Been to two gigs in the last week or so - Jim Bob (of Carter USM fame) last Thursday at Darwen Library Theatre and Pixies at Manchester Apollo last Sunday.

The former played a fantastic acoustic set interspersed with amusing anecdotes in between songs. It was a real pleasure to be there (only a tenner a ticket) especially in such an intimate venue and fair play to the guy afterwards came for photos in the foyer area.

Pixies were on stage for 110 minutes - no introduction, no waffle between songs just relentless hard and fast rock n roll. There were blokes of 60+ pogoing at the side of the seats. Loved it.

Went to the shiiine on weekender at Butlins, Minehead in early November and, yet again, had a great time. Highlights musically were The Bluetones and Shed Seven who played back to back on the Saturday night. Rick Witter is an absolute star and a proper front man.

Other quality performances were from The Wonder Stuff and Jesus Jones - the latter shunted into a Sunday afternoon slot. Watched Black Grape on the Sunday night who were quite appalling as Shaun Ryder really couldn't be arsed and decided to shout his way through it. In reality they should've swapped slots with the excellent Jesus Jones.

It's a great atmosphere there with 6,500 like minded people all there for the same thing - no aggro - just appreciating the music.

Neithers his arse

Love it!!!

I have loved some of the last few posts about the eighties. I was in my late teens and early twenties and despite some of those heartbreak near misses in the play offs, the club was my life back then.

It is a shame that it doesn't feel like that anymore, but no one can take away those feelings or those memories, they are simply priceless.

Ditto.

Used to go into work on Monday and wish the hours away to the next game - absolutely loved the late 80s early 90s following BRFC.

You'd watch Rovers in the afternoon home or away then see the players at Peppermint Place at the end of the night. I remember my mate clipping Scott Sellars round the ear for missing a sitter after a 0-0 draw at Newcastle in 87. Sellars was gutted and apologised.

Great great times.

Can't argue with that - a solid signing.

#venkysout

Carson is crap and will never make a footballer at league level. He's like a Jason Lowe clone with even less ability.

Sorry guys but due to kidney problems, and dialysis, I can no longer walk around a golf course and have had to resign from the golf club. If you get enough to play I am sure they will accommodate you however and I will act as intermediary if you let me know how many will be playing.

By the way I still hope to recover enough to play using a buggy at some time in the future but it will take a while.

Bloody hell Al, sorry to hear that. Hope you get better soon, I'll go shotgun in that buggy when you do.

Are we having the unofficial BRFCC.com golf day this year then? I'll leave a message at Pleasy for 'drog to trap up as well if we can get something sorted - Al was talking about asking Baxenden GC about something last year if I remember rightly??

Anyway, I'm off to Portugal on Monday for 5 nights and 4 rounds of golf - bloody great.

my fulham correspondents are very worried...

Not surprised, they're deep in the Brad Pitt.

I can understand those pointing out that we could and should have kept Rhodes as the money has not been invested. However, I believe this misses the real point of the transfer and that is all about systems rather than personnel.

Lambert prefers 1 up front and Rhodes, for all his finishing qualities, gives no outlet either through physicality or pace. Even if we had kept him here the system would've been stuffed and that's before we take into account the supposed resentment at his renumeration throughout the rest of the squad.

Will we score enough goals to stay up this season? In my mind undoubtedly. Will we improve next season? In my mind yes, without a doubt.

There's no more damning indictment on the last manager than the players weren't fit. It's patently obvious they were nowhere near the standard required.

Shiiine Weekender done and bloody good it was too. Will be back next year.

Anyone else going to the Shiiiine Weekender at Minehead Butlins this weekend?

Some old indie faves on such as Wedding Present, Wonder Stuff, Inspiral Carpets, Cud, Happy Mondays, 808 State and loads more

Nobody wants to drop into League One (or three as it was) but sometimes clubs fall for a variety of reasons. Man City, Southampton, Norwich and Leicester are just four examples of clubs who slipped that far not that long ago but who have bounced back. These clubs, and so many more, have proved that you can come back if the infrastructure at the club is put right and sensible investment is made. At the moment the owners are backing the management they have put in place but only time will tell if that is the correct decision or not. Clearly if results don't improve quickly then someone, somewhere is going to need to have a re-think.

The 4 clubs you mention dropped because of poor managerial appointments and got back because of good ones in Pearson, Royle, Lambert and Adkins.

Yes apologies it was a bit of a sweeping statement. We could get a new manager bounce for a while, i agree. But nothing drastic will improve, imo.

If Venkys are here in 5 years time, we might not even be in league one.

A good manager can improve fortunes immeasurably. One only has to look at Rowett at Birmingham to see that, it could even be argued that they've got worse owners than we have.

Can we not factor in the loss of Cairney and Gestede, 2 players that would walk into most sides in this division?

How many sides with no money could hope to improve on last season having lost 2 of the best players in the division?

*****Disclaimer - before the people that only read one page of the site ask, yes I'd sack Bowyer now if I had the power*****

You'd better ask Bowyer that one Gav, he was the one who said we'd be top 6 this season.

The two wins vs Burnley stand out for me from his reign. Especially at Turf Moor, the players looked ridiculously up for it - the celebrations at the end were telling. The management in those games was excellent, and Big Sam obviously instilled the perfect mindset for the players for those games. The fans played a massive part too with the fantastic atmospheres, but nobody can doubt Big Sam's record in the big games. The contrast with Laws was astounding, Big Sam got it spot on - his use of Olsson that day was superb.

Comment above from Sambo on the Allardyce thread just after his sacking. Just remember this when we get our 2 inevitable dickings at the hands of the apes this season while the impassive one watches on helplessly.

Once in 2 1/2 yrs

Not a bad record really is it WYR

Looking at the 2nd result I'd say once in 35 years Gav. Have you forgotten how gutless we were in that game and, furthermore, how we were worse in the following game when you'd expect a response?

Went to the O & O on Saturday night as we were without the kids for once.

I had steak for the main while the wife had chicken and ham pot pie. Steak was too fatty and not cooked as I'd asked (medium) and wasn't hot enough. Wife enjoyed hers though and , to be fair, it did look very good.

Must say I was disappointed, I've been 3 times in the past and always enjoyed my food there but not this time. I hope it's not regressing.

Final point, there was a youngish lad serving us (20ish) who couldn't do enough for us. Polite, knowledgeable on the menu and attentive without being overbearing. He was a credit to the place.

Just got back now. Was 3 over after 7 and already thinking I'd won it, anyway, managed to then go triple, double, double and my chance had gone!!!

44 for the front 9 , 52 back 9 so with handicap limited to 18 ( I'm off 20) ended with a net 78 which wasn't too bad really.

Really enjoyed it and, to be honest, it didn't feel like too much of a trek from when I last played there. If there is a criticism of the course it's that the back 9 is far harder than the front 9, some of the stroke indexes are miles out. I birdied the 4th hardest hole without doing anything special and triple bogeyed the 12th hardest on the back 9 and felt like I did nothing wrong!!

Very enjoyable all the same. Playing an open 4 ball on Saturday at my own course Accy next week. 25 quid per pair should anyone fancy it.

Mate of mine took a guest on Accy with him on Tuesday. The guest is no great shakes, generally late 90s in score but he can't half hit a ball, anyway he drove the green on the 15th and the 3rd. Both shots over 350 yards!!

Playing in an open 3 man team event at Darwen this Saturday.

Weather forecast is for wind (what joy) and a bit of rain as well as it being a hell of a hike, so it could be more of a war of attrition than an enjoyable test. I'll let you know how we get on after the event.

Sorry K-Hod but you're in. With drog that's 5 now.

ABBEY's a big fan of the game I believe...

What are we looking at as a minimum number?

I went to the Aspinall last week for a pint, they were barbecuing so I ended up having a burger and chips, surprisingly very good! If a bit pricey!

Been there the last two Saturday afternoons. Had a couple of pints Saturday before last and the wife and I had a burger from the barbecue last Saturday.

Good food, great atmosphere, fantastic location.

I'm up for it Al. I could also ask at Accy where I'm a member what their deals are??