Just a thought ...

I was at Turf Moor when we were presented with the old 4th Division Champions Trophy in our last home game of the 1991-92 season, against Wrexham. Full house, party atmosphere .... and we lost 1-2 to a Wrexham side we'd tubbed 6-2 at the Racecourse five months earlier.  One of your own and a friend of mine, Vince O'Keefe was between the sticks for Wrexham that day ....

On 28/04/2024 at 08:31, arbitro said:

No one likes us they proudly sing. Do they ever wonder why? This f****** can expect a knock on his door soon.

  I present here, M'lud, exhibit " A ", in the case for sterilising certain people, until they pass an examination that allows them to bring children into this world ... 

I think you're on for a 2-0 today ... Human nature is human nature, huge disappointment for Coventry on Sunday, followed by another with their play-off hopes ending on Wednesday .. it's their 3rd game in six days, they've played twice since Rovers last took to the field.

It'll take an almighty motivating effort from Robins to get them up for this game ....

2 hours ago, morninbob said:

Pears.... Hold my 🍺.

Yep ... beat me to it !! 😉

12 hours ago, Hasta said:

I'd have left the FA Cup and would have made the League cup a competition for non-European clubs. Gives the European clubs time off in October to February. It devalues the league cup further but does give non-Euro clubs a better chance of progression / Wembley. If you won it you would still be buzzing. 

It would probably lose its European place for the winner, although you could introduce an end of season play off between the League Cup Winners and the highest place Premier side that hadn't qualified for Europe for the final slot.

Absolutely agree with you, although the winners only qualify for the European Conference League, the third ranked Competition. The " Top tier " Premier League sides involved in Europe should be exempted from the EFL ( Carabao ) Cup, which should reduce their games by 3-5 per season. I'd also get rid of the two-leg EFL Cup Semi-Finals, and have one game, at neutral venues .. 

As for the FA Cup, I'd go back to regionalising the 1/2nd Round games, and keep replays !! This was the case until the late 1990's, and would reduce travel costs for Clubs & fans alike. From round 3 onwards, I'd give any Club ranked in a lower Division drawn at home, the choice to switch the tie should they wish ! They can then make the choice of say, Marine hosting Tottenham at their tiny ground for one memorable day, or giving their players and fans a day out at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, with the much higher gate receipts and securing the Clubs future for a couple of years ...

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

We've found a buyer. 😄

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/doctor-who-matt-smith-blackburn-32503334

He could save himself a few quid, and just time travel back to 1884, FA Cup glory five times in the next few years, a reserved seat at Leamington Road, the excitement of the new fangled Football League ( it'll never catch on ! ),and a ground move to Ewood Bridge in 1890. He'd also see Rovers chalk up 6 successive big wins against Burnley ...

Just watch out for the TB and Diphtheria though, Matt !!  

Looks like the Derby's on again next season .... ☺️

Claret in peace .. thought the least you deserved was a point today !

Second half was so much better, but nobody to apply the finishing touch .. if Ipswich go up, they'll get embarrassed in the Premier League without some major changes ... 

3 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

In the words of Mandy Rice Davies "He would say that wouldn't he!."

Good at blaming one another aren't they - Waggott trying to make out Szmodics wasn't a Broughton choice and Broughton trying to dump the responsibility for Fleck onto Waggott - even though he is DOF.

" RevidgeBlue " .... are you now finding that using the Mandy Rice Davies reference is increasingly being met by blank uncomprehending looks from those younger than us ? I used it the other week, and from the faces staring back at me, you'd have thought I was speaking Hungarian !!

Jack Longstaff would be proud of you, though ... 😉

1 hour ago, Trinidad Rover said:

He is a person out of depth operating in an environment he can't control ...

 

 

I think this sums it up perfectly ...

The one part of the Radio Lancashire interview that made me laugh out loud, was when he said the events of the last two January transfer windows, would have no effect on future transfer dealings ... other Clubs and players will be very wary of dealing with Rovers in the future. This is not good for a proud historic Club like Rovers ...

He talked about this lad at Crewe ... I'm sure Rovers won't be the only Club watching him. So let's say Crewe agree to sell, and their fee is matched by West Brom, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Rovers. All historic Championship clubs of roughly equal size, why on earth would he choose Blackburn over the others ? Incompetent management, absent and despised owners, loyal but divided fan base .. it's a tough sell, to be fair  

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Did you ever see him play ? He was one of those unfortunate souls in the 1960’s that went bald in their twenties.

Yes, but I'm 60 and he was at Aston Villa by then, so severely follically challenged .... I think this is Andy around 1962 ...

c80fbba8b8f9b6dadcbe8c476ac3252fcb989164.webp

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I don’t remember Lochead playing but maybe he had hair then.

He'd have been 4 months shy of his 22nd Birthday, so highly likely ....

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Mm, I was pretty sure Ronnie Clayton played at right half but it is 60 odd years ago.

I don’t recall any player being subbed either. I was only 13 then but I had the impression they all took it pretty seriously. Dougie and Connelly certainly did.

I've asked the question on our Board, and apparently the " missing man " was Andy Lochead .. attendance was 16, 826, and might the score have been 4-6, rather than 5-6 ? If Bobby Seith was unable to make it due to injury, then it would make sense that the great Ronnie Clayton, from just up the road might have been asked to step in ... 

23 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Yes, thinking about it he was down in the programme. Who was down as the No 10 for Burnley in the programme ? 

The only image I found on the internet showed only the England XI, although curiously Bobby Seith of Dundee, formerly of Burnley, is listed as the right half, again may well have been included as a mate of Colin's ...

7 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Cheeseborough was at Leicester then. He was the only un-capped player in the England representative team and in that company he looked out of place. Maybe he got called up at short notice.

I thought the same, but he's listed in the printed programme as in the team ... so maybe just a call-up for a decent honest " pro ", especially as he was Burnley born, and possibly a mate of Colin's ?

1 hour ago, lraC said:

Was the late Brian Pilkington in that side, or had me moved on to Bolton by then?

He moved to Bolton in 1961, the year before so would have played with a very young Frannie Lee. I think it's been mentioned before that Lee made his debut, as a 16 year old amateur, in one of Nat Lofthouses's last games. He in turn made his Bolton debut ( aged 17 ) in March 1941 in a Wartime League game ...

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Connelly was vieing for the right wing slot in the England team that Bryan Douglas held at the time so there was a bit of friction there. Finney was still a terrific player, he retired way too soon. After about 60 minutes all the the England forwards had scored a goal but for Cheeseborough so the other forwards tried to set him up. He must have missed about half a dozen easy chances and he still ended up without a goal. As you can imagine there was a lot of goalmouth action and MacDonald pulled off several brilliant saves, I was left wondering why he had retired. You could see he had been top class in his day.

It’s amazing what you can remember after 60 years.

Yes, Bert Cheeseborough was at Rosegrove Junior School in the same year as my Father-in-Law, he'd moved on to Leicester City by this time. His daughter, Susan, represented Great Britain at Gymnastics in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics ....

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He would have taller in his prime. I’m about 2” shorter now than I was in my playing days. Wear and tear on your discs etc. I take your point though, goalies now are taller.

I went to his benefit game back in the early sixties. Burnley v An England 11.

Burnley 

Blacklaw

Angus Joyce

Adamson, Cummings, Miller

Connelly , Robson, Pointer, ? , Harris.

Elder and McIlroy were playing. For N Ireland.

England 11

Macdonald

Armfield, Wilson
Clayton, Swan, Flowers

Douglas, Hunt, Lofthouse, Cheeseborough, Finney

England won 6-5. Lofthouse scored with a Shearesque rocket and Douglas and Connelly both got booked after a scuffle. Finney had just retired but he was still brilliant as was Macdonald in spite of the score line.

Thanks for that, new information for me ... I'm 60, and was always just over 6'4" when I played Rugby for Blackburn. However, " anno domini ", and 35 years of marriage has apparently made me 6'3", according to my last " well man " check ...

Ironic that John Connolly and Bryan Douglas went on to be team mates at Ewood in the late sixties !

1 hour ago, DeeCee said:

Sad but true.

I don't see that we have any option but to stick with VK, and the " project " ...

Most fans know that the players we've signed haven't come to Burnley for the massive wages or the honour, they're here because of Kompany and his reputation. If the board dismissed him, you'd have a very unsettled group of players. Relegation clauses in their contracts should see us OK when we go down, but we may need to sell a couple ...

10 hours ago, Mercer said:

In those days, generally, goalies in the main weren't that tall!

Think Barton was similar height to Fred Else (who he replaced) who played hundreds of games for PNE & Rovers - would think both a couple of inches short of 6 feet.  Even Roger Jones wasn't quite 6 feet.  Think burly Adam Blacklaw measured in at just about 6 feet.

Even the great Banks was only about 6 feet (as was Shilton who replaced him as England's goalie).  Seem to recall likes of Bonnetti, Stepney, Lawrence etc all sub 6 feet with international honours.

Doesn't matter whether a goalie or outplayer though, the old adage still rings true, a good big 'un always beats a good little 'un !!!

Just to illustrate your point, Colin McDonald, now 93, was England's 'keeper in the 1958 World Cup. He broke his leg badly in a Football League v League of Ireland game at Dalymount Park in 1959, and never recovered ... A few years back, he was invited to Gawthorpe for a lunch and had a picture taken with Joe Hart, Nick Pope and Tom Heaton, during that short spell when we had 3 England Goalkeepers on the books .....

Ashley Barnes warming the bench .... 

23 minutes ago, NeilInBristol said:

Knowing his history, but he is a goal scorer and potent as well as being free.. how many fans would have been happy if we snapped up Barnes in the summer instead of Ennis and telalovic ?

Given he referred to your storied Club as " The Bastards ", live on Sky TV after the 3-0 game at Turf Moor in November 2022 ( fined £7,500 ), I very much doubt his signing would have been greeted with him being carried shoulder high into Brockhall, to a chorus of " For he's jolly good fellow " ..... 

Happy game day, all ...

We'll be no doubt giving Palace's new manager a dream start in his first full game in charge, whilst I'm sure you're all looking forward to welcoming Ashley Barnes back to the area, with a traditionally warm East Lancashire welcome !!

26 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Sadly the parachute payments mean that you can waste £110m in one season and still be ok in the Championship.

Realistically Burnley should be stuffed - they'll just bounce back up next year. 

I'm glad you're so certain ... I'm not !! 

1 hour ago, harryhealless1928 said:

Steady on,sympathetic clar !

Whilst the Dingles outclassed us last season with more money spent and a better squad Vincent looks this season to have the motivational skills of a sleepy sloth! 

No passion and not too much interest. Like a latter day JDT.

No, I think VK and the Directors are following the plan ... instead of buying maybe 3 " oven ready " EPL players for c.£70m, we've gone for 10 or so £3-6m younger players keen to develop and learn under Kompany. It was always meant to be a 4-5 year project, and we exceeded expectation last season. It's one of the reasons that VK's position is secure, most of these players would not have come to Turf Moor without his presence ... if he was sacked, any new manager would have a major issue on his hands, simply by not being Vincent Kompany ...

We're definitely improved, but it won't be enough to stay up. I'm still not sure he knows his best team yet, and the major criticism I'm hearing is persevering with Trafford in goal, rather than recalling Muric ...