Brazil 1982 were very good but the best Brazil team of all time were the 1970 World Cup winners....Pele, Jairzinho, Rivelinho, Gerson etc all in their pomp.

And yes, England should have beatne them. Bloody Jeff Astle.

Socrates actually turned out in English non-league football for Garforth Town at the age of 50.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/dec/05/socrates-garforth-town-politics-courage?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Ffootball%2Frss+(Football)

Wonderful player, and very intelligent man: Socrates smoked like a chimney and knew it might eventually kill him but was always philosophical about it.

Jensen did not leave of his own accord, he was removed and the reasons for why he was removed to be frank stink. He has been made a scapegoat by you know who.

Probably near the mark.

Kean will have told the owners Jensen is to blame for the poor results and needs to be replaced.

It's called covering your own back by sacrifcing a minion - career managers do it all the time.

Roll of drums - obvious really.

Kean has probably said that it is Jensen who has been telling him what to do with the team, substitutions etc and therefore Venkys have got rid of him and now giving Kean another 6 months to prove his worth!!!

Probably near the mark.

Kean will have told the owners Jensen is to blame for the poor results and needs to be replaced.

It's called covering your own back by sacrifcing a minion - career managers do it all the time.

Shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic - has Ed Smith been relieved of his duties too ?

Sad news for gentlemen of a certain age who admired this lady.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8330178-actress-jane-russell-dies-age-89

I see Ronnie's son, Russ, every day and can assure you that the family were happy with the applause. .

Russell occasionally used to come and join in our footy matches. Good lad but never seemed to have the football passion like his dad.

The big surprise was that Dougie didn't play a big role in that World Cup.

Stand to be corrected but Duggie was out of the England picture well before 1966. Another Lancashire winger, John Connelly of Burnley and ManU, (and later Rovers) was in the 1966 squad and (I think) started the match against Uruguay but was then dropped. Ramsey famously didn't like wingers anyway.

Quotes from Dave Whelan today on Ronnie Clayton

1 SOCCER Wigan Nightlead

WHELAN CALLS ON KIDS TO KEEP IT REAL

By Ken Gaunt, Press Association Sport

Dave Whelan believes talented youngsters would be better off honing their craft in small town teams rather than wearing the colours of the elite.

The Wigan owner made his comments as he paid tribute to former Blackburn team-mate Ronnie Clayton, who died last week.A one-club man, Clayton made 665 appearances for Rovers and won 35 England caps.

Whelan would like to see more local lads playing for their local teams - but knows he needs to change the mentality of parents.He said: ``If any youngsters become available the dad wants to say, 'My son plays for Manchester United.'

``I keep trying to give advice that youngsters will do much better playing for Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn and Burnley because the openings there are much better.``When you go to Manchester United you are taking on the whole world. It is the same at Liverpool and Manchester City.

``All the people in and around Lancashire who want their youngsters to play for Liverpool and Manchester United should think twice.''

With manager Roberto Martinez at the helm, Whelan has promised he would not stand in a promising player's way if a top team came calling.

Whelan said: ``Roberto now wants youngsters and we have been signing youngsters. We bring them on , get them going and push them up.

``I will not stop those players going to the top six teams in the world or the Premier League. So, mums and dads, put your sons in clubs where they will get an opportunity.''

Whelan said Clayton would have graced any team on the planet and added: ``What would he have been worth today? The kind of player he was Ron would have been priceless.

``Ron could not stop running, he was up and down the pitch the whole game. What any team would give to have him in their midfield. He could play in the finest team in the world.''

Whelan suffered another devastating blow over the weekend with the death also of John Benson.

Benson carried out a variety of tasks at Wigan, including those of manager, assistant manager and general manager.Whelan said: ``John was a great fellow and got us success. He was a quiet man but very effective in his work.``He told me three weeks ago he had been diagnosed with cancer and I was shocked. It is awful to lose a pal like that.''end

Quality obituary in the Times today. Worth buying if you appreciate Ronnie Clayton.

Good piece. The LT's is good too.

Didn't realise he won the last of his 35 England caps at the age of 25 - he hadn't hit his peak then.

Those were the days though when England was producing one outstanding player after another.

How did they get 51,000 on Ewood ?

I was at the Rovers v Man City cup replay in 1969 with 42,000 and it was frightening. Never forget the Riverside crowd swaying back and forth. How did the barriers hold firm ?

Duggie was a magician with the ball, trickier than Matthews. Both wonderful players.

Towards the end of his playing days, I often walked past his house and saw him sitting in his Mini on the driveway, sometimes for several hours. I have always wondered why. Was he thinking about his career coming to an end, or was he thinking about the decline of Rovers - by the late 60s of course Rovers had started their descent to the lower divisions. I guess I'll never know now. He sometimes used to come and watch his son playing in our kick-about footy matches - we asked him to join in, but of course he never did. What a hero.

I'm very upset about this. Loved watching him as a player, lived near him, played footy with his son, received the cup from him after winning a schools final at Ewood.

Lovely man, gentleman footballer with no equivalent in the modern game.

.

Allison signed Tony Book from Bath City at the age of 31, and made him City captain ! Different era, very different people.

Not for nervous flyers !

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38882789

After a promising start, it looks like another crud summer again here in Lancs. What's it been like down south anyone?

Odd comment seeing the Leeds - Liverpool canal is closed because of a lack of water ! Weather's been perfect as far as I am concerned.

Find the guy who threw the bin and do him for manslaughter.

It has been suggested the man who died deliberately tried to head the bin. I ain't a legal eagle but if that is the case I'm not sure it can be manslaughter ?

He also has left a young boy behind ,such a shame,definatly a minutes silence on wednesday. R.I.P,mate.

Sad story just got worse.

Hopefully the players will rise to the occasion and do it for a true Rovers fan.

BBC reporting the man who died was aged 30. It has been suggested on here that he tried to head the flying bin - is this true ?

The London media's going to love this - another stick with which to beat little Blackburn Rovers.

RIP.

.

Sam waged a war on Benni over the last two months to make sure he left.

Possibly, but only because McCarthy refused to respond to Allardyce's instructions to act profesionally and look after his body properly.

What does any organisation do with an employee with a bad attitude and not pulling their weight (so to speak) ?

They get rid.

1 football Blackburn 2nd Nightlead

ALLARDYCE BIDS FURIOUS FAREWELL

By Martyn Ziegler, Chief Reporter, Press Association Sport

Sam Allardyce delivered a farewell blast to Benni McCarthy after Blackburn agreed a fee with West Ham to sign the South Africa striker.

McCarthy has gone AWOL this week in an attempt to force through a transfer but such action may have been unnecessary after the clubs agreed a fee believed to be £2.25million.

The 32-year-old stayed away from training for the last three days, with some reports saying he was in Spain, and his behaviour drew the ire of Rovers boss Allardyce.

Allardyce condemned McCarthy as ``unprofessional'' and said his conduct is symptomatic of selfishness and disloyalty shown by many players.

Allardyce told Press Association Sport: ``What he's done is unprofessional. It shows you that the only loyalty a player has got is to himself.

``This is what we deal with today in football, there's not such a thing as loyalty as there used to be in the older days when I was a player.

``It's a selfish attitude they have and that's not just about Benni, that's all players today. If they want something they do anything to try and get it.''

Allardyce said McCarthy may have been badly advised.

He added: ``If he is trying to manipulate a move by staying away it's not the right thing to do.

``Sometimes players will get advised wrongly and I think whoever is advising him to stay away is very wrong as he's done himself no favours.''

Blackburn have been linked with Turkey international Yildiray Basturk from Stuttgart, Stoke's James Beattie and Eidur Gudjohnsen, once a player with Allardyce at Bolton and now at Monaco.

Allardyce hinted at interest them, saying: ``If those players are available we may start negotiations but the first thing would be to contact the club.''

McCarthy is, of course, absent from the Blackburn squad for tomorrow's home match with Wigan and Chris Samba is suspended but David Dunn has recovered from a knock and is available.

Jason Roberts also comes back into the Rovers squad, although midfielder Vince Grella is still sidelined with a thigh strain.

Allardyce wants his players to build on the form that saw them lose 6-4 in the Carling Cup semi-final to Aston Villa despite being reduced to 10 men.

He added: ``If we win it's back to back victories in the Premier League and that is incredibly important.

``Wigan are a good side but we were not clinical enough when we played them before and drew 1-1, but we should have confidence to put in a good performance at home.

``It was very disappointing to go out of the Carling Cup at that stage but now we have only the Premier League to concentrate on.''

end

Anyone who thinks virtually all footballers aren't a bunch of overpaid, brain dead, mercenaries needs their head examining ......... If only they were all like Ronnie and Bryan!

Would Ronnie and Bryan be Rovers players if they were around today ? Very doubtful.

Bryan also tried to get a move at one stage but was quickly slapped down by Jack Marshall (I think).

I know what you mean about loyalty though, and I would certainly put Pedersen in the same bracket as those two.

Characters such as McCarthy come and go, time to move on chaps.

I'm normally quite supportive of the manager/club relenting to a player when they want away. But I will be very disappointed if the club let Benni go. I'm mostly supportive of Allardyce, but he's made a mistake with his handling up until this point, in so far as he's almost encouraged clubs to come in for Benni.

McCarthy has always had a poor attitude - it's why many so-called "big clubs" decided not to buy him before Hughes took the plunge and managed to get him cheap.

He's been a good signing on the whole but after that excellent first season he has slowly lapsed into his old ways and from what I have been hearing is a bad influence in the dressing room.

The club will be better off without him but the timing of this episode with an important match against Wigan tomorrow is unfortunate to say the least.

Not turning up for training is something you would expect of a Sunday player, not a supposedly top-class professional. .

McCarthy quite frankly is taking the pi$$ out of Rovers.

Anyone backing him and using this situation as a stick to beat the manager is not a true Rovers supporter.