Clem Burke, the drummer with Blondie. One of the best.

And if they don’t make it they just toss them aside without a second glance.

Average players - good manager. Sound familiar ?

You might as well not have a youth set up if all you’re allowed to bring through is lads who are never going to make it at senior level. There should be a limit on how many youth players a club can sign.

I can’t remember a new appointment at any club making such a poor start.

Simon Barker still playing for QPR.

I’ve not seen much of him but I thought that Edmundson looks to be a prospect.

When you think back to the old Youth Cup winning team. We got 5 years out of Fred Pickering, 7 years out of Mike England and 10 years out of Keith Newton before they all got lured away. We’d have been lucky to get a first team game out of them today.

I think he means - “ In the first team “.

Jimmy Hill actually smiling above Barker in the presentation.

We’ve been needing a new goal keeper for nearly as long as we’ve been needing a pacy winger.

I’ve never seen that before. John Bond, Malcolm Allison and Noel Cantwell, who all became top managers all playing for West Ham. West Ham v Rovers FA Cup 5th round Feb 18th 0-0 in front of 27,728 Rovers Team Elvy Taylor, Eckersley R Clayton, Kelly, K Clayton Douglas, Crossan, Briggs, Smith, Langton Replay Feb 23rd at Ewood Park in front of 29,300. Lost 2-3. Same team apart from Clinton in for Eckersley. Scorers Langton ( pen ) , Smith. Typical Rovers, do the hard work and draw away only to lose at home ! Earlier thst season we won 3-2 there in the league and three weeks later we beat them 4-1 at Ewood. Typical.

I think the film must have been speeded up.

He’d be hard pressed to get 21 points in a season. Anything going on behind the scenes at Ewood or the training ground today. Crisis meetings, clear the air meetings, what the fuck is going on meetings, any bollockings being handed out ? I remember the dingles having a bad run under Stan Ternent. It culminated in a bad home defeat. Ternent came on Radio Lancs after the game and said - “ There were players out there today that will never play for this club again “. And as far as I know they never did. He’d already subbed several of those players at half time. That sort of attitude has been sadly lacking at Ewood down the years. Poor performers get picked again not dropped.

The worrying thing about that is at least 50% of the fans that walk away will find other, better, things to do with their time and money and they’ll be lost for ever.

I now wonder whether the word had got out that ismael was coming before the first no-show at Swansea ? For what ever reason the players aren’t playing for him.

It sounds to me like the players are feeling sorry for themselves since the last manager left. I can understand that to an extent but they’re professional players. They should have pride in their performances on an individual level if not collectively. I worked for some real wankers in my working life but I never gave less than 100 % once I pulled the overalls on. I couldn’t be any other way.

The new Jin Iley. The difference is back then the board released their mistake quite quickly and got rid. At any other club the directors would be meeting amongst themselves tomorrow. Then they would be meeting with coaching staff first thing Monday morning to find out what they think is wrong. Later on they’d be having the senior players in and asking them for their version. Will that happen at Rovers this Monday morning ? We all know the answer to that one.

The teams further up the food chain hoover young players up now. They just gamble on them being late developers.

I’m good for a tenner.

Nah, I think it’s 4-4-2 Carter Hyam Baath, Ribeiro Dolan Travis Tronstad Beck Ohashi Woodrow Of course I could be wildly wrong.

Looks like 4-4-2 to me with Ohashi and Woodrow up front.

His passing was off today but you can see what’s he’s trying to do, it’s all ways quick and he’s always trying to make things happen going forward. Not back to his best yet.

The age that the kids are getting poached gets younger and younger though. We don’t even get a first team game out of them nowadays. It makes you wonder if it’s worth the trouble. The kids like Wharton, who have a loyalty to the club, are as rare as hens teeth.

Have the team set off walking to Portsmouth yet ?