So you would go down the road of scrapping STs entirely (even though no other club is having issues selling them) over just reducing prices? An approach that has worked out big time for Bolton and PNE? (Hopefully you won’t bite my head off this time)

Any other companies in walking distance from Ewood then that will chuck us a few bob?

Just the way it is as there’s far more southern teams at level 6 than northern ones, which makes sense when you look at populations.

Dave, of course there are other reasons, my father in law has just knocked his season ticket on the head after 60+ years due to the Sky deluge, he just couldn’t be arsed with the trip over from Lytham at his age when there’s a good chance at least every other game will be on TV. You have other reasons too, as will others, but price is by far and away the reason that sales have collapsed here, and *only* here since Covid, our prices have gone up by hundreds of quid since 2018/19, whilst other local clubs have done the exact opposite, it is the main reason we have now slipped even far behind PNE, never mind being currently at HALF the figure of bloody Bolton.

Charming 😁

What’s my opinion? That crowds are booming across England? That our price is up to double our local rivals? That all these other clubs are simply offering standard season tickets to drive such numbers? Of course there are other issues, the bizarre Sky game factor post World Cup has put folk off too, but obviously price is by far the biggest issue, as the big difference in sales at very similar local clubs show.

I wouldn’t have thought most are selling out of STs in the lower leagues, but if clubs are seeing some of their biggest sales in decades I’m not sure changing their biggest income stream (outside Sky) is going to be a priority for them.

Not my opinion though, is it? It’s a fact that gates are booming across football and it’s a fact that all these clubs gets the bulk of their booming gates from ST sales. If we are the outlier then it is cost that is obviously driving that- PNE and Bolton show that in our neck of the woods with ours costing £100s more (pretty much double the price of Bolton’s), where’s their ‘flexi’ ticket, membership etc?

The ST as is is still obviously working fine across football - look at the gates at all levels of the game, highest since the 1960s. Ours are too expensive, it’s as simple as that.

Why do ‘all’ football clubs have to be flexible? Sales are booming across English football… apart from here.

Cheeky! But as you asked, we had 18,500 in 2010, the year they bought the club. We started 21/22 with 6,995. Who knows if we’ll even hit the dizzying heights of 8,000 this time.

This is the point I was trying to make. If he thinks we’ll have 90% retention of presumably full ST holders, not full and half, that means only 850 won’t renew, add that to say 2000 newbies, then we are on course for 10,000. Just can’t see it when the price has been hiked (and soon to be hiked again) before we’d even hit 7000.

Ah I see, obviously Swag is using full STs, not how many STs we actually finished the season with. But no I don’t see another 1600 being sold when even Riverside prices will be approaching £500 in a couple of weeks (presuming we go to phase 3).

That’s a defeat I’d be delighted to take on the chin. I’d take 9,500 with both hands from here. He honestly reckons we are going to sell another 2,500 from here, after a £50 hike, so now £429 to £550, with another hike (I believe) in a couple of weeks? I just don’t believe him and he’ll actually be coming out with a load of mealy mouthed excuses to why we didn’t get close in the September Fans Forum instead.

The amount of disingenuous spin in that. He knows full well that we won’t have 90% renewal, he knows full well we won’t beat last season’s figure, he knows full well that it isn’t a £50 reduction for the vast majority. The man is a disgrace.

Get outside elite level football and modern players in the lower leagues are fitter than they used to be, that’s about it.

‘Poor area and demographics… but there are still 9k, sorry 7k now that will pay top dollar regardless and it’s still enough for me get my bonus’.

But we now know 8-9k don’t always buy them - we sold 6,995 in 21/22, which led to some 9 thousand crowds for night games pre Christmas, luckily we then charged up the table and sold big numbers (for us) of half STs to mask it. Every chance we don’t reach it this season either. I keep thinking we’ve hit rock bottom but Swag keeps finding new depths for us to fall into…

A majority of the fanbase haven’t been passive they’ve actively left the scene - ergo a decade on the club are ’pleased’ to sell 7,000 STs

But you assured me we’d be selling 10k minimum?

‘Didn’t let anyone down’, ‘he’ll do’. The BRFC shrug your shoulders and plod on approach to football…

Take it you’ve not actually watched that clip? An under 12s keeper would be saving a couple of them.

It’s neither actually, they can be from anywhere as long as they were ‘homegrown’ through an FA affiliated academy

‘A poor man’s Dack’ was always a strange one as they are absolutely nothing alike as players.

What planet are you on Phil? Recruitment has been our downfall, again. Indeed it could lead to the best manager we’ve had in a decade plus walking as a result of it. An ‘A’ for the bloke overseeing it, dear me.