Not saying it is, just find it interesting on how the media (and now social media) has put those two other clubs on a pedestal as uniquely fantastically supported when in reality they are no better than anyone else, indeed Leeds support has more than often been very poor considering the size of the place.

To be fair the Sheffield clubs get no credit for their crowds in comparison to comparable cities like Leeds and Newcastle (‘best fans in the country ya ya ya’), when between them they are pulling in c60,000 and have been largely crap for decades.

Yes, morten I know you think we have shit support, you’ve made that very clear over the years.

I’m talking about other clubs who also have a plethora (but yes, not as many as us) of empty seats. These clubs also have no parachute payments and I would wager wouldn’t mind the extra revenue from 5k+ followings, but they choose to restrict - why? If not to the protect home advantage?

Exactly, all away. Very rare we put a side to the sword at Ewood. Though forget a hammering, even routine wins (or this season, wins at all) don’t come around very often.

Plod will have a field day in these parts then on a Saturday afternoon. There will be crims in houses on every street for them to round up.

Plenty of clubs in this league have c10k empty seats most weeks yet they cap away allocations at 2/3k - Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Stoke, Cardiff etc.

They don’t give away teams 5k+. We choose to, it doesn’t particularly bother me, but it is a choice and it’s a choice a lot of other clubs wouldn’t even entertain.

Certainly with most younger fans I speak to that don’t go regularly, they pretty much all have IPTV.

It’s a good point, under JDT )and Eustace at Sunderland) we’ve put in some cracking away performances and results - but at home, when did we last give a team a hiding? 

Of course, yes, most on here know why this club gives generally bigger away allocations than any other club.

However, to be fair to tomphil et al, they are talking about a restricted following for this specific game, I.e a relegation six pointer where a good result has us safe, a poor one drags us back into it, so why give any further boost to the rival? (Yes, it’s a debate as to whether a full Darwen End does boost the opposition, but that is their rationale). A few extra grand on Sunday or lose millions with a L1 relegation?

I withdraw all previous praise of Don Goodman

Every club is a selling club, apart from maybe Real Madrid, especially in the FFP environment of now, look at oil state club Newcastle’s rumoured summer of sales for evidence of that.

Nobody has a problem with that, especially here, we’ve been doing it from day dot, even in Jack’s day. What is different now is the team sees none of it and as a result we are at best hoping to stay out of the third division despite big money sales.

He knows he can come out with any old tripe, he’s brazen because he’s bulletproof and he knows it. He can feather that nest for as long as he wants.

I can think of many adjectives for Swag, none of them positive character traits, and though he obviously isn’t exactly cerebral, he’s a canny operator, the way he’s manoeuvred behind the scenes this season is proof of that. 

The thick ones are these owners that continue to let such chancers take the piss. 
 

Nah Gary, there’s loads of lads just like him.

15 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

So what you are saying is that our players can't perform if there are 7,000 visiting fans at Ewood.  However, they can perform in front of 30 odd thousand home fans at Leeds and 40 odd thousand home fans at Sunderland.   I'm not sure I follow that argument.  At the end of the day we won't agree on this.  For me we need the cash and in the 60 odd years I've supported the club the number of visiting away fans has never really seemed an issue.

Didn’t know I was disagreeing, it is what it is and it won’t change unless we double our ST numbers (ha!) - it’s a ground that will always have lots of spare seats otherwise.

But there obviously is a reason most clubs restrict away followings even if they have more seats available.

Oh I thought we were talking about the impact of big away supports at Ewood.

Didn’t we lose all those games at Ewood? (Plus PNE).

The only time it hasn’t happened is in seasons we haven’t needed to due to huge amounts of ST holders - I.e 95/96, ‘Taking Back Ewood’ late 2000s era.

A ground that was built for a top PL side, not one with fans paying big prices in the second division year after year after a decade of farcical ownership. So of course we have a plethora of spare seats and as long as that remains the case I can’t see any regime not flogging the full end, easy cash.

Makes me laugh how modern keepers punch and punch… until defending a lead late on, they then suddenly remember how to catch again (with elaborate falls to the ground wasting thirty seconds) 😅

‘Err FFP guys’

Is he thick? He is if you think he is trying to act in the best long term interests of BRFC, but just happens to make bad decisions time after time. 

I’d say Waggott makes decisions for Waggott, and will be leaving here (at some point) very well compensated.. so who’s the fool?
 

End of the day it’s a second division game, on Sky at Sunday dinner priced at £25-£30, it’s not a game that’s suddenly going to attract hordes of Rovers-adjacent folk who haven’t been in years (so no purchase record) - a promotion party game a la Oxford or a cup tie against a Liverpool maybe a different issue.

A lot of fans across the EFL might not twig this summer, but certainly after a season of the majority of their Saturday games being on TV, as well as all midweeks, quite a few may knock their STs on the head the summer after.

TM pretty much ran the place, so Academy boss too, obviously.

He was excellent at Anfield yesterday, the lad is well at home already just out of his teens - but all that matters to us is 1) was it a good price? 2) Will any of the amount we did actually get be spent on the side?

And we all know the answer to both.

£18million is pocket change for PL clubs, they had our pants down, and why wouldn’t they, it’s what you do with distressed sellers.