It needs to be easier and more attractive to go to Ewood. When Rovers aren't playing I will often make a late decision to go to Stanley. I can decide at 2:15pm whether I'm going or not, drive up (similar distance as Ewood from home) yet park right across the road, wander across Whalley Road and within 15 minutes of leaving the house be at the turnstile with a ticket in my hand for £15 or 20 and still have time to grab a pint and have a choice of the Crown, the gazebo or sometimes the club house. Whichever one there is a reasonable choice of beer, decent enough price and decent atmosphere. Now if i were applying the same to going to Rovers home games and making a decision on the day I would look at it differently. I couldn't make a decision that late as I would probably miss kick off due to having to park some distance from the ground and having to walk down. When there there is usually a queue at the ticket office which means having to stand waiting for 10 minutes+ which is the last thing I would want to do especially when the weather is like it is A ticket would likely cost the best part of £30 if lucky with the surcharge included. If there is time for a pint the choice is either Blues Bar and having to pay to get in or the Fan Zone where they only sell Fosters, both at a high price and I begrudge paying daft prices for poor quality beer. The Stanley 'experience' in terms of convenience, cost, quality of ale etc. all superior to what is on offer at Rovers. Now that is partly because Stanley is a small scale operation and as such things like parking are much easier and I get that bit, and the football on offer in the Championship is way better than the League below in my opinion, but other elements - like the price of tickets, means of buying tickets on the day, selection and price of beer, bar offerings at the ground - could all be adjusted at Rovers to make the experience a better one. I've said many a time that if Rovers offered a bar which sold decent beer at a reasonable price I'd be in there pre-match every week but I won't spend money at Rovers given the choice and price there is in place there is at present. It all comes down to how much you want it. The little things - like Stanley doing a deal with Bowland Brewery to supply them with 'Accy Ale'. Any reason Rovers couldn't give 3 Bs up Tockholes a ring and get an order on for a few barrels per home game? There's more to it than that but you have to start at the basics and making things better. Get the fans down to Ewood as early as possible and try to keep them there after full time.

Fair do’s to the lad, he has been front and centre in the pics for the Disabled supporters Xmas do and the hospital visit.

Still vast areas to draw from in that region, The city of Birmingham is a milllon people with just two clubs within the boundary, the West Midlands ‘county’ has 3 million people, plus those clubs draw support in Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire too. Brings home that if we can get our home support up to 13/14k that’s a good effort for us at this level with our demographics and hemmed in catchment area.

Phil Jones' first mistake was leaving us too soon.

I don't, like some have said, think that Jones moved too soon, He played 41 times for united in his first season there and generally played well. His problem was that he was he was shunted around a lot and didn't get time playing in a specific position. He never really fitted one position enough and maybe he looked so good at that age simply because he developed physically earlier than other lads his age, so when everyone else caught up he wasn't as special a talent or more likely that the constant string of injuries he suffered reduced his athletic prowess. Hoilett wasn't trusted too soon, he kept us up 10/11. The problem he had was that he was trying to manage a few hamstring issues which he maybe should'v been given more time to rest up. He also picked a bad club after leaving us. Lowe - was 20 when he came in at right back and was physically ready for that level of football, again what stunted Lowe was injuries but tbh he never had the potential to be a premier league player. Hanley - Maybe he wasn't ready 2010/2011 when he played a few game but I don't think that premier league experience did him any harm

I did the stadium tour with Ronnie Clayton just before he finished doing it. We were talking about young players and he told me he was best mates with Duncan Edwards in the old days. He was going to be Duncan's best man when he got married after the 1958 World Cup. As we all know before that Edwards was killed in the Munich air crash. Ronnie said " We've got the next Duncan Edwards coming through the ranks at Ewood, a young lad called Phil Jones ". He was praising him to the skies that day. I can see why Ronnie thought that at the time but for all sorts of reasons Jones has never made the step up from good player to great player as he's got older. I was talking about Mike England earlier. He just got better and better and better. You could see him making progress game by game. He was what Jones should have become,

A special edition podcast in which Ian Herbert chats with Football365 columnist & novelist John Nicholson about football writing, the anger in crowds, Tony Mowbray and Steely Dan View full record

Rovers and Burnley - 41 wins each.

Nixon wrote it on Sunday then Sharpe comment on twitter

Sod Lowe he's irrelevant but sending Bolton down would be sweet for a whole host of reasons it could be a highlight near the end of what will probably turn out to be a modest but respectable season

The Rovers ones are brewed in Uk and 3 quid, the WMC is £1.45 and it’s imported...! I hate to think I’m a lager snob but I’m sure they can do better than plastic fosters and some overpriced 330ml plastic bottle! Had three pints of Munich Paulaner hell 4.9 imported tonight, and I’d happy pay the 4 quid a pop for that kind of quality drink! Take note Waggo!

Whilst I agree with you in terms of not quite understanding why people seem to have resigned themselves to Dack leaving in January. Im not naive enough to think anyone is unsellable. If its not even possible then you wouldnt even need to mention an asking price. Look at players like Bale and Ronaldo, even they were sold eventually as everyone has a price. It will be a monumental blow for us to lose someone we are so reliant on so lets hope hes here for the forseeable future.

As I said before, depends on the game. Night match at Derby? Largely ST holders. A game like Preston there will be a shed load of non home attendees. Take my cousins as an example, they like ‘events’. Juicy away games with a day on the ale, Burnley at home, a big cup tie etc. As much as it annoys me they would never go to Ewood at nearly £30 for a run of the mill Rovers v Sheff Wed . There are loads like that.

I'd slightly change that: 1. Right Winger 2. New 1st choice Left Back 3. Big Centre Half 4. Striker cover. 5. Challenger for Nyambe Also Reed on a permanent Trumps all these if that deal is remotely possible.

We could send Bolton down with a win at Ewood on Easter Monday. Only 2 games left after that. Lowe will have more relegations to his name than Coyle.

I find it bizarre and hypocritical that you was advocating dropping Dack (attacking talisman and consistently has scored and assisted throughout this and last season) after a couple of poor games whereas you would make Bennett undroppable regardless of form. Out wide is possibly our weakest area in terms of having players to rely upon to score and assist to contribute.

If Davenport had been fit I believe he would be a regular. Travis will only get better by playing. Big fan of him. Box to box player. Rothwell would be my playmaker in the side if Dack goes in the summer unless he stays loyal to Mowbray and Rovers would be nice to see for a season. For me, Rothwell and Davenport will be key to Mowbray changing our style of play as he has said he wants too. In that case we wouldnt pick any wide players then! Bennett starts every game as for reasons I have posted different times on here.

To be fair I think there are no questions now regarding the team spirit across the team. So not sure that criticism is relevant any more. Bennett shouldnt be shoehorned in solely due to his attitude and spirit. He should only play when his form and performances dictate that he is the best choice in a certain position. He has the capability to be able to do that and is an important member of the squad but hes got to merit his place. For example, to merit a place wide he needs to provide more of an attacking threat and goals/assists. That being said, so do all of our wide men.

I just want Rothwell to start

Deep Purple - You Fool No One

I will love that, but never gonna happen.

Corry Evans has got better without Jason Lowe in the team. Coincidence?

Gillan - New Orleans https://youtu.be/d_uZMQZnrOw

Bang on there Chadster Benno for me epitomises a never give up spirit that has been sadly lacking for a while now.

Also go in the Ewood WMC pre match with father. That McEwans cold lager hits the spot! The last time I had a pint on the ground I handed it back twice as could still taste pipe cleaner in it. I’ll never have a pint on the ground again.

Bloody hell, you were flush with cash for a newborn!

I would imagine those responses to the survey that mention Venky's will be straight in the virtual shredder.

18 month ago I would of been seriously miffed at this. But he has won me over. Been pleasantly surprised with his simple way he keeps things ticking over in the middle. Is always hassling but for a supposed defensive midfielder he is pretty weak in tackles. If he keeps up his last q8 months level going forward I would be happy. Not gonna win us any games. Or even score. But I can appreciate his game.

Things continue to improve and rebuild the relationship with the fan base

This is where Rovers really don’t help themselves. They are using this inspirational signing to have a dig at wavering fans for their lack of “commitment”. Waggott hasn’t impressed me one bit since he’s been here. Without Mowbray he would be toast.

There is a young fell who does match blogs, I think he goes by Briggsy boy. He is good now. Ye should try and get him involved

100%. Irritates the life out of me seeing Rovers fans from Hyndburn going to watch Stanley this season......

In the ‘temporary’ stand too. Oyston’s obviously made sure it’s got its safety certificate back for this earner (or not, knowing that lot).

Great to see from the club, much better than the usual ‘well what else can we do?’ line we hear. We have an over abundance of supply, so why not try and entice long standing fans back? What’s to lose?

So I received an email this morning (apologies if this has been discussed previously) Hi David, our records suggest that you haven't attended a home game at Ewood Park so far this season, but have followed Rovers on the road. In return for feedback on your attendance habits, we'd like to offer you a FREE TICKET to the Norwich City game on Saturday 22nd December. To complete the survey please click on the image below, your feedback will help inform our home ticketing strategy going forwards. It'll be interesting to see how this boosts the crowd for the Norwich game and also what they do with the answers from the survey.............

This is the decider so!

December 86... I was still making Diego Maradona dart board covers.

Googled “classless stunt” to get some idea of context, and I found a story about Janet Jackson showing her breast at a super bowl half time show. So, I think we’d agree, that’s if Waggott did the same at Ewood, at half time trying to sell HST’s. Not an image I really needed tbh.

can we just call him 'Luca' for short.............