A fan's-eye view from Ewood Park, with Phil Lloyd

AND when they were up they were up. And when they were down they were down. And when they were only half way up (the League) ... the Rovers fans were down!

Decidedly down. And, might I add, not a little angry, as Tony Parkes seems to have changed suddenly into the character of the Grand Old Duke of York.

Interesting word, 'character'. How much 'character' does it take to turn around a messy season, under new leadership? Perhaps, as far as the players themselves are concerned, not as much as we thought (remember Tony's seven changes to announce his arrival in the hot seat?).

How much 'character' does it take to keep the bandwagon going when things are on the up? Maybe a little, but that isn't the acid test.

The real 'character' comes through when the going gets tough and our particular tough guy has gone missing recently. With Carsley out, as at Barnsley and Bolton, we needed our senior professionals to show character. And did we get it? Grayson? No. Peacock? Not much. Frandsen (again a ludicrous choice as captain, Tony)? Nope. McAteer? Another aimless performance - AWOL. Blake? Head once again firmly below the parapet (did you read his programme comments about taking penalties?). Ward? No chance, because we once more used a League game to get a casualty match-fit. Jansen? Given leave of absence. Cheers, Tony.

Suddenly, time is running out for the manager to show his own 'character' (again) and get this set of players, or another set if he would prefer selecting some more dependable types, back on the rails. Because, if we get a Three Blind Mice performance against poor, beleaguered, bankrupt Swindon next Saturday, little Jack Walker sat in his corner might decide we've got to send some of our nursery rhyme characters packing and force the Grand Old Duke to conscript some more men.

It's maybe fortunate for Tony that some of our long-standing battle victims are well on the road to recovery. Because as things stand, Garry Flitcroft and Billy McKinlay, with just two first team appearances between them to date, still have a pretty good chance of becoming Rovers' Player of this unhappy Season!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.