Strange is it not, that all the talk of our Day/KO time is based around wheather Newcastle get through to the next round of the UEFA Cup, where the tie will be played on the previous Thursday to the semi finals. Are they not playing this leg tonight WEDNESDAY, so why the hell can UEFA not play the next round on the Wednesday also? Just a thought, but too logical I suppose!

I used to hate George Courtney as well until Speedie tripped over that long blade of grass at Wembley and good old George pointed to the spot. For the record my 5 most hated: in no particular order: Rodney Marsh ( Talks a load of ###### all of the time) Alex Ferguson (Spitting chewing gum everywhere) The sons of Neville Neville Christiano Ronaldo (For being a member of the Port & Cheese Diving Team) El Hadj Diouf ( For spitting and diving and playing for the Notlobs) Big Fat Sam (For wearing that stupid bloody earpiece all the time) Must stop 6 already and I can thing of so many more.................................

I went down to Ewood on Tuesday after work when commputors went down. Tickets arrived in post as promised to-day. 11:00am at a guess but I was at work when postie calls. Can't wait till dingle time

Great Post Den. Talk about driving the point home. That stat just makes you wonder a bit doesn't it? For me it has to be from McEvoy, Briggs and Southworth. Yes I have to include Garner in there also. I think of all the team this is the most difficult pick of the lot.

Well there have been some very meritous posts on some of our well known strikers and as bazza says, no mention of Jack Southworth who I am afraid non of us have seen play. Nevertheless the stats deem that he does indeed deserve recocnition among our hero's. I take the following from Mike Jackman's 'Blackburn Rovers. A Complete Record' Jack Southworth was born in Blackburn in 1876 and was Rovers first truly prolific goalscorer. he began his football career at the age of 12 when he formed a junior club named Inkerman Rangers. He later played for Brookhouse Perseverance, which were both nurseries for Blackburn Olympic. Southworth was promoted to the Olympic second team in 1883-84. His ability was quickley recognized by the committee at Olympic and he was made captain of the second team and first reserve when there was a vacancy in the first team. It was at this time that he rejected the first approach by Rovers to join them. Whilst guesting in a match for accrington he received a serious knee injury which threatened his career. Having lost some of his mobility he turned his hand to goalkeeping and became the first team goalkeeper with Olympic. having helped Olympic to win the Lancashire Cup against Rovers in 1885, he now received a serious injury to his other knee whilst guesting for Vale of Lune. The following year he signed professional terms with Blackburn Olympic despite his knee problems. A keen musician, he took a job with a theatre in Chester and returned to Olympic, resuming his old position of centre forward. having overcome his injuries, he became a great success as a centre forward and in the 1887-88 season saw him finally join the Rovers. A contemporary wrote that: 'His dodging, his neat passing, his speed and general accuracy in shooting won the hearts of the spectators at the Leamington ground. He is built for speed, he plays an unselfish game, he's good at tackling and has excellent jugement.' He captained the side as it made it's first excursion into league football and became a prolific goalscorer. Capped three times for England, he won FA Cup winners medals in 1890 and 1891. In August 1893 Everton paid £400 for his services and in his first season he scored 27 goals in 22 games. The following season saw him score 9 goals in 9 games, before injury and illness finally forced him into retirement. Turning to his other love, he became a professional violinist and played with the Halle Orchestra. Rovers career statistics: League Played 108 Goals 97 Cup Played 25 Goals 25 Total Played 133 Goals 122 During this time the scorers of 11 league goals and 3 Cup goals remain unidentified so Jacks total goals could be more than shown.. I thank bazza for bringing this great goalscorer to our attention and I hope that the above is of interest to you all as it has been to me. A truly remarkable player I think you will agree

My number one vote has to go to Alan Shearer of course. The greatest accolade to him is that we always expected him to score as soon as he got the ball anywhere near the opposition penalty area. Indeed it came as a massive shock if he missed. The greatest Rovers player I will see or have ever seen. Mention must be made of David Speedie. As has already been mentioned, his efforts in our promotion season will live long in my memory, especially his goals against Derby County in the play off semi-final at Ewood when I for one thought all was lost. Prior to that semi, I remember travelling the three million miles to Plymouth when we had to beat Argyle in the last match of the season to secure 6th. place and reach the play offs after leading the table comfortably in December. Things went downhill from then on and I felt a little uneasy to say the least about our chances at Plymouth who were themselves fighting for their lives to avoid the drop. Enter our talisman Speedie who not just won the game but emphasised his sheer determination and guts and bagged a hat trick. What a player, he made the long trip home that Saturday night fell a quarter of the distance of the journey down. I was absolutely gutted when we sold him to Southampton as part of the Shearer deal. What a pairing those two would have made. And what of Andy McEvoy. Born in Dublin and bought from Bray Wanderers in 1956 he made his League debut in 1958-59 as a wing-half as back up to Clayton and McGrath. The then manager Jack Marshall converted him to inside forward alongside Fred Pickering in 1962-63 season. This resulted in a strong goal scoring partnership the envy of many and the following season saw Andy become the League's leading scorer with 32 goals from 37 appearances. Including cup games his total for the season was 36 goals from 41 appearances. A very healthy return you must agree, especially as the top marksmen of the time were Jimmy Greaves and Denis Law both of who were beaten by Andy's total. He was the epitome of a good striker, lurking in or around the area with blistering pace and deadly finishing. The McEvoy-Pickering combination was ended prematurely when Pickering was sold to Everton in 1964 and Jon Byrom was to be McEvoy's new strike partner, and that season his tally was down to 32 goals from 45 appearances. Relegation in 1966 seemed to affect him and he became disillusioned with the professional game and returned to Ireland to play for Limerick and finished driving a tram in the city. He continued to play for Limerick until the early 70's and sadly Andy died a couple of years ago. As a 16 year old at the time of his goal scoring exploits I have always felt privileged to have seen him play and remember him with great affection as one of Rovers truly great strikers. Total League Appearances 183 Goals 89 Total Cup Appearances 30 Goals 14 Total 213 Total 103

Try this Tim. http://www,cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/p...,,10335,00.html

Sorry if this has been asked, but there seemed to be some concern about crowd control/segregation prior to this game. Unfortunately could not go due toe the dreaded flu so gave my ticket to a young nephew who went in my place. He didn't see any problems. Was there any of the usual outside the breezeblock?

Good shout 92er and many thanks for relieving my failing memory. Indeed we did buy Mike Harrison from Chelsea and sold him to the Pilgrims. As I said in my previous post I used to love watching Mike but still my vote just has to go to Duffer. The best accolade I can give him is that he would go straight into any Brazilian side including the great team of 1970.

I have been a Rovers supporter for 48 years and have been privilidged to have seen some great players wearing the blue and white halves. In past polls I have voted for players from the sixties like Douglas, Clayton and England as unlike some of the younger forum members I have been able to see play. However in the vote for the greatest left winger there can only be one man for me. Damien Duff. I am sure I will never see a greater left winger. I have great memories of some of the others from Noddy McLeod onwards, and I have marvelled at the skills of Scotty Sellars, Noel Brotherston and Jason Wilcox, but let's be honest here, there can only be one winner. The problem we have, is that in this position we have been spoiled over the years. When all the talk is of a lack of good left sided players, we have had an abundance of them. I must make mention of Mike Harrison who I think we bought from Plymouth Argyle. He was built like a brick out-house but this belied the fact that he possesed great speed coupled with a tremendous shot. I can well remember sitting over the wall on that red cinder track at the corner of the Blackburn End/Nuttal St., and seeing this massive frame running towards me. If he hadn't stopped in time I always thought that he would have taken both me and the wall with him. Long live Mike Harrison and the memories he gave me. A gentleman as well.

The match against Spurs that will forever remain in my memory was the 7-2 drubbing we gave them at Ewood in the early 70's against a very classy Spurs side that included the great Jimmy Greaves. What a day!!!! As for our most famous export being Tim Sherwood! You must be joking. Mike England has to be that man.

I cannot blame anyone voting for the players that they have seen and not voting for those that came before they were watching Rovers. On this same vein my vote has to go to my boyhood hero Bryan Douglas. I was enthralled watching him when I started watching Rovers some 45 years ago as a ten year old. I have seen many great players on the right wing and some not so great. I would still love to watch Super Stu, the unpredictable Mike Ferguson, and the rapid Windy Miller, all of the great club servants, but my vote has to go to the best right winger I have ever seen, and that includes Mathews. Bryan could go inside or outside the full back unlike Matthews who only went on the outside. He was also a one club man and that was his hometown club. For the sake of those who have never seen Bryan play I can only say that it was like having Damian Duff on the right wing. Oh happy days. Bryan played for England in two World Cups not many players can say that. As a youngster I was taken by my dad to a Scotland v England game at Hampden Park with a full house of 134,000 and saw my hero take Scotland apart. The headlines in the papers the next day were "Black Douglas of England". I shed tears of joy that day. Here was an England player from my club, from my town, who tormented those Scots and did not know how the hell to handle this pocket dynamo. What's more having spent all his playing days for the Rovers he is still a fan and regular attender ar Ewood. He is indeed one of us. I have just finished reading Jimmy Armfield's autobiography and in it there is a picture of the greatest England team that Jim ever played in. Sitting there on the front row is the Great Duggie. Vote for him please.

What a load of rubbish, and I'm not saying that just because I'm a norwegian! The guy is 22years old, he has just moved to a new country, has been away with the national team to Italy and Norway, have only had a good couple of training sessions with the team, have played 3 games -- and you are slagging him off?! What a joke! I'm not saying he will be a success here at Blackburn Rovers, but I'm surely not going to base my judgment on 3 games in the Premier League! I too thought Pederson had a poor game,which led to his substitution, but give the lad a break for God's sake. Remember one Henning Berg. When he first came to Rovers he was like a duck out of water initially but turned into one of the best defenders we have ever had. On a brighter note wasn't it pleasing to have some positive decision making from the dug-out in the form of meaningful substitutions in a part of the game where they were able to have an effect, rather than in the final ten minutes.

It has to be Bill Eckersley for me. He was the first left back i saw playing for Rovers so maybe I am biased in that respect, but to have such an accomplished International player in our team and to have his greatness underlined by both Tom Finney and Stanley Mathews who both said that Bill was won of the best full backs they ever played against, and then to be told by the great Sir Alf Ramsey ( Bill's full back partner in many an England Internetional match) that he was the greatest partner he ever played beside anywhere in any team. Enough said. Dave Whelan should get a nomination as well

Well said DB. That's the correct and only view we all should have now.

Megson?????? Asked for new contract at WBA and refused. Itchy Feet Time! Wort a longshot bet. Not that I would really want him.

With Souey gone it will be interesting to see when we get our first penalty and when the Magpies next get one!! As far as I am concerned the initial feeling was one of shock. he did a good job for a time but recently he has lost the plot and I think it was a matter of time before he was pushed. Great business on the part of Rovers to allow him to speak to Newcastle and we get compensation plus a new face that might just re-vitalise the players and allow some of the fringe players to get another look in like Jansen and Todd. Just as an aside, I spoke to a Magpie mate last night and his biggest gripe on Robson, was that he was tactically unaware and constantly played players out of position. GS should fit in quite well then.

In the clubs history, how many ex-players (other than dear old Tony) have become the manager and how successful have they been? I'm not too sure that an ex-player would be the best choice. The ones banded about at the moment are too inexperienced and some players would view them as an ex-player rather than THE BOSS.

I couldn't agree more with those sentiments. Dickov has shown so far that he has the desire to win. That' all we should ask from ALL the players wearing the shirt. I sincerely hope that Dickov can be the next Speeeeedie! From what I have seen he cannot be accused of not trying.

The best fullback I have seen is undoubtedly Keith Newton. The man was a class act and a very fine servant to both the Rovers and England. And a nice man to boot. As I am also interested in the all time history of our fine club, my vote has to go to Bob Crompton. Any man who makes so many appearances for one club, achieves so many caps for his country in the days when there were far fewer International than there are now, and has the distinction of being the captain of his country for many of those appearances. The fact that he was held in such high regard by his peers worldwide must be taken as an indication of the magnitude of the man. The fact that he was the manager on two occasions and remained totally loyal to the Rovers all his life, then there can be only one way to vote. Just imagine if we could have had both Bob Crompton and Jack Walker in the same period!

I feel exactly the same Paul. I was appalled by Ronaldo's blatant dives and constant whining to the referee. His theatrical tumble in the box after running into Amoruso was so bad it was actually funny--yet I can't believe he didn't go in the book for that. For a kid with so much skill, he clearly has a lot to learn about the game of football. Cannot stand this out and out cheating by diving at every available opportunity. I thought the FA had issued a directive that diving should be a cautionable offence and the perpetrator should be immediately given a yellow card.

Excellent news re- henry the vacumn cleaner. He can play in away matches without the expence of providing him with a kit!

That's what I do so as to allow a friend to attend who normally works Saturdays so cannot justify the outlay for a ST. But will the new card system allow a lady to use a man's ST card or vice versa, or will the turnstyles have hidden camera's so that this will not be allowed to happen?

Ther's only one Harold Shipman, Only one Harold Shipman, We give him our thanks, cos he only kills Mancs, Walking in a Shipman wonderland.

53 in 13 days time wich makes me about.......oh I hate league tables! Hair colour needs re-spray and to some extent replant from a life in the fast lane and watching Rovers for.....oh God 44 years.