He did. A shot from distance, all along the the ground. I think Fred Else thought it was going wide.

The Rolling Stones - I Wanna Be Your Man

They played on Boxing Day morning so not many would have travelled down from Blackburn. I was at the Burnley v Man Utd game later that day when I heard the score. I didn’t even know we were playing in the morning ! No instant communications in those days. I went to the return fixture at Ewood a couple of days later. Least said about that the better !

20,949 apparently.

Didn’t they try this sort of thing in Columbia in the 1950’s ? Alfredo DeStefano was one of the players to go there. Several England internationals went too but were then banned by the FA. A publican I knew in later life was a referee over here and he went to ref in the games there. He told me he carried a revolver with him everywhere he went in Columbia ! I don’t think it lasted long, although the organisers were rich, they weren’t as wealthy as the lot running this league.

Best Rovers team performance I ever saw and the best individual performance from a Rovers player in Bryan Douglas. For young fans who can’t remember how good that Spurs team was - it would be like beating the current Man City team 7-2.

I think that game finished Danny Blanchflower. He was trailing in Dougie’s wake all the game. It wasn’t long before Spurs went out and bought Alan Mullery to replace him. The story was at the time that after the game Bill Nicholson, the Spurs manager, said to the Rovers directors - “ Name your price for Douglas “. Allegedly there were prepared to break the British transfer record to sign him.

Fred was a terrific player. The comparison with Shearer is very apt. They were very similar players, both had a terrific shot in their right foot. Fred had the ability to go past people with deft footwork were Shearer just went through them.

The Coasters - Idol With The Golden Head

Billy Swan - I Can Help

Some great photos there - I love that one of Fred Pickering celebrating with the fans, I was behind the goals in both halves. Greavsie fancied himself as dog whisperer. He also caught the one in the Brazil v England World Cup game in 1962 but the dog pissed on him ! Dogs running on was quite a frequent occurrence back then. When did we last a dog on the pitch at Ewood ? Four legged ones only.

Conway Twitty - It’s Only Make Believe

They never are when they’ve lost. The World’s worst losers.

Lulu - To Sir With Love

Yeah, the crowd’s refereeing the game.

Too much tip tapping in midfield cost us that goal.

Another one of Mowbray’s strange signings.

Squeeze - Take Me I’m Yours

Tommy James And The Shondells - Crimson And Clover

Your first sentence said it all.

Stan Milburn who was Jackie Milburn’s brother and the Charlton brothers uncle was the player/coach for the works team I played for. He still wore boots a bit like those. When we used to pull his leg about the boots he always said - “ I’ve never had an ankle injury in my career “.

Tyrone Davis - Turn Back The Hands Of Time

That was a brilliant bit of skill. Just one of a long list of dodgy decisions we had go against us when we were playing the Red Rats in that era. I can’t honestly remember us being on the right side of just one controversial decision and we must have been on the wrong side of about ten !

Rod Bernard - This Should Go On Forever

In a situation like Sami’s second goal I always tried to get the shot a couple of feet off the ground. There’s always a chance of a defender sliding in out of nowhere as happened yesterday. Obviously you don’t want the ball to go too high.