READING

[Mattyblue]

As a season ticket holder, I wouldn’t be missing out and a bit more demand to the supply can only be a good thing.

Yes it was in 2009, down to the novelty of £199 STs, PL football and an average of around 3,000 away fans, it soon dropped off though. We haven’t had a higher average crowd than 26k since we were reigning champions, so let’s extend my hypothetical new ground’s capacity to 26k just to cover all possible eventualities.

The reality is Blackburn Rovers do not need a 31,000 stadium, and pretty much every fan I’ve ever met knows it, well apart from you philipl by the looks of it.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Mattyblue

[Blue blood]

So having had 24 hours or so to sleep on the result, a few more thoughts have come to mind. 

One of the stand out things is that Reading are a poor team and I'm convinced they'll at best end up in the bottom 6. Despite 3 huge slices of luck for them in the game - Rovers not scoring in the first 5 minutes, Rovers gifting them the softest goal I've ever seen, and thirdly Rovers mentally crumbling after the first goal, for the rest of the half they still were hanging on for a draw. They're a very poor team, and will certainly be near the bottom, making a lack of 3 points even more gutting for us. 

Conversely, it makes me less disappointed against the point vs Millwall, who unlike Reading had a plan, albeit not the most palatable one, and performed it well first half. Compared with Reading they looked a decent side, and on reflection, my disappointment of a draw for that game, was a little harsh. 

Smallwood, contrary to what others thought, IMV had an ok first half. In a team that had crumbled and lost the plot he was still throwing himself into tackles and disrupting the play. The problem is he has no distribution ability whatsoever, and in this reminds me very much of a weaker version of "The Axe", great at disrupting, and would be amazing in a 5 man midfield with that as his  sole role, but when called upon to do more, he struggles. Perhaps given we've got a fair few talented centre mids a 3 man midfield would see Smallwood best utilized where he can concentrate on his undoubted strengths and his weaknesses are covered. The lack of good wide players may make this impossible though, although it may be worth considering as a plan for certain away games. Food for thought. 

Also on Smallwood, and for that matter Raya, both have looked shaky at times this season. Raya's shot stopping is excellent, but everything else from the command of the area, through to his kicking is appalling. (It was interesting he came for a couple of balls in the second half, and rather than leave it the defenders hooked it away, even though Raya was most likely to get it. A lack of confidence in him, perhaps?) This really reinforced to me firstly the difference between league 1 and championship - there is, Reading excepted, a heck of a gulf in class - and also how it takes time to evolve a team. When TM took over Raya and Smallwood's places were occupied by Steele and Lowe respectively, and in comparison to them, both players are streets ahead, and definite upgrades. Football is a tough game however, and just because they're a good upgrade on some truly awful  players, does not mean that Rovers should stand still in terms of recruitment. I think the phrase about if you're not improving you're going backwards, or whatever it is, perhaps can be applied here. 

Lenihen had an absolute shocker and not just for the first goal. Hopefully it's a one off, but even in the second half he was making some appalling decisions and plays. 

Bennett much lauded on here also had an appalling first half and offered nothing going forwards. Contrast that to his central midfield all action second half and it was like a different player. At this level Bennett on the wing is an absolute weakness, especially once Armstrong was off and there was no one to run the channels. In the centre of midfield the man is a beast. Stuff bringing centre mids in (although I believe we've brought anohter); get some wide players and move Bennett inside. I'm pretty confident that part of the reason Evans looked good, was because Bennett was driving forward from centre mid, letting him focus on harrying the opposition. On Evans, I'm not convinced by him at all, but have to admit he had an excellent second half and really stood out. Long may it, and his fitness, continue! I do think whoever was with Bennett in the centre in the second half would have looked and performed better simply because Bennett offers more drive and impetus going forwards, whereas Smallwood and Evans are perhaps too similar in wanting to sit back and disrupt. 

Conway looked finished. Did I mention that we need wingers and wide players? And with the injuries mounting up we're looking very league 1 in terms of quality. Of course once Dack et al are fit, it's a different kettle of fish, but imo last night showed we've a mid table championship team with a league 1 squad. Still a lot of work to be done this transfer window, or we'll be very vulnerable to injuries. Quality additions are needed, especially up front and out wide.

[old darwen blue]

6 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Sorry?

A one off game with cheap tickets (still not sold out mind) celebrating promotion does not mean we need a ground of 31,000 when we’ve had thousands of empty seats most weeks for twenty years.

25,000 would be plenty as it would still mean 22/23,000 home seats, if required - how many occasions since the ground was built have we needed more? Seems an eminently sensible post to me.

 

6 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

As a season ticket holder, I wouldn’t be missing out and a bit more demand to the supply can only be a good thing.

Yes it was in 2009, down to the novelty of £199 STs, PL football and an average of around 3,000 away fans, it soon dropped off though. We haven’t had a higher average crowd than 26k since we were reigning champions, so let’s extend my hypothetical new ground’s capacity to 26k just to cover all possible eventualities.

The reality is Blackburn Rovers do not need a 31,000 stadium, and pretty much every fan I’ve ever met knows it, well apart from you philipl by the looks of it.

Hmm. What was Sir Jacks motto?

Oh and a 31,367 capacity stadium isn’t big in terms of today’s stadia but we’ve got it thanks to him and I’m bloody grateful and proud of it. I still get goosebumps walking up to it on a match day, particularly on a cold wet winter night when the floodlights are beaming. 

Whether we need that many seats at this moment in time is irrelevant so I’m with philip on this one. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by old darwen blue

[Mattyblue]

The ground is what it is size wise, I was talking hypothetically for debate.

If we were building a new ground today, looking at the catchment area and demographics would we build one with 31,000+ seats? I’d wager not, we’d go smaller but maybe with an option to extend it, like Brighton did, started with around 22k and extended it as they improved on the pitch, up to 30,000+ when in the PL, fair enough, no?

Edited August 24, 2018 by Mattyblue