Parsonblue

There is no primary source ( or zero evidence, as you put it) to suggest that the club played in Blue & White during their first season. There is a primary source, published by the club in 1909, that shows that the club passed a motion to play in white shirts with a blue Maltese cross. This was proposed and seconded by founder members of the club. By the time of the first known photograph (circa 1878/1879) they were in shirts which some players had white on the right hand side and some had white on the left hand side.

Two wonderful performances in four days for those of us who travel to every away game. This was very much a game of two halves. In the first, we played some great stuff at times and dominated the home side. In the second half we showed a different side to our character with a really dogged performance to defend the lead and grind out a result. There can be no doubt that these players are definitely playing for Ismael. One could see at the end the relationship between players and manager is a close one. Defensively we look so more solid and the players are putting their bodies on the line to block shots and make tackles to keep the opposition at bay. Scott's brilliant diving headed clearance with a boot heading towards his head being a perfect example. Scott is playing out of his skin and the moment and for me is the perfect captain. Two players who seem to get a fair amount of stick were outstanding last night. Hedges makes this team so much better when he is in it. Playing with a back three you need wing backs who can attack and defend and last night he was non-stop in doing both. The other player was Forshaw who was excellent when he came on in midfield. He used his experience to anchor things in midfield whilst also getting forward. I must admit that Gardner-Hickman is really growing on me and is a real workhorse in midfield. Up front, Yuki and Gudjohnsen are beginning to look a more than decent partnership. Yuki just never stops and is the very definition of a ninety-minute player. The injuries to Toth and Scott are a worry but, hopefully, the international break has come at the right time. Six points from the first four days of November is a wonderful return.

Set pieces have become increasingly important in the game today in terms of data. Most clubs have a set piece coach. Arsenal have become far more potent from corners etc., since they appointed a set piece coach. It's not the football I grew up with in the early sixties, but the game today is completely different. At the end of the day we have to progress and change with the times. Having said that, I much preferred the football of the early sixties to what I watch, particularly in the Premier League, today.

It's a very open league this season, with only Sheffield Wednesday really adrift and likely to have a relegation place already pre-booked. If we can continue to defend like yesterday, and we can start taking the chances we create I believe we will be clear of any threat of relegation come the end of the season. The real plus point for me yesterday was the way in which Gudjohnsen took his chances. They were the goals of a proper striker, in and around the six yard box, and snaping up the chances that came his way. The first goal, in particular, was the sign of a player who was prepared to anticipate a potential chance when most would have been on their heels expecting the defender to clear the ball. I think we look a team who are, in many ways, probably more suited to playing away from home. Certainly, apart from Charlton, we have looked pretty decent on our travels, including Coventry, where we bossed the first half but didn't take our chances. If we can start to grind out results at home, our season may well be better than many expected. I think that turning our home form around is now the key to what sort of season this will be.

Another really enjoyable away performance. Days like today are why so many of us spend our time travelling up and down motorways - to witness a really accomplished performance like this one. In fairness, we've looked good in a number of games but haven't been able to make it count in terms of goals. Today we looked dangerous going forward and defensively we looked fairly solid and Toth made an outstanding save to keep us ahead. The back three are starting to combine well and the wing backs look a constant threat going forward, although I thought we left ourselves exposed down the flanks in the early stages. I thought Hickman and Tronstad worked hard in midfield, as did Montgomery when he came on. Up front, Yuki works non-stop and never gives the defenders any rest. He's an intelligent player and hopefully his partnership with Gudjohnson will continue to produce goals. Tuesday will be a tough one, always is at Ashton Gate, but I most admit that I'll be making that journey far more hopeful after today.

The club have recognised 1875 as the founding date. Thus the 2025-26 season is the 150th Anniversary. The Centenary game was in November 1975 against Bolton Wanderers. (1975-76 was the Centenary season). The 50th Anniversary was celebrated in 1925-26 season and the club produced a book to celebrate that anniversary. The 125th Anniversary was celebrated in 2000-01 with the Anniversary game being against Wolves on 18th November 2000. The newspaper report in January 1876 reported the 1875-76 season as the club's first season. Reproduced minutes of the first meetings are dated November 1875. Anything else is just speculation.

See my point above Rev. History evolves. Thanks, I've read this book and its a very good work. As for the year - that's a whole other debate. In the late 19 and early 20th Centuries it fluctuated between 1874 and 1875. The debate finally ended - from the club's point of view - in 1924 when they stated 1875 was the date they recognized. In October 1924, the Blackburn Times began a weekly series of articles on the history of the club to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. Those articles had 1874 as the date of founding. After three weeks they included a footnote that the club would recognize 1875 as the date. Charles Francis, who was involved with the articles in the Blackburn Times that quoted 1874 as the date, was then asked the write the book to celebrate the 50th Anniversary and he in that book he went along with the club and stated the founding date was 1875. It may be that informal talks took place in 1874 but the actual formation was in 1875. Certainly, the minutes that I've referred to in earlier posts quote 1875. The Blackburn Standard reported on the game between Rovers and Cob Wall in January 1876 and that quoted the 1875-76 season as being the first season for the club.

The minutes of the early meetings only came to light when someone showed me the 1909 programme which contained them. I've never seen any reference to shirts during that first season apart from those contained in the minutes. That's the beauty of history, it continues to evolve as more and more primary source material comes to light.

Could you let me have the primary source that states the colour of the shirts against Church? Genuine question as I would love to read it. None of the primary sources I have read mention the shirts so I'm fascinated with you've found and, as I say, would love to read it.

The minutes of the first two meetings were printed in a Rovers programme in December 1909 as part of a series of articles on the club's history.

The minutes of the very first meeting of the club (9th November 1875) contained the following: 4. That the colours be : White jersey, blue and white skull cap, trousers optional. Proposed by H. Greenwood. Seconded by R. Higson. The minutes of the meeting the following week (15th November 1875) contained the following: 1. That a Maltese cross be on the left breast in blue. Proposed by W. Baguley. Seconded by A. Constantine.

Completely agree with that assessment arbitro. At half-time we were well in the game and ought to have been on the score sheet. Unfortunately, our inability to convert chances is becoming a serious concern. Despite Pep football, the game is still about what happens in the two penalty areas. Yesterday, we played some decent stuff at times in getting up and down the pitch. In the first half we more than matched a Coventry side who, I have no doubt, will be chasing promotion this season. They have terrific firepower at their disposal and it told in the end. However, at the moment we don't score enough goals and we don't keep clean sheets. That's always been a recipe for relegation in the past and it's no different today. Val has to find a way of changing those simple truths with the players he has available. The next two home games are huge, not to mention the upcoming game with Derby. I would say we need at least seven points from those three games to try to get some momentum into the season.

Sounds very much like his time with Rovers. His inability to get the defensive side of the game right undermined his good intentions in terms of attacking football. Also sounds like the players lost confidence in him in the end. It would be interesting to see how successful he could be if he appointed an assistant who was a good defensive coach.

Did you expect more than a League game against Bolton for the 100th Anniversary? We've done exactly the same for this Anniversary as the 100th and 125th. All I'm saying is what is the difference in terms of an Anniversary match. They have all been regular League games played on or as close to 5th November as possible.

The LEAGUE match is the Anniversary game, just as the the 100th and 125th Anniversaries were League games. The Old Etonians seems to be an added extra. There is a book, just as there was for the 100th and 125th. Sorry, I just don't get the outrage over this particular point.

For our 100th Anniversary we played a League game v Bolton. For our 125th Anniversary we played a League game v Wolves. For our 150th Anniversary we have a League game v Derby County + the Old Etonians game. Not sure why the uproar about this game when the previous two anniversary games took place without comment at the time.

At times it seemed as if we were playing with a 4-1-4-1 formation with Frank Vare being the holding player. In fairness, I thought the system was quite fluid and Powell was given a fairly free role. I've always been a great fan of Powell from the first time I saw him with the Under-18s. He has pace and despite his frail build, he's as hard as nails. A really tough tackler and seems to have a football brain. At times Batty was popping up in a more central position when we were attacking and ended up being caught out of position when moves broke down. As you say, injuries to Dunn and Litherland have caused issues in selection, but that's the nature of the beast with Under-21 football. You rarely get the same eleven twice and we seem keen on switching players to play different roles.

A win, against a more than impressive Orient outfit, is welcome after recent results. However, if Orient's final ball had been better they could easily have got at least a point, even with ten men. I thought Brandon Powell was our best performer. He seemed to have a roving commission and his pace and movement was a delight to watch. Orient looked a very skilful outfit. Quick in attack, with one touch passes which left us struggling to keep up at times. A mixture of wayward shooting and a poor final pass let them down. Honour looked confident in goal and made some decent saves. He's a big lad but gets down well and seems to have good judgement. Batty continues to be something of an enigma. He ought to be a dominant figure at this level, with his experience, but at times looked disinterested and petulant. He went missing when Orient scored and in my view needs a loan move for the second half of the season if he is to develop into the player we want him to be. Up front, Joseph proved a handful in the first half before tiring after the interval. He's still very raw but there does look to be potential there.

He was bad, believe me. A disaster from day one. He got my vote without me having to think about it. Replacing Dave Wagstaffe with an over the hill John Aston - unbelievable!

Bob Crompton, the 'greatest' Rover of them all would need to take pride of place on such a monument.

Agree with everything that Arbitro said about yesterday. Charlton is never my favourite trip but yesterday was probably one of the worst performances I've seen in a long while. Quite simply we we bullied by a team who wanted it more, that had a clear game plan and who had players who knew how to exploit our many weaknesses. I couldn't believe that this was the same team that played so well at Watford the other week. Today was the sort of game that cried out for the type of leadership that Travis gave you on the pitch. We needed a leader on the field who was prepared to do battle. For all his footballing qualities, Cantwell is not that sort of leader and he disappeared for large parts of the game. Indeed, some of his passing was way off yesterday. I accept that these players are new and still adapting to the Championship, but we can't afford too many more of these sort of performances. I'm looking for a huge improvement against Swansea.

A really disappointing performance in the second half today. Despite being in a strong position at 2-0 and then 3-1, the youngsters lost control and then failed to do the basics in terms of defending. Blackpool, who don't have an under-21 team, looked a pretty decent outfit. This was a steep learning curve for our youngsters but hopefully, one that will benefit them in the future. A Blackpool fan informed me that James Butterworth, who scored a couple for the visitors when he came on as a second-half sub, is the son of John Butterworth - a former youth and reserve player for us in the early 1990s who many will remember from when Jim Furnell was running the youth set up.

I think John Prince was taking the team with Tuffy assisting. It was a pretty dull affair, particularly in the second-half. Fully agree with arbitro about Batty. Really needs to move on for his own sake. Looks totally disinterested at Under-21 level and also caught out of position on so many occasions. Another game for the Under-21's today which I expect to be a very young side.

What's the rivers like next to their ground? It's been a while since I was last on Chorley but I don't recall it being in a similar situation to Ewood. Unfortunately, and it doesn't happen that often, when the river is in its present state there is not much you can do. To do anything about the river it would require the Environment agency to get involved and that would be a long drawn out process. I remember games being played in a sea of mud in the sixties but we still had abandonments and postponements. The pitch has improved beyond recognition to those days but the torrential rain we had today was always going to be a challenge. In fairness, the ref was in a difficult situation as conditions got steadily worse during the second half. Driving home from Ewood, the roads were none too clever either. As for the game itself, it was another encouraging performance on the back of the good result and performance at Watford.

Totally agree with the above arbitro. Yesterday was exactly what following Rovers is about. So much to be encouraged about. I must admit that looking at some of the individual performances yesterday, I think Gestede and his crew deserve a bit of praise for finding some of these players who, to be honest, I'd never heard of until they arrived here. Morishita, like Ohashi, has skill and the right work ethic. Gudjohnsen looks a real handful, Miller is a player who can adapt to different roles and certainly lets the opposition know he's not to be messed with. Alebiosu is really growing on me as an attacking right-back. Admittedly, it's still early on in the season, but I've seen plenty to be encouraged about with this rebuild thus far. Val has got the type of players he wants to work with so it will be interesting to see how it develops. It was also great to see Carter and Wharton back to their best yesterday. I'm especially pleased for Scott who bleeds 'blue and white' and after his injuries it was wonderful to see him in such commanding form.