I think that's what is called " being damned by faint praise " ..... 😉

Apparently, a £3.4m bid for Josh Brownhill from Turkish side, Trabzonspor has been rejected. This involved a substantial pay rise for Josh, and a four year deal, as he enters the last 12 months of his contract. Benson has been linked with Leeds, Sunderland and Norwich but no firm bids yet, I believe .. To me, Brownhill and Cullen are our talismen, they understand the Club and the Town .. more annoyed to see them go than most of the others ... Weghorst still touted to go to Ajax, with 10 months left on his contract

Yes, a tough choice between him or Tony Livesey from BBC Radio 5Live ... Apparently, two more mentions of Burnley FC on Tony's " Drivetime " show, triggers a one-off £500 " add-on " payment to his contract with us, and our American owners are reluctant to pay up !

Injured during pre-season .. out for another month .. Ian McKellen 'in good spirits' after falling off stage in play - BBC News

I'm fully expecting one if not both of these statistics to be reset to " Zero " on Saturday, so indulge me .. Rovers have played 556 minutes of Football against Burnley since their last goal, and by Saturday, you'll have to go back 14 years, 5 months and 3 days and 9 games for Rover's last win ...

Like a lot of comedy, Ian, exaggerated for effect but rooted in some truth ... I think we can both agree that Saturday's game is not ideal to be throwing new signings in for their debuts, for either of us .. I see you've still got the " ticker clock " running on your Home page ... hope you're keeping well !

I've believe he's semi-retired, but supplements his income by taking in people's ironing ... 😉 ( One for the kids there, I see ! )

Breaking news from the " Turf " ... likely line-up for Saturday leaked by mistake ... 1. Alastair Campbell 2. King Charles III 3. Bertie Bee 4. Martin Dobson 5. Jordan North 6. Jimmy Anderson 7. Alan Pace 8. Justine ... Landlady of the " Royal Dyche " 9. JJ Watt .... 6ft 7ins ... Target man 10. Eric Knowles ... playing off Watt, used to picking up promising bits and pieces 11. A.N.Other .... pulled out of the " Park View " at 11.25 on the day of the game ! In other news, the " walk out " tune has been changed to the wartime classic, " Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye ! "

Claret in peace .... We haven't got " chinks in our armour ", we're going into battle wearing a loin-cloth ... 3 Goalkeepers and kids on the bench today, no Cullen, no O'Shea, No Koleosho, No Weghorst ... no pace up front and players coming to Gawthorpe not knowing who's going to still be there tomorrow ... it's a joke ! The simple truth is that we signed some some promising looking players from clubs in Belgium and France, sold the " project " by Vincent Kompany .. why else would they come to Burnley ? Kompany is now not a factor, and their agents are trying to find them new Clubs to trigger " a new commission fee/ look after their client " ( depending on your view-point ! )

As some may recall, the mods ( or in their words, Dictators ) graciously placed my preview of the last derby held at Turf Moor as the first post of the thread ( v The Dingles (A) - 13/11/2022 ) .. Given the outcome of that game, I doubt such generosity will be forthcoming this time ... 😉

My late friend, a fellow Claret would cheerfully place £3 each week on a Burnley win/ Blackburn lose " Double ", on each Saturday of the League season, occasionally accompanied by his wife shaking her head at the prospect ... The 12th August 2017 was his finest hour, as Burnley won 3-2 away at Chelsea, whilst Rovers, in their brief stay in League 1, lost 3-1 at home to Doncaster Rovers .... I can still recall the smile on his face as he walked away with over £120, with his stake covered for the rest of that season !! 😉

Yes, three of their 1st choice defence out injured ... Do quite like the retro late 70's Luton kit though ... half expecting to see the Futcher twins playing & Harry Haslam giving orders from the technical area ...

I'll have you know that that stand was the first to have under-seat heating in the Country, with warm air being pumped through holes under the seat ... it was prohibitively expensive, and turned off after one season, but the thought was there ... Happy new season, everyone !! 😂

As the new season approaches, I think both Rovers fans and those of us of a Claret persuasion can unite in agreeing that this is an abomination .... sadly once viewed, it can never be unseen ....

Rather tongue in cheek, Kevin McGuire has translated the FIFA rankings into English League Football rankings, and transposed England England's Euro 2024 results .... ( 90minutes ) Spurs 1 Preston 0 Spurs 1 Leicester 1 Spurs 0 Exeter 0 Spurs 1 Portsmouth 1 Spurs 1 Burnley 1 Spurs 2 Newcastle 1 Spurs 1 Man Utd 2 Food for thought ?

Just shockingly bad ... you can take 26 players, and you pick no recognised left back, except for a player, Luke Shaw, who hasn't kicked a ball since February ! Wharton, Palmer and Gordon on, please ... I'd have preferred him to pick Charlie Taylor and Dwight McNeil ... not the best players but at least specialist left footed players ..

At the World Cup he played all three group games against Uruguay, Mexico and France; however, in the win against France, midfielder Joseph Bonnel raked his studs down Greaves's shin, causing a wound that required 14 stitches. His replacement for the quarter-final against Argentina, Geoff Hurst, scored the only goal of the game and kept his place to the final, where Hurst scored a hat-trick as England won the tournament. He was fit to play in the final, but manager Alf Ramsey opted against changing a winning team ... Just to show how times have changed, the Nation's press descended on Sir Alf's relatively modest home in Ipswich the following morning, only for Alf to open the door briefly ... " I'm sorry, Gentlemen but it's my day off ! ", and closed it immediately ..

That was my point ....

I was thinking about the many pundits who've been bemoaning Southgate's habit of selecting " square pegs in round holes ", putting players in unaccustomed positions, to get them in the team .... There might be a lesson from history here .... Jack Charlton was surprised to be included in England's 22 man squad for the 1966 World Cup and was even more surprised to be selected for the starting XI ...... he subsequently asked manager Sir Alf Ramsey why he had picked him. Charlton revealed Ramsey's deadpan response was: "I pick the best team for my pattern of play, Jack - I don't always pick the best players." Food for thought ?

I think objectively we have a squad good enough for " top 6 " .. my main concern is that so many of the squad are with us because of the " Kompany " factor, will they still want be here ? Underwhelmed with Frank Lampard to be honest, mind you at least it's not Phil Neville .... I'd rather have Joanna Lumley as manager than either of the Nevilles ..

It's been confirmed that Jay Rodriguez has signed a new one year deal at Turf Moor ...

Your Mum would not want you to worry about what was done or not done. The love you had for your Mum and Dad shines through every word you've written here, and they will have known that. I hope you have someone to talk to about them, however hard it may be for you, and that it helps. I went down to Blackburn Rugby Club today, as the Club were hosting a Lancashire v Warwickshire Women's fixture. The first two people I saw were my best man from 1989, and his brother, another good friend. Their Mum died from Colon Cancer a week before my Dad, my friend just looked at me, and said " Group hug ? ". We did as we were bidden, and then talked of happier times, occasionally with tears in our eyes .. I send our family's best wishes to you, and will be thinking of you this Thursday ..

Football has been very low on my list of priorities this week, however .... My concern is we have a lot of players who have signed for Burnley, because they were sold a dream by Vincent Kompany ... many from Continental Europe. He's now going/gone, so the new manager will have to sooth some " ruffled feathers ", especially among those who aren't getting game time. If not, then we're into " fire sale " territory, or tons of players going out on loan !! Trafford, I'm sure will come good, and will go on to play many times for England. I'd be ecstatic to get back what we paid for him at this point though, and move on ...

Thank you for that ... I agree wholeheartedly with your 2nd point. I wasn't going to mention this, but it was in the same spirit that I made a small donation to the BRFCS effort surrounding the Watford game to enable young fans to attend at minimal cost .. that, and the kindness shown to me on this thread, shows all of us at our best ...

Right back at you, " Tyrone " ... in the end with my Dad, it was a blessing as he had no quality of life ... you and I were fortunate to have them as long as we did, many others of our generation were not !! My thoughts are with you ..