Yes I remember that. It ended up with David Mail of all people taking one at Stoke away and smashing it into the top corner. Ģarner, strangely enough wasn't one of those missing penalties though. I don't think he took one for us after about 1984 ish. Incredible really when you think about it. Of the current crop, the way Rothwell passes the ball crisply and accurately makes me think he would take a decent penalty. Not that I think he has the panache to step up however.

Burnley's games in hand have all but evaporated and they look vulnerable again.

Notwithstanding our superb defence, we have been poor on the ball and created very little for several games now. Today needs to be the day when we put the recent form to bed. I wouldn't expect us to concede today and expect it to stay goalless until deep into the game. Just hope Mowbray gives Brereton and khadra a decent run out rather than the last twenty minutes if we are needing a goal.

But still a child at 35.

I agree. I rated Stewart Downing whilst he was here but the Downing of two seasons ago doesn't get in our current side for me. A good indicator of our progress I suppose.

I remember that too. One or two posters speculated that Bigdogg may have been Paul Senior in disguise when he first started posting.

We need Dacky back. He always turned it on for the cameras.

Turns out Mowbray was right all those years ago. Defenders did come, eventually.

I'd love to see those too. I don't recall the Coventry fixture being televised but the Villa replay definitely was. There weren't too many home video recorders in 1980 and the format may have been a soon to be obsolete Betamax or V2000 which makes a YouTube upload unlikely. We can live in hope though. I digitise old 8mm cine film in my spare time. It would be fantastic if some silent colour footage from the terraces of say the Bryan Douglas era were ever to be unearthed. There will be loads of stuff like that in wardrobes and lofts around the town I bet.

Gascoigne and Beardsley in that team.

It's a funny one this Wood transfer. Burnley have got a tremendous, vastly inflated fee which can definitely strengthen their survival chances if they spend it well, which is another matter altogether. Newcastle on the other hand have bought a player who is unlikely to contribute hugely to their own survival and therefore, I don't think they are particularly stronger or more likely to stay up. It's any three from four presently. I think Norwich are likely to go so a lot depends on the six pointers when the other three play each other. I think Burnley play Watford next Tuesday. Massive!

Wow. Hello 1983! I can't tell you how long I've been hoping to see that match again. What a blast from the past. £2.20 on the turnstiles but this was an all ticket affair with police limiting the crowd to around 23 thousand. Sgt Alan Holt outside the ground with his megaphone, adverts for Cowies and a veteran Norman Bell miscontrolling the ball up front. Terry Gennoe still in his late 20's and a young raw David Mail (he later became an old raw David Mail) struggling to control the Liverpool number 7 who I don't remember hearing from again. Souness typically brutal, this time against his old Spurs roommate and Branagan with a couple of trademark rough tackles. Garner showing that he was playing in the wrong division and no sign of Barker or Keeley who I would have wanted in my starting lineup for very different reasons in a fixture like this. I would have been 11 years old, standing on the wall at the front of the Riverside, clinging onto the railings and making sure not to jump off into the huge overflowing river of piss beneath my feet. During the ten minute half time break I would have bought a packet of spearmint sold in a blister pack and only seen at Rovers. I would then quickly check that the usual assortment of interesting characters were knocking about as I liked to every home match. These included the jam jar bottomed glasses man, sweary man and one legged man. I would then excitedly tell my Dad and Grandad about Garner's sublime goal in great detail before wading back through the piss. With this being a televised match against a superior team, I would watch us lose valiantly and therefore set a pattern for the decade ahead. Really chuffed to finally see this again!

I was on the Riverside that day. Really warm day and Simon was too hot for City. He hit his peak that season, ably assisted by the likes of Sellars and Gayle. Garner's third goal was one of the best I've seen at Ewood, and Martin Tyler remarks that even the City fans applauded. I sometimes went to watch City with my boss in those days and there was some talk of Garner signing for them at that time. I wonder what Simon makes of the likes of Ben Brereton who is going to become a millionaire on the back of twenty goals for the club. Things have certainly changed. Garner would wish him well. What a great, charismatic player he was. A real star in the town during that wonderful decade. The absolute time of my life!

I wouldn't risk a single player from our normal starting eleven, and certainly not Ayala. In the (astonishing) circumstances we currently find ourselves in, this match matters not one jot.

They'll come to bitterly regret taking over in my opinion. It never looked like a good outcome for the club as soon as they came in. My point was that Dyche has got an unbelievable tune out of these players for years. They won't get another like him. I wouldn't be surprised to see him at Watford at some point (hopefully next week) 😁

Hahahaha...brilliantly funny. Oh what a joy to read such a thing! They can blame and criticise Dyche all they want as far as I'm concerned. He is 100 per cent responsible for such a small, underwhelming nothing of a club having had such unprecedented success these last years. This six fingered goose literally laid its golden egg upon his appointment. Without him they will return to the obscurity of league one in no time, but they are too arrogant and entitled to see it.

Massive game. Getting nervous. Need an early goal...

That's a good shout. Barker was probably a better player at the same age (England U21 I think) before he suffered a bad injury prior to us selling him. If Buckley can score goals like Barker did he can go all the way.

Yes, hopefully they will have sorted this out by Thursday evening's game!

It will be Officer Barbrady: We're going up!

Ahh what an unfortunate coincidence you bumped into her down there and ruined the surprise she was planning 😁

This is a really good point. Something else that occurred to me in the last few weeks is the positive effect that Tyrhys Dolan has had on the mentality of the squad as a whole. I can't remember when we last had a player who so relentlessly and doggedly chases down his opponents deep in their own half. The opposition hate this and it pegs them back and causes panic and mistakes. I think that this chasing down is now endemic across the whole forward line much more than it used to be and it puts squad players such as Butterworth and Gallagher in a position where they have to follow suit when they come on.

Oh dear! No, what you did was misinterpret my point . My phrase was that Burnley are lucky that other teams are rubbish otherwise they would be cut adrift. Your phrase was that only by the good grace of Newcastle etc being so poor are Burnley not cut adrift. It's an identical point of view, expressed differently. Read both quotes back to back. They make the same point exactly. The word luck means the same to me as your phrase good grace means to you. No difference Let's agree that I won't be pedantic on your use of the phrase good grace and you won't be pedantic on my use of the word luck. 😉 Seasons greetings!

Interesting and accurate points longsiders 1882. In fact only last week I expressed an identical point of view on this very thread when I wrote: "I think Burnley can count themselves extremely lucky that there are so many dire teams around them at the moment. They can't buy a win at the present time yet the awful form of the likes of Newcastle Norwich and Watford means they haven't been cut adrift at the bottom of the league which they ordinarily might have been.I can easily see Southampton and Leeds being dragged right down into the bottom six which gives lucky Burnley greater odds of somehow scraping enough points" I think anyone would agree that we are making the same point but you replied that my point of view was "rubbish". I am happy to overlook your rather curt reply in this season of goodwill. I know it's a worrying time over there at present.

I think Burnley can count themselves extremely lucky that there are so many dire teams around them at the moment. They can't buy a win at the present time yet the awful form of the likes of Newcastle Norwich and Watford means they haven't been cut adrift at the bottom of the league which they ordinarily might have been. I can easily see Southampton and Leeds being dragged right down into the bottom six which gives lucky Burnley greater odds of somehow scraping enough points.