Must admit, I'm pretty uncomfortable with all this focus on the Academy. The kids will do nowt, in my opinion. Alan Hansen wasn't wrong in the grand scheme of things. There's a reason nobody else has repeated the Class of '92 story. It's close to impossible to do it. It's a good idea in theory, romantic even, but more often than not it doesn't work out as hoped. We've had this before with Pike, McBride, Butterworth etc being suggested as viable options. Where are they? A few have come through, fair enough, but I don't agree with the thought that a batch of kids can fill our squad out. I'm not against giving them a chance, but if we go into the season thinking we need one player less in position a, b and c because we have x, y and z kid, we are going to be in a heap of trouble. We need established players to come in, but the cheapskates who have reduced us to this state seemingly are making it difficult for that to happen. I was also disappointed to read we had potentially missed out on Hourihane. A quality player, experienced and with an eye for a pass. A club in our position can't be passing up on such players, in my view. Let's hope JDT and Broughton have other creative players in mind who we may not have thought about.

Just been hearing Phil Bardsley on TalkSport talk about how he found out he was leaving Burnley. It was via a link posted in the players' group chat which listed the players who Burnley were letting go of. He received no phone call or communication from anybody at the club about it, and two days later it was on Sky Sports News that he was leaving. It was similar with Dale Stephens who only found out he was leaving when seeing the list on his Twitter feed. A poor do, is that. Bardsley in particular, had been there for 5 years. These kind of stories wind me up. A bit of courtesy and respect costs nothing. A "thank you for your efforts over the years, but we have decided not to renew your contract" would go a long way. I've heard many former players say they would have appreciated and accepted that type of communication, so it's not just a Burnley thing. Unfortunately, there are cowards in senior positions at some clubs. We know all about that with the way the Berg and Appleton sackings were handled and how nobody communicated with Mowbray on his contract situation.

When I was looking at the sponsorless version on the Macron website yesterday afternoon it said "slim fit" in the description. Based on that, I would assume so, but somebody who has bought one will be able to say with certainty.

Here it is, Bazza. Another raggy late goal against us. They've had a few of them the rats.

As Rovers v United games of old are being discussed in another thread, I thought I'd post these Match of the Day highlights of a classic. When Shearer gave Pallister the runaround at Ewood.

Yeah, that's right. It was the late game on the Saturday. Think it was a 5:15 kick off back in those days, which they changed a few years later by 15 minutes. I remember about a week before that, being absolutely gutted at losing our game in hand at Birmingham as that in effect KO'd our chance of finishing 4th. Had we won that... It all feels like the stuff of fantasy today!

Anybody remember Prem Plus? Re-live the old Prem Plus experience here. Charlton v Rovers, full game from April 2006. Curbishley's farewell. Hurts to see (not because of Curbishley) but good memories at the same time. The montage of Rovers at the start, the way George Graham is talking Rovers up in the studio, the way the commentators talk us up during the game. Sigh. Solid performance and a good watch nonetheless. Enjoy.

There was also a stonewall penalty not awarded to us at Old Trafford in Feb 2009. Rafael foul on Pedersen, clear as day. We were 2-1 down at the time and had them rattled. I think Roque's goal ended a crazy long run of clean sheets they were on. The final score? 2-1 to them. The ref? Howard Webb. That late Alan Smith equaliser at Ewood in 2004 still rankles. Four minutes added time. 95th minute, Saha punches the ball into Smith's path who equalises. We've had some shocking decisions go against us when facing that lot over the years. Great to see their current state and some of their fans talking about how they have "fallen out of love with United". I can't think why that might be.

On Anel, it seems like we've also missed out on his dad coming on to brfcs and potentially causing a bit of a stir. Just been reading how he would get into spats on a Forest forum, with Forest fans mentioning an old Anel thread, containing his comments, being deleted. Anel's views, after his dad called out his agent on social media for not helping him move to Chelsea: “He writes different stuff, especially on Facebook. It’s not the first time he’s [done something like this],” Anel told Kvällsposten. “He was at it too when I played at Nottingham Forest, he wrote in some forums there and it has always affected me negatively. I’ve always been criticised for that".

That's my concern too, that the pair of them have been sold something else and are soon going to realise what has happened. I'm sure they both have every intention to strengthen the squad and to implement the plan they have in mind. Those two are the reason why some optimism has returned for me. I don't think the pillocks above them share that same desire though. The talk of kids, frees and loans points to it being more of the same. They seem to have a habit of saying things to get people through the door, only to turn and not live up to those words later on. Lambert had it. Existing season ticket holders have had it just last week. Don't worry, you've got an extra extension to reclaim your seat. Even if somebody else has claimed it, we'll move them elsewhere at a discounted rate. Sounds great. The reality? Said article is deleted and, apparently, that information shouldn't have been given as it was never meant to be the case in the first place. Piss off. This is why I think they will do a Lambert on JDT. Goes without saying, of course, I hope I'm way off the mark.

Spending £3m on Anel always felt like it would be an out of character move under these owners. For me, it was more hope that, maybe this time, with JDT here and a fresh start it could happen, whilst also thinking "but £3m though, really?". Unsurprisingly, it's not going to happen. I think the only money they've spent on a permanent CB signing in the last few years was on Paul Downing. An ok CB for L1, but not anything to shout about. That's about their level of ambition. A cheap stop gap, or loans. It remains to be seen, but I don't trust this lot to back Broughton and JDT properly. I'm calling it now, another Lambert situation isn't far away. It's easy for people like Nicko and other local journos to put 2+2 together in terms of Anel. We need centre backs and one at JDT's former club is available. Bingo. I'm questioning how far our 'interest' in him actually went. People like swag would like nothing more than to leak something to the press to make it look like we are after a European defender. It makes it seem like we mean business, when really they have no intention of spending such sums of money. PR crap once again with Anel, just like with Farke and Carvalhal.

That late goal felt like a kick in the lower region. We battered them that evening and should have won comfortably. Even Celtic fans acknowledge they got away with it in the first leg. Second leg, fair enough, we weren't at it and they deserved to go through. It was lost at their place though.

Our first leg away at Celtic in 2002, in full, for anybody who might want to watch it again. Courtesy of BBC Sport Scotland.

Result didn't go for us, but posted mainly for Duffer's goal and the way we used to take the game to the big sides. I remember this game being played on the same evening as that "Wiltooord" United v Arsenal title decider at Old Trafford. I was in a packed snooker club watching that game (our game wasn't being shown anywhere), but the goal flashes would pop up from Anfield. Out of about 40+ people in there, only 3 or 4 of us were cheering the Rovers goals as the updates came in. In Blackburn this was! The rest were all United, Arsenal or Liverpool. I wonder what that scenario would look like today, 20 years on.

It is a relief, you're right. The reason I mention him is because I am still peed off at the superb opportunity he threw away due to his stubbornness. It's unbelievable to me the way he behaved and is something I can't just 'move on' from. He chose not to sign a striker. He had money, even if it wasn't substantial, but chose not to spend it. The winning formula fell in his lap at half time against Derby, thanks to the players saying enough is enough. He can't be having that though, so he reverted to type and utter shite at Reading three days later. We may not find ourselves in that position, I.e 2nd, in a hurry again. For a manager to shrug his shoulders and not be arsed about it and try to pin the slump on pressure getting to the kids, again, I can't just forget about any of that. Especially when there's this bullshit narrative going around, not on here as such, that he's some kind of hero that saved Rovers. That's before mentioning the reason we need 10 new players is because of his pretend journey he fooled everybody into thinking we were on. Anyway, our first pre season game can't come quick enough as I'm looking forward to a fresh start and seeing which new players come in, as well as how JDT wants us to play.

We can't expect one of the worst managers in all four divisions of England to pay attention to things like that, can we? By his own words, he didn't do tactics, he didn't do set pieces, he didn't look at the league table, he chose not to spend money when he had it, he chose not to bring in a striker or two in January when he could have done, he looked at performances over results. I doubt he'll better an 8th place finish in the Championship ever again. Hopefully, some of the lads will regain their confidence and have the freedom to show what they can do under JDT now.

It was good fun and the hours would fly by. Gerald was the ideal host and I agree, he had the voice for it. I'm sure old recordings of Radio Rovers were available for a time on Gerald's website, 'gjmedia.co.uk'. I remember listening to an old broadcast, or part of it, on there around 9/10 years ago. I don't know if that is still possible though, as for the past few years there has been a 'this site may harm your computer' message appear in regards to that website. I don't think it has been active since Gerald left RR. Still, good times. Oh and yes, Arbitro, that does bring back memories. On Wendy, I remember Morten and Benni were always good for an interview with her. They'd often have a laugh, were interesting to listen to and were quality players at the end of the day (certainly, when compared with what we have seen since). Where did it all go wrong? (As if that needs answering)

I've just been looking up the stats from that season and surprisingly he scored 5 goals in the first couple of months of the season and was a regular starter up until October. After starting at Fulham in October, he then made two sub appearances towards the end of January, and started the last game of the season, and scored, away at Gillingham. I can't remember if he picked up injuries in between or if it was a case of Souness not rating him, but he had large spells out of the match day squad altogether. A few years ago there was an incident where the police had to taser Bent as he was high on something and was waving a cleaver at them. Not good to read about, obviously. However, as a player for us in that promotion season, he was excellent. I remember him scoring some important goals along the way. Watford away was one. Scored the opener at Bolton too. Plus he was brilliant for me on Champ Man 01/02 (what a game!) alongside Jansen upfront 😁. Edit: Blake did pick up an injury, as per Mark's post above.

Ward, Davies and Blake were poor signings back then, but nobody beats Chris Brown for me, when it comes to the worst Rovers striker I've ever seen. Talking of Blake, it feels like he only ever scored three goals for us. He probably got a few more, but I can only remember three of them. The header at Old Trafford when we lost 3-2, the winner in the cup game at Anfield and an opening day goal at Derby in 2001. Much better than Brown though.

There's a reason why both you and Miller speak sense on here, especially when it comes to swag 😃.

I saw some Norwich fans say he had an off field issue going on a couple of years ago. Farke criticised him for taking too much time off from training and talked about 'personal issues' affecting him. He didn't get a look in at Norwich from that point on and his form seems to have gone. Shame, as he looked quality three years ago and I'd never have imagined us being linked with him as it was an unrealistic idea. Now, it looks possible.

The madeira cake is about to be brought out once again, I see. Don't let it sway you, Chaddy. We can get you better cakes than he can offer. Some go in there and return with a strong dislike of brfcs, it's posters, and proceed to tell us why swag is doing a good job. Some cake, that.

I think it will come as a relief to some just to be played in their natural positions by JDT. It will be a welcome change for us as fans too. We'll never know, but I'm guessing there will be a few who were baffled by where they were asked to play last season. Giles being asked to play on the right of the attack and to "be like Mahrez". I doubt Wilder will be telling him the same thing, somehow. Buckley being played as a false nine, when he has indicated his preferred position above. Johnson laughing at being played at false nine on Twitter. Gally has to be another too, being a central striker. I remember him being out on the right eventually confusing the Sky pundits too. I think it was Kevin Davies who called it out and said he should be down the middle. JDT likes to play a possession game so Buckley could play an important role from a deeper position.

Whatever the opposite of "think big" is, we've had a bucketful of it since this lot rocked up, and we continue to be served up with it. To spend the amount they have and end up with the club looking like this sums them up. There isn't a better example of the small time mentality in action than swag, in my view. Anything he can get away with downsizing and reducing, he will do. Like you said, we used to be a proactive club, innovative, looking at ways to grow the club, trying to keep the support base happy, talking the club up and showing some ambition. There were many things to be proud of, which have been run down or lost entirely since 2010. It's not likely to change until new owners come in and people like swag are replaced. I don't care what bullshit Barry might say or swag might say to people who go and see him. They talk shit just to keep the fans off their backs.

I miss it too. It genuinely had me looking forward to games a lot more, particularly midweek games, as it was part of my match day experience, so to speak. I found it engaging and welcoming, plus the crew cared about the club like the rest of us did. It would have been interesting to hear the thoughts of Gerald, Neil and Wendy on JDT, the new signings (that we hope arrive) and JDT's style of football over the coming season.