Tyrone Shoelaces

Don Martin was the stand in keeper I believe. He certainly went in goal when Roger Jones was injured in the later Shrewsbury game. I once read that Pele was Brazil’s stand in keeper back in the day !

The Coasters - Ain’t That Just Like Me

I was probably back home and in bed by the time those photos were taken. Me and my pal Alec had queued up all night to get our tickets along with another half a dozen fools. When the game was originally scheduled we’d a full compliment of players to choose from. The game was postponed at least once because of the weather and when it was actually played both Billy Wilson our first choice left back and Eamon Rogers our midfield dynamo were suspended. Both were badly missed on the night. Unfortunately that was City’s best performance in the whole cup run and we couldn’t live with them. Their transition from attack to defence was really rapid, nothing like the pass-pass-pass of the Pep teams today. The saddest thing for me to see the great Bryan Douglas coming on as sub when the game was pretty much gone. He was unable to affect the game against the new style of midfield player in City’s Colin Bell. It was like the changing of the guard - out with the ball players and in with the hard running athletes. The team that night - Blacklaw Newton, Coddington, Mulvaney, Calloway Metcalfe, Sharples, Martin, Connelly Darling, Fryatt Sub. Douglas.

I don’t know. Just imagine Waggott rubbing his hands at the thought of that. The game that actually got played had 43,000 on.

I could only find 5 home games were the gate exceeded 50,000 since 1945. WBA FA Cup 1951-52, Burnley FA Cup 1951-52. Liverpool FA Cup 1957-58. Blackpool FA Cup 1959-60, Burnley FA Cup 1959-60. Which one have I missed ?

Man City in the FACup in the late 1960’s was the last 40,000 plus gate. Yes, it was packed.

Dave Berry And The Cruisers - The Crying Game

The Music Explosion - Little Bit O’ Soul

Even in those circumstances I still wouldn’t pay that sort of money for him. He.is not worth that in my opinion.

Doris Troy - Just One Look

Who’s talking Premier League players ? Is BBD a Premier League player ? I’m talking about players to get us to the Prem. We can cross the Prem threshold when we get there.

I didn’t show the Flitty red card. We would have won by a street in the second game but for that.

Nah, we could get 3 or 4 good players with that amount of wages to spend. If he goes he goes.

Yeah, I’d forgotten about that. I remember Cole crossing a lovely ball that Stead glanced in with a brilliant glided header at Everton that confirmed our survival that season. It was a really skilful header that I reckon if he’d had ten goes at it only one would have gone in.

I used to get to the ground for about 2-00 pm . I was so early because of how my bus ran. I’d have all the Riverside to myself. It was the longest hour of the week, just waiting for 3-00 pm. Players didn’t warm up much before the game. They just ran out at about 5 minutes to 3-00 for a bit of passing the ball about for the defenders and some crossing and shooting in for the forwards. Ronnie always came out first, sprinting really quickly, with the ball under his arm. It’s amazing when I look back but for the first 8 years of my time watching Rovers Ronnie was always the captain ! Depending which way we played I’d make my way from the to Riverside to the end we were attacking. When I got a bit older I stayed on the Riverside to watch how Keith Newton and Billy Wilson played full back. Two great role models for me as a player.

I noticed the NF graffiti scrawled on the Blackburn End wall. I started at a new engineering company once that worked a two shift system. Days and nights. Previously I’d only worked at a place that had a day shift. After a couple of days I noticed that some large components on machines had NF written on them in chalk. I was getting a bit concerned about this and I mentioned it to a workmate. He laughed and said “ Don’t worry, it’s only a message from the night lads to the day shift, it just means “ Not Finished “.

I remember watching the two of them against Sunderland at Ewood. It was a red hot August day and they never got out of a jog all afternoon. On the other hand Kevin Phillips was playing up front for Sunderland and must have covered twice as much ground as Cole and Yorke put together !

Signing Dwight Yorke to play alongside him when Jansen got injured ruined him. It was like they were in a competition to see who could run the least. Cole and Jansen were brilliant together.

He’s been playing left side centre back for their first team recently.

His definition of a “ cantilever roof “ and mine must be a bit different.

I’ll repeat this for your benefit. I bumped into a guy I’ve never met before last Friday. We got to talking about football. He found out I was a Rovers fan. He’s related to a fringe player who’s been on the bench for the first team this season. No names, take it or leave it. The lad reckons Thomas is a “ big I am “ - never stops talking about how he went to the World Cup etc. Given he was a part time pro not long ago his attitude has ruffled a few feathers at Ewood.

Me.

I thought the cantilever roof was at the Blackburn End !

Nina Simone - Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

I used to stand where ever I felt like back then. I suppose until they built the cantilever stand at the Blackburn End ( my first season ) only the Darwen End was covered.