Has Pears made a save yet? 3 down 20 mins into a debut...

Wow

There are generally two sorts of pundits I am fond of - people like Roy Keane who just say whatever takes their fancy, without worrying about old loyalties or who their friends are. Savage and Sutton are broadly the same on their radio stuff for 606, Savage especially, with callers talking rubbish. Not the height of debate but great entertainment. The others are people like Micah Richards, Ian Wright, and on commentary, Ally McCoist - no ego or agenda, just downright enthusiasm. Dinosaurs like Paul Merson and whatever Jamie Redknapp is are awful. Often times I enjoy what journalists have to say more than ex-players - their grasp of language and communication, especially if it's off the field stuff, more than makes up for their lack of 'been there, done that'.

That was fun while it lasted.

Always been that way on BBC Sport, anything below the Conference in whatever capacity comes through in dribs and drabs, suspect it's more to do with their feeds for the data than lack of effort. It's the same for the likes of the Highland League in Scotland. My main problem with the BBC's coverage is that they'll spend from now to Christmas gibbering on about the 'magic of the Cup', then as soon as the big names come along the cast aside the Chorleys, Stanleys and whoever else of this world so we can watch Man City drub Charlton 8-0... It's a shame really, when the Beeb want to they can pull off 'obscure' football journalism and representation with the best (one of the reasons I genuinely admire their attempts at promoting the Women's game). Sadly, there's more mileage in 'who would make your combined Fulham v. Leicester XI?'...

Must say I prefer the royal blue with yellow letters surrounding on the circle to the sky blue and bright yellow we have at present. My only dislike on our badge!

Finding it hard to get going at all. Would normally have watched this morning's draw and hoped for a decent match up. On Friday I'd have spent the morning planning which away days I'd go for, which weekends I'd conveniently come back home for and drop by Ewood, when the crunch time is so we'd know if this season might be the one, who we play on Boxing Day, New Year's etc... Couple the likely prevailing situation of limited home fans only, and even then with minimal fun and interaction with the sadly unsurprising lack of signings, kit or even general news and developments from the club and it just feels a bit hollow really. My last Rovers match was Derby away and I had a great time despite the score - new ground, typical wedged away end, plenty of alcohol (numbs the pain!) and found a great pub in Derby afterwards. The fact that that could well be my last such experience in years genuinely hurts. I could stand the finish to the end of last season I think for two reasons - we could hardly do anything else as an alternative passtime anyway, and the closeness to the climax of the season coupled with the intensity of matches meant it was actually rather fun, for all the usual anger, pain and frustration. Being as it is now, when the world has practically reopened except for football grounds, coupled with the lack of general excitement, in all honesty I will find it very hard to maintain full interest. I'm not spending my weekends following text updates or looking for dodgy streams.

This will have been said by many others I'm sure, but I want to join in the deserved praise. As someone too young to remember the 1990s I have to make do with the early and mid 2000s for my 'good old days', and this bloke was the centrepiece. He was in his 30s when he joined, smoked like there's no tomorrow and scarcely warmed up; but he could do whatever he wanted with the ball and always gave his everything. The goals, accolades, quotes and World Cup exploits speak for themselves, but my fondest memory however is the genuine love you could tell he had for us, and we showed back. In a sport nowadays where players are judged by spreadsheets of data and their rating on Fifa, I fear the Tugays of this world are a dying breed, for absolute shame. Thank god then that Souness took the punt on it working out for him at Rovers when it hadn't at Rangers. In doing so, he gave us Rovers' greatest foreign player ever, my favourite player ever, and the club arguably one of it's five greatest players in history. If, somehow, Tugay ends up dropping back over here for whatever reason, I really hope he does 'An evening with...' like MGP did and Samba was to. The bloke would sell out Kings George's Hall! Our Turkish Delight.

Loved him when he played for us, what he lacked in ability he more than made up for in attitude. Could do with a couple of proper old school types like him these days, might bring some passion and determination back into the dressing room if nowt else. I know football has changed in general but we used to have some absolute units on our team - Todd, Short, Neill, Savage, Dickov, Bellamy - we had some proper balls on us in them days... We have maybe on Bradley Johnson and a couple more these days cut from that cloth.

You'd hope not, kits and other merchandise is probably the least painful way for the club to make money at the moment. Mind you, the way this club has been run for the last decade...

I sadly believe this to be true - I don't think it is in the best interests of anyone apart from the top three or four teams in the continent at the given time (Liverpool, Man City, Real Madrid, Barca and Juve for example right now). How do someone like Chelsea, Atletico Madrid or Dortmund sustain the model they've created for themselves when instead of competing successfully on weaker domestic fronts all of a sudden they're getting beaten every week by vastly superior, stronger teams? Much better for them to have the annual competition as it stands and build their foundations on Cup titles and top 4 finishes. There's a really good book called Can We Have Our Football Back? by John Nicholson that goes down a lot of the roads @S8 & Blue's post above touched on - well recommended to everyone with that mindset.

Cheers both. Can understand him to be fair, they were acting like absolute tossers the more time went on, if we had anything riding on tonight I probably would have gotten wound up by it. Suppose it makes a nice contrast from our permanently-seated, silent manager.

What was the afters? Closed the window as soon as the whistle went. Sending Walton up for that corner was so pointless I actually like it.

Aye, them and Cardiff in the play offs as it stands. Forest have had a shocker since the restart, they were well in the driving seat for 5th let alone 6th.

Swansea 4-1 up now. What a night.

it is poor form. One thing for the odd old school timewasting but literally it's every turn and pick up a yellow for it. If the extra balls are there for safety, then why are they allowed to get away with pilfering them?

Lovely prolonged shot there of Mowbray in 'Man waits for slightly delayed train' stance. All whilst his side are going relatively all guns blazing for an equaliser. Inspirational.

And to think we could have been 3 up inside 10 minutes

Feel sorry for Carter there. Chalk it up to experience!

Ah, that's why Nyambe never normally crosses...

I was being slightly facetious, aye, we obviously have a very decent academy still and our starting line up and bench today is a testament to both that and the fact we do play them, I said it more out of the frustration that we haven't used these last few games to properly bleed in the youth (Johnson, Graham etc starting, but even something like Hilton or Fisher vice Jayson on the bench), plus Mowbray's previous with youngsters like Raya last year and Nyambe this week.

Indeed - I don't think any of us are hoping that's the case, but given the relatively short turnaround before next season, Mowbray's allergy to the youth, the fact that if Brighton have kept even half an eye on him they'll not want him back, and the state of our transfer policy I do wonder.

I did say it to take the piss a while ago but I do wonder if Walton's continual inclusion - especially today - is an indication he might not be going anywhere...

Felt sorry for Graham through all this - age looks to have finally caught up with him this season but if he does leave this summer, which he sadly should, he won't get the send off he deserves.

5 changes: Out - Tosin, Bennett, Downing, Samuel, Graham In - Carter, Nyambe, Rothwell, Holtby, Brereton Pleased for Carter and Nyambe back where he belongs. Hopefully with a bit of pressure off and a clear head Brereton can do something today.