Tyrone Shoelaces

I think the plan was to play with wing backs and Whittingham playing as a sort of " Tugay " style playmaker picking the ball up off the three centre backs. When that didn't work out there was no room for him in a 4-4-2 formation. He's not the first player to get to the " season too far " point in their career and he won't be the last. Trouble is we've got to keep paying him for another season. One or two of us said so at the time but we were told to get with the plan.

Well if it's a choice between Travis and Caddis I know who I'd be favouring.

The trouble is nobody at our level plays with two up front anymore and I can't see him playing up front on his own. So he gets shunted out wide most of the time. The new Matt Derbyshire ?

Billy was Newcastle through and through. My pal wasn't.

What happened to that Lawrence lad ?

Anyone who thinks that a player from any club getting a career threatening injury is funny must be one very sad individual.

That's a real shame, so sorry for him. It's that sudden burst of acceleration that brings it on. I would have thought he would have been doing sprints in his recovery period. To be honest I was surprised he was being risked on a really cold night.

In the flesh three times, all away games. A pal of mine was a scout for ' City many years ago and he only scouted players in away games. You get a better idea of how they deal with adversity that way. On tv a few more times. He's a likeable guy and he has his strengths but most of the time he's invisible. That's just my opinion. What's your opinion of him.

That doesn't say much for what he's learnt from " the teat of my wisdom " does it ? Regarding Antonnson, I still hold to my initial opinion of the lad when I first saw him play. He's a trier but the bottom line is he's a light weight. He chips in with the odd goal when the opposition has forgotten he's actually playing but other than that - not a lot

Rhodes started for Sheffield Wed but got subbed.

Coyle was just a bull shitter. Nothing he said was worth listening to.

Whatever people think about Mowbray's tactics, team selection etc at least he says all the right things.

If you think a win tomorrow equals certain promotion you've a lot to learn about football.

When do the clocks go forward ? That was when I thought he'd be back playing when he got the injury but I may be out a few weeks. Starting training again after that length of time out of the game means we may only see him in the last half dozen games. Lets hope a serious warm up procedure is in place for him when he does eventually get a game.

He's never going to be a prolific goal scorer I'm afraid. He lacks that sharpness in front of goal that the likes of Grahamn Armstrong and Antonnson have. If he doesn't waken up and start putting himself about he's going to find himself loaned out at the sort of lower rung clubs mentioned in that article next season.

He's not really a winger though is he ? He just occupies that area of the pitch sniffing out goalscoring opportunities. Being fair to the lad when they come along he puts them away.

I agree with a lot of that Stuart. We certainly have " an embarrassment of riches " at this level. However I don't see Antonnson as a utility player. He seems more suited to that floating left sided auxiliary striker role that he was playing before he got injured. I'd still prefer Armstrong in that role but Antonnson is handy as a back up.

My first impressions of him was that he was a grafter who would make goals for the team by his work rate but wouldn't be a prolific scorer because he lacked that sharpness around goal. Well I was right about the goalscoring.

I agree Gavlar but if he did want away a bit of good form out on the pitch would have helped his cause. Going off what I've seen he's not good enough for our first team never mind a team playing at a higher level.

I can't see Johnno hanging around for much longer. Football is a very small world and what he's doing at Rovers won't be going un-noticed.

You play the formation that suits the strengths of your players. If we still had Andre Oojer,Kevin Moran, Stephane Hechoz as centre backs and Kevin Hird and John Bailey as wing backs we could play that way, but we haven't.

That wasn't Tony Green Den. That was Johnny Green , a hard tackling wing half that played for Blackpool in the early to mid 1960's. Tony Green didn't sign for Blackpool until the Summer of 1967.

Probably. There were plenty of dickheads at football matches then.

First time I went to Rovers as a kid it cost me 1 shilling and 6 pence to get in ( 7.5p ) in today's money. At Utd it was 1 and 3, even cheaper. I was getting 12 shillings and 6 pence for my paper round so work out how many games I could go to in a week. Most times I went to 2 games, sometimes 3 and now and again 4 games in a week. I also bought a programme for most of them. Train fare to Maine Rd, Burnden Park, Old Trafford was peanuts. Bus fare to Ewood, Bury , Oldham, Burnley wasn't much more. Rochdale I could walk to. No faffing about with tickets and away ends. You rocked up, put your money down, and walked in.

Best get back there then before you miss something important.