30 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I think you will find that most of tickets were sold prior to the last week. Sky only announced this week they were showing it live. We decide to go to this game months ago given it Boxing day, no work and can go for meal on the way back. 

Can't see the Barnsley game given that Parliament won't have vote the measures in by if any actually happening which looking at Hospitalisation data is lower than 6 to 8 weeks ago btw. 

Parliament don’t need to vote on it but that’s for another topic.

Cant see this going ahead with the amount of games already called off. It’s getting farcical. It seems perverse to be postponing some games yet allowing others to go ahead with no restrictions on attendance. Either call them all off or let them happen.

4 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

Really? That'd be incredibly disappointing but I really don't see the logic. They've probably started about 15 games between them but are now looking like key players in a potential promotion push. Does the LT say why? I suppose it would make sense if they had an injury crisis, but it's not as though they're anywhere near the bottom 3. 

Well the obvious answer is Covid cases. Brighton probably don’t care that much about our promotion push and need the extra numbers in case they’re hit hard by Covid. We’d do the same in their position.

1 hour ago, 47er said:

Well here's something simple, sell those 4 in January and our promotion push will be halted in its tracks and the best group of players we've had in a decade will be dismantled.

We'll be back where we started with lower crowds. Is that what you want?

That’s needlessly provocative.

Its reasonable to point out that breaking the wage structure for a number of players will render said structure completely redundant. That’s fine if we secure promotion but it’s a gamble which could lock us into an even more precarious financial position if we fail.

Whichever way you look at it, it’s a very difficult situation and demanding that the club simply give the players whatever they want overlooks the potentially significant consequences.

Rovers. It’s not even close.

1 minute ago, 47er said:

Is he warning us we won't get reinforcements in January or that, if we do, they will be replacements for the "stars" we have to sell? If they have 18 months left on their contracts, why not wait till summer?

It seems simple to me but possibly not to Venkys. All they have to do is to keep this going for a few more months and they could get all their losses back in one go , or most of them.

Sensible owners would back the manager in January to maximise our chances but that is apparently beyond them.

Our wage to turnover rate is 200%. Sadly, something has to give. Breaking our wage structure for several players is a massive risk. Let’s hope we can keep the run going and the players choose to stick around on terms we can afford.

12 minutes ago, Elvis Biro said:

If you want to come down to earth, have a read of Mowbray's interview on the BBC website. Defeatist, depressing shite.

Who cares what he says in a post match interview? Of course he’s not going to say that we should get carried away. It’s completely irrelevant.

Phenomenal run of form. We will have a blip at some point so let’s enjoy it while it lasts. Hope COVID doesn’t disrupt things further.

35 minutes ago, Ulrich said:

No baiting, 2 players out of 1000s. Scottish football has declined massively over the years. I hope I am wrong but he's 26, doesn't score much in a weak league, so I'm not expecting much. One of TMs weaknesses has been signing players who just aren't good enough. It's a habit I would like to see him break.

I’d argue that TM’s transfers have been one of his stronger points, particularly now Brereton has come good. Every manager gets a few wrong but TM’s hit rate isn’t that bad. How he uses them is a completely different matter. Last season was a disaster because we’d had a really strong couple of transfer windows and he wasted it.

2 hours ago, Bohinen1983 said:

If I was Tony Mowbray I'd be giving Joe Rothwell whatever he's asking for. The man is an angel. He glides around a football pitch majestically and blends that with an element of comabtiveness- an absolute joy to watch.  He could easily play Premierleague football.  We've been fortunate enough to witness some top-top talent at Rovers over the years and there's little doubt in my mind Rothwell is in that category.

You simply cannot let this kind of asset leave for nothing- name a like-for-like replacement?! You can't, you simply can't!

 

If we break the wage structure for one we’d have to break it for all. That is the problem. Brereton, Nyambe and Lenihan would all demand the same. 

1 minute ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

😳

You really would hope we could manage to break the 12k mark for a Club in our position come Saturday.

12k eh? ....hits home hard now much damage has been done.

It’s games like these where we see the scale of the situation. No ticket deals, not a local derby. Just a mediocre game with averagely priced tickets. You’d hope that being in great form will entice a few but it will be nowhere near the PNE gate (regarding home attendance). 

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

There will always be a load of empty seats as there are 20,000 to go at in home areas (no DEnd or BBE Upper) and we only have around 7,500 ST holders, and as you just won’t get 6/7000 plus buying match day tickets every week - we are a ST heavy fan culture at Rovers, the disaster that was the summer’s ST sales campaign comes home to roost, again.

The summer was where the damage was done, not helped by the apathy following last season. I’m not convinced that reduced match day ticket prices would do too much based on games like this weekend. Tickets are £25 and we’re a top 4 side right now yet as it stands we’ll do well to get over 10k home fans on.

16 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

If the goal isn't to get back into the top division then what is the point?

To help the club financially survive? I hope we don’t sell and on current form it would need to take a crazy offer. But if a crazy offer was to be made then the club would need to seriously consider it. It’s the only way we can operate sustainably. 

11 hours ago, Upside Down said:

A penny more than £20 for any second division game is outrageous.

Charging any more than that shows nothing other than a total disregard and lack of respect for the fans.

Then be angry at the entire football league. You can’t simply blame Rovers for charging over £20 when it’s the norm at virtually every club in the EFL never mind the championship.

I find it sad that some fans still choose to boycott. It’s their right to do so but imo, support shouldn’t be conditional on who the manager is or the owners are. 

1 hour ago, Upside Down said:

Selling Diaz half way through the season will show how little ambition the owners have.

Unless of course the ambition is to line the pockets of agents and the like. After all, it wouldn't be the first time they have done that.

It depends on the deal. If clubs are throwing £25m+ at us then we’re not in a position to turn that down regardless of our ambitions. 

What is going on. Crazy. Phenomenal result. 

I think we have to come to terms with the reality that Brereton will likely be gone in Jan, although I can’t see why we’d accept an offer now when it seems inevitable that there will be a number of bidders when the window opens.

If we get offered £25m plus then I can’t see us turning that down. Buying low and selling high is the only sustainable way this club can operate and it’s unlikely we’d see that money in the summer unless we secure promotion which is still a long shot (even if we make the play offs). We survived Armstrong’s departure and Brereton has only sparked into life in the last few months. Every player has a price tag etc.

Who we get in to replace him will obviously be critical. I don’t think it’ll torpedo our promotion chances provided that we recruit well and strengthen across the board. 

1 minute ago, rovers11 said:

Brereton out for 20m and then Maja + 2 other quality players in and new deals for key players = a very good deal. But my concern is 20m in the coffers and a loan replacement. 

Personally I think Breo is having the season of his life and we may not see this kinda money for him again. 

There's no doubt if the reports are true then we'll accept 20m. We won't turn down that down for a player who won't sign a new deal and who cost us a big transfer fee. 

I can fully believe that we would accept £20m and it may be advantageous to at least get it sorted with enough time to find a decent replacement.

I think we’ve got a lot of this sort of speculation to come so I’m reserving judgement until we hear that a deal is done.

If the money is right, he goes. I don’t know why we would agree a deal before the window opens though so not buying the Brighton link just yet. If he keeps scoring, there will surely be other clubs interested in Jan.

5 hours ago, JHRover said:

Yes I do expect a new Riverside. There's more to a stadium and stand than just numbers through the door. It doesn't need to increase capacity of Ewood, but it could improve everything else about the place.

The facility is inadequate for modern day requirements. I think it is one of the worst stands in the top 2 divisions. No disabled facilities, no concourse, no shelter, uncovered seats, restricted view seats. It needs replacing and there's no reason it couldn't be if the owners were serious about improving things here.

Speaking of FFP - a new stand with proper facilities would provide additional income streams to help with FFP - office space, retail space, hospitality - whilst also making Ewood Park a better venue to host other events.

Turd Moor held England U23s the other week. Why are games being held there when none are held at Ewood? More £££ missed out on.

The pitch isn't up to scratch. The groundstaff do their best but we haven't had many games on it recently and it will deteriorate again rapidly. Waggott knows this which is why he was promising a new one but then failed to deliver. The current arrangement is just a patch up job until the next bad spell hits.

Again it is all just emblematic of a club that has cut corners for far too long and it comes back to bite.

Extra office space, retail and hospitality? We barely use the available hospitality space in the stadium as it is. The Darwen End hospitality area has been empty on match days for years. A hotel is the only idea I’ve heard about but until we’re back in the pl, we can’t justify a new riverside.

29 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

One thing about BBD's season that isn't getting much mention though is that he isn't the main man in the middle. He rarely plays centrally, yet has scored a hatful. Any club who already has a good central striker will be thinking how they can do if they can add a bunch of goals from the flank too. It doesn't need to be 15 goals, 10 from the flank in the Prem would be a very nice return.

It’s incredible to think that he has a more all round game than Armstrong and is arguably a better player on current form.

The massive plus with Brereton is that he’s shown he can cut it at a higher level whilst under pressure (international football). How many Championship strikers are scoring regularly for a decent international team? That may convince a PL club to go in for him in Jan but it would take silly money to get him as it stands.

Need to keep our feet on the ground with this one. A defeat wouldn’t be the end of the world provided that we’re competitive.  That said, any positive result would be brilliant. A win and expectations might start to get seriously dizzy.

2 hours ago, Ulrich said:

https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/leeds-united-transfer-rumours/leeds-transfer-latest-brereton-diaz-mowbray/

Bye Ben, thanks for the memories.

We’d want big money for him in Jan given the contract extension option and our season so far. Given his international exploits and cult following in Chile, I can’t see him going for less than £25m.

In the summer it will be different as the situation will be akin to Armstrong and we’d be more willing to accept a lower offer to avoid losing him for nothing.

On 05/12/2021 at 11:27, 47er said:

Its unrealistic in the view of many. Your disposable income tells you whether its scandalous or not.

Probably represents 4 hours work for some.

Of course it’s relative as to what people consider to be expensive. I’m not suggesting £30 is cheap and I agree that it’s too much for a second tier football match. However, £30 is roughly the going rate these days so I don’t consider it to be an outrage.

£25 for the weekend would have been about right but I’m still not sure we would have seen a significantly bigger crowd with that. 

44 minutes ago, tomphil said:

How about just normal match pricing for a game like PKE ?

People chucking about cheap deals then others saying but you'd have to sell twice as many etc, why not just price it sensibly ?

I know quite a few on both sides of the fence who snubbed it yesterday because of the price, they probably wouldn't have if it was normal.  15 quid one week, 20 quid another then 30 all for teams in the same division it's all bollocks just get some sense back into it.

Thing is they say fan re-engagement but they aren't focused on that at all it's just about hitting pre set targets predicted income. Then they just juggle the price around in between.

Got to start getting 11/12k per week back first then games like that priced sensibly turn into 16/17k home fans etc.  Only way to really do it is get the ST prices really irresistible before you start messing with game by game prices.

The mistake was made in the summer with ST prices. The club are now locked in to ensuring the ST remains value for money and they can’t therefore discount match day tickets each week. I’m pleased that the club have at least done something with midweek pricing and the Sheff Utd game discounts but that can only go so far.

I feel that the reaction to the Preston pricing was a bit much. £30 is about the going rate for a Champ game these days. Bournemouth is the same next weekend. I don’t agree with it and wish we could be more creative and ambitious with our ticketing but at the same time, I don’t think £30 is scandalous.

2 minutes ago, rigger said:

I don't think Mowbrays statements get less ridiculous when we are winning, I just take less notice of them. 

Statements in the media have no relevance at all.

You’d rather have a manager who got worse results but delivered more interesting comments in the press??