Tyrone Shoelaces

We needed players to hit the ground running not ones that take three months to get up to speed. The season will effectively be over by then. Somebody on here was telling me happy days are here again when we signed Douglas, Trybull, Ayala and Kaminsky. Well apart from the goalkeeper I'm a bit underwhelmed.

I know we didn't score last night but normally scoring goals isn't a problem. It's keeping them out at the other end.

If you rolled Douglas, Bell and Williams into one you still wouldn't have an Alan Wright at left back. Some poor signings there, I'll except Williams because he's a reasonable centre half.

If our home form was " Fortress Ewood " you would have a point. The problem is we are no better at home than we are away.

It also allows your better players to be poached by other more ambitious teams. Maybe the clubs who did get promoted.

His game is limited at the moment. He needs to be working on the weak elements - like how to take the ball around the goalkeeper. My one and only trick - slip it past the keeper on the goal side and go around the other side. It doesn't fit every chance you get, opposition players may be running back as well, but If you're quick like he is you can do it.

I just had a look in my record book - Howard Kendall's promotion team won 11 games 1-0. See that word lads - " Promotion ".

For a " top striker " he's hopeless when he's through on goal. He's got no idea how to go around the keeper.

When did we last win a game 1-0 ?

Aggression has to be channeled in the right manner. Lenihan is a loose cannon, he's a card waiting to happen.

How many years have we been saying that for now ? The manager has never signed anyone who you could describe as a " handful ". Travis is the nearest to that and he came up through the ranks. When we were getting pushed around back in the old third division days we signed John MacNammee, all of a sudden we weren't getting pushed around anymore. Anybody who tried it on would get sorted out and they knew it.

Let's be fair Stuart, under normal circumstances he wouldn't have played last night. He must have put his hand up to play knowing he wasn't 100% fit. I can't criticise him for that.

That's my take on Holtby, he has one good game and then four or five mediocre games. He'd be the one to leave out for me when Travis is fit again. You don't need luxury players to get out of this division. You need players who don't go missing in the tough away games. Looking back at the " Nostalgia " thread Gordon Cowans was his equivalent in that team and he made us tick most of the time.

How many of the back four have 90 minutes in them ?

Great goal from Hendrey. We didn't deal with the ale house balls very well.

Just lumping it in from wide positions is just wasteful. I like to see were a player ( usually a winger but not always ) can get around the back of the defence and get the opposition playing facing their own goal. Then not every cross has to go high. Armstrong has spanked a couple of really good balls pulled back all along the ground into the back of the net recently.

Under Jack's management we had the most entertaining team we've had in my lifetime. He has to take some credit for that. Moving Fred Pickering from left back to centre forward was a master stroke.

Any of them. If I had to chose probably Mark Hughes. I'd have been ok next to Andy Todd.

I remember that day very well. I'd had to go to our next door neighbours wedding. It was all a bit fur coat and no knickers. A church job with six bridesmaids all nicely tricked out but obviously other aspects had not been taken care of so well. We got to the reception about 4-30 and right on the dot at 5-00 they announced the food was being served. I said to my wife I'll just pop out and get the scores on my little radio, no mobile phones then. I listened to the scores on " Sports Report " and when I got back in at about 5-10 all the buffet had been eaten ! My wife and I were starving, we had to nip out to the local chip shop ! The marriage lasted about 6 months.

I'm surprised at Bobby Mimms there. First rule of kicking into a high wind - keep the ball as low to the ground as you can. Having said that he made up for it later !

That goes for me too. Not everybody is at the same level regarding their IT capabilities. I'm just pond life in that respect. I like things to be obvious and with all due respect neither the edit button or the like button were obvious. As an old boss of mine used to say - " Make it idiot proof ".

We couldn't even afford to pay the phone bill back in those days. Jim Smith did a good enough job here to be poached away to bigger things as was Furphy, Lee and Kendall. Bobby Saxton wasn't a favourite of mine either but who knows what he might have done with the backing the current manager has received ?

I never saw any lack of commitment from Kipre when he was out on the pitch playing for Wigan.

Yes, which Rovers managers would you class as great ? Kenny, without a doubt. Then it's - Souey, got a promotion and a serious cup ? Mark Hughes, who did really well for us when we were struggling ? Howard Kendall, another promotion and he went on to great things at Everton ? Gordon Lee, a Championship win, Ken Furphy, Jim Smith ? Big Sam, a success nearly everywhere he went ? Johnny Carey, got us back into the big time and built the team that got to the Cup Final ? Jack Marshall, who created the best Rovers team I've ever seen but that never won anything ? Don MacKay and Bobby Saxton who both kept us in contention with next to nothing. How many of them would you put before Tony Mowbray in long list of Rovers managers ? For me - most of them.

You can be grateful and critical at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive concepts.