The Brazilian Ronaldo was a top player, shame about the knees. Franz Beckenbauer was as good if not better than Baresi and Maldini.

Yeah, the lad’s a winner. They’d have known he was playing for sure.

The guy was a genius on the football pitch. He was completely two footed, he could go either way, he had magnetic close control, terrific acceleration, great dummies and feints, a powerful shot and he was a good header of the ball. Along with that he was hard to knock off the ball, he could run with his body over the ball making him very hard to tackle fairly. That clip of the goal against Mexico in the 1962 World Cup ( about 3-50 in the clip ) sums him up. He just runs through the Mexican defence, overpowering any player that came to tackle him. Anybody who thinks Maradona or Messi were better never saw Pele play in his prime. He was jawdroppingly good. He made you rub your eyes in disbelief.

Yeah, Knowsley Road actually meant something to me. The trouble with Rugby League, and I’m a season ticket holder at my local club, is that everything is up for sale.

It’d be the “ Totally Empty Arena “ as far as I’m concerned.

If he does go he’ll go with my thanks and best wishes. Before the knee injuries he was one of the very few players we’ve had since the Chokers rocked up that I’d be delighted to pay to see play.

The trouble with modern players is they think they’re actually worth the daft wages they’re getting paid.

Yes, I don’t think he’s going to make the step up. Just another one in the long line of “Mowbray’s misfits”. Does he actually know what a left back should look like ?

I remember going to a Rochdale Hornets v Wigan game back in the day. Spotland Stadium wasn’t all seated then and a Wigan fan near to where I was stood set up a video camera on a monopole in one corner of the stand. He spent the whole of the game watching the play through the view finder of the camera ! What is that all about ? He wasn’t an official camera man for instance.

Yes I agree. I’m extremely grateful for Dreams of 1995 for putting into words and numbers what most of us thought all along but lacked the mental capacity to analyse the issue to any degree. It’s been a very revealing debate.

He’s got his head on upside down.

They run the club as a loss making arm of an otherwise profitable industry. They are quite comfortable with that situation and obviously don’t see any need for it to change. Promotion would only bring more hassle for them and, more importantly, more scrutiny from the media. I can’t see them ever relinquishing the death grip they have on Rovers.

Pele wasn’t just a brilliant football player, he was a very nice, humble bloke.

When I played back in the Stone Age you did you level best to show your opponent that the tackle that left you with a gash on your shin hadn’t actually hurt you at all. Then, as you say, you waited for a chance to get your own back. Most refs were aware of what was going on and only intervened when things got silly. I remember watching Leeds v Man City back in the day. Mike Summerbee for City and his immediate opponent for Leeds, Willie Bell, had a game all of their own with no ball involved. The ref just let them get on with it.

Players never taking throw ins from where the ball goes out of play then spending 30seconds shuffling up the touchline before throwing the ball in. Players doing knee slides after scoring a goal. One of them will come badly unstuck one day.

Google tells me we won the replay 3-1. Only to lose to bloody Charlton at home in a replay. McLoughlin who scored the hat trick for Portsmouth died a year or two back.

Very good player in my book.

Bringing a knife to a gunfight as usual.

Wether we like it or not there is a culture of failure at Ewood Park. It came in through the door with the Chicken Chokers. We win a few and lose a few and that’s about it. Until that changes any talk of promotion is just pie in the sky. I really wish it wasn’t so but unfortunately that’s the way it is. It doesn’t really matter who is in charge at managerial level, we could have Pep himself, we’d still be treading water.

I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s been more like BB than BBD for lots of this season. The position they are in they need to sign someone who is actually doing the business at the moment. They can’t afford to gamble.

I’m not even thinking about the play offs. That way lies madness.

You could have written that this time last year just as the wheels started dropping off. And look what happened next.

Days off ! They’ve just come back from their holidays in Spain ! I’ll tell you something - “ Keep telling players that they’re tired and they’ll play like it. “

The three things you need as a striker playing up front - Service, service, service. One half chance every game isn’t service. Gally and BBD are struggling for goals for exactly the same reason. Having said that if you’re not getting good ball at least you should be putting yourself about a bit. Leaving the opposition centre halves without a mark on them helps nobody.

Regarding slow play. The best players can normally be counted to make “ the right decisions at speed, under pressure “. But even ordinary opponents can make the right decisions at walking speed under no pressure. High tempo football gives them less time to think.