SIMON GARNERS 194

Blackburn is a small, backwater ex mill town and apart from the Rover's it has very little else to shout about to be honest. For 129 year's it has been the club that has put the town's name on the national and sometimes international stage...no other town in the UK has had a more successful football club than our's. Please dont treat the club with contempt. Hopefully the stay away 'fans' will begin to open their eye's(and wallets) to the good that Mark Hughes will bring to Ewood and come back into the fold,but dont hold your breath as our lot are historically a damned hard bunch to please for some unknown reason...almost arrogant in their apathy at times. That matter aside though,If you look at the fact's and figure's our support has maybe not grown as forecast but HAS,without doubt,stayed loyal in the main over the last 12 year's or so and as Gav suggested, our 'hardcore' support has doubled if not trebled over that period. P.S. In the 96/97 Premiership season we played Sheff Wendy at Ewood infront of a crowd of little over 19,000...are we making too much of what was bound to be a low attendance against Pompey?

Thats what the fans want to hear Hughsey,encouraging queues at the TO today....oh the optimism for a change!.

My father used to enthuse about Bill Eckersley so much..one hell of a player he used to say and a Rovers man through and through! The story of how he used to display his England caps in the house window on Bolton rd and how his ashes were scattered on the Ewood park pitch after he passed away warm the heart....21,000 turned out for his testimonial game in '61. Read non other than Sir Tom Finneys book.....he used to hate playing against Bill if anymore proof is needed. Never saw him play but he gets my vote.

Only £10 and £5 a ticket folks....come on down!!

NO massively under strength side please,lets treat the cherries with respect and finish them off good style...no banana skin required here,just a few more through the gate on the night!

Reading some of the comments on their message boards it would appear some Bounemouth fans are expecting a 25,000 crowd due to the 'hughes factor' ....JHC ARE THEY IN FOR A BIG LET DOWN!!!! http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=9...ytoid=536365475

I personally feel we are missing him no question...thought we would do as soon as he left.Hypothetical, but I wonder how he would have played under Hughes? a manager who quite possibly could have understood and handled him a bit better..... Oh well,a big thank you(not! ) to Souness, I have no doubt the club would be in a better position with him still leading the attack.

Comfortable 2-0 win,our team confidence continues to build.....the strange phenomenon of fans walking home from Ewood with smiles on their faces is seen for the second time this season!

Jansen,Gallagher,Emerton,Bothroyd..the future could be a bright one.

Emerton looked a different player second half, his attacking runs down the middle looked promising and nearly bore fruit,he does have good ball control....keep it up fella! Paul, I really do hope Emerton told Hughes were he is most comfortable playing...is it fair to expect a player to play out of position and still produce the goods?.According to the world of Souness the answer is yes.

I must admit that after an awful first half I turned to my mate and said Hughes has really got his hands full turning this (Souness made) mish-mash of a side around...I still think that. Our team offered little in the first 45 to be honest and didn't look like being able to raise their game even in front of their new manager.Thank god the second half was much improved but why are we seemingly unable to perform as a team in the first half of a game....its happened so many times its unbelievable!!

Even worse Roverite..ONLY 19,000 Rovers fans to welcome the new manager then...shyte.

VERY HAPPY TONIGHT FOR A CHANGE!! Positives: WE WON! Matt Jansen scoring the winning goal...welcome back lad. Emerton looks to have a lot more confidence....played well. Boothroyd....very good home debut. Negative: MGP.... early days but has shown very little to impress. Only 20,000 to welcome our new manager,bottom club Palace had 5,000 more on today.Good vocal support as ever but we must start pulling more through the gates.(somehow!)

If our players cant raise their game for this one infront of a new manager and expectant crowd then we are in BIG trouble,simple as.

'nothing would please me more than seeing the only way for you lot and PNE to survive is an unholy alliance' If that sad day ever came about Longside I'm sure we would find joyful solace in the knowledge that ickle Burnley fc had passed into the history books of 'disbanded fc' a long,long time previous!!!

The more I read about Hughes the more I realise what a calm,intelligent and thoughful fella he is..tomorrow cant come quick enough!

Lets just all concentrate on giving the new manager 100% from the stands,we all desperately want this to work...we can do no more.

'I can assure you we do have more than our fair share of hooligans.' No need to assure anyone Longsider..it's well known!

JESUS CHRIST LADS!! Lets just stick to the tried and tested 'USEY! USEY!! USEY!!!'

Two year deal and then rolling contract for Souness MUST DELIVER SILVERWARE TO 'MASSIVE CLUB'

WELCOME BACK TO EWOOD SPARKY!! The missing 3-4k now have roughly 2 days to get of their backsides and let the ticket office see the colour of their money....LETS GET THIS CLUB ROLLING AGAIN! Like many others, I'm very much looking forward to Saturday now for the first time in a long while.

Remember his goal in the friendly against Barca JHC!!!

If he is at Ewood come Sat I'm sure Sparky will recieve one hell of a reception,now is NOT the time to be scrutinising and having doubts chris,the new manager and club need all the backing from the town it can muster....we need to pull together because it appears from the scurrilous and downright vindictive comments from various media sources of late about our proud club that a lot of the country would be glad to see Rovers fall flat on their faces Here's hoping we get that responce from the supporters...two extra tickets bought today!

Would be nice to see this increase in optimism about the club manifest itself into the form of 2-3k more on the gate on Saturday...here's to wishful thinking eh!

With the greatest of respect theno why should I answer a totally hypothetical and pointless question? Rovers have been the leading football light in East Lancashire for many a year and continue to do so despite the current problems...our hand still remains very strong. We stand on the verge of appointing a new and young manager,we have the biggest support,best ground,youth facilities(maybe in the uk?) etc out of all the Lancashire town clubs. I'm sorry to say but the doom mongers on here need to give our club and us all a break!!