Tyrone Shoelaces

Contracts only get you so far. If a player wants to leave they usually get what they want in the end. At least you get a sensible fee for them.

Not me, Fowler was past it and Yorke couldn't be bothered.

Taxi for Dyche ?

He's got a very good change of pace though, and he knows when to use it. He can slow opponents down and then go past them. That's ok when you're picking the ball up in the areas he plays in. Granted he won't win a lot of 25 yard sprints against the top defenders.

Keith Newton went to Everton for a massive fee at the time. It was a record for a full back. Everton were in the top three teams in England then, we were languishing at a slightly higher level than we are now. It was a miracle we hung on to him as long as we did. A Rolls-Royce of a player, we've had some decent full backs over the years but he was head and shoulders the best.

I suppose so but I can't say I'm too bothered either way. I'd like them to stay in it a bit longer to get honest.

Yeah Duffer was doing it in the World Cup against the best players there were at the time.

Ooijer's debut was terrible. He did get better though and turned out to be a good buy. I honestly thought I could see something the first time I saw Samba, he was raw but he had the size, speed and determination. Another one who went backwards when he left. I rated Nzonzi the first time I saw him also. Good touch for a big guy and he was a big unit.

No, I think Tugay was a better player for us than Berkovic would have been. Nice to have the choice though. It'd be great to have a Berkovic now.

I'm not sure he's at that level yet. It would be a gamble for them but £10 million is nothing these days for Premier League teams. When you look at what the Dingles have been paying for average Championship players he's got to be worth more than that. Creative attacking game changers are rare in British Football.

Thinking about it I think I would have preferred us to sign Eyal Berkovic instead Tugay at the time. In my defence Berkovic was a really good player.

None of it adds up to me either.

I thought David Bentley was a lightweight. Eventually I was proven right but not before that brilliant spell he had for us.

It's our ground and our grass, we can please ourselves about that.

I wouldn't be too worried about playing them with our best 11 but with the potential goalscorers in Dack, Armstrong, Samuel all out and Graham only capable of 30 minutes I couldn't see where a goal was coming from. Given the stat that we only had 1 shot on target in 90 minutes I wasn't far wrong.

I feared the worst when I saw the team and the subs bench. That's a great result given the attacking players we had missing. The stats don't make great reading but we got on the right side of the only stat that matters. Well done lads, let's get some of the walking wounded back soon. Where's Gladwin, Whittingham and that other midfield player we signed in the close season. I still don't know who Rafferty is !

Who's Finnerty ?

Bloody hell I hope none of the full backs get injured. Where's Gladwin when you need him ?

I'm getting weary of this " Trust Tony " stuff. I don't trust anyone not to make mistakes in their life , working or personal. I'm on mistake number 357 at the moment. He's a human being, he's fallible just like everybody else. So if I think he's getting it wrong I'll say so . If I'm wrong I'll be on mistake number 358.

" Palmer, Rothwell and Palmer " . So good they named him twice !

Playing for England these days has become almost meaningless. Just look at some of the puddings who've pulled on the shirt over the last few decades. Then you think Howard Kendall never got near a cap.

It'd have to be something pretty serious for a player to cry off when you've only just arrived at a new club. I hope he wasn't taking his dog to the vet.

And what if he can't hack the pressure of the fee and just goes into his shell ? That's happened plenty of times. Kevin Davies being the classic example. Then we've blown our dosh. We need a target man because we can't play like we did at Hull every week, I wish we could. Teams will come to Ewood and deny us space for the quicker players to run into.

You know when you buy a car and the seller wants £6k for it and then £8k then £12k , what do you do ?

Pickering was the next best behind Shearer. After that it'd be Bellamy ( I'm a lot older than 34 ).