Typical Merseyside, living in the past with a chip on its shoulder. Scousers Against The World is their motto; no wonder Liverpool has been in decline for years and its population leaving in droves.

I knew I'd agree with one of your posts eventually

Ozzydave, with all due respect...the difference being that what happened with the LEF [as you account it], although horrible was fact, and what the sun did was fiction to sell papers - as they have admitted.

It wasn't fact actually. They said he escaped from Plymouth hospital, he escaped form Derriford Mental institute. They said he was depressed when in actual fact he had a massive cocaine addiction.

If you let what a tabloid says bother you, you've got very thin skin. Jesus Christ, Beckham would have done something drastic years ago if he was as touchy as you lot.

I've changed my flights so I'm only staying over Saturday night now (saving a valuable day's holiday from work) but I haven't booked a hotel yet.

I'll have the Smurf with me, but that rarely has any influence on my behavior Especially as she's usually more of a disgrace than me !

As for the girl in the picture, she's a mate of Jordan. Drinking at 9am at Leeds Bradford airport was no problem for Hotspot, Jordan and myself, with hindsight letting Jordan's mate join in was a mistake. She was well gone before we left Dublin airport for the city !

There seems to a lot fewer people from the MB going this year come on folks, flights are cheap enough and it's at a weekend, what more of an excuse do you need .... oh, and I believe Rovers are playing too.

I'm definitely going.

Not sure yet whether it's gonna be 2 of us, me and the missus, or me and about 15 lads, but will let you know

Years ago my uncle threw himself off an electricity pylon.

How did my mother (his sister) find out about that? By a sickening picture of an Accrington man about to jump from the pylon on the front page of the LET.

Some of you may or may not remember this picture but its the single most disturbing thing I've ever seen in my life. The relations had a right to know first.

We haven't held it against the LET though, We know what sells papers and what doesn't.

.  There's been far worse incidents than this which have received no apology whatsoever.

Which ones?

Im not being arrogant, i just cant remember.....

Would just like to know for interest/reference.

Thanks.

Have a think about it, it's really not that hard.

Just let it go.

The Sun bases their whole paper on lies, we all know that.

Either you accept their apology or you don't. There's been far worse incidents than this which have received no apology whatsoever.

Like they say move on, life goes on.

Are we talking about the same Newcastle who had gates around the 12k mark back in the early 80's..DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE!!

Or the Blackburn that had 5k gates?

I'm talking about now, stop living in the past FFS.

Our supporters have seen a hell of a lot over they years - they know when something isn't right. You can't kid people who have seen the players we've seen over the years. They know when someone is giving their all and when someone isn't.

.......and that's all we are asking for. When you've seen (to pick just a few at random) Speedie, Garner, Shearer, Hendry, Gennoe, Reid, Barker, Moran, Atkins, Fazakerly, Wright, Brotherston and I don't know how many others dieing for the cause, you know, you really know when a player is committed.

Steven Reid comitted? Are you mad?!?! ( )

Who out of the current squad would you say is committed Paul?

''My point still stands, Blackburn is not a footballing town IMHO. Incidently I wouldn't say Middlesbrough is either.''

I'm REALLY trying to understand that comment Dave.What constitutes a footballing town then in your opinion?..........

Somewhere that lives/eats/breathes football, know it's not a town but Newcastle always springs to mind as an instant example.

Middlesbrough are still effectively benefiting partially from signing that irritating Brazilian the first time and other big (ish) signings.

On another note I think it's a bit daft comparing population of towns to attendance figures.  Do ALL rovers fans come from Blackburn?  Do they ###### and its the same at every club.

You can think it's daft all you like but it really isn't. as that's where the core support is, Of course not all Rovers fans come from Blackburn, nobody said the do, just like any other club. Most do though. Just like any other club, including Manchester United; a majority of the fans at Old Trafford comes from the Manchester area. The areas around Blackburn are the heartlands where most of the support comes from. They're bound to be, if Rovers is the nearest club they are likely to support them. So the size of the local population has nothing to do with it? Where do you want Rovers to get most of their support from? Cornwall? Essex? We're stuck with the area whether we like it or not. I'm not suggesting there isn't plenty of Rovers fans who aren't from Blackburn (and on this site we see that Rovers have fans from all over the globe) but it is where the basis has to come from. Same as always. Not a local team for local people exactly...but it does need the local people. Maybe Man U could get big crowds without Mancs...we couldn't get them without Blackburners or those from Ossy or Accy. Actually we can't get big crowds with them so Lord only knows what we'd do without them.

Simply...if the local population isn't that great then we can't expect massive crowds. Worse than that...if they don't renew there isn't that many others to take their place.

Come on then how many 'small town teams' reside in the premiership? Not an awful lot I'm sure you'll agree.

The fact is our attendances increased by a MASSIVE percentage when we got to the premiership. Thats simply a natural reaction. ANY town team in the whole of the UK would see huge increases in attendances.

If Burnley got in the premiership would their attendances rise? YES.

If Accy Stanley did? YES.

If Rochdale did? YES.

If Barnsley did? YES.

If Ipswich did? YES.

I can see a pattern emerging here.

Fact is, there's not enough small town teams in the premiership to make an accurate analysis of how well supported we are. My point still stands, Blackburn is not a footballing town IMHO. Incidently I wouldn't say Middlesbrough is either.

Face it, the novelty of top flight football is fading away, fast.

We could do better on the support side in my opinion but that doesn't equate to Blackburn as not being a football town does it OD!

To be honest mate theres F all else to do in Blackburn/Ossy/Accy anyway but no I don't believe Blackburn is a passionate football town. Sorry if that upsets your applecart.

6 keepers

10 defenders

12 midfielders

4 strikers

You've got to laugh really, especially when you compare it to Burnleys 8 man squad or whatever it is

I will take that bet OD

two pints of lager and a packet of crisps ?

Not if it's Heineken no.

WOH!,WOH!!WOH!!!.....I'm sorry Ossydave but to call Blackburn a non footballing town is ludicrous in the least!

We are, despite our falling support, STILL one of the best supported 'town teams' in the UK and our club has a tradition many so called bigger city clubs would die for.....BACK OFF FELLA!!

I've read your post on 3 seperate occasions and it's changed each time.

I'm not questioning whether or not we're a well supported town team. My point was that you could go into Blackburn town centre on a match day and it's no different to any other. Wander into Newcastle for example and make no mistake, you know about it straightaway that theres a game on that day. Theres a buzz there. I still enjoy going to Ewood, the sad thing is it's not really because of the quality of football on show. I enjoy meeting up with the lads for a few beers, having a sing song and a natter. Ewoods become more of a tourist attraction than a football ground now, it's to Blackburn what the tower is to Blackpool. Theres no passion about the place and to be honest I'd go as far as to say it's actually boring at times. I'll always go to Ewood, it's an addiction to me, I have to get my fix, even if it's more like a flat pint of Heineken than a bottle of cristal. A lot of its almost like a sense of duty though and the associated factors, a LOT of people probably go to Ewood to be entertained, if they feel that's lacking they simply don't go.

On another note I think it's a bit daft comparing population of towns to attendance figures. Do ALL rovers fans come from Blackburn? Do they ###### and its the same at every club.

And I agree with Manchester Blue, this isn't happening at every club, even those enjoying a LOT less success than us, it's an extremely worrying trend.

Will anyone dare to put their money were the old mouth is and bet me that our season ticket sales drop below 10k next year (assuming we don't finish top 4)?

Before I forget SG yes I remember those away followings too. I also remember the likes Of Grimsby taking 8,000 to Anfield. Oldham was always a good day out though with a big following

Don't have time to write a full reply as I've got a meeting soon. I will when I get home later on though.

But, to say we have tremendous and loyal support is in my opinion way off the mark. Where on earth was this support in Div 2?!?!

Jack Walker brought an instant, overnight increase in attendances that none of us could ever have imagined at the time. Those attendances peaked around the title winning season and have been very slowly slipping ever since.

If we don't have a top 4 season next season we'll drop to sub-10,000 ST sales, I've no doubts about that.

Dickov scored more PL goals than Cole last season... playing for Leicester!!

Why was that? - Because he works his socks off!

Cole doesn't know the meaning of working one's socks off, he probably even gets someone to take his off after a game!

please tell you are not trying to say that the second best goalscorer of all time in th PL is not as good as Paul Dickov, who most his career has not been good enough to even play in th PL, unless he's got relegated in a single season.

I'd guess he's trying to say that if Dickov had the natural talent Cole has he wouldn't be #2 all time, he'd be #1 (or if Cole had the desire Dickov had).

Either way it's complete @#/?. Cole DID work his socks off and anyone who say's otherwise is basically a bit of a clown

Well chuffed with this signing

Another player with good leadership qualities too and will lead by example.

Amo/Matteo/Fergie potentially rallying the troops next season can only be good news in my book.

The club is sadly losing the battle,they can do no more.....

The snide remark from opposing fans about our support being 'plastic' appears to be coming home to roost....we are running out of excuses and we ALL know it.

Blackburn is not a footballing town it's as simple as that. There's no 'buzz' round Ewood on matchday. There's no air of excitement round the streets of Blackburn pre-match. The difference you see when travelling to some (but not all) away games is quite something. The only way we'll fill the ground again is by challenging for the premiership, and to be honest that probably wouldn't do it any more

The biggest problem Rovers have is that there is effectively no need for anyone to buy a season ticket. I know that for basically any match, expect perhaps Man U at home, I can walk upto the ticket office 10 minutes before kick off and buy a ticket. Why buy a season ticket when you can pick and chose the games you go to? You don't have to fork out the money up front and you save money if you miss more than a couple of games. That is why we have this problem.

That's the most important part of your post. From people I've talked to this is the most common reason given. A ST used to be vital to buying away tickets for most games too, not any more.

Fair point Ossydave, but the club would be up s#!t-creeck if they took that attitude to season ticket sales.

Why?

Not being funny but they've tried till they're blue in the face to promote our ticket sales and it NEVER works apart from the odd game.

Talking bus shelters, tenner tickets etc. I reckon we've tried more initiatives than any other premiership club yet we've failed to reap the rewards.

This whole thread is pretty pointless to be honest.

Anyone who's genuinely interested in watching every home game for Rovers will buy a ST. Obviously theres cash/location etc to take into account.

Think we should stop coming up with theories because the fact is anyone who's not interested either couldn't give a toss or hasn't got the cash/lives miles away etc.

Saturday afternoon football's well and truly dead

There is also a picture of new skipper Bazza holding up the new season ticket cards. They're in blue and white halves with the Club crest and look very snappy.

To be honest I'd rather my card wasn't very snappy. Will we be able to get free replacements when they snap?!? Or will we have to pay for them?

Amateurish again Rovers, absolutely amateurish. Who designed the damn things? Dean Saunders no doubt.

Disastrous move for the clubs, the game will eventually be destoyed by Sky TV and its millions. Any fan who is less than 110% comitted or whose team is struggling will simply turn on the box for an hour and call it support.

Very, very disappointing news. Sooner or later we are all going to have to wake up to the serious implications of Sky TV, it will destroy the game, in fact it has already taken its heart, Murdoch is just coming back for the soul now.

Watching football on TV is no subsitute for being at the ground, we all know that, I can't see this move having a big effect on ticket sales.

Two Words, Scotish Football and TV Coverage. It didn't help them!

What on earth's that got to do with anything?!?!?!

We're talking about ENGLISH football. The introduction of SKY has co-incided with an increase in attendances, simple as that!

Forgive me if I am wrong but will the clubs not have had to agree to this and get a cut - then if so its their own faults for selling out to TV.

Apparently Dean Saunders is in charge on that side of things these days, what a tosser