I wasn't at Saturday's game but he made a big difference when he came on for Khadra at Bournemouth.

Conversely that's great news for me. It's my last day of self isolation so makes up a smidgen for the rest of Christmas being messed up.

I did - what is your point?

We will probably need more than 60 points by the end of February. From then there are only 11 games left. To match our first half and end up with 84 points we would need to get 24 from those last 11. That’s a big ask given there are always odd results as everyone gets desperate. 84 should see us safe in the play-offs but most years we would need more for automatic promotion. But we do have 6 more games before February starts and we could easily get 12 points from them

It doesn’t make a lot of difference what Rick Parry thinks as it’s not up to him. I don’t think it’s an absolute done deal yet but the odds of some form of significant restrictions coming in after Christmas are getting higher every day.

I’ve had some spectacular hangovers in my time K-Hod but I’ve never been that bad.

12,146. Remember all the ST holders are counted whether they are there or not

He can't get back in ahead of the current back 3. Ayala came on for Wharton at Bournemouth so i assume he's fully fit.

I thought you went straight to your seats? With the Villa v Burnley game off we’re now the highest placed club in England kicking off at 3 pm so I think we can expect plenty of media coverage, which is usually a bad omen for Rovers.

Me too Tom. I made my decision a few days ago when my wife tested positive but my PCR test yesterday was positive too, so now I'm grounded until after Christmas. Whilst it's everyone's personal decision as to whether to go or not I would just point out that there are bound to be some of you who pick up the virus today and if you do anything you have planned for next weekend will be buggered up.

It's on ICBINF USABlue.

Five in total plus nine EFL games to date.

That’s not a fact Chaddy, as I have already pointed out. It might be but the scientific evidence so far is not there and probably won’t be until the New Year, by which time millions will have been infected. And even if it is less severe than previous variants the fact that hugely more people will be infected means that there could still be more hospitalisation and deaths. Surely getting t9 the ground early just increases your chances of interaction with others?

Well clearly not Chaddy. My wife has been tripled jabbed for nearly three months now but she’s got it. Now it’s very likely that she will not be seriously ill (she already feels better), but she still has to self isolate for 10 days. That’s what the problem is going to be - thousands, probably hundreds of thousands will have to do the same and for anyone who gets it in the next week that will include Christmas. Another piece of data this morning - the R rate was 1.2 last week. Now it is estimated between 3 and 5. As Chris Whitby says it’s your choice and you should prioritise events/meetings that are most important to you. Maybe for you it is the game on Saturday rather than Christmas. Despite the fact that I enjoy the football it’s not for me.

The data we have is hugely negative as Chris Whitty said last night. The NHS is currently working right at the edge and all the scientific data suggests that there is going to be a huge uptick in the number of infections in the next couple of weeks. That means lots more NHS staff are going to be self isolating soon. Now maybe omicron will turn out to be less severe than other variants but as Whitty said last night there is currently precious little evidence of that and what there is is from South Africa where the population is much younger and probably has more immunity. Good to hear that you're having your booster Chaddy, but bear in mind it won't provide you with full protection for another week to 10 days at least.

I understand that there will be an email going out to all ST holders and all who have bought tickets for Saturday's game outlining the arrangements for attending the game. You will get it even if you have opted out of receiving emails as the club recognise that this is a Health & Safety issue. If they haven't got an email address for you they will text you. Gav - I would not be surprised to see this weekend's games all called off.

I think we can all agree that with a few honourable exceptions professional footballers are not the sharpest tools in the box. Aubameyang is just the latest example. But they can’t all be blamed for catching Covid right now. If it was all about them the instances would be spread more around the country. The omicron variant is fuelling huge numbers of cases in the south east right now but it hasn’t yet reached the same levels up here. It will in the next few days and then we will start to see postponements elsewhere. There could also be some clubs being comfortable with postponing a game on what is traditionally one of the worst dates for attendances, coupled with the fact that many casual fans might be put off attending right now.

That reflects that the Omicron situation is currently at its worst in the south east. Within a few days I would expect more problems further north. Maybe not soon enough to affect Rovers game on Saturday.

Simon - I put a link to the message that Rovers put out last week on the Coronavirus thread (I think). Presumably more will come out in the next two days but I would have had a link to what’s there already on the game ticket page.

It's looking much more likely that only a sample of fans will have their details checked.

Both Chris Whitby and Nikki Kanani have just fairly clearly said that anyone worried about being well for Christmas should not be going to large events like football games this weekend. Of course it’s currently your choice but there clearly is a good reason not to go assuming you have family plans next weekend.

If you can provide some proof of a positive test from September that will also get you in Tomphil. This is the advice from Rovers - https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/december/13/covid-19-certification-q-a/ The relevant bit is in bold below: - In anticipation of the upcoming introduction of Covid ‘Plan B’ measures, Rovers are encouraging supporters to get prepared. The introduction of Covid-19 certification means that people aged 18 and over, who are attending any event with more than 10,000 people, must present one of the following in order to attend: A digital NHS COVID pass A paper NHS COVID pass Proof of a recent negative Lateral Flow Test (or PCR test) Confirmation of a positive test within the last six months

That might have been true a few days ago but many are clearly not now. Hospitality has seen huge numbers of cancellations in the last few days. There will definitely be fans not wishing to mix in a crowd on Saturday and I suspect others who won't want to go through the hassle of getting their pass or negative test result. Yesterday I heard of two friends who have tested positive - the first for quite a while. And we're currently awaiting a PCR test result on my wife - it it's positive I won't be at Ewood on Saturday.

That might well happen although I haven’t seen any confirmation as yet.

You can’t use the paper card. You need to either download the NHS app where you will be able to access the Covid vaccination pass, ask the NHS for a paper copy (but it’s probably too late for Saturday now), produce evidence of a negative LFT or proof from your GP of recovery from Covid. There is detailed advice on the Rovers website.