There's no excuse to not have them on sale, or at the very least have announced prices and sales periods, by the game tomorrow. The old excuse that it needs to wait until we know which league we are in cannot be applied now as it is 10 days since we found out the answer to that and before then they should have had them drafted and ready to unveil.

In any event I very much doubt there would be a serious difference between Championship and League One prices, and plenty of other clubs have had tickets on sale for months despite not knowing which league they are going to be in. Shrewsbury for one.

Just now, arbitro said:

I really don't understand the lack of information yet for season tickets for next season. Surely the prices would have been sorted out by now and with so many coming to Ewood tomorrow it would be an ideal time to try and tap into the feel good factor and strike whilst the iron is hot.

To be honest I'd be pleasantly surprised if we found anything out tomorrow. Of course if there is any sense around they would have a flyer attached to every seat in the ground for the 25,000 to take home with them and think about buying one for next season and get them on sale in the club shop tomorrow. I suspect that Venkys have to authorise season ticket prices and they won't be able to get that authorisation until they travel out to India for the summit meeting. Lets see if Waggott's presence has changed that and things like ticket prices are his remit.

I think some are forgetting just how much experience this squad has in the Championship. The defence, with the exception of RB, all played regularly last season in the Championship. Raya is clearly a better keeper than Steele or Kean/Eastwood before him. Evans, Conway, Whittingham, Bennett, Graham - all vastly experienced Championship players. Maybe questions as to their fitness moving forward but ability wise they've proven themselves up to it over the years. Dack I think most would bank on him making the step up, maybe he won't set the league alight but he'll create problems in that League.

Under a competent manager (Mowbray) the bulk of this squad along with some poorer players who we have since got rid of demonstrated a little over 12 months ago they were good enough, securing 51 points on the way to relegation. Yes it was relegation but it was, under Mowbray, mid-table level results. We've since dumped Lowe, Akpan, Guthrie, Henley and added one or two. I'm confident with retention of the bulk of what we've got and 4-5 decent additions we'll compete.

You'd think reading some stuff that we've a team of inexperienced League One nobodies jumping into the unknown and that the Championship is something to be fearful of. 

23 minutes ago, DE. said:

At the very least a league above what all three were ready for. Samuelsen did end up back on loan at a Championship club this January, but it was Burton where the likes of Lee Williamson and No Hope also ended up, so... yeah. After us Hendrie ended up at Southend and Motherwell, whilst Byrne is at Oldham.

Bad, bad use of the loan market that season. Not to mention signing Stokes to a three year deal, Feeney on a two year deal, and a just about still functioning Wes Brown on who knows what kind of deal

Struck me that Coyle was handed a very restricted budget (or only asked for one so to get the job ahead of better candidates) and so once he was in place he basically filled the squad up with whoever he could get for next to no money. Some additional cash seemed to trickle through later on in the window to enable the signings of Williams, Mulgrew and Emnes but by then we were playing catch up, and that money only materialised once Hanley and Duffy were out of the building.

This summer needs to be much better organised and better financed. Mowbray needs a proper budget secured later this month so he can get the bodies in early doors ready for pre-season. No off the hoof desperation signings to do favours for friends or a parent club will give them to us for next to nowt.

If there is one lesson to learn from our last Championship campaign it was that the summer and start of the season we were on the back foot, so our impressive run between February and May ultimately counted for nothing because we started off so far behind.

Mowbray's visit to India should be the start of that and face to face talks with Mrs D usually result in better outcomes than no talks.

36 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

Expect at least 3 loan players as well. This time it will be from Premier League Clubs and not Championship.

Just hope they aren't the freebie cheap kids like we had last time with Samuelson, Byrne and Hendrie. Never going to cut it at Championship level.

Just now, rog of the rovers said:

 

Lets not forget we're going into a league, where champions Wolves paid £15.8m for Ruben Neves!

Heck even Derby County paid £7m for Tom Lawrence!

 

If those figures are correct and our wage bill is now only £8.5 million and Burton Albion's is a 'modest' £8 million then we're at base level - we cannot cut wages any more than that if we want to survive or thrive in the Championship. Quite how losses can be so high on such a wage bill I'm not sure as there's no way Burton are losing similar amounts as us.

I don't think shelling out tens of millions on new players is likely or the right thing to do, but if our wage bill is similar to Burton's we are going to need to bump that up significantly. Strangely one thing Venkys have always seemed happy to do is pile big earners onto the books, but have usually avoided getting the chequebook out for big transfer fees unless in exceptional circumstances.

There's a story in the Guardian today about Burton Albion and their potential survival in the Championship against all the odds. That story reports that their annual wage bill is around £8 million and their average crowds are around 4,700.

Earlier this week Mowbray mentioned in one interview that our wage bill is around £8.5 million with some clubs upwards of £40 million.

If those figures are accurate then it is both pleasing and worrying. Pleasing because it tells me that the big earners are gone and we're at a low base level now, but it is also worrying because we've reached a stage where we're in the same ball park as Burton Albion in terms of the money we're paying out on players despite their crowds being less than half of ours and we will have to increase it back up substantially if we're going to compete.

I don't really understand how with an annual wage bill of just a bit more than Burton's that our losses can be so much greater, particularly as our club revenues ought to be drastically higher (maybe not this season but certainly when at the same level).

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Rovers are one of those clubs looking to do away with the matchday programme. What was a poor product has gradually got worse and having purchased every programme this season I can confidently say Rovers' is one of the worst going in the league in quality, content and volume.

There's no excuse for it and it is purely about how much effort a club wants to make. 

Rovers will trot out the old excuse that there's no money to be made on programmes which might well be right but that doesn't explain how so many other clubs in the 3rd and 4th divisions manage to produce a vastly superior product and charge the same price for it. Rochdale and Bristol Rovers had excellent programmes full of interesting material.

Next week with a bumper crowd on you might expect Rovers to produce a special promotion programme crammed full of interviews, photos, coverage of the season, make it a promotion celebration souvenir edition, include stuff about the Under 23s magnificent efforts this season, I'm not optimistic about it, I expect another pitiful effort. 

People might call it complaining for the sake of it but I see it as something the club should take pride in and use as a selling point for the club.

30 minutes ago, bazza said:

Looking forward to next Sunday, lunch time kick-offs in the Championship.

The battle for survival is immense and all but one of the teams are up against teams battling for automatic promotion or scrabbling to get in the play-offs. 

I hope to see Birmingham relegated but I think that that won't happen.  An exciting Sunday lunchtime.

With Burton, Barnsley, Reading and Birmingham all up against promotion chasing sides there are some huge fixtures there. I'd love to see Birmingham sink but realistically even if they lose they would still need 2 of Bolton, Barnsley and Burton to win to drop into it. I can see Bolton winning but not the other two.

Cook has no loyalty and has form for ditching clubs once he's achieved success. I suppose his record justifies his actions and he clearly has an immediate impact where he goes, but i wouldn't expect him to hang around at Wigan for too long, especially if money is tight. Kept Stanley up - left to join a league rival, got Chesterfield promoted, left to join a club in the division below, got Portsmouth promoted - left to join a club in the same division, got Wigan promoted - wonder what will come next. 

Just now, Stuart said:

Sunderland are a far bigger club than Ipswich.

Depends on Shrewsbury I guess. If they get promoted he would be better staying. Knows the club and can push on. If they don’t then he’d be better with Sunderland - big club and he knows the league. Parachute payments spent wisely would give them a huge advantage and his personal terms could be very much improved.

Can’t see a huge gain at Ipswich. No money, high expectation and no experience of the Championship. Big gamble without great prospects.

He might see Ipswich as a similar club to Shrewsbury relative to the division. Shrewsbury are locally owned, not a 'big' club for the level they are at and neither has much money compared to rivals, yet he has managed to make a success of those conditions at Shrewsbury and might fancy his chances to do similar at Ipswich. They are a relatively well run club who would give him time and wouldn't mess him around. Sunderland a lot remains to be seen. In theory they might turn it around and should have a big budget but will still be a huge amount of work to do to turn it round this summer.

The bloke leading the investors buying Sunderland is the current owner of Eastleigh in the Conference. He's having to sell them to take control of Sunderland. 

This could be a turning point for them and with a new structure in place even limited investment should see them towards the top of League One next season, beyond that they will need a lot more investment to get back to the Premier League so it remains to be seen whether these new owners have the cash or whether they've got the club on the cheap after relegation.

Makes me grateful that we got our business done with a couple of games to spare. I'd struggle this week if I were a Cardiff or Fulham fan with automatic promotion up for grabs on the final day.

Bolton might just get out of jail next week as Forest have nothing left to play for whilst Burton and Barnsley have tough away games against sides in decent form.

19 hours ago, Paul said:

You’re right using the DE did work well. I do hope no one has the bright idea of using JWL - I don’t want to be moved AGAIN!

The Jack Walker lower tier Darwen End side only has a capacity of about 1400. In the Championship they'd have to be daft to restrict away fans to those numbers. Factor in that they would be right behind the dugout and infront of corporate areas, that one will never happen. The best place for away fans IMO is the top tier of the Darwen End where we can safely accommodate up to 3,000, keep them away from home fans, removing the need for segregation and lots of stewards, keep them away from the pitch and also charge them whatever we want as they are in a different area to home fans in the lower tiers. In exceptional circumstances where the away club sells out of 3,000 then give consideration to opening a block or two in the lower DE.

18 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Getting tight at the top. I hope Cardiff hold on in there and Fulham win the play-offs. If they swap places, I can't see Cardiff winning the play-offs.  I dislike the other teams in play off contention, particularly Villa. 

Who ya'll tipping? 

I think Fulham will pip Cardiff to 2nd place. I can see Fulham winning their two games comfortably against Sunderland and Birmingham who will be safe by the final day. Cardiff go to Hull next and I can see them dropping points there against a resurgent Hull side.

If Fulham end up 3rd then I still think they will win the play-offs having had that experience last season. If Fulham make 2nd then I fancy Villa to win the play-offs.

2 minutes ago, MCMC1875 said:

The Darwen End is designed so both the lower and upper tiers can be divided in the middle. If there are no home fans there, this gives 8 possible capacities to offer visitors.

1,500 Half upper tier

2,500 Half lower tier

3,000 Full upper tier

4,000 Half lower & half upper tiers

5 ,000 Full lower tier

5,500 Full upper tier & half lower tier

6,500 Full lower tier & half upper tier

8,000 Full stand

Most of these combinations have been used, sometimes for Rovers fans when the ground was being redeveloped.

I'm very much against giving the full 8000 to away fans and always have been. I think it is way too much to provide, particularly in a stadium of 30,000.

I've no problem with away fans being given a healthy allocation of maybe 5000 or 5500 which is similar to those offered at some other clubs. The atmosphere could still be good with those numbers.

For me away fans with massive followings should first be allocated the upper tier, and then once that is filled be given half the lower tier and no more.

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Saw a rumour on Facebook that Rovers are planning to have away fans in the top tier of the Darwen End next season.

Might be rollocks, but if they did you imagine they must have some imaginative pricing up their sleeve if they are intending Rovers fans to be across the whole lower tier.

Interesting that it looks as they are selling tickets in the entire lower tier for Oxford...

I'd be surprised at that. In the Championship they could bank on at least 6 or 7 fixtures where the away club could sell more than the maximum of 3,000 capacity of the upper tier - Wednesday, United, Leeds, Bolton, Preston, Villa, Stoke, Middlesbrough - so would either have to limit the away allocation or go back to the routine of moving home fans out of the Darwen End to make way for away fans.

I think it is a good idea - get away fans away from behind the goals and try to have home fans behind both goals - I've been suggesting it for a long time - but to effectively do it they would need to find another 2,000 or so home fans to fill the void. If we got back to the Premier League I'd like to see away fans given 3,000 maximum upstairs and behind both goals filled with home fans but then there's the other aspect which is preventing idiots from away clubs throwing stuff onto home fans below etc.

So as things stand we have Payne, Armstrong, Chapman and Antonsson whose loans will be expiring. I think all 4 will be available on permanent terms should we want to do so. Chapman has fitness issues, but the other 3 I think could all do a job in the league above. Antonsson probably the least so. I expect Armstrong will be one of Mowbray's priorities and would think Newcastle would be willing to do a deal.

Out of contract we have Elliot Ward, Danny Graham, Craig Conway, Corry Evans. Ward can go. Graham I think we have the option of invoking an extra year and would expect us to do that. Conway and Evans less clear cut. I think I'd be happy for both to be retained as squad players. Concerns around their fitness. I think when fully fit Evans is a capable Championship player and is still a good age. I think he has been playing well recently, a shame he wasn't available all season. Conway is getting into the back end of his career and is struggling to complete more than an hour these days but strikes me as a good experienced character to have around the place and if a deal can be reached on sensible wages for another season I'd give him a try. Paul Caddis can probably go as he hasn't featured recently and appears to be behind Nyambe, Bennett and Travis in the RB stakes. Assume he only penned a 1 year deal last summer.

The key for me is to not upset the apple cart and destabilise the squad and camaraderie. Yes we need to strengthen and add in areas but I don't think we need a root and branch overhaul.

A few players under contract that I wouldn't be disappointed to see depart. Gladwin the obvious one, I wonder about Samuel's future in the Championship but again up front we aren't blessed with numbers. Whittingham may struggle to play and may seek a fresh challenge where he will get more game time.

19 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

feel for the Sunderland fans as Ellis Short has been disgrace as owner there

Difference with Short is he has been honest. He's gone on record and admitted he wants out and has no interest in it anymore and just wants to sell up. He's even offered to give them away but the debt situation makes that very difficult. Its not a nice situation to be in at the moment for them but at least he doesn't continue the charade that our owners do where they pretend to care and be interested and want what is best when they clearly couldn't care less. Sooner or later Short will find someone to take the club off his hands and Sunderland will come back as they are an attractive investment with their fanbase and stadium.

21 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

Wolves will end in tears one day. Either the agent will get bored and foist too many Myles Anderson types, or the agent and the owner will fall out over 'consultancy fees' and suchlike and the Chinese owners pull the plug.

Not so sure. Depends whether the Chinese are genuinely interested in football and building something or whether they're only in it for short term publicity and because the agent sold them a dream that they bought into. It could go either way but the evidence so far is they have a lot of money to invest, are going to do it regardless of the pathetic FFP rules, and aren't bothered what people or the authorities think about it.

There's no reason we couldn't do what they have done these last 2 seasons, by which I mean spend massive money, build a very strong side and stroll to promotion to the Premier League but we haven't got the brainpower or determination to do it.

If it is a mutually beneficial arrangement whereby they can promote their company, develop Wolves overseas and Mendes meanwhile gets to move his players around then everyone wins, meanwhile the Wolves fans are delighted just to be remotely successful after nothing of note for decades and the media love them because they've got loads of fancy foreigners playing 'good football' which is always preferred over British players and managers doing it the old fashioned way.

Ipswich's owner, who usually stays in the shadows and doesn't speak, has unusually commented on their website about the managerial search, saying he doesn't expect to appoint anyone before the summer, but can't rule it out, but that the summer would be best 'as a lot can happen at the end of a season with managers'

Perhaps suggests he has his eye on someone currently employed and might be waiting until that person finishes the season and then comes available in the summer.

On ‎07‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 11:40, arbitro said:

Instead of looking at miniscule rule infringements the EFL should be championing Stanley as an example of a well run club who operate within a small budget and are on the verge of promotion. Andy Holt has been an excellent and responsible owner and deserves to be given more respect by faceless bureaucrats who don't live in the real world.

Embarrassing is the only word for them.

The League are cowards. They're always ready to try and bully the smaller and less well supported clubs. Like the FA who dish out harsh punishments on the non-league sides yet are nowhere to be seen when it comes to the Premier League and Championship clubs.

They don't like Holt because he's taken to twitter numerous times to criticise them and to draw attention to the unjust distribution of money in the game and their pathetic rules. They prefer offshore silent billionaires who get involved in clubs and splurge millions building up unsustainable debt than local blokes calling them out.

I think they are holding off because they won't have even considered season tickets for next season yet. We may have appointed a new Chief Executive but the old Venky ways remain. They need to authorise expenditure and consent to major decisions and will do that at their annual summit meeting once this season is out of the way. Until then everything will be on hold. Waggott presumably doesn't have the authority to make such decisions which are precisely the sort of things he should be doing.

Notice how a good number of other clubs in various divisions and league positions have made the decision to get their prices announced and season tickets on sale early doors (including those who 'don't know what league they're going to be in next year'. We'll wait until the season is out of the way and people are out of the matchday habit and ensure we have a much shorter window for sales than other clubs. It might not make a difference to the majority when tickets go on sale but logic would suggest the longer they are on sale the more time you have to shift extra tickets. Narrowing your window by several months won't help. 

14 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

I feel the comments saying Mowbray has achieved nothing yet because we haven’t confirmed promotion are taking a very one-dimensional view that the only thing wrong with the club was the division we are playing in. 

The fan base is more united than it has been since even before Venkys appeared. Lambert and Bowyer didn’t achieve that. I never read happy clappers etc etc now.

We have a united squad playing for the shirt and in tune with the fan base for the first time since Kean was here. 

We have exciting players with the potential to get better. We’ve never had so many of the u23s in or knocking on the door of the squad,

Everything is never perfect but the turnaround in the club has been remarkable IMO, and Tony Mowbray has been at the heart of it.

I think Bowyer did achieve similar levels of unity and optimism among the fanbase. Between his first summer in 2013 and when it started to unravel in the summer of 2015 I felt a closer connection to the team and club than I have at any stage since Venkys arrived, including today. I think some people are forgetful of how positive things were for a season or so under Bowyer and the team he put together. Some people are also being led by the fact that we are winning more games and are challenging for automatic promotion in contrast to the Bowyer era, although the drawback to this is we are a level below and playing Bury and Rochdale rather than Wolves and Derby.

I remember the first game of the 2014-15 season at home v Cardiff on a Friday night on Sky Sports. Gorgeous evening, optimism sky high after a summer where we kept our best players, great run at the end of the previous season, played well against just relegated Cardiff, nearly 16,000 on Ewood. We've come a long way in the almost 4 years since then, mostly for the worse, and as far as I'm concerned we are well short of where we were that night.

It is for that very reason that I don't trust them, and I'm struggling to get as much enthusiasm going as I perhaps should at this moment in time, because they've hoodwinked me before, and I'm reluctant to let them do it again. I believed they had learned and changed their ways in 2013 and then 2015-17 happened. The Bowyer sacking, Lambert fiasco, Coyle appointment, boardroom chaos - right back to where it all began when Allardyce and Williams left. It blew beliefs of lessons learned out of the water and showed that no lessons except maybe financial had been heeded from previous mistakes.

Everyone makes mistakes and every club appoints the wrong manager or suffers bad seasons from time to time. But I refuse to accept a one man board of directors, the club being run from India with a henchman doing their bidding from the shadows, and making decisions like the Coyle appointment, were in any way, shape or form normal or acceptable ways to run a club, or ever likely to result in anything other than damaging decline for this club.

We had a united squad of good young players representing the club with pride under Bowyer. These owners and their associates destroyed all that in the space of a few months by getting back on the managerial merry go round and selling anyone they could. Ironic that people are now referring to 1 defeat in 28 as evidence of a job well done for Mowbray, which it is, yet plenty of the same people were saying that 13 games unbeaten in the Championship under Bowyer was irrelevant because we drew too many and didn't reach the target of the play-offs. Can't have it both ways. Both Bowyer and Mowbray did well.

Mowbray has done a good job to date and deserves credit for some of his signings and results. But I'm afraid it is going to take more for me to trust this regime ever again after the damage they caused. They've conned me before with leaving a good man to do the job and nice signings and paying the bills and then look what happened.

Big problem with Sunderland is their debt. £150 million+ at the last count. Their owner is desperate to get rid and has even offered to give it away to someone who will take the debt on. Sunderland are an attractive investment even in League One with their stadium and fanbase. But throw that amount of debt into the equation and it becomes much more difficult to find someone to take it on.

Ellis Short will do as Venkys have here and keep the doors open and pay the bills and wages each month. Not through benevolence or generosity but because he's no alternative short of shutting the club down. But will he go further than that and stump up some cash for Sunderland to have a chance of bouncing straight back up? Venkys did it, swallow some additional losses on the basis of getting it back through promotion, but there's no guarantee it will work. It is more effective in League One than the Championship where the competition is weaker and the finances so much tighter elsewhere.

Unfortunately it seems Birmingham are going to crawl their way out of trouble again. Shame because in League One their 'big club' claims might have some credence.