SIMON GARNERS 194

Expect a crowd of between 15-20k. The England U21's played the Ukraine at Middlesborough in August in front of only just over 5,000!!!

If either club came in with 10 million chances are we would sell..in the cold light of day we all have to face the fact that Rovers are no longer a footballing force both on and off the field. Such is life.

A bunch of pussies who are more interested in the pay day rather than wearing the famous shirt. That aside, 2-1 England.

I've already given my opinion for the drop in attendances...spood fed,glory hunting support that joined the bandwagon when JW arrived combined with traditional fickle support!!!! The above aren't conditions that should give us the green light for a merger are they though? Rovers have known much harder times,the 70's 80's saw the club on its knees but was a merger ever mooted then?.............. All I'm saying is that clubs in this area have very strong traditions,strong bonds with their respective community's that have lasted for over a century NONE of Blackburn ,Burnley,Bolton,Preston and Blackpool can be considered 'nothing clubs'....this is where your argument for club merger falls flat on its face Theno. Your serve.

'He also tried it with Hibs and Hearts and they did likewise Jim. The common denominator of all this is that none of em have won a bean since!' AHHHHH.... now there lies the crux of the problem theno!! ALL of the Lancashire town clubs DO have traditions and have had major success in the past and some most noticably in the present i.e. Rovers and Bolton to an extent.

'Such a merged entity would never have a foundation of die-hard fans, and as such would be doomed to failure. ' Theno conveniently choose to edit the similar point I made in my post above....it just wouldn't wash with the vast majority pal!

With respect theno give the dubious merger scenario a rest eh!.At a guess I would say nearly 100% of supporters would be against such an horrendous move.......its complete pie in the sky mate and will never be allowed to happen. The Jack Walker years were very good for Blackburn Rover fc the club but In my opinion it also spawned a new breed of spoon fed supporter at Ewood,supporters who were in it for the short term,supporters who when the going gets a little tough disappear into thin air.....this is without doubt what we are seeing happen now. I feel Philipl does have a point with a comparison to what happened in the '60's...Rovers fans are very fickle and always have been. Sadly, some 'traditions' are hard to change.

Thats probably correct philipl but it sounds like the something for nothing brigade may spoil the party this time though. £10 and £5 too dear!?

Smith yet again pulls Utd out of the brown stuff!!

I'll be getting my tickets tomorrow,Stead looks set to be named in the squad.....wonder if we'll see anything like the near 30k gate against Greece a few years ago?

Sounds like Rovers in the very near future if the crowds dont increase.

The club dont have the balls to do it tash

Amazing stat: In 1980, the then 3RD DIVISION Rovers played Villa in the FA cup infront of nearly 30,000 fans at Ewood. . . . . . . Nowt as queer as Blackburn folk eh.

With you 100% mate..the powers that be are playing a very dangerous game with some of the clubs most passionate supporters.

The angry chants from some of area N01 came across loud and clear today,if you do read this mb John Newsham/Mr Williams please be carefull how you treat our supporters..they dont deserve to feel isolated any further!!!

Again the defence remains our Achilles heel.Quite an entertaining game when all said and done,Emerton took his goal well..the lads confidence seems to be on the up also good debut from Youri D. Like it or not ladies and gents its going to take time to build confidence at Ewood again on AND off the pitch........... A p1ss poor 20,502 with about 3,000 from Villa,our support is going through the bloody floor.....there was a bigger crowd v Pompey!!!!

If that's true its bloody ridiculous,the atmosphere at home games is bad enough. The club knows well enough that the Blackburn End lower is the focal point for the most partisan and vocal element within Ewood and has been for many moons....why cant the club except this and relax the rules a little,surely there is no harm done? I feel supporter's patience will be really tested with this one,at a time when the clubs support seems to be on the decline,letters to people's houses threatening them with possible bans will NOT be a welcome move!!

Bumley 'legend' Willie Irvine didn't have kind word's for England in a recent Radio Lancs interview!

2-0 Rovers..have a good feeling about tomorrow's game! 21,500

Worth a try,welcome........... http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/New...~570210,00.html

Finally, the pure folly of selling Cole and replacing him with the sub standard Dickov starts to hit home...Souness has basically left us with boys trying to do the job of men in attack and I fear its going to cost us very dearly indeed.

So basically its nothing we didn't already know..mishief making yet again by the national gutter press !

'Yeah they do have 'evidence' but it most of it relates to association. Things like 'you were seen with such a person in the ewood arms' or 'you were walking down livesey branch road in a large group when a group of liverpool risk supporters were at the other end'. I'm with you on this one blackburnbrfc,I find it bl00dy ridiculous. If I enter the Jubilee pub at 2:00pm does that make me part of the 'lads' who frequent in there and are well known to the police..the hell it does! If I choose to wear Stone island,Lacoste or Paul 'n' shark are they right to suspect me of being a casual....are they sh1te!

Thats correct stuwilky but it could aslo be said that overcrowded terracing WAS a factor in the disaster.

'It amazes me that the fact that millions stood for decades without suffering injury (beyond the odd bruise or grazed knee) and that non of the footballing tragedies were because of people standing are blissfully ignored by these people who, because they cannot come up with logical objections to safe standing, come up with the most absurd reasoning against it. ' Bolton football disaster of 1946: 33 killed hundreds injured. Ibrox 1971: 66 killed hundreds injured. Hillsborough 1989: 96 killed. I'm sorry Amanda but your above comment couldn't be further from the truth.I personally would like to see standing re-introduced at football grounds,the atmosphere is @#/? but I'm sorry to say it wont happen.