...and because he played in England which for some reason seems to be a key factor with some. As for "who it was" I'll give you a clue. His name was rather similar to one of them.

?

Lighten up. ? In the 1990's (not counting Maradona at that stage) there was one player who was as good as either of them. Whether you think there was another or not could still be very much open to debate. Someone on twitter bringing up that Messi hasn't played in the Premier League. Not sure why that should be any part of the debate for me. Messi's stayed in Spain for good reason and Ronaldo became even better after going there. I'm not interested in which has had more influence on domestic English football.

In the age of information overload it's a debate that does very little for me anyway. Whether one is slightly better or not (I know which one gets my vote and he's playing tomorrow) teams don't seem to suffer either way. Messi's less insufferable as well so even if he was a marginally "lesser" player would still have preference for him.

In other words you think Ronaldo's better looking. Not sure why that should be part of the assessment. He's a spotlight hogger though Tv channels don't help by seemingly having a contractual obligation to show closeups of the egomaniac every 2 minutes. His football isn't forced but his mugging for the cameras is.

Getting rewarded a contentious penalty and rare goalkeeping errors (in this case) hardly hurts. The third goal yes it was a decent free kick like Russia's was only as recently as yesterday. A lot of people on both sides played well it's a shame that the game itself isn't getting the headlines first and foremost.

Not complaining in principle but I've bet on him to be sent off. Spanish government shouldn't have bothered with a fine. They should have sentenced him to have a big dot superimposed over his face on any Spanish Tv broadcasts. Imagine how much he would hate that? Look at me, look at me...you can't see me!

I hate it so much that no circumstances will make me call for clubs to be sanctioned.

What's sensible about an appointment that would piss Leeds fans off beyond belief? Granted sometimes they bring it on themselves (anyone could have seen Cellino was nuts from the second he registered an interest) but they won't pretend Bruce's connections with Man United aren't the biggest reason for objecting. I wouldn't want Bruce here either (you could argue while he's failed this season he's still won more than one promotion to the EPL) and that's looking at the Savage/Birmingham saga before even going into other parts of his past. Who's to say they will have a big budget? Likes of Sunderland went down last season (granted the club was rotten from top to bottom whereas Villa possibly could retain some of the players who reached the playoffs) as have Leeds in the past. They aren't infallible as we certainly know big clubs can end up in L1.

Rovers have played at the venue for the World Cup Final, Luzhniki Stadium. Those who remember probably prefer to forget that particular occasion though! As for the Charnock Brothers yes they were Rovers fans.

Some are too forceful, some too greedy and others are discouraging (perhaps out of jealousy in extreme cases) but there's also plenty who just shut up and support their kids. In this instance "happy clapping" is the best strategy. Maybe a bit of "tough love" so to speak now and again but only in moderation and when it's really needed. Bit harsh maybe but maybe that kid needed to be a little more forceful at the time about his Father's influence and tell him to back off a bit. Teenagers aren't exactly incapable of standing up to their parents though perhaps it would have made no difference whatsoever with his Father. On the other hand his Uncle was ex professional footballer Mark Falco and perhaps there was a lack of support there as well but can't say for sure. He speaks of his alienation towards football now compared to how he felt as a kid. I know how that feels. Read comments about vile parents telling their kids to break his legs (which were insured for 1 million apparently) no wonder people become jaded. Ironically enough he knew David Bentley who later became disillusioned himself (even before he left Rovers the first time) with being treated like a corporate puppet. I'm surprised more players don't retire at a younger age.for reasons unrelated to injury, etc. There's more cases like Collymore (though first half of his career at least was pretty good people only seem to remember the later period) than Cantona though. EDIT-Falco's Daughter said on twitter Pike isn't her Dad's nephew.

I'm not particularly interested in England's chances (preferably they won't win it) but there are times I wonder why they agree to represent England in first place. People say they have no chance, dismiss their general abilities, etc when this squad is less talented than some previous examples through no real fault of their own. Considering some of the abuse they might as well just stick to representing their clubs and say sod it to anybody else. Of course they have a chance of winning in a knockout tournament. You have been around long enough to know that Jim and many younger fans will still remember Euro 2004. Compared to that England winning the tournament wouldn't be a complete anomoly. Quite an obvious statement really but some people seem to forget it's not a League competition. Even if they did win it does that mean Southgate is a great manager or the squad is the best England has had? Of course not. It's not as useless as some people make it out to be though.

Fleetwood can get away with producing something substandard not just because of their low fanbase. Assuming they produced something throughout the majority of their existence (and previous incarnations of the club have folded) there's barely anyone who will have collected them. At pretty much every other football league club (Wimbledon and MK Dons being exceptions for obvious reason) there's more fans who will have collected programmes since the 60's, 70's. A lot more who will have programmes from the 90's, etc if you use Rovers as an example. As for supporters producing content (that's what fanzines are for) that just encourages staff laziness. What's the consequences of ending publication? Are fans who have collected programmes for years going to stop going over such an issue? Anyone who's remained after the past few years won't. It might irritate some but overall there's not likely to be any real backlash if discontinued. As the fans forum notes pointed out there's scheduled to be a discussion (of football league clubs) on whether to end the mandatory publication of programmes.

In the age of information overload are details of past meetings (particularly when there's excessive promotion of the opposition) and trivia really worth reading? There's a reason trivia is short for trivial. It might be better to produce nothing (at the moment producing programmes is still mandatory anyway) than a flimsy effort for the sake of image though. Perhaps more outspoken columns, etc (could still have a reduced number of pages but the "quality over quantity" approach) but with the manager for instance that's not really his style.

The latest fans forum minutes recorded a discussion related to this. The club seem to subscribe to the view (which I agree with) that people purchase them from a collective standpoint rather than content. Needless to say there's enough information overload online and the club site lacks imagination anyway. I don't want to get started on a long winded debate about the potential pitfalls of publishing in print. At least with the programme people know what they are purchasing. I never used premium rate clubcall (was younger than and besides most people had Ceefax and Teletext) which is absolutely redundant now. Some of the people who produced content for those phone lines used to make up complete rubbish and rip fans off. Very professional. Maybe adults should always know better than to fall for such scams but kids wouldn't have.

UEFA are the clowns for devising the whole crooked FUP in first place. Evil liars is what they are and needless to say I'm not a fan of such types.

You forgot John Williams. We all must tout him for any job of any reasonable significance as well. ?Finn and Goodman as well don't want them all on the breadline do we? Have to ask why refer to Jack as "Walker" but to Allardyce as "Sam?"

It's 6 bloody lines (and an edited in quote + comment)

Given that India isn't a communist government at least sending funds out of India isn't likely to be a problem for Rovers. Notwithstanding other potential issues for those who know Venkys can't be trusted. Xia might just be using it as an excuse though considering the caps aren't really a burden on the level of transactions he's sending. Maybe it's just a means of delaying that payment (a winding up order certainly does not mean doomsday is imminent it's just down to delayed payments though imagine there's regulations to prevent repetitive flouting) since he wants to sell and would rather use money via selling people like Grealish instead. I imagine Bruce will probably quit soon. Crystal Palace have missed a payment as well and there's no indications of financial troubles there so not sure what their excuse is. FUP and doing a "good job" can never be associated together. Rotten to the damn core fullstop.

Dalglish has claimed he never went back to Hillsborough. Even as a manager? BBC article is pathetic. Can't even refer to the club as "Blackburn Rovers". Don't tell me I'm being petty I saw people complaining because Shearer was pictured in a Newcastle shirt while showing his 95-96 goal stats. Compared to that this is much worse. Maybe I'll just stop paying my damn license fee.

It's about knighthoods so it's completely relevant. That said I only made that comment because someone decided to take snide digs at me. Maybe you should say something about that? I'm guessing since so many people refer to him as "Sir Kenny" anyway he's probably just given in to them. Still think the whole concept is ridiculous and beyond antiquated. I'm glad Jack didn't take one because he was better than her in every possible respect. Working with Jack for 5 years was a far bigger honour than this could ever be even if he wouldn't buy Geoff Thomas. ?

Your decree nisi come through yet? I do prefer extra time but not too bothered about it. Hope it's kept for the FA Cup though as endurance is supposed to be a barometer. The League campaign of course is more relevant in that regard but could be worse I guess. At least it's not a coin toss. Bit more irritated by the VAR (formerly known as "technology") rule. Now I know in the FA Cup many clubs can't afford to use it. While I'm against VAR in general (in ALL respects besides rescinding incorrect suspensions or cases of excessively violent conduct) it's a bit hard for the FA not to let many clubs use it when they also govern the Premier League. The Football League of course will have VAR (at Championship level anyway) and Rovers are installing it. It's strange though that if the capacity to use it is there in the League why can't it be used by Rovers in the Carabao Cup as well? I don't like VAR but I don't like inconsistent ruling either. Besides FUP where my only constant is hating the whole damn thing with a vengeance. Speaking of penalty shootouts (bit off topic here but don't think I've mentioned my views on this) I remember when Trevor Francis whined about that Playoff semi final shootout between Preston North End and Birmingham. At the time I think one of the stands was being redeveloped and Francis was upset when the penalties were directed to take place in front of the home fans. Now what does that say about character and his faith in the players he had? I know that home/away percentages can't be ignored in general but for a shootout it's more of a rarity. I guess in domestic competitions more home teams have won shootouts on average (not sure how close it is or how it compares to the general 90 minute win/loss League stats) but it's no surprise that Birmingham lost after that. If I was managing a team away from home (or neutral venue) and it came to a shootout I would make the players take them in front of the opposing fans (excluding stands with both home/away sections and clubs where the away fans aren't situated behind goals) as a psychological test of character. It would also demonstrate confidence and don't say anything stupid like "lets give the other team a one goal "headstart"). I think it's quite relevant to bring this up as obviously shootouts will be more frequent in the competition now. I can't remember any at Ewood taking place in front of the DE anyway. Maybe back in the 80''s, etc they might have but the ones I recall were all in front of the BE. EDIT-Actually just looked back at the Chelsea game in 2009 (was in front of BE) and noticed Kean on touchline. Couldn't see Allardyce anywhere and perhaps something jogged my memory (wasn't exactly surprised by Kean's presence as he was one of the coaching staff) so looked it up and he was ill. I assume McDonald was in charge that night but bet Kean mentioned it to Desai, etc claiming he was running the whole show. Not that it would have made any difference with him getting the job but anyhow... There was one against Walsall in 2002 (nearly being knocked out at first hurdle on defence of the trophy) in front of the BE where I myself was situated that night. There was also the one against West Ham when Hendry was the one who failed. I point that out as it was so rare for him to be the one who let his teammates down and it was a bloody terrible penalty lol. I watched the shootout recently and Fettis was in goal. To be fair they were all very well placed penalties and Flowers probably wouldn't have saved any of them either.

Wouldn't have minded either. I'm not sure whether to recognise it or not as I have strong Republican views. UK Republic that is though I'm certainly in preference of US Republican politics over Democrats and certainly idiot liberals. Maybe I'll just use the "sir" prefix if I mention Ferguson in the same post as a way to take a "not very veiled" dig. Since you're being so blase about it I'll go one further shall I? How about a dig at...erm...Fred Walker! Apparently Jack turned down a knighthood as far back as the 70's because Fred wasn't offered one. Probably because Jack was the talented Brother and the one with the sales skills whereas Fred was a glorified health & safety floor supervisor. To be fair I've never heard any cases of Walkersteel (the original not the pale imitation Howard Walker lent the name too) being sued on injury malpractice, etc. I'm pretty sure even back in the 60's and 70's there was a bigger market for industrial accident lawyers even if people were not generally quick to sue on more trivial matters. I've also heard that Jack was the one pushing for the sale and driving it forward. Fred probably wanted to wait (or just let his Brother do all the real work) but the consensus at the time was Jack got the better end of the deal. Not to mention there was a steel recession not long afterwards.

Exactly. There's still stuff for Mowbray to prove when it comes to the building blocks for the future. People can argue if they like about tactics, etc but most of the key squad members were inherited. Chaddy's typically naive to say that he has 100% faith but for me it's one of the remaining question marks. Of course there's only so much anyone can do if there's limited backing (and at most it's not gonna eclipse most of the league like last year) but some managers make the most of what they get. Some even do better with lesser budgets. Let's see how Mowbray answers such questions with his actions. Dack obviously was a success. Smallwood worked out but the others were loans (in Downing's case he performed well but you can hardly see it as some genius astute move because the loan was last minute) or signings which were inconsistent or fizzled out a bit. As for Nuttall I don't think Mowbray intended to play him last season. He signed more cover as soon as he could. With Chapman he probably used his contacts at Middlesbrough though not saying it isn't logical. I'm not going through each individual case but 100% faith at this point is ridiculous. Not to mention impossible anyway whoever the manager is.

Asked if anyone at Stoke mentioning Lenihan now that Rowett's gone there. Not yet but of course he's only just taken the job. I guess it depends because what his former club needed isn't essentially what Stoke might need.