Brentford are based in London. So of course their prices will be higher. Incomes are much higher although pro rata I expect their season tickets are probably better value than ours when average incomes are factored in. Furthermore they will have to cover the costs of running a ground in London - paying staff and stewards will be much higher than in Blackburn which probably eats up the difference.

I'll have a bet now with anyone who wants it that we dont sell more than Bolton. Waggott will massage the figures to vindicate his approach but take off the comps and free kids tickets and sales will be less than 7000 I expect. Some will say that's all part of life in the 2nd division or due to coronavirus or point out that 40 years ago we had a similar number at this level. Still doesn't explain how a 4th division club down the road sell more.

I dont know about an enemy agent sent to ruin Rovers. But how about this for a conspiracy: Mowbray has been promising to sign proper defenders for over a year and has failed. Who knows why that might be but our current situation represents a recruitment failure without a doubt. It is cheap and easy to drip feed stuff to the media to keep the fans quiet and buy some time. The alternative is panic stations. It is in his and the club's interests for people to believe things are happening and that good players who would improve us are being chased. The Kipre one has bought him another fortnight. Now it turns out WBA were in the pursuit weeks ago so we were highly unlikely to get him unless that deal collapsed and nobody else came in We've form for this sort of thing. Remember Assombalonga whose pursuit took us through the entire January window in 2019 only to sign nobody other than Chapman. Remember last summers goalkeeper pursuits of Darlow and Hart. Again those links in the Telegraph came from somewhere close to home and convinced the masses that we were armed with cash to get a proven keeper whilst we ended up with Walton on loan. Maybe these attempts are genuine and not window dressing but either way we don't get them done and here we are.

I do wonder with Kipre how realistic or serious our interest was. Dont get me wrong, its obvious there was something there and we were involved in some sort of discussion, but was it always unlikely and at best a fall back option for him if a move elsewhere didn't materialise and he dropped his demands and ambitions? I suppose what I'm getting at is if we had signed him it would have been so out of keeping with our business these last 5 years. He would have been ideal for us in most departments, and we just don't sign players like that here. The right age, scope to increase in value and ability. A bargain at less than a million. Decent experience at this level and highly rated by most who have watched him. A permanent deal. We do not sign defenders who tick all those boxes. That is why it was so strange that the Telegraph plastered our imminent signing of him on their back page. I really do wonder sometimes if other games are being played out behind the scenes. WBA were interested a month ago. So why on earth just over a week ago were we supposedly in for him? Or was it just rubbish fed to the fans knowing that it would buy another few weeks? I honestly wouldn't put anything past them I suppose It doesn't really matter because in the end we are no further along with the season upon us. No points for being interested or trying.

Kipre is old news. Now over a week since the West Brom interest became known. After that he was always likely to be out of reach. Even if we had got Kipre we still needed another CB and LB so where are they? I hope him being announced at West Brom on 4th September isn't going to be used as an excuse for us not signing players. We've had a week now to get something else done and calm people down.

Waggott has betrayed any trust or faith i might have had in him. In May he went in the Telegraph, played on fans emotions to discourage people from even seeking any sort of refund for missed games they had paid for. In return he made it clear that he would look to address it next season with an appropriate discount on costs to even it out for struggling fans. To now go public less than 4 months later with a price hike just shows this man and his words cannot be trusted. He will say one thing to get out of a predicament and soon after deliver the opposite. Treat fans and customers with lies, disrespect and mislead them. Only going to end one way. I now have to think long and hard about whether I'm prepared to cough up £400 to fund his outrageous salary and antics, effectively vindicating and backing his approach into the future. Not sure i am prepared to in all honesty.

So you'll be happy if we don't 'overpay' for players if that means we start the season with a squad that doesn't have what we need, and potentially risk relegation to League One through it? If we struggle for the first month of the season and end up playing catch up in a relegation battle we can all join in a back pat that we might have saved a few quid whilst losing millions through relegation or never getting promoted. Warnock has only been there a few months and this is his first window. He also has a proper defense and can organise teams. Mowbray has had 4 summer windows and 3 January windows and we are set to kick off with a back 4 including Elliott Bennett and Amari Bell

I thought, perhaps foolishly, that Waggott would deliver on his suggestion to offer a discount. Or at worst freeze prices in this climate and uncertainty. Even as a pessimist I didn't expect them to hike prices up yet again. Thousands will buy. You can bet it will be a lot less than we've been used to.

Yep good post. What upsets me the most is the lack of pride and effort. If we are short on money, fair enough, though losing £18 million a year says otherwise, as does handing out extra cash to squad fillers because they are nice lads. What I simply cannot accept is the laziness, lack of pride and respect for what this club stands for. Allowing our beautiful home to fall into ruin to save a few quid on maintenance costs or through bone idleness. We've a tough job competing with clubs with bigger incomes but where is the effort to overcome that? Where is the initiative, the attempts to generate income, the new sponsorship? Nothing. Just stick another £50 quid on season tickets, easy peasy that will do the trick and hope almost all renew and use underhand tactics to play on people's loyalty. It's shameful and I cannot accept it.

Why is it 'unbelievable' to be disappointed, upset or disagree with yes another price rise (3rd summer running) when we are in the midst of a pandemic and recession? I'd say a price rise is almost unbelievable in this climate all things considered. The reaction on here is to be expected. What is unbelievable is that Waggott would go in the Telegraph in May and indicate that loyal fans would be looked after with a discount and then 4 months later perform a complete u turn and actually put prices up. What is unbelievable is that this man or someone else upstairs at Ewood will take home £300,000 for the year for making this decision, whilst a 10% salary cut would probably cover the money gained What is unbelievable is the club and some fans playing the poverty card when the manager dishes out contracts like confetti to players he won't use. Remember Gladwin, Hart, Smallwood, Leutwiler and Samuel? We are now being asked to pay for those contracts. Happy with that?

The club is broken with no idea how to fix itself. We've a CEO on a mega salary who has only got one strategy here and that is to maximise what he can get out of those he knows will sign up every year regardless. Covid 19 hasn't changed anything for him. A very shallow and shortsighted approach that a school pupil could come up with. He has no plan or intention of driving the club on into the future, attracting new support, broadening our appeal or horizons any further than Darwen. Last season was disgusting how they treated season ticket holders in comparison to rival clubs. Aggressive, emotional blackmail and 'this or nothing, tough luck' approach to I Follow. To now have the audacity to suggest that there was an option of refunds that most fans ignored is wrong. To follow that episode up with this stunt is sickening. 5000 season ticket holders it is then. I've seen and heard enough from this clown. I just hope Mowbray replaces him before its too late and we reach an all time low on crowds.

Agreed. I'd be doing improved deals for Travis and Armstrong too. Mowbray is thinking about it and telling the owners it is important. He might, if lucky, get permission to offer them a deal before 2022.

Waggott grateful to those who took I Follow as recompense for missing games last season? Was this optional? The statement I read suggested it was that or nothing and tough luck if you don't like it or can't use it. A diminishing fan base just shrunk even further with a price hike in the middle of a pandemic and at the onset of a massive recession. Will be able to accommodate everyone in two stands with social distancing in place at this rate. Waggott's grand plan for navigating these difficult times is just to screw the loyal 8000 for a few more quid. Think he's in for a rude awakening as even the most loyal have a breaking point. I'm rapidly approaching mine.

What frustrates me is this. Rich Sharpe's 'intel' this morning suggests that we are after a minimum of 4 and ideally 5 or 6 signings. In my view this is the sort of business we need to be doing to replace departures and ensure depth and competition in the squad. If his intel is correct it suggests that Mowbray is of the same opinion. I've seen posts on here suggesting that we don't need 5 or 6 additions and that we can make do with 3. Our manager clearly disagrees. I'll be very surprised if we do get 5 or 6 through the door. I also expect that if we don't then people will start saying that we've done enough business and didn't need those numbers, even though our manager thinks we do.

We all know that if we sold those two that 75% of the cash would not be seen again. It would disappear from view in the name of FFP or balancing the books. The residual balance would be drip fed back into the squad to fund a couple of relatively expensive loans or misguided project signings. BRFC would not see much if any benefit. At Brentford they pre-empt big sales by identifying and lining up replacements, investing for the betterment of the club including on a brand new stadium. Therefore progress continues on the conveyor belt and the club grows and prospers. I'm staunchly against sales of our assets because we've seen what happens when we do and how the club suffers.

You don't have to offer refunds if you make it clear in the smallprint that they won't be offered. People would then be free to make their own decisions as to whether to wait and risk not getting into games (not going to happen here but will do at smaller grounds) or whether to pay up now and run the risk of getting 4-5 games on I Follow instead.

You've got to hand it to Waggott and his mates. They really do have it set here. Spend half their time telling every fan that will listen that the club is desperate for cash, restricted by FFP rules, needs to generate it's own income, struggling against richer clubs blah blah blah, many lap it up as gospel truth without any question. Now here we are with no tickets on sale, no new shirts on sale and won't even bother to open the club shop whilst others all do. As above, if a local pub or grocery store can open why on earth can't Blackburn Rovers club shop? Of course its easy and risk free to keep it shut. Why not do that permanently and never reopen it again? Same for Blues Bar, maybe the same for the whole of Ewood Park? That way no risk of any aggro or difficulties. You can't have it both ways yet it seems this is exactly what Waggott wants - every excuse in the book as to why we can't do things yet very little evidence of any effort being made to change the situation and a legion of fans who will never question, challenge or doubt it. Accy Stanley up at the Crown Ground are selling season tickets and have their shop open to try and make some money. Please please please can someone on here give me one single sensible reason why we can't do either of those things? My mate, an Accy Stanley season ticket holder, sent me a message yesterday as he had been down to their ground and renewed his season ticket. He was telling me that he was looking forward to October and finally being allowed in the ground and asked me what I was doing with Rovers. I was completely embarrassed when I replied to him saying that we haven't had a peep out of the club in months, that we can't buy anything and the place is locked down. He was amazed, he sees us as a major professional outfit compared to Accy Stanley. I had to correct him and state that sadly even Stanley are ahead of us in approach these days.

the season starts next weekend. By mid October we could be stuck towards the bottom or competing at the top. Aren't you fed up with starting every season slowly and poorly. For once in a decade it would be nice to have our squad ready and raring to go on game one. Never happens and we will be scrambling around in the last couple of days for essential additions.

Bit more than that. We need two CBs, at least one LB, another keeper and that's a minimum. Ideally we would be looking to improve in other areas too rather than sticking with the same old. So there's 4 signings needed and quickly. Given it seems to take weeks and weeks to get one done and with the League kicking off in 9 days time it really is a shocking situation to be in. The excuses will come thick and fast. First it will be telling people to wait until October when the window closes. Then there will be sob stories about Covid 19, no money, FFP, travel restrictions, quarantine, unusual circumstances, targets getting poached by other clubs, the stars not aligning as hoped. Everyone else can find a way to get the bare minimum in the building. Our scenario has been unfolding before our eyes for 2 years and we still haven't solved it.

Some experience would be nice. A CB and LB with more than a couple of dozen games each who have played at a decent level before. Under contact to us so we can avoid going through the same process again in August 2021. Won't hold my breath. Interesting the club is claiming 3 signings for the summer although McBride and Dolan are for the u23s so it is actually only 1 signing.

Villa going from spending silly money on unheard of foreigners last year to now spending silly money on good Championship players this year. Suggests Dean Smith taking more of a role in recruitment. Expect them to be down struggling in the bottom 6

Hanley has today been given squad number 5 for Norwich. Would they have done that if looking to get rid or sending him to us?

Ayala would be a good addition. Still got years left in the tank and experienced at the top end of this league. Would be very pleasantly surprised if there was potential for that one given his likely wages.

Phillips ticks all the Rovers boxes so would be no surprise to see him turn up here. - Young - Inexperienced - Only a handful of senior appearances - Cheap - Loan Liverpool likely to be happy to do a deal. He's 23 and never played for them so probably one eye on a future elsewhere.

Interesting they refer to 'current season ticket holders'. As of 18th July 2020 and the conclusion of the Reading match the club has had 0 season ticket holders. We are all ex season ticket holders. Presumably the club will be emailing those who held season tickets last year but they ought to be doing this for every ex season ticket holder not just those who had them last season.