We've signed him?

I know a few obsessives that aren't going to bother. There's simply no guarantee that people will be able to attend matches if Covid cases continue to rise. No pojnt spending £450/£500 on a ST if you can only watch a stream worth £10 every other week.

I thought that was illegal?

If you were the player you'd bin the agent

Bell is the obvious weak link. Williams can at least defend.

That's why. You get a certain amount of free articles then you have to pay.

Indeed, I linked the LT topic in my reply to Paul above which tells people how to do it in the last few posts of that topic.

It does.

Here you go:- Steve Waggott was quizzed by BBC Radio Lancashire and the Lancashire Telegraph on the proposed plan for season ticket sales ahead of the 2020/21 season. Rovers had hoped to have supporters inside Ewood Park for the Wycombe Wanderers home match on September 19, but those plans have been shelved by the latest Government announcements following a rise in Covid-19 cases across the country. The earliest possible pilot match will now be pushed back until October, and while Rovers are yet to release their season ticket prices for the upcoming season, they have outlined that every category bar the Under-18s pricing structure will increase. Chief executive Waggott revealed tickets in the lower tiers of the Riverside, Blackburn End and Jack Walker Stand would be sold first, with the Jack Walker Upper initially reserved for hospitality guests. The lower tier tickets would all be priced at the same level, and that would include access to the seven midweek Championship away matches via an access code for the iFollow platform. As things stand, all of Rovers’ matches will be available to stream live for every supporter via the iFollow platform at £10 per match, starting with this weekend’s opening fixture at Bournemouth. Rovers sold just shy of 8,900 season tickets last season, with a walk-up figure for each match averaging between 1,500 and 2,000. With no away fans to be granted access to stadiums for the majority of the upcoming season, should Government guidelines allow, Rovers are confident of housing that number of supporters within the ground given they would be willing to open up the Blackburn and Darwen End upper tiers. Should Rovers be granted the opportunity to host a pilot game at a level below the number of season tickets sold, then who could attend the game would likely be done via a ballot. Below, the club’s chief executive answers questions on the club’s season ticket stance. Why didn’t you put season tickets on sale earlier? “I can’t sell a product when I don’t know what the product is. Some other clubs have gone early and have had some issues around it in terms of how many games they (supporters) can watch. “We’re working with the Safety Advisory Group, with the Government and the EFL so that when we know how many games we’re going to get, and hopefully soon we’ll be able to bottom that out, we’ll be able to say to supporters ‘this is the product and this the price’. “There are going to be tweaks on season tickets with a couple of categories that will go up, we will be having a similar pricing structure across the lower tiers of the ground, including the Riverside. “People are going to buy a seat, but they’re not necessarily going to buy the seat they’ve always sat in, because of social distancing, which we’ve all had to apply into all of our lives. “They will be buying a seat, but that could move around the stadium. All the lower tier of the stadium will be open, Riverside, Blackburn End and Jack Walker, and will be one price. “The Jack Walker upper (price) will be higher, and then we’ll breathe out in to the upper tiers should we be allowed a certain level of capacity. “When things have bottomed out and we know exactly what we can do then we’ll go out to supporters and say ‘sorry it’s taken so long, but I have to get it right, here’s the product’. “We’re going to try and bolt-on all of the seven midweek away games for season ticket holders, that will be a value add.” What happens if supporters are allowed back, but then there’s another lockdown situation? “If it goes from supporters being back to games going back behind closed doors then we’d offer matches on the iFollow streaming service. “It depends on the level of how the games would be suspended on how we would react. “We don’t want to be unfair to the supporters who buy a season ticket but then can’t watch the number of games they buy, there has to be a solution that’s fair to the supporters that buy them.” When will you release season ticket prices? “The prices are ready, it is just down to situation of how many fans we can bring back at each stage. “I’m hoping it starts at a level and then increases over a level of time as we get more confidence from the people who see us managing the process well and we’ve been quite adept at how we’ve dealt with the other stages so I have no worries about that. “Listening to fans in terms of concerns, they just want to know it’s safe to come to the stadium and we’ll have procedures in place in terms of concourses, seating arrangements. We’ve had to adjust the seating plan on the Ticketmaster service whereby we have to have social distancing, but also social bubbles which has now reduced to six. “We’ve looked at all that and had a different template and we’ll wait to see what level of capacity we can have before we push the button on it.” Are you concerned that people have got out of the habit of going to matches, or will be put off by a price rise? “There’s so many variables, all I can do is work in the optimistic world that people have been starved of live football. “Are bars less packed than they were? Yes, but because of the restrictions that would apply to football, but there’s still a willingness for certain groups to go to pubs and restaurants. “I’m hoping that those who really want to watch live football will turn up, but I understand that vulnerable groups and families etc will have a concern over what they do. “I walk down the high street and they’re nowhere near the levels they were pre-Covid, nowhere near. “People have got used to shopping online, formed different habits in their lives, but nothing for me replaces watching live sport, whatever sport that is and once it’s up and running, I would want to go and watch football, cricket, or any sport live. 5 “That’s me, but everyone will be different. I get different vibes from different supporter groups. “Some tell me they’ve got a group of 10 friends who can’t wait to get back, and someone will say ‘ooo, I’m not sure, I’d like to try before I buy’. “There’s a complete spectrum as you’d imagine about what fans are saying about coming back. “Our average gate last season without away fans was 13,500. Last season we had just under 8,900 season tickets and a walk-up of about 1,500-2,000 on average, so for once, demand could outstrip supply if they all want to come back, but I’m not saying they will.” Would you consider opening all stands inside Ewood Park again? “Let’s say we can have 30 per cent of our entire capacity, that would equate to nearly 10,000, that’s the figure in my head. “We could get that with one seat and one seat empty either side, not that we’d do that model, but we’d have to open the entire stadium. “So the message is out there, I want the lower tier to be sold first, I want people to be close to the pitch, create the atmosphere with less people in the stadium, and the Jack Walker Upper to be for the corporate angle, because we’re looking to get the number of people in we can using the lounges and there will be tickets for people up there who want to buy on a season ticket basis. “The lower tiers are going to be one price, including the Riverside, and I want those to be filled before we start to look at the Blackburn End or Darwen End upper tiers.”

Swaggott:- “The Jack Walker upper (price) will be higher, and then we’ll breathe out in to the upper tiers should we be allowed a certain level of capacity" Probably not the most appropriate turn of phrase in the middle of a an airborne viral pandemic. “When things have bottomed out and we know exactly what we can do then we’ll go out to supporters and say ‘sorry it’s taken so long, but I have to get it right, here’s the product’. WTF!!! Arrogant twonk. “We’re going to try and bolt-on all of the seven midweek away games for season ticket holders, that will be a value add.” Partridge-esque

Where is the money for Gally (18/19) and BB (18/19)? Have we only paid £4.48m (cash out) of the £11m they cost?

I'm sure you're right, there just seems to be less money about this summer. We certainly don't appear to be splashing £5m on anyone like we did on Gally.

Cheers. That's him.

I suppose it depends by how much above our budget? If he wants £5k a week more than our wage cap that's £250k a year, or £1m over 4 years. That's a lot of money when it's already been said we won't be paying over £1m for a player this summer.

Bowyer had to sell Gestede and replace him with that useless lummox who's name escapes me. Foreign CF on a free?

I think the wage bill is closer to £23m but I agree with your point. The losses @JHRover mentions are not just from playing costs. Owning a football club outside the Prem, and especially in the Championship, is a very expensive business.

It is now, the chart was provided to you for last season a few weeks ago when we had the original discussion. I can't be arsed going back to look for it. I'm not defending Venkys or Waggott BTW. I'm sure an accountant on here can explain the losses of £20m. But as previously discussed, Mowbray has spent a lot of money relative to the clubs you mention and recouped very little. Hence some of the losses.

I thought it was too.

Again, I'm answering the question you just asked. You did question the existence of a wage cap and I've provided the evidence. The 'we can't compete' stuff has already been discussed at length and related to our overall wage budget which is one of the lowest in the league.

@JHRover

I just pointed out the existence of the wage cap, something you questioned a few weeks. Not really sure of the relevance of your points here to that issue. The salary cap Waggott talks about appears to relate to a cap on individual players wages, it doesn't relate to the wage budget for the whole club.

@JHRover There you go. We do have a salary cap as stated to you a few weeks ago. That's why we can't compete with the 'top half' of the division. If it wasn't self-imposed our losses would be even greater.

I'd agree if we signed a CB and a LB. Without them our defence will be as leaky as it has been the last two seasons. The only caveat to that is that if we have become really good at the high press (not just in friendlies) then it takes a lot of pressure off the defence.

Mulgrew is a very poor defender.