You’d have thought it would have been failure that forced his hands to switch!

Really not a fan of three at the back. The kind of player you need to play wing back is well out of our price range. It wasn’t successful last season but he keeps trying it.

Widening the jumpers again though mate. The question as I answered it was ‘would you prefer England to win a World Cup or Rovers to win a promotion’? I’ve never seen England win a World Cup and it’s hugely likely that I never will. I’ve seen Rovers win promotion three times. Seems to have turned into a complete club v country debate.

Some nasty ones though.

You seem to have moved the goalposts a little there Matty.

It’s sad that as a nation people have become so apathetic to the national side. Being British or English used to stand for something.

England winning the World Cup. No question. Rovers will have four goes at promotion before the next opportunity. Always interesting the selfishness of people though. “I’ve already seen England win the World Cup sod the rest of you”. Rovers meanwhile have been promoted several times in recent memory.

Not sure if his recent track record but neophox was always very close to goings-on. Good sign.

Had to google the team England faced in 1990 and the score*. Nobody remembers third place. The anti-climax after the semi final drama killed any enjoyment of potentially finishing third. There is so little to look forward to now this weekend. I’m not sure if I’ll watch either match. France v Croatia doesn’t capture the imagination. It’s a second rate friendly game. If England put out a second string side then they would be rightly hammered by Belgium. It would even more serve us right if Lukaku got a hat trick and overtook Kane in the golden boot stakes. If we are honest it’s probably the least deserving in memory. 6 goals. 3 penalties. One flying in off his heel without his knowledge. Yes, penalties take nerve but for a striker they are a gimme. He has faded badly in the last two games - so much so that’s Gary Neville was convinced he had an injury. I’m not sure that he wasn’t just lucky we were playing Panama and Tunisia and we got those penalties. Bring on the start of Rovers’ season!

So sod the national game and blame the players not being mobile enough? That’s a really disappointing summation. Football clubs may as well become non-geographic entities then. United are virtually there already. Or Why bother having national sport at all. May as well make it a PL-eleven competing against other national leagues if being given opportunities in your home nation isn’t appropriate. National pride and affiliation to local clubs are dying because everyone goes chasing the coin. Amazing that any fans think this is ok.

So sod the national game and blame the players not being mobile enough? That’s a really disappointing summation. Football clubs may as well become non-geographic entities then. United are virtually there already. Or Why bother having national sport at all. May as well make it a PL-eleven competing against other national leagues if being given opportunities in your home nation isn’t appropriate. National pride and affiliation to local clubs are dying because everyone goes chasing the coin. Amazing that any fans think this is ok.

Some excellent points. Where I do worry is bullet 5. Yes, we have some great English talent coming through the ranks but what seems to happen is that these players are quickly hoovered up by clubs like Chelsea and are then not given opportunities to play at a higher level. They are farmed our to the Championship or lower and have their development curtailed. There is no incentive for English clubs to give English youngsters the chances and the experiences they need and the regulators don’t demand it. It’s no coincidence that the last time we were any kind of force in European, let alone world football was the pre- and early PL years when teams had lots of Englishmen (and British players generally) in their ranks. (Scotland and Ireland have suffered too). As you rightly pointed out, this World Cup has been a freak one with all of footballs giants being poor or knocking each other out. However, this has reignited a nation’s love of the game. Those charged with cultivating and promoting our beautiful game in this country need to nurture this and support the development of their national side(s) even if it is at the expense of club sides. Of course they won’t though. Too frightened by big money owners who do what they want without sanction and “work within” the rules designed to keep them happy. Too comfortable in their self-aggrandising FA and PL blazers at their corporate dinners to congratulate themselves on all the lovely money they are all making. However, since foreign owners only care about prestige for themselves through the purchased success through their assets, we can expect the foreign money-go-round to continue for a long time yet - and for them to continue to buy and farm out potential England players to the likes of Crystal Palace and West Brom and saying “if they were any good they’d make it anyway”. Which of course is nonsense because players get better by playing with better players. Ironically, the last club that was successful going down the all-England route (or at least mostly) continue to be sneered at to this day. If football really was to come home their would be far stricter and larger homegrown rules. Dare we dream?

Weird isn’t it. Feel like I’m 15 again!

Looks like one of those crap t-shirts with a caricature on right up to the neck. A skinny blue shirt with green arms.

FFP in action. Or is that FFP inaction?

Reading from a certain angle that post paints a very uncomplimentary picture!

Might be a quality signing but I doubt he’d generate much excitement. An exciting signing would be one that the youngsters in our fanbase will have heard of. Trouble is that if they are in our budget they are almost certainly past it!

I do miss the laugh button. Brilliant!

? ? ? ?

Former national team captain as well.

The admiration on those Hibs lads’ faces though... clearly Mulgrew is still a very big draw up there.

We’ve not even won it yet and the ‘tin pot world cup’ brigade have sent one in! Have a word with yourself. Enjoy the result. Have a great early Summer evening in the sunshine and worry about the opposition later. This is now the equal most successful World Cup in my lifetime. I’m normally the miserable (realistic) bugger and I’m delighted. ❤️ ? ? ⚽️ ?

Not sure ‘gash’ is accurate. They looked cream crackered though. We were just better. If we hadn’t won it would have been a travesty. We dominated the game apart from a couple of 5 minute spells. Hope you and your lad enjoyed it! It’s games and tournaments like this that cement a child’s love of football.

Pinching myself. That was the perfect game.

Hasn’t it been brought forward to 1pm?