Mattyblue

Ripley and Wilcox were classic wingers that were a major factor in us us winning the Premier League title! ’Not pretty’ like having a lanky striker out there indeed!

Unfortunately towns like Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, that aren’t small places by any means, are full of locals that would rather ‘support’ the Manchester clubs than their local institution. Armchair United fans on social media ‘what a shame for my local club’

I don’t agree on the upper tier, but it’s here to stay by the looks of it so I may as well stop mentioning it. West Brom next week will be full of fans that don’t go near Ewood (glamour cup tie or Burnley game aside), ‘it’s shit at home’. The stats bear that out, we’ve often sold a few hundred away tickets to ST holders before general sale, 2,000 then turn up at a West Brom or Stoke. A PROPER singing section could bring some back, but there seems little appetite at the club to help bring one about. Since relegation in 2012, for Championship seasons (apart from Coyle season) we have pretty much sold the same amount of STs give or take a 1,000 either way, between 11500 and 13000 home fans in the ground week by week (if you believe official figures). Only two things will change that 1) promotion or to a lesser extent but at least a spike, a season challenging- how many weeks since 2012 have we spent in the top 6? A near decade of mediocrity. 2) Reduced ST prices ideally in conjunction with a singing section. Huddersfield, a club with a similar fanbase to us are a prime example of how it can be successful. But for me that needs to be timed correctly, you do it on the back of finishing 15th, I’d wager little take up, do it on the back of decent season in which we were knocking around the top 6 and an exciting transfer window and it could work well.

It’s all tinkering round the edges, in reality. All comes down to one thing, Ewood at 31,000 is far too big for a club with 8,600 paid season ticket holders...

‘Campaign’? What a suggestion from a couple of posters? And what evidence is there that it is more effective? I’d say we play better with a bit of atmosphere in the ground. Newcastle have about 10,000 home fans in the tier below, if we could fill the DE lower with our own fans then fantastic, get them out of the way, but we can’t. Millwall is a very small bottom tier and that is on police orders anyway. Nowhere else in football has a bottom tier the size of the DE lower (5000 seats) left totally empty. Does it really matter? Not particularly, just in my opinion it makes Ewood look and sound even worse and on TV especially. And I’m not on my own from talking to people on match day.

Jim’s spider senses aroused...

That’s some praise from you!

Nothing to do with stewarding costs according to Waggott, all about the ‘marginal gains’ Of course it still looks crap either way, but that is a hell of a big bottom tier to have completely empty (though they have to open it anyway for a handful of disabled fans and their carers. So toilets, food outlets still need to be opened and staffed. Bloody daft).

If we were playing say Burnley and they were given 5,000 tickets, if they put 3k upstairs and the rest downstairs, I get it, it splits up their support and dilutes what would otherwise be a raucous packed bottom tier. If you are playing Cardiff in a run of the mill Championship game, does Waggott really believe it will make one iota of difference where their 6/700 fans are? It just makes Ewood look desolate.

I’m no fan of Bell, but he has to play for the balance of the side. It’s only for one game, and who knows Cunningham coming in might be the rocket up his arse it often looks like he needs.

Sorry, my mistake

Wasn’t that Myles?

Mercer posts everything tongue in cheek and to be a contrarian, doesn’t he? I remember when he first joined and he spent his first weeks going on about what a great club Burnley are! He’s often quite good at it, but he gets sloppy sometimes and makes it too obvious he’s on the wind up - like the other week when he said ‘if you are looking to bounce back Fulham away is the ideal game’

And for that very reason (second instance too) they should have a substantial points deduction imposed, I mean the EFL wouldn’t want to see the ‘integrity of the league’ being questioned, would they?

‘Marginal gains’, just like Team Sky, don’t you know...