It's a question that has crossed my mind many times. Not about that particular hoodie, but other t-shirts I have seen elsewhere. There was a site that had some cracking Rovers t-shirts. Simple design, big Rovers crest printed on the front in a range of colours. All have been taken down. I don't know if the club had a word? Maybe. My point is, they were simple, but quality t-shirts which should have been on sale in our own club shop! No care or imagination for that though.

You're absolutely right, Chaddy. You think like that, I think like that, as do many others. The problem is, nobody in a senior position at the club (above JDT) thinks like that. That is what is most likely going to prevent us from a top 2 finish. The Division is there for the taking next season. Nothing to fear whatsoever from Leeds, Leicester and Southampton coming down, imo. If we can get the right signings in I expect us to be in the play off mix again. I'm not impressed with us being linked with lower league players so far, but there's time for that to change and for better players to actually arrive later on.

This brings back memories and a half. Brilliant how we troubled them for many years after our title win, even in our worst state too in 2011. Feed the Yak! Every Rovers goal scored at Old Trafford since 1993.

Yes, you're right. I've just had a search around online and it was Worthington who started that off. Surprised by that. I assumed it was Wenger as I remember him moaning about us "bullying" his teams. It just goes to show though, it wasn't just the big names who we got to and irritated back then. I'd take managers and fans disliking us because we pose a threat to them, over empty platitudes because we are no threat to them, every day of the week.

Do you fancy taking part in a game, @tomphil? I'll pose you a question. All you need to do is select an answer from the options provided. Good luck: According to popular opinion amongst parts of the Rovers fanbase, Blackburn Rovers has what kind of fans? Is it: a) Loyal fans b) Many fans c) Long suffering fans d) Shit fans The prize for picking the right answer is, that some of the posts on this thread will start to make sense.

No, I get that. There likely aren't thousands waiting for Venky's to leave before making a return. But they are the primary reason why thousands walked. The response to relegation in 2012 lies squarely at their door. It was anything but a normal response, in terms of the numbers that said enough is enough. The minute they sell up, the whole atmosphere around the club will change.

That's on a par with Mowbray's "it's not 1995 anymore" comment, imo, and quite frankly, to hear/read it from a fan, as a seemingly indirect attempt at defending these season ticket sales and the berks running the show, is incredible. You are aware, I presume, of the damage that the owners have done to this club and the fanbase? 10,000 fans walked away in 2012. Some because of relegation, yes, but many in disgust at what was going on at the club in terms of who was running it and how. John Williams himself felt he had no choice but to walk away, we've had Salgado openly talking about a beautiful club being ruined, we've had Morten laying into people for furthering their own agendas at the club. The club and the fanbase has never recovered from those days. Some still question what might be happening at the club. Yet the "venky thing" is bollocks? The real reason for low ticket sales is Shearer isn't playing here anymore? Unbelievable. I don't doubt you have heard people mention Shearer to you, but that doesn't apply to the thousands who have walked away and who refuse to return. The very essence of the club has been ruined and dismantled since 2010, the club turned into a shell with a big cloud hanging over it, most of us hoping we can make it back up to the Prem somehow, hoping that might result in the cloud deciding to piss off. You've admitted yourself that Rovers isn't a normal club under these owners. The situation isn't normal, nothing has been normal about the last 13 years. So why then, are you using a £10 ticket deal against Reading as a stick to beat the fans with? That's exactly what swag and Co are doing to justify current prices. I'm in little doubt that such lines are being fed to the owners too by people seeking to cover their own backs. "Oh those fans? They aren't happy because Shearer and Sutton aren't here anymore, we can't do much about them sadly, but we do have an 82 percent renewal rate and are on track for the best sales in years". Crack on. Shit fans. Aye.

I think that was the game where Fabregas said "I thought you played for Barcelona" to Hughes on the pitch after full time. Only because we didn't let them beat us, of course. I loved seeing us wind Wenger and his team up. It was him that started off the "bully boys" nonsense, I think. Lucas Neill, Todd, Mokoena, Nelsen. You can't mess with those guys. Looking back on old games from around that time on YouTube, even the likes of Nils Eric Johansson, Ferguson and Reidy are flying in, fighting for the ball. Despite Wenger's views on us, I always enjoyed watching his teams. They played some fantastic football and were always my preferred choice over Fergie's lot for the title (as we couldn't be up there with them in the 2000s).

Yes! That's the one. Thanks for finding that.

Leicester must have been laughing all the way to the bank. They could have got him cheaper a year or so earlier, but decided to wait and paid a higher fee for him instead. Maybe they have been to that transfer school after all. Sums up their crazy approach to transfers in recent years. The amount of money they waste and the wages they pay average players is frightening. That's their problem though. Carry on sweeping up, Pep.

Yeah, that was another special performance. I remember a stunning double save he made late on in that game to keep us in the tie. Fingertips to keep the first effort out. He was on the floor for the second shot but kept that out too. Special keeper.

I can never tire of seeing United lose games, especially cup finals. They have made some improvements under Ten Hag, but still look to be a long way away from being a real title contender. The crazy thing for them is, it's not due to a lack of funds. They have plenty available to spend and have spent shedloads in the post Fergie years. Sancho and Antony cost, what, a combined £150m? Pfft. Apart from Rashford, their attacking options aren't good enough, imo. Their recruitment team doesn't fancy taking a few classes at the Balaji Rao School of Transfer Business, does it? It's a strange one with City for me. I neither like them or dislike them, but I'm glad they are standing in the way of United and Liverpool winning things. Particularly the former.

There were many special Brad performances, the cup final display being right up there. However, I'm going with oldjamfan's pick too. Arsenal away in October 2002 was absolutely stunning. Our goal was under siege for the final 30 minutes as we held on to a 2-1 lead. Against that Arsenal side containing the likes of Pires, Henry and Bergkamp. Wave after wave of Arsenal attack, but Brad kept everything out! Even now, 20 years on, I'm still buzzing thinking back to that afternoon. Superb. Honourable mention for Duffer too, tearing Spurs to shreds at White Hart Lane on the final day of the 2002/03 season. What a way to secure a top 6 finish.

The thing is, it's quite easy to be taken in by these chancers. They know how to play the fans by way of schmoozing, jargon and the crafty use of data to make it seem like things are going well and that bigger, more exciting plans are in the pipeline. Whatever happened to the blueprints that the 'ambitious' swag had for the club? It's all bluster. He can't get a stitch pitch sorted out with the owners, forget ambitious blueprints. I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning, and in no way am I suggesting the first paragraph applies to him, it doesn't. The point is more about swag. However, swag even had Glen temporarily impressed after their first meeting. Thankfully, he took a step back, looked at the situation and saw swag for the bullshitter that he is shortly afterwards, as confirmed by their second meeting. The wider point is that these slippery bastards are able to impress most people. If a fan goes in there with their guard down and with the belief that those on the ground are blameless and that it's all on the owners, they're toast. Why is it that those on here who: sarcastically refer to posters as "experts", "no nowts", who tell others to do some research, or to put their cv's in, or state "I trust the experts, thanks" are all people who have had or continue to have discussions with the car salesman? That's not a coincidence, for me.

The clever use of words and numbers to try and confuse and impress the masses. That's the way charlatans operate. I'll stick with the eye test. The car salesman trying to crow about current season ticket sales. Have some shame. Pillock.

“I had a tremendous time of not just my career but my lifetime playing at Blackburn. I thought it was a truly impeccably run club at the time I was here and it is just incredibly fond memories of my time.” “The league cup was a highlight no doubt, winning promotion straight away was a big highlight, the European campaigns, was a highlight, and every time you step out on the field is a highlight,” he said. “The way the club was run, with Graeme Souness and Mark Hughes, no player could complain about how things were set up here". I shouldn't have read that at this time of night. Quotes taken from article below: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/17419304.brad-friedel-humbled-rovers-hall-fame-inclusion/

It's probably the only chance they will get to see Liverpool at Deepdale for a long time. I'm pleased for them.

Recess on a Saturday morning for me. That was unmissable. There have to be a few Recess fans on here, surely?

Haha, I wish. If only they had an ounce of care or feeling for the club, in the way that everybody on here does. Yes, I do remember those. The decision to have them go up was well received at the time. One of few things to give them credit for. We never have found out why they were taken down. I'm interested to know who made that decision.

The night Graham Fenton dealt a major blow to the Geordies' title hopes: (5 minute clip)

I'd move Silvester and Waggott out immediately and look to bring in quality replacements capable of moving us forward. Anybody, who was brought into the club when the agency was around and offering its 'advice', would be shown the door. No questions asked. Out. I'd make sure a particular weasel of an agent wouldn't be able to set foot inside Ewood again and that the club would have no more dealings with him going forward. There would be an overhaul of the marketing and commercial departments, with experienced operators who have the nous, drive and knowledge to market the club, in the way it should be marketed, brought in. The biggest task would be to shift the "woe is us", small time, mediocrity embracing mentality that has infected the club. This shift would be the main aim from day one. I'd make it clear to all at the club that languishing in the Championship is unacceptable for this Football Club and that standards need to be raised back to what they were before Venky's. This club didn't spend nigh on 20 years as a Premier League fixture and achieve what it did, for third rate chancers to now try and suggest that we are lucky to be at this level and that we should be grateful to the tossers who have reduced us to this state. Anybody at the club who believes that Rovers are overachieving in the Championship, punching above our weight, or that it's difficult to compete would be shown the door. That sort of rhetoric filters through to everybody and provides players and fans with an excuse to gloss over failure and to actually paint it as a positive. Gallant failure is what it promotes and celebrates. It's a results business and if poor results have us far away from our aim of promotion, the manager would be on very thin ice. He'd be gone, in all honesty. I'd have season tickets reduced by at least £100 on the current prices. Actually, I'd have the Riverside as the entry level stand with season tickets priced at £250, with the most expensive being in the Jack Walker Upper Central, at around £350/60. The club shop leaves a lot to be desired, so I'd set about the process of trying to get a good range of merchandise in store. There are so many things we could sell, but don't. So many opportunities missed. Having enough kit in stock is obviously vital and this would be a priority. How embarrassing is it that we have had fans eagerly wanting to buy the kit, then turning up to the store to find the kit's sold out and nothing more can be done? We need fans to want to spend money in the store and stock/items that are worth buying. I don't think the latter is entirely the case right now. I'd also remove the TV gantry from the Riverside and go back to having it in the Jack Walker Stand. TV cameras facing the Riverside, just like old times. I have never liked the cameras facing the JW. Gerald would be receiving a call from me to see if he could be tempted to come back to Rovers. His voice always takes me back to the good times at the club. I would love to see him back in a role at Ewood, just not under these owners though. Finally, I would invite the likes of Emerton, Nelsen, Salgado, and Pedersen to a game where we could thank them for their efforts, either at half time or full time. We never got a chance to say a proper goodbye to those players, I feel. Morten said a goodbye, of sorts, in front of the Blackburn End in 2012, but the backdrop to this was chaos at the club, 10,000 fans gone and general dismay in the stands at what was happening on and off the pitch. Oh, and I'd look to do something for Shearer, a legend of the club. If Mowbray can get a huge flag (the mind boggles), then Shearer definitely deserves one. If flags aren't possible for whatever reason, I'd have some sort of display of Shearer, Duffer, Tugay, Brad and more going up around the outside of the stadium to showcase our history and to remind people of the standards. No matter what bastards like Swag and Co want the world to believe, this is not a small club lucky to be in the Championship. Venky's out.

I agree with all of this. It has been the same in my experience too. Rovers players being overlooked and not getting the recognition they should due to big club snobbery, from people who didn't care to watch Rovers properly or on enough occasions to understand or know how good those players were. Another example for me, before going on to Brad, is Lucas Neill. He was a superb defender, who could have played for anybody in the Prem, imo, yet he gets no recognition from fans of other clubs. I still miss that guy! Loved his robust style. No nonsense, would get stuck in and he could play too. No wonder Liverpool wanted to sign him. Going back to Brad, it was only two months ago that this very topic, best Prem keepers, came up on TalkSport on a show that Cundy and O'Hara were hosting. A Rovers fan rang in and made the very points you have made and said Friedel has to be in the discussion. After umming and aahing for a bit one of them (Cundy) responds with "hmm, no, I'm not sure, I don't think he was in that elite bracket, hmm, no, I wouldn't have him down as elite, hmm". O'Hara then agrees with him. No further comment from either of them. They appeared stumped by the suggestion, like they weren't expecting Friedel's name to pop up. They couldn't provide any analysis on Brad's time at Rovers, no mention of any memorable performances, no mention of a standout moment, nothing. Only the bit mentioned above. It was obvious to me, from the way they were talking that they could not remember peak Brad at Rovers, didn't care to watch him at that time, and because it was little Rovers involved, they couldn't include him in the discussion. If Friedel had spent the exact 8 years he had with us, in a Liverpool shirt instead, there's no doubt for me, he'd be talked about as being one of the Premier League's very best. He isn't viewed in that way by friends (non Rovers fans), random fans in general and the press because he played for a 'small' club. That's the snobby vibe they all give off. United fans actually respect Friedel because of the numerous world class displays he had against them, but they still put Van Der Sar into the 'best prem keeper' debates ahead of him. Van Der Sar was a quality keeper too, but would he be talked about as much if he played for Fulham and then Rovers, instead of United? There are other good keepers that also don't get a mention due to big club bias. Jaaskelainen is one. I rated Antti Niemi too, he was superb for Southampton, but is rarely talked about. I'd have your top 3 as mine too. Schmeichel was a monster keeper, we know all about Brad's quality and Petr Cech was unbelievable in those first few years at Chelsea. Remember that game at Ewood in Feb 2005 against Chelsea? He saved a Dickov penalty and kept everything else out that night too. Peak Cech was top drawer. Souness was spot on though and telling the truth when he said he wouldn't swap Friedel for any keeper. I wouldn't have done either. We're lucky that we got to see some of the best at Rovers up until 2010. Those on the outside who look down at Rovers and our former players have no idea how good we had it. Piss them and their glory hunting charade.

Yeah, I'm not saying we would have stayed up indefinitely. There was a possibility that we may have gone down if poor decisions had been made or repeated e.g on the lines of the Ince appointment. My gripe with that relegation line is more that it is used by some to excuse mediocrity in the Championship, to become comfortable with it and to embrace it with things like "this is our natural level" and "we can't compete with x, y and z". Then after years of the standards being lowered it becomes "we'd only get battered in the Prem if we went up" and "forget the Premier League". I can't stand hearing or reading any of that especially as we were in such a stable, solid condition in 2010, finishing 10th in the Prem, reaching the cup semi final and in no real danger of going down. It's a losing mentality which has been brought about by Venky's and has infected the club and a large part of the fan base, from what I read and hear. On your last paragraph. Absolutely agree. JW made mistakes and didn't always get things right, but there's no chance 10,000 fans are walking away under him and he'd have done whatever it took to get us back up as soon as possible.

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