Apologies if the following upsets anyone; but I had to go to the loo - the excitement was getting too much for me! 😉 - around the time JV must have come on as a substitute. About 10 minutes later, I heard the commentator mention him and wondered, "When did he come on?!"

Yes; according to the commentators on BBC TV (Channel 601).

LOVED the References to George Hirst!!

I think the League Cup game at West Ham proved that JDT is a very different manager/head coach from that Scottish time-server, @jim mk2 .

Thanks for that, @arbitro , I hope those arrangements are in place only because of the strangeness of this season. I may be an old fogey, but I'd hate the major Cup competition to be devalued by the abolition of replays from the 5th Round onwards.

Wow; that's simply - in the good sense of "simple" - breathtaking, isn't it?

We can tell, @Gav!

Despite the reputation on here of Rovers' current CEO - Disclaimer: I've never met the bloke nor have knowingly spoken to him - hopefully we run a tighter ship with our owners' money than we used to back in those particular days, @DavidMailsTightPerm.

Hear hear, @roversfan99! My Dad couldn't afford to go to the 1928 FA Cup Final; and as for the 1960 event, well, we lived in Blackpool, only coming over to Ewood for the Saturday home games, as well as going to the Division One games away to Blackpool (obvs!), PNE, and Bolt-on. (For some reason, visits to see our game East of Accrington were never on the agenda.) So we had even less chance of - or right to! - tickets for that year's Final than many who attended every home game and more away games than we did. Dad passed away about three years before the Full Members' Cup Final and another fifteen before the League Cup Final v. Spurs in Cardiff. So, although I've seen us win "Cup Finals", I haven't seen the ultimate prize: Rovers in THE Cup Final at Wember-lee! And I'd love to; before I "pop my clogs"! Preferably v. Aston Villa; with their celebrity fan - Prince William - in the Royal Box handing out the trophy and medals.

As does a Blackpool-supporting pal of mine.😁

"Lancashire's Most Historic Football Club", is how I refer to us in my WhatsApp conversations with my old schoolmate who follows That Lot. It really, erm, "hacks" him off!😉

I certainly wouldn't want to risk it. A weekly WhatsApp phone call to NZ's enough for me!

😉😁😅😂

A bit like the way we approached the Carabao Cup game v. West Ham, then @smiller14. It's more of "Nowt to lose; see how we go against a Premier League outfit; new ground to 'tick'; probably a chance to blood some 'fringe' players." Even when we went 2-1 down, it had been a good night. Then, when we equalised and went on to penalties, . . ! I'm not hoping for another "23-goal thriller!" - I know it wasn't really 23 goals!😉 - but for team and fans to go to Leicester in a similar frame of mind will do no harm.

Thanks for referencing that, @Mattyblue ; it almost had me weeping. Beautiful words that TD wrote about his pal.

l take your point, @Mattyblue. Perhaps I should have written, "I think this is the first time I find myself up to a point in agreement with @chaddyrovers." In so far as I wouldn't want us to go on a Forest-style spending spree. (Not that I could, in my wildest dreams, ever imagine our owners ever sanctioning such a shopping trip!) What I would want is for JDT to have provided Gregg and his team with a fairly detailed shopping list; possibly - as we did with Kaminski - shopping in the boutiques of Europe for players whose prices might be within our budget while satisfying government rules about eligibility to play in either the Football League or the Premier League.

I think this may well be the first time I find myself in agreement with @chaddyrovers. If only for the eminently simple reason that, even if (big word) we do find ourselves in the Premier League at the end of the season, I can't imagine our owners making a sufficiently significant 'kitty' available to recruit players who'd keep us there. Given JDT's repeated reminders that we are "a Project", I think we'll have to consolidate promotion the way Dyche did it, by using Parachute payments to stabilise ourselves in the Premier League.

Let's not forget the Full Members' Cup, everyone! Or, as today is the day of the League Cup Final, that one, either. And at least, we've never been within 5 minutes of dropping out of the entire Football League system. It's the range of trophies we've won that, sadly 😉 , I find myself unable to stop myself from mentioning most Sunday mornings during WhatsApp conversation with my schoolpal of the Claret and Blue persuasion but resident in New Zealand for the last half century.

Hope you'll accept my addition to your post @jim mk2. Given our recent legal expenses, it could come in useful.

As they say in 'Stralia, "Yeah, right!" So long - as I'm sure you realise, @bluebruce - as it was as near to the shirt which the 10-year-old me proudly received as a birthday present. Or the Retro shirts currently for sale.

My problem with that is that I don't know what "rights" we, or any borrowing club have in such a situation. But that says more about how far from "In the know" status I am. Will club scouts and/or the Under-18 management have vetted the player we want before we approach the Premier League club? Or does the Premier League club say, "Right; we'll lend you such-and-such a player; take him for a season, or leave him. There's nobody else we want to lend this season"? If the latter, does the club owned by apparently disinterested Indian millionaires say, "No thanks; we'll see if we can borrow someone from a different (Premier League) club, whom we think we could help develop while meeting our current needs. Maybe borrow someone else from you next season?" Rather than just taking someone who doesn't meet what we need, but is employed by a Premier League club, just because he's on their books?

It worked for Shearer, Ripley and Wilcox at a higher level; so why ever not?

As Windsor Davies' character used to say in, I think, "It ain't half hot, Mum." "Oh dear; what a pity. How sad; never mind!"😂

So long as we're winning, too, that's less important than it might have been.

😉