If the Greatest Ever Team poll was conducted now then I'm sure that Tugs would get more of a mention than he did at the time. I'm not saying that he would merit a place in the starting XI but with every passing year he becomes more of a legend in my eyes.

Would second the Hitman Blood Money recomendation. I have just completed it on "Normal" but enjoyed it so much that I am now working through the harder difficulty settings.

He has seen him play in the flesh 3 times in training. BBC Report On your logic of goals scored, the england strike force would be: Darren Bent 18 Wayne Rooney 16 Marlon Harewood 14 James Beattie 10 That line up would strike fear into the likes of Argentina and Brazil! At the end of the day the only consideration when choosing the squad is whether or not the selected player can help England win the World Cup. I'm not sure whether Walcott is the man, only time will tell.

When was the last time that we paid £12m for a player to sit in the reserves?

In fairness Abbey, how many times have you seen Walcott in the flesh? Sven has watched him in person and judged him a better bet than his rivals. I'm not sure why everyone is banging on about Darren Bent. He had a good start to the season but has certainly not been on fire over the last few weeks. 18 goals in a premiership season is not exactly setting the world on fire.

Not good news and not only because we haven't been paid the £4m we had hoped for. The legal costs involved in taking this case through to three High Court hearings will be high. I have not seen the judgment, but as we lost it is also likely that we will have to pay the insurers costs as well. I would not be suprised if the total costs exceeded £3m as a result. The downside to Rovers is therefore potentially in excess of £7m (or a top quality striker this summer).

17th year for me (I think). First game was a 0-0 draw with Leicester at Ewood.

Hi I am offloading some duplicate programmes from my collection. If anyone wants them send me a PM. 1. FA Cup - Barnsley -v- Rovers - 05/01/02 2. League - Spurs -v- Rovers - 01/01/02 3. League - Leicester -v- Rovers - 30/03/02 4. League - Rovers -v- Fulham - 11/05/02 5. League - Leeds -v- Rovers - 26/04/03 cheers Duncan

I think by that stage the game may have been slightly beyond us If Lucas had sat back in the last 10 minutes and we hadn't considered, no doubt the very same people would be complaining that he didn't push forward and that we didn't have enough width. As Alan says, Arsenal were the better team, no-one individually (appart from maybe Thommo ) had a particularly bad game. Lets move on.

Both clubs had sold out. I assume the empty seats were those reserved for the dignatories. I think that a lot of fans had trouble getting there. I have heard reports of 600 fans being left stranded in Gloucester station because the trains they had planned to take were full.

The whole article is unbelievable. Even tries to link the empty seats with unattractive football. Idiot! If we hadn't have got stuck in this season we would have been beaten 5 or 6 nil.

Just back. Agree with the majority of the comments on the thread. The better team won, if only in terms of their finishing ability. At the moment I can only dream of Dickov putting away a chance like Van Persie's third. I am amazed at the media backlash against Rovers' physical tactics. If you compared the match today against a semi final from 10 years ago, I would imagine that there would have been about 1/2 as many tackles but twice as many bookings. That can't be right. Rovers were physical but that is part of the game. I felt that the gooners continued where they had left off from Ewood and Reyes in particular was almost comical in falling over everytime a Blackburn player came near him. I'm just glad that he didn't get Lucas sent off (who incidently I thought had a good game). However, prize buffoon for me has to be Lehman for writhing around in agony after Emerton's sliding tackle on him. By the time Emerton reached him, he could not have been moving at more than a snail's pace but still Lehman was over on the floor as if he had been hit by a train. Has he no shame? Moment of the match for me goes to the fans. Despite falling two goals beyind we outsung the gooners until the final whistle. It was genuinely an emotional moment.

I would suggest that Leicester RFC is not comparable in anyway to Blackburn. Firstly, Leicester has a captive audience in that it is the only rugby team in the Midlands playing at the highest level. It is therefore not competing with any other rugby club - only with other sports. Secondly, when Leicester started this scheme it was already a very successful club side so when people turned up they saw a winning side and are more likely to become permanently affiliated with the club. If people were given free tickets to see Rovers at the moment there is a good chance that they will see a defeat. Not much of an incentive to come back and pay to see Rovers play. As people have said attendances is a complicated issue. In my view we are highly unlikely to be able to increase our fan base beyond the level it was at a few years ago. The battle I believe that John Williams should be fighting is to keep those fans within the club that are going on a weekly basis at the moment. Exiled in Toronto commented that we have 17,000 die hard fans. I would say that we have about 10,000. The remainder will float depending on our success/club policy. It is up to the club to make sure that the none die hard fans keep coming if we are going to have a sustainable future.

I couldn't agree more. The executive of any other organistaion which has the turnover of Rovers would be on a similar salary at the very least. Robert Coar and John Williams have done Rovers proud over the last 5 years, without them it could probably be argued that Rovers would not be in the relatively good current position.

Ok. Nicaragua?

Yes, Alan Shearer won the first vote by a mile. In the second, Grabbi snuck it by 2 votes ahead of Garner.

Deluded sounds about right. You can't blame Spurs fans for being arrogant, it seems that they are brain washed into the 'Tottenham way' of football from birth! Hopefully a Rovers win will keep him quiet for a few weeks!

My friend the Spurs fan has finally responded to my questions. Here you go: 1) Jacques Santini. What happened? He was not the right man for the job. Don't think he liked working under Frank Arnesen but his defensive tactics would not have quelled the discontent at the Lane for long 2) How do you feel about Martin Jol's appointment? Pleased. Been a big fan ever since he wrapped Defoe in a bear hug to protect him from a fired up David Weir earlier in the season. Weir backed off very quickly. Also seems to want to play the Spurs way. 3) Are Spurs living up to your expectations so far this season? No - but we are turning the corner. 4) What do you think about Rovers so far? Not much. 6) Who have been your best and worst players this year? Best - Paul Robinson - England's number 1 for the next ten years. Worst - Johnnie Jackson will soon be a makeweight in the Andy Reid deal. 7) What style of play can we expect from you on Saturday? Attacking, passionate - responding to our penalty shoot-out defeat in the right way. 8) Which Rovers player are you most scared of? Lucas O'Neill - but only cos I suspect he'll try and injure our wonderkid Ziegler 9) Any memories from Blackburn v Spurs games from the past? The Worthington Cup final where a mixture of amazing luck and shocking refereeing saw you somehow beat us - with a 37 year old Mark Hughes playing in central midfield. 10) Where do you think both teams will finish at the end of the season? Rovers - fourth from bottom. Spurs - eighth Apologies for missing out Mike England on the transfer front. I knew there was someone else and despite voting him into the greatest Rovers side could not remember him when I put the preview together.

I remember that game. Duff picked the ball up around the half way on the left and ghosted past 3 Birmingham Defenders before knocking it home from just inside the area. One of the best goals that I have ever seen. I am sure that had the game been played at Ewood, it would have been goal of the season for that year.

The Opposition Spurs started the season well. Jacques Santini tightened up a previously leaky defence and Spurs suddenly became a team that was tough to beat. At the end of September, after 6 games, Spurs were still unbeaten but were struggling to score goals. Spurs disproportionate level of media covereage was not a benefit at this stage as they were labelled dour and Jacques Santini's tactics were criticised. Clearly keeping clean sheets were not enough for Spurs' football purists. The criticism also seems to have been replicated inside the club. Reportedly, a difference in opinion over tactics between the Director of Football (Frank Arnesen) and Jacques Santini saw the Frenchman walk earlier this month. His assistant Martin Jol is now in charge. Who to Watch Spurs top scorer is Jermaine Defoe and their only ever present this season is Ledley King. Defoe scored the winner in the reverse ficture last season. He is a tricky little player who would have undoubtedly caused Andy Todd and Craig Short some difficulties if he was playing. Fortunately, he took his shirt off following his goal yesterday and was booked. As a result he will miss next weekends game. Robbie Keane may well come in to replace him so it will be like for like up front. The History Blackburn and Spurs have a long history. The sides have met 92 times over the years with Spurs winning 41 of these encounters to Blackburn's 33. The first meeting took place in the FA Cup in 1907. After two 1-1 draws, the teams met a Villa Park in front of 18,000 fans. Spurs won the game that day 2-1. However, more recently Spurs v Blackburn matches have not tended to stick in my memory. Last season both sides won their home games 1-0. The obvious exception was a certain Cup Match a few years ago in Cardiff. I will not go into the details but I am sure that it is certainly a memory that I treasure. Tim Sherwood is Blackburn's most famous export to Spurs. Once he was playing for a more media friendly club his first England cap followed although arguably he had played better during his time at Rovers. He has since moved on after falling out with Glenn Hoddle. There haven't been many Spurs' players coming 'up North' to Blackburn. However, I do remember Bobby Mimms signing for us for £250,000 in at the end of 1990. Question Time I have asked a Spurs supporting colleague to address the following questions. [i will post his replies here as soon as I recieve them] The Predition As for the score I’m going for another win. 2-1 this time. I fancy Dickov and Gallagher to repeat their Fulham performances.

I have to disagree, 1995 may have been your glory year as a Rovers fan but it certainly is not necessarily the clubs. In the 1990s we were the best side in the country for one season. In the 1890s, we dominated English football for years and won the premier trophy of the day 5 times. What is disapointing is when yove a greatest ever poll which is dominated by the modern era. Witness film polls which are dominated by movies which have come out in the last five years or music polls featuring the likes of Busted. You would hope that fans of a club with the proud history of Rovers would look beyond the last 10 years and vote someone who was truly great into the 'greatest team ever' rather than someone merely good who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

As much as I love Super Atko, I do not think he can be placed in a team of Rovers greats. During the halycon year of 94/95, he was only first choice due to David Batty's injury and was only a regular in the championship winning side for this reason. As soon as Batty returned from injury, Super Atko returned to the bench. How can we have a player in the starting 11 who was not first choice in the best squad of his era? Yes, he was reliable and a good club man. He could and would fill in a variety of positions. For this reason it seems to me that the right place for Super Atko ina Greatest Rovers Team would be on the bench, a place I am sure he would not begrudge. My first choice would be Clayton for the reasons given above. The second choice is hard and I am open to persuasion.

Yes, though there is no standing area because to have one would not be possible. I am amazed that this issue is now seemingly going to prevent people from renewing season tickets becuase it is not as if it is a recent change in legislation. I appreciate that it is frustrating to see the away fans standing but is that an excuse? If you saw a shoplifter getting away with stealing would that give you a free reign for you to steal as well?

Ironic that, because the last time I heard racist abuse was at a Leicester away a few seasons ago. I agree with those posts which are arguing that basically if the Asian community wants to come to Ewood then nothing is stopping them. That is of course true. However, we also have to think about where new fans are going to come from. Even with the history and tradition of going to ewood within the white community we still only manage to get 20k through the gates on a regular basis. We therefore need to reinvigorate the traditional fans and also go out to seek new ones. Here in Nottingham, Forrest have a policy of giving a home replica shirt to all children within a certain radius of the ground when they reach 7 years old. Once you have got a shirt you are almost certainly going to grow up supporting that team and take a more active interest in what is going on down at Ewood. This is the sort of thing that Blackburn should seriously consider IMO.

Surely, blaming the Police is ridiculous anyway. They didn't pass the law which allowed civil banning orders, parliment did. It is the job of the Police to ensure that the this law is adhered to and the Judge's to implement it at Court. If you are not happy with the law don't moan at the police, they merely present facts for the judge to decide upon. Don't moan at the judge either, moan at parliament. Try and find a party which opposes the law and vote them. Good luck.