2 minutes ago, neophox said:

Markanday has been superb!

He does look a lively smart player

It wasn't a great Easter for the Championship's older managers (McCarthy, Warnock, Pearson, Mowbray). They only managed 1 point between them

Deary me, he (Marshall) sounds like a teenager without responsibilities and who thinks everything's a lark

iFollow not working for me either. I'm going to give up if it isn't sorted soon

Very sad to read this. Good, strong-tackling player.

Bob Compton, he of the steely gaze

Been even stevens this half but we just have a bit more quality

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

Buckley reminds me a bit of a David Helliwell who came through Rovers' youth / reserves in late sixties and made about a dozen first team appearances.  Technically, a very gifted footballer but extremely light in build (think he was nicknamed 'Spiderman').  He simply wasn't strong enough and drifted off into the lower leagues and had a few seasons at Workington if I recall correctly.

Was talking to a friend only yesterday about Buckley and mentioned the Helliwell comparison and he seemed to recall Helliwell very sadly died some 20 years ago at an early age.

Some older posters will remember Helliwell.

Yes, I remember David Helliwell. I felt a bit sorry for him because he was so skinny football didn't seem the right profession for him. Still, I'm surprised he only played 15 games (just checked) because I have such a distinct memory of him.

Players / teams so well trained that all individuality is being forced out. There's no place for the likes of Mike Ferguson and Ruben Rochina any more.

Raya has probably only played half a dozen games for them. Is that sufficient to judge him on? Here are some of the early comments on here about Smallwood after he started playing for us, but now everyone wants to get rid -

"he's a solid professional who knows exactly what he should and shouldn't do"

"probably the one real success"

"ive been very impressed "

" has been nothing short of a revelation since coming here "

"Fergie for England" we used to shout from the terraces but we never got our wish, although he was so frustratingly inconsistent that it was never really going to happen. Utterly brilliant on his good days though.

Announcement: 'Today we are being watched by a party from the local Womens Institute, so under no circumstances scratch your private parts'

Just now, jim mk2 said:

John Barton the Wigan pie-eater was the biggest unit I've seen in the Rovers goals - but he was also the worst goalkeeper I've seen too.

 

 

 

"Ay ay, ay ay, Barton is better than Yashin

Douglas is better than Eusebio and Burnley are in for a thrashing"

If he was better than Yashin he can't have been that bad

Oh dear. I loved watching him and fergie tearing along the wings. Great memories.

He's enigmatic because people talk about him a lot, despite any deficiencies as a footballer that he might have.

Sad. The link above says 'our greatest ever player' which is a great tribute.

I must have seen him play because he was in the (in)famous 3-3 FA Cup draw in 1960. I can't say I remember him particularly but he had a reputation of being a classy player.

Oh well, if we're going to drag someone off the Ron Manager merry-go-round then Tony Mowbray is as good a choice as any I reckon.

Slightly disappointed we didn't tempt Pep away from Man City though.

I'm very sad to hear the news - I saw him play many times. He was a great player and part of the Rovers team that I rated the best I saw

Ah yes, that line up was good too. Fergie was one of my all time favourites.

Hi Bazza,

Inconsistency seems a strange charge to level at a 'midfielder' who topped the goalscorers list for four consecutive seasons and had a better goals / games ratio than almost all those on the approved list. Unless you mean he shouldn't have been scoring goals but should have been providing passes to other forwards instead!

Yes, Vernon was a delightfully skilful player. The forward line of Douglas, Dobing, Dougan, Vernon, McLoed still gives me a thrill just recalling it - much more than that of any team since

Given the opportunity my vote would have gone to a player who topped the goalscorers list for four consecutive seasons - 3 of them in the top division - scoring 104 in total for Rovers. My memory of him is as a hard working inside forward rifling in some lethal shots. He would be excellent alongside Shearer. Who am I talking about? Peter Dobing. He played more games for the Rovers than Alan Shearer. His goals / game average was better than Andy McEvoy’s. Simon Garner scored more goals but none of them in the top flight.

I was sorry to hear Andy McEvoy had died. He was a skilful goal taker, but not a goal maker. He was often the only player to walk off the pitch after 90 mins without any mud on his shorts.

I'm going to vote for Dougan and Dobing becau ... oh not I'm not

I think I'll go for Clayton and Sherwood. However, Clayton seemed to belong in the back line to me - in a Bobby Moore type role. Sherwood wasn't quick but I admired his drive, his perseverance. I feel sad he didn't win many England caps - did he win any? Yes, I echo what others have said about Dobing - I think he belongs in the forwad line, and a class player.

The sad this about this exercise is seeing players you admired getting little recognition - hardly any votes for Mike Ferguson and Matt Woods, oh dear dear.

Douglas was good to watch, but my problem with picking him stems frrom seeing those brief bits of old internationals they show on the tele occasionally. They seem to be played at half the speed they're played at today. I wonder whether Bryan could cut it in todays game. But certainly he was excellent.

The most exciting player on the list for me was Mike Ferguson. He could do the most amazing things with the ball (and some pretty stupid ones too at times) but he's the one I'll go for. Ripley - good but a bit predictable. A one trick wonder.

I voted for Matt Woods. He was sort of a hero of mine though if its 4-4-2 I'd be happy to see him alongside Colin Hendry or Mike England - does that mean we should vote twice? Gosh we've had some fairly decent players in the position over the years. I liked Alan Hunter too - maybe he didn't play enough games for us to be included in the list.