philipl

It is interesting that Robert Coar must have been one of the longest serving Chairmen in the history of the Rovers. Many will say he had an easy ride remaining relatively faceless whilst Jack bought into Rovers and built us up but it is very clear that Bob did the job well and has gained great respect throughout the football world. Lesser men would have caused friction over the lack of ego-massages for themselves but Bob has been a very steady and reliable Chairman of Blackburn Rovers through one of the most exciting periods in the club's history.

Just a thought- after JW so comprehensively got the better of Karren Brady, it will be interesting when he sits down with David Gold at the Prem Chairmen's meeting.

den has made a good point about David Brown. He came out of retirement to chair Flybe and turn it around which he did extraordinarilly successfully. He stepped down as Chairman in March and new Chairman John french has a remit to sell Flybe as it is now so large it represents a disproportionate amount of the Walker Trust's assets. There is an interesting line in the uncopyable official site: JW will be responsible for strategic direction including possible new investment for the club. TF will be responsible for day-to-day management. As the more exciteable MB members won't read this thread, I doubt that will set too many hares running.

Perhaps we are all missing a crucial point. Congratulations to Tom Finn on becoming MD. I wait to be corrected but I don't think I've seen a negative post on any MB about Tom. No doubt, that's about to change but safe to say, he's done a brilliant job with the supporters so far...

Duff's Minder, Wiggy and Den have all got it spot on IMO. I don't think this will impact on the transfer market one way or another- we have been pretty effective there even if the Managers occasionally chose inappropriate targets. However, the lines of communication have been shortened and John Williams is probably the better man to battle for Rovers' interests as Executive Chairman within the Prem when Glazer starts trying to rip us off. Interestingly, Rovers probably now have a more effective and stremlined Management structure than most other Prem clubs. Whereas the other Prem Chairmen are ego-tripping rich hobbyists for the most part, we have a thorough professional in that slot now. Robert Coar has been around a long time and that counts for an enormous amount in FA circles. He probably carries more weight for Rovers in football circles than anyone since Bill Fox.

Getting year's mixed up- we weren't relegated when we tonked West Ham 8-2 at Upton Park (still their record defeat)- but we did go down the season 65/6 when we knocked them out of the Cup after a replay. In 65/6 relegation season, we hit 6 once (either Northampton or Forest at home), 4 twice (Burnley away and the West Ham cup replay) and three on quite a few occasions (Forest away, West Ham away, Norwich home all come to mind). I'd rather not recall some of the defeats we suffered that season though...

BBC headline- quite probably the right analysis but the wrong man delivering it. I have often wondered how the Rovers managed to maintain the outwards facade of relative civilisation if Souness really did behave in the Managerial position the way it appears he did conduct himself.

Presumably squad numbers will be allocated AFTER we have bought the sqiad members?

There have been a number of occasions when around 10,000 Rovers have travelled when the home gates were averaging 10,000 or less. Bolton, Bury, Burnley, Preston and Carlisle immediately spring to mind in the 70s and 80s. In fact, much more recently, Wigan's record gate before last season of 17,000 was set by Rovers and I bet there weren't far short of 10,000 Rovers that day. Springfield Park mk 2 would accomodate the numbers and I believe their prices are pretty cheap (comparatively)

If we are going well, or there is something which sparks interest, I could easily see 10,000 Rovers at Wigan on New Year's Eve.

Whatever it is, extend it!

Yes, there had been an earlier postponement so we ended up playing Bury twice in the last two games of the season- clinching promotion at Bury then the return at Ewood three days later.

I agree Blueboy- a lot better than last season's unbalanced effort. There is a problem run of away games in Sept/Oct: Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool Arsenal in succession but the home games in between are all probable mid-table affairs. We have an opening run of fixtures which should yield points providing we can attack as well as defend.

I would have no hang up about this board being the forum used by the ISA but think having a new board created by the ISA would be counter-productive.

Just read the reports of the Bangladesh game. I am reeling from the shock. Yes one day games can throw up freak results but it seems that Bangladesh were worthy winners. This is one result I would never have considered predicting in a month of blue moons on Sundays. Absolutely astonishing!

Sorry to detract from Bellamy's masterpiece but this is an excellent candid assessment of Parker's move to Newcastle. Love the line "Parker is the trophy".

Was it a spirits salesman? 324895[/snapback] Always works without fail in winding up the Scots that one. Abbey, he was pushing it himself.

Scenes from Malta. After having just met a guy in the bar who came from Plovdiv and had been to the CSKA v Rovers game in Sofia, I headed out to the airport to collect my stepson from the Moscow flight. A Glasgow flight had just arrived a few minutes earlier so there I was standing at the end of the railings when the exit door opened and there was.... Barry Ferguson wearing classic chav gear (hood down) pushing an over loaded trolley of luggage (some nice muted pink cases I noticed), followed by (I would guess) ma and pa but no sign of Margaret and the bairns. This was too good an opportunity to miss. If I had any doubts about a bit of mischief, the arrogant way he held was handling himself dispelled them PDQ. So, spotting a little Maltese (LM) guy by the railings on his own as my stooge, I went up to the LM and in a very resonating, very posh voice said: Me "Hey look, isn't that a Scotch footballer? LM muttering "Don't like football" Me (thinking oh no!) "Yes it is him isn't it?" LM "Who?" Me "This guy" (pointing). He's that Scotch footballer who plays for Blackburn Rovers." LM "That one?" (pointing practically up Ferguson's nose who by this time was stuck in front of us the other side of the railings with his mega luggage behind an embracing Maltese extended familly) Me "Yes that's the one, he plays for Blackburn Rovers- Blackburn are a fantastic team now they've got that Mark Hughes you know. I'm sure they'll win things now." LM "Wasn't he at United? I've heard of him. Don't know who this Scotch guy is." Me "Yes, that's right. You know its strange, I haven't seen this Scotch guy playing on any of the international TV channels for quite a while now- Hughes must have dropped him at Blackburn. Blackburn are a very good team now you know" LM loudly "That Scotch guy (pointing again) must be no good then" Me "definitely rubbish" By this point Ferguson was moving by, going very red, his head tilted so far back you'd think he'd caught his nose on the curtain rail. Two young lads in the arrivals hall wearing Prso shirts saw Ferguson and literally cowered away from him.

I am laughing out loud.

The BBC headline on the Football news page. Good luck to Stead and thanks for rescuing us the season before last. My gut feel looking forwards to this coming season was that I rated the chance of Stead and Jansen both recovering their very best form for us as about equal to each other. Fantastic if it happened- a feared Prem strike force for zero outlay but not exactly the soundest way of preparing for 05/6! Hughes has been hard headed on this one- clearly he viewed Stead as a sub/squad player in his 05/6 plans so he cashed in now whilst he has a £1.8m value. What Sparky's 05/6 plans actually are and whether he gets his men remains to be revealed....

What do you base that idea on Phil? As somone who actually lives in the borough I would say that on the whole the council is very supportive of the club. A recent joint initiative under the banner "Our Town, Our Team" involved such things as free bumper stickers bearing both town and club crests being distributed via the council's free newspaper and all official council correspondence being franked with a Rover's postmark. Also the recently opened Tourist information center, run by the council, is perhaps the only place you can get a Rovers scarf in Blackburn town center! 323258[/snapback] Great to see that the Council is recognising that the Rovers is the only thing that puts Blackburn on the map- I cannot think of a single person anywhere in the world outside of Lancashire who on hearing I come from Blackburn in the last dozen years hasn't immediately responded "Blackburn Rovers"- they might not have a clue where the place is but they know the name. As to what gave me the idea that the Council is hostile to the Rovers, I have read too many Blue Phil/ thenodrog posts than are good for me.

What a surprise! Chelsea set to enter bidding for Park. That was a road accident just waiting to happen to RFW given the close Chelsea/PSV relationship. With the Mancs about to announce record ST sales, I always thought the fans' disgust at Glazer would be limited to guerilla tactics which will make life very un comfortable for the Glazers should they come to the UK and the likes of Gill should they stay on to take Glazer's wodge. Chelsea sticking the boot into the current world number 1 whilst they are in this transition phase is a far more damaging proposition for Glazer. Forcing over-payment for Park and upping their wage structure through Ferdinand has to be part of the game.

Was there any attempt at marketing the Rovers to the thousands who came to Ewood for the Women's games? At the end of the day, it is the on-field product that will sell the STs. That will critically depend on the summer signings and no doubt enormous efforts are going on behind the scenes to get the squad assembled in time for pre-season. Given a hostile local council and a dead local media, I guess there is not a lot the Rovers can do until there is real news to whip up enthusiasm with. However, looking at the degree of cynicism on this MB, Rovers could make a big coup and fols would just moan.

A description of how the Hedge Funds' noose on Glazer/United will tighten if the Glazer business plan doesn't work. I've always had a downer on the Mancs. I'll be cheering every kick against them last season. CSKA v Man U in the third qualifying round for the Champs League would be just perfect combined with a renaissance of Liverpool in the Prem and Everton retaining 4th.

I desperately want England to win but being realistic it is only a question of what flows the most- the rain or English tears.