Not read the rest of this thread, want to make a last minute effort to get to AC/DC at the Etihaad on Thursday night. Don't suppose anyone has a spare ticket they want to sell?

Hard to disagree. Someone I know whose house backs onto the Academy says we've just had the pitches completely relaid at the Academy and this apparently happens every year. We seem to spend fortunes on incidental stuff like that and new ticketing systems and running tracks round the pitch without getting any of the basics right.

Extremely minor in the general scheme of things but If they are relocating the cameras to the Riverside it is a long overdue and very welcome move imo. Nothing was ever said about the direction of the sun when I was on the Fans Forum years ago, the problem seemed to more one of convenience in that everything was hi tech and just plugged straight in in the JW stand. A minor plus if it happens. Now all we need is a manager and some players.

I don't rate Graham in the slightest, as is my prerogative. I hope he goes on to prove me wrong for the sake of the team.

Back on topic nineteen points needed from eighteen games to stay up. Should be easy enough with Gomez dictating proceedings in midfield as long as we convert the chances we create.

Jackson, Watt and Graham are more or less straight replacements for Koita, Lawrence and Rhodes. On top of that Olsson was sold. We really are screwed if Graham is intended as Rhodes' long term replacement.

Well said Stuart. At least someone is maintaining a sense of perspective round here. Wouldn't we have been far better off simply swapping Lawrence for Watt and bringing in Gomez on loan? Letting Rhodes go at this stage was a completely unnecessary gamble. If PL can carry it off all credit to him.

Not sure why people are hung up about the perceived difference in ability between Rhodes and the likes of Cole anyway. Rhodes cost 8m, Cole would cost 50, 60, or 70 m in today's market. It is and always has been a pointless and academic debate. He's not as good as a select handful who have worn the blue and white halves during the Premiership era, he's better than a good many of them over the years and his goalscoring record stands up for scrutiny against anyone. Anyone looking beyond that is trying to find fault for the sake of it.

Best player I've ever seen playing for us apart from Shearer. An absolute joy to watch. Dearly wish the Walker Trust had not been predominantly concerned with recouping money in the latter years and had kept him at Ewood as our figurehead for several more of his peak years. Arguably my favourite memory of Duffer was the pre season friendly we played at Ewood one season against Barcelona in front of 24k fans. They couldn't get the ball off him. Absolutely unplayable. Wish him all the best for the future with whatever he decides to do.

I didn't realise he was at the helm when Bolton won the 3rd Division title. I thought it was Ian Greaves who actually succeeded him on looking it up.I definitely don't think he achieved anything at Leeds who were still a marvellous side at the time. I got the impression he was an avuncular type figure who was brought in to smooth the waters after Brian Clough's turbulent 44 day reign. A sort of 70 ''s version of Woy Hodgson as it were. More of a politician than a manager. Just my view. Seems a lovely bloke and somewhat of a national treasure which is more important. Still glad we got Howard instead though.

Great post. Before becoming a manager Howard was one of the best midfield players of his or any other generation forming part of the fabled Holy Trinity of Kendall, Ball and Harvey at Goodison. I think it's very unlikely that we'll see too many top players in future cut their teeth in management in the lower leagues and go on to great success, they're already financially secure and don't need the money or the hassle.Going back to what another poster said about his appointment, thank goodness we ended up with the up and coming Kendall and not the rather staid Jimmy Armfield who whist a great player in a bygone era and a perfect gentleman never demonstrated much in the way of managerial ability imo.

I was really upset when I heard this news today, arguably our greatest ever manager given his astounding success relative to the scarcity of the resources he had to work with. To get us promoted immediately then follow that up with another near miss on goal difference without any financial support from the Board was an astonishing achievement. And of course we saw how good he was when he went to Everton and achieved unprecedented success there. Good comments about Gigg Lane. I was sat at the side and the stand behind the goal housing the Rovers fans was indeed shaking. RIP Howard. Should be right up there towards the top of the list of Rovers legends.

Souness had completely lost the plot by the time he left us, the place was starting to resemble a retirement rest home and I think it's highly likely he'd have relegated us had he stayed any longer. I'm sure I commented on here that we started one game with 5 left backs on the pitch. In answer to Abbey's question Souness or Allardyce you'd maybe take the Souness of the first two or three seasons with us (even though he needed the Trust to bail us out by buying Andy Cole)and undoubtedly Allardyce thereafter as he's a lot more consistent and far less erratic.

Spurr's long throw is pretty useless (as was MGP's) but I do think we look more solid defensively with him in the side than Olsson and his delivery from free kicks in dangerous situations is excellent.

I really don't understand where this assumption we won't go down under Bowyer comes from. We're currently on a run which if repeated over the season would see us relegated with less than 30 points. If we were playing particularly well or GB had finally happened upon his best starting X1 then I'd agree there were grounds for thinking this might be a temporary blip but neither of those apply as far as I can see. In fact I only expect the tombola selection to gather momentum with all the midfield options.

On the pitch there is, in the dug out though? Imo we were beaten on Saturday by a Wolves side that did not play well. I posed the question then, who will be actually be good enough to beat under this manager? Not Shrewsbury obviously. The other most worrying thing for me (apart from bizarre team selections and use of personnel) is the spirit within the dressing room. There really didn't appear to be any burning desire to pull it back to 2-2 when we came out for the second half on Saturday. The game just sort of ambled along like a meaningless training exercise until the late introduction of Koita. Similar comments were made by Radio Rovers when we were trailing in the second half on Tuesday. It's only two games in and obviously too early to say the manager has lost the dressing room already but by the same token even at this early stage the players certainly don't look as though they're prepared to run through a brick wall for him and the team either.

Why even bother posting the above?

Not read the thread so apologies if this has been mentioned before. Where does Broad's 8 for 15 rank in terms of all time Test match and/or Ashes hauls?

Well jealous Bob. Was hoping to go but tickets sold out immediately and when I looked on ticket agencies a few months ago tickets were already 200 upwards. Wish I'd have gone for it even at that price now. Glad you enjoyed it.

The figure that caught my eye above was Beckford allegedly on 40k p.w. at Leicester. Who could ever think that Beckford even on his very best day was worth anything remotely approaching 40k p.w? (Milan Mandaric probably but it was a rhetorical question. You deserve everything coming to you paying those sort of wages out)

I suppose statistically given the number of players that have played for the Club over the last 40 years, you're always going to get a tragic story popping up occasionally about a former player leaving us well before his time. That doesn't make it any less tragic or shocking when it actually happens. RIP.

I don't think Messrs Battersby and Currie have anything like the wherewithal to take over the Club but if it's good enough for the man perceived by many to be the knight on the white charger to say that I don't see why it isn't good enough for everyone else.

Some very amusing imagery indeed but I think the concept of money laundering is lost on some on here. Hypothetically if you put 20m of "dirty" money in you expect to get 20m or 20m less a suitable arrangement fee back not lose the lot then carry on haemorrhaging money at the rate of 2m plus per month. On that note I notice Ian Battersby in one of his most recent interviews said it was time to put all the conspiracy theories to bed.

There's no reason whatsoever why ill feeling towards the owners will or should dissipate unless or until the unlikely situation comes about that they put us back in roughly the same position as that which they found us in. However I don't understand people's need to substitute rank incompetence for something more sinister such as shadow owners, illegal betting scams etc etc.

Why? Whenever ill feeling towards the owners seems to be dissipating slightly it seems someone feels the need to stir the pot up again by starting unsubstantiated and ultimately unfounded rumours about Judan Ali/Shebby Singh returning (delete as appropriate) In this particular instance Glen dropped a broad hint about Ali thereby getting everyone flapping then admitted therr might not be anything in it after all.