We definitely “Think small” these days. Without wanting to go into too much depth and too off topic, Sunderland bring in millions through their Netflix documentary, as well as getting their brand out their to a global audience. One of the streaming services would have absolutely jumped at the chance to document the Brereton story, and apparently approaches were made to the club. Unfortunately our efforts to capitalise on his fairytale were running off a few dozen fruit of the loom t shirts to sell in the club shop and everything else was dismissed as “difficult”. Dack and his partner are already reality TV stars, I don’t watch the show so I don’t know how much he features, but you’d think there would be a way of bringing some of that audience to Ewood, even if only for one game. I’m not crazy about either idea, but things like this are becoming more commonplace. No less palatable than the chicken advert.

I just googled Richard Brown, this interview was the top result… looks like he played more of a part than any of us realised!! Richard, how did your move to Rovers come about? Weirdly enough, I was playing for Kettering Town at the time, but I was on loan at Cheltenham and I played three of my best games consecutively ever and Rovers came to watch a 20-year-old. I was 23 at the time and they took me instead of him. So my career progressed, but then I was curtailed by quite a few injuries and come the 1994-95 season I was getting released, but the club said that they’d look after me until I got myself fit. So in my first training session back after 16 months, I pulled my thigh muscle. So that took me into October, when I was going to play my first Reserve game – my first game of football in 18 months – and in the training session in the morning, prior to the game in the evening, I tore my medial ligament. To be fair to the club, they really looked after me. When it got to March, they said ‘we can’t keep paying you, we’re going to release you and Stockport want you to go and play for them’. So I went to Stockport, played one game, got injured again, so they said ‘we can’t continue your contract, we’ll let you go back to Blackburn to do your rehab there’. By this time, I’d watched virtually every Rovers game and in every game I’d watched, Rovers had never got beat. I was really close friends with Jason Wilcox, so Kenny Dalglish asked Jason to ask me whether I’d come to the game at Anfield, because apparently I’d become his lucky mascot! And then the rest is history. With all of the injuries and setbacks you had, how frustrating and mentally tough was it for you? Absolutely. I’d pretty much retired from the professional game at 27. It’s always great in hindsight, but I can remember Ray Harford saying to me that season ‘listen, we’re going to release you, just take the insurance money because you’ve had too many injuries and how do you know your body is going to last?’ and I thought, I’m only 26-27, I’ve got to keep going. So I tried to get myself fit and keep playing. What was Ray Harford like to work with? He taught me the game. He was a great man, a great personality and I loved him to bits. Especially when I compare him to some other coaches, who weren’t for me, but Ray is the person who I owe a lot to, purely because I learnt the game through him as a kid. Kenny Dalglish was very much a man manager, very tactically astute and tactically aware, but Ray was my man if I’m being honest. Was the move from playing non-league football to joining a club like Rovers a big opportunity for you? It was a massive opportunity for me and one where I actually ended up earning less money. I wanted to be a pro and I wanted to have a legacy of actually playing. Incidentally, I went on loan to Maidstone United for a month and that’s where I made my professional debut. And then when Kenny came in, I was already playing in the first team and he continued to play me in the first team, before we got promoted. You played a number of games during the 1991-92 promotion season. What was that like? Fantastic. The camaraderie of the lads was magnificent and I think that’s what got us through more than anything. Was it a really special group to be a part of? It was. There were no big-timers, everyone just mucked in together. There was no animosity around the place and it was just a really, really good time to be at the club. Even though you didn’t feature in the 1994-95 season, what was it like to be in and around the club, to watch the game and to ultimately see Rovers crowned champions? Interesting enough, when all the players were brought in, again, there was no big-timers. Kenny kept a lid on everything. No-one could step out of line, even the big players. No-one stepped out of line, It was a real team effort. Alan (Shearer) got all of the plaudits, because he was a top striker, but in the main there were no big issues. What was that historic day at Anfield like? It was weird because everybody was nervous, all day. And then when the game kicked off, there were still a lot of nerves on display, but they always believed. The weirdest thing, for me, is that everybody always believed that they’d win it. Whether it be winning the game or United losing it. I can’t explain the feeling, but it just felt like our name was on it! How do you look back on your time at the club now ?Really fondly. You don’t miss the money, you miss the camaraderie, the day-to-day, the stories, the fun, the banter, the togetherness of the players. And are you still involved in the game now? Yes. I was at Manchester City for 10 years and then I left to become an intermediary, which I’ve done for the past 18 months.

I don’t know why I remember so much about Richard Brown, but he was actually knocking about a lot longer than people realise. We signed him from Kettering and he wasn’t a kid then, he was about 23. He had a brief loan (Maidstone I think) but he played a fair few games under Kenny in the promotion season, occasionally brilliant and occasionally horrific! I remember him getting a run out as a winger the odd time too. He remained part of the squad until midway through the title winning season. He had the number 15 shirt that was eventually taken by Richard Bloody Witschge. So he was with us 5 years altogether and if I remember correctly he went to Stockport but retired shortly after. His injury struggles weren’t really publicised when he was with us as he wasn’t really in the team. He’d quite often be sat with the subs and staff on a match day though even when nowhere near the squad. He played masters football for us maybe 10 years ago, I remember he did a pitch side interview and said something derogatory about Burnley.

Absolutely. And to a lesser extent, Johnson and Davenport too. For their limitations they would get physical in midfield.

We definitely lack a hard man, or what passes for one in 2022. We also lack a lot of physicality - it was very evident against Stoke.

Harvey is building his team with a fair few people from his Rovers days joining him. I think with him and Mowbray reunited there’s a good chance some of our players will be on their radar.

He needs a loan to a club where he’s going to play somewhere further up the pitch. I’d go as far as saying it’s essential to save his career. If he remains a fullback he’ll go the way of Adam Henley.

You’d get no argument from me on current ability. I’d only put the other two ahead of him as they are likely to be with us for a number of years. Exactly why I’d play three. Best moment of the game on Saturday was when Phillips was getting bullied by Flint while lining up to defend a set piece. Ayala came over and took control of the situation, told Phillips to go and mark someone else, picked Flint up himself, and immediately started giving as good as he got. That nous and experience is important.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how things pan out at centre back now. Players are arriving at the same time our injury crisis there seems to be easing. For me the pecking order would currently look like this: Hyam Wharton Ayala Phillips Carter If Van Den Berg comes in on loan, I’d personally have him level pegging with Phillips, he’d start games where necessary but I’d use Phillips from the bench. Same if Van Hecke came in on loan (if he was a permanent signing he’d jump straight to the top). The parent clubs would obviously not be happy with this though. If we got both it would be madness really. I’m also working on the assumption Barnes is out for the season. There are obviously injury and fitness concerns, but centre back looks like our area of most depth and quality, long long time since that’s been the case. For that reason I think a back 5 is preferable, there’s a lot of quality to keep happy there. Carter could well be off on loan again, and the Phillips situation could change depending on his contract situation. I’m not sure about Van Den Berg or Carter as fullback cover. Whether we play in a 4 or a 5 our fullbacks are expected to do a lot of attacking and start pretty high up the pitch, in an emergency is one thing, but we do lack genuine backup for Brittain. Whatever happened to Pike? He was rated a year or 2 ago.

A centre back in is good news. Shame it took so long. Still hoping for more than 2 more in.

If (when) Brereton goes, we don’t need to be worrying about replacing his position, Mowbray loved stockpiling “wide forwards”. We need to concentrate on replacing his goals. I’d be looking at a centre forward who knows where the back of the net is. Easier said than done, obviously.

If we bring in Hyam and another centre back, particularly one of Van Hecke’s quality, then surely we will have to play with a back 5? I’d be fairly happy with that as I don’t think we have fullbacks who are defensively minded enough to suit a back 4.

Completely agree. Might seem trivial, but imagine being a left winger and seeing the fullback you are up against wearing the number 11 shirt. You’d fancy your chances before the whistle blew. Ruining his career persisting with him at right back.

Not a single one of his 2 or 3 crosses found anything other than a Stoke head. He did a nice back heel to Brereton, then proceeded to be absolutely strolled past a minute later. Ayala bailed him out several times in the first half. Oh, and he took a shit free kick. I think your intense dislike of Edun clouds your judgement on Pickering.

Once again we have struggled against a team who have come at us. The only high press evident today was theirs in the first half, and with our pathetic midfield display they really should’ve been out of sight. And as much as we huffed and puffed second half, they were pretty happy to let their monstrous back line sit back and defend. Kaminski - couple of good saves, some shite kicking, questions over the goal. JRC - never been a fullback in a million years. Mowbray, and now seemingly JDT shoehorning him in there has ruined his career before it started. Ayala - We are now completely and utterly reliant on him to stay fit as things stand. That’s obviously a massive concern. Colossal performance again. Phillips - I thought this was has best outing yet. Can hold his head up high. Pickering - absolutely miles off the required standard. A pathetic defender and despite having a good left foot there’s no trade off as he offers next to nothing in an attacking sense. Buckley - hiding again. Seems his effort levels have dropped right off. Cowardly performance. Needs dropping. Morton - completely wasteful, largely anonymous Travis - bad day at the office Dack - Didn’t take his opportunity. Nothing performance. Brereton - few glimpses running from deep but no end product today Szmodics - pointless Dolan - frustrating today. Got in some good positions but wasteful Hedges - changed the game in an attacking sense. Gave us a real outlet and tried to make things happen. Important player for us at the moment and one of the first names on the team sheet, surely. Wharton - gave us something in midfield where we’d previously been miles off. Should be played ahead of loanees. Deserves a start over Buckley. Big future for this lad.

If Dack doesn’t at least get off the bench today I will be seriously worried. For me he should definitely be starting. He can’t be happy with his fall down the pecking order. I wonder if we could see him doing a Mulgrew and going out on loan on deadline day. I just get the feeling that there’s something going on there.

Plenty were hailing Zeefuik as the second coming after one forward run on his debut. Plenty decided Harry Pickering was worth 8 million by mid September last year. There are just as many people who have been left red faced with wildly optimistic initial views as pessimistic ones. Of course you are right, we shouldn’t write off players, but I’m not sure anyone is. There’s Always going to be discussions around any signing and I’m sure they’ll all get the backing on the pitch where it matters.

Not for me. And if/when we lose Brereton we are miles worse off.

I can’t help but think there’d be a lot more dissenting voices around Caulker if it was the first week in June. Expectations falling all round as we approach the end of the window.

Really? Shades of Wes Brown for me. Flies in the face of “the project” too.

I can definitely confirm this is the case. We had quite a few back and forths about Brereton! I’m delighted (and a few grand better off) to be wrong on this one. Falls into the cult hero bracket all day long for me for the absolute madness of the whole situation and the magnitude of the turnaround. Cult heroes are not the same as club legends. I think he’s fare better in the Prem than Armstrong as he’s better equipped physically and less greedy. But I’d prefer him to go abroad.

When looking to replace Brereton we need to be thinking about the here and now. We can’t invest another big chunk of money on a player who is going to take 3 or 4 years to come good. While Brereton came really good, he was at best a passenger, but more often than not a complete liability for 2 years. We will need to attempt to replace a large chunk of his goals this season. A massive ask. I can’t see lightning striking twice with any of our current crop. Problem is we would have to spend more than we get for him to have a good chance of that happening. It will more than likely be a loan though, so we just have to keep our fingers crossed.

Plus 2 games and a bank holiday in that time. I’m predicting 3 deadline day loans.

Proven centre half at this level sounds good to me. We need one through the door urgently. There should be an expectation with a fee like that. 2.5 million isn’t insignificant to us these days, and when we lose good, proven players on frees or for peanuts we have to make sure the players we do spends are good uns.

Thanks for clarifying. I wasn’t sure if you meant we needed 4/5 more or 4/5 total in this window.