Tyrone Shoelaces

We got the best out of him, that's for sure.

Samba behaved like an arse at the end but it's easy for us who have been brought up in the welfare state to criticise blokes who maybe grew up not knowing where their next meal was coming from. From a playing point of view on his day the guy was a one man defence, a colossus. I'd put him behind Mike England, who is in a league of his own, but in front of Nelsen, Henchoz, Hendrey etc. Matt Woods was a real stalwart for Rovers back in the old days but you've got to be getting on a bit to have seen him play.

I don't get it. Football's full of equally difficult to like managers. I couldn't care less as long as they're successful. They're not marrying my daughter.

Real legends in my time - Freidel, Newton, England, Clayton, Douglas, Shearer, Tugay.

I was thinking Sunderland would be a good fit also.

Anybody think Mowbray might be one of the eight applicants ?

If you're not 100% regarding Downing that should really be enough to tell you maybe it's time to part company.

In our greatest ever side -no, but I agree with what Parkes had to say about his all round game. He was top class, unfortunately we never saw him at his best in a Rovers shirt.

I'd like to think those days are gone. We can't afford to have players just hanging around on big bucks. I thought we did well to get what we did out of him. Let's not push our luck. I think the " wall " came knocking on his door during the shut down

I agree, much as I liked Matty as a player, with the form he was in he would have been off before too long.

Douglas was Tugay with added pace. The nearest to him playing now - Eden Hazard on a good day.

If they didn't retire it when Bryan Douglas called it a day they never will.

Regarding centre backs I think you need three first choice plus one that can play there without maybe being as good as the other three but not far behind in terms of ability and a young one who can come in and do a good job there at a pinch. I'd put Wharton in the latter category if he's made sufficient progress on loan Our centre halves seem to be prone to injuries and all centre halves will be picking up the odd suspension if they're doing the job properly so you need quite a few of them.

I saw him played for Scotland at international level against the best of Europe and he still looked top class. He reminded me a bit of Souness himself as a player. As you saw he was just beginning to find his feet when he got that freak bad injury at Newcastle. As I said earlier every transfer is a gamble. Plenty of good players haven't made a success of the move from Scotland to England and plenty of unknowns have gone on to be real stars down here. Archie Gemmell being just one but I could name dozens of other similar cases, our own Colin Hendry is an example nearer home.

He was class act when he playing for Rangers and Scotland.

I was only thinking that the other day. Some of them have never seen a real Rovers team playing with passion, skill and flair. This dross on show at the moment is all they know.

It's also about pride in yourself and your performance.

Watching him against Chelsea that looked to be his level.

I accept that team then was light years ahead of what we have now but the point still stands that defenders don't like getting turned around by players getting up the side of the defence. Watching that old film just reminded me how influential Tugay was also. The bloke was magic. The best passer of a ball I've ever seen in a Rovers shirt.

Mm, we been hammering away at ten man Argentina for ages but it was a left wing cross from Peters that Geoff Hurst flick headed in that beat them. The 3rd goal in the Final came from an Alan Ball cross from out wide also. I take your point though. Ramsey had taken three wingers to the Finals, Connelly. Paine, and Ian Callaghan but none them impressed enough to stay in the team and he had two midfield players out wide.

Anybody doubting the value of real wingers should take a look at " The road to Cardiff " in the nostalgia thread, Duff, Gillespie, Hignett, Mahon. They cut teams to pieces out wide. I'd make Mowbray watch it for a start.

Some great football in those games. It makes what we are seeing now look like a different game altogether.

4-2-2-2 says narrow with no width to me at our level. Maybe it's ok if you're Real Madrid or Juventus etc.

Let's see if next seasons season ticket sales bear out that theory.

Exactly, we need to come up with a method of keeping clean sheets first and foremost. A good solid back five is the answer to that. I'll bet my boots Hughton will be doing that at Bristol. I can't see the point of bringing another central midfield player unless either of Travis or Evans is off.