With no 'proper' football today I decided to get the train to Moston to watch FC United against Radcliffe. The ground is tidy with various food outlets dotted around and quite a few bars too. Playing for FC was ex Rover Chris Taylor whilst Jem Karacan played for Radcliffe. He played for Reading and Galatasary and represented Turkey at various levels. I mention this because he is actually a Rovers fan. The play was really good particularly from Radcliffe who won 2-1 with a really late goal. The 'entertainment' also included a scrap between some FC fans and stewards. I have to say though FC supporters had the best array of songs I have heard in years. All that for £7 admission and £8 train fare.

mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/picturesque-jekyll-hyde-village-plagued-27855474 Not Blackburn but close enough.

In fairness I complimented Rovers on the veil of secrecy on this deal, as it should be on all deals. I misinterpreted Broughtons comments that we bid for him in June.

When I got my Wigan tickets on Friday there were around 1000 Blackpool tickets unsold although I don't know what our allocation is.

Who knows Andy. I read what Broughton said about enquiring about him in June and made the link.

It was just my thought given how slow they have been in reacting in the past and what Broughton said about going after him in the summer.

I thought that was Morton who lost a shin pad. I don't like these skimpy little shin pads that offer less protection than conventional ones. However it fits with the current trend of wearing socks half way down the calf like Grealish.

It's annoying that we have been desperate for a new centre half and it appears that the Hyam deal has been in the offing for some time. Stuck in an in tray somewhere in Pune perhaps?

That's why I mentioned Carter as an option. Given the toing and froing with Liverpool we can't bank on Van Den Berg coming here.

His range of passing is something we simply don't have. Even in his fledgling career his talent, work rate and attitude are apparent. We have a real gem here and we need to treat him accordingly and play him regularly.

Right back is a posit that worries me more than left back. Tomasson seemed quite coy when asked about Brittain's injury and we saw with our own eyes on Saturday we have no back up for him. Carter is a far better proposition as back up which speaks volumes about Rankin-Costello.

Brittain said we first went after him in June and were told no. The link to Hyam only emerged recently so well done to Rovers for keeping this under wraps. We desperately need another few of these though.

Richarlison makes it so easy to dislike him. His earlier antics when he tried to play as he thought he could get the ball, realised be couldn't and went down holding his nuts. It was good though when Johnson smashed him and Williams dropped on top of him essentially for being a prick.

That was the problem for me, he blew too quickly. At this level it's pretty basic stuff particularly around the penalty area to delay the whistle. The law changed many years ago to allow the referee to bring play back if the perceived advantage doesn't accrue. It's a win/win for the referee but yesterday he just didn't read play and delay his whistle.

The stats on shots don't lie and one real frustration this season has been the number of opportunities to shoot that haven't been taken. I have seen lots of times outside the box when shots should have gone in but we opted for another pass. Yesterday this was in evidence particularly in the second half from open play and second balls from set plays. Brereton cut inside on his right foot several times and to play somebody in rather than shooting. It's ironic when you consider 50% of our league goals have come from outside the box.

If (and a big if given who the hack is) it blows the 'healthy budget' myth out of the water.

I was buying Wigan tickets and asked how many we have sold for Blackpool. He didn't say how many we had sold but tellingly that we have 1000 left. It's live on Sky and adult prices are £29. I can't recall a time in the last decade when we haven't sold out. For many non season ticket holders it will be a big decision to buy home match tickets because, as you say the priority will be keeping warm and nourished.

Kaminski gets an easy ride but his distribution today was poor. In the first half he tried a suicidal pass which went straight to a Stoke player giving them an opportunity. There were several other instances of poor kicking putting us under pressure.

Awful that something like that should happen to you and your son who is only six. Unfortunately neanderthals are still roaming free and some see offensive abuse as 'banter'. In their gang they are pseudo tough guys but on their own they are as meek as lambs. Next time you are coming if the imbeciles are likely to be around drive down.

Buckley's performance today reminded me of Danny Murphy's I'll fated first half performance against Peterborough. He probably walked more than he ran, passed to Stoke players more often than he did to his teammates and was so lethargic I wondered if he was ill. He needs to go back to basics in the reserves for a while.

You can't just turn up for one half at this level which is exactly what we did. It's no exaggeration to say Stoke will have been disappointed not to be at least three up at half time such was their dominance. But in truth we asked for everything we got, no energy or pace to our game, players slow in possession, taking four touches when one or two was required and a general malaise right through the team which was infuriating. Whilst nobody came out with credit in this period I was really angry at Buckley who almost played like he didn't want to be or as my brother said like he had a heavy night on the booze last night. Rankin-Costello simply isn't good enough but I expected far more from Buckley even if it was only running around a bit. His body language was shocking and perhaps he showed his true colours today. The half time changes out us on the front foot and injected some urgency into us. Suddenly our passes were finding their targets and were far more precise and on the second half performance could have got a point. Overall though I'm feeling really flat as our excellent start has disintegrated and reality has kicked in, no doubt for Tomasson too. Today once again highlights how inadequate our squad is. If we lose a player or two it weakens us incredibly as the back up players just aren't good enough. With a few days to go (one of them being a match day) Broughton has to pull his bloody finger out and pull some rabbits out of hats otherwise it's going to be another season of mid table mediocrity.

I didn't know about that Neal. Please give him my best regards - he will know me as the referee from way back as our paths crossed many times. He was some player too, one of the best of his generation.

Josh Kings finest hour in a Rovers shirt (quite a shallow pool to fish in I know).

He moved to Luton in the summer for an undisclosed fee and was immediately loaned back to Grimsby for the season. I saw him several times last season and he aS the best player in the National Conference.

Come on Gav you know how this works with some posters. Lenihan - crap, Nyambe - crap, Rothwell - crap. In a few days it will be Brereton too. The common denominator here is that they don't play for us now and therefore the opinion of some is skewed. I remember when Shearer went and one 'expert' said to me 'he's alright but we've got Gallagher who will score as many as him'.