Back to the 70s we travel, with the experienced veteran of Vital Blackburn giving us an insight on all things Rovers!!!
With sidekick Rover23 on the hunt, Sasman finally managed to nail down Rover_Since74, who was hard at work in the post office, sorting out the bomb packages and diverting them to Delap’s house, and splitting the cash and cheque packages, sending them to Sasman’s address!
1) Tell us a little about yourself, Who are you, What do you do, and Why Rovers!!
I was born and bred in Blackburn more years ago than I am going to let on!!, only a stones throw away from the hallowed turf of Ewood Park, I still live in Blackburn but where else would you want to be? I work for Post Office Ltd and have done for the past 26 years, which seems like a life sentence at times but I have still another 20 to go!!!
hy Rovers? I got my first taste of the action at Ewood in the 1974-75 season courtesy of my older brother, this was against Walsall, 3-3 draw if memory serves me right but one thing I do remember is that you could walk round the ground on the inside. So over the years in footballing terms I have watched the good, bad and the bloody crap!! I now have a season ticket in the Riverside stand with Rover23 for company.
2) Kings of Lancashire we are! 6 Points against Bolton, 4 against Wigan and 3 so far against Burnley, do you think our boys really fire up for these games, or are we just much stronger then both these teams
I think we get really fired up for these games as our players realise how important these game are for the fans as bragging rights are at stake. After watching all three of these teams at Ewood we are going to be Kings of Lancashire for a while as we are much stonger in all depatments than all of them on and off the pitch!
3) El Hadji Diouf……What on Earth do we do with him! Hot and Cold, On and Off, left, right, central, what are your thoughts on Sam Allardyce’s favourite player!
The enigma that is El Hadji Diouf, well what can you say, brilliant on his day absolute pants when he is not as you say Big Sam seems to favor him more often than not. If he plays like he did in the last two home games then there is no problem, he wants the ball all the time he always looks to create something, looks to take on his man.There is always the flip side though which we don’t want to see, IMO he does bring something different to the team and he entertaining.
4) With Ryan Nelsen injured, how do you see our defence now shaping up. Can Keith Andrews step up to the plate? What has Chimbonda done that has seen him dropped from the line up?
Not good news to here the Admiral is out between 4-6 weeks, with some real tough games coming up. Givet will come into the center of defence which is probably his best position to partner Samba, Olson at left back who has been nothing short of a revelation, with Salgado who seems to have cemeted his place at right back. Don’t know whats happened with Chimbonda, he was rubbish against Fulham but everyone can have a bad game, so unless something else has happened your guess is as good as mine. Keith Andrews, again IMO is not good enough but he did do ok against Bolton, against Chelsea or Man U I don’t think so.
) Suddenly we have too many central midfielders!!! Nzonzi, Andrews, Emerton, Dunn, Grella, Reid, Basturk, even Gamst Pedersen!….how would you shape up our midfield!
This all depends on how you want the team to shape up, there are all sorts of permutations 4-4-2, 4-3-3 and the one that I persnally like is 4-3-2-1 two midfielders supporting the lone front man. So I would go for (injuries permitting) Gamst, (I always like a left footer in there), Grella or N’Zonzi with Emmo to the right of these two. Dunn I would play in the hole to link up with the CF with Diouf to link up with Emmo on the right. Reid to come off the bench if need be! Basturk I cannot comment on as I have not seen him play, but on all accounts the players seem to rate him so we will have to see. As for Mr Andrews IMO he is not good enough so a bench warmer at best.
6) Where will we finish, who will win the EPL and who will get relegated!
We should finish in or around 10th place any higher will be a bonus but that will do for me. Chelsea will win the prem as they have the strongest squad. Portsmouth have already gone, Hull will also go and for the third spot it will be either Bolton or Burnley.
Another Superb edition of Getting To Know!!! Dont forget VBERS, if you would like to be part of Getting To Know, just shoot me across your email in the forums and away we go!
