JHRover

Can't underestimate the importance of 'the core'. Bennett, Mulgrew, Graham, Evans - that experience, know-how - very important in the Championship.

There's the other benefits too. Sure it must annoy supporters to keep having kick off times moved around and yes I sympathise with those genuine Leeds supporters as I do with many others who are messed around by Sky and the authorities. But lets not make out as though Leeds are suffering through this arrangement. As mentioned, they get considerably more money than others as they receive a fee for live broadcasts, on top of that their profile is enhanced by continual live broadcasts, presumably that means they can also demand bigger sponsorship deals as they have a national/international audience most games. Then lets not forget they also have separate sponsorship deals with Sky Bet who are headquartered in Leeds who therefore pump additional cash into them which other clubs wont get. Not ideal logistically for their fans but they're doing ok out of it.

I'm sure I read that the stand holds 6000 so it would be interesting to know where 400+ seats are hidden after the 5533 allocation is taken.

Less than 100 tickets left. Must admit I'm surprised and impressed that we've so nearly sold out so soon. Hope it genuinely is a full away end and they don't leave areas free or hold tickets back.

I'm almost certain that the reason it now isn't happening is because the owners have put it off or re-arranged. No way would Waggott or Mowbray dare to cancel an arranged appointment with the owners. The concern for me is whether the cancellation or re-scheduling is simply a case of making things more convenient, or even trusting the Rovers lot to get on with it alone, or whether it is something more worrying e.g. they can't be bothered with Rovers business right now or are starting to fall silent as they have in the past.

Strange isn't it? We know Mrs Desai prefers face to face meetings. We know up until very recently that Waggott and Mowbray were due to go this week as they went into the Telegraph and announced it to everyone. Of course they should be able to get stuff done without needing to go to India, maybe Pasha can do his job as the messenger. Perhaps I'm a pessimist but this sort of thing always concerns me. I suppose it stems from when Bowyer stopped going to India and his reign began to unravel as he couldn't get anywhere with them. Hopefully no such thing happening here and it is just a case of putting it off to enable more time to be spent in the UK.

Why does the club want to discourage late sales? Surely any sales at any stage are to be welcomed and not discouraged? No acceptance that in attempting to discourage late sales that one or two might just not bother at all rather than get a ticket earlier?

On their main fans forum tonight we've had: 'I assume they've ended their little protests against the chicken farmers now?' 'Blackburn by name, plastic by nature' 'Horrible set of largely clueless supporters. I do hope we beat them again' 'Not heard a peep from them since they spent a bit of money in the summer. F***ing fickle the lot of them' I know very few PNE supporters but it's hard not to get the impression from that sample that there is quite an intense dislike of Rovers simmering there with some of their fans. No doubt those comments will be added to considerably over the next 10 days! I've not seen any comments on here of that variety towards them. They get mentioned from time to time as the derby fixture gets ranked in comparison to our others and obviously we all want to beat them but I haven't seen it reach that level on here, yet. I've personally no real strong feelings towards them, they're probably similar to Bolton whereby I don't have much time for them but won't worry too much about the result either way as I would v Burnley. I suppose at my age I've always up until last season been in a position were they were well behind us so never really had to take them too seriously.

Where have you got that from? Last interview I heard he said he was waiting to get back into it.

It ultimately stems from them being so much in our shadow for so long. I can understand the bitterness, I'd probably be the same if we'd spent the last 50 years in the lower leagues always behind at least one (usually more) of Rovers, Burnley, Bolton, Blackpool and Wigan. For a few years it probably isn't so bad but stretch it out across generations of being in neighbours shadows and it must really gnaw at them inside. As the self-styled 'capital city' of Lancashire they presumably think that means they should be top dogs and yet they've largely been anonymous since the early 60s whilst the town clubs around them have dined at the top table and in our case won trophies.

If the 1875 club was a proper membership scheme that wanted to encourage new members there would be discounts available on tickets and merchandise. The only discount on tickets is exemption from the £3 surcharge, which is available anyway if you buy in advance, and obviously doesn't apply if you are a season ticket holder. The membership scheme could be another way to milk away fans whilst keeping it cheap for home fans. When we play Leeds we can have £25 anywhere in the ground but then offer a £5 discount for 1875 members, thereby making tickets available for less and encouraging people to join the scheme. To me, as it stands, the 1875 club just appears to be a surcharge on top of my season ticket which practically I have had to join, as i go to all the away games and if i want to guarantee a ticket i need membership.

Harry Kewell sacked by Notts County, they only appointed him in September

I haven't said that, I've questioned if it is allowed or if they have the right to force people to do it and suggested that there is a lot of assumption taking place based on people's appearances. In many other aspects of life such generalisations would not be allowed. I know it is done and I know why the police want it that way. My point is if you don't want to be part of it what power they have to force you.

Yes, they can recommend all day long, not sure they can force though.

Unlikely, but possible. Not really fair just to make assumptions. In this day and age you aren't supposed to make generalisations or assumptions based on age, gender, sex, or race. If you do then you can be accused of all sorts. What if you are going to the match but your mate has your ticket and he's meeting you later?

Oh I believe you, absolutely, I've seen them myself. Again, how do you 'appear' to be travelling to Deepdale for the football? I know what you're getting at, there will be large groups of mainly blokes who appear to be football fans who the police will target on the station. But that seems very much a generalisation and again, there's nothing stopping a group of blokes with zero interest in football going on the train on the lash for the day, and just by pure coincidence it is the same day as a football match. There might be a group of 15 blokes going for a birthday meal or going shopping. If they haven't all got match tickets how do you prove they are there for the football? Lots of assumptions and generalisations taking place, immediately assuming people are there for one thing or another based on their appearance when they get off the train than what they actually are doing or intend on doing. Of course there will be some idiots who invite attention but there will also be plenty who do nothing to warrant police attention who are just there to go and have a few drinks and enjoy the day who are herded around like cattle.

So 70 year old ladies are exempt? Seems like generalisation to me e.g. they're after younger people, predominantly males. As I say, if you want to go on the train to Preston on the same day as Rovers fans are going for the football I'm not sure what right the police have to tell you where you can go. I don't doubt they try to do it and most will go along with it. I'm just interested as to how they can enforce it. If you don't want to be part of the convoy I'm not sure who can force you to be part of it. Think the allocation at Bradford was just over 2000 and there were a couple of hundred empty seats. Still a decent following but was following a poor start to the season.

Interesting. So how do the police on the spot at Preston station determine who is going to the football and who is going shopping? Can't imagine a 70 year old lady going to Marks and Spencer on the train being too impressed about being herded or marched along in a large group of football supporters.

Can't really compare it to trains. Train operators do it knowing that they can name their price and some people will pay as there is little or no alternative. Likewise people will always buy in advance as they need to plan safe in the knowledge they have a ticket secured and aren't running the risk of not being able to travel. Train travel isn't really a commodity. There is often no alternative. Rovers is a commodity. There are plenty of other things people can and will do with their free time than travel down to Ewood, usually in the cold and rain, and watch 2nd tier football. For £25 they can go and get bladdered in the pub, go out for a meal, buy a takeaway, rent a movie, buy a new shirt. For many or most of us on here Rovers would win that contest but there are a lot of people in the area, particularly those with kids or a wife/girlfriend who doesn't share the passion for Rovers, that need encouragement. The last thing Rovers need to be doing is offering them a ready made excuse not to make the effort. Obstacles like inconvenient kick off times, expensive tickets, surcharges, database only admission or horrendous parking arrangements around the ground are the sort of ready made excuses some people need to convince themselves not to bother with the aggravation of it.

Would that even be allowed? I'm sure the police would like to do that and would encourage away fans to gather in specific areas to reduce the probability of trouble, I'm not sure what right they have to tell you where you can and can't go. What about non-football supporting people going from Accrington to Preston shopping for the afternoon or visiting friends for a coffee? Do they get herded around by the police just because they are unfortunate and end up on the same train as football supporters? Last time we went on the train and exited the station via the side entrance as we were expecting hassle from the cops. We weren't wearing any colours although on our travels around pubs in town we saw plenty who were wearing colours and there was no trouble.

It's all based on the theory or assumption that in deterring late sales that those people who would usually buy on the day will either change their habits and buy in advance or will stomach paying £3 more to continue as they were. There is a third option that it seems Rovers and Waggott aren't concerned about - that those people will be put off and will simply refuse to buy one. I don't care what anyone says, buying a match ticket in advance is not as easy as it could be, even for those who are computer literate. The website isn't great and usually you need an account to purchase. In the case of some games like Leeds you need to verify identity to buy tickets.

Merry go round has started today. Phil Brown gone from Swindon, Askey gone from Shrewsbury and Ardley gone from Wimbledon.

I notice still no update on the scheduled India trip and as far as I can see not referred to in Mowbrays interview today about injuries and the international break. Seems what I heard on Saturday might be correct. Will have to file in the drawer with the senior staff restructure that is still due.

The big plus for me is that when it has happened we've nearly always ended up still getting at least a point out of the game, so the damage in terms of looking over our shoulders hasn't been great, we've managed to keep on picking points up. In some ways though that has made some people blind to the issue as all the talk is about what good points we've had v Villa, Forest etc. rather than the lost points. But as you say, if we'd have cut those easy goals out we'd be sitting pretty now rather than mid-table.

On a separate note I was very disappointed with the match programme on Saturday. Given it was remembrance weekend I would have hoped for some sort of special one-off remembrance programme with a unique cover and tributes to those Rovers' players and staff who served their country. In the end it was just the same old thing but with a few pages of tributes inside the programme. Would have been nice to have a large poppy and black cover or whatever rather than just the latest in a long line of frankly childish word-art/spray paint covers.