18 hours ago, Waggy76 said:

I went to one a couple of years later at Goodison , lost 3-0...Was 71 that the day of Ibrox wall collapse??

It was Waggy, hadn’t realised it was on that day, 2 Jan 1971.

I went to the FA Cup tie at Goodson in January 1971 and sat in their (fairly new at the time) triple decker stand down the side. Everton won 2-0.

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Just look at the boots ! How did they play in those, they’re more suited to working in a foundry.

Too right. Players wore Adidas in the 1958 World Cup but it wasn’t until the 1962 competition that the style of Adidas boots morphed into the more modern version and what became the ‘industry standard.’ 

Shamelessly nicked from a local Facebook site. April 1960, a month before the FA Cup final. What would this team be worth today? Millions  upon millions..

Bryan Douglas, Ronnie Clayton, Dave Whelan, Mick McGrath, Matt Woods, Peter Dobing, Derek Dougan, Ally MacLeod, Louis Bimpson, John Bray, Eddie Thomas,  Harry Leyland.

1 hour ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I played in my School first teams from age 11 and then amateur football so probably a 25 year period in all and I never saw a goal like that ''walk-in''.

I was sat square behind the nets, fifth row up from the front.

I got to witness the Pears horror show from very close quarters. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing. In fact, I’ve never seen ‘owt like it in my 55 years following the lads.

As a season ticket holder at the DW for the Rugby League, I generally come away from the stadium in a happy mood. Not very often when watching the Rovers. Wigan have become a bit of a bogey team, especially at their place. 

Great couple of nights in Ross-on-Wye which we used as a base. Spurs thought that they only had to turn up to get the trophy. What a shame. We shifted our allocation of 30k tickets without them going on general sale. Crawled out of Cardiff after the game, it seemed to take an age, even when we reached the M4. When we reached the A449, we went our way, the Spurs fans carried on down the M4. There was a services type area with eateries at that junction which was absolutely awash with Rovers fans in their shirts. Never seen so many away from any stadium we’ve played at, looked superb. Top game too, watched it in full a couple of months ago. Small town, big history, big trophy cabinet. Can’t take away the memories.

On 11/12/2021 at 22:04, Mattyblue said:

Burnley have ended up as our all encompassing rival, but you are right, go back a few decades and it would depend on where you lived. 

Yes, if you lived in say Accy or Great Harwood it would be that lot, but for a Darrener it would be Bolton, for someone from say Bamber Bridge/South Ribble, PNE.
 

It was always Burnley for us Darreners but Bolton were a very close second. In the early 70s, there was load of trouble at a youth club near the railway station when a group from Bolton came over. I also remember, early to mid 70s, a big banner being strung up over Bolton Road saying, ‘Last Chance Bolton.’ Never sure whether it meant for Bolton beating us or some reference to a fight between the fans. You can also throw into the mix the fact that many Boltonians come over the hill to live in Darwen and also that Darwen Grammar School/Darwen Vale’s catchment area included Turton which, strangely, is part of Blackburn with Darwen. Despite all that, main rivals have always been the Clarettes.

10 hours ago, Aqualung said:

Going back to the 90s I borrowed a couple of books from a Rovers supporting mate of mine. One book was about all rovers league tables since when and the other was about Burnley. Both included attendances. 

I looked at the season when Burnley last won the league and compared the gates we got against theirs. 

Now, if my memories serve me right, when Burnley won the league in was is 1960/61....????.....where did we finish? 7th or 8th.

When I totted up the league and cups attendances for that season and averaged them out Rovers averaged appx 7000 more per home game than Burnley. 

Tit for tat I know. Just hope I remembered rightly. 

Don’t think that’s correct mate. The only thing they’ve got on us is that their highest average attendance for a season is higher than ours. 32k when they won the league in 1960, against our 30k in 1958-59.

Other than that, old Ewood was bigger than old Turf Moor, new Ewood is bigger than new Turf Moor, our record attendance is bigger than theirs and our major honours blow them out the water, 10 to their paltry 3. Their trophy cabinet is full of dust.

On 26/11/2021 at 21:21, Upside Down said:

Reports are conflicting and Wikipedia is not the most reliable source at times.

I don't think there are many contemporary reports discussing this. All the things I've ever seen about this are after the fact. 

Fact is we've played in the famous blue and white for a lot longer than most clubs have existed.

 

Here’s an entry from a kits website, showing the ‘Maltese Cross’ shirts. Not sure I’ve seen any photos of us in those kits but I’ll have a look at some point.

This style, without the badge.

On 18/11/2021 at 09:39, infoman said:

Hope to see as many of you at our place on Saturday,any indication of how many Blackburn Rovers followers will be making the trip?

I know of a coach going from one of the Darwen pubs. Apparently, we’ve sold ‘just short of a thousand.’

40 minutes ago, DeeCee said:

I hope there's a few that took the bet, hold out and BBD smashes it 🏆

A few days ago, I heard of two Darreners who each had a £20 bet @ 1000 to 1. They’ve agreed to share winnings, so have cashed out at £10,000 on one bet (£5k each) and are keeping the second bet alive, hoping that it comes in by the end of the season.

A stalwart. Happy Birthday Faz.

Can someone please drag Micah Richards out of the studio and then keep on dragging him away from punditry altogether. 

After recently seeing Genesis in Liverpool, then Steve Hackett in Carlisle, I’m giving both some serious airplay. Away from his solo stuff, Steve Hackett generally concentrates on the early Genesis numbers, so that gig was certainly special.

1 hour ago, oldjamfan1 said:

If the Blades score an early goal this could get very very nasty and do you know what the worst thing is - there’s a small part of me actually hoping for that, God forgive me.

 

You’re forgiven my son..

But your penance will be three hundred Hail Marys before the ninety minutes are up.

For me, Newcastle needs to done in stages. Firstly a half decent manager to keep them up, then stabilise them. No doubt they’ll then jettison that guy and throw money at some foreign manager/coach to try and elevate them to a Man City or Chelsea.

Trouble is, there are now several PL clubs owned by multi billionaires who are more than prepared to splash the cash and, as each year goes by, that number is increasing.

Chelsea, the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Aston Villa. Not sure of the wealth behind Leicester, Wolves and Everton but they could well be in the ‘billions’ bracket as well. And now Newcastle. It just needs another two or three take overs at this sort of level and there will then be around 14 clubs in the PL who will probably never be relegated because of the money behind them. The remaining 6 clubs will end up as ‘yo yo’ clubs between the PL and the Championship. The likes of Palace, Southampton, Watford etc. Virtually a closed shop.

Anyway, let’s hope it takes Newcastle years or better still goes t!ts up. Unfortunately, it won’t.

My lad cashed in his bet, by the way, for £6k. Not bad for a £10 stake. Sensible decision, I think.

To lighten the mood somewhat..

Everything about Newcastle is a cross between a pantomime and a circus.

The useless, stay away owners adopt a strategy of silence.

Despite everything thrown at us since November 2010, we the supporters, adopt a strategy of silence.

If the status quo remains, how are we ever going to get out of this mess?

You couldn’t make it up. Fans of other clubs must look at us and think we’re getting what we deserve.
 

3 hours ago, bazza said:

I don't know but there was no segregation in the early 1970s. 

I was on Burnden Park in 1973(?) to see us take on top of the league Bolton Wanderers, a game that we won 1-0 thanks to a Fazackerley goal. I thought all of us on the end nearest the town centre were Rovers but I soon realised it was about 50/50 with small pockets of opposing supporters close to each other. The gate that night was 33,000. I saw no trouble.

It was mayhem bazza! Rocks, bricks were being hurled around and fights were breaking out everywhere. Bolton away was always a nightmare, partly because their fans are a set of knuckle dragging Neanderthals and partly because the police never gave two hoots.

1 hour ago, tonyoz said:

Oh! I would have guessed 60’s. I remember fans walking around the cinder track, inside the concrete wall …….from memory it all seemed pretty relaxed. But memories can be unreliable! 

This is a photo from our defeat to Manchester United in May 1966. At first glance, it looks like a full scale pitch invasion but it’s just fans moving from the Blackburn End to the Darwen End at half time.

1 hour ago, tonyoz said:

When did Rovers stop fans changing ends at half time?

It was in the early 70s as hooliganism was taking hold. As a Darrener, I used to enter the ground at the Darwen End turnstiles and if we were kicking towards that end in the first half, we stayed put. Otherwise, we stood on the Riverside, about two thirds the way to the half way line. I started going in 1966 and you could get to the Blackburn End from the Riverside but it was through a relatively narrow gap.

I remember us playing a ‘friendly’ versus the Clarettes in 1970 and winning 2-0. Rovers fans came from the Blackburn End, through the Riverside and into the Darwen End, late in the game, to attack the Burnley fans, so you could still change ends then. Even for a fight 😆. Certainly, by the mid 70s there was a fence inbetween the Darwen End and the Riverside and the small gap inbetween the Bburn End and the Riverside had been removed. To answer your question, I would guess in 1971 or 1972.

20 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

 

Thanks for the two links Andy. There’s certainly some stories there and if there are half as many in his book, it should be a blinder.

I never knew Patty but his mum used to call in to where I worked in the late 70s and I remember her being as proud as punch when she told me he had signed for the Rovers. He would have been around 13 or 14 at the time, so schoolboy forms, I would guess.