At most clubs the management would be wanting to maximise the attendance in whatever ways possible. This would mean selling every single available seat and if/when necessary getting rid of needless segregation and selling those seats too. We are lucky at Ewood in that the away stand is a separate structure and entirely self contained from the rest of the ground. There is no need for any segregation as there is no way a Rovers fan in the Riverside could get to the Darwen End due to the high steel fencing between the two, not to mention heavy police presence. At the Turf fans can be separated by a shutter and a narrow line of stewards. Here I get the impression that this is all too much trouble. They have been caught off guard by the high demand for tickets having never expected to need the BBE upper and now are bizarrely cutting the capacity of that stand for no good reason and thus restricting our potential attendance. I suspect it is related to the 'unreserved seating' tickets. Amateur outfit in operation.

I'm confused / concerned. The club have just made this announcement: https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/december/23/east-lancashire-derby-ticket-update/ Stating that an extra 1000 tickets have been released. Checking the website they have indeed unlocked Block N09 and part of N10. A quick calculation suggests this should be another 1300 tickets available, as the upper tier holds 3000. I also don't think they've opened either of the end blocks yet which if they do would be another few hundred tickets. However the club have indicated that once these 1000 are sold there are no more available and it will be a 'sell out'. This simply isn't true, as there will only be 2500 sold in the upper tier. I haven't yet made enquiries with the club about the 'unreserved seating' but only selling 2500 in a stand that holds 3000 would indeed suggest I am correct and they are underselling for reasons unknown. What a club we follow. Moan about crowds and attendances, get a chance of filling the place and sell ourselves short for no reason at all other than bad organisation.

I wasn't making it up about unreserved seating. Madness if so.

Anyone else got tickets for the BBE Upper that say 'unreserved seating' on them? Hopefully they're not that stupid, it would be total chaos if so.

About 900 left in the Riverside, 200 or so in the open BBE upper and then another 1300ish not available for sale. Total of around 2400 remaining.

We'll look into it

Hopefully the penny is dropping though after 7 years under this CEO and 14 years under these owners it must be the longest drop of a penny ever witnessed. I suspect they've known this, deep down, for quite some time but simply can't be arsed or don't want any objections by making efforts outside of BWD. Easier to just keep your heads down, tick boxes and collect your wages.

I assume that 'N' refers to 'North' as Jack Walker is 'W' and Riverside is 'E' and Darwen End blocks are 'S' Only time I've ever seen or heard stands at Ewood referred to by their compass points, whereas it is quite common around other grounds.

I think initially they opened half of N08 together with N07 and N06. Something odd has happened where this morning all of N08 was greyed out but now almost the whole block is showing as available, whereas now the end part of N06 in the very corner is all greyed out but was available earlier. I think they will have taken N08 off sale yesterday and now given higher demand they are opening more of it up but have stopped selling the end of N06 as it wouldn't make much sense to fill that corner block before the central blocks.

They acknowledged this about 6 years ago and Waggott said he was going to 'look into' arranging buses to bring people in from non-BwD areas for games. Nothing ever happened because it was all hollow words and too much effort, he and they have no intention of driving anything. The efforts that they make within BwD whilst positive are limited both in scale and in prospects of success. They aren't paying attention to the changing of the times. Blackburn Rovers isn't a town club. Which is why I get frustrated when I see this obsession with the population of Blackburn and 'small town club' mantra. It is a regional club, with a very high % of its support coming from areas including Leyland, Chorley, Bamber Bridge, Rishton, Harwood, Clayton, Clitheroe, Accy, Haslingden, Ossy and many other towns. Where, when or why it became 'cool' to limit our engagement and interest to the 70s borders of BwD, and in doing so immediately and drastically restrict our reach and catchment area, I am not so sure. Thankfully under the previous regime the opposite approach applied, under Walker and then Williams some recognition of our regional support and serious efforts made to bring people in from those areas. Of course under the 'do the bare minimum' regime of today any chance they can get to reduce the club's reach is grabbed.

I think it is equally if not more odd when former Rovers season ticket holders start going watching Accy Stanley. I know of a few in this bracket. Season ticket holders during the Premier League days but these days spend their Saturdays at the Crown Ground. Now I know it is everyone's own choice what they do and I know Stanley offer a cheaper and easier day out but I still find it difficult to get my head around.

I sincerely hope that the Club won't be allowing them to bring in various flags and banners and display them over the netting right in camera shot behind the goals. We get nothing, absolutely nothing, when we go to their place. A couple of thousand allocation, horrendous facilities, 1 toilet, a hatch in the wall and a gazebo for pre-match and that's the lot. No corporate, hospitality, flags, anything.

I reckon there can only be about 19k home fans to date. 31k capacity. Minus 4000 dingles and 4000 empties in the Darwen End so maximum 23k home seats. Minus 2300 remaining upstairs in the BBE and 1200 in the Riverside that's 19,500, then knock off a few more for the end block of the Riverside and JW lower that are netted off (circa 500 or so)

The club seem to be quite proud of the fact that this is the first time in over 6 years since the Oxford promotion party that they've opened the top tier to paying fans. I don't know why, I consider it a major black mark against Waggott and his regime. Nor should he or his mates receive a shred of credit for such healthy sales. This is organic growth, nothing at all to do with pricing or ticket policies and everything to do with the nature of the fixture, time of year, and perhaps most importantly the efforts of Eustace and the players so far this season. Anyhow, about 2100 now remaining including about 800 in the upper BBE and 1200 in the Riverside. So impressively have sold 700ish upstairs this afternoon alone. Sell the lot, including the other 1500 not yet open and it will be 25-26000, a fine effort considering 5000 will be off limits in the DE and unnecessary buffer zone

Even with only a few hundred in the top tier I just think it makes the whole ground look better. There aren't many worse sights to me than looking at the Blackburn End and seeing the whole upper tier closed and in darkness.

Waggott really is making hay whilst the sun shines in his latest comments, which of course have worked to perfection in convincing many fans that all is well with the world. Three examples: a) The claim that we are in the process of buying back the training ground to bring this under club ownership b) The claim that we are busy attempting to extend contracts of key players c) The claim that we are ready to back Eustace in January with signings. All this has emanated from his comments given to the WATR group during their latest get together with him. This has then spread and of course Lancashire Telegraph happy to do some copy and paste work to spread it further. Waggott has on countless occasions claimed that capital expenditure is planned, be that on a new Riverside stand, improvements to Ewood, development of a new training ground and many other things in between. None of them have happened. A pipe dream that will never be realised under these owners as it totally contradicts their behaviour since the day they arrived and certainly the last few years of cost cutting. He has on countless occasions claimed that negotiations are taking place with key personnel over contract extensions. He has been quite happy to spread the claim that players have been offered bumper deals, highest paid player status etc. to try and persuade them to stay. End result has been that we've lost countless senior players on free transfers or low fees because they won't sign new contracts. Waggott has on plenty of occasions said that the owners are ready to back the club, that there are plans in place, that there's a budget for the transfer window, that hard work is taking place. I've no doubt he told Broughton and JDT as much during their time here. Conveniently the money didn't materialise and we all know what happened after that. It is very easy for someone like him to sit around a table in December with a group of fans and tell them what people want to hear, knowing full well they are going to go off and spread his word around the fanbase, particularly at a time when things are going well or are quiet. It is free and easy positive publicity. It is something else entirely to actually get these owners or board to put their hands into their pockets, part with cash, make the effort and get things done. That is difficult and expensive, two things that are the opposite of what Waggott wants.

Down to the last 2000 now which when you factor in a few hundred will be restricted view seats in the Riverside they really need to be getting it open this week. Knowing this lot though they'll leave it to 3 days before the game and then do it.

Apparently the staff Xmas party this afternoon. Would have been nice to tell people the shop was closing before they spent the afternoon driving there/back.

Sounds like Gary Rowett first choice for Oxford. I think sensible for a team wanting to stabilise and survive, though won't win any awards for being good to watch.

Next 6 games are: Millwall, Sunderland, Hull, Leeds, Dingles, Middlesbrough (Cup). Presumably those who would be happy with a point at Millwall would also be happy with draws against Sunderland, Leeds, Dingles (all above us) and at Middlesbrough in the cup. If that happens and even if we draw all those and celebrate the points it is 1 win in 6 games, assuming we beat lowly Hull who are under new management. 0 wins in 6 if we don't. Happy then?

Does this apply to Coventry fans too? If so good news for them, they'll sell loads at that price. Rovers will do well to shift 500. Midweek, TV, loads of other games in the run up to then, and of course the usual strings attached to purchase.

Need a bank loan to get the train from Preston, £115 return for a standard ticket last I checked, scandalous

Well Millwall, QPR, PNE, Swansea, Watford all examples of clubs that are able to compete in this league, spend money on players, not sell £40 million of talent and still do so with capacities of around 20,000 without a need to provide vast allocations to away teams. I'm sure the repugnant Venkys would boastfully claim to be richer than their owners too, with no impediment on their funding according to their spokesman/snake oil salesman. Personally I hate the reputation we have as being a grand day out for all and sundry and I think a huge allocation being issued is basically setting away clubs a challenge to fill it and have a good day. What I would like to see is tiered pricing. The Riverside is the least popular stand (usually a maximum of 1500 in a capacity of 4500). It is the worst stand for facilities - uncovered seats for the front 10 rows, obstructed view seats for all rows higher than 15, uncovered walkway, no concourse, limited bar and catering outlets. With all this in mind it should be cheaper than the rest of the ground. It annoys me no end that a long standing Rovers fan who decides to go to the dingle game elects to sit in the Riverside (at this point other than very limited numbers in the JW wings this is the main availability) are going to be paying £33 (the same as a dingle) to enjoy inferior facilities and views to a dingle. That stand should be priced according to its facilities and then when we play the likes of Leeds, dingles, Sunderland we can still charge away fans £30+ and Waggott can get his figures up but there is still a route for Rovers fans to go and pay substantially less.

Yeah they had the same brainwave last year when they sacked off Gary Rowett (the bloke who had them in play-off contention every year) and appointed Lampard's mate who was going to play pretty football. They plummeted down the division and would have got relegated had Harris not returned and dragged them out of it. Could maybe understand making that mistake once but twice in a year? Foolish.

I think the owners' input into January will be zilch. They won't know, or care, about how we are performing on the pitch or in the table, they are employing two shysters to run it day to day and give them minimal hassle or expense. So there's no decisions for them to make. They've set the budget for the year and given their instructions to their henchmen. That's that. I still think people give them too much credit by suggesting they are following results or are wanting us to get promoted and will respond to results accordingly. There's no evidence of this from recent seasons at both ends of the table. Inertia whether relegation is staring us in the face or promotion within reach. It seems the only one with any way of even contacting the Indians is their man in the shadows, so I doubt there's any prospect of Eustace somehow getting in touch with them and persuading them to support him as Mowbray and Bowyer once did. So in the end it will be juggling around with what can be generated from club resources. Getting shut of Sigurdsson ought to free up some cash on the wage bill to bring one or two in, but then we've the problem of paying for people so probably looking at a loan or two.