John D Loudermilk - Tobacco Road

My expectations - same as this season - disapointment.

No, I was working on Saturdays back then. I was at Gigg Lane when we won promotion under Howard Kendall though.

Me too. Kissing the badge, fancy celebrations after scoring a goal, pre and post match interviews. It’s all bollocks. All that matters is winning the game.

Hard to say. Newton was back for the next game, then missed the next 6. He played in the Preston game you mention on Dec 13 th but never played another game for us before his record transfer to Everton. Maybe he was “ unsettled “ but that wasn’t really his style. So you saw him play his last game for Rovers.

I was at that one as well. Zzzzzz. But it didn’t matter, we were on our way back.

Another one goes. What other team has this sort of churn of backroom staff ?

Rovers v Leicester. Sat 25th October 1969. Rovers won 3-1 in front of 15,362. Scorers Knighton, Hill, Darling. Rovers - Blacklaw Rogers, Hunter, Mulvaney, Wilson. Connelly, Metcalfe, Knighton, Hill. Martin, Darling. No sub. Two other things I remember - Eamon Rogers played as a stand in right back and made it look easy, he looked like a natural. Malcolm Darling completely bamboozled Peter Shilton in the Leicester goal only for the goal to be ruled out for an off side out by the corner flag.

I was just looking at the stats for the 1963-64 season that Arbitro mentioned. Andy McEvoy scored 32 goals in 37 league games.plus 4 goals in 4 cup games. Sammi reminded me a lot of Andy with his coolness in front of goal.

I was definitely at that one. A great performance on the day. Leicester were top I think. We battered them and it could have been more. Ken Knighton was brilliant in midfield. Another season that started so well but just drifted to nothingness.

Think I went to that game. I can see why your dad decided to bale out ! We were really poor. A little ginger haired lad ( Alan Ball ) ran us ragged.

I think Pickering could be that “ left sided centre back. “ He could certainly fill in there.

I’d rather the chicken chokers said nothing than the usual shite they spout.

The Kinks - See My Friends

I remember it well. I’d talked half of my school team to come with me from Rochdale. We’d played in the morning. If my memory serves me well Arsenal were top and we were second so it was the days big match. I always used to stand on the Darwen end of the Riverside and then make my way behind the goals at the end Rovers were attacking. Rovers attacked the Blackburn End in the first half and as we were making our way along the Riverside towards the Blackburn end when Arsenal’s Joe Baker burst through our defence and slotted past Fred Else in the Rovers goal. What a sickener, a goal in the first few minutes. That was added to the sickener we’d heard before the game. Dougie was injured and wouldn’t play ! Andy McEvoy would move over to play in his place and a young lad called Reg Blore would come in for Andy. We gradually got back into game, Andy McEvoy was playing out of his skin, we hardly missed Dougie at all ! The goal the sticks up in my mind was one of Fred Pickering’s. I was right behind the goal at the Blackburn End. Fred had a swing at a loose ball but kicked the ground as much as the ball. The ball sort of trickled towards Jim Furnell ( remember him ? ) in Arsenals goal. Jim bent down to pick the ball up and inexplicably allowed it go between his legs and just about roll over the goal line. In the second half Big Fred tore Arsenal to pieces. He was up against Scotland’s centre half Ian Ure who Arsenal had recently paid a record fee for and he ran him ragged. It was all Rovers and we could have scored more than 4. That was the day I realised that Fred was actually England class and holding on to him was going to be a problem. Andy Mac was great that day as well, we didn’t miss Bryan Douglas at all. Just shows what a great player Andy was. It was one of those days when the best Rovers team I ever saw rose to the occasion and buried a very good Arsenal team. Happy days, you knew to pick your games !

Sheffield United at Ewood in September 1961. Lost 2-1 but I was hooked.

He’s been a massive disappointment. He looked to be a player at Forest but he hasn’t looked interested in his time here. He could have won it for us at the death but he totally blew one really good chance and another half chance.

The Exciters - He’s Got The Power

I thought Sanderson was on loan from big club ? If so I expect him to be going back. I like the lad and I wouldn’t be averse to signing him.

“ We did the exact ( same ) training, heading the ball for hours on end, over and over again. A 90 minute session might be just about heading. I was a striker so my job was obviously to put the ball in the back of the net. We would do heading practice for hours and hours with the ball fizzing in from the wings. It was just header,header, header, bang, bang, bang. We’d it in training, sometimes for an hour and a half. When I think about it, I mean I must have headed the ball 10,000 times. I think heading should be limited in training, it has to be limited. We did it for too long, hence the fact I’ve ended up with early onset dementia at 57 “. It’s obvious to me that constantly headed a pretty heavy football isn’t good for your health. Although you get outliers like Sir Geoff Hurst, who must have headed as many balls as Payton if not more, and is still lucid. My best mate at the time who went on to have a long and successful career in amateur football as a centre forward and centre half has Parkinson’s. He was a great header of the ball but I suspect he’s paying for it now. Heading was my weak point. In training and practice I’d always be sending in the crosses and avoiding heading the ball at all times. Maybe that’s why I’ve still got some marbles left.

He looks a bit like David Raya.

The reputation of being a club that “ looks after its players “ is a useful one to have but there are limits. Siggy probably wouldn’t agree with me I suppose.

I was always told if you want to give an opponent a quietener do it as early as you can. He obviously works to the same plan.

We’d several chances to clear the ball well before it got to him. I suppose Baath can’t be everywhere.

In other news ex Dingle Andy Payton reveals in my paper today that he’s suffering from brain damage allegedly caused by too much heading of the ball. How long will it be before heading the ball is banned in the game ? Maybe not in my lifetime but it,is coming. He says he spent whole training sessions on heading practice so he suggests that sort of training should be cut.