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.

Mm, maybe my expectations of playing surfaces wasn’t that high back in those days. There was a reason we laced our boots so securely to our feet back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. When did you last see a player tie his laces a couple of times around the boot ?

It’s the land time forgot.

Me too. At least three wasted seasons but he’s gone now so I’m moving on.

Little Richard - I Don’t Know What You’ve Got ( But It’s Got Me )

Regarding referees - anybody else see the Rugby League Cup Final yesterday ? The way the referee controlled that game was example to all. One guy was in charge and the ref made sure everybody else knew it was him.

Sign of the times - we just went for churros at our usual cafe in rural Spain. There was a Spanish family sat at the next table. Dad and two teenage sons. Both the lads had new City shirts on, the younger one had “ Haaland “ 9 on the back. You only ever seen Real Madrid and Barcelona shirts, with the odd Granada shirt, out here.

I was hoping for an “ almost the first name on the team sheet “ type signing, not a squad filler. You improve by replacing the average players with good players, then you replace the good players with class players, then you replace the class players with great players. It can’t be done overnight, but replacing average players with average players gets you nowhere.