Tyrone Shoelaces

I couldn't care less. It's what they do when they pull on the shirt that matters to me. We have the reverse of that at the moment. Badge kissers who put in about 25% of the effort Batty did.

Lots of players are. You need to remember to most of them it's just a job, they have no more loyalty to a particular club than you have to your place of work. You couldn't fault his effort or ability on the pitch.

Mm, what a choice to have to make.

I wish. A real players player.

I was never a Sherwood fan, it would be Batty every day for me.

How many did Neville get in central midfield ?

How many England caps did Batty get and how many did Sherwood get ?

Not in my top 100.

Rod Thomas - he was going to be a worldbeater.

How will you know if it's working ?

I'd say " Let them keep Tarkowski in that case ".

Duffy seems to be out of favour at Brighton. In the past other managers have told their players to quietly " have a word " with other players on International call up. I think we lost a few that way.

I think both of those two will be on more than the likes of Wigan are prepared to pay in the current circumstances.

He needs to buy a long mirror when he gets the signing on fee.

Just had a text from my son - " It's like The Red Lion V The Sandknockers dad "

There's an art in being close enough to worry your opponent into not turning yet not close enough that he can turn and do you in one easy movement. Positioning is all important. Bell has a lot to learn.

" I got close and harried him "- shorthand for " I got close and kicked him ". I use to say " Right, I've seen how quick you are, now let's see how brave you are ".

American football tackle ! Nicky Reid doing what our central midfield can't do - getting beyond the strikers.

It's hard to say what he is really. I suspect what the player thinks he is and what he actually is as a player don't compute.

I thought he did alright.

It's a funny thing with young players. I remember reading the programme once when Marlon Broomes was supposed to be the next big thing in the youth team. Even the likes of Alan Shearer was praising him to the skies. I was expecting the next Bobby Moore going off what I read. When I actually saw him play in our first team what I saw was a very average centre back with no real outstanding assets. He wasn't particularly quick, calm under pressure, bone crunching in the tackle, a commanding header of the ball, good distribution off either foot , read the game well etc He was just deeply average as his subsequent career proved. Regarding Buckley I'm with Paul Mani, I think there's a player there. I like how he's calm and un-ruffled in possession. Also you don't have to be a giant to win the ball, it's all about speed of foot, judgement and technique. He's about as big as Nobby Stiles was and he wasn't lacking in the ball winning part of the game. A old pal of mine used to play for Stockport Boys and played directly against Nobby several times. He described getting a hard tackle off Nobby was like getting an electric shock up your leg.

The thing is if you let them turn and run at you usually they are running and you aren't - only one winner there 9 times out of 10.

I liked what I saw in the first 45 minutes yesterday. He looked to me like a good footballer who was being played in a position he's not a natural fit for and he was using his intelligence in making the best of it. That's the sign of a good player to me. I can see why smarter guys than me rate him. I wonder how Modric would do out on the left hand side ?

I mentioned David Helliwell when I first saw Buckley play. I remember Helliwell making his debut against Bristol City at Ewood back in the 1960's. He was playing in Bryan Douglas's old position in midfield and I'm pretty sure he was MOM that day. We all thought we'd discovered the new Dougie but it wasn't to be. He was average height but really slender. You couldn't fault his ball skills and he'd a good eye for a pass, average pace but nicely two footed. The game in those days was much, much, more physical than it is now and he got physically over powered especially on heavy grounds. Today he would have had lot more protection from the officials. As you say Meccy had a bit of needle about him and if you kicked him you'd get one back, David was a more placid lad. He played 16 games for Rovers scoring 1 goal - then had a short spell of 11 games at Lincoln followed by 197 games at Workington. He finished up by playing 20 games at Rochdale.

Lenny Johnrose doing well for us there. The goal at Oldham was a brave effort.