You are making an assumption there my friend but I believe that players have a code of conduct and standard of behaviour that they should adhere to. Barnes' comments are irresponsible and could well propagate trouble in March. As for likening Dack's misdemeanours (for which he was rightly punished) to drink driving then you really need to think again. Barnes could have killed somebody whilst Dack was a knob.

The drunk driver Barnes has been charged for referring to us as Bastards in a Sky interview after the recent game. Hopefully they hammer him with a fine and suspension. https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/ashley-barnes-faces-potential-fa-action-as-fallout-continues-from-burnleys-win-over-rivals-blackburn/

His error was the prices he charged for season tickets in the summer. In the article he talks about understanding the economic situation for people and then kept prices the same. Still on £300k a year and getting into games for free it doesn't really impinge on his finances too much.

Why bother with such a curt reply. Explain why you disagree by all means but a nonsense response like that doesn't do you any favours.

Thanks Andy. I wasn't aware that Bob had passed away. It's a few years since I saw him and he didn't seem in great health but he was happy to stand and chat football for a while. Did you know he was a Bournemouth supporter?

I was having a look at the upcoming fixtures and was that our next Saturday 3 pm game is at Rotherham on January 14th. The last 3 pm kick off on a Saturday was November 5th at home to Huddersfield. That's over two months without a regular kick off time which is eight games in total.

The best way to beginning some from of redemption from Tomasson and the players is to batter the Nobbers whilst playing some quick, intense and progressive football. In reality though I expect his cautious, slow and over playing football we have seen too many times this season. However the only thing that matters is the result and in fairness he has ground out a few so far but the Dingle debacle has seen him lose lots of the faith I had in him.

When Barcelona did it they had players who didn't need more than two touches and had great speed of mind. The sheep who are trying to replicate this simply don't have the raw materials to do it hence too many touches and ponderous in possession. I do feel that the tide is shifting a little as some of the World Cup teams are going longer, playing on second balls and percentages. Hopefully Tomasson realises our limitations and tweaks things.

Forest have been given an initial allocation of 4,319 tickets for this match and fully expect to sell them. The article I saw doesn't say whether more will be available if needed.

In the latest edition of the excellent Turnstile magazine (produced by Rovers fan Chris O'Keefe) there is a copy of a Football League Review from around 1970 and Rovers are the club in the Ground Call feature. Alongside the usual ground capacity statistics it has what was at that time record receipts of £13280 from an FA Cup match against Manchester City on 1969. The attendance was 42315. As a real enthusiast for such statistics I remember such publications as Rothmans Football Yearbook when every club published their record receipts but that was in the days when there was no hospitality which now would probably skew the figures. It would be interesting though to know on a game by game basis what Rovers take.

It's interesting that even on those early plans the Riverside appears to have been unchanged and the houses on Kidder Street remained.

I don't know if this has been posted before but it's worth a watch.

The Americans have the measure of England tactically. Southgate is doing a fair impression of Tomasson here with the inane passing and walking football whilst the Yanks are playing through the lines with pace.

The match on now between Qatar and Senegal is being played in a stadium that looks about a quarter full. FIFA will however spring it a several thousand above the capacity.

I can understand playing Bale but the selection of Ramsey is baffling. Since he left Arsenal he has crashed and burned and has had very little football in the last few years. How Wales could have done with the energy and drive of someone like Hedges.

Please could Ian to advise me how to get vomit out of a Rovers shirt. I wore it to the last game and the result and performance made me sick.

You could be right Jack. Normally when something as radical as this happens there is a warning given. Perhaps they have kept it quiet because strictly speaking in Law the referee is the sole arbiter of time. To change this it would require IFAB to come up with the amendment when they convene in the Summer.

Although it's not National League what about this from Darwen. It's a replica from the kit worn in the excellent English Game series on Netflix.

I firmly expect the longer periods of added time we are seeing to percolate down to our domestic football soon. In truth though I always think when we are seeing inordinate additional time (when there haven't been any obvious long stoppages) it's usually a failing on the referees part who hasn't managed restarts correctly. In this World Cup there has been little of the restart delays we see here. I find it infuriating when players kick the ball away after a free kick concession or standing on the ball to prevent a quick free kick.

An interesting article regarding the proposed football reform which hasn't happened yet despite promises after a government white paper in the Summer simply hasn't materialised. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/football-clubs-miss-out-365m-28567193

The Forest game has been confirmed for Wednesday 21st December and in fairness the prices are decent. With adults at £12, Seniors £5, 18-23's £5 and under 18's £2. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2022/november/23/forest-cup-clash-confirmed/

I certainly do and my points were a dig at Tomasson. I read somewhere that he wants to replicate a way of playing from the seniors down but having watched the Under 21's four times recently this simply isn't the case.

Once again the youngsters showed great character and resolve to get a result. Coming from behind to win against a decent team was encouraging. Interestingly the way we played (and have in the games I've seen this season) bears little resemblance to how the seniors play. We aren't afraid to go long when we have to and we don't really overplay and take unnecessary risks. Hopefully Jake Batty wasn't too seriously injured although he was in a lot of pain as they immobilised his left leg.

A point regularly missed when we are accused of buying the Premier League is that lots of the players we bought (Shearer, Sutton, Le Saux to name a few) were sold on at a huge profit. In truth nearly every Premier League winner buys it but very few have a trading profit on their players.

Another valid reason to curse the day they darkened our door.