Tyrone Shoelaces

The lads that should be playing are with the first team squad. It’s crazy playing both games on the same day.

It appears he’s playing with an injury at the moment. Not that you’d know that watching him out on the pitch. Todays third goal was a lovely touch.

We let George go to Accy for peanuts then watched him make a good career working his way back up the leagues as an excellent centre forward.

The Cup Final squad. I hope they didn’t play in those new boots.

It’s game like that one that make you wonder.

It picks itself really. Unless we can trust Ennis with more than a ten minute cameo.

Only the Chicken Chokers are that stupid.

Evie Sands - Take Me For A Little While

My first game was Rovers v Sheff Utd at Ewood. It was a beautiful autumn Saturday afternoon and Ewood looked great. Unfortunately we lost 1-2 and it wasn’t a great game but I was hooked. Sept 30th 1961. Rovers 1 - Sheff Utd 2. Scorer- Ian Lawther Att. 16,677 Rovers Team Else. Bray, Newton. Clayton, Woods, McGrath. Crowe, England, Lawther, Douglas, Haverty.

3 penalties in game back them ! That was something. You had to be caught taking the lace out or cutting somebody in half to get a penalty then.

That’s when the rot set in for sure. We really could have won it that season, as it was West Ham and second division Preston played it out. Next thing you know we’d sold Fred Pickering, wasted the money trying to replace him, and it was slowly downhill after that.

In that era ( early to mid 1960’s ) gates could fluctuate wildly. We’d probably be averaging less than 20,000 at that time so we had 8,000 walk ons who went home thinking “ same old Rovers , flattering to deceive “.

Almost 30,000 if I recall correctly.

Typical Rovers. I was at the West Ham game also. We never turned up.

Nothing new there is there. When you’re top of the league everybody wants to play.

You’d have to go a bit more direct as chances are you’d be short in midfield. That’s what both of those two did.

Adam Faith - Cheryl’s Going Home

It was on the sports page of the “ Manchester Evening News” on the Monday evening after the game. I was a paper boy at the time so I got a copy. I still have it somewhere. It shows Dougie dribbling in and out of Utd defenders who are all busy falling over. A few years ago I got my son to put it on a thread on this site so it’s on here somewhere. He really ran the show that day from midfield, he made world class players like Denis Law and Bobby Charlton look second rate. My other still vivid memory after 60 years is of our opening goal. I was stood on the sidelines near the edge of the penalty box of the goals we were attacking. Mick McGrath received a square ball about 20 yards, he let fly right footed and the ball flew towards the goal. I was expecting to see it carry on into the stand. I could hardly believe it when ball flew in the top corner netting and then bounced down in the goals ! It all seemed so easy. Mick was more of a defensive midfield player than an attacker and he didn’t score many goals.

I remember reading that Arthur Lee was touring again a few years back. I hummed and hawed about going to see him in Manchester before deciding not to go. I thought they’ll just be tired and old. That gig got a five star review in the paper the next day. He had a new young band backing him and he was great apparently. Got him a gig at Glastonbury a year or two later.

It’s the “ longer they are out of the team the better they get “ syndrome.

I see BBD played the full game in a 5-0 win at lower league Chiclana in the Spanish Cup today. He didn’t score.

The Guardian had a decent report in todays paper.

I was reading in the paper today that the last time Man Utd lost two consecutive home games by three clear goal was October 1962. The second game was against Rovers and we won 3-0 courtesy of a Bryan Douglas master class. He completely tore them apart that day. Although he passed up the chance to make it 4-0 by missing a penalty when the score was 3-0. There can’t be many of us left who witnessed the game. It was the first away game that I attended on my own.

Brian Clough used to say “ Nobody can lose you a game quicker than your goalkeeper, so sign the best one you can afford “. That was when he signed Peter Shilton. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing last night for the first goal. Schoolboy stuff and a poor schoolboy at that.

I remember going to watch a Rochdale v Man Utd pre season friendly. Utd sent what was basically the youth/reserve team. Beckham, Scholes, Butt, one of the Neville’s etc. All their kids at the time. Gillespie was playing on the right wing. He was head and shoulders above everybody else on the pitch. He must have been about 17 or 18 and he was ready for the first team then. He was playing against Jimmy Graham, a tough old pro left back, and Jimmy couldn’t get near him. I said to my son” Bloody hell, they’ve got another George Best on their hands here “. If ever a lad wasted his career .