Good morning from Swansea. Just thought I would pop in ahead of tomorrow's game and share with you some of our matchday build up (hope that is OK) https://www.planetswans.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2829 Our build ups tend to cover interviews, previous meetings, highlights, referee info and a whole host of information that you can't do without (well, you can do without it but we would rather you didn't) Been interested to see your comments on your pitch - given the field we played on just before Christmas at the Liberty, it will probably be like carpet to us. See you tomorrow 😃

Bradley Dack looks uncannily like a younger Lowell George from the band Little Feat.

Hello Rovers fans We're looking for your nostalgic photo and video content to help us tell the Blackburn story in the 1990s for a BBC 2 documentary. I work for Story Films and we are making a series about the history of the Premier League in the 1990s - naturally one of the major stories will be the Blackburn Renaissance under the stewardship of Jack Walker. I've been scouring the archives of ITV, the BBC and Sky but what I'm still missing is more content shot by fans around that time (let's say 91-96) to help capture the mood amongst fans and the whole town. **What sorts of things are we looking for?** Any old VHS tapes you may have been keeping where you shot your friends or family at the climax of the 94-95 season, including the celebrations General shots of Ewood Park before or after rebuild. Photos of school kids with the Premier League trophy (they toured it around local schools after the win) Interactions with players - photo or video - perhaps you met them in a local nightclub or they opened your school fete or local co-op. Ditto for Dalglish and Walker. Well shot footage of the town itself in the 1990s could also be of use. We are also interested in Walkersteel - photos and footage- which is so far missing from the news sources. Anything used in the series will be legally licensed from you, including potentially a small licensing fee to the copyright holders or assistance with transferring items of special interest. Email me: nickg@storyfilms.tv Nick Gilbert

Looking to purchase 1990 & 1992 Blackburn Rovers Home Shirt wanted. if anyone is interested in selling.

I stumbled on this interview with Niklas Gudmundsson about his time at Rovers in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet (https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/a/bn8og3/ska-inte-jamfora-mig-med-ljungberg-men), who are doing a series on Swedish players with obscure international careers. It contained some interesting behind the scenes stuff about Rovers, Shearer, transfer dealings and 90's Premier League in general, so I thought it would be interesting to share here as well. I've translated the interview, but it's him rather than me who keeps using "Blackburn" when referring to our club... "During the 90’s I regularly played for the Swedish youth- and under 21 national teams, and several international clubs were interested in me. I had trials at Stuttgart and Nantes and visited Norwich, Crystal Palace, and Liverpool. Liverpool was easily the best experience, since I had supported them since 1977. Stuart Baxter arranged for me and Niclas Alexandersson to go there when I was 18 or 19. We got changed at Anfield and then went on a bus to train at Melwood. There was one designated bus for the senior players and one for us youths, but I got to ride with the first team players; John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Glenn Hysén... It was great! That was the moment when the dream of playing in England really took hold of me. In the summer of 1995 I played with the Swedish national team in the official pre-tournament for Euro 96. We drew with England 3-3, and that made English clubs take notice of me. Later that autumn we played Parma in the Cup Winner’s Cup with Halmstad, and won the first game 3-0. I scored a brace, and felt that it was time to take the next step in my career. After the end of the Swedish season Halmstad played some kind of exhibition tournament in Thailand. We went to Chiang Mai, there were elephant rides and everything, and I was planning on vacationing in Thailand for a while afterwards with my girlfriend. But then one day Stig Nilsson (chairman of Halmstad) came up to me, and his eyes glittered in a way they only did when an English club had come calling. He was never that bothered when Benfica or Sporting Lisbon tried to buy one of his players, but this was Blackburn, with a Premier League budget, and he was over the moon. This was November of 1995, just a few weeks before the Bosman ruling was going to take effect. To make sure Halmstad would get paid, me and Nilsson agreed that I would extend my existing contract and then fly home to negotiate with Blackburn. The deal I made with Blackburn meant that they first loaned me for three months, and then hopefully would buy me after that. Tottenham and Crystal Palace were also interested, but if I’m being honest the deciding factor was that Blackburn were Kenny Dalgish’s club, and Kenny was my hero after having grown up a Liverpool fan. Everything felt just right. Blackburn came from a small town, played in blue and white just like Halmstad, and they were the reigning Premier League Champions. In many ways it was just as I imagined. Despite Blackburn having become a power player in the Premier League it still felt like a family club, there were incredibly friendly people in and around the team. When Jack Walker took over the club and built the new Ewood Park it meant houses needed to be demolished and people had to move out, but he made sure they were compensated with even better homes somewhere else. He was a good man, very popular. At the same time it was a tricky season for Blackburn. Kenny Dalglish had stepped aside as manager and become some kind of sporting director for the club instead, with Ray Harford taking over his former position. Results were mixed. When I arrived, Blackburn had just played a Champions League game away at Spartak Moscow, and there had been a fight on the pitch between Graeme Le Saux and David Batty. Le Saux came back in a plaster, and there was a lot of media attention. However, the dressing room spirit was still very good. I had expected things to be more formal, but the English are fairly easygoing. Some of them were plain nuts. There was a lot of underwear thrown into the showers, jeans getting cut apart, fruits and vegetables thrown in corridors before games... Just a few weeks after I arrived there was the traditional Christmas party. I didn’t go, but somehow a bar had been smashed up. Monday morning, a lady from accounting came and gave our coach the bill. ”Well now, how do we solve this one then, lads?” A few of them smirked ”Don’t worry, it’s on us.” I mostly spent time with the Norwegians, Henning Berg and Lars Bohinen. They helped me get into the group. The biggest change football-wise was the tempo, an enormous difference from Sweden. Fuckin’ hell, it was fast. Distinct, rock hard passes with precision, always using your first touch to put yourself in a better position... And Blackburn’s way of playing wasn’t ideally suited to me. Every position came with rigid instructions, as a winger you were only supposed to run the line and put crosses into the box, and I don’t think they really knew how to use me. I wasn’t a winger like Stuart Ripley or a striker like Alan Shearer, and not a number 10 either. I was something in between all those parts. Still, I’ve always been a humble player, and accepted that it would take a few weeks for me to adapt to the tempo and the team. Mid-January 1996 it was time for my debut. I came on for the last 10 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday at home, and started the attack that led to our final goal in a 3-0 win. Everything felt like it was going in the right direction. Alan Shearer scored the first goal of that game, and was well on his way to becoming the Premier League’s top scorer again. The club revolved around him. He wasn’t just one of the guys, you could tell he was the best and most respected player in England at the time. He had high status, and got everything he pointed at. Blackburn had won the league with Shearer and Sutton as strikers, but somehow Shearer felt Sutton was in direct competition with him, so he decided that his mate Mike Newell should play with him instead. And he did! Still, I don’t have anything bad to say about Shearer. He was a calm, friendly man, even if he didn’t spend much time with the rest of the group. Those of us who lived around Blackburn used to meet up in the pub, but he was rarely there. He used to go home together with Newell instead, both of them lived somewhere close to a golf course in Southport. The next game was against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and this time I came on a bit earlier. Man United were up 1-0, but I actually came close to evening the score. I had a shot that grazed the crossbar behind Schemichel. In hindsight it feels big to have played against that team at that ground, but back then it was just part of a new everyday routine. Still, the next game was special, as it was against Liverpool. I was going to play against my childhood team in a game that was going to be televised in Sweden, on the same day my mother turned 50; 24 February 1996. The goals from that game are still shown on British TV sometimes. The first goal in particular, where Stan Collymore mishit a shot that then bounced on a tuft of grass, over Tim Flowers and over the goal line. ”Where have all the flowers gone...” and all that. When I came on we were down 1-3, but I headed the ball to Tim Sherwood who made it 2-3, and then I had a damn good opportunity.... I came in from the flank, nutmegged Mark Wright, and got off a shot that sailed nicely against the top corner, but was blocked. I had a couple of mates who attended the game, and afterwards they were in the Player’s Lounge. It didn’t take many minutes after the final whistle before Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman came in and drank a number of lagers in a very short time. My mates still tell that story to this day! There was definitely a lot of drinking going on among Premier League players at the time. When we went out of the FA cup it meant that we had a weekend off, and we were told we were flying to Ireland. I thought we were going there to train, but none of the other players brought their football boots, and it wasn’t exactly training equipment that was loaded onto the plane. Shearer and Newell brought their golf bags, they were going to play with the club management, but everyone else barely had any luggage at all. We checked into a hotel in central Dublin, but the rest of the weekend we were just drinking Guinness. I mean, one night would have been alright, but after a whole weekend I started to feel it in my wallet. Still, it wasn’t exactly the time to hang back in your hotel room with a game of solitaire and a Coke, to be respected you had to hang in there. I joined in with Colin Hendry and Kevin Gallacher and felt like part of the gang, but when we got back on Sunday night I remember thinking ”What the hell was that?!”. At that time I still felt things were going my way. I got more and more playing time under my belt, I played well, and finally got to start a game, away against Aston Villa. I played as a striker alongside Shearer, but I didn’t exactly have my best day. I was up against Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu, and I was subbed after a while in the second half. It also irked me that my future was so uncertain during this time. I wasn’t sure if Blackburn were going to make my transfer permanent, and we were coming up on the deadline. No one told me anything, which was extra troublesome since I couldn’t get a hold of my agents and advisors. Back then I was with a French agency called ICM. They started out very generous, even took me and my girlfriend to big galas in Paris and Lisbon, but now they had simply disappeared. I had heard that Parma had been interested in me and wanted to know more about that, and I wanted to know if I could go back to Halmstad and manager Tom Prahl if the deal with Blackburn fell through. I had absolutely no guidance. It was a tricky time. Finally a couple of guys came up from London to finish the deal, but I never even met them. We just spoke on the phone, and in hindsight they probably fleeced me pretty good. Comparing the sums that were mentioned when I first moved to Blackburn with the ones being discussed now was ridiculous, completely different. Now suddenly your SECOND Premier League contract was the one where you made real money. Still, my dream of playing in the Premier League was too strong to turn the contract down. Despite all this I had confidence in Ray Harford, and after I signed my contract I was supposed to start against Southampton away, but the day before the game I pulled my hip in training. It was actually a light injury, if I had just gotten it treated correctly I would have been back in good shape quickly. I spoke to my old physio in Halmstad who told me I needed to rebuild the muscles around the injury, but the physio we had at Blackburn back then wasn’t exactly the best one around. He treated me with ultrasound and running exercises instead. I was a newcomer from Sweden who was more or less stuck in this guy’s claws, and his methods just kept making me pull that damn hip over and over again. Despite it not being a serious injury, it spoiled the whole season for me. Just because of a rubbish physio who couldn’t do his job, I missed out on the last six or seven weeks of the season. I still feel upset and sad about it sometimes. When I finally came back into shape the situation at the club was completely different. Alan Shearer had been sold to Newcastle that summer, and we started the season terribly. I made a few appearances as a sub – I remember thinking Patrick Vieira was as big as a damn house when we played Arsenal – but after 11 games we were bottom of the table with zero wins. They sacked Ray Harford after that, and his assistants Tony Parkes and Derek Fazackerley took over. They went with tradition, using the players who had been at the club the longest, and I wasn’t part of their plans. I never connected with any of them, they just felt... Slippery. That spring I was loaned out to Ipswich, and it actually went really well. They were a more creative team than Blackburn, and I settled in well. I scored a few goals, and when we were in the playoffs I thought I had scored the goal that would take us to Wembley. There were barely 10 minutes left of the game when I put us ahead 2-1 against Sheffield United at Portman Road, but they equalized and went through on away goals. I wanted to stay at Ipswich, but when they didn’t go up they couldn’t afford to sign me. Instead I went back to Sweden. I still think about the spring of 1995 sometimes, how things could have been different. ”If it weren’t for that injury... If I had just scored that goal...” People in Blackburn kept telling me, ”If you had scored that goal against United you would have been in the starting 11 for the rest of the season.” Every footballing career has its defining moments. I don’t want to compare myself to Fredrik Ljungberg, but our situations weren’t that different when we moved to England from Halmstad. But my shot against Schmeichel went over the bar, and his lob went in when he made his first appearance. During my time i England I definitely felt I had the capacity to play in the Premier League. If I had just gotten a good run I definitely would have coped. A whole playing career doesn’t hinge on a single moment, but I still feel like a lot of things were settled for me during that spring. If I had just been a bit more lucky I would have come into the Premier League, England and Europe with a wholly different energy. There would have been even more options, different possibilities.""

Here's wishing every one of you and your families a wonderful healthy happy and successful 2021. We've been through a lot together as Rovers fans and 2020 has had its own particular twists and challenges to say the least. But I am very upbeat about the coming year even though the first quarter promises to be the worst part of Covid. We even have a bit of a Rolls Royce of a Rovers squad albeit the tires at the back are bald, there's no spare and we have found out what we suspected all along, the long serving chauffeur doesn't know how to drive... Here's my 30,000th post- what the heck have I been doing with my time since this MB started all those years ago? What a ride it has been and what incredible avenues just being a Rovers supporter has taken me down. I can't imagine addiction to sex, drugs, booze and rock 'n roll could be any more distracting/time consuming/giver of coruscating lows or ecstatic highs than the accident of birth and upbringing within easy walking distance of Ewood.. COYB

Hey everyone, I'm one of the boot room staff here at BRFCS, I look after the servers and make sure they don't fall over ... or rather, get them running again when they do, I'm BRFCS' Mike Pettigrew if you will. With that in mind that I've been doing some work with the admins and mods to try and make the site a bit more resilient, it's no Vince Grella for staying on it's feet as it is, but it's no Derek Fazackerley either, it could be better. Over this coming weekend there will have to be some downtime (not during the game, I'll be watching that) as I start the work, then again in a few weeks there will be a bit more while I do some more work. I'll try and do it during quiet times, but inevitably there will be some who cannot access the site when they would like ... sorry about that.

Hi, I am looking to purchase classic Rovers Shirts from season 1990/91 & 91/92. If any one has these shirts and wishes to sell

Hello All, I was wondering if I could get some support at the upcoming elections for FSF National Council? I previously spent time on the National Council during the period I was involved with the BRFC Action Group and Rovers Trust. When I stood down from both organisations to concentrate more of my efforts on work and family, I also stood down from the National Council. We are facing challenging times as supporters, with talk of breakaway leagues, empty grounds due to Covid, Clubs having a real threat of going out of business and many issues around our national game. I feel I'm now in a position to put my extra time, to something good, and something I'm passionate about. Having a Rovers supporter on the FSF National council can only be a good thing, as these positions are elected representation of all supporters of all clubs. This year there is just four positions up for election, and 12 Candidates including myself have been short listed as candidates to stand for the election. Voting is open to all, and those who receive the highest number will be duly elected if you would like to help and support my bid to be elected this year, please follow the link to administer your vote Register and vote in the 2020 FSA AGM - Football Supporters' Association (thefsa.org.uk) Below is little about the FSF The FSA Is the National, Democratic representative body for Football supporters in England and Wales, We are leading advocates for supporter ownership, better fan engagement, cheaper ticket prices, the choice to stand at a match, good governance, diversity, and all types of supporter engagement, The breadth of work is huge and difficult to sum up in a paragraph or two. As the national organisation we have regular contact with the Premier League, the EFL, National League, and the FA, as well as a whole host of other organisations within football such as the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA). Football is for all and we work closely with organisations such as Kick It Out and Level Playing Field to ensure that core belief is happening in the real world. We have supported the establishment of scores of BAME and LGBT fans’ groups over the past few seasons. We are founder-members of Football Supporters Europe (FSE) who represent supporters across the continent and are heavily involved in the organisation, with two members who sit on FSE’s Committee (Kevin Miles and Paul Corkrey). As secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Football Supporters Group we have strengthened the voice of fans within Parliament in recent years. Our casework helps hundreds of fans every year who feel they’ve been poorly treated by their clubs, stewards, or police. We give those fans a voice, the best possible advice, and even legal support where necessary. We pioneered the concept of Fans’ Embassies and have helped fans of both the England and Wales men’s national teams at tournaments across the planet. We are proud to have replicated this service, for the first time, for England’s Lionesses at the Women’s World Cup 2019.

Here you can discuss the FIFA World Ranking. Good to see England doing well. Belgium at number 1 is quite a stunt. They were located around spot 70 a few years ago.

No comment required !

So whos going to be watching? ?‍♂️#guilty

Apologies that this isn’t strictly rovers related. I am currently doing my dissertation on the relationship between football fans and place. If you could please fill out my questionnaire I would great appreciate it. Should only take 5 minutes.https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAO__cQBzlBUNDkxOEhXUkJKTDlYUzlKSjlVRThYU1pJNS4u EDIT: I’ve managed to reach the maximum amount of responses, so thank you to everyone who participated!

How many of these 20 'obscure' Rovers players can you name? Some of them are more difficult than others. 1) Jimmy Corbett 2) Hakan Unsal 3) Dario Marcolin 4) Oumar Konde 5) Dino Baggio 6) Niklas Gudmundsson 7) Per Pedersen 8.) Kaba Diawara 9) James Thomas 10) Adam Reed 11) Anders Andersson 12) David Yelldell 13) Javi De Pedro 14) Bruno Berner 15) Maceo Rigters 16) Lars Jacobsen 17) Elrio Van Heerden 18) Herold Goulon 19) Edinho Jr 20) Sacha Petshi

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17800611.tactical-tweaks-rovers-shown-pre-season/

I would snap your hands of if we got stats anywhere near this, this season!

Hi everyone My daughter will be appearing on britains got talent tonight in the final . She is part of the group sign along with us, which is a group for people with both disabilities and abilities . They also are promoting the use of sign language to communicate with people who are unable to communicate vocally. I'm fully aware BGT won't be everybody's Cup of tea but would really appreciate it if you could vote for the group she is in to win as what they are trying to do is for a very good cause. If You download the app and you get 5 free votes. Many thanks

Rovers current recruitment, scouting and data analysis department consist of six members of staff based in Brockhall analysing hours after hours of video footage, that is in addition to three data analysts. Rovers also has on top of that regional scouts that cover games around the UK, plus scouts that operate around Europe scouting players. Bruno Reis overseen the European scouting department and Stuart Harvey overseen the overall department So you are looking at around 15 to 20 people working within these departments. So a lot of time setting this structure up, investment and hiring the right people into these roles. We have had some success in the European transfer market this summer and hopefully this continues next transfer window and beyond..

Someone posted this on a non-football Fb group. I won’t name them for their privacy but this isn’t my photo. “Going down the Bolton Road...” Wondered if anyone else can add any detail or has similar photos?

Championship Trivia Quiz Johnson (8.61) and Armstrong (8.36) are rated the best two players in the Championship right now on whoscored.com. We have a third player in the top 10. Who is he? Unsurprisingly BJ and AA make the “team of the week” but who are the other two Rovers to make the team? Of the 335 players rated by whoscored.com, 4 of the bottom 6 come from the same team….which team? Our current, worst player (of the regular outfield players) comes in 101st on whoscored.com, Who is he? As an aside, this is a far better overall team rating than I have ever seen. We top the table for the highest average rating per player this season at 7.26. Just for fun, who was our worst rated (regular) player last season at 351/360 players. Here are some other notable stats for last season: David Nugent 346th, Todd Kane 345th, Joe Garner 334th, Kasey Palmer 335th, Connor Mahoney 315th, Danny Simpson 284th, Bennett 283rd, Rothwell 258th, Charlie Adam 242nd, Tom Ince 240th, Nyambe 237th, Bell 234th. Derby and Wycombe have yet to win a point. Which other team is in the same boat? Which Championship player has (on average) the most shots per game (five) but has also been called for the most offsides too. Which team has both the most possession per match (58%) and the most successful passing percentage (82%)? Hmmmm, I didn’t believe it either! Which Rover has played every game and has a 94% passing success rate? Great hat-trick by Armstrong but which two players have scored two Championship hat-tricks for Rovers fairly recently? (Hint: they played together often). Which former favourite scored our last hat-trick? Answers (data from whoscored.com and LT.) TD (7th with 7.63) 2.TK and JR, 3. Wycombe, 4. Bell (for fun…..DG), 5. NF, 6. Armstrong, 7. Derby! (In comparison Rovers are at 51% and 77%), 8. TD, 9. Rhodes, Gestede, 10. Graham (SW 2018). Tell me how you got on!

What are people’s memories of that special day

http://orlandoroversfc.com/?i=2 Yikes if not:

I just posted in the football italia thread and it got me feeling all nostalgic. Early 90's when there wasn't that much coverage on TV and football wasn't in your face 24/7 I couldn't get enough of them, Match, WSC, 90 Minutes & a bit later FourFourTwo being my favourites, but in truth I would get anything I could get my hands on. I also remember my grandad showing me some shoot magazines that he had in his loft from the 70s around that time and thinking it looked like a completely different game. Did anyone else used to collect football magazines before football turned in the 24 hour a day news event that it seems to be now?

How cool are these???

I've made 3 Rovers wallcharts for this season which are completely free unless you want to make a donation of which 50% goes to mind charity. You can request the high quality versions through this Request Form or from this website www.wallcharts360.com. Hopefully I'm alright sharing on here