Tyrone Shoelaces

What's the point of that ? Do you seriously think the Chicken Chokers will have heard of any of them ? Knowing them they'd probably promote Lowe. Who saw any of their appointments coming ?

Bugger, we fly to Spain on that Friday morning.

You don't think we're going backwards at the moment ?

Anybody who's ever played football knows that teams don't like travelling away. Even top pro's prefer to be at home. The time to get at teams when you're at home is right from the off. The first 5 or 10 minutes. Get your foot on their throat and keep it there. When did we last come out full of running and aggression ?

And slow him down a bit more.

I haven't seen the game but when I saw the team just before I went out I thought there was no balance between attack and defence and nowhere near enough bite in midfield. Every game we play there are multiple changes. In my opinion that's another game lost in team selection. I'm afraid the manager has lost the plot regarding our best eleven and is starting to also lose the players, if he already hasn't done so. At any other normal football club he'd be getting the hard word tomorrow morning. " Sort it out or you're down the road ", but we aren't a normal club so nothing will happen.

I'm not watching the game but I got a text from my son who is. He said exactly the same as you and he's been watching Rovers for 30 years.

Not really impressed with that team. Very attacking but not really balanced.

There's much more pressure to perform at Ewood than there is in an away game. Away fans tend to be a lot more enthusiastic and forgiving of poor performance.

And look what happened to Shrewsbury after he left.

If I was in his shoes that's exactly the game I would want to be playing in. An away game so no real pressure from the fans and you're up against a very poor team. Fill yer boots !

Whatever position he plays in I don't think he'll be scoring many goals. I know Mowbray reckons he's brilliant in training but so is Gladwin.

Mowbray's response to last nights game is worrying. Rovers last few managers since Sam all lost touch with reality at some point and started talking bollocks and I fear he's going the same way.

Move him upstairs, get Johnno in as first team coach. Venus and Lowe can go and paint the stadium.

I remember watching the game live. When Jairzinho did Terry Cooper on the goal line I thought " This looks like bad news ". When I saw Pele head the ball I thought " This is a goal ". I couldn't figure out how Banks kept that header out. He had to get across the whole of the goal and then get down into the far corner. England were brilliant that day, it's still the best performance I've seen from an England team and that includes the '66 Final. Moore and Mullery were outstanding in keeping that tremendous Brazil team to 1 goal. We really deserved a draw and we would have got one if Jeff Astle hadn't have missed a great shooting chance late on.

And then you woke up.

That's a blow, the current kit is the worst ever. Nothing would induce me to wear one.

Aren't Mick McGrath and Mike England also still alive of the members of that great team ?

Bryan Douglas without a doubt. I can't figure out that photo. We started wearing that kit in late 1962 and the cantilever stand at the Blackburn End was already built by then, maybe it's just out of shot. It's a great photo of Fred in his prime. He was just coming into the side when I first started watching Rovers. He was a bit raw at first but soon developed in a really top class striker who had it all. A terrific shot in either foot, he was a good header of the ball, very light on his feet for a big man with a good change of pace. He had a trick or two in his game, I'm sure I saw him do that " Cryuff Turn " before Cryuff. On his day he was unstoppable, as other people have said second only to Shearer in my estimation of Rovers strikers. He could beat a player running at them with the ball at his feet, I don't recall that being part of Shearers game, he was more about running past or through opponents. So many great memories of Fred, I was gutted when he left to sign for Everton. We spent the next ten years and all the record fee we received trying to replace him with inferior players. It was his leaving that started the rot that led to Rovers being relegated in the 1965-66 season and our slide down the Divisions. RIP Fred and thanks for the memories.

Well we were down in the Midlands visiting in friends over the weekend so I haven't seen anything of the game. All I know is as soon as we got back to our friends house from a trip out they put BBC sport on the TV. Almost immediately the guy said words to the effect " There's been a goal at Ewood Park, lets go over there ". How did I know at that very moment that 1) Bristol would be the team getting the goal when there was only 10 minutes to go? 2) That would be that as far as we were concerned and the chance of a late equaliser was nil ?

It's been going on at this level for a lot longer than this season Jim. Coyle's team was just as bad. You need guys who'll kick their grandmothers to win a game of football. we haven't got anything like enough of them. We're a team of nice lads.

Who was it saying we didn't need Downing ?

Mm, I wasn't an admirer. He didn't have the physicality to play in the League we are in. We get bullied enough as it is.

If we got promoted with the big payday that entails I'd be delighted if they took the money, left us with no debts, and we never heard a word from the Chicken Chokers ever again.

No It's not like that. You can just walk in any time you like. It's not a full size pitch, more like half full size but great for 5 or 6 a side.