first started watching the mighty rovers when howard kendall was managing,my duncan mckenzie hating dad decided i was old enough and the rest is history,two games that stand out in the era,the fa cup games against coventry and villa,got a perfect view of andy crawfords goal against coventry as i was on my dads shoulders!!!he would`nt take me to the villa game,citing crowd trouble,most likely reason is he fancied a session with his mates before the game!!!kendall did a sterling job on absolutely nothing,built us a rock solid defence,only blotted his copybook when he tried to sell garner to halifax,allegedly my overriding memory of bobby saxtons regime is the 84-85 season when we should have got promoted,top of the league at christmas,beating leeds on boxing day,unfortunately he was another one who fell foul of our financial position,when tiredness and injuries kicked in we did`nt have any cash for reinforcments,i think it was oxford(propped up by the crook maxwell)man city and birmingham(two big clubs who could afford new players) who pipped us for promotion don mackay,a big talking scot was the next miracle worker who produced arguably an even bigger miracle than saxton,gave us back out pride with a trip to wembley and on absolutley nothing had us in the play offs on the brink of promotion three years running,i still shake my head in sadness when i think of the palace games,they were terrible in the first leg,everyone was convinced we could`nt not go up,less said about the second leg the better,whether it was a penalty or not,we bottled it big style,we were never the same side after that and poor don was history a few seasons later what can you say about dalglish,he took us to new heights,but during his first season caused me more stress than iv`e ever had watching rovers,we were cruising to the newly formed premier league when the wheels came off,losses to wolves,leicester,barnsley,charlton,watford and worst of all port vale had us all on a tight string,the vale match in particular was the breaking point,i remember one of my friends workmates deciding he would walk home from the potteries to ease his frustration,it took a whole hour for my mate to talk him out of it,tbh,id`e have left the muppet to walk home,we did`nt get back till 12.00 pm,we made it though,after a tense 90 minutes against the ariel leicester attack.In 1995,though it was great for the club,we started to see rovers shirts everywhere,suddenly there were rovers fans in my local who had patently never been to ewood in their life,what right did they have to suddenly announce they were lifelong fans,did they have to suffer the misery of the palace fiasco,were they at rotherham for a league cup tie when lenny johnrose kicked it skyward and the wind blew the ball in the top corner,where they ****,what gave them the right to wear the shirt?? loved the souness regime,he took no prisoners,made jansen a total footballer and had us playing like it should be played,anyone remember that freezing friday night game against bolton when we won 4-1 and jansen put their keeper on his a**e before walking the ball in the net.Souness was always going to blow up though,he never replaced duff or dunne and was unlucky to lose jansen,in the end it was a bit sad,you can`t kick off with experienced pro`s like cole and yorke,i was thankful he left when he did tbh less keen on hughes due to his treatment of tony parkes,though he did make us difficult to beat and gave us two defensive collosus in samba and nelson,he also got up wenger and fergies skin more than once,which was ok by me,the grass was greener in the end for him,he should never have gone to city,it was to big for him and his reputation has eroded further still with subsequent appointments

ici was just down the road making the stuff!!!!later on they sponsored us

hoping tosin thinks 1st team football is better than earning a fortune playing in front of 200 every wednesday night and the odd bench appearance

bit before my time when he was at rovers,performed miracles at oxford in taking them from the 4th div to the 1st and having to put up with robert maxwell as chairman,a proper football man

most managers these days are terrified of losing,in the premier league and to a lesser extent in the championship if you go on a losing streak you tend to get the sack,hence the lack of 4-4-2,and expansive play,iv`e always been of the opinion that if you`re getting overrun then the second striker drops back into midfield and helps out,the two wingers must track back to help as well,all about fluidity imo,it`s a simple game is`nt it??

admitedly tosin is still a bit raw,pep probably thinks he could do with a bit of toughening up in the hustle and bustle of a lower league,on the point of stones being miles ahead,i don`t agree,hes got more experience but i think he`s vastly overrated and in his own mind thinks he`s franco baresi,he`s only in the side because of injuries,city will most likely splash the cash on a new defence next season and he`ll be history

tosin is a class act,hopefully he`ll get lost in city`s massive squad,pep will put him on the list and mowbray will shell out all next years transfer budget to sign him,highly unlikely but you never know

how about he`s fat he`s round he`s worth 10 million pound,bradley dack bradley dack

tony 100% nailed on to make changes for two tough away games,like an addict who needs his fix,he won`t be able to resist for much longer?

3-0 rovers,mowbray to have a bust up with the derby bench and gives rooney a middlesborough kiss

lets not get carried away,tony has had a week to think about tactics,which is pretty scary,bennett will no doubt have been in the managers office stating "i played well for 20 minutes boss,did you see that pass,boss,did you see me play well,that nyambe was pants,im`e a lot better,just give me another chance boss,i`ll mow your lawn if you start me on saturday"

big problem with nyambe is his complete lack of positional awareness,he needs serious coaching on the issue,it`s holding him back,we`ve got major problems on the left though,i don`t see downing as a left back,a decent winger would give him nightmares,bell,sadly is`nt up to this level,feeling confident for saturday though,derby are there for the taking i think,just get at them from the off

suprised wharton has never been given a chance at rovers tbh,especially as we are so short on defensive cover and williams being an accident waiting to happen wherever you put him,got an inkling tony does`nt care much for young lads,in his world they are to fresh and hav`nt been mowbrayed(a process that involves them being removed of all creavity and positivity)he finds players like bennett and armstrong easy to manage because they hang on to his every word

i think the wellington is currently closed,moorgate arms ok just a bit small inside,white bull is ok,lord raglan is er,interesting!!,brown cow and fox and hounds get a bit crowded sometimes

don`t bother with the town centre,it`s a s**th**e,you`de be better either getting off the train at mill hill or getting a taxi from blackburn station(it`s only a 10 minute journey) and drinking near the ground,lots of pubs on livesey branch road and plenty of places to eat

dack is a completely different type of player than grealish,he`s more a player who would benefit from playing just behind a main striker,a la peter beardsley,he`s fantastic at finding space for himself but is`nt a player who will cover every blade of grass,nothing wrong with that imo,think you`re being unfair on him,he definately has the ability to play at a higher level

if ben benson has been a goalkeeper then iv`e played up front for barcelona,surely it would help if the gk coach had played league football,i hope he`s not one those coaches that have somehow passed an fa coaching exam badge without actually playing football,they all preach from the fa textbook

ffs,im`e pretty ***** off!!!!

away to pne,would love to take them apart due to the fact their fans are now clearly deluded and getting on my nerves

we should be buzzing and raring to go after a week off,im`e expecting 3 points from a struggling derby side,rooney can`t do f**k all from the bench!!!!!

big ugly centre back,big ugly goalie and a left back who can overlap and cross a football deffo required this jan,i think we can expect a fair few departures as well,bell,smallwood,grayson and hart to be offloaded,davenport,samuel,chapman and buckley to be sent on loan,tony needs to be merciless this window,there are a few players in the squad who just are not up to it

on the subject of tosin,does he fancy going back to city where he`s unlikely to get much game time??,he`d be a fantastic signing if somehow we could snaffle him,unlikely i know but loads of players get lost at the big clubs these days

keep slating gallagher please!!!i know there is a decent player in there,just about giving him the tools

i expect three points next week,derby are there for the taking on their present form

nice one lads,night on the lash and a few days off to recover from a hard week,soon as tony started listening to me we got it cracked!!!!!