From the ‘at least’, maybe it’s we are just making out we want him to stay even longer, or it could be hinting at an option which seems to be the norm these days. If he has an *option* until 2025, we’ve seen repeatedly that this ends up with the club lazily triggering it whilst resting on its laurels, a players stock rising and them buggering off for nowt. But if there is no option, so a next summer expiry, with GB now in situ I imagine a la Buckley (who earlier this season re-signed until 2027, even though he had two years left on his existing deal) negotiations will be underway already. It is now ‘the model’ after all…

A 3pm KO may well have seen a bumper (ish) gate, a Sky dinner time game at £25-£30 will have put paid to that…

Ha my tongue was superglued to my cheek there!

Would need a season of slapping the likes of Walsall and Wimbledon first…

Again no problem with that. Of course he deserved criticism, and plenty of it. But the calling for his sacking when never more than a point from the top 6 from a substantial number on here up until a few weeks ago? Ridiculous. The fact he’s had more grief already at games than TT got in five years? Bizarre.

Having a go at him was fine, par for the course, but the slating he’d had on here (forums can be like that, but more surprisingly from a fair few at Ewood, especially after five years of Teflon Tony) has baffled me; ‘clueless’’, ‘no hoper’ etc. Average budget and players and we’ve not been more than a point from the top 6 all season. Not sure what more he could’ve done?

I’d be all for bundles if they sold well, they just don’t here. Not unfair to have an odd game at £10, Bournemouth was (with similar priced STs) in the run-in last season, we’ve always done it in years gone by (even in the pre ‘Taking Back Ewood’ PL days). Obviously you don’t take the piss with it, but one targeted and publicised game - Oxford another example. Get folk back in the tent, get them on the database, marketing 101.

Take it that when it’s moved tickets will be £20? As it’s what they did for Blackpool and Wigan (moved from Cat A to Cat C) when the games changed from a weekend fixture…

Was anybody charged? Take it The Observer is not bothering with due process?

I get the impression that they’d stopped bothering with deals. Hasn’t been one this season (Hudds aside, but that was still around the £20 mark, so not exactly something that’s going to pull a load of folk in for a run of the mill game in November). Will this a little bit unexpected run lead to some now? It certainly would at a normal club with 15,000+ empty seats to play with and a potential club transforming prize on offer…

Difficult to tell with Forest when they’ve brought in dozens of players. Quite an abnormal situation there for a newly promoted club. If he wasn’t getting a kick at say, Bournemouth then fair enough…

The most upbeat post I think I’ve read from Jim in about a decade… something must be brewing!

Saw a post on the QPR thread re a new deal. He’s contacted until ‘at least June 2024’, so presumably there’s an option until 2025? https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/june/Rankin-Costello-deal-done-/ Let’s get ahead of the curve with this one, ay GB!

1pm also on the Fulham site. https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2023/february/25/U21-Blackburn-Preview/ The preview story will be based on a template that they don’t bother checking before publishing. See errors like that all the time with tickets prices etc. The turnstiles were opening at ‘1.30pm’ for a night match the other week.

Good point, arbito. We’ve been a team of soft arses for a long time (Panto Dame Travis aside). JRC is another that now seeks to have a bit of snarl about him…

Dread to think of how he’d price up a play off game…

Bit optimistic there, Andy! Bundles normally sell in their low hundreds at best (often I don’t think they’ve even reached three figures). Need to remember that bundles are in essence mini season tickets and a lot of your floating fanbase aren’t interested in tying themselves into a group of games, that’s why they haven’t already bought a full or half ST. Make individual games cheaper, no strings attached is the way to go. *Narrator: The CEO did neither.*

Norwich on Good Friday should be £10 in all areas, no strings, and then market the hell out of it. Get a bumper Easter crowd in to roar them on against a play off rival. (Obviously this won’t happen and it will be the standard Cat B, £25 to £30)

We still in a false position?

The difference a touchline hugging winger can make… simple game football, massively over complicated by an army of pound shop Pep’s across the leagues.

Good chance that will happen anyway with these prices, this economic climate, a home crowd that don’t seem particularly enamoured with the style of football on show plus months on end with hardly a Saturday 3pm game.

Of course it could be done, damo, but it won’t happen due to Swag already believing he is pricing it right as he’s hitting his revenue target. People need to get any hopes of enticing pricing out their head and understand he is not remotely interested in more bums on seats as a mere 9k of sales hits his targets - plus that makes it a piece of piss operation at Ewood to manage too, so win win in his book. He has zero interest in growing the fanbase in the middle to long term as he’ll be gone long before that, so he certainly won’t be risking his bonus so the playing plebs can have a cheaper ticket.

More likely it will be closed, presumably it’s been a back pocket plan ever since the cameras were switched…

Love Super Atko, you!

Alas that lot aren’t going any decade soon, whereas there is a long signposted retirement of the present failure, so a new CEO could well have a new approach to hitting revenue targets. It’s our only hope, so we might as well stop worrying about the club actually attempting to increase numbers until he does feck off (or a miraculous promotion does it for them).