Venky’s, HMRC…The Plot Thickens ?

[Mattyblue]

Not this again, Bolton and Rovers are similarly supported clubs, always have been, so it is very comparable.

Just because arbitrarily drawn Bolton borough is bigger than BwD doesn't give them a bigger fanbase. The majority of our ST base now resides outside of BwD anyway as confirmed by The Trust, the Bolton fanbase is much more contained within their sizeable borugh that covers a lot of neighbouring towns .

[martonrover]

34 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

On top of that the up and coming ambitious manager and DOF have been ousted to be replaced by a guy who believes games against Plymouth Argyle and Millwall at home are not must win despite being in a relegation battle and a fake CEO who embodies everything wrong with society.

Waggott is definitely part of the problem, for sure.

Eustace has got nothing to do with it.

It's fourteen years of poor ownership to blame, not a few months of having to grind out results to stay up.

It was pretty grim, but still better than watching regular defeats under the previous head coach.

Imagine what the attendances would've been had we got relegated.

As for Broughton, you're not seriously suggesting his departure will have a negative impact on season ticket sales and attendances?

People need something to believe in and that's pretty much impossible under Venkys.

[lraC]

26 minutes ago, M_B said:

It does help if your population is twice as big. 

Or you have a CEO who speaks with passions, cares for the fans and sets prices that are both fair and affordable. 

[BigUts]

56 minutes ago, M_B said:

It does help if your population is twice as big. 

I agree..it absolutely helps but equally it isn't the reason for decent attendances.

Notlob have been through very barren spells of attendances, but now they have an engaged, excited fan base with excellently priced season tickets that are getting people to attend.

If they come up, they'll beat us twice in the league as their fans will be exorcised to attend both home and away and generate that siege mentality against their 'rivals' something we can only dream of. We couldn't even get a good attendance against Burnley last season and embarrassingly didn't even sell out the parts of the ground that were open never mind huge swathes of the ground being closed.

We will struggle to get anywhere near their average attendance levels on more than say 3 occasions next season.

[B16Rover]

The blindingly obvious fact going unacknowledged is that fan base numbers are in theory compounding.  If you give 16-25 year olds engagement and good value, when they're 30-35 you've got 2 or 3 fans for the price of 1 when they start bringing their kids.

[ElTwis]

12 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

The blindingly obvious fact going unacknowledged is that fan base numbers are in theory compounding.  If you give 16-25 year olds engagement and good value, when they're 30-35 you've got 2 or 3 fans for the price of 1 when they start bringing their kids.

This is bang on, the sad part is I don't think anyone at the club cares because the only people still around when that plan comes to fruition are the fans themselves. The current regime are fine with killing the club off because it doesn't impact their wages for the next 2-3 years.

[Paul Mellelieu]

On 15/05/2024 at 13:48, arbitro said:

'But we could be another Bolton' has been a favourite saying of some of our more myopic fans. Well with a CEO like this I'd take that in a heartbeat.

 

If we go into admin, this is exactly what will happen to staff at Rovers.  

[lraC]

30 minutes ago, ElTwis said:

This is bang on, the sad part is I don't think anyone at the club cares because the only people still around when that plan comes to fruition are the fans themselves. The current regime are fine with killing the club off because it doesn't impact their wages for the next 2-3 years.

Without wanting to have a go at anyone here, especially posters on here, this is exactly why it is so important that we let it be known to the current CEO and the owners, by voting with our feet.

Yes, I know some have a sense of loyalty and will buy season tickets and go to the games, come what may, but right now, we have people purposely on the make and taking advantage of fan loyalty to simply feather their own nests.

If we simply sit back and let them get away with it, the very future of the club is a serious risk.

[tomphil]

43 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

The blindingly obvious fact going unacknowledged is that fan base numbers are in theory compounding.  If you give 16-25 year olds engagement and good value, when they're 30-35 you've got 2 or 3 fans for the price of 1 when they start bringing their kids.

Bolton now have loads of youth from Horwich, Adlington, the A58 corridor to Wigan and of course Chorley all on the bandwagon. Most of them have never known anything but relegation, admin, lge 1 but it's a local club it's cheap it's a good craic because it's a winning team.

They ain't arsed about the Prem it's all about the buzz of being a big club in a little league and expecting to win more often than you lose and chasing promotion every season.

A whole generation of new fans nailed not through the Prem mirage but trough being a proper local football club with ambition and more to the point so affordable you don't get fed up so easy if things aren't going well.

[Upside Down]

3 hours ago, martonrover said:

Waggott is definitely part of the problem, for sure.

Eustace has got nothing to do with it.

It's fourteen years of poor ownership to blame, not a few months of having to grind out results to stay up.

It was pretty grim, but still better than watching regular defeats under the previous head coach.

Imagine what the attendances would've been had we got relegated.

As for Broughton, you're not seriously suggesting his departure will have a negative impact on season ticket sales and attendances?

People need something to believe in and that's pretty much impossible under Venkys.

I think you're missing the point here.

JDT and the Egg were espousing positivity and ambition to be more than just a zombie club forever plodding along in the second tier. Both have been ousted.

Now we've got a guy who thinks we should be celebrating not getting relegated to the third tier and makes tremendous effort to dampen any sparks of ambition whatever.

Venkys are the problem obviously, but if anyone doesn't already know that then they're beyond bothering with tbh.

Edited May 17 by Upside Down

[martonrover]

11 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

I think you're missing the point here.

JDT and the Egg were espousing positivity and ambition to be more than just a zombie club forever plodding along in the second tier. Both have been ousted.

Now we've got a guy who thinks we should be celebrating not getting relegated to the third tier and makes tremendous effort to dampen any sparks of ambition whatever.

Venkys are the problem obviously, but if anyone doesn't already know that then they're beyond bothering with tbh.

I’m not missing the point at all.

Eustace will have had no effect on attendances, which were well and truly baked in for the season before he arrived.

People read far too much into throwaway comments made when a journalist pokes a microphone in front of a manager.

What will determine sales for next season is pricing and ambition in the transfer market.

Im sure Eustace would love to sign some quality players and play more expansively, but we all know the powers that be will likely deny him (and any new director of football) that opportunity.

You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.

It will probably be a case of Eustace having to wear his pragmatists hat again and aim for survival, (which is unacceptable).

In that scenario I'd have more faith in him than JDT. 

That will lead to poor attendances again, but isn’t his fault.

As for Broughton, I think Rich Sharpe’s piece was pretty accurate.

He didn’t convince me at all and we can do better, but again the new guy’s hands will probably be tied.

 

 

 

[lraC]

31 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

I think you're missing the point here.

JDT and the Egg were espousing positivity and ambition to be more than just a zombie club forever plodding along in the second tier. Both have been ousted.

Now we've got a guy who thinks we should be celebrating not getting relegated to the third tier and makes tremendous effort to dampen any sparks of ambition whatever.

Venkys are the problem obviously, but if anyone doesn't already know that then they're beyond bothering with tbh.

The managers statements prior to games when asked if it is a must win and him saying no, when we all want to hear the opposite, tells us he is a glass half full, when we need it is a glass so full I'm spilling it statement.

We have missed a tick with JDT being hounded out and the stale negativity will now ensure and we will have a yes man now to fit in with every other facet of the club. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The only game that was really a “ must win “ was the Leicester away game and we won that.

[damo100]

5 hours ago, M_B said:

It does help if your population is twice as big. 

It also helps when your catchment area is bigger.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

There’s an interesting article in todays paper regarding the Glazers and Man Utd but it could have been written about the Chicken Chokers.

”  It’s easy to see why the Ratcliffe non-takeover has generated such fevered optimism in United circles. It offers the illusion of control in an uncontrollable landscape, the illusion of simplicity in a bewilderingly complex situation, the illusion of  renewal when in reality very little has changed.

You can’t get the Glazers out. You can’t see or contact them. You can’t afford to buy their shares, and even if you could you can’t force them to sell. And you can’t overturn the culture of parasitic renter capitalism that allows them to operate or detonate the regulatory structures that render it legal “.

Come the revolution Venkies will be the first to be put up against the wall ! Then I woke up.

[Upside Down]

21 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The only game that was really a “ must win “ was the Leicester away game and we won that.

Every game is a must win. Why even turn up otherwise?

[Exiled_Rover]

7 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Horwich is tiny 😂

It's got a Five Guys and a Wagamamas though, so it's got more going for it than some places.

[desrover]

8 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

It's got a Five Guys and a Wagamamas though, so it's got more going for it than some places.

Five Guys and a Wagamama - Horwich is the pinnacle of culture!

[lraC]

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The only game that was really a “ must win “ was the Leicester away game and we won that.

A draw would have done there, even before a ball was kicked.

[wilsdenrover]

2 hours ago, desrover said:

Five Guys and a Wagamama - Horwich is the pinnacle of culture!

I think I’ve seen that film.

[ABBEY]

You mean 2 girls 1 cup?

[wilsdenrover]

8 minutes ago, ABBEY said:

You mean 2 girls 1 cup?

I’m going to deny knowing what that is 😄

[Mashed Potatoes]

7 hours ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

If we go into admin, this is exactly what will happen to staff at Rovers.  

Spot on -and yet some actively want it.

[AAK]

6 hours ago, damo100 said:

It also helps when your catchment area is bigger.

It also doesn't help them that they're next door to man City and man United. They've always been a very similarily supported club as us, we always averaged more than them in the prem, and always had better away support, I'm not making that up its factual. The problem is waggot and venkys not Bolton catchment area.

[tomphil]

12 minutes ago, AAK said:

It also doesn't help them that they're next door to man City and man United. They've always been a very similarily supported club as us, we always averaged more than them in the prem, and always had better away support, I'm not making that up its factual. The problem is waggot and venkys not Bolton catchment area.

I remember them bringing about 900 here to a Prem game and not many more the season after.  They sold about 6k in the DE when it was £10 a ticket in a Prem game they won when Campo scored.

We had some poor turnouts there as well but Gartside always charged us more.

Somehow i don't think they'll have a problem filling it next season though, Waggot will be praying they come up and Leeds balls it up.