These two photos were from when we played Manchester United, mid 1960s, think it was the season we went down. All good natured stuff, no fighting, just changing ends at half time. The gap on the Blackburn End/Riverside corner was just that. A gap which was tiny. Much easier and quicker to go via the pitch but, obviously, that was usually frowned upon.

Celtic were one of the first British teams to delve into the J League, signing several players due to Ange Postecoglou’s connections over there. They don’t all work, of course, (a few have since departed) but Kyogo, Maeda and Hatate are all mainstays of the current Celtic side. I said at the outset, if Ohashi was half as good as Kyogo, we’d have a great player on our hands. Doesn’t have Kyogo’s electric pace but Ohashi reminds me so much of him. Both goals yesterday were top drawer. Not sure who was responsible for scouting/recruiting him but credit is due here, job well done.

McTominay 1-0 Scotland.

Fully agree with what you say here LB. For a bit of balance in this, Carsley also didn’t sing the Irish national anthem when he was a player with Ireland. Nothing to do with disrespect to either country, it was to avoid losing concentration prior to the game starting and all explained on the BBC sports pages. I bit flimsy if you ask me but there you go. How times change. Back in the 1970s and 80s, English football fans booed the national anthem before every FA Cup final. The royal family were as far removed from working class football fans as anyone could be and there was little love for them. Fast forward a generation or so and now everyone and his dog sings along with gusto. Weird.

Thirty five years ago, I was working in a regional office for a large financial institution. We dealt with a range of building/property issues across Lancashire, mainly Blackpool, Preston, Blackburn and Burnley but all towns in between. The regional director was aware of the ‘peculiarities’ of the people of Burnley, describing the place to me as ‘a town with a village mentality.’ He wasn’t from either Burnley or Blackburn, nor did he have an interest in football. I had previously worked in both Burnley and Nelson, so I was well aware. The point of the matter is, even someone like him knew.

Living in Darwen, Preston are deemed a non entity and Bolton come a close second to Burnley in the ‘banter/rivals’ thing. In our teenage years, Blackburn and Darwen were the places to go for a night out but Bolton also featured as well. At one time there was a bit of rivalry between lads from Darwen and Bolton and I seem to remember fisticuffs taking place at the Darwen Youth Club near the library. You think Burnley are bad in the knuckle dragging stakes but that lot from Bolton take some beating.

Everton are what I call a proper club with proper supporters. Years since they’ve enjoyed any success but their support has stayed loyal. I always take an interest in attendances for some of the cup games and many Premier League clubs’ crowds are poor when they are drawn against a lower league team. Not Everton. Their League Cup game against Doncaster the other day attracted a near full house. The new stadium looks superb and I’m sure the club will get a lift once they finally move in next season. The supporters deserve better but I think the club will have a fight on their hands to survive this year. I’ll probably get the opportunity to visit Goodison for one last time this season and hopefully get the chance to experience the new stadium in 12 months or so.

The best player in the world. Also in the picture is No 10, Pele.

Hope you enjoyed it Andy. Could and should have been more although Scmeichel made a couple of very good saves in the second half. Celtic never really got out of second gear. Couldn’t get a ticket today but I’m up for the Hearts game in a couple of weeks.

I worked in Clitheroe from 1993 until 1996. Never saw a Burnley shirt, it was all Rovers. My lad played junior football for a Darwen team who played in the Burnley league (long story, team kept getting banned, left Bburn, left Hyndburn, ended up in hill billy country), they used to play Clitheroe Wolves who wore a Rovers kit. All their dads wore Rovers stuff in winter. Proper Rovers area. Venky’s have scuppered that somewhat.

I was at the away game and on the pitch at the end with the majority of the Rovers support. Some Rovers fans started bricking the upstairs windows of a semi-detached house backing on to the ground. One went through and I was promptly nicked for it. Got marched away to a Black Maria, thinking my dad will knock seven bells out of me, if he has to come up here to retrieve me. At the last minute, I was let off and just made the coaches before they left. It was Exiled in Toronto’s fault. 😆

Trouble is, the modern way is not to watch the ball, it’s to stay with ‘your’ man and do anything possible to stop him getting a header in. Legally or illegally, it doesn’t seem to matter. There’s usually three or four cases of assault every time a corner comes over which the authorities choose to ignore. Maybe we just need to toughen up a bit.

By my reckoning that’s about 13 pints of Guinness. Good on ya! 😆

😆 yeah, Paddy Power ran an advert thingy saying they’d already paid out on all bets for Celtic winning the league in 24/25. I’ve googled it a couple of times and I’m still not 100% certain it’s a joke..😂

Yeah, they were on it from the off. It’s difficult against teams that play the low block and get ten men behind the ball but Celtic certainly found a way yesterday. Fast, fluid possession based football. One disallowed, one hit the bar and a few very good saves from their keeper. Could have been six or seven nil.

I was at Celtic Park yesterday for Flag Day and the Dundee Derby was on in the pub. Looked a great game and I’ve just watched the highlights this morning. End to end stuff, plenty of goals and a great atmosphere from both sets of supporters. Just want you want from a derby and a great advert for Scottish football.

There is one statistic that, as far as I am aware, is never shown either during or after games. It’s a stat that can be split into two :- Short goal kicks taken - x % Long goal kicks taken - y % Spain are masters of having the confidence and technical ability to play the ball out from the back. They take virtually every goal kick short. Most of the other continental sides do as well, even the smaller and less gifted nations like Slovenia, Slovakia and the rest. The above stat is effectively a measure of each team’s ability to play this way. Once the opening exchanges were out the way, Spain played a high press and when we were taking our goal kicks short, there was little margin for error and we inevitable lost possession before we’d got too far. The longer the game went on, the more we reverted to Pickford having to boot the ball upfield. I can see the logic in that; it’s better to lose the ball deep into their half rather than on the edge of our own box. But the reality of long goal kicks is that it’s a way to hand over possession. In general play, Spain were comfortable on the ball, passed it around well and ended up with 65% possession. They probed and looked for openings and had the better of all the other stats such as shots, shots on goal and corners. We had spells in the game where we were good and put them under pressure but they were few and far between. As in previous games, we were much better when Cole came on because he takes the game to the opposition and puts them on the back foot but it wasn’t enough. I hate this modern way of playing football or should I call it Pep-ball? I started watching professional football in the mid 60s and I’m the wrong generation. Football was changing then from 2-3-5 to 4-2-4, 4-3-3 and 4-4-2. It’s now become even more complex with all the additional formations, zonal marking and players having to be comfortable in a number of positions. It’s become like a game of chess with, at times, players having to beat their man whilst running towards their own goal rather than the one they’re trying to score in. Nevertheless, that’s the way the game has gone. The continental way of playing has morphed, over the years, into Pep-ball. We’ve been playing catch-up for ever and a day and we’re still not there yet. Until we can match the technical ability of teams like Spain, Germany, France and Italy, the wait for another tournament win will continue.

If you look in the ‘Concourse’ section of the forum, under ‘Heaven, I’m in Heaven,’ there’s a detailed thread on Boxing Day 1977. It’s up there as one of my top five games. We got on the Longside just before 2pm. A few minutes later the gates were locked. Rovers fans then ended up on the Beehole End and the Cricketfield Stand, probably others in the Martin Dobson Stand. I think 12k Rovers fans is fair estimate. Certainly no more than that. Cracking day out and as far removed from today’s sanitised offerings as you’ll ever get.

Regarding the Scotland debate, I can’t really provide any reasons as to why there aren’t the number of youngsters coming through the ranks any more, certainly in comparison to those that did in the 1960s to the early 90s. As always, money comes into the equation. In England, the recent Premier League deal with Sky/TNT Sports is worth £6.7 billion over four years, whilst the Scottish Premiership equivalent deal is worth a paltry £150 million. You do the maths, as the saying goes. Less money at the Scottish clubs to spend on youth development, the improving of facilities, building or expanding academies, the paying of wages and so on. Lads that may have made it 40 or 50 years ago may be don’t bother any more. A relatively recent piece in the Daily Record highlighted eight Celtic youth starlets that have been cherry picked into academies at Liverpool, Leeds, Bayern Munich, Watford, New York Red Bulls and Manchester City. Ben Doak who went to Liverpool was reported to have been offered £12k a week, an amount that a fair chunk of Celtic’s first team squad won’t be on even now. So even the ones that do come through the system get whisked away before they’ve had a chance to establish themselves. Money talks.

Romania’s #13 just gone down like he’s been shot. Rolling over, face etched in pain, no one came anywhere near him. This play acting needs removing from the game although it won’t be as no one is interested. The Wigan women’s rugby league team would beat the sh!t out of these footballers purporting to be ‘men.’

That’s one of his mates, who’s originally from there. We’re Darreners.

My lad and a few of his mates at the Georgia game today. Flying the flag.

Hi DeeCee. Is the treatment still working and has the tumour continued to shrink? Thinking about you pal.