Lancaster Rover

Davenport is an interesting one, had a really good season by all accounts at Burton so is comfortable at this level so you have to think he is going to feature regularly.

Sharpe said this is an option to buy in name only, in essence a permanent transfer.

Nobody has even mentioned Davenport, he is another who will add to our now embarrassment of riches in the middle of the park.

The crowds weren't that amazing though against United and Liverpool, especially when you consider how many fans they brought. The crowd for United was 23k, take out their fans and it's what, 16k Rovers fans, of which how many are Rovers fans who return regularly and how many are neutrals wanting to see United for 20 quid? Still a good 7 or so thousand home fans away from where we were 10 years ago. The Oxford game was a great crowd however there were a number of factors in that; weather was brilliant, late kick-off, guaranteed promotion and a chance of winning the league. The games prior to that had been fairly poorly attended, I remember the Peterborough game where we could pretty much secure promotion bar the shouting had a crap crowd.

Rovers have always had quite a strong following from the surrounding areas; Chorley, Bamber Bridge, Ribble Valley, Lancaster and I know in Lancaster the amount of fans attending regularly has fallen dramatically over the last 7 years. You will never get all those fans back as their habits will have changed and money committed elsewhere but a flexible commitment may well tempt a number back and in time that could translate to people returning to buy season tickets, etc. Ultimately Rovers have lost around 10k fans a game over the last 7 years, whilst promotion last year and the feel good factor that TM has brought back will have kept hold of some who were wavering and maybe encourage a few to return it will take an awful lot to bring long term absentees back into Ewood on a regular basis. The club needs to be creative in the ways they do this and simply offering early bird discounts isn't enough. People have so many competing priorities these days and attending the match is seen as optional/luxury by the majority of people. I think the club needs to be flexible in it's offer as football/attending the match is no longer something that is ingrained in the wider fanbase. Maybe a flexi pass or something of that nature could be raised at the next fans forum?

Some sort of flexi ticket might be something to look at in the future, Morecambe did one a few years ago where you could buy one for either 10 or 20 games a season, there was a small saving to fans on the 10 game ticket but I suppose it gave the club guaranteed money. If Rovers were to offer some sort of flexi pass, 10, 15 or full season I know I'd definitely take it up. I can't justify a season ticket these days with a young family, work commitments and living 30 miles away but buying x amount of games up front and using them through the season as I wanted would be really attractive.

I said the same last week, loaning Chapman out seems odd unless they've got an option or are confident of getting a development fee that would match their valuation of him, seems a risky game to play.

Jesus, someone is getting paid to write that too. Rovers interested in Chapman, other breaking news as it happens, water is wet.

TM has said it's a partial tear of his cruciate ligameng, reading between the lines and looking at how he hobbled off midweek I'm saying it's his ACL. I've done mine twice and he looked like a man who knew he'd done his too.

Sounds like Samuel has torn his cruciate, he won't be seeing much grass this season.

I often think there is some revisionism around Shearer and the time in which we bought him, it's often talked about like he was some no mark kid who we plucked from obscurity when it was quite the opposite.

Hey, QPR paid 2.5 million for him so that must mean he's twice as good as Adam Armstrong, right? That's how transfer valuations work isn't it?

Chaddy recommended him in 2016 when he was playing for Anderlecht..........................

Totally agree, as I've said earlier in the thread, I've got two children under 4 so time with them and my wife at weekends is my primary focus, I usually get to about 12 or so games a season depending on how they fall. My little lad is 3 now and came to his first game at Oxford last year and I plan on bringing him 3 or 4 times this season, I'd toyed with the idea of getting my season ticket back as based on how much I went last season and the number of midweek games I'd just about break even give or take. They then hiked the price of my seat up to £450 and put every midweek game on tv (which i get in my Sky package) that made it completely senseless for me to get one as I'd literally be chucking between £100 and £200 quid down the drain. Now I want to stay I will still come to midweek games in the depths of winter however when it's blowing a gale and hammering it down in December and I've got the choice of legging it from work to bomb down the M6 from Lancaster or sitting in my living room watching it, I think you can imagine what will happen!! The availability of 5 or 6 home games on TV for no additional cost to me definitely swayed my decision in getting a season ticket this year, I'm sure it may do the same for more next year.

I really despise Nixon, he's an absolute oxygen thief whose levels of self-importance know no bounds. Like the pied piper trotting out nonsense to the masses who lap it up

I've not seen a lot of him but I remember him being gangley and languid in his playing style, not sure that's what we need.

I agree, it's just a pain in the arse when you can't get to a game yet midweek games are broadcast having the same effect. I personally don't agree with the the complete blanket broadcast of all midweek games, it's clearly had a massive knock on attendances this week.

To be honest the way things are panning out I'd take Herbert Chapman at this point

Agreed, they certainly don't seem to be in panic mode about their finances that's for sure.

West Brom look good at the moment but I do wonder about Moore's tactical know how over a long season.

Also with it being a cumulative loss, it makes it easier to negate for Villa, surely. Do relegated teams get some sort of grace period in order to jettison some big earners and for them to 'acclimatise' to the different model in the Championship?

Who do you see as automatic, I think it's hard to look past Villa and Boro at the moment, Leeds have started really well but have done before and fallen away, Bielsa may be the man to change that but there is a long way to go yet. Pulis and Bruce know all about long hard seasons and I think that gives them the edge, they've also both got good sides with excellent players at this level across the team.

Who? If you mean Villa they drew 2 a piece

Villa in the hole for 20 million, we're currently about 124 million in the hole and getting 12k through the gates. Villa are still getting parachute payments and look one of the favourites to go up this year.

It was a mistake from Lenihan that Raya didn't react to, he either needed to come out early or stay on his line. In the end he did neither and made a half-hearted attempt at getting to the big lad first. Lenihan and Raya were equally to blame in my eyes.