Tyrone Shoelaces

Yes that Wigan game was awful. we had nothing. What summed it for me was when we got a free kick out wide with about a minute to go to full time. Pedersen gets set to take it, everybody crowds into the penalty box, the ball has to go into the mixer, he puts the ball into row " H " straight out of play ! Bloody unbelievable !

Gladwin and Davenport are back in training apparently so there's plenty of room for him on the treatment table.

Managers get sacked on a regular basis in football. Most of them have been in football all their lives. Usually they get sacked because they get things badly wrong. None of them are infallible.

Dougie could put top pros on their backsides without really breaking out of a jog. He was a one off. My pal who played at Great Harwood with him used to say _ " He could send you the wrong way stood still ".

Foolish if we're not bringing someone in. Rodwell and Mulgrew have a history of injuries and Lenihan was out for a long while last season. In my experience centre halves take a bit of a bashing physically, or they should do.

Brereton on loan to Doncaster ?

I'd switch Rodwell to the right of the back three and Lenihan into the middle of the back three, other than that it's worth thinking about. They should be trying it out in training.

I worked with Stan Milburn, brother of Jackie, uncle to Bobby and Jack Charlton, He'd been a pro for about 20 years, played for Leicester in the old First Division, England " B" international full back in his hey day. He played for the same works team as I did and he was playing amateur football long after I finished, well into his 50's. He just loved the game.

I think we're more than well off for Central Midfielders.

Yeah I was at the Ipswich game. It was my youngest son's second game and he was still thrilled to be at Ewood in spite of the game and the score. I think Kiwomya scored both their goals and Speedie scored our goal right at the end as we were making our way up the steps at the Blackburn End, but it was too little too late. If my memory serves me well Don got fired after that game.

He was the best passer of the ball I've seen at Rovers and I go back to 1961.

I always thought he played too deep and he should have been in a more advanced role. Having said that maybe he didn't have the legs for it.

If only we had a winger with some pace, he's deeply average.

A few years later he finished Danny Blanchflower's career for good in the 7-2 thrashing of the all conquering Spurs team. I can still see Blanchflower trying in vain to catch up with Dougie as he danced away from him time after time. I think Spurs went out and bought the young Alan Mullery to replace him shortly after that. To the younger Rovers fans who were never lucky enough to see Bryan play - think Eden Hazard on a very good day.

Sorry to keep eulogising Bryan Douglas but when we beat Man Utd 3-0 at Old Trafford he ran them ragged. Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles, Denis Law _ They couldn't get near him. I've got a cartoon somewhere from the Manchester Evening News Monday night review of the game that shows Dougie weaving in and out of several Utd players and leaving them all on their backsides in total confusion. The man was unstoppable on his day and this was one of them.

My Rochdale pals liked him a lot. Mowbray said words to the effect that he'd " Come back from loan a different player ". I must admit I thought he was very average when I saw him play.

Yeah he got a hat trick that day. He made Ian Ure, their big money Scottish International centre half, look like an amateur.

Wasn't that Lucas Neill ?

Bryan Douglas against Spurs. I think he got 10 out of 10 in the Sunday papers. Having said that he got 10 out of 10 a few times in the early to mid 1960's. Big Brad in the cup at Arsenal. Fred Else in a 1-0 loss at Burnley. Without him it could been half a dozen. He was only beaten by a pen and he got a hand to that. Andy McEvoy against Arsenal in the 1960's. Dougie was out injured and Andy dropped down from striker and stood in for him in midfield. To say we never missed Dougie in a 4-1 win against the top of the league tells you all you need to know. Too many good ones to mention really. Bad performances - Ashley Ward and Christian " Bloody " Dailly had more than their share.

A fantastic cross from Kuqi led to the MGP goal, Great volley though. I wasn't MGP's biggest fan but he was a great striker of the ball with either foot.

It's a 17 man game these days. The stronger the bench the better.

Collins isn't Franz Beckenbauer, we know that. Neither was John MacNamee.

Yep, it was like he had one foot nailed to the pitch some times. Opponents knew he had no left foot so they tried to keep him on his left hand side. Most of the time he still came away with the ball though.

I've noticed Downing has been on the bench quite often lately. Could be Pulis isn't keen on wingers.

Maybe before your time but Simon Barker was exceptionally good at turning into space and not into trouble.