I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to lose the next three. All those teams are still putting in performances. We’ve got the deck chairs out. In fact they’ve been out since last autumn.

He keeps telling them they’re “ jaded “ so what do you expect. A ready made excuse not to perform. I used to know the chief exec at my local Rugby League team. He told me “ 90 % of my job is making sure the buggers don’t have any excuses for not performing ! “ Mowbray gives them a get out every time we play.

Rotherham can afford to lose two games and still get to 51 points, we’re still on 50 points.

Are you sure that’s Ian Lawther Jim ? It looks like Keith Newton to me. The first game was actually played on March 5th. A 1-1 draw at Ewood. We lost the replay 3-1 to a 2nd Div team on the 11th. Another post 1960 FA Cup flop. Being fair to the team we’d played on the 2nd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 16th, 23rd, 25th, 29th of March that year. Mick McGrath, John Byrom and Fred Pickering carried the can for the defeat and were all dropped for the next game. I think Mick asked for a transfer afterwards. He lost his place for more or less the rest of the season, the other two were soon re-instated.

How many managers would want to ?

I’d rather have a starter. I leave the desserts to Mrs Shoelaces.

He must have no pride or self respect. Anybody with a modicum of either would have called time by now.

If Derby win all three games they have left they can get to 51 points. If Rotherham win four out of six games they have left they can also get to 51 points. I can’t see us getting another point playing like we did tonight.

To say they didn’t rate him would be putting it mildly. He was a flop to be honest.

They paid it for dumb and dumber.

I don’t think he’s ever known his best team.

He’ll be on his own if he is.

I just thought I’d ask, after all my youngest son is 40 and he can just about remember him in his prime. But for the injury he would have been in the Bobby Charlton bracket in terms of reputation.

Did you see much of Gazza before his injury Stuart ? The lad was world class.

I believe there are rumours of a new European Super League move in the offing.

I’d fancy Big Club to beat us at the moment if there was something riding on the result. As it is it looks like both teams will be safe by then so who knows what teams will turn out at Ewood.

I fancied Big Club to beat Rotherham today, they’ve gone on a good run of form since they appointed Lee Bowyer.

He should have been up there with Ronaldo and Messi, but he never made it. He was our most talented player since Gazza as a teenager.

At this level that simple style of play would suit most teams.

I thought it was a pretty boring game but then most semi finals are. Sterling played like he’d never seen a football before. All the fancy away shirts and third shirts yet we had two teams both playing in blue ?

I wasn’t at that game. Just look at the state of the pitch yet teams could get you out of your seat with the football they played on pitches like that. I watched the City - Chelsea semi final on a billiard table surface yesterday and it took me all my time to stay awake.

I had a falling out with my Rugby League team ( Hornets ) many years ago. What they were serving up was diabolical. I was getting home after games and wanting to kick my non existent cat. After one particularly awful mid week game I left before the end and I told my pal “ Don’t bother coming for me on Sunday, that’s me done “. He phoned me on the Sunday to arrange a time to pick me up but my mind was made up - I really was done. Later on he persuaded me to go to local games instead. Oldham one week, Leigh the next, Halifax another week. It was ok but a bit like kissing your sister. Interesting but not leading anywhere. Eventually even that tapered off. Then a few years later Hornets moved to playing at the Spotland Stadium near where I lived. One Sunday I’d nothing to do so I wandered over to watch a game. It was just like meeting an old flame, I was instantly hooked again and 30 odd years later I still am. Regarding Rooney - at 18 he was the finished article, he was a natural. You didn’t need to tell him anything about how to play the game. For various reasons ( injuries, life style etc ) he never really kicked on to achieve his full potential but he could have been whatever he wanted to be as a footballer.

Not for me.

Either of the Joe Rothwell goals for me.

That’s why stats only tell you so much. The league table trumps all the other stats in my book.