GHR

Rangers would boo a 7-0 win if they could have had 8. It's in their blood.

I've been down here for over a decade now and once upon a time you could easily walk up as an everyman and buy a season ticket, and unless it was vs. Villa or had a lot riding on it you could easily get individual match tickets too. How times change!

Link A or bust for me. The only one aside from B that is unmistakably ours (anyone can say Pride Of... or similar) and I abhor the way the bastards we have at the minute try and hide behind Uncle Jack. They shouldn't be afforded such grace.

I wonder what will happen when BwD is scrapped and the councils of there, Hyndburn, Burnely, Rossendale and Pendle (and perhaps bit of Ribble Valley) get sqished together as is proposed. We'll probably abolish marketing altogether.

Yep, very sad one this. Was lucky enough to see them on their The End tour back in February 2017, though of course that was without Bill Ward, and I have done the pilgrimage to Mapledurham Water Mill near Reading for no reason other than that is the artwork that launched a music genre I adore. Probably the only helpful thing to have come out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games was the renewal in public awareness it seemed to give Sabbath after Ozzy and Tony performed at the closing ceremony, which embodied itself when the bull mascot was saved from scrap, renamed Ozzy by public vote and now resides as an utterly huge monument to him on the concourse of New Street station. After that came the Black Sabbath bench on the freshly-named Black Sabbath bridge on Broad Street, and, in the weeks leading up to the Villa Park gig, a mural right by New Street station, which was bedecked in flowers, photos and even a headstone when I dropped by after work last week. A particularly touching element was all the handwritten notes, some from countries thousands of miles away, paying tribute not only to his character, but the impact Sabbath, and the community of the genre they created, had had on them. It is very easy and indeed fun just to think of Ozzy and all his quotes and capers, but we should never forget the unfathomable influence particularly those first four albums had on music. I am happy at least that he survived to see the manifestation of that at Villa Park only a few weeks ago.

Just on my way back from the Voice of the Fans fanzine exhibition at Leeds Central Library. Good to see a couple of copies of 4,000 Holes make the cut (issues 100 and 112), as well as a Blackburn Rovers Youth 'hated but rated' badge (I'd never heard of them 🙃). Rather Leeds United centric obviously, but a pleasant, well-curated mix. It's worth dropping by if you are local or passing through the city. Best of all, it's free! Open Mon-Sat daytime (and evenings Mon-Wed) until Sat 09 Aug.

No wonder we never signed him if Jack wanted to build a stand for their rivals! 😁

So they've gone for iconic Blackburn landmarks (which deserves praise as the town's been hellbent on obliterating most of them for the past 60 years) and omitted the wonderful Conservatory in Corporation Park? I would have thought a once tall, proud and handsome symbol of the town now lying in rack and ruin just pleading for someone to end its misery after years if vandalism and neglect would fit Rovers quite well...

Print at home at least means you get an email with a pdf, which is easy to access and instantly downloadable. If I have to create one more account or download a sodding app to buy a product or service or partake in something I'll probably lose it and go and live under a rock in Siberia. These days you walk into a bloody museum... 'That's a tenner please Sir. All the commentary and notes are on our App. QR code is on your left there. Mind, sometimes you can't get a signal...' Argh!

We should have told Everton to get lost and we could debuted the away kit in Spain, maybe even as a acknowledgement to those fans who've spent money or bodged existing holidays to go out there and see us we could have given them an exclusive pre-sale either in advance or on the day (if that's legal!). Instead we'll have a different 'Blues' on our home patch whilst our iconic home kit, worn by us at Ewood for just the laat 135 years languishes in a draw somewhere in the dressing room. Everton's lack of planning is not Rovers's concern, and we certainly shouldn't have made such an obvious concession to them accordingly. Watch us forget to turn off Come On You Blues on the screen on Saturday...

Fixtures out today for the Women (hopefully we will complete them!). I don't have any social media but the news article on the Rovers website doesn't actually give a list, just a summary, and the Fixtures page just contains a TBC note. Since Rovers seemingly can't provide a list, I shall. All fixtures are 1400 on Sundays bar the League Cup ties v. Hudds (H) and Chorley (A, at Euxton Villa), and Chorley (H) in the League, which are midweek at 1945. https://fulltime.thefa.com/fixtures.html?selectedSeason=665134431&selectedFixtureGroupKey=1_682618707&selectedDateCode=all&selectedClub=763334555&selectedTeam=&selectedRelatedFixtureOption=3&selectedFixtureDateStatus=&selectedFixtureStatus=&previousSelectedFixtureGroupAgeGroup=&previousSelectedFixtureGroupKey=1_682618707&previousSelectedClub=&itemsPerPage=25

Quite fitting for a man who literally has 'Talent ain't enough' tattooed on his neck, I suppose.

There was a half time show, featuring Coldplay and friends.

Too many games that aren't financially lucrative.

In fairness the present European champions winning it also makes a mockery of it, as it is what usually happened under the old format (that was done in a week / two games for Europeans!).

I have never been one for retiring shirt numbers for whatever reason, it implies that a given player is bigger than the club which should never be true. Clubs who retire number 12 as 'the fans are the twelfth man' should be liquidated and their directors imprisoned.

Steve Parish complaining should be a form of NHS treatment. Delightful stuff. It seems to me for once Uefa followed their own rules and, be those rule 'right' or 'wrong', it is the responsibility of the administrative staff at whichever Club to ensure they comply. Palace failed to do so and have been reprimanded accordingly.

Not forgetting the huge sums they are throwing at their plans to basically build the Midlands' answer to the Etihad Campus, 60,000-seater stadium included. For a city financially its knees, as Birmingham is, that kind of investment and regeneration is a godsend. Imagine owning a football club and investing not only to improve the team, but also the locale... The owners may have shat the bed initially but I doubt there is a Bluenose in the land at the minute not pining for the season to start. I suspect most will have forgiven them when they basically gave them an actual blank cheque to barnstorm their way out of League 1, at a canter we are unlikely to see again in any EFL division for a very long time.

I was in Liverpool in early May so went for a wander around Goodison Park as at that point it was due to be levelled. It struck me how every spare inch of the three sides that back directly onto roadside were covered in Everton shouting about themselves - massive pictures and names of legendary players on the Goodison Road side and a detailed timeline of their entire history across the Bullens Road / Gwladys Street ends - including a few Rovers references! There is of course also the Trinity statue in the one corner and a massive fans wall with dedications and memorials that faces onto the roadside too. Compare and contrast that to Ewood... (I have only ever been inside Goodison once, with Rovers in Feb 2006. It was infamous for Everton's stand-in keeper Iain Turner getting sent off within 10 minutes. We still lost of course and now that 'kid' in goal is in his 40s... an even younger 'kid' came on to replace him - John Ruddy!)

Got it - @rog of the rovers is spot on. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18.0&lat=53.74828&lon=-2.48457&layers=117746211a&right=ESRIWorld A side by side of the era, clearly marking the St. Leger Hotel where the Derian House shop now stands. (I accept no responsibility for hours lost on the website linked - lots of layers available for years gone by in the filters.)

Reading @rog of the rovers's post above, I was soooo close 😁

King William Street in the era of the St. Leger was continuous with Darwen Street - i.e. ploughing straight through what in recent years was Debenhams. As such, judging by the caption from the CottonTown picture, the Prince of Wales is roughly where the ramp goes up to the Mall from the bus stop on Astley Gate and St. Leger was directly opposite the Derian House charity shop, diagonally opposite from Greggs. (Per August 2024 Google Streetview.)

Football is prolific at this. All about being seen to show 'class' / 'respect' / 'one family' / '... at times like this'. Of course whenever anyone plays Liverpool next season they'll be back to Hillsborough and unemployment chants. I still remember the Saturday after the Queen snuffed it. Football shut down a la Covid whilst rugby league played a full card that weekend. A minute's silence beforehand was the only indication of a wider national event.

Some of us are so far off that we had to Google him 😬

Filey? Bit extravagent. We'll probably end up with a day out in Corporation Park.