We haven't had any update recently on Ben Gladwin. No mention of how his contract discussions have progressed or if he's still going to be here next week. I'm accepting that the team kicking off v Charlton is going to be more or less the same as the one that finished last season. I think Downing will start on the bench, we'll have another CB trying to force his way in ahead of Lenihan and Mulgrew, and possibly another CF to make up the numbers (likely to be a loan) and then that will be that. Think Mowbray is going to do his usual routine of taking the younger lads away to Austria to see if any of those can step up, then wait and see who is available later on and if any deals can be done. If we spend close to the £10 million of last summer I'll be amazed. Doubt there's any serious interest in any of ours at this early stage.

Pretty sure if there's any prospect of selling out Rangers will provide more. Think the 1000 is just an initial batch and see how sales go. Can imagine a fair few will be up for it purely as a new ground with Rovers and a day/weekend away. Certainly more interesting than any of the other games.

1000 allocation at 15 quid per adult, on sale later this week apparently

Hull have appointed Grant McCann from Doncaster as their new manager.

Have to say I'm surprised/impressed by the news that we're advertising season tickets beyond the confines of BWDBC. Long may it continue. Hopefully there's more to come than just a few posters and we start actively promoting the club in neighbouring towns. We moan about Norwich etc. Having big catchment areas but there's hundreds of thousands in Lancashire. The key is getting them in young. Funny to see Preston lot get their knickers in a twist about it but they should be used to bigger clubs on their doorstep by now. Wasn't long since their buses were coming through Blackburn with adverts all over them for their season tickets.

The negativity comes from the constant mixed messages and moving of expectations that we get from the club. Mowbray kicks off the summer saying he's going after ready made players to strengthen our team and wants them in quickly. He wants defenders who will replace those who conceded far too many last season. He wants to tap into the European market. He wants players ready to impact now rather than in the future. Fast forward 6 weeks and we're hearing about loans, frees, players to polish and sell on. We've seen a long term target go to Preston and with pre season starting on Monday weve got a weaker squad than the one that finished last season. Of course plenty of time to address that but as with last summer we see bold ambitions and claims replaced with something far less impressive. As expected talk soon shifts to Davenport and Chapman being new signings even though he didn't play them last season and neither have any sort of track record at this level.

Sigh. Mowbray has said he 'hopes' for 'up to 5' which suggests as things stand 5 will be the maximum number and it could well be less than that. We are 3 players down. Reed who was a mainstay of the team and one of our best players will be tough to replace. Downing has gone so at the very least we will need a proper competent CB to replace him as back up for the other two, unless we foolishly go into the season hoping to avoid any injuries. Conway's time was up but he still needs replacing with someone who can cross a ball otherwise we will have lost our only player able to do so. If we don't replace those 3 with at least as good replacements then we are weaker, and that's before we talk about Smallwood, Mulgrew and the CF issues. How can we do all that with 'up to five' players?

So why are they going then? Like Stanley and others their owners see merit in trying to increase their profile and are trying to generate interest.

As expected the bar is being gradually lowered on expectations for the summer window. No longer talk of ready made better players with the focus now on frees, loans and padding out the squad. Worth remembering that we are already 3 down on last season with Conway, Reed and Downing out the door so this talk of 'up to five' new ones actually consists of only another couple of extra bodies on what we had last year. If one of those is Stuart Downing it isn't a good start. Completely as expected though. This is why I wasnt taken in by the bold talk early on.

We we do, because if we don't like it then we can terminate our contract with Umbro and go elsewhere. If it is down to Umbros schedules then it needs explaining why all the other Umbro clubs have already released promotional material and firm dates for sales whilst we persist with a vague July date.

The Salford/Sky arrangement is already becoming painful to endure and the season is still six weeks away. Already we've got Salford v Stevenage on Sky and I'd bet my life savings their game v Leeds will be too. Evidence of course that selection for live broadcast isn't necessarily motivated by who has the biggest fanbases but by who can pull the right favours at Sky hq. It's hard not to suspect a fix there with that draw. When Sky run the whole thing including draw it can be done. Why can't the draw be held by the Football League and be operated by Football League executives rather than the Sky clique? I can (hopefully) see one or two League clubs begin to question this 'arrangement' before too long. Neville earning a fortune as Sky's poster pundit, part owner of a member club, receiving a completely disproportionate amount of coverage and publicity, receiving sponsorship income from Sky Bet and god knows how much from these games they are going to be put on tv. It's completely wrong and shouldn't be allowed. Neville should have to cease his employment with Sky if he's carrying on with this Salford stunt and Sky should cease their sponsorship of Salford too.

Yeah same. Booked it immediately after the game was announced. Got it for 26 with my 26-30 card, 40 without

Mine gets into Glasgow about 12:40 from Preston at 10:04

When I looked this morning it was £40 return or £26 with a railcard? Have they gone up?

Amateurish. No other way of describing it. No such issues for Derby, Hull or Brentford and we are back of the queue again.

I'm intrigued to see what Mowbray will say or do should these new defenders not come in this summer or if we sign a few but start the season with the same team. He made a rod for his own back at the forum promising more than one new defender to replace those here so he's going to look like a fool if he doesn't get them. Nevertheless here we are with pre season only days away and only tentative links for familiar faces and Mowbray talking about how difficult it is. The only comfort blanket people seem to have is that some other clubs haven't yet signed anyone. Great.

It is what it is. West Brom might have a hangover from the play-offs and a new squad to bed in. There's logic behind it being better to play the favourites early. Fulham another unknown under new inexperienced management. No reason to believe that they will be particularly strong next season yet. Brum at home will be another Waggott Category A game.

Mowbray has hardly helped the situation. If he doesn't want to lose his best players and doesn't want rumours to start perhaps he shouldn't spend his time in India talking about selling him.

Charlton and Brentford away consecutive weekends in February. Will be an expensive week. Plus side is only Swansea away stands out as a real pain of a trip.

We aren't playing a home game this summer. You talk about attendances for these games - how many do you reckon will turn up at Salford on a Thursday at 6pm to watch Stanley play? A couple of thousand at the very most I would expect. Hasn't stopped them arranging it. The point isn't to make money from them or get full houses. Its to play against high profile opposition, build links with big clubs and try to enhance the clubs profile. Cardiff are going on a tour of the USA and Canada pre season playing 3 games. I'm sure it would have been easier and cheaper for them not to bother with it and stay at home playing Newport and Cheltenham but they see the merits in going to America. These sort of things require planning and some motivation. We don't have much of that. Virtually every team in the top two divisions except Rovers and a couple of others have arranged at least one game abroad. Many League One and Two clubs have. We don't do that sort of thing here. If Holt and Stanley can grow then so can we by the same if not greater margins. Easier to convince ourselves that it isn't possible though.

The club

Less than Blackpool have sold to date. Obviously the final sales figure is the important one but surely we are concerned/embarrassed by that and those sales to date?

Comes down to effort. Stanley have an owner trying to grow and progress his club. We don't.

Lets wait and see how crap he is, if PNE are above us next season with a better defensive record whilst we dollop around with the same faces and a loan or two.

Because in comparison to Blackburn Rovers they are not a big club. Never have been and never will be. Describing them as such is negative and defeatist and is getting the excuses in early. I'm well aware that they were in the Premier League for a long time. So were we until recently. Bournemouth have been in a while as have Burnley. Would you be comfortable describing them as huge clubs with the inference being that we are inferior? I'm well aware at present they get more fans than us and have more income than us. That doesn't make them a huge club. I'd rather our manager fought our corner and instilled an attitude of us being every bit as big as our rivals rather than providing himself, the owners and players with ready made excuses before a ball is kicked.