https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/england-euros-sol-campbell-portugal-24272786

For anybody out there who still harbours a grudge 

21 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Living in Scotland, I'm the opposite Mattyblue, thanks to the 'Anyone But England' attitude of the jocks. I hope we absolutely crush them next Friday, it won't matter to me what else we do in the tournament after that.

I still want them to do well generally (although I think that winds them up even more) but I find the games where we play each other absolutely unbearable. 

It's almost like when we hadn't lost to Burnley for 30 odd years, it makes the prospect of losing so terrible that you can't enjoy the rivalry. If you offered me the choice of winning the tournament but losing to Scotland in the group stage, or getting knocked out in the semis but beating Scotland along the way, I would genuinely need to think about it. 

47 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

If this article is true; Euro 2020 – what are England's squad numbers? | FourFourTwo

Then is Southgate's line up this;

                Pickford

Walker  Stones  Maguire  Shaw

         Henderson  Rice

Sterling  Grealish  Rashford

                  Kane

Even allowing for a horses-for-courses approach, I struggle to see how he can leave out both Foden and Mount at the same time. 

7 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Foden is quick

He is - don't get me wrong, Grealish is no slouch either - but I don't see either of them really stretching teams by making runs in behind. I'm remembering when we scored three goals away against Spain a couple of years ago, and how important our pace and power was in that performance.

There's no doubt that form-wise, Grealish & Foden should be higher in the pecking order than Rasford & Sterling, but at the same time I think one of each would have a better balance to it. Tough call. 

15 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

            Pickford

james.    Stones.  Coady.   Shaw

           Bellingham.  Rice

foden.           Mount.       Grealish

                 Kane

 

maguire when fit. That’s are best 11

I desperately want to get Grealish and Foden in the same team - but looking at the front three, there isn't much in the way of pace or players who run in behind the defence. I can completely understand Rashford playing for that reason, especially against the better sides, but it's a real conundrum. Leaving either Foden or Grealish outside the XI is such a massive call. 

2 minutes ago, Roverinbelfast said:

Likewise I always thought the barracking of Ferguson was OTT. Granted I didn't go to as many games back then. But I thought he was just starting to settle and look like a decent player when he got that horrible injury. Then he left shortly after he returned I think. 

Was a very common opinion at the time, as I recall. The way he left probably seemed to change the opinion of many who otherwise would have given him the benefit of the doubt.

10 minutes ago, oneandycrawford said:

Always thought the barracking of Andrews was well over-the-top. He never hid and always tried his best. Not his fault his manager over-promoted him. Compared to the likes of Murphy, Ferguson (could have been good for us with any effort!!), Best and the rest Andrews doesn't even come close!

Agree. He was an average footballer, no worse than that. 

1 minute ago, JacknOry said:

Is that true we gave him a 7-year contract and then gave him away for free a year later????

 

The 7 year contract is definitely true - the free transfer might be a false memory, but I think it was. It definitely was at most a tiny fraction of what we paid, but it might've just been a straight swap with Ostenstad.

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

A lot of comments remind me of what people said about Tom cairney. A lot of the managers mismanagement reminds me of how cairney was shunted around and never developed when it was clear to see the talent he had .Another gem I was sad to see leave . If rothwell leaves and for example went to Barnsley . He could be the next player been touted for the prem. Another reason I consistently say I have no idea who plays where, what our best 11 is and what ability the players actually have. Until we get proper management and coaches in place it will forever be. I hope rothwell stays. He is well worth a place In the squad on the ability he has shown already. He might be average, he could be the next cairney. Sadly we will never know until he does leave

Quite a lot in this I think. Having said that, I don't remember too much frustration with Cairney's performances per se, more that he wasn't used properly. 

Trouble with inconsistent players is that whereas sometimes it just takes the right environment to set them straight, sometimes players will just remain inconsistent. Hard to say which sort Rothwell is, although I'd definitely keep him if he's open to signing a new deal. Wonderful player to watch, and his end product is improving, which is easy to miss with the team as a whole underperforming. 

1 hour ago, Sparks Rover said:

I'd be off to Rangers if I were him.  Champions League football and I bet Gerrard would take him on loan.  He needs a step up from Benno, Bucko and Gally

Agree that there's quite a lot of sense in that move, especially if they have full crowds next season. If I were Liverpool I'd want him to start getting used to producing under the kind of pressure he'd face at Anfield - so either Rangers or a team expecting promotion would bring that in different ways.

I actually think he played with a perfectly decent squad last year, just one which badly unperformed. I also disagree quite a bit with your assessment of Buckley too, but you're alrighty fighting that one on a few fronts so I'll leave it there!

Pleasantly surprised to see rumours that we are looking into taking Elliot back, but taking it with a massive pinch of salt at present. He would probably have the pick of the whole division next year if available, so I doubt that our brownie points with Liverpool would put us at the front of the queue. 

9 hours ago, TheRoversReturn said:

Kevin Davies.

No contest. Broke our transfer record fee AND that included a knockdown fee for Beattie, scored a grand total of one league goal for us and, worse than that, had a massive part in our relegation which took us a few years to recover from and meant that Uncle Jack passed away when we were not in the top flight. To rub salt in the wounds, he went onto be a Bolton legend and, eventually, played for England.

I salute you, Kevin Davies. You are the winner of the Worst Signing in the History of BRFC.  

Yes, no contest really. If you take transfer fee inflation into account, we paid an eye watering sum for Kevin Davies, and he signed a 7 year contract! 

Given away for nowt twelve months later, so he could play with the Rovers fan we also gave away for (next to) nowt, who himself played for England, was the top English scorer in the league at one point, and who himself went for fees of over £10million over the course of his career. This is before considering that playing Beattie in front of Davies could have easily been enough to see us safe that season, even if that's a bit of a speculator. 

 Easily the worst use of money, even if we have better reasons to dislike some of the turkeys which came along later. 

1 minute ago, JoeH said:

JRC new deal to 2024 done

On paper, this one should have been the easiest one to get done. Even so, a relief to see one of them get over the line.

Partially serious counterpoint: Brentford are getting plaudits from everywhere for their success using a model which prioritises performance on different metrics over results, assuming that the results will eventually follow. 

The problem comes when performances have also been poor, as has been the case at Rovers. 

12 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

We'll be due another £2m from the Raya deal if it continues like this. That's a third of a BB, or a full AA (and a bit more). 

If it turns out that we get 5 million for him, I think that's approaching getting a pretty reasonable deal. 

33 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Both squads got knocked out on penalties. I think that 06 was the better team. Rooney's idiocy, not bad luck, cost that side.

Yes, over time there have been plenty of examples of shooting ourselves in the foot to go along with some bad luck. Sometimes in the same game, like Beckham getting sent off and Campbell (again!) scoring a perfectly good goal against Argentina. Every country will have probably their own examples, but I'd be surprised if anybody's list is as long as ours!

Mainly agree that the 06 team was stronger too, although Scholes wasn't there in 06, which is a big loss even if he was starting on the left. There was a great interview with Sven on Sky a year or two ago where he made a case for playing him out of position. Wasn't totally convinced, but he was pretty persuasive. Pointed out that he occasionally was played out there for United too, so maybe that's overdone. 

One often forgotten area where we were slightly unlucky in 06 was that Owen got badly injured early on. In theory that should've been a very small window when both him and Rooney should've been near the top of their game, which sadly we never really saw. 

Didn't see another thread on this, so I started a fresh one.

Rovers to play Bolton and AFC. Fylde in pre-season friendlies. 

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19329495.blackburn-rovers-announce-two-friendlies-including-bolton-trip/ 

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

I suppose the thing with tournament football is that unlike in a League, the best team doesnt necessarily always win, one off day against a big team and you are on the plane home.

Exactly this. And coupled with tournaments themselves only coming around every two years, a good crop of players can often have a fairly small window to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. They take responsibility for things like Rooney's red card, or wilting when it comes to penalty shoot-outs, but the fine-margins and the sheer randomness you get in football matter so much more in knockout competitions.

Longer term, I look at England's lack of success in tournament football not too dissimilarly to Liverpool's barren years. Some periods when we've been miles away from being good enough. But others when we we've been very good and close to where we need to be. I think/hope we're about to enter another one of these phases now, so we just need to hope that they play near their best and hope that their luck is better than the good teams of the 90s and 2000s.

7 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Absolutely agree.

I always thought that G.Neville, Campbell, Ferdinand, A.Cole was as good a back four as any in the world at their peak. 

Not a chance you'd pick any of the current crop over the centre backs and full backs. I think Gary Neville would also have a strong case for a place.

I was going to say the same in an earlier post, but then I was thinking about Maldini, Cannavaro, Nesta & Panucci. Some defence. Even then it's not obvious to me which was better, which goes to show how well stocked we were, especially thinking of some of the players we had the likes of Carragher, King and Woodgate as 4th, 5th and 6th choice. 

I know the settled opinion on the Sven era was that we badly underperformed, and that's understandable given the players available, but I think the manner of our getting knocked out gets brushed under the carpet slightly too much in my view. Portugal in 2004, Campbell won that game fair and square in the 90 minutes before the goal being disallowed. They go on to reach a very winnable final vs Greece. Even in 2006, we came pretty close to winning that game with 10 men if I recall. People rightly talk about how we should've got more from a midfield that good, or were too mentally weak when it came to pens etc., but we were seriously unlucky at times too. 

1 minute ago, pick32 said:

One of the worst England squads I’ve seen going into a major tournament, Apart from Walker, Kane and Sterling I don’t think any would get minutes on the pitch in the 2004 squad 

 

Think you're right on the 2004/2006 team, but I think that really just shows how we underachieved in those tournaments. A defence including Campbell/Terry/Ferdinand/Cole was exceptional, as should've been a midfield with Beckham, Gerrard, Scholes & Lampard.

I'd take this squad over any we've had in the last 10 years though, and I think it's miles ahead of some of those going a bit further back before the Sven era.

6 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Wow, that surprises me. Tbh, putting on my neutral specs, I can't agree we were the second best ever Prem winning team, but it's great to see we meant that much to him.

Our relationship with Al since he left has been complicated. It hurt us so hard when he left, and I think it hurt him when some fans booed him on his return. I think that stung him for a long time and he never seemed to have much good to say about us, at least not as you'd expect with his best years being here.

I think it may have changed when we named that street after him tbh. I think that made him realise he was still cherished here by most, and since then he has been more glowing about us in public.

That's how I've observed it happening anyway

I think you're completely right about the street naming a few years ago. The penny was dropping when he was still playing though. I might be misremembering some of the specifics but he got a great ovation from us in (I think) his final season and he made a point of bringing that up in his programme notes the week later. Or it might have been a BBC column, something like that anyway. 

It seems that these days he speaks about the club with genuine, uncomplicated fondness now. It would've been a real shame if he still held a grudge from those first years after he left. A match made in heaven, for a while. 

10 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Even ledley King who was a top defender couldn't get in. You're right would love a Terry or Ferdinand.  

I think either of those (or a Sol Campbell) and I'd suddenly feel extremely bullish about our chances. Henderson's lack of fitness is a bit of a worry too, but all of a sudden we have a group of attacking players that other countries will genuinely fear.

3 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Southgate names his squad on Tuesday.  Im hoping the rumours aren't true about trent and sancho being left out.  Be madness to leave 2 of the best young players in Europe at home . I personally think he will opt for trippier walker and James. 3 pretty impressive options.  Sancho has to go though.  Hes bee  brilliant for dortmund over the last few months. Grealish should be a shoe-in. Foden mount kane rashford sterling too should be there. We have some insane attacking options and real strength at fullback.  I would take Bellingham because he has talent but also a great temperament.  Rice has been impressive this season.  I would opt for tomori as backup to Stones and Maguire.  Hes been immense for Milan.  I would also take Greenwood and saka as wildcards

The strength in depth at right back is ridiculous, but I'm with you in wanting TAA in the squad. Harsh on James who is a very good player, but I'd have Walker starting and then I'd rather have Alexander-Arnold as a different option in reserve. 

Loving the options we have going forward. Just a shame that it hasn't coincided with a vintage group of defenders (right back aside). Maguire and Stones are good on their day, but they're obviously a bit accident prone there's not much behind them. Far cry from a few years ago when players like Woodgate struggled to even get into squads.

1 hour ago, Fraserkirky said:

Whoever swoops in and gets Rothwell from us will be getting a steal. Will go on to be a top player wherever he goes. Tony Mowbray has no idea what to do with him. Top quality player, best dribbler I have see in years, and he is also a very good passer. Nowhere near appreciated enough at Rovers. Will be very upset.

I think that's right, but at the same time some of the responsibility for his inconsistency lies with the player too. He has the ability to be our best player, even including Armstrong and a fully fit Dack in my opinion, and so whilst the manager takes a fair amount of the responsibility for his inconsistency, it shouldn't entirely shield Rothwell from criticism either. 

Fully agree that he'll be a snip for the £1million (?) or whatever it is we'll be able to get for him. Worth a lot more than that even at his current levels if he had a couple of years more on his contract, and if he can get more consistent in his end product he could easily play in the top division. 

25 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

He bangs on about working a long way from home at every possible opportunity.

It's 90 miles! Most of my working life was spent at least 4,000 miles from my home, where my wife and kids were, at that time. Like Mowbray I had to BUT I never bitched about it constantly.

He will be on a a good basic wage, bonuses, pension and will have travel plus any overnight accomodation and food covered by the Club. Still he moans.

BUt it just 90 miles, unreal. It's NOT a long way.

Anti-social job? well that's his long term career choice and if it is such a job well don't do it.

Sympathise with him if you want - just don't expect any from me or agreement with a banal argument.

 

I don't agree that he bangs on about it at every possible opportunity. As far as I can see it's come up in maybe a handful of interviews over the last few years, of which he gives several every week. I'd bet that if men who do spells on oil rigs had to give interviews every time they had a bad day at work, they'd be plenty who mention that they miss their family and if they did nobody in their right mind would say they were whinging. 

Anyway, I'm not saying we need to get the violins out either. Like you say, lots of others do it tough. But I find it incredibly distasteful to use this as a stick to beat him with, and imply that he's being selfish, underhand or whatever, for what is for me a very natural response. There are so many sound, footballing reasons to want him replaced, and so zoning in on this strikes me as at best unnecessary, if not quite a bit worse than that. 

2 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Whining about his family living far away.

It’s one of many things that infuriate me about Mowbray.

Is the North East the centre of the earth? Why on earth didn’t you move your family down here? Don’t take the job if you don’t want to be away from your family!

Sorry, that's ridiculously unfair. Mowbray is the same position as lots of people where the best way they can provide for their family is by accepting an antisocial/long distance job. Not take the job? Fine, but how else is someone who has only ever known football going to earn decent money at his age? Move his family down? Fine, but that means taking his teenage kids out of school, and probably away from literally everyone they know. These are really difficult decisions and he's entitled to miss his kids without the likes of us having a go at him for it. 

I wouldn't care but there are more than enough footballing reasons to want TM gone. I don't understand why so much attention needs to be paid to throw away comments he makes when someone shoves a microphone under his nose, especially when it comes to something like this.