.

The food may have tasted nice but it’s how that food arrives at your plate that’s the problem. Beef slammed full of anti biotics, hormones for extra growth; chickens chemically washed because of the horrendous living conditions; E numbers and additives in almost everything. The taste will be amazing. The effects it can have on your body is a totally different thing. We should never, ever sacrifice our food standards for that of America’s.

Mike Tyson's comebacks has shades of Razor Ruddock. A 50 year old man should never get into a boxing ring, especially not as a heavyweight.

I know it's not boxing per say but did anyone watch the UFC? One helluva fight between Gaethje and Ferguson!!!

Shanks and Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate

If it is all to be held at neutral venues it would probably be a disadvantage for them. They won't be allowed to put 10 men behind the ball, sit deep and narrow and let the small pitch do the work for them.

The Sopranos is easily my favourite series out there. Gandolfini morphed into Tony Soprano! I'm currently watching Vikings. I am 7 episodes in but it's been brilliant so far and lived up to expectation. Got the inspiration from watching "The Last Kingdom" on Netflix, which I think is a spin off from Vikings? The latest series of Top Boy was brutal television. Catches the actual mood in some of Britains more rougher estates right now.

My new wake up time is 9am. A whole 4 hours lie in for over a month. It’s been amazing.

Good luck. You are in for a lot of frustrating moments with that one ? The lack of money when you get to the Championship is chronic

I do think they have worked on the attribute system. It's definitely been brought to their attention. The weighting of the physical attributes is too heavy imo, meaning sometimes players can be brilliant simply because they are physically brilliant. Ryan Nyambe was case and point for me on this save. Also, due to his aggression being 19 he got way too many red cards for a professional player, and no amount of fining would stop him. Little tweaks here and there should solve that. Wages really irk me. I know it's just a game but I have absolutely no time for a player that comes wanting a double increase due to good form. I have had many barneys with some of my better players, but no player is bigger than the club! But....seeing a name like Messi at the club you are managing is worth 100k+ a week of any mans money. In truth I don't tend to stick around at clubs long. I always start with Rovers, do as much as I can with them and then move on to another club and so on. I like to pick clubs that have had a history, so this year I'm going to try and recreate the 70s/80s with Hamburg once I'm done with Rovers. I wasn't expecting to be sacked though so it's running later than usual! One of my favourite saves was Athletic Bilbao. You can only sign basque players but that led to me getting a vintage Xabi Alonso who is probably one of the only anomalies I've seen to the overpowered physical stats. According to the game he couldn't walk but he ran the midfield. Spain may be different, I don't know. Going off on a tangent here but I've always thought that football manager would be a game that could be adapted to virtual reality. It is almost becoming a mind in itself, if that makes sense. In FM20 the game can track the type of manager you are, ie: attacking, possession, defensive and that can then limit the type of jobs you can get, depending on what the board of the club wants their team style to be. There's also the added caveat of if you develop youth or buy big name signings. I can't say how well it works as I have skipped 2020. As it is just based on statistical data it wouldn't be crazy to assume in years time when VR kicks off football manager will be one of the games that can easily transition into that. That could border on dangerous though if this game keeps grown men awake late at night based on just numbers and dots...?

I make the same mistakes, I could never do it. The season I was sacked I sold Raya for 40m and cheaped out on the replacement. The has-been Hugo Lloris was the worst goalkeeper I've ever managed and definitely the reason I lost my job.