And he then head butts the grille in the confessional box several times 😂. Brilliant.

I watched Boys from the Blackstuff again recently and the social commentary at the time was eye opening. It had everything in it and Yosser was the main character. I'd seen him previously in a series called Fox and thought he was a really food actor then. This was iconic: RIP Bernard.

We both started off with -16 goal difference and a three point gap. Them winning by any score and he losing would have given them a superior goal difference.

I think it was the very first protest match and we went from the Havelock. It was fine until we got to Ewood and walked all the way around the ground. Some of the vitriol aimed at us was ridiculous and nobody marching rose to the clear provocation. I often wonder now what some of those people think particularly after the disastrous fourteen years.

It wasn't said. That was the first I'd heard of it.

I can't remember who it was but it was said on the radio when driving home from Leicester that a clause in Trafford's contract was that he had to play in 75% of the games. If that is true it reflects awfully on whoever agreed to it.

In a day which will be remembered for lots of good things one of the most pleasing aspects was Szmodics receiving his Golden Boot award on the pitch in front of 2000 jubilant Rovers fans. It was a nice touch by somebody to do that and was greatly appreciated by the players, staff and supporters. If he does leave my last sight of him in a Rovers shirt with a prestigious individual trophy in his hands will be embedded in my happy Rovers memories.

Bang on the money.

It's been a long, long time since I loved a Rovers player like I love Sammie Szmodics. The season he has had is up there with the Shearers for me as he has pretty much single handedly kept us up. We should all be eternally grateful to him. In all honesty I didn't think we would get anything today and would have to rely on other teams inadequacies. Our angst was even greater during the game as very few people in the stadium could get a phone signal to keep tabs on the other games. We heard that Wednesday had scored then Plymouth and then Birmingham. This is it now, we all know what is coming and we will drop into the bottom three any time soon for the first time this season. We were quite stunned but the Rovers fans kept at it and I sure were inspirational. Can we hang on, there is a long way to go but we are defending exceptionally well. Then Szmodics gets the ball out wide and keeps going and going, looks up and there is nobody to pass to. He opens up his body and passes the ball into the net. Unbridled job abounded amongst the Rovers fans. His second goal will live long in my memory primarily because if was like slow motion. Did he really celebrate before he put it into the net? That's it, we're safe now and we really enjoyed the moment. For a few minutes we forgot about the Indians, Waggott, Kean, Anderson and all the shysters that have besmirched our great name for 14 years as we bounced about and hugged each other. This is what Rovers means to us and they can't take that away. As at Leeds Eustace got it right with his set up and tactics. Well done to him and the players who showed they care and have some pride. Lots of heroes in yellow today but my last word is for Szmodics. Fanbloodytastic.

And we didn't play particularly well in that second half and Stoke missed a penalty. It's nonsense for him to claim that as his win and in my opinion is the action of a desperate man. Anyway on to tomorrow's celebration............

Bloody hell that just puts a tin hat on it. I don't know and Rovers fan who will be celebrating if we stay up on Saturday. We are where we are for a reason, because we haven't been good enough since early December and Eustace and the players have had a big part to play in that. Maybe Waggott has shown him his interview from August where he says the goal is to avoid relegation so crack on John, break out the champagne. Small minded people and an insult to Jack Walkers memory. Irrespective of how Saturday goes my overriding feeling will be of the missed opportunity to build on last season. It's just another reason to detest the errant ones.

I have seen lots of comment from Wednesday supporters who think they are safe and it appears some of their players are in this frame of mind too. Football has a habit of kicking you in the nuts when complacency sets in.

When we beat Leeds we knew that they really needed to win. One of the tactics was to slow/stop the game at every opportunity. Every restart was laboured and within a few minutes the anger of the crowd came through loud and clear. It was definitely the right approach and worked well. Saturday is different for me as Leicester are already the champions and the players and crowd will be relaxed and under no pressure. Whilst Eustace will probably still take this approach I don't think we will be able to capitalise on any anxiety from the Leicester players or crowd like we did at Leeds.

Not that old chestnut again. The best advice they were given was when Williams, Finn and Goodman wrote to them telling them they were wrong in what they were doing ie letting Anderson have the run of the place. Had they heeded that warning we wouldn't be in the state we are now. Instead of listening to those three they got rid of them and carried on with reckless abandon. I wonder who 'advised' them to do that. Similarly Paul Hunt wrote to them about the poison that was Kean (although Hunt had an ulterior motive) and he was sacked. Please don't come with the 'badly advised' excuse. We could get relegated for the third time in their watch on Saturday and it's all on them, they are totally to blame.

I'm not entirely sure where this should go but in yesterday's PMQ's the subject of having vaping companies as sponsors was brought up. Typically Sunak was wishy washy in his response but it appears that there is a growing campaign to stop it. Personally I don't like it and wouldn't buy anything that endorses it. Hopefully this season sees the end of it and Waggott and Read find something which doesn't court as much adverse publicity. Or will the laziness prevail and another deal is agreed with them using the local company bullshit excuse. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-refuses-ban-vape-32711479

I haven't done anything as stupid as that. The inevitability of something as serious as this is that it would incite trouble.

But that's illegal?

There will be cameras there and the trophy presentation will probably be shown live but right now the game won't be broadcast live. Sky clearly feel there is more interest in the games they have chosen and I think they are right.

https://www.efl.com/news/2024/april/29/three-games-chosen-for-sky-sports-broadcast-on-sky-bet-championship-final-day/ It hasn't been selected for live coverage.

Rovers will be well supported on the road again.

The referee caused that incident by taking an age to signal the direction of the throw. I actually thought it was a Coventry throw and I'm assuming Palmer did too by the way he held on to the ball. When the referee finally gave Rovers the throw Palmer had been hold of the ball for a few seconds and would have been out of position if we had taken a quick throw. When Eustace realised this he tried to snatch the ball and get play going quickly. Then the melee ensued but had the referee signalled earlier it wouldn't have happened. I'm certainly not going to be critical of Eustace because of his actions.

On Friday?

Ash Phillips own goal.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/efl-tried-stop-norwich-boss-29079002 According to this report the EFL are aware of the situation with Wagner and his shenanigans in 2017. The integrity of the competition is once again at stake but I personally think it's just lip service from the EFL.

Cheston has retired as announced a few weeks ago but Silvester had no plans to is what I was told.