Tyrone Shoelaces

Anybody know where Durrant is from ? I had a mate who played pro Rugby League who's dad played for Bury back in the day. He'd be about the right age.

It's not a name I've heard of before.

I take it Durrant plays for us ?

He was never quite the same player after he broke his leg. We got him after that. Still a very, very good player. As you say more in a Tugay style of director of traffic in central midfield than a Dunny style of runner with the ball.

Alan Wright was a much better all round Left Back than Bjornabye.

Just before my time but the late fifties promotion team must have been pretty handy with Eckersley, Clayton, Woods, McGrath with Douglas, Dobing and Roy Vernon. Most of that team played with no problem at all in the First Division once promotion had been achieved.

I look forward to international breaks now. At least Rovers can't ruin your weekend when they're not playing !

We'd everything then we don't have today. A shape, a way of playing, players selected for their ability to fulfil the game plan. A method of getting the ball from our end to their end quickly. How many of the current team would get in that team ? Is Armstrong better than Speedie or Garner, Brererton better than Newall, Lenihan better than Moran or Hendry ? Atko wasn't the most skilful but he'd put our current midfield to shame for sheer effort and the ability to get up with and beyond the front men. What a great signing Alan Wright was.

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.