Tyrone Shoelaces

You never saw Mike England then ? What a player he was, 6' 3" tall with a great spring and the ball skills and passing ability of a top class midfield player. The best centre half I ever saw in the flesh and I can only think of one better that I've seen on TV, a colossus,

Manchester Industrial League Div 1 at 17. It was a tough league, lot's of guys playing that had been pros at various levels. The standards you had to be at regarding facilities were pretty high. You had to have a fully enclosed ground for instance. Some grounds had stands. One of the grounds in the league ( Manchester Ship Canal I think ) was used by Brazil as a training ground in the 1966 World Cup. Most of our opponents were large manufacturing companies that no longer exist. I think the league no longer exists either. The centre halves in that league were pretty hard lads. You didn't antagonise them unless you wanted a battle. I was just looking at going to Bacup Borough were a couple of my pals were already playing and had got Borough interested in me when one of the big clumsy centre halves broke my leg. I played again after that but when I broke it for the second time I called it a day with serious football. I played in " fun " matches after that but the spark had gone. A case of what might have been really, but plenty of players can say that.

He must be getting soft in his old age with that long sleeved tee shirt under his shirt. I remember us playing 'Boro on a bitter, freezing cold day. Colin came out for the warm up just wearing a short sleeved tee shirt and shorts. Juninho was playing for 'Boro that day and he came out to warm up looking like a Michelin man !

I thought Stephan Henchoz was a class act. Chris Samba would be knocking on the door also. Ryan Nelsen would be another that deserves to be in there really.

If he was that mediocre at Colchester why did Norwich head hunt him ? I seem to remember Norwich came for him after his Colchester team dicked Norwich by 5 or 6-1.

He has had a lot of injuries since he left Ewood. We've already got centre halves who are not strangers to the treatment table. When I played if you kicked the opponents centre half you'd hurt your foot. Real centre halves are born and not made.

You've got to give Johnno credit for picking us up after a really tough start to the season.

I've seen a lot of good centre halves at Ewood since Matt Woods Jim but I'd have Colin and Mike England as my centre half pairing in the All Time Rovers Great 11.

I know which team I'd rather watch.

The Guardian weekend magazine had an interesting article regarding players wives last Saturday. Wes Brown's wife was featured. Apparently they've lent a pal £500,000 and it doesn't look like they're going to be getting it back any time soon !

No it wasn't him, he's a good example though. This lad was better than him.

Regarding Downing some of us said we were a bit hasty letting him go given the fitness history of Lenihan, Rodwell and Mulgrew. Of course we've still got Williams.

Even in the old days of the U-23's when player were older and much more established and weren't being handicapped by foreign imports at their clubs the number that ended up playing in the bottom tiers within a couple of years was pretty high. Signing any player is a gamble no matter how good they appear to be but signing 18 year olds is even more of a gamble.

In spite of what people might think I'd love for him to be a success. We desperately need a striker at the moment and the repercussions from the Chokers of another massive flop on our future spending plans don't bear thinking about. Having said that the World of football is littered with players who peaked at 18. Look back in the past at England U-18 teams. How many out of the 11 usually make it at top level ? 2 or 3 ? Some times not even that many. I remember watching a game years ago when we had a forward who's name I've forgotten. He'd every trick in the book, he went past players like they weren't there. I thought " This lad can't fail ". A couple of years later he was playing in the Fourth Division !

Is he still tipping us for 6 th place? He's as good a tipster as he is a journalist.

I think we could have got a pretty good centre half for £7 million.

I don't agree there, I think Mowbray is better at running the club than Bowyer. Having said that Bowyer ( or his dad ) was a lot better at bringing new players into the club.

When we got our noses in front last season quite a few teams thought it was game over. Teams in this league know who we are now and what our failings are. They know we haven't got a full 90 minutes in us and no matter what the score if they keep pressing they'll get a reward.

That's his 3 year contract removed from off the table then ?

I really like the bloke and he's done wonders for the Club on the PR front. He's been a great representative of Blackburn Rovers. I'd also say he's brought a large degree of dignity and respect back to the club. Putting all that to one side do I think he can take this club to the next level ? With a heavy heart I'd have to say I don't think he can. Can he keep us at the level we're at now for the foreseeable future ? Possibly, but I'm not sure. Does that mean I want him fired ? Not really. Chances are we would replace him by somebody else who could well do worse than Mowbray. If I was in charge at Rovers I'd like to see him moved to a position where he has less involvement in the team itself and more of a figurehead for the club and either Johnno given more involvement with the first team or someone similarly young with fresh ideas of how we should be playing. The one thing that goes though my mind when I watch us play is we just do not look a well coached team - even when we are winning. This has been going on too long for my liking.

I keep reading we got beaten up yesterday. Well the remedy is in your own hands in situations like that. You meet fire with fire and you get stuck in yourselves. Trouble is we have too many players who don't fancy it when it gets a bit physical. I watched that Ireland V England RU match last night. Ireland like to put it about as well but England showed they weren't having any of that and got their retaliation in first.

At least he's got some mates. Smiley Face.

I went there once watching Rochdale Hornets v Hunslet. The gate was about 800. It felt weird sitting in a large almost empty stadium.

You're right. I had a pal who was a professional scout and he would always insist on scouting players at away games. He reckoned that was where you saw a players true character.

We we're discussing Big Sam and Everton.