such as going on about "young people today", "In my day" the war, what respect was, how you used to go for a week on half a shilling and still have change. You'd fit in perfectly well with your war stories Floppy

How near is this place to Temple Bar ? Apparently thats the place to stop isn't it.

WHEN Kenny Dalglish wanted to sign striker Kevin Gallacher, he met him in Southport - well away from the building site that was Ewood Park at the time. Kevin says: "I think he thought I might have been put off, but actually I was really proud to be part of that transition from the old to the new. We were building something at Rovers on the pitch as well as re-building the ground as well." He signed from Coventry in the late March of '93 and featured in about 12 matches of Rovers' first season back in the top flight, when they finished in the remarkably creditable position of fourth spot. His six years at Rovers brought striking stardom alongside Alan Shearer and Mike Newell, but were tinged with sadness when he broke his leg and was ruled out for what proved to be the Championship-winning season. He played just one game, scored and got another hairline fracture into the bargain! But he's in the Championship side's line-up against Rovers Worthington Cup team for Simon Garner's testimonial match on Sunday, May 18th . . . and he can't wait to meet all his old mates. Kevin says: "I only met Simon a few months ago but I felt I knew him already. He's a legend at Ewood Park. People always spoke of him in the same breath as all the other 'greats,' names like Clayton and Douglas. Simon is still the all-time record goal scorer and that's something to be proud of." Kevin hung up his boots this year at the age of 36 and now concentrates on radio work, including doing the phone-in for Radio Rovers, and helping his wife Aileen set up her new home design business. He says: "We still live in Blackburn and we love it here. I see my old mate Colin Hendry quite a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the boys on May 18th." Following his years at Rovers, Kevin was Bobby Robson's first signing at Newcastle. "I was very flattered but it was a big wrench leaving Blackburn. Still, I had a magnificent two years at Newcastle and my top-flight career finished on a high." Any worries about playing again? "Well, I've kicked a ball about in six a side games and I play tennis regularly. The brain thinks first and the feet try to follow. So let's see how it goes. It'll be good fun at any rate." § The Simon Garner Testimonial Match takes place on Sunday May 18 at Ewood Park. Kick-off is at 4pm. Tickets are priced £12 and £6 and available from the club ticket office or by calling 01254 671666. Corporate packages and boxes can be purchased by calling 01254 690909

Dublin both nights, going to sort out the hotel out later mind.

RyanAir are doing cheap flights from Liverpool and Leeds We are going Wednesday - Friday for about 60 quid. Wed - Thurs is a little less. They also do flights from Manchester and Blackpool but they are more expensive. Air Lingus operate from Manchester as well and are reasonably priced.

Wing ace Ripley looks to Rovers return Former Blackburn wing ace Stuart Ripley says he can't wait to revisit the club where he spent the best years of his football life. Ripley, 35, retired from the game last year after a career which saw him shine as a youngster for his home town club Middlesboro before ending it with Southampton. But it is Ripley's time in Blackburn that brings the memories flooding back and he is thrilled at the thought of reuniting with his Championship winning colleagues at Simon Garner's testimonial match on May 18. "It was an incredible period of my life" said Ripley, who recently qualified as a personal trainer and sports therapist. "For three or four years I just felt that eventually everything would come together and we'd go all the way" and in 1995 we did. "Football is continually changing, but it's always been difficult for a club outside the top two or three names to have a chance of winning the league. "But for a brief period a window of opportunity opened, and at Blackburn we grabbed that opportunity." Ripley reckons his Championship medal marks the pinnacle of his career, despite winning a pair of caps for England, and regrets only that the Championship side was so quickly dismantled. "It was a fantastic team to be a part of, though it's a shame it was broken up so quickly," he added. Now, though, he's looking forward to the big reunion when the Champions of 1995 take on Graeme Souness's Cup Winners. "Most of the lads are still playing, so I'd better get some training done "; it's incredible how quickly you can lose fitness when you're out of the game!" The Simon Garner Testimonial Match takes place on Sunday May 18 at Ewood Park. Kick-off is at 4pm. Tickets are priced £12 and £6 and available from the club ticket office or by calling 01254 671666. Corporate packages and boxes can be purchased by calling 01254 690909.

Dont give up the day job.

The vote on here is that of visitors, and isn't just members. I took those figures from the Birthdays entered via "Your Control Panel", and that are displayed on the calender.

Having gone through all of the 150 birthdays entered in the calender. Average age - 27.52 Oldest Member - Jim Mk2 (93 ?) Youngest Member - Theroversfc Most Common Age - 24 Breakdown is 14-19 43 20-29 56 30-39 34 40-49 11 50-59 4 60's 1 Jim 1

Not wanting to stamp on anybodys flowers or anything, but 1) Can we make sure images are work friendly 2) Any pics should be from the posters OWN webspace (or have permission to link to it) - its unfair on somebody hosting their own websites and paying for bandwidth for us to "borrow" any of that bandwidth. Cheers Ste

Chill out... I'm glad i'm 1000's of miles away for another couple of weeks.

Flopsy.

Following the 4-0 win over Rotherham, Rovers have been drawn away to Wigan in the Worthington Cup quarter finals. A couple of notable old Rovers involved at Wigan are Goalkeeper John Filan who left to get first team football, and Wigan Chairman Dave Whelan, owner of the JJB Chain of sports shops.

Rovers manager Graham Souness has won the BBC Northwest Sports manager of the year award Keeper Brad Friedal has won the player of the year award. Team of the year went to Manchester City

The same pubs which are home fans only every match for 2 reasons 1) Police / Safety advice, 2) They normally get too many home fans in without worrying about away fans. Theres also Away Fans ONLY pubs (Fernhurst) and yesterday a number of pubs in the centre (O'Neills, Old Yates). You were also welcomed in a number of pubs around the ground, and did get in pubs that normally are Home fans only. We had a good drink with the Celtic fans around town before the match (and in Glasgow), a lot of banter going on, and met lots of good people. I find the "we werent welcoming" type phrases disappointing, as the vast majority in the area did what they can. For those who seem to expect us to be raving about the celtic performance, well - This is a BLACKBURN ROVERS messageboard, so people tend to discuss what went wrong from a Rovers point of view. We look for where we can improve our own game, not at what celtic did well or not. I dont think either club particularly covered themselves in glory and put on a decent footballing spectacle over the 2 legs. I'd suggest that both teams are capable of a better quality of football. In the end though, Celtics was good enough to get past ours.

Same thing in the Blackburn end - not all of the turnstiles were open there. Stewards with the "its not my problem, its the polices problem" in the concourse when non rovers fans (doubt they were Celtic from the accent) were giving it "come on you Rovers @#/?s" to other fans. Its not just going to be City - Evertons going to be similar, there will be loads in our ends for that one.

How can anybody say that he is gone on the evidence of what 4 games ? I think its a long road back to fitness - Matt and Souness have said as much. He needs games, and plenty of them, and possibly a loan move to a team like Blackpool might help him out. Sorry Ste, buts theres something not quite right. I was seriously worried when I saw him come on as a sub vs Newcastle. I hope he makes it back but Im concerned for the lad. Of course theres something not quite right, he's come back from a life threatening injury. Its going to take time thats the issue, writing him off after less than 200 minutes on the pitch is not the answer.

How can anybody say that he is gone on the evidence of what 4 games ? I think its a long road back to fitness - Matt and Souness have said as much. He needs games, and plenty of them, and possibly a loan move to a team like Blackpool might help him out.

No, I said AS WELL as what happened in town there were idiots from other clubs around, as well you know. I know what happened at O'Neills as I said, and it was predominantly a small group of idiots (20+) of whom none were wearing colours. Almost certainly from Blackburn.

Nobody said we dont have any hooligans. What we don't have is the widespread hooligan problem as some other clubs such as Burnley / Millwall have. I saw what happened outside O'Neills and in the grapes, and also on Bolton Road on the way to the ground, so i'm not pretending nothing happened. Unsurprisingly there was definite infiltration from other clubs idiots at the match as well.

I experienced the policing last night on the walk to the ground, and under the circumstances OVERALL I feel they did a good job under provocation from both sides.

Right, pub calls later.. If you see somebody in town with a NASA cap on, its me.

GH - let it lie, or you'll get another warning.

Be there in an hour Pete.. wont be able to post to tell you though

Where the eck is that ?