No it's really odd isn't it? But they do still manage to continually defy gravity don't they? They must be dong something right I guess.

Haven't you read this thread Dave? We have more choices than enough on the outskirts whilst inner Blackburn is take away city for the 'less discerning' and the dollopers. Admittedly japanese we are a little light on but around here we have tapas, Italian, chinese and Indo/Balgla/Pak by the score. No modern aussie unsuprisingly and I'd suggest Old Aussie cuisine would be what we see on 'I'm a celebrity... get me out of here' with a selection of weevil infested ships biscuits and a smattering of stale bread and cheese for afters.

If you can manage google, read a recipe and turn a cooker on then you can. Authentic curry is a piece of cake if you have the necessary spices and as for Duck ragu and Crab cakes this took 30 secs to find. Get your pinny on and you can eat in for the rest of your days and save enough money to get proper brass handles on your coffin. http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/duck-ragu-recipe http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Crab-Cakes-with-Creamy-Caper-Sauce-103473

Thats such a strange comment I'm even not sure I understand it. What type of food are you unable to cook?

Spout House is very good and SHOULD be used in preference to the supermarkets. Bit like in rural France where local quality food is placed above mass produced quantity every time. So too should Pauls Farm produce at the top of Dunkirk Lane, Leyland for their excellent quality fresh fruit and veg. Moving on. Despite having a new kitchen fitted last week I allowed er indoors to cajole me into eating out last night and give the newly refurbished Butlers Arms a go. As with most unplanned impromtu stuff it turned out to be an excellent night. A number of close friends had done the same and as we had all arrived at the same time a table for eight was quickly arranged. I had moules mariniere to start and gammon for mains whilst the missus elected to have a sirloin steak. I've no idea who supplies their meat but the gammon was absolutely excellent, thick and juicy with no fat or gristle as can frequently be the case and the three who had the sirloin all praised it highly. Good reports too for the Butlers burger and the Fish and Chips. Everybody was too full for puddings and the night turned even better and gained a party flavour when another four friends turned up for drinks after having eaten at the Oyster & Otter. Early days as yet but I must say the new Butlers does remind me somewhat of the O&O in that they do appear to be doing most things right. However like the Clog and the O&O it is not cheap rendering it a bit of a stretch for weekdays and I wonder if there are enough customers to go around all these eateries at the weekends. Personally if I were a landlord I'd be looking to provide a cheaper weekday option as the prospect of deciding whether to eat in or out during the week is simply not an option with the prices involved. All the while the Dressers continues to pack em in with their 'pile it high' Steak nights. Personally I wouldn't want to do a steak night all that often but a clean, cheap and cheerful option with a simple but attractive home made 'Mon-Thurs' menu would be nice.

I once went in the restaurant on Lovely Hall Lane (closed now prob due to it's clientelle moving on as it were), Pendle View I seem to rem it being called, and it was just like that! I thought a chara load must have trapped up from the local nursing home except they had all driven there. The menu was godawful and straight of of a 50's ration book! btw whats funny about fromage?

It is but only for those over 70 with no mirrors in their houses!

Sheep syndrome. One leads and the rest follow.

Be interesting to see how the Butlers Arms fares. A packed opening night last night for drinks and canapes only. Pool table and dartboard gone and it's been refurbished into yet another gastro pub. Nice job they've made too and it does appear to be well thought out and stylish BUT situated with the faltering Clog one mile away on one side and the success story that is the Oyster and Otter one mile away on the other it's taking on quite some task. I'll give it a go soon I guess but whoever does the same cannot by definition also be dining at the same time in the clog, O&O, Millstone, Sirloin, Fieldens Mellor Brook, Myerscough, Royal oak, Mezzo's, Mr Freds etc etc etc all which are situated within a few short miles. It all reminds me of Blackburn 10 years ago when every pub closed became an Indian/Pakistani/Bangla restaurant until saturation point was reached and passed to no ones long term benefit. Just a word of caution for the new owners (and my observations are without eating of course) but the menu did look a couple of quid too pricey for most dishes. btw the grapevine is alive with whispers that the Warburton chappie who already has the Mitton Hall, Emporium, Shireburn and Lower Buck is moving in on the Spread Eagle at the top of Saccary lane. It's been a pig in a poke for years and desperately needs someone who knows what they are doing in there, but that again would only add to the congestion imo. Anybody heard anything?

Never mind this season.... he's been laking around the treatment rooms for most of his career. Playing through the pain barrier is a concept unknown to him. I admire the lad's skill and ability tremendously but I loathe his attitude.

No problem with Dunn's ability but I have a massive problem with his fake / pretend / fantasy injuries. The mans a bloody hypochondriac. If there is to be a new contract offer for him it needs to be based on minutes on the pitch..... full stop!

Disgrace to the colours? Very poor comments Simon. For some reason you have had your knife into MGP for some time. He isn't as good as he was a number of years ago (when he was being linked with MU) but his introduction to the game at HT tightened up the lh side, contributed largely to the balance of play switching our way and directly coincided with Josh Morris coming to form. Watch closely and you must notice that in general play MGP needs one or two touches on the ball whilst so many others need 2 or 3! Be honest the first 45 mins Josh Morris was bloody awful and up against Zaha he resembled a rabbit caught in car headlights! Might be unfair to recall but I rem you hero worshipping John Curtis (who?) and famously suggesting in 2004 that we replace Brad Friedel asap cos he was in your opinion 'past it'.

Your opinion is that you would have to pay a very useful squad member 40k pw and refuse to even consider him for the team no matter what. Bonkers! And a very amateurish opinion if I may say so, and one based simply on irrational dislike rather than tactical or footballing reasons.

Hence 'Scapegoat Syndrome' Steve. The type of plonkers who succumb booed the likes of Captain Fantastic Tim Sherwood, Jason Wilcox and Lee Carsley to the rafters. Wish we bloody well had them now.

But thats just plain daft. He's costing us big money whether we like it or not, we cant move him on cos of his wages and his age granted but the midfield (imo and that of many others) is much more compact and performs better when he is in it. I suggest that MGP should hand over all free kick and corner kick duties to Jones (if he stays) so that Jones will end up getting all manner of sh1t heaped on him from the fans when he over/under hits his deliveries. Lets be honest how @#/? was Jones corner kick that led to our equaliser at Millwall? Afraid I wasn't there so did he get booed for it by our travelling 'jury'? Why not save your ire for the lacklustre and immobile Portugese who don't have a bloody tackle in them and players who skip training and watch vids down at the soon to be officially named 'The David Dunn Treatment Room' down at Brockhall most days. Pederson does put an honest shift in which is more than can be said for the likes of the more talented wastrels like the two Davids for starters. How about the two midfielders Murphy and Etohu who are on significantly more money and manage to patrol a piece of the pitch roughly the size of my bloody patio between them just so long as they don't have to break sweat to do it! MGP for all his faults is worth more to the team than them put together. That should be your first port of call if you want to bury your hatchet into someone! ORr How about the scouse right back who was so far up Kean's arse that he copuld see daylight... the one with the quick wit and the even quicker V sign whose (lack of) pace is becoming legendary...... amongst opposing wingers! How about him? How about having a go at our cross between Jake la Motta and Daffy Duck or that Simpson from Hull or Olsson Minor? How any of them have escaped the ranks of part time football is a complete bloody mystery to me. Problem with the likes of you Tyrone is that you contracted the scapegoat syndrome which has been a feature amongst the Ewood faithful as long as I can remember. You need a public enemy No1 out on the pitch and as soon as he leaves you just have to move onto another or you aren't happy.

Could I point out at this stage that I didn't criticise you directly but that I only quoted something that you had written and posted in reply to Parsonblue?

OK chris_h... I accept that you have opinions that are different from mine. ............. I'm not conceding on their validity mind.

Point proven I'd say Parson.

So what would you do with him if you were in charge? Which part did he play in the goal v Palace?

I didn't say he didn't say it arbitro. I said that imo it wasn't typical of him.

I don't think it is. He can be scathing about lots of peripheral stuff but he's usually bob on with things that go on on the pitch.

In effect you've agreed with me on everything I said there gumboots! So..... Keeper dodgy as hell in the air, poor kicker but makes occasional good reaction saves...... You've just described John Butcher! btw How was the Black Bull?

From what I saw yesterday he is certainly not commanding in the air (flapped at one he should have caught easily) considering his feet must stick out of the bed by about 18 inches! Also considering that he is left footed and left footers are usually blessed with accuracy and power he kicks very awkwardly. He won't do full time at this level and I may be being too judgemental off just one sighting but a 3rd choice keeper for a Championship club is exactly what I saw. I trust his wages aren't much. Sucker punch was down to that 'good' central defence parting like the red sea. They all had a better second half once that Portugese bloke had been winched and replaced by MGP at HT. Ped still commits elementary errors but the midfield is so much tighter with him in there and he is much more suited to championship football than random latinos..... plus he wins just about every header that he goes for. That backpass was scary though! btw.... A big plus for retaining MGP is as outlined above, plus and this is a massive plus.... I can hardly ever remember him getting injured! Compare that to Dunny! Dunny's much more skilfull of course but now he doesn't need to play he's 'on the sick' again. It's not a physiotherapist that he's needed all his career it's a psychiatrist. Yesterday we passed him walking from the DE car park to the main entrance with the flakiest put-on fake limp that I have seen since Darren Anderton was once selected to play for Spurs against Wimbledon! I'd love someone to be able to reckon up what Dunny has earned over his career divided by minutes of the pitch! I've a feeling he'd make Yaya Toure's 250k pw look like a bargain!

Wrong. Best game I've seen this season, good flowing football, action at both ends and penalty claims at each end to debate. A good equal contest imo BUT Palace did miss some sitters! btw I'm no way convinced that our 3rd choice keeper has much to bring to the party.

Correct. Nowt like watching cricket whilst shivering under a brolly is there?