I know I keep saying it but we'd do better these days if the goals were at the side of the pitch instead of at the ends. Back in those days if you picked ball up in midfield you had one of the strikers looking to make a run beyond the centre halves, the other striker would be coming short towards you. Both wingers would be looking to get involved. You had players to aim at in front of you. Nowadays they all seem to be stood next to each other.

It wasn't a result but finding out that Alan Shearer had left was pretty bad. We were on holiday with friends in the Cotswolds. My wife and I had gone into a supermarket leaving our friends in the car. When we got back to the car the news had just finished and my pal, who was a Darlington fan, said " What do you want the good news or the bad news ? " I said " The bad news ". He replied " Shearer has gone, but the good news is he hasn't gone to Man Utd ".

Oxford 3 - Rovers 1. FA Cup 5th round in 1964. We were playing brilliantly up to this point and we were drawn away at Div 4 Oxford. For once all the other big clubs had been knocked out really early. The final eventually was played between a mid table West Ham and Div 2 Preston. Preston had beaten Oxford in the next round then had to play another Div 2 Club in Swansea in the semi. We could have won the Cup easily that year, we would have been favourites, but for the slip up at Oxford. The repercussions were more than just on the field. Leading scorer Fred Pickering then became disenchanted with events at the club.and was sold to Everton and that was the beginning of a down ward slope that ended several years later with us playing in the old 3rd Division.

It's OK, I recently read his autobiography so I'm sadly all too aware of how he felt. It was a minor tragedy that he never regained his previous form.

Yeah, I thought he was on his way back after that goal. Didn't he have to be subbed after Lucas Neill got sent off shortly afterwards ?

Biggest miss - the John Coddington penalty - If I hadn't have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. Chris Sutton at Anfield in the final game when we won the Prem. My dear old mum could have put that one in. Luckily it didn't matter in the end

Possibly but how many fans who can't or won't be bothered would we lose ? Plus the fact that without the fans the atmosphere would be dreadful.

Do you not think playing behind closed doors will be a disaster for the smaller clubs ? No income through the gate and still having to pay wages, bonuses etc

Arbitro, According to Mike Jackmans book MacNamee scored 6 goals in 27 games in season 71-72. Haliax A, Wrexham A, York H, Barnsley H ( Tony Field hat trick in that game ), Brighton H 2 goals. In season 72-73 he scored 4 goals in 30 games - Charlton H,Swansea H, Lincoln H ( another Tony Field hatrick ), Oldham H. Take your pick out of those. Not bad goal scoring for a centre half I'd say.

That's a brilliant kit. At least half a dozen of that lot would walk into the current team - Newton Wilson, Hunter, Knighton, Rogers, Metcalfe. The Don, Dick Mulvaney, and John Connelly won't be far off. 2 England internationals ( 1 a current regular ). 1 Scottish international, 1 Northern Ireland International ( a current regular ), 1 Eire international ( again a current regular ) plus a scattering of U-23 caps. Somebody like Jimmy Hill or Malcolm Allison would have got that lot promoted. It's funny how one of the least likely players in Laurie Calloway went on to have a very long and successful playing and coaching career in the USA.

He was the Bradley Dack of the day only quicker. The sort of player that was always capable of getting you out of your seat. Up there with Simon Garner as a goal scorer, kept his cool and never panicked in front of goal. He had that Jimmy Greaves like burst of acceleration that took him away from defenders. What I thought we were getting when we signed Rhodes.

It's a shame his tremendous career has been cast in the shadow of just one game.

Yes that's true. He'd be a regular today.

I didn't know that. I'm just glad I was there. My abiding memory is even some West Brom players joined in the ovation. With all due respect I scored a couple of long range belters in my playing career, including a 30 yarder into the top corner but I never managed to dribble around over half a team like Dougie did that day. I never got near to that achievement. In my humble opinion that demands a different degree of skill.

A top keeper in his day, he always seemed to play well against Rovers. Extremely agile and a terrific shot stopper. I don't think he ever got over that game in Mexico against West Germany.

I know which was the best goal I ever saw scored by a Rovers Player. I'm taken back to it every Easter Saturday. It was the goal the one and only Bryan Douglas scored against West Brom on Easter Saturday April the 13th 1963. Here's what Alf Thornton had to say about it in the " Last Sports " - " At 80 minutes DOUGLAS brought the house down with a wonder goal such as only he of present day footballers can score. He picked the ball up on his wing at the half way line, shrugged off attempted tackles by Clark and Bannister, went inside at speed and beat Williams, Jones and Fairfax with beautiful body swerves as though they did not exist, before crashing in a terrific drive ". " The Rovers players dashed to congratulate him and the crowd gave him a standing ovation ". This is from Ian Holman in the " Daily Express " - It's headed - " A Moment Of Magic From Douglas ". - The ball was snuggling gently at the talented feet of tiny Bryan Douglas just about the spot where the the centre circle curve ends. A player lunged twice, missed twice, and finally landed in the mud as Douglas switched feet and swept by. Another crimson shirted challenger zoomed into a fierce tackle but still Douglas wended his way towards the penalty area. Inside the box two more men tried to stop him but failed just as miserably as the rest. So now Douglas was poised for the kill. His right boot flashed and the beautifully placed shot whipped into the roof of the net. This was one of footballs magic moments- an unforgettable goal to round off a match that Douglas had already made his own " I was there that day in a really meagre crowd of 11,451 and I can tell you those reports don't really do it justice. I was stood behind and to the left of the goal at the Darwen End and I had a great view of the goal as it developed and of the finish. There can't be that many of us left now that witnessed the little fella in his prime but take it from me - he was the greatest Rover in my time. For trivia fans the day before we'd played really well to beat Sheff Wed at Ewood 3-0 in front of 14,361. Maybe the expense of two games in two days was too much for some fans. Two points from that game. There was a minutes silence before the game for the crew of the USS Thresher which had just been declared lost with all hands. Rovers got a penalty late on in the match. Fred Pickering strode up to take it. Sheff Wed had the current England goalkeeper in goal and he had a strategy for facing penalties were he didn't stand in the centre of the goal. He deliberately stood a yard to the left of centre. I've never seen any other goalkeeper adopt it. Obviously it dared the taker to go for the bigger gap but that was Springett's strongest side. Anyway Fred went for the biggest side and Springett got across and saved the shot.

Yes that's a really good article. He was what leadership on the field was all about. Nobody ever questioned Mick's attitude or commitment. Andy Burgin who was mentioned in the article was another very good full back. I'd swap Mick and Andy for the full backs we have at the moment.

I'm not big into long series, I find them too demanding to keep up with timewise. However I was gripped by " Mad Men " from start to finish. The music was great also.

I knew it was on but I couldn't bring myself to watch it. Just too painful these days.

I can't remember having such a lack of real effort from the team ever and I can remember the early 1970's.

Don't let this beat you matey.

When we do restart will our our back four still be social distancing from our opponents ?

Anybody willing to have a bet on the date of the next " normal " game at Ewood ? IE with all fans from both teams allowed to attend freely. I'd say it won't be in 2020.

My lot played away at Wakefield in a previous round that year. Wakefield had had to play on the Tuesday and the Thursday because of a fixture back log. We played them on the following Saturday. They offered us money to move the game back a few days but our players said " No Way ". We were losing 10- 0 but ended up drawing 10-10 as Wakey ran out of steam in the second half. We had a drop goal go over right at the death but the ref ruled it out ! They were fully rested for the replay and absolutely marmalised us. Still one of the best teams I've ever seen. Their last try started on their line on the right wing, went through every pair of hands until the left winger scored with a supporting player on either side of him. Awesome team. One of our players had got married on the Saturday morning and had to leave his new wife to go and play in the afternoon. Then after the draw he had to cancel his honeymoon.

You won't remember it because the powers that be made sure it wasn't shown again until a couple of years ago. It showed how the police " fitted up " a bit of a bad lad for an armed robbery. Lifting his finger prints off a tea cup with selotape and then putting them on the stock of a sawn off shotgun that had been used in the crime. First time I'd seen that done. Blackmailing another criminal to give false evidence against the lad. Getting another criminal to claim the reward for solving a crime then taking half the reward.for themselves. You name it, the MET were doing it.