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.

No, it's not coming back, sadly. Just thought I'd create a nostalgic thread on Radio Rovers to find out what fellow posters thought about a piece of Rovers history. For those who may not know, Radio Rovers was the UK's first Football Club Radio Station and was pioneered by Rovers in October 1993. Radio Rovers would broadcast commentary of every Rovers home game, locally, via radio on 1413/1404 AM and around the world, online, on the Rovers website. "touchline@radiorovers.co.uk" and "call us on Blackburn 26 14 13" are etched into my mind. I heard those adverts that much! 😃. The Station went on air in October 1993 and would last for 23 years before being closed down in August 2017. Another one of the good things of old dispensed with under this regime. Gerald Jackson was the host presenter of Radio Rovers for 20 years and did an excellent job, before he was replaced by a new host in August 2014. It was never the same after he left, to be honest. A broadcast would start four hours prior to kick off and would end one hour after the game. A Saturday afternoon game broadcast would start at 11am (UK time) and end at 6pm. A midweek game broadcast would start at 4pm and end at 11pm. I'll admit to being a right saddo, as I often listened to entire midweek game broadcasts from 4pm onwards during the Souness/Hughes days and I loved it (Was young, so had plenty of spare time and it was perfect for me in the winter months). I can't have been alone in doing that? Ha. If I was going to the game that evening, I'd make sure to catch the last 40 minutes or so of the post match reaction. Did anybody else do similar? The first four hours of the broadcast would be filled with music, player interviews, analysis of previous games, quizzes and pre match buildup. The hour after the game was for post match reaction, with fans calling in and texting in their thoughts. I had a few texts read out by Gerald, which always made by day/evening as a teenager 😁. Anyway, a few questions for you all. When did you first hear about Radio Rovers? How often would you tune into the Station? Were you avid listeners or was it a 'car thing' on the way to and from games? What did you like/dislike about it? Do you miss it at all? I know there were some regular contributors to the Station from overseas back then, are any regulars from those days here on the forum? The first time I found the channel was in 1998 when, upon pestering my dad for match tickets, I was told we couldn't go for some reason but "it will be on the radio somewhere". Flicking through the radio channels, I was drawn to a commentator with a very monotone voice. You guys will know who I mean😁. Stuart Metcalfe was on Co commentary duty alongside him, I always enjoyed listening to Stuart. It was a few years later, I think (maybe 03/04) that the commentary team changed to Neil Yardley and Wendy Howard. I did prefer that commentary team, personally. Radio Rovers became a tough listen for me in the Kean days and by that time I had stopped listening to it as much as I did before. Mainly due to the state the club was in and the fact that Gerald and Neil tried to put a positive slant on things. I suppose they couldn't come out and say what a lot of the fans were saying at the time. As soon as Gerald left in 2014 that was me done with it really. The new guys tried their best but it wasn't what it once was and the club had become a shell of itself too. I realise this post has gone on too long and could have been summed up in one line really. Gerald, you are missed, both as our tannoy announcer and as a host on Radio Rovers. Those were the days indeed.

They haven't, but there have been a couple of instances where it has been said they want promotion. In 2013, around the time of the Berg debacle, Barry was quoted as saying "I want promotion". Then in 2018, Mowbray told us they wanted to fund a double promotion. Now Broughton has said something along the lines of 'the aim is to become a sustainable Premier League club'. The owners have been 'wanting' promotion, apparently, since 2013, but their actions say something else.

Whilst we haven't signed anybody yet, I can't help but sense a cheapskate feel about all of this again, with the focus being put on the Academy lads. Our activity in the transfer market will tell us more, obviously, but at present the sounds are we won't be spending much. The hope is that a fresh approach to recruitment from JDT and Broughton might prove successful, as they will look for players to suit a particular style, and the links to Cantwell and Anel are promising. They need converting into something concrete, however. As for the billionaire owners who want promotion...yeah, right.

I thought Hedges looked good in those last two or three games of the season. He has something about him and reminds me of a budget Yarmolenko in style. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does next season under JDT's management. I think he might surprise a few people. Spending money on him, when he was available on a free 6 months later, and then hardly playing him was ridiculous. That is on the previous manager though. All about opinions, but I don't think he is 'woeful'. Him and Markanday to be our star men next season, imo.

Ah right, I remember seeing a farewell post to him online with some of their fans saying "we wish you stayed longer", "thanks for the service" etc. I hadn't seen the other side of it. Maybe it's a mixed bag. Thanks for that, I wasn't aware of him finding a new club. That puts that suggestion to bed.

Far too expensive and unrealistic. He's on £150K a week and they would probably want over £20m for him. Sadly, as seen over recent years, current day Rovers struggle to get decent Championship players in due to budgets etc. I think we can forget about any Premier League names turning up here until we get there. A player I rate at LB, Kristian Pedersen, is available on a free, but was on 15K at Brum apparently. I think wages around that level would be a stretch for us too and that is 10 percent of what somebody like Shaw is on.

An interesting list, if accurate, of course. For anybody who can't be bothered trawling through the pages, here are a few numbers that it claims our players are on per week: Ayala - 15K Gally - 14K Kaminski - 13K Lenihan - 12K Dack - 11K Pickering - 9K Edun - 8K Hedges - 7.5K Brereton - 6K Nyambe - 4.4 K Rothwell - 4K Pears - 3.4K If the above is true, you can see why Nyambe and Rothwell in particular might have got cheesed off with it all. Bournemouth can easily quadruple what Rothwell is on here so we were never going to win that once they showed an interest in him. Should have been sorted much earlier with him though. Hypothetically, offering Nyambe say, 6K a week is an increase but still not a "good offer" in the grand scheme of things. Not saying that's what the offer is, but for a penny pincher like swag any increase will seem like a good deal, it would appear not for the players concerned however. Just for comparison's sake. Below are a few names linked to Rovers/suggested on here and the wages they are supposedly on, or were on most recently: Mawson - 31K, Cantwell - 25K, Kipre - 22.5K, Lolley - 17.5K, Dembele - 16K, Kristian Pedersen - 15K, Obafemi - 12.8K, Maja - 12.6K. We've really got our work cut out in attracting the better standard of Championship player due to this wage budget. It's no wonder the kids are being talked up, imo. Just got to wait and see what JDT and Broughton have lined up, I suppose. I'm confident they will have targets in mind and might even find a few bargains, but the wait isn't helpful for us as supporters right now. Need a signing as soon as possible, really, to get the ball rolling and ease some of the concern.

A geeky shorts question here, but Rovers related. Around 8 or 9 years ago I tried to buy some Rovers shorts to play football in. They were the actual home kit shorts, not a training version. Anyway, tried them on only to find some strange inner lining within the shorts. Best way I can describe it is, it was a tight-ish material that would stick to the thighs, independent to the rest of the shorts. They felt uncomfortable so I didn't buy them. I had loads of official Rovers shorts during the 90's and they weren't ever like that. They were just regular shorts from what I remember. When did we change to having these 'inner lining' type shorts? Does anybody know if they are still like that today?

“I’ve seen all the social media about counting the seats, we’ve sold tickets quicker this year than we’ve ever sold them" "I look at some of the commentary and think it’s from a completely uninformed position.” (Do the 'experts' on here need to go and do some research, Steve?) “Our sales are purely sales, there’s no comps there, these are purely sales. If I wanted to add staff on and give them comp tickets that would take them up to a level." (Preston's sales figures include all corporates and freebies given to staff, so ours aren't that bad really) Been saying it for a while, that Swag and Co keep an eye on this forum and there we have it.

I've seen City do one of those drills over and over again in their training videos. To sharpen up their quick passing and to be comfortable playing in tight spaces. It's only a training drill, I know, but a potentially exciting sign. Now to get a few players in who can help do that to a better standard.

To be fair, he was adamant from around October/November time, in interviews with the LT and Andy Bayes too, that the contract trio would be sold in January had they not renewed by then. This was before our turnaround and climb up to 2nd place. It's plausible that he wanted to sell Rothwell only for Suhail to refuse to allow it. It also backs up what somebody said to me about Suhail after having a chat with him. "Nice enough fella, but should not be in that position at Rovers as he knows stuff all about football". Only a non footballing person can have a bid of £3m+ (potentially rising to £6m) sat before him for a player who will leave for nothing in 6 months and decide "nah, I want him to stay". If it's true we had Wallace and a couple of others lined up it makes it even worse. I'd have been angry at the time with a Rothwell sale, but had Wallace and Co come in it would have softened the blow somewhat. We should never have let it get to that stage though and the main point is that the blame for the mess isn't on one person alone, it's a collective where a number of them are to blame. Just hope Broughton can have more of an influence now as, for me, it's important that Suhail takes a backseat and lets the new guys get on with it.