You mean like Bradley Dack or Joe Rothwell ? Of course there are always the Edun’s of this world.

Items that aren’t in my wardrobe.

Oh dear. You don’t let your wife buy your clothes do you by any chance ?

Exactly. Style victim. Just missing the knotted hankie.

I haven’t seen Twine play but lots of clubs were watching him. I haven’t seen Ballard play either. We got Dack from that level of football and he was a real class act before his injuries. There are players out there but it’s a 50/50 chance of them making the step up my estimation..

Wow.

There’s a photograph of Bill Eckersley , Rovers and England left back of the 1950’s, taken after training at Ewood. Bill was a notorious practical joker apparently. He sat amongst a group of players on the boundary wall In front of the old main stand. I’ve seen this photo loads of times over the years and I never saw anything unusual previously . Then I saw what must be the uncensored original version on the internet. Bill is wearing loose floppy black shorts and he’s pulled one leg of the shorts up a bit and you can clearly see his todger. You can tell he did it deliberately. On all the other photos it’s blacked out to blend in with his shorts.

That makes your legs look very short. I’m only 5’ 8” so I need to look taller any way I can.

Me too, although I try and get the white trainers a little less white as soon as I can.

I used to laugh at old photos of Stanley Mathews playing in shorts flapping around his knees. I never thought for one minute they’d make a comeback.

Oh and by the way - get rid of those beach shorts Jon, they look awful. The shorter shorts that the women players wear are miles better.

I’ll only be taking hand luggage also. To my shame I must admit I’ve got more clothes out in Spain than most blokes have in total. I need to start thinning down my wardrobe.

What were the queues like ?

Players don’t hang around for long after a relegation these days do they ?

I don’t understand what went wrong with Hilly. He was on the up not that long along ago. Highly rated as a coach. My mate reckons he hasn’t been the same manager since his dad died.

That bench is very, very weak - as are the two full backs.

Is Keith Hill still there ?

I could have told you that about Dack before he kicked a ball. You don’t have to be Pep to realise pressing isn’t big in his skill set. He’s not really cut out for it.

You’re right, talk is cheap. It’s what they can get the players to do on the pitch that counts.

That’s a good point.

I think so too. Somewhat of a luxury player. There are two kinds of players - the ones that get you on top in a game and the ones that take advantage of the situation once their team is on top. He belongs in the second group.

Keep telling players they are tired and they’ll play like it.

Yes, I agree. However the relationship wasn’t poisonous like it is today.

We’ve had twelve years of supporting the “ constantly depressing workplace environment “ known as Blackburn Rovers.

I’ve never been Joe Rothwell’s biggest fan. I still stand by my comment of “ doesn’t do enough often enough for a midfield player “ that I made at the time. Having said that I accept he had a substantial fan club who’s opinion was different to mine. I think the owners were aware of the out cry there would have been if he had have been sold with us second in the league at the time. Especially if the money had gone in the same drawer as the Armstrong money. I would suggest that could have easily been the case.