Bolton have sold 12,070 early bird season tickets. Probably another 2 months until we get to find out how much ours are going up.

Or the other way of looking at it is that the owners must approve player sales and those on the ground couldn't get that approval and as such Rothwell stayed. That doesn't mean that Venkys are watching results and performances and then made a conscious decision to retain Rothwell to improve our promotion prospects. I think it is more likely that their permission to sell him in January simply couldn't be obtained by those on the ground at Ewood. We know they don't communicate and don't move quickly. Perfectly realistic that they had calls and emails requesting authority to sell Rothwell and they didn't bother picking up the phone or making a decision in time.

I think for Mowbray it will come down to what, if anything, they offer him in the summer. Quite clear there was a break down in communications of sorts around January 2021 which led to his demeanour over the second half of last season. No summit meeting since 2019 and would you believe it the money dries up and sales start for the first time in his reign. I think he was pretty unhappy with things last year and managers with more clout behind them would possibly have walked but I think Mowbray knows that for all his talk about how hard his life is, what a family man he is and the difficult commute that he's actually on a real winner here at a great old club with great facilities/academy and has control over things as he likes it. No pressure from supporters, media or directors, owners happy to pick up the tab every year with no demands on performance. I doubt there's another professional club in the world with such little scrutiny, pressure or accountability. If he gets another summer of silence, sales and zero money to spend then even he might ask whats the point. But if he gets his Pune meeting, they promise to give him some cash to spend and tell him what a nice man he is I'm sure he won't want to turn that down. Simply getting on a plane to India will tell us and the owners that he is interested in staying and he's not going to be taken there to be sacked or told they're appointing someone else.

I think that there are two ways of looking at the situation. That Venkys are just letting his contract run down before he leaves and someone else is appointed in the summer, or they are aware of our League position and are waiting to see how we finish before deciding. And then the alternative which is that Venkys haven't the slightest clue nor interest in results, and that the inertia is because they don't care and don't look at us until the summer. I know which I think is the case, and I fully expect them to offer Mowbray new terms when they can be bothered looking at us.

We're still in the top 6 (somehow) so we won't turn our form around yet. It will be late April once we are looking up at the top 6 that our form starts to recover. Someone said last night that it was Bournemouth away - 11th December - when we last saw Rovers score a League goal away from home (as Cardiff was behind closed doors). That is ridiculous. Coventry have fight and will keep going until the end as we learned at Ewood and as their home form suggests. Even though they lost to Hull last time round they had chances (real chances such as a ball being about 1mm from going over the line, not the chances we claim to have when a tame shot from the edge of the area is easily claimed by the keeper)

It will just be more of the same Prices will go up. Sales go down. Only three ways of increasing sales by any significant number: Lower the price Have them on sale for longer capitalise on a feel good factor or ambition Some dismal promotional strap line, accusations of 'not being a real fan' if you don't renew. Same management team, same transfer approach, same hard luck excuses, FFP etc. Wait until play offs long gone and people disappointed before starting selling.

Bolton now at 11,000. Looks like there's a rush on to secure seats at early bird prices of £219 to £289 before the deadline tomorrow. That's at least 11,000 signed up, committed, cash paid for a League One campaign before the end of March. Meanwhile at Ewood we've had some nonsensical babble from Waggott about 'inflationary pressures' preventing us selling tickets and rumours of an announcement at some point in April. If its anything like previous years it will be June, £400+ with no proper early bird discount or period This would be all well and good if it wasn't obliterating our support base. The numbers however suggest it is. 8000 last year and will that be beaten this with another season of Mowbray and dull transfer business?

Yeah but Bolton and Wigan got new owners, even though there's nobody in the world interested in buying North West town clubs with 'small' crowds, which is why we have to be ever so grateful for the Venky benevolence. Look at Bury FFS!!

Season ticket update: Bolton now past 10,000 sales with early bird prices of less than £250 still running. Good job we're in the fortunate position of not needing to sell them.

I've arrived at the point where I think the people running the club (Waggott) would be quite happy to see people go elsewhere. As long as he can justify his decisions to his bosses in India and keep himself on the gravy train until retirement day I don't think he gives a stuff about fan experience or getting numbers up. If this latest scheme puts a few more off going who cares? At least it avoids him having to do anything down there to address queues and if he's really lucky he might be able to mothball the ticket office altogether.

Problems in the Blues Bar with queues - solution? Put prices up and charge more to get in Problems with queus for tickets on matchday - solution? Make it more difficult to buy and collect tickets Both will achieve the desired outcome - less hassle - just a shame it will probably also mean less people go and less money is spent at the ground. Remember though - FFP!

I think he left the club during the Gary Bowyer days, then strangely or surprisingly made a comeback. Since then a part of the furniture. Certainly makes me wonder.

Whatever it is it needs nailing down with the 150th anniversary coming soon. Would be an epic slip up to get that one wrong.

Waggott has already laid the groundwork for that one with his reference in the last Fans Forum to 'inflationary pressures' so I imagine he will point to the national inflation rate as justification to hike prices yet again. Almost can't blame him really when it seems a majority of people online are still under the delusion that we are cheap and that Rovers have been effectively giving tickets away. With such rampant delusion embedded in the minds of so many with such little effort it is like taking candy from a baby. A few have woken up to it now but a lot haven't and when they do they will simply stop going rather than kick up a fuss about it. Just about the only thing Waggott has consistently delivered on in his time is an increase in prices across the board. Proof will be in the pudding, he's demolished sales already and a miserable summer and further increase will only continue the trend.

I have no interest in what Waggott, Sylvester or Talbot have to say. I've seen and heard enough. The game is at Ewood. Rovers set the prices and allocation. Rovers print the tickets and send them to Blackpool.

At the end of the day Chaddy numerous clubs around the Football League have run extensive consultation periods with their supporters and the overwhelming response is that safe standing should be offered. It is for this reason the government has started to allow it and it has already been installed in several grounds. Of course some people don't want to stand. I'm one of them. They don't have to, there will still be seats available. Once again though Rovers getting left behind. Rivals consulting with their supporters, thinking carefully about it, actively pursuing it whilst all we get in the Fans Forum is Waggott claiming to look into it (Which in Waggott speak actually means nothing is happening) and some sob story about the cost. I wonder if he's done a cost/benefit analysis of a potential increase in ticket sales and the benefits of safe standing to that? Of course he hasn't. Nothing will happen at Ewood because that requires money to be invested.

You didn't answer my question. I appreciate that it is your main social activity. It's mine too. But what happens if Waggott continues to increase prices by circa 15%+ each summer as he has done recently? My question "for what"? was more aimed at the Club than you. Why are our tickets, with the lowest demand to seats ratio in the League, and in one of the poorest areas with lowest running costs, so expensive when basic things like ground maintenance are neglected? Why am I at risk of missing games due to postponements as a result of inadequate drainage/pitch condition?

What happens if you can't afford to renew? At the rate Waggott has increased prices I think a lot will be reaching that point, if they aren't already there. One of the most expensive season tickets in the league and for what?

No that must be false. Nobody wants to buy 2nd division loss making clubs. Isn't that why we are stuck with Venkys?

Just waiting for us to drop out of the promotion picture altogether and then they can try selling expensive season tickets to a demoralised fanbase right around the time Rothwell, Nyambe and Lenihan leave and they announce Mowbray's new deal then wonder why sales are poor.

Back 10-12 rows of BBE and DE, or all of the side blocks and keep the middle seated. End blocks of the Riverside wouldn't upset too many although might affect views from more central blocks.

I see that yesterday they announced the Darwen End is going to be open to home fans for the Blackpool fixture. So after they had the 'Double Decker' deal which saw perhaps 1000 at a push buy discounted tickets in there, they then announced that they were going to continue that option through to the end of the season. This announcement was made 3 days before the Bristol City home game. Less than 24 hours after making that announcement they declare that actually the DE isn't open to home fans and that decision was due to 'lack of uptake'. Quite how they come to that conclusion having allowed less than 1 day between announcements I'm not sure. I'd also be interested to know what 'uptake' they were expecting or required to make it worthwhile, especially after sales of less than 1,000 for QPR/Millwall even at cheap prices. After knocking it on the head for Bristol City, they've then left it for 2 weeks without any information or announcement, and now 2 weeks before the Blackpool game, have suddenly announced that it is open to home fans, even though home tickets have been on sale for almost 2 weeks already. I'm not sure what they are playing at here but it seems to be an absolute fiasco in terms of organisation and communication. I'm all in favour of trying to get home fans in both ends and growing the DE as a home area but how on earth do they expect this to succeed if they are running it like this? I wouldn't rule out the possibility of another U turn over the course of this week and it being closed again before the game takes place.

As others have rightly pointed out it is a fallacy to persist with Mowbray purely because it is the easy/cheap option or because it could be worse. It is a fallacy because his departure is inevitable. It might be this summer, it might be next year, it might be in 3,4,5 years, but it will happen. It might be that we sack him, it might be that his contract runs down, it might be that he gives up and has a rest/retires, or it might be that another club comes along and offers him a move and he takes it. The latter two of those possibilities I think are unlikely any time soon, because there aren't many managers who give up a good number especially after a 'good' season, and I don't see there being many clubs willing and able to entice him away from his cushy number here. But it could happen and if it does then Mowbray is in control, not Venkys or Rovers. Such a thing could happen very quickly and unexpectedly. Hell he could sign a new 3 year deal tomorrow and then in a couple of months get a call from someone willing to pay to take him away. Nothing we can do about that. So the only question is whether we accept our lot, drift along with Mowbray the one who decides when the time is right for a change and we are then scrambling around for a replacement from a position of weakness and under time pressure, or whether the Club comes first and dictates when that happens and makes a change at a convenient time when the next manager can be sourced from a wider market and is under less pressure to hit the ground running. The outcome is the same either way. Whether it be tomorrow or in 3 years there is a future without Mowbray as manager and the Club has to have a plan for that. There also has to be some ambition in the Club to seize that opportunity, when it comes, to improve and progress rather than looking at it with dismay and concern. Some people on Social Media seem to be under the impression that Mowbray can and will continue forever, that he is doing such a stellar job here that there is no risk of any other club ever offering him a better deal than Rovers and that a managerial change here is the end of the world as we know it. Most fans and clubs see a change as something to be embraced. Of course it doesn't always work out. In which case you make another change, and so on and so forth. Never making a change because you have no confidence in making one that works is insanity, especially when change is inevitable sooner rather than later anyway.

Yeah but what about 'inflationary pressures' which Waggott gave as the reason we can't sell any?

The Riverside. Add to the training ground, pitch and a whole assortment of other things Waggott was looking into. 4.5 years later and naff all done.