Tyrone Shoelaces

All those points Mowbray has laid out above in that quote could apply to me also, but would you want me managing Rovers ? Talk is cheap. It's what happens in that 90 minutes out on the pitch that matters. At the moment it's nowhere near good enough.

Yes, but not by much these days.

I was reading an article in the paper the other day about Sean Longstaff. " A midfielder Man Utd once wanted to spend £20 million on has regressed alarmingly since Benitez's departure for China and now plays as if mentally scarred by the ruptured cruciate ligament that interrupted his progress. Longstaff shows flashes of his old ability but there are times when he resembles a player a player struggling with a slight loss of nerve or who doesn't entirely trust his repaired knee ". Not everybody recovers from that type of injury, even with todays medical advances. When you've gone years as a player just missing the odd game with slight strains an injury like that is a real shaker. What struck me about mine was how easily it happened. It can play on your mind even when everything appears to be OK from a physical point of view. I wouldn't be starting Dack on Sunday.

The usual suspects to produce the usual performance.

He'll sign whatever we put in front of him if he's got any sense. That injury he got is a career threatening injury for a pro footballer. It'll be another Gladwin job, we'll keep him on until he's " fit " again and that might be a long time.

I remember a game in the late 1960's against Charlton Athletic going ahead on a day like today. I walked up to the ground from the Boulevard and I was like a drowned rat when I got to Ewood. I used to have the programme for the game, that was rain soaked as well. As the first half went on the pitch got worse and worse with the ball really sticking in the mud. The game was called off at half time with Rovers losing 1-0. My abiding memory is one of a Rovers player getting away down the right wing and putting a great cross in. It was heading straight for Alan Gilliver who was completely unmarked right in front of goal. He took an almighty swing at were the ball should have been but it stopped dead in a puddle, he lost his balance, slipped, and fell over into the puddle ! Everyone including the ref was laughing at that one.

We're nowhere near good enough at the moment to thrive in Aus. We need to find some openers for a start.

Rochdale town centre was under several feet of water then. That'd never happened before in my 65 years of living here. The Weatherspoons was flooded out and didn't re-open for months.

All four of those players were full England Internationals.

They're the only team I know that are both bad losers and bad winners.

I don't know who the teams are, it could be some sort of testimonial. I think the players in blue are Gordon Milne and Derek Temple.

I can't recall anybody mentioning Mowbray at all before he was appointed. If there was a list of 25 likely candidates at the time I bet he wasn't on it.

A flawed genius. I used to be in the " Phil Spector Appreciation Society " in the 1970's. I still wear my " Back To Mono " badge that I got when I joined ! His music will never die. They're still playing " Be My Baby " on BBC TV every day at the moment. Having said that I never forgave him for marrying Ronnie when she could have had me.

A sending off in today's football all day long.

I was pleased when we got Souey, Hughes and Big Sam. Appointing Ince was inexplicable. Berg - inexperienced, as was Appleton at the time. Bowyer - Tony Parkes MK2, good caretaker but not full time for me.

That's only a bit muddy. I once played on a pitch with big pools of standing water. The ref said - " It's your pitch lads, if you want to play it's OK by me ". Now and again the ball landed in pools of water with nobody nearby. The wind was blowing and the ball would sail across the pool like a toy yacht. The trick was to anticipate where the ball would sail to.

It's a low bar Chaddy. How many of Kean, Berg, Appleton, Bowyer, Lambert would you have appointed on a permanent basis ? I'll hold my hand up for Lambert and Co.

I've no axe to grind regarding the Cowleys but a bloke I know who is long time Terriers fan tells me they were hard work behind the scenes and had a habit of up setting people for no good reason.

Some of us didn't want him in the first place, fancy that.

Clearly onside all day long in my opinion but it was careless play on our part. Absolutely no way should pro players be making a balls of a simple passing play. The pass should have gone earlier. The only reason to hold on to the ball there is if the player you're passing to is a plodder. We all know Armstrong is quicker than most. Bloody awful shot though, right at the keeper, my mum could have kept that out

There's a young striker at Rochdale I like the look of - Stephen Humphries. I'll bet he won't be at Rochdale next season.

I don't think we are very good. The league table and recent results tell their own stories. The manager has signed a collection of players that look exactly that - a collection of players. We've gone for quantity and not quality. How many of the new signings will be worthy of a place against Swansea. Pears ? - I hope not. Douglas ? - a toss up between him and Bell as to which is least worst. Trybull ? No better than what we already had in Davenport, Evans, Johnson. Ayala ? - Treatment room dweller, leading the race to win the Vince Grella Trophy. Elliot ? Blowing hot and cold, understandable given his age. Dolan ? Ditto. The lad from Everton ? Promising, but would he be playing if Wharton was still fit or Williams for that matter. The buck stops here for me. He signs the players. I suspect the players have listened to his voice enough. The accepted wisdom is after three seasons unless the manager is absolutely exceptional it's time to go.

Yes Nyambe didn't cover himself in glory there but that's not a position I'd expect my right back to be covering. Where were the taller guys ? One of the centre halves should have held his position and not gone chasing off to buy a pie.

I get really annoyed when outfield players shirk their responsibility when they have a chance to pass the ball down field and then give the ball back to the keeper. Presumably they're outfield players because they're better with the ball at their feet than the goalkeeper, whoever he may be.

You need a bit of excitement on the pitch and around the club first.