JHRover

He's done it every window. He's either having us on or there's something wrong with our recruitment department

If you are putting commercial interests first then fine. Release a 3rd kit. Put some effort into it. Market it and get it on sale in the club shop. Last year our 3rd kit was released the week before the first game, was a standard Umbro catalogue shirt with a Rovers badge stuck on and we received very limited stock to sell and didn't get more in. Funny way of trying to sell as many as possible

Let's see what we have on when we turn up at Forest, Middlesbrough, Barnsley and Rotherham. Should be our famous blue and white. Bet it isn't.

Hopefully one day we will be rid of Umbro and actually have some thought go into our kits. A blue and white home shirt so what colours should be avoided on the away shirt? This is the 9th away shirt in the last 17 since Umbro/Nike took over to either be blue or white dominated or need us to turn up repeatedly in a rushed out generic 3rd kit.

Oh yes after couple of promising cameos in friendlies against League One sides and it is like Christmas has come early. Also expect more interviews with Dack, Brereton and Chapman as they are dressed up as being 'like new signings'

If Hanley is a serious target then it sounds like the plan is just to wait and hope that Norwich eventually back down and agree to send him here whilst paying most of his wages. Trouble is with a policy like that we won't get a decision until the 11th hour and as with Harrison Reed someone else could come in. Quite reckless really. I'd actually be quite happy with Hanley back but not on loan and not the day before the window closes in October. We need additions now and we need permanents.

Good question. Was it ever worth bidding if West Brom made their move weeks ago or was it just a hit and hope job?

I'd love to know the reason there is such an obsession with us having blue on the away shirt. It happens every other year. Why not have black, orange, yellow, gold or any other colour than blue, which is already the majority of our home strip and on many other clubs to create a clash

Norwich run a tight ship on wages. Delia and hubby won't allow them to chuck millions down the drain on non contributing wages. If Farke doesn't want Hanley he will be under pressure to get the wages off so it wouldn't surprise me if a loan was on the cards. Becoming clear that it is going to be loans only unless someone takes Williams or Mulgrew off us which might free up the cash for a fee.

Another one is needlessly shifting the most attractive fixtures to awkward and unpopular kick off times just to make life more comfortable for a small number of people. People get fed up with it especially when the club lies about it and claims the police force it. Thankfully that one was ditched.

I'd like to know from Waggott why he lied/misled supporters in May by suggesting that there would be a discount on season tickets. I'd also like to know what efforts he has made in his 3 years at the club to grow our fanbase. If the best he can come up with is dishing out freebies to a couple of games a year in the BBE upper (why should I subsidise that?) then he's in the wrong job. I'm talking about serious efforts to re-engage lost fans beyond Darwen services across Lancashire. I live in Ossy and Accy Stanley have a bigger presence in schools and the community.

Mowbray is just doing here what he did at his beloved Middlesbrough. Steady away, comfy, happy campers, fans content knowing he is a decent honest bloke but also knowing he won't ever get them to the promised land. After 3 years at Middlesbrough of being nearly men Gibson got tired and decided a change was needed. He made a tough and potentially unpopular decision binning Mowbray off and appointed Karanka, but that's what proper chairmen and CEOs do because they act for the betterment of the club and know that you might have to upset one or two. Never going to get that here with our lot because Venkys would see this club in the Conference before sacking someone they like and the CEO is his best mate. So we've another few years left to run of this episode unless Mowbray hits the end of his tether before then, which with our performance in the transfer market might be sooner than we think.

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.