We don't have what it takes when the going gets tough I'm afraid. We're a team of nice lads.

I was playing amateur football that day and we used to drop off the bus back in town to see the scores come in on the " Grandstand " teleprinter in the front window of a TV rental shop. When the Rovers score came up I said to my mates " They'll have got that wrong, it should be the other way around ". Mistakes did happen with the teleprinter, but not that day. We could have won the cup easily that year. .

Don't forget Oldham. I'm in my 70's now and I've never seen them at top level. I remember them playing in the 1964 Cup Final though.

We could lose 10-0 and it would be business as usual down at Ewood on Wednesday morning.

10/10. This underachieving has been going on for the best part of ten years now. Don't anybody mention the promotion, we out skilled teams then but the number of games were we out enthused our opponents you could count on the fingers of one hand. I've lost count of how many times I've said this but until we have a group of players who win more tackles, second balls, interceptions, contested headers, run further etc that our opponents we'll lose as many games as we win. There's no such thing as a free lunch in football, the team that wants it most usually gets most out of the game.

What gets me about it all is inspite of our over cautious approach, playing two defensive midfield players most of the time etc, we've never looked remotely like sound defensively. I was just reading in todays paper that the penalty Middleboro conceded yesterday was the first goal they'd conceded in 452 minutes of play. Obviously they are building from the back, we've never attempted to do that.

Good idea, that way it'll look like we're actually running fast.

There comes a time when the players get tired of the same old voice. I think that time is now for Rovers.

Like Southgate with England - too cautious.

Yeah it looked tricky underfoot. Lucky nobody got injured.

I see champagne Charlie scored for Fleetwood today and the lad Camps, who we were supposed to be interested in a while ago, got two more from midfield.

Mm, when did we last come from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 ?

And that was with the heavy balls, indifferent pitches and opponents who like to put it about a bit and were allowed to.

Regarding Mowbray continually bigging up the opposition. I remember having a chat with the chairman of our local Rugby League club. He was emphasising how important it was to have an over night stay when the team played in Cumbria. He said " It's vital to remove from the players all the excuses they have for losing ". Long coach journey, the kit isn't right, not enough water bottles, my strapping wasn't done properly etc etc. " Make sure everything is done correctly and the buggers have no reason not to win " !

Well we certainly won't be now with the controversy regarding headers.

What goes through my mind is " Why aren't we good at set plays " ?

I had a really vivid dream on the night before the Everton v West Brom Cup Final. I dreamed Everton won 4-0, not an unreasonable score given Everton were heavy favourites. So I went down to the bookies next day and lumped a fair amount of my apprentice wages on Everton. They played like drains and lost 1-0. That's the only time I've ever had a football dream.

Sick of hearing it. The players would be better off keeping their headphones on when he's talking.

Yep that was the one. I'd taken my youngest son to the game and we were waiting outside the foyer for autographs. It was starting to rain and most of the Forest players just brushed past everyone and got onto the coach. Stuart Pearce was almost the only one who stopped and signed autographs for everybody. Other players were banging on the coach windows but he ignored them and continued signing in the rain. That was the measure of the man.

Me too. Given modern surgical techniques an absence of almost 12 months indicates it was a pretty serious injury.

I'll say this for Richard Brown - he could cross a nice ball.

I remember him leading Forest a merry dance shortly after he signed for us. It was like having Bryan Douglas back for an afternoon !

There was an article in my paper the other day were " Razor " Ruddock was talking about Souness. He said Souness didn't bother telling you that he was leaving you out of the team - he just injured you in training during the week so you couldn't play anyway ! He also said Kenny Dalglish tried to sign him for Rovers when he was at Southampton. Regarding Souness - what a terrific player he was in his prime. If you wanted to play football he'd football you, if you wanted to fight he'd be only too happy to oblige you.

Good player though. He scored two crackers for Weds in that 7-2 hammering we gave them.

It's time we gave them a game !