Don't think Derby were flying on that occasion. Nigel Pearson was their manager at the time and they had a terrible start to the season, shortly after we beat them he had a big fall out and was placed on gardening leave and McClaren returned and dragged them into mid-table before himself being sacked and replaced by Gary Rowett. One of our rare victories under Coyle.

I think the whole thing is going to come crashing down around the club's in the next few years. This is completely unsustainable. Charging people £30 for a 2nd division match between two average sides when the game is live on tv is completely inappropriate and rather than see 4,000+ going will probably see half of that go. The only consolation in this is it appears Bolton fans are also being shafted with their cheapest standard tickets at £30 going up to £36 on the upper tier side stands. These midweek games are another slap in the face. Charging £25 and being expected to travel on the appalling motorway network to go to games rather than sit at home and watch on Sky or online. Can't carry on. Clubs might not be bothered with a few thousand less fans because the tv money will make up for it but give it a few years and it will inevitably start to crumble.

Interesting that they've allocated us the lower tier to start with, then the upper tier in the unlikely event we need more. They've recently played Sheffield United and Bristol City at home and gave them the upper tier to start with and the lower tier remained empty. Ultimately Bolton can charge what they want to though with the game on live TV I would have hoped for significantly less than that. Just hope we return the favour and there aren't any away tickets available for less than £30 when we play them at Ewood. Bet there will be though.

Bit of early team news. Gladwin still not fit and Davenport has 'picked up a knock' in training. Hmmmm.

Saturday tea time. Live on Sky Sports across the road in the pub. Attractive looking fixture to supporters who don't have season tickets or who pick and chose their matches when it suits. The response? Category A pricing. Adults prices starting from £24 in the Riverside to £29/31 in the Jack Walker for those who haven't bothered with the 1875 club. I'm assuming they will go up another £3 on Saturday for those making late decisions or who cannot commit before then. £17 is the cheapest concession. Even if you decide you want to buy one if you attempt to get one off Rovers' website you first of all have to get through password protection, which is just another unnecessary obstacle to getting a ticket. I'd still love it if someone could explain why Rovers cannot have a turnstile open on Saturday for cash only entry to the ground sparing drifting supporters the additional inconvenience of having to go through hoops to 'book' tickets or queue up in the rain for half an hour before kick off. I suspect Rovers justification for the high pricing, not that they'll admit it, will be that they are trying to make money off the Villa fans. Well I've frequently offered a sensible way to do that whilst protecting our own supporters. Open the Upper Darwen End and sell that out before opening the lower tier. Villa have sold 3500 as of yesterday so on those lines we could have a full upper tier by now with a small cluster in a corner of the bottom tier. Those upstairs could be charged £25-30 a head whilst those in other areas of the ground could be charged a more reasonable £20. Rovers could protect their precious away fan income whilst trying to encourage home fans to turn up through better pricing. They won't do it but when we go to Villa I guarantee that I will be paying more for a ticket to sit on the side of the pitch than Villa fans will be in the Holte End. It seems they think blind loyalty will persuade people to stump up £40 for a man and his lad to sit on the Riverside rather than sit at home or go to the pub for less than half the cost. They need to be encouraging walk on fans for the TV games as the excuse of watching it on telly and saving chunk of cash is very appealing to some.

I'd hope to reach the 20,000 mark for this one however with 3,500 Villa sold as of yesterday, with Category A pricing and a tv game can't see much more than 16-17,000. Another one of Waggott's massive away followings not looking like materialising.

Bolton fans bemoaning their luck this morning. Ironic really as from the outside looking in it seems to me they've had bucket loads of luck over the last 3 to 4 years when things could easily have turned out much, much worse. On the financial side it seems they've gone within minutes of administration/liquidation on more than one occasion yet each time have managed to escape intact by the skin of their teeth. When Eddie Davies was calling it a day they ended up in the High Court for unpaid tax bills and on winding up petitions yet escaped those, they've had numerous occasions where staff, players and suppliers haven't received money owed or bonuses due yet are still operating as a Championship club with a squad that is getting results. They got relegated a few years ago when they only needed a very low total to survive yet still failed to do it, got promoted straight back up from League One with quite a low total needed for 2nd place (much lower than what we needed last season), then survived last season, again by the finest of margins in the last few seconds of the season having been in the bottom 3 throughout, yet survived with a low points tally (compared to the 51 that we went down with). Things could easily have been much worse for them yet they keep on getting away with it.

I won't be wasting my time going online trying to wind up Bolton supporters as it could easily lead to egg on the face. Not necessarily because it could be us, as I firmly believe that is one thing Venkys will never allow to happen here, but more because administration may lead to short term pain but could easily lead to a brighter future for them. If they go onto the market as a debt free Championship club once this loan is sorted out then there could well be people out there with deep pockets wanting to take over. Of course there might not be and a points deduction might lead to relegation and a dark future, but I'd prefer to wait and see. If they are docked points it ought to help us and that is my sole concern. Let it not be overlooked that they spent a decent wedge of money this summer on players like Magennis and Doige from the lower leagues. Not really fair that they can spend that whilst not repaying a multi-million debt that is overdue. Loan company or not they will have staff and shareholders who may need that money repaying for their own sakes and are perfectly entitled to seek to recover it from a football club with a multi-million turnover and has enough money to pay transfer fees for new players.

Well when Dean Houldsworth and Ken Anderson were taking over it was rumoured that John Disley was involved. A quick look online at his 'CV' and that might be the sort of thing the League have been concerned about.

Sounds like they've repeatedly delayed and held back on paying this off and the loan company have had enough and are now forcing the issue. Putting them into administration will see Anderson lose control and the loan company take centre stage to recover their debt. Whatever Anderson has offered to pay it off isn't enough or is spread over installments. Seems like he's been aware of this for ages but has avoided paying it. I doubt Anderson has ever had the cash or was prepared to pay it off himself. Things have improved over the last few years on clubs going into financial trouble. The last league club to go into administration was Aldershot Town and that was a good few years ago. The 12 point deduction is automatic and non negotiable. No doubt the Sky funded league would prefer not to dock Bolton and Birmingham points as it might be seen to harm the competition.

Statement on Bolton's website from Anderson appears resigned to administration tomorrow. Either he's given up and there's no coming back from it or it's an extraordinary attempt at brinkmanship. Bolton have been getting away with it for years now. Some would argue that they managed to get out of League One despite being in all sorts of financial trouble and survived last season by the finest of margins. Meanwhile these debts and financial issues have kept rumbling on and time after time they've avoided serious trouble at the very last minute. Birmingham won't get a points deduction as that punishment is a worst case scenario maximum penalty that can be negotiated down and almost certainly will be by a weak, money-controlled organisation. Entering administration carries an immediate 12 point deduction with no chance to have it changed.

Hopefully Mowbray will have seen Villa get dismantled at Sheffield United the other week by an aggressive attacking side and also lose at struggling Burton in the cup before that and go into this one with ambitions of putting them to the sword. All isn't well there at the moment and Bruce is under pressure to get them going again. 6 without a win. No doubt we'll get a week of stories and interviews about what a brilliant side they are and how tough it will be, but we're at home so we need to be at them from the off and if we do that I fancy our chances.

Not really that much different to an owner arranging lucrative sponsorship deals with his club to assist with FFP compliance (Birmingham, Sheff Wed, QPR) or Wolves having a massive advantage in recruiting quality players on convenient loans and reduced prices through a business arrangement with a highly influential agent. With the money on offer from promotion FFP rules were always likely to result in new and unusual ways to circumvent the rules to reach the promised land. The fools that invented the rules presumably thought all the clubs were going to fall into line and live happily ever after. All it seems to have done is resulted in more skulduggery and suspicious activity as owners continue to spend more but try to work round the rules.

Does anyone, anywhere, seriously expect to see Birmingham docked 12 points this season? We know how this works. There will be a series of articles and rumours about what 'could' happen, all will go quiet, and then at some point down the line there will be an announcement on the 'EFL' website that they have reached a settlement with Birmingham and they are free to continue. Of course this settlement will probably be a multi-million pound fine but I'd be amazed if they deducted any points. A 12 point deduction might be do-able as far as the rules are concerned, but since when do this lot follow their own rules? 12 points to a mediocre side like Birmingham would effectively be demotion, and would open a massive can of worms with their owners who would likely drag it through every appeal possible to stop it happening just like QPR did for several years before eventually accepting a fine of less than 50% what it should have been, along with a convenient payment plan to help them pay it off without causing major problems. (Remember, QPR were not fined £42 million as the media and league want people to believe, they were fined £17 million, with the rest being £3 million legal costs and converting £20 million+ of their existing debts into shares - no money changing hands)

The land was never properly treated or surfaced, just levelled out and used as a primitive car park when required at the outrageous price of £10 a car last time i checked. That land should have been properly surfaced and fenced off and incorporated as an extra car park similar to those at the BBE and DE. As it is it looks very run down and scruffy as the first thing people see when arriving from the motorway.

I note on the Aston Villa website that their 'initial allocation' for the game at Ewood is 5,000. Few problems. Firstly that suggests more are available if Villa sell those. That would see them open the upper tier to go up beyond 5,000. That isn't allowed, as the police refuse to allow kick offs at any time other than mid-day if Rovers open the entire Darwen End to away fans (e.g. Leeds). Secondly if they have 5,000 that suggests the entirety of the bottom tier of the Darwen End, with no seats to spare if they sell them all. If that's the case then are they going to have any segregation between home and away fans? This season they've had netting over parts of the corner of the Darwen End which will have to be removed if Villa sell 5,000 in the lower tier.

I'm sure he could find 4 hours a day to spare in his busy schedule that he could set aside to get this work done, except of course on Rovers match days. He'll have 5 or 6 days where Rovers aren't playing, training usually only takes half a day. He could have the remaining 99 hours done and dusted within 3 or 4 weeks if he knuckled down and concentrated on doing as much as possible each day. Seems he's got other things to do with his spare time.

Following the Hull game Mowbray said he was hopeful that Dack would be fit to face Reading. That was on 20th August since which we've played 4 games across more than 2 weeks where he hasn't even made it to the bench. Then all of a sudden word gets out that he's been in legal trouble and was in Blackburn magistrates yesterday facing the real risk of a custodial sentence. 'It was just a kick that had swollen up a little bit, so long as it doesn't affect his movement he will be fine' - 20th August Maybe his injury has been more serious than first thought or it was one that was worth keeping him out of the squad on to avoid any risk. Alternatively he was being kept out of the way until all this had died down.

Norwich at home in the League was more recent than that and more of a tonking. Huddersfield could easily have been too such was the gulf that day.

Don't know whether anyone has noticed but our old assistant manager has been appointed caretaker manager of the Denmark national team. Wonder if his old Arsenal connections have come in useful this time round. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/7175355/john-jensen-denmark-manager-arsenal/?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1536151793

Very impressive. I do hope we're not facing a situation where he impresses this season and then gets picked up by a rival on a free transfer in the summer.

In theory yes, but then again in theory we would be bigger than most in the Championship if Premier League performance and seasons was the main thing. Not many in this league who have not only won it but also been in it for nearly 20 years and been in the Champions League during that period. Sadly we're well down the list of 'preferred' clubs on Sky. Always makes me smile to myself when we hear the relentless 'my club is massive, bigger than your club, we get x thousand a week turning up'. Usually we can associate that with clubs like Leeds, Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham who despite being based in big cities have had nothing to shout about for 20-30 years so revert to banging on about their fanbases and 'size'. The funny part being that despite that theoretical/potential 'size' it has got them nowhere, infact we're moving further away from all the city clubs being in the top division as attendances and crowds become less relevant an in era of tv money and rich owners who offset gate receipts. Real big clubs - Liverpool, United, Arsenal - don't need to tell people they are, Once big or potentially big but not at the moment, languishing for decades outside the top division whilst clubs like Bournemouth and Watford do well in the Premier League, need to cling to that 'status' to feel better about themselves.

I don't think it is as simple as that. The likes of Norwich and Derby are well supported and regularly push 30,000 a week yet don't seem to get a fraction of the publicity. I think Forest have more global profile with the Clough thing which Sky try to push to their audiences. Villa were a household Premier League name so there's probably still some residual interest in them outside the UK for the time being. Can't quite get the Leeds one but then again Sky did own a large chunk of Leeds not long since so perhaps it's something to do with that.

Doesn't help when Rovers fans are of the same mindset. Too much respect towards the opposition. We're already hearing talk about the formidable run of fixtures coming up getting excuses in early. Villa look to be in some disarray after Saturday's thrashing and haven't won in 6 now having played the likes of Sheffield Utd, Reading, Burton and Ipswich in that time. They'll be desperate to bounce back but we should see them at home as a glorious opportunity to get back to winning ways at home. Sounds like Sheffield United blew them away early doors - took their chances when they came and there was no coming back from that. Then we've Stoke who have had an abysmal start to the season. Lots of people going off names and reputations rather than results and performances which by the sounds of things have been absolute garbage so far. We showed early on yesterday that we can play and cause problems for teams. Unfortunately I still think we're making it too easy to score against us and we don't capitalise when on top. Ipswich was another - should have had that game buried when Palmer had almost a chance from 2 yards out - missed it and then end up bemoaning luck at the other end as we only get a point.

With Sky losing La Liga and Champions League their focus on the 'EFL' is only going to increase. Their coverage is dreadful with sub-standard commentary and punditry geared more towards lavishing unnecessary praise on certain clubs who they love because they are poster boys for the competition - Leeds, Villa, Forest.