So leave them in there, society's dregs, who cares ? Sorry Colin. Eh? That wasn't me AS. But just for my two cents worth... First of all I am glad that these blokes don't live near me and my family. Second: I'd rather have this stuff reported in a less sensational manner than the cheap tabloid press which just wants to sell papers and scare the living daylights out of us all. I'm surprised that no one has picked up on the total absurdity of this comment. Typical tabloid trash. YOU DONT AVOID ARREST BY KILLING SOMEONE. YOU GET ARRESTED AND GET A LIFE SENTENCE. Third: If The Mirror had any concern about the people of Blackburn it would put a private detective on the tail of these people and stop them from offending. Let's face it, The Mirror and other tabloids have enough money to do this. But no, they'd rather put the fear of god up everyone and then sod off and report on Beckham's new hair cut. Leaving paediatricians to have bricks thrown through their windows by ignoramuses. Fourth: What to do with paediophiles? It's not like burglars is it? Burglars are just bad. Paediophiles have it in their genes. Stick them in jail for five years and they come out the same. Put me in jail for five years for being right-handed and I'll still come out the same. I don't have an answer. What do we want to do? Stick a child abuser in jail for ever? Great for retribution but bugger-all use for correction and rehabilitation. Fifth: Just a sobering thought before we all go out with our flaming torches and burn burn burn. The person most likely to abuse my daughter is me. The person most likely to abuse your sons, daughters, nieces & nephews is you. I don't pretend to have all the answers. Maybe you do. OK.

Thank you both. A lot of that is owed to Pete for his co-operation and humour.

Click HERE for full details on travel and local arrangements at COMS Manchester City. The team that everyone loves to laugh at. Probably with good reason. Bernard Manning, that epitome of good taste and under-spoken humour, once commented that Oxo had red cubes for beef stock; yellow cubes for chicken stock; and light blue cubes for laughing stock. And he’s a City supporter. Living in Manchester for the past umpteen years I have an affinity with City: My better half spent some of her youth on The Kippax. They make the trials and tribulations of being a Rovers’ supporter seem like a fortnight on a sun-kissed tropical island with a sex-starved Jo Guest/Brad Pitt (chose your own flavour.) They have been up and down the league table like a fiddler’s elbow. It wasn’t too long ago that they were playing Macclesfield Town. And most importantly of all, they are based in Manchester unlike some red-shirted, Trafford-based team that I could mention. You think we have problems with “The Scum?” Think of what the City fans have had to go through from that lot. So, how have we gone on against City over the recent years? Since the 1992-93 season we have played them fourteen times in the league. Won six; lost five and drawn three. Pretty even. Three memorable matches for me have been: The 4-1 pasting we gave them on at Ewood on 15th April 1989 when Simon Garner broke the Rovers all time scoring record with a hat-trick, an event tragically overcast by the Hillsborough disaster which happened on the same day. Second match was on 7th May 2000 where they got promoted to The Premiership by beating us 4-1 at Ewood. Rovers took the lead and then hit the woodwork four times before capitulating in the second half. City’s fourth goal was scored by some little runt called Paul Dickov* and prompted a celebratory pitch invasion by the City fans. The only time I’ve really hated them. * I wonder what happened to him Third match was at Maine Road a couple of seasons ago. The first Rovers’ game I’ve ever cycled to. We were 2-0 up with fifteen minutes to go with City down to ten men. You can guess the rest. 2-2. Typical bloody Rovers. Anyhow: on with tradition and the Q & A sessions. I’ve asked Pete a family friend (who has for the past few years been teaching IT at Burnley college – a bit like feeding strawberries to a pig and his brother in-law Jon (who is an accountant for a partnership of solicitors [less interesting than being a solicitor to a partnership of accountants])to do some chat. Unfortunately, due to e-mail address confusion & amnesia the responses haven’t arrived yet. I’ll put them in as soon as………. Here's Pete's .... For which I thank him profusely. Q1 You left Maine Road for a brilliant new stadium at Eastlands for nothing. How the hell did City pull that one off? Actually, it’s not for nothing. The council will receive in the region of £2,000,000 per year in rent. Also, the regeneration of the Eastlands area and the benefit of city crowds to local business will help to offset the costs of the stadium. If no-one moved in after the games Manchester would have a white elephant on its hands - instead they have a blue one! Q2 Anelka and Fowler, you seem to have exceeded Rovers in signing two unpredictable & often useless forwards for vast amounts of money. Rovers’ fans empathise. What’s going on with your two? Fowler does not seem to be the player that he was certainly. He has put in one or two good games but too infrequently and we are still waiting for Kegan’s promise that he will come good. Anelka really lacks the service from midfield. If he had this service, this question (as far as Anelka is concerned) would be redundant. However, he is caught offside too often when he has the pace to start onside and still get to the ball first. Anyway, look at the leading scorers last season and this - Anelka is there in the top five or six. Q3 Someone described managing City as like trying to nail jelly to the ceiling. Any thoughts on this? Yes, ‘pushing treacle uphill’ is another I have heard. Actually, the problem with City is that we are so unpredictable. We can be brilliant one game and rubbish the next. Another problem is the inability to score or even to seem to try to score on occasions. For Kegan (as well as the fans and I’m sure the players), it is very frustrating. The other thing is that if we had put away some of the chances we have had in front of goal, if some of the decisions had gone our way and if some of our luck was better, this question would not be being asked. At least City are not boring - we never know what’s round the corner. From what I have seen of Rovers this season, you will be familiar with the situation. Q4 As mentioned before, you’ve dropped to the old second division but still kept the massive support. Does this mean that City supporters are clinically insane or is there some alternative explanation? Perhaps it’s the lead in the air or something in the water, perhaps we are clinically insane. Whatever, City supporters just remain faithful no matter what. We had faith and we went in numbers. This gave the club a chance to maintain funds and enable City to climb back to the Premiership. If we had stayed away we would only have had hope, no funds, and might still be in the old second division. When you are rewarded for your faith, you continue to believe. Rovers need that belief now. We still believe we will win the Premiership one day. Cut us through and we’ll read “City ‘til I die” in the middle. Win lose or draw, we will still believe. In short, yes, we are insane, but it’s better than being red! Q5 Shaun Wright Phillips: the mutt’s nuts or what? SWP (Shaun Wright Phillips not the Socialist Workers Party); one of the reasons City supporters continue to believe, is that every so often a player like Shaun comes on the scene and sets the place on fire. When he gets the ball at his feet and runs at the opposition’s defence every true football fan will feel something inside. If you are the opposition, this is probably admiration mingled with a little fear. If you are a City fan, this is pure bliss and a joy to behold. He is worthy of his England place, as City fans have known for some time. Not that he doesn’t have his off days, but when he is good he is very, very good, and when at his best, he is wicked! The mutt’s nuts? - absolutely! Q6 Richard Dunne: Has he got the biggest arse of any footballer you have ever seen? And is it true that the kit man at Eastland has to make his shorts out of discarded sails from the Round-The-World yatch race? Richard Dunne does weight training with cans of Guinness specifically to make his arse bigger - it makes it more difficult for the opposition to get round him - his recent performance against the filth at Old Trafford proves it! His shorts are not discarded sails, they are made from old parachutes - he likes the feel of the silk against his skin! (Please do not pass on my address to Dunnie). There does not seem to be a question seven*. Let me use this space then to wish Rovers an improved season with the exception of the City fixtures. * Just testing ( cough cough ahem) Q8 Kevin Keggly. Does he ever make sense to you? Kevin Keggly – I assume you refer to our esteemed manager Mr Keegan – does he ever make sense to me? Well, yes, he does actually – whoops, put that onion back in the grenade launcher Mildred, the children will need watering after I’ve given the camel a bath and hand me the glass mallet while you’re about it. I’ve just seen the team sheet for Saturday and I think I shall become a 12th century autocrat with portfolio for lettuce! Q9 What do you think about to Rovers? (Remember that I know where both of you live, and although I have a restraining order keeping me from the Theatre Of Merchandising with my can of petrol & lighter…….) Rovers have the potential to do a great deal better than their current form suggests - after all, there are ex-City players there - then again, perhaps that is why you are struggling (?). Seriously though, it’s hard to believe you are where you are in the table - again, with a little more good luck you could be a lot better off. Mark Hughes might turn things round with time but the upset of losing a manager so suddenly is bound to cause problems. If you can stop the silly mistakes and put away a few of your chances up front, you should ease away from the bottom of the table. I fully expect to see Rovers safe by the end of the season. City should beware and not read anything at all into the relative table positions - there are not that many points between us. Q10 What’s the score going to be? Score: Rovers 1 City 2, but I would say that! Any other comments: “If you hate Man United clap your hands ... “

Good post Tris. I don't get to as many away games as I would like, my first one this season will be at COMS too. I will be with my daughter & my father. Last year at the COMS I had the misfortune to be sat behing a trio of mouth-breathers who were there seemingly to taunt the opposition fans and stand up at every opportunity. It didn't matter too much that game, I was with different people. Next week I will be more than happy to report similar morons to the City stewards. They obviously do not have the brain-power to realise that their behaviour has knock-on effects on other people (perhaps a reflection of parts of society in general, but that's another story.)

Stelling's problem is that he can't really comment on any club's worst footballer, because in 90% of cases no-one but the fans of the club would have never heard of them. I've no idea if he's levered in factors such as the transfer fee and/or the number of games played. If he has then I don't really care about The Egil being Rovers' nomination* but get a warm glow when I think of what RFW spent on Veron and that Uraguayan (whose name escapes me for the minute.) * a tie between Simon Grayson & Darren Peacock for me.

Yup, looks like Ronnie has scooped the first midfield place. The second one will be a bit more interesting. It just needs more effort on the part of everyone who feels that the other places are not just automatically awarded. It'll keep it interesting if we all have a go and promote a player who doesn't seem the automatic choice.

grizfoot bugger bugger bugger, why isn't this working. I blame dean saunders. Oh, it is working. Well done everyone, chin up. No it's not. Again, Oh bother.... blooming computers, bring back carbon paper. Young people of today don't know what carbon paper is. Dolly blue your front doorstep. Drat.

Well done Smithy, I reckon John Betjeman himself would have been proud of that description

He is looking good.

Careful petal. But thanks for the swift reply

Den, You've probably organised this already for centre-backs, but I've forgotten Are we having one vote for central midfielders with the top two getting the accolade or are we having two votes with two seperate winners? Presumably with the winner of the first vote being logically excluded from the second poll. Yours psephologically Colin

speeeeeeedie, (1) I've tried to point out that I don't think Atko is Blackburn's Pele. He was just a brilliant slogger and this is the reason I'm promoting him. (2) How many caps has Batty got? (3) Sherwood has never played for England. He was due to go on in the second half of that abandoned match in Dublin and never got another chance. Anyhoo I'll shut up about Atko now.

You sizeist ?! ....I'm allowed. You don't have to stand up to look over my head when I stand up! Be grateful.

I'd like to amplify my nomination for Mark Atkins. There seems to be a few misconceptions as to why I have put his name forward. Probably my fault for not explaining my reasoning. But before I try, I'd just like everyone to ignore that own goal against Liverpool in the cup match. Every good player is guilty of some howler at some time or another be it a striker missing an open goal or a penalty, a midfielder giving the ball away to the opposition who then go on to score, or a defender scoring an own goal. I'm nominating Atkins because of: The number of games he played for us His attitude His work rate His contribution to our winning the title - he played 37 games for us that season. Al, no team wins the league with a dodgy central midfielder. He must have had something. But I think, most off all, the fact that he was a player who was never credited with his contribution to a team that won promotion in 1992 and then went on to win the title in 1995. The only other players who contributed to both were (league games only) Colin Hendry promotion season 26 games title season 38 games Bobby Mimms promotion season 45 games title season 3 games Mike Newall promotion season 18 games title season 2 games Tim Sherwood promotion season 7 games title season 38 games Jason Wilcox promotion season 33 games title season 27 games Little Alan Wright promotion season 32 games title season 4 games Mark Atkins promotion season 40 games title season 30 games Only Hendry & Wilcox can come close, and Hendry is already in "The Hall Of Fame." Come on guys & gals. Vote for the undisputed King of honest grafting. The man who never got a sniff at an England cap, but played his guts out for us. Go on, you know you want to.

Thank you Bazza, Glad you liked it. I just hope everyone else feels the same way.

Introduction Let's start with some statistics: He is at number 29 in the number of games played for Rovers since the records began in 1888. He played 272 games in all. Just for comparison, this puts him well above (say) David Batty (70); Alan Shearer (165) and Tim Flowers (214.) He scored 39 goals in those games. This despite spending much of his time at right back, and then at central midfield. Although at a push he could play just about anywhere, and he was capable of playing anywhere. He made a decent effort at playing on the right wing more than once. He was at Rovers for 7 years. The season we won the league he was the joint third highest scorer. Deep intake of breath.............. And his name is Mark Atkins A Bit Of History & Details Super Atko made his league debut for Scunthorpe United whilst still a schoolboy and appeared in over sixty matches for that club (as well as playing for England schools) before Don MacKay bought him in 1988 for £45,000 Although he spent much of his early career at Ewood Park at full-back, he continually demonstrated an eye for goal. Under the managership of Kenny Dalglish, he developed into a battling midfield player whose boundless energy and appetite for work made him the ideal partner for those around him. Eventually, with Batty and Sherwood holding down the midfield positions at Blackburn, he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 1995. He then went on to play for Doncaster, Shrewsbury (where he was temporary manager) and was last seen at Harrogate Town. Atko At His Best 25th May 1992. Rovers v Leicester in the first division play-off at Wembley. A very hot day. Rovers were 1-0 in the lead after David Speedie tripped over a daisy and Mike Newall converted the penalty. A nervous moment, as Newall was notorious for his erratic penalty taking. Then: after 85 minutes a break from midfield. A lone figure in yellow sprints to get to the stray ball leaving all others in his wake. He is storming forward like a horny stallion chasing a "my little pony" on heat. The Leicester keeper brings him down. Super Atko has sealed it for us. Yeh! Super Atko! But Newall skies the penalty and reduces us to nervous wrecks for the last five minutes. Thanks Mike. Now go forth and manage Luton Town. So, why should you vote for Mark Atkins Atko never played for England. He was never collared in the tunnel for a post-match interview. He was never the subject of a tabloid shocker. No-one ever asked him to "write" a column for a newspaper. He was never in a "bust-up" with a manager. He was simply a professional footballer who got on with his job. From his origins from Scunthorpe, he slipped into the Rovers' team where he would be a lynchpin for seven years. Older readers will remember Atko storming up and down the quagmire that was Ewood Park at the time. After Uncle Jack arrived on the scene the squad grew, expensive signings joined the dressing room and it seemed that Atko would be perpetually in the reserves. Did this bother him? It did not. He just carried on grafting and working. In the three years that he was with Rovers after we got promoted he played: (1) 31 games and scored 6 (2) 9 games and scored 1 Then, when injury forced David Batty to miss the majority of the 1994-95 season, it was Atko who filled the void and formed a central midfield partnership with Tim Sherwood. (3) 37 games and scored 6 - and that was when we won The Premiership. It was a bit of an injustice when Atko was forced to sit out the final three games of the season following the return of Batty. However, there were no complaints from him as he once again proved himself a loyal servant to the club. He represents everything that is good about our football club and pretty much all that can be good about professional footballers. In a nutshell he was the antithesis of the diving, prancing prima-donnas who seem to have taken over the game. No bull, no hissy fits, no sulks, no boot deals, no MacDonalds adverts, no deliberate sendings-off. Probably the only agent he ever had was his newsagent. He kept his gob shut and played his heart out for the club. Maybe he wasn't the most skilfull but for what he lacked in that department he made up with guts and effort and comittment . He had a heart as big as a bucket. He never shirked a tackle, he might have missed the ball ever so slightly once or twice, but no-one got hurt. He won a Premiership Champions medal after contributing to 30 of the 42 league games in the season when we won the title. That is not a coincidence. He deserved that medal. In a team that was seen at the time (and has mistakenly been seen ever since) to have been compiled from Jack Walkers money, he was a refreshing bargain-basement buy. And he was one of only a few ex-players to be bothered to get his kit on for Garner's testimonial. For me that speaks volumes. Anyhow here's a piccy of Super Atko, sadly not in the B & W but in Wolves Old Gold Mark Atkins Finally. You will have noted that time is slipping away for some kind of choice for the remaining players. I reckon it's a certainty who will be slipping into the two strikers and left wing places. This leaves only two central midfield roles to be filled. Maybe, just maybe, one of these deserves to be filled by some one who was just an ordinary bloke. No frills, no caps, he just pulled on his boots and for seven years he had a blue & white heart. Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you Mark Atkins. Vote for him. You know we need an honest grafter in there. Thank you.

Well, apart from promotion.

Two of us do. So there. I'll persuade you later.

The club is financially up the creek without a paddle and cannot afford to put his name on his shirt. The truth was out there but I just enticed it in with a bit of tuna on saucer.

There's a lot of things that have been said on here repeated in this article on today's Observer newspaper it makes interesting reading, not least that we are top of the list of clubs with fans disappearing. A rather depressing read. It looks like money replaces atmosphere.

C.M, unless you have a reason to want another one? Oooh good, I'm all fired up for that one........

Rosie & Jim

Abbey, Very true, but how much of that is down to the team being c**p? It's very difficult for me to get excited and make a noise when we are losing and when it looks like we are going to end up with no points again. I don't think that I am any different from the rest of us that I can say that if we were mathematically relegated before the last game of the season (forgive me) but then stuffed the opposition I'd be stupidly happy. Blaming the stewards/police/ "we're playing 12 again" is nothing more than shifting the blame.

Ooops. I should have added: one for Paul........... When a Sudden Cardiac Arrest occurs you need to act quickly to help save a life. The equipment you carry has to be light, durable, reliable and have the power to save a life no matter who, what or when. The samaritan® AED gives the first responder (EMS, Fire, Police and lay users) the tools to do just that.

Lofty having a go at SteB