Tyrone Shoelaces

Is Douglas injured or shielding ? We've that many cry offs you need a spread sheet to keep up !

Let's hope so, I'm back to looking forward to the International break again. At least Rovers can't ruin your weekend then !

It's funny that in my lifetime with some teams it's gone from 2-3-5 to 5-3-2. Has it made football better to watch ? Err, No.

Well this time last year Johnno would have been a very popular choice if we needed to appoint a caretaker manager. Now as far as I can see he'd be well out of the running having been tarred with the Mowbray brush.

Wycombe beat Sheff Wed yesterday, didn't they also come within an ace of getting a draw at Norwich ?

Just to lighten the gloom. I've been re reading " Inverting The Pyramid " which is a book about the history of football tactics. Why don't we give 2-3-5 another go, it worked great when I was a kid. Goals galore. Kaminski Nyambe, Douglas Holtby, Ayala, Trybull Dolan, Armstrong, Brererton, Rothwell, Elliot Do you think Tony would go for it ?

When did you last think " I'm proud of the lads today, every man jack has given 100% for the cause, they can all hold their heads up high " ?

He came off after 34 minutes, he'd already got a yellow card so maybe it was tactical ?

My main complaint is Mowbray has accumulated all these players and he still hasn't come up with a successful way of playing. I suspect it's not possible. It's like accumulating random pieces from several jigsaws and trying to fit them together.

I don't bother with anything he says these days. I'm waiting for the football to do the talking. I realise it may be a long wait.

It was James Bond that made me lust after a " Rolex " Submariner as a young lad. I got one eventually, after about 30 years ! I wish I'd have bought more, they're better than any savings account.

I was going over to Bury quite a lot then. I knew a local lad who was on the fringes of the first team and played now and again. Jimmy Kerr was the real deal. I'm not sure he was Colin Bell level but he might have been. He was one hell of a young player, a bit like Dunny in style. The player we really wanted and we so very nearly signed was the left sided centre back, Alec Lindsay. I thought he was going to be the next Bobby Moore, he had it all. He could tackle, head the ball, he had good vision and a fantastic left foot pass, long and short, along with a very calm and un flustered temperament. A lot like Bobby Moore. I believe we actually announced he was signing but Liverpool came in right at the last second and stole him away. He had a great career at Liverpool but mainly as left back. He never really got to play in his best position again. So then we signed Jimmy Kerr instead. Bury had a Scots right winger called Greg Farrell at the time. When he was on his game he was a real match winner, he was fast and tricky, a left backs bad dream. Imagine a fast Bradley Dack ! Unfortunately he was also blessed with film star good looks and I think he liked the night life. He could blow hot and cold like most wingers. When he was hot he was unstoppable.

I see a " Caddis " scored for Swindon yesterday. Is that our ex player ? Ben Gladwin got on as sub at MK Dons who had Fisher in goal. Champagne Charlie played in a 2-0 win for Fleetwood, the lad Camps scored again for them from midfield. Is he better than Ben Whiteman I ask. Dom Samuel got dragged off after 66 mins at Gillingham, they lost 2-0. Barrow finally got a home win, well done Dunny and Matty Platt.

I was talking to the chief exec of a Rugby League club last week and he was out lining what was being expected of the the testing regime. The costs were eye watering, and that was before yesterdays announcements.

Absolutely no rigour at the club. The " buck " doesn't stop anywhere. At other clubs the manager would be being called to the boardroom tomorrow morning for the hard word. At Rovers it'll be just business as usual. I thought the idea of bringing Johnno into the coaching set up was to allow him to have a greater responsibility for the first team. As far as I can see at the moment he's a glorified stats man.

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.