I’ve never seen that before. John Bond, Malcolm Allison and Noel Cantwell, who all became top managers all playing for West Ham. West Ham v Rovers FA Cup 5th round Feb 18th 0-0 in front of 27,728 Rovers Team Elvy Taylor, Eckersley R Clayton, Kelly, K Clayton Douglas, Crossan, Briggs, Smith, Langton Replay Feb 23rd at Ewood Park in front of 29,300. Lost 2-3. Same team apart from Clinton in for Eckersley. Scorers Langton ( pen ) , Smith. Typical Rovers, do the hard work and draw away only to lose at home ! Earlier thst season we won 3-2 there in the league and three weeks later we beat them 4-1 at Ewood. Typical.

I think the film must have been speeded up.

He’d be hard pressed to get 21 points in a season. Anything going on behind the scenes at Ewood or the training ground today. Crisis meetings, clear the air meetings, what the fuck is going on meetings, any bollockings being handed out ? I remember the dingles having a bad run under Stan Ternent. It culminated in a bad home defeat. Ternent came on Radio Lancs after the game and said - “ There were players out there today that will never play for this club again “. And as far as I know they never did. He’d already subbed several of those players at half time. That sort of attitude has been sadly lacking at Ewood down the years. Poor performers get picked again not dropped.

The worrying thing about that is at least 50% of the fans that walk away will find other, better, things to do with their time and money and they’ll be lost for ever.

I now wonder whether the word had got out that ismael was coming before the first no-show at Swansea ? For what ever reason the players aren’t playing for him.

It sounds to me like the players are feeling sorry for themselves since the last manager left. I can understand that to an extent but they’re professional players. They should have pride in their performances on an individual level if not collectively. I worked for some real wankers in my working life but I never gave less than 100 % once I pulled the overalls on. I couldn’t be any other way.

The new Jin Iley. The difference is back then the board released their mistake quite quickly and got rid. At any other club the directors would be meeting amongst themselves tomorrow. Then they would be meeting with coaching staff first thing Monday morning to find out what they think is wrong. Later on they’d be having the senior players in and asking them for their version. Will that happen at Rovers this Monday morning ? We all know the answer to that one.

The teams further up the food chain hoover young players up now. They just gamble on them being late developers.

I’m good for a tenner.

Nah, I think it’s 4-4-2 Carter Hyam Baath, Ribeiro Dolan Travis Tronstad Beck Ohashi Woodrow Of course I could be wildly wrong.

Looks like 4-4-2 to me with Ohashi and Woodrow up front.

His passing was off today but you can see what’s he’s trying to do, it’s all ways quick and he’s always trying to make things happen going forward. Not back to his best yet.

The age that the kids are getting poached gets younger and younger though. We don’t even get a first team game out of them nowadays. It makes you wonder if it’s worth the trouble. The kids like Wharton, who have a loyalty to the club, are as rare as hens teeth.

Have the team set off walking to Portsmouth yet ?

I see an American consortium is looking to take over Leyton Orient. Of course nobody would be interested in Rovers though.

Peter Lever, the Lancashire and England fast bowler has died. Until recently he lived in Rochdale and drank in my local, Then he moved to the South coast about 6 or 7 years ago. He was a really nice bloke with absolutely no edge to him. Although he found plenty in his bowling day. He was part of that great Lancashire one day team. Peter and Ken Shuttleworth formed the pace attack with David Hughes and Jack Simmons bowling spin. Barry Wood, David Loyd, Harry Pilling, Clive Lloyd, Frank Hayes, Jackie Bond, Farouk Engineer made up the rest of the team.

The Lovin’ Spoonful - Butchie’s Tune

They stopped bothering about “ bad PR “ years ago.

I think it’s inevitable that heading the ball will be outlawed at some point in the future. For football that’s do-able. How rugby will go on with the impact of heavy tackles is another story.

Spurs are bidding £37 million for Sunderland’s 17 year old midfielder Chris Rigg apparently.

Dionne Warwick - Anyone Who Had A Heart

Really boring game. 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back. A total miss match.

Mike Jackman says - “ David Glenn came to Blackburn on a free transfer from Wigan Athletic and was almost immediately thrust into the first team. With Mick Rathbone missing for much of the campaign - due to a broken leg. Glenn was given an extended run in the second division. Although not the most graceful of athletes, Glenn did remarkably well and appeared to be quite at home in higher company. His inclusion in the team meant that Jim Branagan had to cross over to left back and the following season, with Rathbone fit again, Glenn was rather unfortunate to lose his place as Bobby Saxton re-United Rathbone and Branagan. Glenn moved to Chester City in the summer of 1985 “. He was only 5’8”tall so he wasn’t the biggest of players. To be honest I can’t remember much about him. It appears he was signed as cover for the full back position. Signing a first team player on a free from a team a division below us was unusual then.

When they were signing square pegs for round holes.

Right. It doesn’t sound like Pickering is back though. Unless you’ve heard something ? When’s Beck fit again ? I’ve never known a season like this for injuries. You can count on the fingers of one hand the player who haven’t gone missing for long spells at some point.