Tyrone Shoelaces

He started out at “ Fieldhouse “ just around the corner from where I live. That was when “ John Brights “ was a huge cotton empire and the ground was in the shadow of their massive mills. Lots of their employees played for “ Fieldhouse “, I think Tommy was one of them before he signed for Lancashire. They also had a very good works football team with their own ground. There are houses on both grounds now although “ Fieldhouse “ moved to a new ground on the other side of town and still have a team. In fact there are houses on most of the works pitches I played on as a young player. I can only think of one that is still in existence and even that has changed hands. Regarding his grip he had a lot of trouble with his fingers later in his career.

A good wrist spinner should be getting more turn than a good finger spinner. That’s why a really good leg spinner is worth their weight in gold. I got a few tips back in the day from Tommy Greenhough the old Lancashire and England leg spinner. He lived close to me in the 1960’s.

Decision making at speed under pressure is what separates the top players from the also rans.

Me too. A very nice guy who you would be proud to have as a son or son-in-law but he’s just not a winner. I won’t live long enough to see us win another trophy unfortunately.

Lenihan never learnt not to follow the ball when he moved into the back four. What might be good for a midfield player isn’t so good for a centre half.

Face to face result says so.

I think there’ll be a few clubs in for Van Hecke unfortunately.

Looks great. There won’t be another one of those in the whole of Amsterdam I’m sure.

Well who saw that coming ? I was right about one thing - nobody had that starting eleven down at all.

It like in rugby league - play in their half and wait for the mistakes to come along.

I just texted my son to see wether he was watching the game. His reply - “ Probably, totally sick of them at the moment “.

Pretty good ? How do you work that out ? He signed loads of players and a handful have been successful. But for the young lads coming through we’d have been in a mess.

Last years January window summed him up for me. Five new signings and not one had any effect in the slightest on the run in.

Mowbray got a lot more wrong than he ever got right.

Can we go through a whole season without drawing a game ? We’re due a draw sometime but I can’t see it being tomorrow. I’ll have a bet now - nobody will guess a the correct starting line up. I won’t even try.

Three of them Mowbray signings that have done next to nothing.

He’s been France’s best player in every game I’ve seen in this World Cup.

Exactly - for instance how is Kaminski’s value rising when he’s constantly picking the ball out of the back of the net ?

Greizmann has been their best player so far. Indispensable for France. I bet Argentina man mark him.

I thought the ref was great. Just let the game flow. That tackle on Mbappe would have been a card in the Prem. Maybe even a red.

They kept trying to score the perfect goal. One or two of those players would make a big difference at Rovers.

Modric is still the best passer of the ball in the game.

Watching us lose out every time since 1966 sort of wears down your enthusiasm. I remember not being able to get to sleep after we lost to West Germany in 1970. Same when we lost to the Dingles recently.

Problem is they’re the sort of players that will miss as many games as they play.

No it’s not.