Them too, but I was mostly referring to fans of other clubs. I used to hang with a few Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs fans at uni, and I remember trying to tell them just how good Brad Friedel was. They actually laughed when I told them he was a better keeper than Jens Lehman, but it was me who should have been laughing. As far as they were concerned though, nobody could be considered world class playing outside of the top 4/5 teams in England. I don't feel like Brad got his full dues until he'd played at Villa and moreover Spurs, and even then he doesn't get as much credit as he should from many. Far as I'm concerned, the top three keepers in Prem history are him, Schmeichel and peak Cech. Whatever order people want to put them is subjective, but those have to be the top three for me. On ability, not shit like trophies (which really depends a lot on the other ten players around you). I'm quite sure many football fans from the general public would replace Friedel with Van der Saar (who isn't far off tbf), and for me that's purely because he played for Manure. Incidentally, Friedel was also under consideration by Manure at the time, and the main reason they went for Edwin instead was reported to be because we would have wanted a lot more money than Fulham. There have been plenty of other terrific keepers who aren't too far off the reckoning (Jaaskelain was another underrated due to who he played for), but I reject any notion of that not being the top three. Still personal opinion of course, but I'm not for budging. Brad was superhuman, and so consistent. A human wall. But many couldn't see it until he was at higher profile clubs. Another bone of contention for me in this regard is how many players haven't been called up to England (or not often enough) due to playing for us and other 'unfashionable' clubs. Even in favour of 'big club' bench warmers at times. But that's a whole other rant.

Who else has ever scored only 13 goals (all competitions) for a club, and yet 10 of them are of that standard? Truly didn't score tap ins. Unless my memory is bad, it didn't seem like he shot from distance very often, but when he did it was usually a quality effort. Not sure why he didn't take more pops, other than that maybe he was smart enough to know and feel in his bones when it was likely to work and when it wasn't.

I'm not on about our fans.

Not that anyone was willing to admit it until they left us.

I feel like every day should be that time of year. I love how he clearly shouts 'Fuck off!' after scoring that Fulham goal at the end.

As a Rovers fan, surely you've been disappointed plenty this last decade?

I mean, it wasn't for me, but I don't find it helpful to call people morons for having different taste in what media they enjoy.

Are Luton moving to a new stadium, or it doesn't meet Prem league standards or something? Confused by the pundit saying 'I really hope we get to see Premiership football at Kenilworth Road'... they just got promoted so, presumably, yes we will?

Wouldn't surprise me if the crumpled up piece of paper being tossed around is how we handled the O'Brien deal...

I remember Mowbray saying when we signed him they thought he was going to play in the Prem. Looks like it'll come true, unless they buy a couple of new LBs.

All those quality penalties and then Dabo absolutely skies his. I was saying all you need to do at this point (sudden death) is gently chip one down the middle. No way those keepers weren't going to dive before the kick with pens landing right in the corner. I like a minnow success story, even if it makes me jealous whilst we flounder like this. Both were surprise packages for promotion, and I know a Cov fan who's a good bloke and respects Rovers, so I didn't have the hate of them some seem to. I remember them being good with us when we mathematically lost the title at Highfield back in the day too. But Luton are the smaller minnows and I wanna see Manure fans walking through that terraced turnstile. So had no real preference overall. Cov will surely lose Gyokeres now, either to a weak Prem side or a relegated one.

If England could take penalties like this lot, we'd be laughing.

I'm not sure why you used Tugay as an example. Much more exciting signing than Niall Ennis. I think the main reason this video is a bit cringe is the player in question is a freebie from League One, and we already knew about it hours before the announcement. If it was a genuine surprise and a marquee signing, I'd understand building some 'suspense'.

You yourself frequently seem to think they should put more money in. Ungrateful eh... Top 10% of owners, don't make me puke. I hope your post was tongue in cheek.

In fact, to answer my own question, yes, it would be just over 1,000 less capacity than Bournemouth's was when they went up. https://www.si.com/fannation/soccer/futbol/news/luton-town-smallest-premier-league-stadium-ever-kenilworth-road

Wiki says they were in the Conference Premier (their first time ever at that level) from 2009/10, and got in the playoffs 3 out of 4 seasons whilst down there, finishing 7th in the other season, so they weren't dabbling with the Conference South. Still an embarassing difference between the two clubs' fates from that starting point under billionaire Venkys to where we both find ourselves today. Out of curiosity, if Luton go up will their stadium (10,356 capacity) be the smallest in the history of the Premier League? Not counting capacities limited due to building work and strictly talking Premiership not top flight.

Since we're offering Whitehall a new deal, with all the injury issues he's had, you'd think we'd be offering Harlock one too. Seems to have played well.

'To who? There's only one 5 ft 6 lad in the box!'

He lost me at 'selected on merit...in games'. Anyone who couldn't see there were light years between Wharton and Morton on match day, in favour of the former, can't spot a CM. What happens in training is scant consolation if you can't deliver it consistently on a match day. One of my biggest fears for this window is that we try to get Morton back and Wharton gets benched again.

If we sell him for less than double that, we aren't doing this right. (Entirely possible of course)

His wife has come out and said what?! What do you mean he needs a minder?

Ah, I see we were of a mind! Freddy Adu wasted his talent. Wayne Rooney just perhaps didn't quite reach the extreme heights he could have.

Wasted his talent is a bit harsh. I do think he could have been an even greater player than he was, potentially could have been the greatest English striker of all time, but he was generally regarded as world class for quite a while. England's second most-capped, and second-highest goalscorer. Over 200 Premier League goals, over 100 assists. Manure's all time top scorer. Most Champions League goals of any English player. 5 prem titles, 1 FA cup, 3 League Cups, 1 Champions League, 1 Europa League. He had an excellent career. Just because he could arguably have been even better doesn't take away from that. Good role model as a person, no, but that's a vast level of top end football experience. Not saying I want him, but wasted his talent seems a push.

Everyone used to hang around in the concourse after the game to hear Souey speak, especially if the ref had done us over! No other Rovers manager has or will talk to the press that bluntly with that much passion. It started to go off the boil near the end, and it hurt a little that he jumped to Newcastle (even if we knew it wasn't working for him at Ewood anymore), but he is well up there with the modern great managers at the club. Promotion, cup win, top six finishing, passion...and he brought in Tugay (1.3 mill) and Friedel (free), and got the best out of Duff. Three of the greatest players in our history, and definitely the three greatest since the title-winning team. He also brought in Hughes, without which we probably wouldn't have ended up with Hughes as our manager. Souey was a vital part of our history.

If he does, we either get promoted or lose him.