Come On You Irons

Blackburn Rovers are one of those clubs it is kind of hard to muster any passion for. To be honest I think I was mildly pleased that West Ham won the league for them in 1995.

When West Ham denied Man Utd in the last game of that season I would have been delighted if I hadn't already formed a rational hatred for the walking tranquilliser that is Alan Shearer. But any pleasure I felt at the result had more to do with denying Man Utd another title than any interest in Blackburn.

However I now feel that West Ham have to come away from Ewok Park with a victory of Derby County proportions. It is not just that the players and Mark Hughes have spent the last week talking about nothing else apart from exacting revenge on West Ham. Just as Sp@~rs moaned last season about revenge for their defeat the year before Blackburn seem to think that West Ham did something immoral in beating them, when in fact trying to win the game is the whole f@~king point.

It is not even the fact that Blackburn and their fans are still harping on about Lucas Neill joining West Ham (to be honest West Ham fans have not yet forgiven a few ex-Irons for deciding to leave The Boleyn).

No, what has really got my goat this week is this article by ex-Blackburn player and jail bird Simon Garner. Garner, who was once sentenced to nine months in jail for contempt of court, believes that West Ham have tarnished the game of football.

His ill-conceived and patently ludicrous article tries to dredge up the Tevez affair yet again with all the same ridiculous lies and misunderstandings. For example, according to Garner, West Ham would have been relegated if it wasn't for Tevez's goal at Old Trafford in the last game of the season (a goal that actually made no difference to the final league placings).

In his short article he also manages to have a go at Neill, talk about revenge for losing last year and claim that West Ham are "one of the most despised (clubs) in the country."