Mattyblue

We scuppered ourselves, someone may correct me but wasn’t it that the Ewood offices were shut when he came for sign. Was told to ‘come back tomorrow’ or after the weekend, Fergie got wind of the delay and the rest is history. The club at that time was growing too quickly for its still rather second division set-up.

He may well be forthright in interviews and ‘one of the lads’ in the dressing room, unfortunately he’s been a ‘delicate little flower’ on the pitch thus far,

In the 90s? Never. In the 2000s? Possibly, we certainly weren’t paying wages substantially, if at all higher than clubs like West Brom by the late Walker Trust era when they had Di Matteo/Hodgson. Glad to hear it.

Well you did then like other posts saying ‘how far we’ve fallen to lose players to West Brom’ etc. so...

Were you? Didn’t sound like it or the other posters saying similar things straight after. Glad to hear you didn’t mean it anyway.

West Bromwich Albion are Founder Members of the Football League, they’ve spent around 80 seasons as a top flight club (10 seasons more than us), they’ve also won numerous trophies. They are a historical football club of similar ilk to Blackburn Rovers... oh and they are in the Premier League. Some serious football illiteracy if you think West Brom are a ‘nothing club’.

Ha that’s why I quickly edited after a Wiki, too slow obvs! I’m sure I spent the 90s thinking they were Aussie... probably how we signed Robbie Slater, or something

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Think they were only on trial. Naughty Rovers breaking the ‘1 A Trialist’ , ‘8 A Trialist’ rule and naming them.

One of our top earners (if not the biggest) playing for the U23s last night. That League 1 salary cap has caused a headache as that dead weight contract of Mulgrew will take some shifting...

Our announcement is due, then?

Noticed Willem Tomlinson was playing for Accy last night against the U23s. Looks like something has gone on down at Mansfield off the pitch by the looks of this thread... https://www.stagsnet.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=37273

The ‘disconnect’ that Tom mentions is going to be a big problem. Talking to the father in law yesterday, who’s been going since the early 60s, he said he’d lost a hell of a lot of interest. The longer there’s nothing on sale, the longer folk are out of the ground, the more will simply drift away, happy to have their weekends back.

Immediately? He’s about to start his third season here...

We must have visited on different occasions...

But you also need to pick an 11 to win games. He was very poor for the most part in his cameos, the manager can’t then risk building an attack around him.

Newcastle is usually silent, one of the biggest myths going about ‘52,000 screaming Geordies’. They gave 10,000 STs away for free last season as their fans had walked away. No club has fans any more ‘passionate’ than any other. Is Joe Bloggs, Newcastle fan more passionate than Joe Harvey, Rovers fan? And it certainly wasn’t the case in the 90s, which is Batty’s terms of reference...

Define ‘great’?

Total nonsense though. Conflating raw numbers (that one club big cities like those two should have) with passion.

It really was just a job for him. Since retirement he’s totally walked away from the game, no interest - as proven when he was the only member of the 94/95 squad not to come to Ewood for the reunion evening.

Considering league games are only £10, and you can get a SEASON pass for £110 (£4.70 a game), yes I think it’s poor value.

Batty was one of the best midfielders I’ve ever seen at Ewood. 93/94 he was immense. However, spent much of the next season injured and left at Christmas the year after, so obviously he didn’t have the consistent presence Sherwood had. Though still a much better player, for me.

A competitive game? Absolutely. However fans are still consumers and expect value, £5.99 is steep for a friendly on a stream.

Thought it was a service provided by Blackpool?

He looked better, though from a very low base. Really, really hope you are right, vital that such a big outlay for the club turns out ok. With a name like yours, I presume you’ve been watching football a long time, so fair enough if you think he ‘has it’, for me, he still seems extremely raw and not someone who will make a telling impact in the short to medium term.