1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

A cracking game of football tonight at Leyland.  Two teams playing attacking football and giving one hundred per cent.  Everyone in a Blue & White shirt tonight was good, not a weak link in the team against an excellent West Ham team.  Tomlinson, Travis and Thomson in particular caught the eye going forward.

Tomlinson needs a chance in the first team. I'd have Mahoney starting at Right Mid and Rankin Costello on the bench at least. Travis and Doyle are both excellent full back prospects.

Newcastle fans were willing to give him a clean slate too. As was King Kev. It's clearly worked out well for them.

The tackle at the weekend was a dubious sending off, but if Barton didn't have such a well-earned reputation for being a tw@t maybe he would be treated with a degree of fairness. I'm shedding no tears over it, and there's not a queue of Newcastle fans waiting to back him up.

To survive in this division we do not need Barton. He's the only player I can currently think of who I do not want at this club, at any cost. I was fine with Diouf, Savage, Todd, Dickov... any of our "dubious" players and I don't mind players who wind up other players and have a dig every now and then. Barton is, however, a total liability and as a human being he ranks far below any of the aforementioned. He's a different class of nasty and even though I won't stop supporting the Rovers if we sign him, the club will fall drastically in my estimations. I don't think I'll be able to cheer Barton in the shirt, it'll anger me seeing him in it.

Projecting the future is a difficult thing, a clean slate is what he is gonna get where ever he ends up, if it's us so be it!

If referee's are looking at the name on the back of the shirt before deciding on the colour of the card then that in itself is a disgrace.

I wasn't suggesting not signing barton would result in relegation, what I was saying was that in our current financial state where we are pretty low in the premier league food chain we must fill our team with what ever quality players are out there, and bartoin is one that will be available that hopefully big sam can tame.

Well said.

Some folk fail to see that you cannot overcome animosity by feeling guilty or by constantly trying to please. I wonder how many of the main complainants used to watch football before Sky and the broadsheets suddenly realised it existed? Not many judging by the tone of most of the recent posts.... "...If Allardyce/Diouf/Barton (delete as appropriate) comes here it will be the last time I set foot in Ewood...there will be a boycott etc...Yours Sincerely, Mr. Permanently Outraged from Loserville, Suffolk (on behalf of all permanently outraged football fans)..."

The premise is laughable. Rovers are not liked by the media and never will be, no matter who we sign. Stop trying to be loved and get over it. Who cares what other fans think of us? Who gives a rats a*** that the press and media hold us in utter disdain because we don't shift newspapers and we don't attract decent viewing figures? Too many of you by the looks of it! We appoint the first black British Premier League manager and draw unprecedented accusations of racism. None of those sports writers would have dared attack one of the so-called bigger clubs in the manner which they did us.

I assume most complainants would have never seen Glen Keeley in action. He was big, ugly and brutal. In a Rovers shirt however - as his elbow swivelled to almost decapitate his opponent or defying gravity to literally launch himself at the ball, flying horizontally in mid-air before before landing on both ball and strikers knee - he was truly majestic.

So Joey Barton slapped a teenager and some gobby posturing French non-entity who apparently squared up to him...gosh! I can think of plenty teenagers in the town that would benefit from being slapped and of several players in our current squad who might benefit from a training ground rumble, just to shake them out of their complacency.

This isn't some sort of government sponsored 'progressive enterprise' insisting on the secularists Holy Trinity of Diversity, Inclusion and Equality before releasing further funds. It's about winning. Nothing else. The club should be bold, not show any sign of weakness as it simply provokes futher resentment and emboldens the snipers. Rovers should hire people who will win us football matches, not pander to a bunch of vapidly fashionable, self-serving posters lining up to to congratulate themselves on being so morally superior.

I actually quite enjoyed that, but I'm in the sign Barton camp.

Whoever described Barton as average should have a wee look at our Midfielders right now, this midfield we have almost got us relegated this year if it wasn't for the lunatics up in Newcastle and Boro. Barton would be our best midfielder by a distance, and unfortunatly it doesn't look like we can afford any better this summer.

His off-field antics are appauling but that was in the past, if he were to join us i would view as a clean slate where he could do his talking on the pitch.

The tackle at the weekend was never a sending-off and Shearer got himself a scapegoat. If Shearer had been any sort of manager he would of backed his player by saying "never a sending off, ref's made a poor desision".

I don't know about you guys but I would rather have Rovers be a rough and tumble team punching above there weight than a family club playing in the Championship for the rest of my exisistance.

#1 for us is staying in the Premier League at all costs, even if our team has the most hated players in the planet 1-11, I couldn't care less.

Last time i watched him play for Newcastle, which was just before his ankle injury, he was immense and was newcastle's best player, can pass, is very mobile, determind. We all know of his character flaws however.

If we can sign him for next to nothing I would be delighted as long as there was a clause in his contract which means we could launch him if he kicks off.

Unfortunatly I don't think we will have much better options come summer with what will probably be a dismal transfer budget.

I am the only one that thinks his challenge at the weekend wasn't a red card ????

Maybe Shearer is looking for a scapegoat. Can't wait to see them go down.