Tyrone Shoelaces

My mate and myself were so concerned about not getting a ticket we got the last bus over from Rochdale on the Saturday night. The first bus on a Sunday wasn't while about 1145 so we were worried about the tickets selling out before we could get to the ground. So we went for a curry in the centre of Blackburn, if you're out there Alec I owe you for the curry. After that we made our way to the ground for about 11-30. There was about 3 or 4 people already there and we hunkered down for what was to be a very long and cold night. I think the tickets went on sale at about 11-00, we got our tickets and set off home and back to bed. Another Rochdale Rovers fan we knew got the first bus over, by time he'd got to the ground the queue had gone and he walked straight up to the ticket office got his tickets and went home ! We won't be on the photos, we'd already set off home.

The NRL is a terrific comp.

Didn't Barry John pack it in to try out as a footballer with Newport ? After that he lost his amateur status right away, that's what happened in those days. He would have made a fortune in Rugby League in that era.

Who'll most likely make our midfield look like lightweights. We needed Travis to quieten him..

Every one of their back division was a match winner, JPR at full back was a brilliant full back on attack and defence, brave as a lion. He got caught at the bottom of a ruck in one game and somebody raked his scalp with a boot. The blood was pouring from his head but he went off for stitches and came back wearing a " turban " , still running the ball in as hard as ever. Edwards was the best union scrum half I ever saw bar none. He had pace, strength, a great kicking game, fantastic hands, brains - the full monty. Barry John made playing out half look ridiculously easy. Gerald Davies on the right wing, he was really quick and elusive. As I said they beat England every year for about 10 seasons on the run. I'm a League fan myself but you've got to hold your hand up when you see brilliant players. Everyone of those players would have made it big in Rugby League.

I remember at that time I was getting over an injury and I was going to Rovers more regularly that I had been when I was playing. Every time I read the Bury report in the Last Sports they were raving about a young kid called Colin Bell. I kept thinking " If he's that good why aren't we in for him " ? I believe we tried to sign him in our relegation season of 1965-66. Unfortunately City had spotted him as well. They were flying to promotion and we were sliding to relegation so the lad chose City and the rest was history. What might have been ? A great replacement for Dougie who was coming to the end. A year or two later he ran us ragged in that FA Cuo tie at Ewood.

I've opened my morning paper at work to find we'd actually played and won the night before in a midweek game, it used to really make my day. If you didn't live in Blackburn it was really hard to find anything out.

He was a very good player Gumboots but the likes of Barry John, Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams, Phil Bennett are legends from that era. I hated the Welsh team of the seventies, we could never beat them, every player seemed to be a match winner. You should track down some old film of them if you've become a Rugby Union convert.

I hated heading the ball so I avoided it as much as I possibly could in training etc. I'm glad I did now. Three of the centre halves I played with have had problems. One died from early onset dementia and the other two have Parkinsons.

I used to jog down into town to the Boulevard to get my bus home at about five minutes past five. I'd grab a copy of " The Last Sports " just before the bus left at quarter past five. On the way over it took just more than an hour. I'd read the print off the paper before the bus arrived in Rochdale. I knew every player from every team in our area, I still do to be honest.

I'd take Peter Cook and he's dead ! At least he made me smile when he was alive.

I've got to the point were I no longer listen to anything he says. Maybe the players feel the same way ?

I only remember the " Last Sports " and that was white. The " Manchester Evening News " did a sports edition, that was pink.

He's got to live with what he did for the rest of his life. You can be a hard player without over stepping the mark. I liked a tackle but I never seriously hurt anyone, you don't need to.

Very sad to see another one of the World Cup winners gone. Another one with dementia also. Although I saw him play many times I was amazed to see how small he was on the film at the end of the Final. I always had him down as more stocky player than that. Of course he wouldn't have lasted whilst half time in todays football, but that was how it was then. The physical side was part and parcel of the game. Putting that to one side, like Norman Hunter, he was a better footballer than people gave him credit for. I remember when he was just starting out at Utd Bryan Douglas turning him inside out and upside down in a 3-0 Rovers win. Nobby spent all afternoon chasing Dougie without getting near enough to foul him. He was the player I mentioned a while ago in the beer glass incident a couple of years later at Old Trafford. During a break in play whilst a Rovers corner was being taken somebody threw one of the old dimpled beer glasses down from behind me. By pure luck it landed smack on the cross bar and shattered into a thousand pieces all over the goalmouth. Nobby was for going in to the crowd to find out who had thrown it. He had one leg over the boundary wall when a couple of wiser players dragged him back onto the pitch ! If you've seen that bit of film were he totally wipes out a player in a white shirt that was at Preston in the FA Cup. That was a shocker.

I can't watch incidents like that Vinjay. I broke my leg twice and it's not something I care to be reminded of. That's not a criticism of you putting the video up by the way.

What makes you think the owners know that much about football ? It was probably the lemon drizzle cake that swung it.

No he played for Manfred Mann, I meant Phil Jones, as I expect you knew.

The ball was going away from goal, not into a danger area. If everybody had have left it the ball would have ended up out by the corner flag. He was probably anxious to get into the game but that was a real mistake.

If I'd a £5 for every I've seen Lenihan come out of the back line to get involved and then fail to deal with the situation I'd be a good bit wealthier than I am now. Paul Jones is the same, he's never smartened up either and that's in spite of all the top coaches they've had at Old Trafford. You just can't tell some people, they have an inflated opinion of their abilities that's hard to remove. Being drawn to the ball is a falling in most positions but at centre half it's normally a serious issue.

I don't think the ball Douglas made a cock up of could be considered a ball that the goalkeeper should have come out for. If he stays back in goal the chances are we wouldn't have conceded.

That's where most goals come from. If you're never there you aren't going to score many.

He did his best to miss that last goal.

I'd appoint him tomorrow if he'd come.

" What happens if another club comes in and approaches Mowbray to go and join them " - And then you woke up.