Yes, very well .... lovely man, he was my first Coach at u16's at Blackburn, together with John Whitney, who went on to work for Rovers for years, after retiring from the police. John passed away in July of last year ...

Right lads, setting off in half an hour .... do I need this ?

I may have mentioned this before, in late 2017, I organised a re-union of Blackburn Rugby Club's u19's teams from 1980-83. I traced 51 lads who'd played for us in that time, through personal contacts, Facebook, Linkedin etc. ..... only 4 ( FOUR ) actually still lived in the Borough of Blackburn and Darwen !! They were spread far and wide, including Italy, Sweden and 2 in France, but by far the most common residence was the Ribble Valley ... I also do some supply teaching, and have worked at 3 Blackburn & Darwen schools. Speaking to some of the lads there, there were some Rovers fans, but what was noticeable was the support for Liverpool among the Asian heritage students, really because of Mo Salah, who's a Muslim. Food for thought ...

Well I probably won't be jumping out of my seat after any goals ... as a Claret, I'm hardly likely to if Rovers score, and I'm not daft enough to do so if Watford score ... ☺️

No worries on that score, my friend ... I turned 60 on 3rd December and apart from the occasional " dust up " playing my 17 years at Blackburn RUFC, the last fight I had was in 1977 !! 😁

True, but also not the last Saturday before Christmas either, with family pressures and commitments ... " I need some help this weekend, you've done nothing about Christmas and it's your mother who's coming, you know ! " etc, etc ... 😁

6ft 4ins, 19 stone wearing a blue Barbour coat, face that's seen the bottom of a few Rugby rucks ... shouldn't be too hard to spot ! 😉

If such things are any guide, Watford took 898 away fans to Preston yesterday ....

Not sure, I've volunteered to drive ... I know we're in the Jack Walker upper, and I'm hoping to visit the BBE fan-zone. Do you think I should wear something to identify myself so my " friends " on here can stop by and chat ? I'm thinking a Claret and Blue scarf and my Burnley top-hat .. oh, hang on a minute .. 😁

So it's confirmed ... I shall be joining you all at the Watford game at the invitation of my Rovers supporting friend ... my first visit for a game since 31st May 1988 against Crystal Palace ... 3-1 Rovers ( Howard Gayle 2, Simon Garner 1 ) ...

I have a " English Heritage " membership, so I'm used to visiting places closed to the Public for years ...

I may well do so ...

I'll pop in and out ... I've had a rather tempting offer from one of my Rovers supporting friends to attend the Watford game on the 23rd December and seeing as Blackburn RUFC have no fixture, I may well take him up on it. I've been to Ewood for other reasons since, but the last game I attended there was Blackburn v Crystal Palace, on 31st May 1989 ...

Same old story, simple mistake at the back leading to their goal, it would likely have gone unpunished in the Championship .. At the other end we have strikers who need 3 good chances to score one goal, most Premier League sides have players who convert 2 out of three, it's that simple ..

You never disappoint, " JohnD " , long may you reign !! 😉

In peace as ever, lovely to know that " Longsiders " and I have been missed !! It's been an eventful couple of months personally, a family bereavement of my spinster Aunt and sorting out her estate, probate etc, a return to a " proper " job, and the arrival of a 2nd Grand-daughter have kept me busy ... That said, those of an uncharitable mind will suspect that my lack of posts are directly related to Burnley's League form, and you may have a point. I thought we'd start better, to be honest and I'm not sure VK knows what his best XI is, to be fair. £15m on James Trafford, who may yet come good, looks questionable, especially with Muric in situ. The loss of Benson through injury and Lyle Foster suffering with " mental health " issues hasn't helped either. Today's win was welcome, but I'm not here purely because of that. Derby actually hold record for the least number of EPL points in a season with 11, in 2007-08 .... T'Rovers are looking much improved this season, although strangely, 5 points worse off after 19 games than last year. I'd give you a decent chance of the play-offs, unless you suffer many more injuries which will disadvantage you compared to others with bigger squads / budgets. A last thought, I turn 60 tomorrow which has made me rather reflective about the really important things in life. Health, family and friendships outrank everything. As Billy Connolly said " Football Supporting is a disease, some of us just suffer from a different strain of it, that's all " !! Best wishes to you all ..... 😉

There's a chap called Allardyce, he's just put away his Golf Clubs as he doesn't like " winter greens " , and currently sat at home binging on 2nd rate Netflix series !! He's looking for a post to get him through to next May ?

You may be right, although assuming no " upsets ", only 4 of the last 16 are guaranteed to be EFL Clubs ...

If Luton lose at Chelsea on Friday, we'll have climbed from bottom of the League to 17th, without kicking a ball !!

We hit the bar and Hemp had a good chance ... Spain were the better footballing side and played a poor Referee like a fiddle ... The Champagne House, Pol Roger, sent Churchill a dozen bottles of his favourite Champagne every month from the end of the War until his death for his services to France, I wouldn't be surprised to see regular cases of Rioja Reserva winging it's way to Florida on the same basis ...

Try not to concede any free kicks just outside the penalty box ....

I wouldn't expect that it broke viewing records in the BB1-BB3 postcode areas, but Kompany comes across really well on the " Mission to Burnley " Documentaries ....

To those who carp about the standards ... I'm 60 this year and the football heroes from my youth are now old men, and frankly dying all too regularly. If you could magically transport the likes of Keith Newton, Leighton James and Martin Peters forward to the modern game, how would they cope ? They'd love the protection from the referees, love the state of the playing surfaces that's for sure. Would they be a yard too slow, two yards ? I grant you, with a couple of years strength and conditioning and modern diets, they may well be competitive ... What we do know is that they were great players who stood out among their peers at the time ... My point is we can only judge players and teams on the basis of their peers. The Lionesses are European Champions, have lost once in 38 matches under the present manager, whilst conceding only 15 goals in the process, and on Sunday, will be in a World Cup final. In women's football they are an outstanding team, and all England fans should be backing them to the hilt ...

That's the very fella .... Chaddy Rovers !

The Referee is refereeing us well, she may get around to refereeing Australia at some point ..... 🙄