[Archived] Leverkusen At Home

[thenodrog]

I finish at 6 in Accrington so I wont be going

Are you being serious? You'll only miss 20 mins at most! It's still marvelous value.

[Paul]

...........and it could go to extra time and penalties

[Jan]

Are you being serious? You'll only miss 20 mins at most! It's still marvelous value.

Oh I'm so glad someone ELSE wrote that. Accrington at 6 and can't go?? Why on earth not? OR was that sarcasm and we missed it?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Rovers to send the door to door helicopter service round?

[JamieUK]

Seeing as you've managed to post 18 times during your working hours today - similar to most days since you started posting here - you have lots of options ->

1) be more productive at work and ask your boss for a couple of hours off on Feb 22 as a reward for your improved performance. This would be great for all of us because you'd stop posting so bloody much.

2) ask your friends at work to cover for you for a couple of hours that afternoon and offer to do the same for them if they ever need it.

3) arrive in work at 7am instead of 9am.

4) take some holiday - you appear to feel very strongly about not missing the match so this will be no great sacrifice.

5) point out how much you use this site when you should be working and ask your boss for the sack

On the issue of TV, try and get your facts straight before spouting rubbish. Eurosport have nothing to do with this at this stage. I assume it is ZDF who want to show Leverkusen and Bremen back-to-back as that is what they are doing on the 14th. Whoever the German broadcaster is, Rovers HAVE to go for maximum revenue at this stage of the competition - and assume - not unreasonably - that the fans will want to be there for such a big game.

I wonder if the Leverkusen fans are ranting and raving about the 1715 KO for THEIR home game!?

Hahahahahahahaha! Post of the week!

[Manchester Blue]

Tis a very funny post from Tris. The more I read and think of this the more amazed I am. It's 6 weeks away. I understand there are always exceptions but surely to god the vast majority can arrange something in 6 weeks. Half a day, start a few hours early, even miss a bit as some have said. It's a one off for goodness sake.

As for the argument about the club putting money ahead of the fans. The whole point of being in Europe is to hope we make a bit of money. People cannot complain one minute we are not competitive and then moan when the club want to make some money.

[Guest fernhurstblue]

and so say all of us!!

if you support the club that much and you are that bothered, you will be there!

[yorkblues]

Seeing as you've managed to post 18 times during your working hours today - similar to most days since you started posting here - you have lots of options ->

1) be more productive at work and ask your boss for a couple of hours off on Feb 22 as a reward for your improved performance. This would be great for all of us because you'd stop posting so bloody much.

2) ask your friends at work to cover for you for a couple of hours that afternoon and offer to do the same for them if they ever need it.

3) arrive in work at 7am instead of 9am.

4) take some holiday - you appear to feel very strongly about not missing the match so this will be no great sacrifice.

5) point out how much you use this site when you should be working and ask your boss for the sack

On the issue of TV, try and get your facts straight before spouting rubbish. Eurosport have nothing to do with this at this stage. I assume it is ZDF who want to show Leverkusen and Bremen back-to-back as that is what they are doing on the 14th. Whoever the German broadcaster is, Rovers HAVE to go for maximum revenue at this stage of the competition - and assume - not unreasonably - that the fans will want to be there for such a big game.

I wonder if the Leverkusen fans are ranting and raving about the 1715 KO for THEIR home game!?

well done tris

[Jordan]

Hahahahahahahaha! Post of the week!

Where did Tris pull that one from...or Maybe claire has forgot to log him out.

Seriously...nice post.

[Ewood Spark]

It's a ONE OFF game at 6pm

Why dont people just make alternative arrangements, so they CAN make it?!

I'll just finish work early or book half a day.

Surely if people REALLY wanted to go, I'm sure they can work around it.

Its a one off game, its free and its the last 32 of Europe (on paper, one of the biggest games in our history)

Will people be complaining if we get to Glasgow and the kick off is 7:45pm but dont finish work til 5pm?

Come on, stop being petty!!

Lots of top posts on this subject ... Tris's springs to mind .... but this post by Stella sums it up. If Rovers get to the final people wouldn't think twice about making other arrangments. Didn't even cross my mind about missing this one despite working 30 odd miles away and usually a 6'o'clock finisher. What the hell are personal holidays for?

[Scotty]

As for the argument about the club putting money ahead of the fans. The whole point of being in Europe is to hope we make a bit of money. People cannot complain one minute we are not competitive and then moan when the club want to make some money.

"The whole point of being in Europe is to hope we make a bit of money".

The whole point?! Jesus, no wonder football's in a mess. There's me thinking it might be to bring prestige to the club, to try to win some silverware, and to bring a bit of pride and enjoyment to the fans, the players and the town. If football has simply become a way to make money then we might as well all pack it in.

[Seggie]

Are you being serious? You'll only miss 20 mins at most! It's still marvelous value.

If it was free it would be, It is no longer financially viable to hold a season ticket due to the amount of games I would miss due to work. Im not paying to watch a football match which I could miss 20-40 mins of.

Oh I'm so glad someone ELSE wrote that. Accrington at 6 and can't go?? Why on earth not? OR was that sarcasm and we missed it?

Not to be rude but sometimes holding down a full time job means I have to miss a football match. Am I ###### off I might have to miss it YES. But if I have to work that day I have to work that day end of story.

I read this board on a regular basis, the quality of the posts make it a good enjoyable read but some members need to take off their perfect world hats and accept it is sometimes genuinely quite difficult to get to matches for some supporters on certain occaisions, this occaision may actually be one of those for myself.

Just because you live in London and you regularly miss kick offs and you can have your meeting on the phone and because I just work in Accrington does not make my point about not being able to go any less valid, I will not waste money on half a football match.

Also if you read my post properly I said I understood the clubs reasoning.

[Tris]

"The whole point of being in Europe is to hope we make a bit of money".

The whole point?! Jesus, no wonder football's in a mess. There's me thinking it might be to bring prestige to the club, to try to win some silverware, and to bring a bit of pride and enjoyment to the fans, the players and the town. If football has simply become a way to make money then we might as well all pack it in.

Rovers are bringing pride and enjoyment to the town and the fans, they are trying to win some silverware, and they are gaining prestige.

To continue to do that means maximising revenue - and a bumper pay day from German TV in the last 32 is a lucky break. The draw could have landed us against a team from Belgium who have a stadium (and following) akin to Accy Stanley, teams from Turkey or Israel, or third level crap from France, Portugal or Italy (Lens, Braga or Livorno).

None of those would have offered a fraction of the cash German TV can offer - and none of them would bring the crowds to Ewood either, regardless of KO time.

The real rewards from TV are tantalisingly close if we get past Leverkusen. But in the meantime - with Spurs and Newcastle still in the competition - Rovers have to take what they can get.

The fact that it's German TV cash which has prompted this KO time - not even ITV4, Channel 5, BBC10 or British Eurosport - shows just how far behind the likes of Spurs and Newc we are when it comes to cashing in on our elevated position in the English football hierarchy.

[Manchester Blue]

"and to bring a bit of pride and enjoyment to the fans"

You mean to enable us to have a knee's up all over Europe? I''ve heard it called many things before but not pride!!

At the end of the day there is no point in the club being in it if they make no money, or worse lose money. That is the harsh reality of football these days, clubs can either accept that and move with the times or they can live in the past and not compete.

[Alex Rover]

From BBC

Blackburn will give season ticket holders free admission to next month's Uefa Cup tie with Bayer Leverkusen after being forced to kick-off at 6pm in order to earn a £650,000 TV windfall. (Daily Mirror)

Decent money though. I can see it being hard to resist from a commercial point of view.

[philipl]

Totally agree with Tris' post.

Find £650K hard to believe (perhaps an extra 0 or £ and euro confusion). But for £650K, Rovers could kick off at 3am which they do for many posters on here.

[daveoftherovers]

This is astute in my view, get the money that's available, people won't watch it in the pub at that time (CAn you get German telly, suppose you can?) People can take their kids and us season tickets get to go free!

Nowt wrong with it, you take what's on offer, everyone else does it, but everyone else doesn't let their STH's in for nowt do they? That's the difference between out clubs and the so called giants mentioned in previous posts.

Good on you Rovers! (Again!)

For the record, I'll be starting & finishing work early that day, 90+% of employers will allow time off for such matters, I bet there will be a decent attendance.

[CAPT KAYOS]

At the end of the day there is no point in the club being in it if they make no money, or worse lose money. That is the harsh reality of football these days, clubs can either accept that and move with the times or they can live in the past and not compete.

And sadly and unfortunately what it is exactly the crux of all the major problems wrong with Football nowadays.

Interestingly going home last night I thought about the Police and stewards and the effect on them etc ... will the Police have been involved in the decision, do the Stewards not have full time jobs??

As Jordan states - there is still plenty of time to sort things and plead with bosses/colleagues etc (except those with dictator bosses) as that is what I will have to do.

I empathise with the people who may struggle but now is not the time to argue the whats and the wherefore's , question them maybe, however the decision has been made so good luck to Rovers.

So come on people try and make the effort somehow and back the club. Its an important part of our history which could lead to even better to follow.

Would be interesting if we did get to the Final if a ticket for this game could be influential in getting one for Glasgow.

COME ON ROVERS

[thenodrog]

"The whole point of being in Europe is to hope we make a bit of money".

The whole point?! Jesus, no wonder football's in a mess. There's me thinking it might be to bring prestige to the club, to try to win some silverware, and to bring a bit of pride and enjoyment to the fans, the players and the town. If football has simply become a way to make money then we might as well all pack it in.

Good grief! Whats it like on Planet scotty?

Scotty you are underestimating the significance of the walls around the pitch, the dug-out and the boardroom. One side does indeed value prestige and recognition whereas the other is governed through a combination of greed AND necessity for the good of all concerned to place finance first.

[Paul]

to earn a £650,000 TV windfall. (Daily Mirror)

That represents a full house paying £21.50 each, no discount for STs, kids, OAPs etc. It's hard to imagibe Rovers getting close to gate receipts at this level.

Well done Rovers, the right decision. Take the money, give the ST holders an excellent offer to compensate for the dodgy KO time. This is an absolute no brainer, if the club is offered £650k for TV rights it has to be taken - that would nearly cover Bentley's reported current salary for a year.

[mac]

Well Done Rovers !!

Free tickets and a nice early kick off!!

What more can rovers do !?

[trs]

Well Done Rovers !!

Free tickets and a nice early kick off!!

What more can rovers do !?

Believe me, you'll not be short of answers for your last question.

[ABBEY]

so would you be happy with a 3am k.o. against man u at home for japenese telly pay per view because weve been given a million,i know i ranted yesterday about it but football is for the fans surely.

I take my little un to league matches at night with a k.o.@ 8pm and my ex is not happy but I do it.I (as usabluesaid) dont like 8pm kick offs where theres a chance of extra time and penalites because my ex wont allow the chance of my young un being home that late.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE OLD FASHIONED 7.30PM KICK OFF TIME?

i REMEMBER GAMES KICKING OFF ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO AT THIS TIME EVERYWHERE THEN ONE DAY MAN U (MAY HAVE BEEN AGAINST QPR..NOT 100% SURE) HAD ALL SORTS OFF TRAFFIC DELAYS ON THE MOTORWAYS AND THE GAME WAS DELAYED AND AFTER THAT THEY ALWAYS KICKED OFF AT 8PM .ROVERS FOLLOWED SUIT FOR SOME REASON AND HAVE DONE SO EVER SINCE,I REMEMBER THEM SAYING FOR TRAFFIC REASONS.

Now going back to the 6pm kickoff ,last night i had to go down audley and towards the ice rink towards ewood at 5ish,the same time as everyone will be arriving at ewood and it was bloody horrendous.Cant wait for an extra 7000 cars hitting blackburn in rush hour.The m65 is busy at that time as it is.I can see total gridlock.

no more rants ,i will do my best to leave early but the kick off sucks big time....like i said cant wait for 3am kick offs .

you can see it now in 5-10 years time free entry every week but 3am kick offs...or whenever sky have a free slot some tuesday afternoon between poker or bowls ...rovers v sheff utd live 2pm.

[Neil Weaver]

Now we've had a couple of days to ponder this, I wonder if there's an element of the 'board' thinking "well we've tried initiatives like reduced prices for a few years with varying success, let's try something a bit different". Of course it's going to brass some folk off but it'll encourage others to attend. Overall I wouldn't be suprised if those two sections are about the same size. The only way to gauge the real impact of this sort of thing is put in into action, and there's the safety net of TV money for the club to fall back on if the attendance goes horribly wrong.

SG, sorry if I didn't explain too well earlier : what I was trying to say was that with walk ons for this game and Mboro being the same price I wouldn't think the number of home supporters taking advantage of cheap tickets will be a lot different.

[Martin]

Firstly, this thread has gone way off track in my view. The real issue is as follows;

Cash is king to Rovers, therefore the club are perfectly within their rights to K.O at whatever time is most profitbale for the Club. As hard as it is for those hard core fans who can't make it, that's how it is.

Rovers cater for the majority and the fact is the majority DO NOT support the ticketing incentives offered by the club. Therefore, it would be ludicrous to turn down £650k TV revenue so 257 supporters can watch their team in an 8pm K.O. If the fans (as a whole) had given Rovers any reason to think an 8pm kickoff would be supported with a large crowd they'd do it. As it stands we haven't and Rovers won't.

How would you view it if the £650k was the difference between bringing Bellamy back or not? Still upset you can't go? Harsh I know - But if BRFC was your business what would you do?

Given the circumstance Rovers can not do much more.