Just now, AllRoverAsia said:

30 shirts, 15 tracksuits and 6 Suits ... but no Pasha

Maybe younger players added to make the shirt v tracksuit numbers more realistic.

Maybe Pasha took the picture, like he did of the Rovers/Blackpool FA Cup tie protest?

18 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

On the topic of stand closures, Waggott is desperate to knock down the riverside and redevelop. His big dream is to build a hotel. Doing this would doubtless drive away even more fans. I think there’d be a significant number who would just stop going rather than relocate elsewhere.

Hotel management - that's probably his limit. 10% surcharge on all same day bookings.

Just now, old darwen blue said:

Ha ha so that’s how I could get my Darren End seat back ?

Ha ha not if a Wilcox hating, geriatric Riversider was sat in it!

23 minutes ago, Athlete said:

People can argue all they want on here but the facts remain the same Venkys, the closing of stands, prices, the club treating the loyal season ticket holders  like idiots with the 1875 etc etc 

Also BWD is one of the most deprived areas in the country with the highest number of people on universal credit in the UK. 

So it's not rocket science why our crowds are poor..... Needs a JW to initiate new ideas to attract fans not a bean counter like Waggot 

Wrong thread?

Just now, darrenrover said:

None close to the stadium but plenty in the town centre. There's a regular shuttle bus to the ground from the railway station.

We used to have a service like that from Blackburn railway station.

Just now, gumboots said:

I agree some kids might but my kids were never really bothered, perhaps because at that time you'd see our players out and about round Clitheroe and Blackburn

Less exposure to bad language in the BBE upper as well?

5 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

last season is last season. Instead why you talk about this season and the fact that we have kept 4 clean sheets in last 5 games. 

instead of your cheap shots at Mowbray. We have made 3 signings in the defensive area in 2 defenders and keeper. Cunningham is a major plus at left, Walton has impressed and Tosin look better than Rodwell. 

I and others talk about last season because people have memories. If statements aren't delivered, people lose trust, that's the same in any walk of life. No cheap shot there.

9 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

1. Anyone buying a season ticket and paying it monthly starting in June or July. So it not like you have to pay it all off at once. 

4. Yes the one from Accy going from the Sydney street pub. I know a number of ppl who catch that one. Why does Blackburn Council not have interest in this when it would help bring in money into the area. Most of parking opposite the ground has gone now thanks to them

6. Not at all as some people are members of both. 

8. Has it really? putting the younger fans next to the home dugout is a good idea. 

10. Talking this season as I said to MattyBlue yesterday

 

1. Some people don't like direct debit and will only pay when they can afford the full price.

4. Agreed.

6. 1875 club is an additional benefit system to holding a season ticket. This obviously puts season ticket holders noses out.

8. BRFC has now displaced 3 sets of long standing season ticket holders. Every time that happens fans are lost. We can ill afford to lose one fan, let alone 100's.

10. Ok.

Just now, MarkBRFC said:

It is a bit strange that someone who only signs up for the 1875 club for £15 a season can get tickets for this for £10, yet someone who stumps up £300-400 and doesn't join the 1875 club has to pay a fiver more.

Seems like 1875 members are held in higher regard than season ticket holders sometimes.

I've said before, this 1875 club devalues season tickets.

Everything should be: offers to season ticket holders, everyone else pays full price.

On 13/09/2019 at 20:58, Oldgregg86 said:

So there is an evening with Matt Jansen on Friday 27th of this month. Tickets are £15 and £10 for the 1875 crew.

anybody going ?

Where's the incentive for season ticket holders?

How many games have we been unchanged under Mowbray?

Answers on a postage stamp.

On 15/09/2019 at 00:14, chaddyrovers said:

Top 6 by end of the season..dont get owt for being there now. 3 points off top 6 now after 7 games

Villa were 13th in Feb/March time ending up in 5th spot. 

 

We were 1 point off top 6 last January with the transfer window still open.

"Defenders are coming" dear me.

8 hours ago, tomphil said:

Our stadium manager, matchday police and whoever else involved don't seem to want that it makes a dozy lazy day at Ewood hardwork they don't want shaking out of their slumber by home and away fans shouting  at each other over a fence, block of seats and netting, it's all part of the match day experience at most grounds but not the trailblazers at Ewood.

Seems they'd much rather alienate a few hundred into not coming at all.

 

 

Good point. None of the senior administrators or board (Coar excepted?) are Rovers fans so it is a job rather than a labour of love.

9 hours ago, Yonder12 said:

Hammered? Or Chance.

Your post contradicts itself.

#justsayin

Chance to get hammered?

20 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Great idea. Maybe even give shirts away to fans who the club visits in schools. 

My dad and mum bought a season ticket this season even tho they will only get to 5 or 6 games a season. Dad says it shows his support for club. He spend alot time away from the area now but still enjoy going to game. He passes his tickets to friends of his who go to games he doesn't. 

1. Surely you know whether you will buy a season ticket whenever they go on sale. 

4. Could Blackburn Rovers along with Blackburn and Darwen council not introduce a Bus ticket scheme where it like cheaper prices for season ticket holders 

6. disagree on the abolish 1875 club. 

7. very good idea

8. surely the family stand is much better next to the Rovers dugout and the players/managers for autography's and pictures with them 

10. Rovers only move kick off times for Sky TV coverage. 

14. With Rovers announce the prices of each game for the season before the season starts it allow some walk ons fans the choice of games they can attend and allow some fans to save up. 

15. Surely this depends on who the freebies are for. if it is for schools then surely it good idea to get the into football and watching it from early age. Not every parent as time or the money for it. 

1. A lot of people have more disposable income in April - many have pay rises. Whereas in June or July, people are spending on holidays and have switched off football.

4. Blackburn Council have no buses or interest and this would not help people in other boroughs. There are 6 coaches still going to home games (3 from Darwen, 2 Rishton & 1 Accy). They pay between £3 and £5 per game. Going on a coach with friends or family becomes a habit.

6. 1875 Club devalues season tickets. Evening with Matt Jansen, discounted tickets for 1875 members, season ticket holders full price. Any event/offer should be: discount to season ticket holders, everyone else full price.

7. Ok.

8. That move displaced more fans who sat in the JW Lower.

10. Lancs police confirmed it was a club request to move Preston and Leeds last season but the club denied it.

14. All games should be the same price.

15. No problem with free schools tickets for odd games. There are too many free SEASON tickets for staff. It was Waggott who gave the figure.

The Super 6 offer in recent seasons and the mid-week game in winter where prices are cut are a waste of time.

Just now, Miller11 said:

This is nowhere near as simple as some, including Waggott, seem to think it is.

We need to get more fans through the gate, broadly let’s put these in to two categories: New and Lapsed.

As @JHRover pointed out in his superb post, you can’t compare crowds now to the 80s. There was a huge surge in footballs popularity in the 90s, but 20 something years on, it’s all change again. I know lads who love football... talk about it, play it, watch it, spend vast amounts of money on it... but to them it’s a television program. Kids are increasingly going to grow up thinking this way. The exposure to football on TV, not to mention online services is mind boggling. Not only do we (and all clubs at all levels for that matter) have a real fight on their hands to get people to break their habits, they have to offer an experience that people want to repeat.

There is no quick fix. It’s about being innovative, inclusive and engaging over the long term. It shouldn’t be a 2/3 times a season thing, it needs to be constant and targeted towards the entire community. A few suggestions off the top of my head:

- Missed the boat in this one, but go to freshers fairs at UCLAN, Lancaster Uni etc. Offer a package to freshers £30 for tickets to 3 games and put some coaches on. It’d take a couple of iPads and a couple of people to shift a few tickets and to potentially add loads of names to the ticket office database.

- Go to some of the big employers in the area, offer them some heavily discounted match tickets. £25 for a family of 4, or maybe a tenner a pop. Make it so they can buy them direct from the employer... can’t see many companies turning down free perks for their staff. Might get a few workmates deciding to give it a go. Rotate it around to give each one a few opportunities a season

- Become far more visible in and around Blackburn - get to events, support the community more. Have a word with Gaz Aspden about the upcoming Spezial exhibition he’s doing, send a few players along, sponsor it. Saw a post on social media from the organisers of Darwen Live looking for people to get involved and potential sponsors. Just have some visibility and presence around Blackburn, Accy, Darwen, Clitheroe... nobody in any of those places should be able to organise an event or anything without getting a phone call from someone at Rovers asking how they can get involved. If you want the community to support you be more involved in it.

There is a whole other massive discussion around improving the match day experience. Again, something we don’t see enough proactive attempts at. 

Lapsed fans Probably need to be broken down further into those who have drifted away, and those who are making a conscious decision not to attend. I fall into the latter, so feel I can give an informed opinion on this. 

I can get a free ticket to any home game, but this means sitting on my own, in a stand I don’t like. It’s not the Rovers experience I know and loved for 20 odd years. I told Steve Waggott that I am still very distrustful of Venky’s, and while I can’t see my stance towards them changing, I wasn’t a million miles off deciding to get a season ticket again this year since I got to the point where I’d had enough about 4 years ago. He was making the right noises about understanding what the fans had been through, and needing them back. I told him I didn’t have the answer, but felt that I needed some sort of gesture from the club. I don’t feel I’ve had that and still feel a disconnect to the extent that I don’t want to part with my money. Coming out and saying “we’ve done all we can, it’s down to the fans now” isn’t only stupidly divisive, it’s also a load of bollocks. Judging by the thoughts of others on here there are as many barriers being put up for lapsed fans to return than pathways for them... if not more.

Good post. 2 brief points I'm reply.

1. Burnley have been offering discounted tickets through employers for some time. Naturally I declined the offer at my employer.

2. 28 September is the date of the Ribble Valley Mod Weekender. It's one of the biggest events in the Clitheroe calendar and an area with high disposable income.

Just now, JoeHarvey said:

Quite clearly I'm talking about fans who are nearby. Oddly specific story to bring up there really. I'm not talking about Blackburn fans who aren't from Blackburn and the surrounding areas. I'm sure if you looked at the database and compiled all the people who've stopped coming, not many would be from so far away.

Where do you make it clear?

Why differentiate between those fans who live close by and those who live further afield?

It seems Mr Harvey twists other posts to suit his own agenda. Where has anyone mentioned "50p here and there on the bus"?

Just now, MarkBRFC said:

I would never say to anyone, whether they had the money/time or not, to prioritise something like going to Rovers over something else.

For example, two lads who years ago I went to games with every week, both now live in north Staffordshire. They are both doing well for themselves and could afford it, and probably would have time to go to a game every now and then too but don't, they follow everything religiously and could tell you everything that is happening at the club, yet just don't have any real desire to attend games at the moment, and haven't done I'd say without checking since Hughes left.

If I rang them up today and said "what are you doing on Saturday", and they replied with "nothing yet" and then I followed it up with right, "you have a free day, and can obviously afford it, so you must go to watch Rovers on Saturday, you should prioritise it" They would probably laugh in my face and put the phone down.

How is it any of your business to state that?!

Because he's a "real" supporter, whatever that is.

22 minutes ago, JoeHarvey said:

If food prices, beer choices, weed on the ground outside, 50p here and there on the bus and the quality of the pie stops you from going watching your team on a Saturday, then the problem is you and not the club. I don't care whether that's a divisive one, because it's true. Almost all of these points are nothing points, they don't matter. Blackburn is our team, it should be people's priority where possible financially, and when people can find the time. If you don't come to Ewood because of little things like weeds outside, the price of a pie or the fact the family stand moved from the BBE to the JW then I can't even begin to understand.

All of these points are great. YES pies should be cheaper. YES the weeds need dealing with, and the price hike for tickets on the day shouldn't be there. BUT, almost everything mentioned is miniscule or avoidable. They just sound like petty excuses not to go and see YOUR team play.

I can't ever see our crowd getting above an average of 12/13k again until we get promoted. And the fact that if we did get promoted, the crowd would be upto 15/16k says more about our fan base than the club.

In one breath you say "All of these points are great" and in the next, "almost everything mentioned is miniscule". Make your mind up!

2 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Yes, it was that same pub, where he is supposed to have said it.

Allegedly.

Just now, rigger said:

I was impressed with Villa last season. How they pushed the be part of the pride idea, due to them being lions. Us being Rovers, we could be part of the pack. Kids would love it.

Hard to put a price on belonging/identity hence my idea to revive Supporters branches. Also people are creatures of habit hence my idea for organised travel to home games.

14 hours ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Well, it's all in the past, so move on Lol

"Badly advised" FFS!

"Get behind the lads" blah, blah, blah.