Perhaps if you had been able to shift your tickets you could have had the last laugh. There will be Rovers fans in home areas - who knows how many? I know of two Bolton lads who are missing Wanderers this weekend to take in the East Lancs Derby! Burnley's propaganda machine of best support in the land blah, blah, blah has been defunct for a few years now. It's not worth cranking it up again with only 10,000 regular home supporters and a failure to sell out against their most hated rivals in their biggest game for years. I'll be missing my first ever Derby having seen every one since the first in 1970, home and away. Come On You Blues!

Sod that question - the real question is how did young Norman get out of Calderstones?

Incidentally, Hell isn't Turf Moor and never has been - it's a small place just to the east of Trondheim, Norway. I was bound for Sweden by train a few years ago. The train left Hell Station, carried on for a few hundred yards and then reversed all the way back. I think the train driver did it for a laugh as everyone found it amusing saying they'd now been to Hell and back. True (but boring) story.

Try.........nonsense..........it spells and looks a bit better.

Aye, sure it is. If you get beaten you'll have a smile as wide as Colne Road all week. Very win, win.

True, waggy - they're tourists. Just come up for a quick visit and then they'll return to where they belong.

Unfortunately Matt is finished and has been for some considerable time. I was happy to give him a certain level of time after the accident to recapture his form of old but this has never happened and it won't. I posted on here many months ago about a local physio who told a friend of mine that Jansen's coordination was way out when the ball was played straight to him. Across him there was no problem, but straight at him and he had all sorts of problems. This was a good 12 months after his accident. Against Portsmouth this season, and I know he scored on that day, the ball came straight at him a few times when he was in front of the Bburn End (where I sit). My mate to my right, and my son to my left both noticed that his legs were like jelly - a bit like someone who puts ice skates on for the first time and stuggles keeping his feet - when he tried to get the ball under control. He was one of my favourites and I'm really sad at the way things have turned out. Unfortunately he won't be offered a new contract, but fortunately he is a bright enough lad who should be able to salvage a career outside of football when the time comes. And I think it will be sooner than a lot of people think. All the best Matt and good luck.

You really are so funny Zak - I split my sides laughing at that one. Did Payton actually score against Rovers in an East Lancs Derby? Perhaps you could compare his record against that of Simon Garner.?

Can't remember a wall collapsing But Exiled In Toronto has a better memory than me - he was probably at that game - could have been with me in fact in the Darwen End with the Dingles. We went to school with a number of them as the catchment area included Rossendale and Hyndburn as it was later known. The Dingles were charged twice by the Rovers lot - once from the Riverside and once when the gates opened when they surged in from Nuttall Street. Nearest I've ever come to getting a good beating - and that from my own lot! My first taste of a white hot East Lancs Derby - surprise, surprise, Rovers won that one as well.

Probably the same one GAV - in Burnley she'd be a highly respected member of the Womens Institute!

well I got a shag in crete on the strength of the shirt lol...a 17 year old norwegian bird thought i was a pilot in the blackburn flying club....hee hee what a night that was. Class!!

Just looking at the inbreds whilst driving to Turf Moor through Burnley last time. I swear it could have been a scene from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The Burnley slapper right up against the fence to no mans land circa early 70's (could have been 1977). Flashing her tiny ones. She thought she was being cool. Not a pretty sight. Fifteen of us walking down Brunshaw Road prior to a Lancs/Manx Cup game 20 odd years ago. Thirty or so of the famous Suicide Squad coming up Brunshaw Road. Other than us and them the place was deserted. They crossed over and scurried off away towards Eastern Avenue. Not a troublemaker, although some of our lot could look after themselves, but we all found it highly amusing. Orcan in Ankara, at the roof top bar, singing Burnley Fans Eat Bananas With Their Feet.

Aye, and all 8,000 of us (in that part of the ground) had a smile as big as yours when the third went in. Couldn't stop smiling when the second went in at the 2-0 home friendly win in 1970. What did you think of that game?

To be fair, Burnley's trophy cabinet is full..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OF DUST!!

Correct - we beat you home and away that season with Garner (remember him? ) scoring all our goals.

I hope not, but if selected I hope he takes his slippers off and plays in football boots this time!

Hmmmm, I think CLB is broadly right. It was a hell of a crush, impossible to move away from the barrage of missiles that came over, so got hit on the back of the head by a chunk of brick. However, a kindly gentleman in front of me responded by sh!tting into his plastic beer glas and lobbing that over. I stand (slightly ) corrected. I've just looked at the Football Grounds Aerofilms Guide which shows a photo of the Longside from the Martin Dobson stand. The away section with no mans land comes to the halfway line. Not half as I thought but more than a third. With the Longside holding around 20,000+ our 8,000 following in that part of the ground, as reported in the LET, is about right. Jim - your reference to Deliverance - spot on. Exiled - classic!

Well I've been going on the Turf longer than you pal. I'll give you a maths lesson. The figure of 8,000 in the away section was taken from the LET. I was lucky - in leaving the pub and getting on at just before 2pm. I had no idea they locked the gates on the day, just read about it afterwards. Otherwise I'd have ben on the Bee Hole. During the early 70's - around 1972 & 1973 I was on for two games against Liverpool in the FA Cup and Leeds in the league. The stand opposite the Longdide was no longer there as they were preparing to build the Martin Dobson Stand (you might get that one). Therefore there were only three sides to the ground and both matches were 38,000 capacity. The Cricket Field Stand held 4,000 so the remaining 34,000 were on the Longside and Bee Hole End. Off the top of my head I would say 20,000 Longside and 14,000 Bee Hole? Bearing in mind the Longside runs the full length of the pitch I would say that's a fair estimate, perhaps even conservative. Those two games were before segregation but when the away fans were plonked on the Longside a few years later, the away section of it came right up to the halfway line, in other words roughly half of the terracing. By then the capacity of the ground had probably fallen a bit (maybe not) so a figure of 8,000 away, 8,000 home and an area of no mans land is just about spot on. If you remember on the day, hundreds of Rovers fans were ejected from the Bee Hole due to the fighting and/or safety reasons. These made their way into the Longside despite it being packed. So not my figures then, they were taken from the LET, but unless you can argue that the Bee Hole was much larger than the Longside, they are correct.

Just reading the Henning Berg biography where Henning and his wife say the social side of things at Rangers (away from the football) ie things for the players' wives and families etc was non existant......"there was nothing to do........" Apparently there were no such problems at Rovers and United. Think he chose the wrong side of Glesga!

Bloody Hell USA, I think you want to come home.

At the famous 3-2 Boxing Day Derby in 1977 there were around 12,000 Rovers fans at the game. Away section of Longside, gates locked at 2pm with 8,000 in. Beehole End another 2,000+ with others in stands. During the latter part of that season we averaged 10,000+ ie we took more than our home average. Just goes to show what we can do when we try and more importantly when the Dingles are there for the taking. That day was the best ever for atmosphere.

We had a week in the Canaries booked for January. My wife, due to work commitments, wanted it moving. It was moved to later in January. She then wanted it moving again. So it was moved to March. She then wanted it moving again, so it was moved to February. We then paid up. NOT JUST ANY TIME IN FEBRUARY - THE ******* 19 TH FEBRUARY!! Gutted - I haven't missed an East Lancs Derby since I saw my first in 1970, all competitions, league, Lancs Cup, home or away. Great to see we have sold out, as expected. Give them hell, have a great day out and make sure we WIN.

Not sure what you mean. They haven't gone anywhere. They're with us now and have been for a decade. Very welcome if you ask me but they are the ones who would back out of a game like this and prefer to watch it on tv.

Damn, I am going to have to post. Wonder how long it will take for Golden Boy to criticise? Still, never mind. USA (I'm not referring to you by the way) perhaps some of them sing it incorrectly also. During the 80's and 90's I worked in Burnley, Nelson and Accrington and had many friends who were Dingles, although they were simply known as Bastar*s then. Even back then we had this same debate. All those I talked to sang WILL we play etc. Now at the time we were old Second Division and they were generally Third and Fourth. I asked a good mate as to why he sang WILL because that meant (in their eyes) they would never play us again, in effect acknowledging our superiority. (No, nay, never no more, WILL we play Bburn Rovers, no, never, no more). He used to give an embarrassed laugh and say he didn't know as it didn't make sense. Virtually every Rovers fan around me in the Bburn End sings Till we play etc but why Till? We are Prem League and they are Championship? We'll never play them again (the song isn't meant for the Cups). On a side issue, I was telling my lad last night about the trips to Burnley in the early 70's in the Lancs Cup games and friendlies. Blackburn railway station was awash with hundreds of Rovers fans making their way to Burnley. If you imagine the number of people in the concourse under the Bburn End last night 15 mins prior to kick off, that was what the station was like. None of this "I'm going to sh!t myself so I'll go on the coach" rubbish. You just turned up in numbers and went. Service train or car. Never the coach. In those days, however, there were no "Nouveau Rovers fans" just local lads for whom the Burnley game meant everything.

Dickov suspended.