Tyrone Shoelaces

Cardiff and Forest weren't too proud to come and scab 4 points off us by parking the bus were they ? You can't win every game in a season, sometimes you have to be pragmatic. Having said that when did we last have a team capable of making it really difficult for teams to score against us ? It must have been back when Big Sam was here.

An ex-player I knew quite well, David Cross, who played in the old First Division for several top sides had about half the ability Graham had but about ten times the dedication. That's why he had a long career at the top. I remember bumping into him at a cricket match were he'd gone to watch his brother play ( Heywood in the old CLL). I was at the bar and he came up behind me. I offered to buy him a pint and he said " No thanks mate, just get me an orange juice ". This was in the close season. I said " Don't you drink beer Dave ? " He said " There'll be plenty of time for that when the football is over ".

What channel is it Tom, I don't want to come across it accidentally.

Or - " Is it alright if I tell you you're fired Tony ? "

I agree with the old players that the " Central League " reserve team league was a better grounding than the current system. As was the " A " team set up. I remember watching Rovers " A " team playing against Rochdale Reserves, That was lads like our 18 yr olds playing against a team comprised mainly of experienced pros.

Who's going to be asking the questions ?

Williams has had more good games at centre half than he has bad. At full back he's not so good, mainly because of his lack of pace.

Yeah, 90% bravery and 10% ability scored that goal. That's what's sadly lacking at the moment. Guys like Moran are inspirational, you play better as an individual because of them. Young players especially. Don't forget the guy had played a career's worth of football before he came to Rovers.

With the best will in the world he's a 6 out of 10 manager, and that's on a good day. To get promoted out of this League you need an 8 of 10 manager at the least. We'll huff and puff for another season, win some - lose some, drift along flattering to deceive. Players will come and go. The same laid back attitude will permeate all sections of the club structure. Expecting to change the direction of travel without changing the guy who is steering the ship doesn't work in my experience.

He's certainly not performing at the moment. A good game from him is overdue.

" Seemingly " is the most relevant word in that post.

We'd three ex-Dingles playing in the same team for us back in the day - Blacklaw, Joyce, Connelly. I suppose Chaddy would have been boycotting a team like that.

I've struggled with his recruitment policy for a long while. It seems to be more about building a squad than actually building a team. I know it's a not an 11 man game anymore and having a strong bench is vital but I'd like to know what our best starting 11 is. Does Mowbray know ?

According to Mike Jackman's book McNamee played 27 league games out of a possible 29 in his first season. Second season 29 out of 46. Not too shabby, especially when he made all the difference in that first season. I'll have a look at Moran's record tomorrow but my memory of him is a very durable player.

When Rush was his heyday he was one of the first strikers to start the fashion for defending from the front. He was always on the move looked to intercept loose passes etc. Rhodes wouldn't do that when he was in his prime, he isn't going to do that now. It'd be like when Fred Pickering and John Byrom came back, they were past their best and playing on memories.

I was watching David Speedie on the Nostalgia thread. He was about 5' 8" on a good day and he could jump higher.

There's no way Dyche would come here, that tells you how far we've fallen.

I know the game is faster these days but back then the pitches were heavy going for at least half the season, the balls weighed a ton when they got wet, and the game was much, much more physical. When you consider that Matt's record was exceptional but I don't recall later centre halves - England, Hunter, Faz, Killer, Graham Hawkins, MacNammee, Kevin Moran, Hendrey etc missing many games.

He'd be OK alongside somebody like Ayala who's reputed to be a good header of the ball.

Yes, it's the same with players. Opposing fans don't bother booing our bad players, only the good ones.

Let's hope so seeing as how we need to score 3 to get a draw away from home some of the time. Until I've seen the new lads play a few games I wouldn't like to comment on their ability.

Exactly, we only have one striker who you can see getting 20 goals in a season and he's not at the races at the moment.

What are centre halves made of these days ? I was just looking up Matt Woods appearance stats for the 7 seasons he played for us - he played 26 out of 26, 48/48, 43/44, 50/51, 52/52, 43/52, 47/49. Then he retired ! Matt looked like he'd been cast in a foundry, not born, and he played like it. Both of Lenihan and Williams have had several times out with injury and now Ayala's gone the same way.

We also lost at Newcastle when we were " the better team ". There's a bit of a thread emerging here.

I've never seen him try to go around a goalkeeper yet in a straight on 1 on 1. If I know that so do all the keepers he's likely to come up against.