sympatheticclaret

Yep, technically true, 4 occasions I believe .... although I think 1902-03 may have been the last time !

The last 3 Clubs who failed to be re-elected were all coastal North West Clubs, with poor transport links ... Barrow ( 1972 ), Workington ( 1977 ) and Southport ( 1978 ), replaced by Hereford, Wimbledon and Wigan respectively. Of the current League Clubs, Hartlepool had to apply for re-election 14 times, followed by Rochdale on 10 occasions ... curiously, as I write, these two Clubs are 91st & 92nd in the Football League pyramid !!

It's believed each Director took turns to pick a kit each season, sometimes they would say no or little change ... that was until they settled on Villa's colours in 1910 ...

Senior moment, I was trying to come up with the other one and assumed it was when Bury were there, Rochdale is clearly the other one. Bury never started the 2019-20 season due to their issues, which was Salford's first after winning their play-off. The play-off was against AFC Fylde, so it would have been an " Old Lancashire " Club, whoever won ...

The 17 being both Manchester & Liverpool Clubs, Burnley, Blackburn, Preston, Blackpool, Wigan, Bolton, Fleetwood, Morecambe, Accrington, Salford, Barrow, Oldham and at the time Bury ....

I spoke to one of the Radio Lancashire reporters a few years back, and he told me of meeting a new Radio Norfolk Sports presenter who was saying that he was " so busy " covering both Norwich & National League King's Lynn. " How many teams do you have to cover ? ", our man thought for a moment ... " Oh, we're lucky really, just the 7 ", " Lucky ? " replied the Radio Norfolk man, " Yes, if we were covering the whole of " Old Lancashire ", it would be 17 !! " No they are not !! Both Clubs have storied histories, especially in relation to the size of their populations and are rightly celebrated by both sets of fans .... 😎

I don't live in a cave, as I've said before, it's better to keep informed Why is it on the " Dingles " thread then ? I don't know the answer, I don't know what I don't know ... Correct, but I suspect I'm not alone in that !

Is the financial problems of ex-players & staff really an avenue a Rovers fan wishes to go down ? 🙄

I'm certainly not taking anything for granted ... firstly, two of our goals came from Rovers being caught playing out from the back which probably won't happen again, and secondly their professional pride will ensure a much improved performance .. That said, a record of W10, D6, L2 away from home is not to be sniffed at, and just a slight correction, our last away outing was a 1-3 win at Hull City ... 😉

I'm thinking along your lines ... Perhaps rather than looking to minimise away support, they should be looking to maximise the home support. Much better to have 22-25,000 and the ground rocking, than a half full Ewood, acres of empty seats and neutrals wondering what all the fuss is about.

Quite right ! If you post on your rivals site, it can be fun. You expect to get some " stick ", but I see it as being a " Claret " guest at a party hosted by a Rovers fan, and he's invited a lot of his mates. Try to talk what you have in common, not what divides you, appreciate their point of view, give and take the banter with good grace and above all, don't be a knob !!

Back in the day, on a Summer's evening, we'd occasionally start at the " Alex " on Dukes Brow, and then make our way to the " Clog and Billycock " and have a stop in the " Quarrymans " further up Dukes Brow, then the " Dog Inn " on Revidge Road and then the " West View " further down Revidge ... all 3 of those pit-stops are now closed !! 🙄

Has he gone to a picnic ? 😎

I agree, it's a dump, they've had a new stadium in the planning for nearly 7 years but they've not broken ground yet ... If Luton do go up, they'd be the 51st different Club to have at least one season in the EPL ...

Going to the sunlit uplands ...... Burnley, Middlesbrough and Luton Down to the 3rd Division, call it League 1 all you want but we all know ...... Huddersfield, Wigan and Blackpool Coming up ..... Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich

Their Global Club index is er .. interesting ! It has Burnley at 98th and t'Rovers at 297th, not sure on what basis they work that out !!

I suspect Blackburn Rovers may be the only " Town " Club to host full England Internationals at 3 different venues, Leamington Road, Alexandra Meadows and Ewood Park ....

Enjoy your day, one and all, despite the silly kick-off time !!

Just had a little time to digest this result ... with a couple of " Rennies " if truth be told !! Whilst some posters have enjoyed the understandable " Schadenfreude ", others of you have foreseen what might happen if you get through at Bramhall Lane, and end up facing Manchester City at Wembley in the semi-final ... In time honoured fashion, we're now set to " concentrate on the League " .... 😁

That would get you to 77 points with 16/27 points gained from the last 9 games .... If you're broadly correct, then one of Norwich, WBA, Watford, Coventry or PNE would have to win 7 or 8 of their remaining 8 games to catch or equal your total ... I think you should be OK, although I think Huddersfield will be battling hard to avoid relegation, and the Hull and Luton games are far from foregone conclusions

I too hope it's all confirmed by then, it would take a " Devon Loch " type collapse in form from us, and a tremendous run of form from two other Clubs for it not to be the case though ...

You were on the right track, but yes, they all scored a hat-trick on their one and only appearance for England ! You'd be pretty miffed to be dropped after achieving such a feat, wouldn't you ? 🙄

I suspect that he'll stay with Burnley until at least the end of next season to prove that he can manage at the top level. If he left having just taken us up, people may well say what some have said on these august pages, it was the money, we had loan players, poor quality Championship this year etc .. If he keeps us up comfortably, then would he really go to a Palace, Brentford, Wolves " type " of Club ? I could see the appeal of a Tottenham or Newcastle, but I suspect he may wait for the City post to become vacant .... when I suspect if his stock is still high, he'll be a shoe-in !!

Not the first, my friend !! However, the one I was invited to start by the " Mods " was the match thread for your last visit to Turf Moor. Judging how that panned out, I suspect I may not be extended the same courtesy again !!

See below