I had an embarrassing encounter with Duncan at Darwen Leisure Centre Mark. Rovers used to train in the sports hall and I was coming out of the changing room as they were leaving. I was starstruck and asked McKenzie if the was any truth in the rumour they didn't want to go up as champions. It was undoubtedly the dumbest question in the world. He looked at me and said "Fucking right we do". and carried on walking. It was one of the wanting the ground to open up moments for me.

The exception to the rule 😃. As I recall he was pilloried by the press for his antics and thankfully nobody followed suit.

It was the fourth official who advised the referee to caution him. The referee was in a good position and allowed himself to be influenced and over ruled by someone who was fifty yards away. Poor all round.

Sorry I should have mentioned that in my post that knew we finished with nine men, Chapman came back on and clearly couldn't run so off he went again. The Bennett send off was incredibly harsh.

As I recall John he actually came back on after having treatment but was clearly struggling which only served to make the injury worse. If I am on the right player he needed surgery after the hamstring actually tore away from the bone. But we held on for an 0-0 in extenuating circumstances 😁😁.

Alan Smith of Arsenal and Leicester fame went through his career without a caution until one of his last games when he was yellow carded. At the time I thought it was a really harsh one and you could see the disappointment in Smith's body language but he accepted it without question.

What is as good/better now than when they rocked up? Just staying in the PL for their tenure would have been worth nigh on a billion pounds.

I agree. There was far more honesty in the game with no diving, feigning injury or squealing like a stuck pig when fouled. In the modern game with the law changes very little physical contact is allowed and quite often there can be up to thirty free kicks in a game. There was very little dissent to the match officials and it was rare to see any players booked let alone sent off.

I was watching The Big Match Revisited at the weekend and one of the games was Arsenal v Stoke from 1975. A corner was about to be taken and I noticed a bloke with something to his ear. I, like many would have thought it was a mobile phone then I realised it was 1975 and the memory came flooding back of lots of fans with transistor radios to their ears listening to Radio Two for any scores coming through. The buses back to Darwen went quiet at 5 o'clock when the volume on somebody's transistor was turned up and the dulcet tones of James Alexander Gordon started to read the results.

One of the biggest differences between then and now John is the information and technology that is pretty much at our fingertips and disseminating that into fact or fiction. In our formative years of watching Rovers all we had was the Telegraph and good old Alf's musings. I can still remember buying a Telegraph on the Boulevard on the way home from school and hanging on his every word. Now there are websites, forums, blogs and many other electronic means of getting information from a whole range of people who have strong opinions. Every Rovers match can be seen live either in person or on a laptop. We were lucky if our highlights were shown once a season on MOTD or the Big Match. Our post match critique used to consist of "he's shit" or extolling the virtues of Field, Jones et al but now, with the benefit of many replays you can analyse everything. Bloody he'll I feel like an old git now. 😁😁😁😁

I could have written that Leonard! 😂😂😂

Growing the fan base would have increased the revenue and the two are intrinsically linked. I think it was too much for him, beyond his capabilities and the easy hit was screwing the loyal fans. Closing stands and the Waggott tax are other examples of picking the low hanging fruit for Swag.

Do you have any evidence to back up that claim? Waggotts main brief was to grow the fan base - how has that one worked out? I can't think of one positive benefit he has brought during his time here. If you can I'd be glad to hear them.

And then the song went na na na na ad nauseam during which we all bounced about like nutters 😁😁😁. From that era John I don't remember too many individual songs for players - do you?

Ayala turned us down in the summer for a more lucrative deal in the Middle East. He was essentially doing the same as Kipre. When the move to the Middle East didn't materialise he came back to us pretty safe in the knowledge we would sign him. That's football and in general life. The moral high ground taken by some is naive.

Not sure what you mean with your reply.

26 PL appearances it was, the last of which was some time ago. It's about opinions and I don't see him as one of the best in the Championship as you describe him.

I really don't see him as one of the best in the Championship. He is of average standard to me. Throw in his injuries and it's a poor signing

The missing line is: Now we're in three, it doesn't bother me. The three (for the youngest ones) was the old Division Three. Its origination was on a Ribblesdale coach from a bloke called Nolan from Mill Hill. Not a bad memory for an old git eh Nick 😁😁😁

I didn't see all the game but I heard Andy Hinchcliffe praising Readings fitness levels. In fact he said they were the fittest team he has seen this season and were able to keep up a high intensity game for its duration. Sometimes fitness and its importance can be really understated.

Personally I wouldn't describe either Williams or Lenihan as technical footballers 😁. On a serious note we also discussed whether Lenihan may be happier to be the more senior of the partnership. I thought Lenihan was decent last season with Tosin beside him which adds evidence to the theory.

Another clean sheet which is the way to Championship success. A couple of Rovers supporters I speak to have given me some food for thought regarding Lenihan and evedentially I find it hard to disagree. Lenihans best matches this season have been with either Wharton or Branthwaite beside him and both are better footballers than him which, in a strange way inspires him and he does seem a better player and not the panic ridden, error prone footballer we sometimes see.

That's how it comes across Nick and from the responses has been interpreted the same by others. I know from our conversations where your heart lies but your poor choice of words to somebody who doesn't know you and taken at face value give a poor impression.

Your use of the word scum was poor Nick and to be honest you saying "who could blame them" is an insult. And your description of "investing" £150m couldn't be further from the truth. They have brought everything on themselves.

So it's plan B then. Oh wait a minute...............