Former season ticket holder here, back on board. Just ordered mine for next season. First time in six years...

At the very least the Rovers/Ipswich matches should be more entertaining this time around. Watching Gary Bowyer's Rovers play Mick McCarthy's Ipswich made me question whether I really did like football.

Just been reading an interview with Sep Blabber and a 48 team world cup really rankles. 16 groups of 3 where only one team in each is knocked out. It's adding a layer of pointlessness just so they can make more money from teams that are nowhere near good enough. They should learn from past failures like the time when the champions league had two group stages and even the last Euros where it was so bloated with below average teams 3rd place got you out of a Group. It was no coincidence it was the worst euros ever. Quality not quantity.

There was a reference earlier in this thread to our Pod (Episode 93) that covered this in some detail but I’ll try & summarise briefly & with no jargon... All references to June 2017 a/cs of course... In a nutshell:- TRADING Turnover is down by a third as parachute payments ended. Costs have been significantly reduced but not quite in line with t/o. Losses have been reduced by positive impact of player sales. Interest costs have reduced by two-thirds as much of the debt has effectively moved from the bank (who charge interest of course) to the parent company (which does not). All in all - loss of £3.7m recorded for 2017 - up from £1.5m in 2016. ASSETS & LIABILITIES Total creditors (money owed) stood at £114m up slightly from £112m BUT less of it owed to the bank, extra £7m owed to Venky parent - on balance this is a good thing, better to be in hock to the parent than the bank I would say. Of the £114m - £95m owed to V’s So what ? V’s are undertaking good housekeeping to manage a difficult position (I know they got themselves into it...this isn’t an opinion piece BTW ?) 2017/18 will probably reveal decreased t/o given the relegation - less TV money, sponsorships, corporates, ticket sales etc. Promotion opens up increased possibility for s/t income, TV, sponsorship, commercial etc FFP rules are frankly impenetrable...made even more complex if you move between Championship & League 1...which we’ve just done twice - as the rules are different in each. V’s can still cover part of any losses with share capital (rather than loans) in the Championship, but it’s not as easy as in League 1. What is not up for debate is that Championship clubs FFP is based more around turnover and profitability....and so to that extent, increased spend by fans in Ewood in whatever form can only help the FFP calculation and give the club less of a headache. Finally, whilst we will earn more TV money etc, I suspect large parts of that increased income will be swallowed up with improved player contracts etc. If we expect them to take a hit after a relegation, chances are their agents will expect the reverse after a promotion...? Hope that helps....but listen to the pod, read this & then pose whatever questions you might have & I’ll have a stab....but Not FFP...I cant make head nor tail of the EFL site ?

Flippant comment when many people are clearly struggling. https://blackburn.foodbank.org.uk/

Nyambe moves that fast JAL is unable to give an accurate assessment of his abilities.

I know one "player" who trousered a chunk and he was better at washing kits than playing football. That signing could have been a simple mistake, but I don't think I''m Myles away thinking otherwise.

Fair enough, although in fairness England haven't had it much better! My only real memory of England from the 2010 world cup is wanting to put my fist through the TV as the commentator said "Emile Heskey is going to play on the right wing".

One thing for certain, if you were a fly on the wall, you would not be on your own!

For the first time I’m thinking about buying my first season ticket. I live in the Midlands and I would be willing to make the journey for the home matches. Is there anybody on here who takes the train from that area?

Great, one less team to worry about.

Hope everyone's renewing, I won't be able to til next month but looking forward to a few more people around Ewood!

From Rovers twitter account With less than half an hour until the ticket office closes, today has already been the busiest first day for Season Ticket sales in memory. Don't forget you can find all the 18/19 Season Ticket info at https://t.co/mthtYKnnsI https://t.co/7QGpe1nVQD

I truly believe that it is important not to forget. Yes as fans we now see the club moving forward again and hope we don't slide back again. These people though are responsible for what has happened to the club and one successful year in the third tier, does not suddenly put it all right. That figure of £250 million to take us to the third tier and back, is astonishing and is akin to Wolves going down this year, instead of up. It simply can't happen without something sinister going on.

Clearly someone orchestrating the whole thing, wanting Venkys to appear to be open, accessible and involved in club affairs. No surprise that Balaji embraced the publicity side of it and was happy to throw his doors open to Sky Sports to show them his luxury car collection, but more surprising that the puppet master of the scheme managed to get Mrs Desai on speed dial. Of course as Venkys continued to put their foot in it through their ridiculous comments and statements it added to the public belief that these were merely well intentioned but clueless owners, rather than the alternative, which was that they had minimal involvement in it at all other than providing a front and the capital whilst other people ran the club and made the decisions.

I've always found it odd how in the immediate aftermath of the takeover and during the Kean days all of the Venky clan were easily accessible, particularly to our friends at Sky Sports. Not just the chuckle brothers from the moment they were paraded on the pitch at Ewood before the Villa game but also Madame who provided numerous interviews and was on hand to provide her opinion on all things Rovers even though she had previously admitted not understanding the game. Then the shutters came down and it is rare for even the manager or staff of the club to get chance to speak to her, only happening face to face once a year at her behest in India. Probably more difficult to speak to her without an invite than the Queen. Curious how for such supposedly private people someone managed to persuade Madame to find space in her diary to provide interviews and how when things went horrifically wrong that she suddenly becomes an intensely private and busy person who can no longer speak.

In reality who's going to bring more than one half of the lower tier (2,500), nevermind even needing the upper tier. I'd say Preston, Leeds, Villa/Boro (if still there), Bolton, Sheffield clubs (though not a definite with those two), Stoke, West brom, that's about it. And I'd say only Leeds would deifintely bring 5,500 (half of lower and upper). Novelty could have worn off for Preston. So the excuse that the move has been done so not to inconvienence Darwen End ST holders is a load of nonsense really. Should have just been truthful and say it is a cost cutting exercise and to place home support into fewer stands, so less scattered.

Went into renew earlier and the guy in the Club shop said that the Direct Debit Scheme is now back with Zebra Finance and as such the scheme is no longer anything to do with the Club. He said I should get an e-mail from them in a couple of days with the details and if anything is inconvenient such as the monthly payment date etc you can probably ring them to amend it. If the figures released from the Club are correct I'l be paying 9 lots of £37 something for my ST in the Riverside which has a headline price of £319 then there is usually an annual cost of about £20 for the privilege of paying by DD. Hope we Don't end up with a flipping Zebra on the front of our shirts again though!

I'm not having it they've spewed 250 million on their Rovers venture without having a large whack back somewhere along the line, no way. No wonder some people think it's a launderette.

Yeah sure...the same paper that claimed Liverpool fans robbed their own dying supporters at Hillsborough. Toilet paper.

Hope it’s Charlie Brown. He’ll be available for peanuts.

Ban the S*n

I have talked to a journalist who was at the presser. The context for the quote is that Tony said that Rovers face an embargo in a few years time if sponsorship, sales of merchandise and people attending matches do not rise. So the quote is genuine but the Sun have taken it completely out of context and used the first part of it to make it sound like it is imminent.

Chaddy your teas ready ?

This isn't about you ...... and quite frankly I'm not interested either. This is about people who are less fortunate - something you don't seem to understand or not have any empathy for.

But have Venky's really spent £250 million on Rovers? Maybe they squirrelled away all the parachute money, the TV money, the profits from players etc and then used the same money to issue shares and loan money back to the club? If they really have ploughed all that income back into the club and it has cost £250 million on top of that and we are still massively in debt then how do other clubs manage to survive without having the same problems? It just doesn't add up to me.

They already do, started back end of last season from memory. Probably not had much success with it this season due to some of the tiny away followings.

Has Jim White got them yet??

As there are a few on here from Accy, thought the following might be of interest . Or maybe the couple of friendly Dingles that come on can inform their club and upgrade the seating at Turd Moor @ASFCofficial FollowFollow @ASFCofficial More 1/2 - So the cowshed is coming down - if you want a piece of it for your memorabilia collection, or want a few seats for your garden, football club or shed - come on down !! 2/2 - You can come and unscrew, cut down or tear off what you want - please bring your own tools and dress appropriately 10am - 4pm Thurs, Fri, Mon 10am - 12 noon Sat....

I find that truly astonishing,£250 Million for the sum total of abject failure? They remain the Bull in the China Shop,the crux of our problems. The bad feelings and resentment return with vengeance when I read things like this..and I don't like it one bit.

As I said “an expensive hobby”?‍♂️

Thank goodness we didn't have eleven global advisers. Don't forget though Madame knew enough about football to sack a manager for playing the dull none entertaining type.

Agree with Matty, it's about not having to cater for 300 people in a part of a stand that holds 2500, it's not about the support other clubs will bring. I think it's the right idea but the club should have had the decency to email ST holders in the DE and explain the decision. The JWL sounds like a good idea though, and you'll be closer to the away fans than you all were when you stood in the top corner of the DE, about as far away from the away fans as you could get without ending up in the river

So Venkys simply funded lots of OTT signings in the first few years and increased the share capital, or loans. I wonder why they did that? Our first eleven weren't always a global eleven really, were they?

Don’t forget that BRFC is just one of the Venky group companies. It’s relatively easy (albeit at a high level) to see where the money has come & gone for BRFC. But the V Group is a multi-national operation subject to lots of different legal frameworks, tax regimes, reporting regimes & so on....so short answer, it’s not easy to answer unless you are the Venky group auditors.

And all i'm saying is what has it been spent on, where has it all gone and where and what sources does it actually come from ? All perfectly understandable questions for something that's a public (& audited) fact. And they do wash kits at Ewood don't they ?

Ah right...Philip was referencing total investment - so Shares plus Loans - that’s the £250m, so that clears that up ?? Share capital is (kind of) permanent, loans are temporary. Under UK company law, it VERY difficult for a business owner to take money out of a business that’s been invested as share capital. It’s not impossible but the law prescribes specific circumstances so as to protect all shareholders in a business & creditors. Essentially we can be reassured by increasing share capital. We are of course almost wholly reliant on them to keep funding the business - whether through loans or shares. Shares is best, but interest free loans is pretty good 2nd best. Either way, believe it or not, the bald facts are that their dalliance into English football has cost them £250m - that’s why I said on the pod that it was an expensive hobby. Does that clarify ?

The price of refusing to admit that you don't have a scobby doo what you are doing

God, what I would give to be a fly on the wall for Tonys visit to India.

Well that’s not borne out by the 2017 a/cs - the 2018 may well be worse but I doubt by that much. Some people may have equated accumulated losses of £225m with debt perhaps ? V’s total “investment” in BRFC equates to £147m of share capital plus the £95m loans - maybe that’s what has confused some ? I dunno, but debt (as at June 2017) is nowhere near £250m.

In previous years the club have released the Direct Debit payment plans along with the up-front prices; however it seems this year you don't get the info on how much you have to pay per month until you actually buy the season ticket. Surely I'm missing something obvious and there is a payment plan grid hidden away somewhere?

"Couldn't make it up" is another. I just feel sorry for somebody that is more obsessed with us than we are. He must refresh the LET allday long.

New Order - World in Motion

Surely the pick of that team sheet as far as future singing is concerned is Yan Dhanda (La Bamba)

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Poems of Shape and Motion Great summer music, shames it's 12 degrees and piddling down

I am serious Glutton for genuine pace. I never had any as a player, so always been envious.

There is nothing wrong in my post just people overacting to a non story. People seriously need to calm down and chill out.

Can just picture the argument over the room number, room 352 or room 442

Well you pay my extra £50 increase then if you don't think it's excessive. ?