Must-not-lose game; I'd be happy with a 1-1 draw.

Doesn't suit your cretinous world for whites and Asians to be living happily alongside each other does it ? People ask why there aren't many Asian supporters at Ewood and there is the club actively trying to encourage Asian youngsters. I thought it was an excellent little featurette by Match of the Day spoilt only by the obligatory views of terraced houses.

Agreed. Have given up on Rovers shop and buy now from eBay. And who's in charge of marketing ? A certain Williams fils.

Good call. I still remember the shock of that result. No one could believe it. As you say, the beginning of the end for Rovers as a first division club. Was not Ron Atkinson either playing for or managing Oxford in that match ?

You're right; memory fading etc etc. Remember Fergie getting sent off; elbowed some unfortuante in the face right in front of the ref and the Nuttall St stand.

So which one is to blame for failing to reverse the decline in attendances, the son, the Dad or both ? One Williams with his snout in the Rovers pig trough is more than enough.

Good thread ..... 1960 Cup Final is the obvious one but I'd like to nominate a pivotal game in Rovers' history : Blackburn Rovers 1 Coventry City 2 Crunch game towards end of 1966-67 season, Rovers pressing for promotion straight back to the old first division after relegation the previous season but beaten by Jimmy Hill's up and coming Coventry team. Coventry, confident and buoyed by the burgeoning motor industry, promoted and stayed in top flight for more than 30 years; Rovers, seemingly in decline like the town's textile industry, slowly sunk down the divisions and did not return to the top flight until the Walker era 25 years later.

For those who cannot stand Chelsea or their manager there is a brilliant piece by Michael Henderson in the Daily Telegraph today. This paragraph on Kenyon, Abramovich and Mourinho stands out. ...... for all his talk of world domination the former sportswear salesman from Stalybridge is little more than a highly-paid errand-boy, sent on missions by a mysterious, easily bored Russian, for the benefit of a manager who labours under the misapprehension that he is Count Bismarck, and the Premiership represents a map of Europe in 1870...... Read and enjoy. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...28/sfnhen28.xml

Pessimism comes naturally to all proper Rovers supporters .... it's a consequence of decades of disappointments.

Proving there's one born every minute

Fun and games for the players and press on Flight LS6147 today. The flight was delayed 30 minutes after the Boeing 737 that should have been flying the team to Rotterdam was hit by a catering truck and the American pilot referred to Rovers as the Blackburn Rockets.

I'm certain there was a hidden agenda behind Gavin Peacock's comments of Match of the Day. Either he had been told by the editorial team at MotD (under pressure from the FA) to back the referee or Peacock had been told directly by Lancaster Gate officials.

Was that Gavin Peacock's personal view on Match of the Day and or had the MoD team made an editoral decision to defend the referee ? Or was it another case of MoD backing a so-called big club ?

He should be allowed to post on here again as long as he sticks to the guidelines. It's supposed to be a public messageboard .

Keep taking the ouzo philip !

Bring back Sven ! One of the redeeming features of Eriksson's tenure as manager is that England qualified for all the leading tournaments with relative ease. What of course he could not do is take England to the next level at the finals. By struggling to qualify in this tournament England are merely reverting to type.

Not pretentious at all : shows you have a certain je ne sais quoi

They came from the best academy of all : the back alleys of the towns and cities of Lancashire before motor cars forced kids off the streets. Sad fact is footballers have to be "coached" these days. The likes of those four never needed coaching because they had all the skills by the time they signed for Rovers as schoolboys. Not many "street" footballers around in recent years: Rooney is a throwback to 40 years ago and Gascoigne another.

Thought wrong luv.

No Janice. Celtic are your team, Rovers merely a flag of convenience.

Martin O'Neill admitted after the game that if Villa's was a penalty, then Rovers should have been awarded one too. Still doesn't hide the fact that Rovers' squad is not strong enough to cope with a few injuries and a third successive defeat continues the slide into the lower half of the table.

Excellent news. Now how about the hundreds of other pubs in East Lancs ?

Thanks for confirming what I suspected when I saw these at B & Q. Consumer organisations should force the company to withdraw them from sale.

Absolutely correct. It's been debated before but it's worth discussing again: Jack Walker's failure to build on the championship success in the summer of 1995 was probably his biggest mistake - even bigger than his appointment of the lamentable Bryan Kidd as manager a few years later. There were several top-class players on the market that summer (including Kanchelskis when he was still in his pomp, if I remember rightly), but Rovers (Walker) decided to stand still and stick with the squad they had, which in the fast-moving football world was asking for trouble. In effect, the club shut up shop for the summer and went on holiday while the likes of United and Arsenal continued working like they do every close season to strengthen their squad. Walker said he wanted the club to "wash its face financially" but the reality was having taken Rovers to the summit he hadn't got the courage to keep them there. As for the Riverside, it continues to be an embarrassment to the club.

Too right. Didn't even bother to listen to the wireless, I knew they'd lose.