[Archived] Rovers 2 Newcastle 2

[1864roverite]

As we are in Christmas week, I thought I would give all Rovers supporters a break from the tinsel, turkey and trimmings and allow thoughts to wander to Boxing day when we see Rovers at home to the mighty magpies, Newcastle United.

The obvious pointers to this fixture are dominated by Mssrs Alan Shearer and Graham Souness.

In respect of the first gentleman, he needs no invitation at all. A phenomene whilst a Rovers player and someone who simply adorned the Blue and White halves with the style and panache not seen since Mssrs Clayton and all. There is a mighty question mark as to whether this would be Shearers last ever visit as a player, indeed there are still lingering doubts as to whether he will actually play due to him being injured. Whatever happens, although I was deeply saddened when he left, if he does get his final chance on the green green grass of Ewood then I for one will applaud him as he leaves the pitch.

The second gentleman, well, thats a totally different issue. Souness came to Rovers and promptly took the club by the scruff of the neck and turned us around. He gained us promotion, Europe and the Worthington Cup. He steadily built up our club from the dregs it had become and then promptly sold all the silverware and upped and left sticks. Now for some, he was a modern day manager, an icon and a hero. I loved his style of management although towards the end I looked at him in a totally different light. I am pretty certain that if he gets any positive reaction from the Ewood crowd it will be tepid at best. At worst he will suffer the JUDAS taunts that Shearer suffered on his first homecoming.

So to the game. My Nephew Lee is a hardworking Geordie who works on the rigs in the North Sea. He will be present at the game, YES a geordie fan and his sister will be in the Walkersteel Stand as guests of mine. Howl AND derision I hear, away fans in the home supporters end. Fear not my friends, they have a long standing affinity with Blackburn Rovers FC and their dad used to be a Rovers player in 1972/73.

I asked him the following:

1. You have a direct link to BRFC in that your dad used to be on the books of Rovers in the early 70's around the time ken Furphy was in charge. What are your views on Blackburn Rovers from what you remember all those years ago and the way they are now ?

My earliest memory of BRFC, is one of a warm, friendly club, where quite literally - what you saw was what you got. I seem to remember one highly rated Howard Gayle !

2. Obviously the great striker that is Alan Shearer returns to his spritual home and the club that he has won the only major trophy of his goal laden career. Can you recall exactly what you were doing or where you were when the Newcastle Manager KK announced a £15m transfer and paraded him at St JAmes PArk ?

In July ' 96, I was based down in Didcot Oxfordshire. When news filtered through, I recall being overcome by a wave of excitement - tidal in scope.

3. We see fat Freddie Shepherd constantly on the sports channels. Being a self confessed Mad Geordie can you give us a real Newcastle fan view on this individual.

There's a tribe of evil demons lurking behind this guys pleasant facade. An ex scrap metal merchant with a penchant for publicity. How a man of Mr Shepherd's background & calibre (not an iota of footballing knowledge), could publicly announce what the future held in store for Sir Bobby, without first consulting the great man himself - begs belief ! This man should be birched in Northumberland Street, before being beaten to death with a sock full of frozen vomit - for his treatment of Sir Bobby alone.

4. Rovers and Newcastle have shared lots of ups and down over the years. What is your finest memory of matches played between our clubs ?

I recall the game at St James - season 2001/02 quite vividly. Olivier Bernard opened his account for the mags with an absolute thunderbolt, after David Dunne had put the Rovers in front (waving his boot at the faithful in the Gallowgate end). We got the last laugh though, Gary Speed popped up with the winner. Oh so sweet.

5. It is said that Newcastle are a club that have modelled themselves on how Blackburn Rovers is run. We know that NUFC are a much larger supported team and have a magnificent stadium so how does it feel that you have not managed to win a trophy for so long whilst BRFC have managed to grab themselves a couple of pices of major silverware in 10 years ?

A fan cannot miss what he / she has never had - not in my time anyway. We'll forever live in hope though, there's nothing more certain. Who knows what's around the corner. The beat goes on.

6. What are your thoughts about how far Newcastle can go under the guidance of Sourness and his merry men ?

Greame Souness has inherited his current squad, we mustn't lose sight of this. What we must do is wait until January when the window reopens, give him sufficient funds for a plunge, and judge him fairly from there on in !

7. Can Newcastle ever hope to achieve "greatness" after this season when the mighty son of Newcastle hangs up his boots ?

We'll always ''hope for greatness'' ! No one can deny us that ! However he can never be replaced.

8. How did you feel about the sacking of Sir Bob Robson and the appointment of his successor Sourness ? I mean NUFC tried Dalglish and Gullit and it got them nowhere ? What can Sourness do for Newcastle ?

Sir Bobby was sacked in the worst possible manner (refer to section 3). Greame Souness - well, we'll soon see.

9. What players should Rovers be wary of and which should they target as weaknesses ?

You cannot afford to underestimate Robert on his day. Weaknesses - right through the middle of our defence.

10. Who will Newcastle hope to sign in the January sales ?

A lot of rumours circulating. There seems to be a bit of substance to the David Dunne scenario though ! A couple of centre halves are a must.

11 and finally a prediction for the match.

3 - 1 to the toon. Haway the lads.

Thanks Lee and I am looking forward to seeing former Rovers player Shay Given although I sincerely he has another stinker at Ewood.

my own view is that Rovers are due a win and if bellamy, Shearer and Kluivert are struggling then our defence has nowt to worry about. The midfield of Bowyer and Butt are missing and as I watch them on PPlus they dont look to good defensive wise.

Bottoms up 2-0 Rovers and a great belated Christmas prezzie.

Edited December 19, 2004 by 1864roverite

[greggyk]

Well, so far Shearer and Bellamy are both doubts and one of their best players this season Lee Bowyer got sent off today so will miss the rovers game.

We MUST give souness stick as he is the man who put us in the mess we are in now by not thinking about the club but just about himself and then leaves us at the bottom of the league. I've got a feeling he will get the same reception as Dwight Yorke did on his return.

Rovers teams should be:

Friedel

Neill Todd Nissa Matteo (i know, but 2 clean sheets remember)

Emerton Ferguson Flitty Reid

Dickov Stead

Rovers 2-0 Newcastle

Stead (23)

Todd (74)

ATT: 25,063

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

I can only repeat my comments from another thread on how I feel about Saturday:

Souness has been the most successful manager since the heady days of Dalglish.He dragged this club up from the depths of division 1 oblivion.....that night at Deepdale will live long in the memory!

Cardiff, Uefa cup football.......bar last season his time at Ewood WAS a success, yet I will wager cash that some sad, sad Rovers 'fans' will be all too ready to deride the man come Saturday.

Yes, he left in not so good circumstances but you have to take the rough with the smooth in life,we have moved on as a club,Souness has moved on.....forgive and forget.

Souey is currently finding that life is not always greener on the other side of that fence at St James's so perhaps the good 'owd Blackburn fold who are sharpening their knifes can take their masturbatory pleasure out on that fact instead.

Sections of our support made ALL Rovers fans look complete tools with the shocking reception Shearer had to endure on his initial return to Ewood.....

PLEASE THINK AND DONT FOLLOW LIKE SHEEP THIS TIME.LIKE SHEARER THE MAN SOUNESS IS NOT DESERVING OF SUCH CHILDISH AND BITTER TREATMENT!

Rovers 1 Barcodes 1 (Gallagher)......another frustrating draw sees Rovers slip into the bottom three yet again!!

24,500.

[greggyk]

So you think its okay for him to sell most of our hero's, spend our money on crap who work hard but have no skill and then jump ship when things are going bad. This is why we get treated like ###### in the media, 'little old Blackburn' they have no ambition and dont really care when people leave them. At least when Dwight got stick(apart from those 5 sick people) it showed that the people of blackburn do not care for people who just use us!

Also,its just a game and a bit of fun to give banter to people.(again, i dont mean i do not care for racism)

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

No I dont think its alright that he sold Cole etc, etc ,thats just one of the reasons why were in the brown stuff now but by deriding man who did guide us to success will only give the hacks more fuel for their anti Rovers rants,it can equally work against us.Rovers fans were lambasted to kingdom come over their treatment of Shearer.....can you not see my point of view?

The best course of action is to simply ignore the fella,no acknowlegement whatsoever from the stands towards him(they say silence speak's volumes) and lets do our talking on the pitch....well, lets at least try anyway!

Edited December 19, 2004 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[1864roverite]

JHC

it took me 6 years to get over the Shearer departure, Souness has only been gone a couple of months !

I see where your coming from SG but on this occasion I will be one of the Blackburn Enders who heap derision on someone who just upped sticks when the going got a little bit tougher.

Oh by the way I am pretty sure that over 5k Geordie fans will be doing the same if we manage to get a couple of goals ahead in the game.

For evidence read the NUFC message boards. a recent poll of supporters conducted on a local radio station revealed that out of 6500 votes almost 68per cent wanted Souness out, that about equals this message board when we were really struggling !

Roll on Boxing Day !

its a day for football supporters NOT racists

[1864roverite]

there is a lot of rumours about Shearer having been temporarily suspended by Newcastle for hitting Bellamy ! i wonder if there is any truth in them?

[greggyk]

there is a lot of rumours about Shearer having been temporarily suspended by Newcastle for hitting Bellamy ! i wonder if there is any truth in them?

where did ya hear that? sounds great

[1864roverite]

look on the bbc pages and in particular look at the newcastle supporters pages.

I cant believe it myself but then again you never know especially where Bellamy is conceerned, I mean he is an annoying little prat aint he ?

[G Somerset Rover]

He did lamp Gillespie that time aswell remember!! Looking forward to next Sunday, I actually have a sense of optimism about the game. As I've said in another thread, their defence is woeful at best. We havn't scored for a fair few games now, and if we don't bag a couple against them then we really will need to bring in two new strikers. Hopefuly Shearer imparticularly and Bellamy will be injured, and the fact that Butt and Bowyer are out all points to a Rovers win for me. Rovers 2 Newcastle 1.

[philipl]

Whether Shearer has thumped Bellamy once twice or three times or kicked Carr in the head, the well-behaved boys of Newcastle have been misbehaving themselves at the Ritz in London as Souness has admitted in a bizarrly worded statement this evening.

So much for Souness introducing discipline to the bar codes.

It is also worth noting that whereas Souness inherited a leaky defence from Sir Bobby, it has carried on leaking at an increasing rate and their cards record on the field has steadilly worsened.

Hughes inherited an even leakier defence from Souness but after those two 0-4s and the 3-3 has tightened up to the extent that we have let in one goal in the last four games. Our card count hasn't got any better though and at least the lads had a colourful Christmas party!

So it seems Hughes is doing a better job of a Rovers squad stripped of skill and character than Souness is doing with a Newcastle squad full of expensively signed stars and more "characters" than in Strangeways.

So to Boxing Day and a game that I am only worried about in terms of how great a blow it will be if we fail to win. If we bring the level of concentration and determination we showed against Everton- particularly second half when we cut out the few sloppy balls we were guilty of in the first- we should win this one.

Surely a crowd of 28,000+ should be at Ewood for this emotive set of reunions and here's hoping Ewood's biggest gate will witness a riproaring victory for the Rovers.

I am going for 4-2 if Shearer plays, 3-0 if not.

[jim mk2]

Reported tonight that Shearer and Bellamy are both expected to play.

Shearer always scores against us so the question is can we score two ?

Doubtful I'd say. Another draw 1-1.

Looking ahead, we have an horrendous February and March with fixtures against six of the seven top teams.

Edited December 19, 2004 by jim mk2

[Jammy]

I have mixed opinions about GS, yes he did a good job for us, but on the other hand left us in a bit of a mess.

He is now a manager of another club which we play, my heart is with Rovers and I'm still there, so I will show no sympathy or respect to him on Sunday!

A chant like "Thank you very much for taking Souness" to the tune of the roses advert wouldn't go amiss, surely impress the travelling geordies.

As for the game they've been beaten again today and are not looking too clever, i think it will be a very close game hopefully rovers edging it 2-1.

[frosty]

Rovers 2 v 1 Newcastle

Friedel

Neill Todd NEJ Matteo

Emo Ferguson Thompson Reid

Dickov Gallagher

Reid (34)

Kluivert (39)

Ferguson(81)

[WaffleWag]

After seeing most of the second half against liverpool, I'm not scared at all. They lost possesion so easy when going forward and every time Liverpool was on the brake they look like scoring. The Newcastle defence got close to none organisation, the space they gave away was unbelievable. Mostly thank to Bernard who frequently was out of posistion after going forward. I'll think Emmo could be up for a cracking game. I hope Gally would play as his movement and runs will leave souness laughing at his own defence.

rovers 3 humblepie 1

[T4E]

I cant believe it myself but then again you never know especially where Bellamy is conceerned, I mean he is an annoying little prat aint he ?

He is, I dont know how Clare puts up with him.

[92er]

Don't go to the match on Saturday as it's on Sunday.

[Paul]

The best course of action is to simply ignore the fella,no acknowlegement whatsoever from the stands towards him(they say silence speak's volumes) and lets do our talking on the pitch....well, lets at least try anyway!

I hope we can all be big enough to applaud Alan Shearer for the fantastic player he has been.

As for Souness, as SG says above - ignore him totally. OK if we are 3-0 up with two minutes to go a chorus of "Souness, what's the score?" but booing etc. should be a complete No, No.

[SAS]

should be an interesting game, we must all cheer souness for what he has done, and cheer him for that fact that he left and we didnt have to pay him off for sacking him

Probably another bore draw this.

[emerton]

Rovers 2 v 1 Newcastle

Reid (34)

Kluivert (39)

Ferguson(81)

cant argue with that!

I think we can break through this newcastle defence, it all a mater of keeping them out

[wozaup]

I rekon rovers will edge this after getting drubbed up at there ground.

We will be ready to send scumless back to barcode city

1-0 rovers STEAD

[ally]

blackburn to win 2-1 (Stead and Barry & Kluivert for them)

Only 3 points will between us and GS

[USABlue]

After being a Pro Souness man for so long and defending him most of the time I felt very much deserted by the way he left. I wish him no success at all. He left us in the lurch, he screwed up, came to realise it and off he went. I also have a very strong feeling that he somewhat engineered his own move, I really do.

It is for these reasons I ask you all at Ewood to NOT boo Souness. Save the vocal chords for cheering on our lads so we may humiliate them. There is only one team in the World I would more like to give a pasting to than Newcastle right now, and I think you will all know who that might be.

Let's have a rousing reception for our lads, give 'em brilliant support so our team can humble his.

We are basically the same team he left behind so if we can beat them with our new found fitness and beat them well Mr Souness will have to begin to realise all his medals won't protect him forever.

I would like 3-0 for Christmas Gally to get one and Andy Todd the other 2, those two score and it should really twist the knife.

[Mike Graham]

I am confident for the first time this season. Rovers are on a role and i expect another 0-0. Bothwide will miss the target and Dickoffside will harrange like a tiger and miss like a Beamo.

Come on you blueboys!!

[cn174]

I cant believe it myself but then again you never know especially where Bellamy is conceerned, I mean he is an annoying little prat aint he ?

He is, I dont know how Clare puts up with him.

Anyway, the game. I'm fairly confident for this one. I always look forward to the Newcastle games, and being on Boxing Day makes it better for some reason!

If Shearer plays, he'll more than likely score against us. But I think Emerton and Bothroyd especially could do thier defence some home. Because lets face it, thier defence is worse than ours.

2-1 to Rovers. Emerton and a penalty from Dickov.