The McGalphsmiths Stadium
In the bright Easter sunshine,
Or more likely pouring rain,
Bring your brollies and Sou'westers,
and cheer Town on
to another win, again.
HD1 - the new(ish) ground by the stream


Kick-off 12:30 UK Time
Monday 10/04/23



Ee, I love Christmas and Easter. Boxing Day and Easter derby matches against our Yorkshire rivals, eh? Can't beat 'em can you? So this year it's thrown up Watford and Blackburn.
Good to see that Yorkshire now extends down to beyond the M25 and almost as far west down the Darwen Valley as the M6 these days. Devolution for Yorkshire can't be far off. 

Either I need to get my satnav fixed or we need a serious word with the EFL and that flippin' fixture computer.

In truth, Good Friday was frequently fish and chips and a pint in Cleethorpes before heading to the away corner of Blundell Park, but the home game was often the likes of Barnsley, Wendies or Bradford and there might have been games on Friday and Saturday as well as Easter Monday or Tuesday.

So what did you get up to this weekend?
A quiet meal with t'other 'arf? Family round for a Sunday Roast while the kids ate themselves sick after demolishing a crate of Chocolate Eggs and an assortment of others?



Or did you go for the full Christian weekend experience?
Disappear on Friday afternoon, hang out with your mates all weekend up The Cross. Nailed on that you got yourself well and truly hammered.
Then you turn up eventually on Monday looking like you've been dragged through a thorn bush backwards, had a knife fight with the local dickheads up the top of the street and carrying some soiled sheets that look like you've slept in a bloody cave for the last three nights! 

What? Oh!

Be Jeysus, and they wonder why I don't do religion?



Maybe take a tube of this with you next time?
When you're done, hand it to a passing climate activist so they can glue themselves to the road. That should slow those damned chariots down a bit.

The Easter Bunnies were spotted on the golf course this weekend, hopping around and dropping their little surprise Easter Eggs around the greens and bunkers. If I'm honest, give me a handful of Creme Eggs any day. Those Easter Bunny eggs are at best an, er, acquired taste shall we say? That and if your balls land in a nest of them, playing it as it lies would test the most honest of golfers. That lot playing in Augusta this weekend don't know they're born.    They've only got to dodge the odd falling pine tree after all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VikfRae7Mg

On the tellybox

In addition to iFollow in furrin parts it's on Sky/Now TV here and broadcast world wide.
Pick your local expensive channel/stream from this lot
https://www.livesoccertv.com/match/43643...rn-rovers/

Finding yourself looking at what seems to be a mountain of chocolate and feeling a tad queasy? Never mind, get thi'sen down to a 'spoons or your other favourite sticky carpeted establishment on Monday morning and wash down a pre-match Full-Monty English with a couple of pints of Old Laddered Tights or Creamy Crudge and top it off with a Rusty Nail. The diet can start next weekend and you can go for a coffee at 10 o'clock and still be in time for kick-off.

Latest news

Burnalee's win at Boro meant they secured promotion. I doubt they'll need all their games to hold off Sheff Utd for the title and Boro's bubble seems to have burst just when they didn't want it to. Luton are now in pole position to hunt down The Blunts.

Breaking news as I type this Saturday lunchtime, Mick McCarthy has quit at Blackpool.

With Sky "taking care of their TV audience" and moving our game at Cardiff to Sunday, they haven't just screwed up a few fans' travel plans. They've also screwed up the Pedal for Pounds which was all set to turn up in Cardiff on Friday and return after the match on Saturday. Now they've either got to scramble to move everything back a day or arrange an extra night in Cardiff and good luck with getting back on the train. Most only have 2 spaces allocated for bikes these days.

Easter weekend often throws up the games that more or less decide the winners and losers, uppers and downers in every division, with only a few games left to mop up a couple of the final places and positions. Thanks to the World Cup being played in silly season this time round, there's still more than a slack handful of games to be played after this weekend and a lot of places at each end of the division have yet to be decided. They might still be decided with 2 or 3 games left, but there won't be that Easter weekend feel about it when we get there.

That and you usually can't buy left over Creme Eggs on Tuesday. Bastards! You can't buy real eggs most days these days either, or tomatoes.
You can't make a bloody decent omelette when you've only got cheese. That supposedly is nowt to do with Brexit, it's all to do with bird flu. The fact that egg producers can't replace their flocks of culled hens from Europe, like they used to do, has nowt to do with it either does it?

Other than that, young Frank (who ate all the pies?) Lampard found himself some gainful employment again at some up and coming club called Chelsea. If he doesn't save them from mid-table mediocrity he can always say, well "what were you hoping for, wasting all that money in January then bringing me in this late?" Good job we never get involved in any of that mid-table malarkey or even bringing new managers/coaches in late in the season when the board eventually hits the panic button.    Colin has just thrown his cap in the ring for the job over the Summer.
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/all-about...ld-town-fc

At the tender age of 26, former Chelski loanee Izzy Brown has hung up his boots after a series of injuries. There's not much love for him on the WBA boards as he left them at an early age to chase his dream and said a few things that a more mature player might not have done. Not that we've ever had any of them here. When he was fit, he was an athletic and skilful player that played a big part in getting us to Wembley and the promotion that followed. He gets my best wishes in whatever he does in the future and is assured a warm welcome if he ever visits the club again.

Blackburn have announced early bird season ticket prices for next season - so here's a marker for reference, whilst we wait to hear what our new owners decide. I know mine have normally been paid in full well before now in recent seasons. What if any of previous promises will be honoured, we'll have to wait and see.





Out Injured/Suspended/Isolating

It's almost getting to the point where we've fewer that are fit than are injured. A fairly innocuous looking block challenge by the Normanton Messi last weekend ended his season in his first game after about 2 months out with injury. The injury list Snoots alluded to - Lee Nicholls (shoulder), Ollie Turton (knee), Tino Anjorin (ankle),  Kieran Phillips (hamstring), Duane Holmes (ankle), Yuta Nakayama (Achilles), Jaheim Headley (hamstring), and Martyn Waghorn (hamstring) is unlikely to have changed. (Thanks for typing most of that on your thread Snoots ).

Back training but not oven ready/Back in the frame

Joseph Hungbo (ineligible against Watford) is available, whether or not the enigma that is Anthony Knockaert, or even his hologram, will turn up or play for us again is a matter of opinion. Doesn't appear to be Colin's, but never say never. Didn't think Harratt would ever play either, but he only needed one touch on Friday to score. Hope he gets two touches against Blackburn at that scoring rate.

Last time out

3 wins on the bounce - Mr. Warnock (your honour) and Mr. Rocket Ron (sir), take a bow. Wow.
We haven't been the best footballing side in them for the most part, we seem to average about 25% possession, but all of a sudden, we're finding the onion bag.
How did that happen? Read the lines above.



Don't stop.

Blackburn on the other hand continued their win one lose one season (they must be coming close to a record for the lowest number drawn games in a season? 4 all season? Won 19 lost 16 is enough to get a top 6 place though in this division this season. Don't knock it until you've tried it. Spurs once went 30 odd games without a draw but the dam burst eventually.



Friday's results threw up wins for Rotherham (thanks WBA, another points deduction for me in Snoots's prediction league) and Cardiff. Blackpool and Wigan both lost so it's looking like the scramble is going to be on for that final place under (or over, depending on your point of view) the trap door. Reading drawing and QPR losing (again) dropped them below us. At the other end Preston's win pushed them closer to 6th, Norwich beating Blackburn means our guests are now looking over their shoulders again after looking like they'd overhaul the Blunts for 2nd a few weeks ago.



Musical Interlude

OK I've done a Blackburn thread or two recently (well, there's only 4 of us, so who hasn't?) - showing things like this outside the Blackburn King Georges Hall.



so rather than repeat the same old same old I've spread the net a little further - so much so, I'm starting in Herefordshire, though of the original (or classic) band:

Ian Hunter hails from Shropshire
Mick Ralphs – Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire
Verden Allen – Neath (look you)
Pete Overend Watts – Brum
Dale "Buffin" Griffin – Ross-on-Wye, also Herefordshire

If I dig deep enough I might find a Lancastrian that joined the band eventually, But I can't be arsed to do that.



Well the game is Easter Monday. 

All the Young Dudes, their biggest hit was written by some chap called David Bowie. Whatever happened to him?

If I were to mention Bernard Thresher, Dickie Ticker, Bob Wriggles, Billy McCartney, Kenny Body and Ron Seal, would they ring any bells? McCartney and Body joined following the death in May 2010 of founder member Willie Eckerslike while Ron Seal joined in 2016 to make up the band known as The Lancashire Hotpots (trying to keep it topical) breaking some bread (apparently) to keep the Easter theme going. 



I'm sure Delia would approve, being famous on my threads for her floury baps
From St. Helens if you're interested, down t'other road a bit from t'one to Burnley.

Jon Anderson - Yes
From Accrington, I might just get away with him
Just like Town - on a Wonderous Story this last few weeks.
(Tenuous Easter link this one).



One of my favourite Lassies from Lancashire
Christine McVie - Fleetwood Mac (you may have noticed)

Originally from Bouth, a village in the South Lakes district of Cumbria. Historically, it was part of the county of Lancashire.
Well as far as I'm concerned Middlesbrough is and always was in Yorkshire, so fair do's, Bouth get's the same honour in my opinion.
Come on Town ..... as I'm sure she would have sung ... we're on a roll (also in keeping with the Eater theme)


The Sack Race

Well there's been 12 gone in the Prima Donna League so far which is paltry compared to the 22 in The Chumpionship.
Hell some clubs are on their 3rd manager of the season. Glad to say, we don't get involved in that nonsense either.  

Tables, Form & all that.

It's only taken 3 months and a week of 2023 (yesterday's gone, yesterdays gone, i.e. 2022, we already went there) but Town are finally out of the bottom 3.



Now it can still go pear shaped again, but the way things are going if we lose, you can't help feeling that if we get knocked down, we'll get up again .......
https://youtu.be/2H5uWRjFsGc
(Sorry Blackburn fans, I know, they are from Burnley - and I've used up my vid quota again).

Town are climbing the form tables at last, while Blackburn are heading towards us into mid-table mediocrity form.


Over the last 4 matches combined, Town are 2nd top with 10 points on GD from Burnley whilst Blackburn are 2nd bottom on GD with 3 points (same as Sunderland, Blackpool, Reading, Hull). Only QPR are below them.

Blackburn started the season with a bang, winning their first 3 games to go top, but then followed that up with 3 defeats to set a pattern that would follow them all season. Their next 8 games literally were, win one, lose one before another 4 wins that got them back into the top 6 and eventually the top 2. However, they only won 3 of their next 9, losing the other 6. On the 21st of January, they had their first draw of the season at Bristol. They liked this idea so much they drew 4 on the bounce (they haven't drawn since) and then went on another 4 game winning streak. True to form however they've lost 3 out of their last 4 to fall away from 3rd and in danger of missing out on a play off place having been in the top 6 for the last 25 matches.

Recent results

Town are also finally chalking up wins against the promotion chasing pack, which given our travails against those around us means we could have done with Warnock in a bit sooner - he's said so himself.





Blackburn have lost 5 at home, but 3 of those are to promotion rivals. They've been flat track bullies to the bottom 8 on their own patch, but it's a different story on their travels. 11 of their 16 defeats have been on the road with 4 of 7 games being defeats at clubs in the bottom 8.



Innies and Outies

Blackburn's one and only recruit in the January sales was a lad called Sorba Thomas. That was a result of them screwing up royally with the paperwork when trying to bring in Lewis O'Brien from Forest (The Blunts and The Baggies were also after him) and Rochdale starlet Ethan Brierley.
Sorba of course won't be available to play as they got him from us, thanks to our Mr. Ego Frotheringham's ability to piss off everyone at the club, more or less from day one, but he seemed to find another player to piss off every week. Had our other Mr. Ego (judge me on this coach, not the last one) Head of Football Operations, Lee Bromby, not admitted he'd screwed up again sooner, Sorba would likely be playing for us on Monday.



Who's banging 'em in

Brereton Diáz is their top scorer by a country mile, with contributions coming from Sam Gallagher and a fit again Bradley Dack. Well he was fit again. He's injured again and won't play against Town.


They can't all lose

At the top Burnley play The Blunts in the evening kick off. The Blunts have to win to have any chance of overhauling Burnley at the top. A win for Burnley would leave them 14 points clear with 6 to play. A win for Town could see Blackburn tumble out of the top 6 for the first time since October with Norwich, Preston and Coventry sniffing for any crumbs they drop.

Down in our little corner of the world, Blackpool (went to the bottom on Friday) go to Luton, Wigan are at home to Swansea, Reading go to (Jeckyl and Hyde at home) Preston, QPR (can't buy a win) are at West Brom (can't buy a win away, but they are at home), Cardiff are home to a suddenly out of form Blunderland, Rotherham go to Wagbo's Norwich.



We've played 'em before



Blackburn lead the Head2Head, in fact there's also been more draws than Town wins. That said, you have to go back to 15th March 2014 when they won 2-4 since the last time Town lost at home to Rovers. Since then Town have won the last 3 and drew the previous 3 meetings at the McGalphsmiths.



Next up?

Swansea away next Saturday. this will be our last 3pm Saturday kick-off of the season.

Pressers
To be added whenever I spot them on Sunday.
I'm using public transport for this match due to an electrical issue with my car so I'm not sitting on this thread waiting for the pressers to appear.


Warnock's wise words

https://twitter.com/htafc/status/1645372...35043?s=20
Player Interview


The views from Darwen Tower

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sp...ield-trip/

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2023/april...verything/



Happy Easter Town fans, and all our other readers and contributors.

Don't stop believing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcjzHMhBtf0



Who's been snaffling my eggs?