An Exclusive reported on-line on the " Independent's " website .... " The Football Association and the Football League have backed a proposal from The National Association of Football Statisticians to downgrade the first 22 years of the FA Cup, to the equivilant of the FA Amateur Cup which commenced in 1893-94, and ran until the 1973-74 season. The years affected run from 1872 to 1893, and the winners of the Cup for those years will not be permitted to claim these successes as FA Cup wins on their official Club websites or publications. Explaining the reasoning, N.A.F.S. Secretary, Dr John Hickson said " Any objective analysis of the early years of the " FA Cup " reveals a large number of " byes ", " walkovers " and hugely one-sided results, and in the modern age, we no longer feel it appropriate that these early incarnations of the greatest Club knockout Cup should be classed as true F.A. Cup Competitions ". He added, " The dominance of Public School Old Boys and Military Clubs in the early years, as well as mis-matches with the early Professional Clubs coming up against "true amateur " sides, does not sit well in the modern professional age ". An FA spokesman endorsed the decision, which is expected to be passed unopposed at next month's FA Council meeting, where the renaming of the Football Association, as the " English Football Association " is also expected to gain approval . Some of the affected downgrading concern Clubs no longer in existance, such as Wanderers, Royal Engineers and Clapton Rovers. David Singleton, West Bromwich Albion's head of media relations said, " We accept this decision with some reluctance, but understand the reasoning behind it " . West Bromwich Albion will no longer be able to claim their 1888 & 1892 victories on their official " Roll of Honour" . Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Preston North End are also affected losing one victory each, but the Club most affected is Championship side Blackburn Rovers who will have 5 of their FA Cup wins effectively deleted from the history books. No one at Blackburn Rovers was available for comment, although a source inside the Club said " they were studying the implications of the decision closely, and a statement is expected to be issued in due course ".

Very true, although I'm not sure what that says about a team that finished 15th in the League below, though ! ?

I think you're thinking of the wrong game, John Mullin, who went on to play for Sunderland led the line for us ..... I must try to find the score ....

There was a Lancashire FA youth Cup semi-final played at Turf Moor about 25 years ago, and about 9,000 turned up I seem to remember ..... can't recall the score, though ...

He has .... He was working up here whilst his mother was suffering a terminal illness and she passed away in the March of 2012, before he left in early October of the same year. Bournemouth wanted him back, having sacked Paul Groves, and a " mutual agreement " was reached, with Bournemouth paying a compensation payment to release Eddie Howe from his contract. From what I understand, it was conducted sensitively and all parties behaved honorably. It's certainly worked out for both Eddie Howe and Bournemouth, and also for Sean Dyche and the Clarets !!

Now that's devotion to the cause .... and an understanding spouse, I fancy !!

Tee-Hee ! ?

Stuart, I picked 1950-51 season purely on the basis that it was the first season where there were 92 Clubs in the league structure, for an easy comparison, over a statistically significant period, uninterrupted by war etc. ... I must admit, I hadn't realised Rovers had spent most of the 1950's in the 2nd Tier ... I still think that's a reasonable place to start ... Obviously by picking that starting point, I omitted 2 of Rover's title winning seasons, ( and 1 of Burnley's ), all three of which were nearly 100 years ago. Rovers have a " storried " history, with 6 FA Cup wins and 3 1st Division titles, and I absolutely acknowledge that .... shall we agree that we're both lucky enough to support Clubs with long, illustrious, and proud histories ??

Late May/ Early June 1989, I was in the Town end with a couple of Rovers mates for the 1st leg ... did the marriage last ?? ? Funnily enough, our reception was at the Foxfields, 29th July the same year, Pearl Wedding this time, and our son's getting married on our Anniversary !!

And you say that three hours after the " Beer Festival " is over for another year at Blackburn Rugby Club .... a missed chance my friend !! ?

I knew I'd miss two !! ?? I'm blaming the Co-codomel .... Morecambe & Wigan ...

If you count Greater Manchester and Merseyside, ie: " Cricket " Lancashire, we have Man City & Utd, Liverpool, Everton, Burnley, Blackburn, Preston, Accrington, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Blackpool, Fleetwood, and shortly either AFC Fylde or Salford City ..... That's 15 Clubs !!

As I mentioned on another thread, eighteen months ago, I attempted to trace 51 lads who'd played u19's ( Colts ) Rugby at Blackburn Rugby Club between 1980-83, and with the help of various contacts, social media etc, I tracked down 47 of them. We had a fine well lubricated re-union in October 2017, but I was amazed that out of the 47 I traced, only 4 of them still resided within the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen. Of the others, 10 now lived in the Ribble Valley, 14 lived in other areas of Lancashire ( Including Greater Manchester, Merseyside etc ), 12 lived in other parts of England & 1 in Glasgow. The expats. were France ( 2 ), New Zealand ( 2 ), and 1 each for Dubai, Italy and Sweden, leaving 4 untraced .... They virtually all kept up with information from home including Rover's fortunes, by way of family texts, streaming games, Facebook, Whatsapp, Facetime etc which makes us all realise how fortunate we are in the modern age .... has anybody any memories of going to great lengths to find ( or avoid ) scores from " Back in the Day " .... ?

Very true .... By the way, following my last post, I couldn't resist calculating Rover's average League position since 1950, and it's 26th, or 6th in the Championship in modern terms. Feel free to check the maths anyone, my hip ( due to be replaced ) is giving me gip, and I've just taken my Co-Cocodomel !!

Funnily enough, I did a statistical exercise a few months ago, to discover Burnley's average League position since the Footbal League moved to 92 League Clubs in 1950, until the end of the 2017-18 season. I think 67 uninterrupted seasons is good enough to give an idea of where a Club's " Natural " place should be. It turns out it was 27th, or 7th in the Championship ..... I would suspect that Rover's would be similar if not marginally higher. All this means is that we're operating a bit above our " Natural " level, and Rover's a little bit below .... ??

He took over on 30th October 2012, when we'd been conceding for fun, under Eddie Howe. Firstly, he was a virtual unknown, secondly, the football that followed whilst he was sorting the defence was fairly dull, and thirdly, it was our 3rd season down in the Championship, so the " we'll bounce back " element had worn off ... That said, the average gate for 2012-13, was still 12,928, and every home league gate surpassed 10,000 so ... It's over 6 1/2 years now, and Dyche is the 4th longest serving Manager in the current 92 League Clubs, after Jim Bentley, Gareth Ainsworth & the aforementioned Eddie Howe .... Christ, even Tony Mowbrey's 23rd on that list ..... being Rovers 6th Manager since Dyche was appointed ... ??

About 18 months ago I traced 47 lads who I'd played with at Blackburn Rugby Club in the early 1980's. As life has gone on, they were spread far and wide, Florence, Nice, Sweden, Caterham, Worcester, Bath etc .... 15 of them still lived in the North West, of which precisely 4 still lived in the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen !! Your answer is probably why Clitheroe was full of " Blues " in the mid-late 90's, people drift towards a Club performing at a higher level, " Do they want to watch Millwall or Rotherham come to their local ground, or Liverpool and Chelsea ? " ......

Unless it's 1970, no ! ?

In the many years I was at school, worked or played sport in Blackburn, I don't think I ever heard anybody ask if you were " a Rover " , whereas a " Blue " was very commonplace. In my experience, if you encounted a " Rover ", you would either.... a) throw it a stick to fetch b) expect it's engine to overheat, due to a head gasket problem !! ?

No, but I had a lovely chat with a " Blue " who was being taught how to use his .......

Announced yesterday that the Three Fishes at Mitton is to close it's doors on Monday 6th May !! Sad, really .... had some really good meals there over the years !!

2 points clear ... I rather think ... In terms of Lancashire, none of our League clubs are going to be promoted, and, assuming Burnley & Accrington survive, nor will any face the drop. AFC Fylde look set for a promotion play-off campaign, and Chorley may well be promoted, perhaps as champions ... A good year all round, especially with BRFC Ladies & BFC Ladies winning their respective leagues .....

In peace, as ever ... Since the end of this accounting period,( 30/6/2018 ), Venkys London Ltd ( Rovers holding Company ), has issued further shares to the value of £16,112, 500. This has been done in 3 Tranches, on 19th July & 16th November last year, and 28th February this year. One must only assume this is to further underwrite the day to day running of the Club .. The previous post really brought it home regarding what might have happened if Mssrs: Williams and Finn had been given the monies the Venkys have spent, with Big Sam ( or some one of similar competence ), especially if you add back in the compensation monies paid out to the various departed managers. BFC's accounts will be published c. 5th April, will probably show a decent surplus, but there'll be no end of folk wanting us to spend more on transfers, wages, rebuilding of stands etc. It's been said on here many times what a good job our Directors have done, I just wish some of our lot would realise it ... Wishing you well, and enjoy the rest of the season ...

Whether the owners were the Trust, of whom I suspect Mr Walker's family are beneficiaries, or the family themselves is a minor point although I did edit my post to reflect your knowledgable contribution !! However, I doubt the enigma codes were cracked at the first attempt either !! ? In peace as ever !!

The ultimate controlling Company was named as Matlyn Investments Ltd, registered in Jersey. Lynda Mathewman is the late Jack Walker's daughter, so you don't need to have worked at Bletchly Park, to have worked out the connection ..