Looking out of the window at the weather and listening to the forecast for tonight it's unlikely to be feast of flowing football unfortunately. The ball will most likely be in the air as much as it's on the ground.

The last regular goalscorer to emerge directly from the youth team set up must have been John Byrom who was a consistent First Division goalscorer at 17. Maybe it's time we had another one

Brighton had another young goalkeeper on loan at Rochdale last season called Sanchez that I would play before I'd play Walton.

10/10. Maybe Sherwood was much better at geeing the other players up vocally. Batty wasn't much of a talker. However I know who I'd chose out of those two to play for us now if we had a time machine. I keep saying it but players come in two groups. The ones that play from the first whistle and the ones that shine when the first lot of players have got you in the game. Batty was in the first group and Sherwood was in the second group.

Long standing injuries that last as long as his has are rarely good news. Disc problems especially.

In my experience the crowd at Ewood are passionate when the 11 out on the pitch have given them something to be passionate about.

When Armstrong gets the ball up front 90% of the time you can see his first thought is how can I work an opening for a shot. When Big Ben gets the ball getting a shot off doesn't seem to be high on his agenda. Basically goalscorers have to be a bit greedy and totally focussed on scoring goals. You're never going to win the raffle if you don't buy a ticket.

If you play him up front and he's not in the game the chances are by half time we'll be behind and something will have to change.

Cost of a pint and a half of " Stella " in my local. Hopefully tonights game will be more enjoyable.

I think no matter what he does in future he'll never be a prolific goalscorer because he doesn't have what top goalscorers have. He can run with the ball to no great effect and that's about it. When did he last have a shot at goal from any sort of distance ? Has he ever had a shot at goal from outside the box ? His game seems to be running with the ball and then falling over to get us a free kick around the box.

Tell us a Rovers transfer story then.

Barry Ferguson was another one I got wrong. I was over the moon when we signed him. When I saw him play for Scotland I thought he was like the next Graham Souness ( who if you never saw him play was a terrific player ) but he flopped badly at Ewood.

Of course, that's what footballs all about. We all have our different opinions. That's fair enough in my book. Everybody gets it wrong sometimes. For example I thought David Bentley was going to be a bad signing. Obviously I was badly wrong the first time but right the second time.

What no Tim Sherwood ?

Looks like you weren't the secretary of his fan club then.

I couldn't care less. It's what they do when they pull on the shirt that matters to me. We have the reverse of that at the moment. Badge kissers who put in about 25% of the effort Batty did.

Lots of players are. You need to remember to most of them it's just a job, they have no more loyalty to a particular club than you have to your place of work. You couldn't fault his effort or ability on the pitch.

Mm, what a choice to have to make.

I wish. A real players player.

I was never a Sherwood fan, it would be Batty every day for me.

How many did Neville get in central midfield ?

How many England caps did Batty get and how many did Sherwood get ?

Not in my top 100.

Rod Thomas - he was going to be a worldbeater.

How will you know if it's working ?