The Freemasons is excellent, as is the White Swan at Fence and the Red Pump at Bashall Eaves is good too. The Parkers Arms at Newton has a great reputation, although I've not been.

In Preston Fino has recently opened and is an outstanding tapas place.

No we aren't. We get £100K for a home match live on Sky and £10K for an away game, but nothing for the red button games.

Derby is around twice the size of Blackburn.

Brentford are owned by Matthew Benham, who made his money from online gambling and is a fan. they will also be moving to a new ground next year. Bournemouth have been majority owned by a Russian with plenty of money.

If you can get to Preston you can take the train - 12.17 gets to Stoke at 13.31 or 13.17 arriving at 14.32. Coming back at 18.02 getting back to Preston at 19.54. Advance tickets available now. Station car park at Preston £6.

From the station take a cab or it's about a 40 minute walk along the canal towpath.

No. I haven't even finished writing the minutes yet.

So it's been quite a year for UK cycling with all 3 Grand Tours being won by British riders. And British riders have now won the last 5 in a row. I think Simon Yates' win in the Vuelta is the most impressive, one for him being only 26, which is very young for a Grand Tour winner and coming from a team which is not Sky. Sky are by some way the team with the biggest budget in world cycling and have been hoovering up a lot of young talent for several years now. But they let the Yates brothers get away and they have found great success with the Aussie team (now Mitchelton Scott). And technically Simon is the first rider born in England to win a Grand Tour.

I've had a good year cycling too. I did a bit in New Zealand and Australia earlier in the year and then on a week in Mallorca in May. In between I've been regularly on the roads in Lancashire and I feel my frm is stringer now than it's ever been (at least since I was in my 20s). We are off to Greece for a week soon to a hotel with a road biking centre so hopefully I should get some more good rides in there as well.

4 hours ago, bob fleming said:

The play off games v Derby are easily in my top twenty of all time and the 4-2 win at Ewood right up there with the very best. What a game. 2 nil down early on. Here we go, blown it yet again.  Speedie (2) Newell and Sellers saw them off. The atmosphere at the back of the BBE was crazy. The away leg was incredibly tense. Derby were a good team. Kevin Moran scoring with a typically brave header, the image never to be forgotten as he leapt above the Derby defence and time stood still as he seemed to hover up there for a couple of minutes before crashing the ball home.

That's still the only game I've been to where the crowd carried on singing right through the half time interval.

12 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

How was the forum meeting? 

Fine thanks.

I just watched most of the first half from the lounge in the Blackburn End after the Fans Forum meeting. We had to guess who was playing.

0-0 at half time. Rovers were comfortably the best side in the first half and should really be in front, a combination of a few wasted opportunities and a good save or two. Rodwell is playing centre back but in truth had virtually nowt to do. A centre midfield of Travis and Tomlinson controlled the game. It was a most un Arsenal like performance but I've no idea who is playing for them - it could be a very young side. You expect them to be good on the ball and have plenty of possession even if the end product is not great but they have had little of the ball and have been caught in possession plenty of times.

I think Rovers might have a few left Neal...

If that's when you get into Preston you should make it just. I've left home about a mile from the station later than that and made it.

Presumably by now you know Faulkner was injured.

Start the car Husky!

Surely Lester will be ahead of Onions to start?

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Wouldnt drop Anderson at all. Broad probably deserve dropping tbh. 

Was this discuss during the Ed Smith TMS Interview? 

Talking to a friend about Lancashire woes and he suggest Tom Moody which I thought was a good shout. Also suggest Stuart Law. 

They are not being dropped Chaddy but rested. I don't know whether it was in the Ed Smith interview as I didn't hear it but it was discussed on the commentary during the last day's play.

36 minutes ago, Husky said:

Does anyone know the ticket arrangements for this game - like can you pay 'on the door''? I know some games you can't actually buy tickets after a certain time.

I'm just asking as a Plan B should Lancs Lightning lose in the T20 cricket semi-final then there's a possibility I could make it just before kick off.

 

Yes you can, but the price will be £3 more after 12pm, which it will be if you're waiting for the end of the semi-final. I thought they might push that time back for a 5.30 kick-off but it looks like they haven't.

Love Balaji

19 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Anyone on a view on Broad reported to be drop for Sri Lanka? Right decision? 

I'm assuming he's being rested rather than droppedI TMS was suggesting on the last day of the test that Broad and Anderson would be doing one tour each to Sri Lanka and the West Indies. The problem with that was who was going to tell Jimmy he wasn't going to the Caribbean!

4 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Employing Steve Kean was ridiculous. I'm just asking not to be charged a fee for replacing a card that I've already paid for once.

So,If they charge me a fee I wasn't aware of for replacing a ST that was stolen from me I consider that being robbed.

You may think it's acceptable, but even just from a customer service point of view, I don't...especially when that fee seems to be discretionary anyway.

You might think a fee is not justified or you might think £10 is too much, but no way can you argue that you're being robbed.

Whether it's a luxury or not, there are still costs associated with replacing the cards. Having your wallet stolen is unfortunate, but describing the ticket office of robbing you by asking for a payment for a service is ridiculous.

If you don't replace your rail card you are going to lose your discounts - it's a choice not to renew but not a very smart one.

Oyster card replacement is, surprisingly, free by the way.

Terry McPhillips was appointed permanently on Monday.

The £10 replacement charge has been in place for years. I can remember having to replace one at least 10 years ago and it was £10 then.

Jennings is 26. He obviously won't be in the Roses game starting tomorrow.

I believe Ed Smith indicated at lunchtime that he's likely to be off to Sri Lanka though.

Unfortunately whilst Hampshire and Yorkshire may well lose they will no doubt have some bonus points so the table will be very tight and Lancs will probably slip a bit. Also most teams have a game in hand on Lancs, so it's going to need at least one more win and all their games are now away from home.

Still, it was a great win, which should give them some confidence going away to somerset on Monday. I was at the game on Wednesday and I left thinking there was no chance of a win. Josh Bohannon looks to me a real prospect. He batted very fluently in the first innings until needlessly run out as well as his second innings knock.

You're right - Leeds is a big city and there is a huge catchment for United as there is a lack of other nearby competition. But only by using the artificial administrative boundaries can you argue that Leeds is 1.5 times the size of either Manchester or Liverpool. no one could seriously suggest that Manchester, Salford, Trafford and Stockport are not part of one conurbation. Likewise Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley and Wirral.

Anyway, all this has nowt to do with tomorrow's game. Bristol's population is c450K!

29 minutes ago, renrag said:

Leeds gates are not that great for a one club city with a population one and a half the size of Liverpool or Manchester. The only competition for miles around is Huddersfield and Bradford.

Lies, damned lies and statistics. Leeds' population only looks large because it just has one metropolitan council area, like Birmingham. Both Merseyside and Greater Manchester are bigger.

Anyway, back to the game. I'll be there - my wife is from Bristol and her brother and his wife are season ticket holders at Ashton Gate, so it's an obvious one for me.

For anyone driving down I would suggest coming ff the M5 at junction 18 at Avonmouth. Follow the A4 towards Bristol and just after going past the motorway there is a Park & Ride on the right. It's free to park and there are dedicated buses running straight to Ashton Gate. The parking is very difficult round the ground so this is far and away the easiest way to get there. And if you're old enough for a bus pass it's free.