So we’ve just under two weeks until the next home league game. Saturday saw a good performance… and an actual win on the opening day! 

The club should now be all over anyone on the database, especially those that bought a match ticket on Saturday offering STs, price reduced to take account of only 22 games left.

Won’t hold my breath.

Even the Price of Football podcast that is usually up the arse of the Raos sees the ‘merger under one roof’ ‘state of the art’ etc as spin and it is obviously a way of reducing costs and grabbing sizeable real estate income.

I’m not arsed either, couldn’t care less about either of those two.

We are in agreement, because judging club’s size on the town itself is no longer relevant in a transient society… ergo T’other Paul stating we should expect smaller sales (though we never have before this summer) than the two examples, merely because the borders of the town of Bolton contains more people than Blackburn was an outdated notion.

Still amazed at the balls of CPFC claiming that their ‘origin’, and therefore blue and white halves, is from 1861 (making them the oldest club in the world too), though that club went bust in 1876, modern iteration not forming for THIRTY YEARS until 1905… and have played in a totally different part of London (Croydon not even being part of London until the mid 60s’) for the most part.

8 hours ago, Tom said:

Agree with @Revidge Blue on the pitch - thought it looked very heavy.

From a worms eye view it looked long so not sure if it was tactical somehow 

On the catering, it’s all as overpriced as you would expect but the fries are bloody lovely 

It was already cutting up around the JW/BEnd byline.

Just now, Paul said:

Your point about a large portion of the fan base living outside of Blackburn has been the case for 25+ years. I don't think it's a new feature.

 

Exactly, so Preston and Bolton being bigger towns has been moot for years, as we have a geographic spread across Lancashire, though I imagine the percentage of the database that has RIbble Valley and PR postcode addresses has never been larger than it is right now with the rapid demographic change of the last 10 years within the town itself.

‘Opening’, ‘first steps’

It isn’t as we’ve heard it all before on numerous occasions, but this time with added poultry infused heraldry. But ok, taking it at face value, what are those that are optimistic expecting will be different from the 4/5 ‘Statement from the Owners’ we’ve seen previously?

Yet the Blackburn End concourse looked anything but…

Noticed after the game that the queues for the club shop were snaking right down Nuttall Street. Never seen that before, even in the good old days.

Kits and Morecambe tickets flying out, obviously … or skeleton staff?

Fans react to adventurous/positive football and commitment. Can’t fault either yesterday.

He went on to win 50 cap for Northern Ireland, went to a World Cup and was sold for some decent fees. Then a decade plus in management.

Some ‘ruined career’.

What ever happened to that Wilcox lad?

See Quest has started in its usual professional style.

That first 11 (plus Dack) can compete at this level easily enough. There just ain’t much else in reserve.

Without a few decent loans then we will be in big trouble by the time the inevitable injury crisis hits

I see. Did this demographic change occur over the last 18 months? And considering a large (and increasing) percentage of our fanbase lives outside the town of Blackburn, the size of the population within municipal boundaries are increasingly meaningless as people become more transient..

We’ve never gone into a season with fewer ST holders than both those clubs ever before. And if you think it’s normal for Blackburn Rovers to sell fewer season tickets than Preston bloody North End and third division Bolton then there’s not a lot else to say.

11 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

and those 9.400 enjoyed a good home win and hopefully on the back of today we see a few more season tickets sold cos the players played for the shirt and club with Pride, passion and effort. 

Hope so, but history tells me we’ll sell perhaps a few hundred more, but thats your lot.

About 9,400 home fans out of 10,600 for the first game of the season.

Says to me standard attendances will be 7-9,000 most weeks .

Never thought I’d see the crowds like that again at this level.

A sad indictment of a shocking decade of mismanagement.

He’s a canny bugger.

As the club lets its key assets decrease in value, paint it as really an act of working class solidarity by salt o’ earth Tone with furloughed Joe Bloggs, total nonsense, especially with furlough winding down by October., plays well with the gallery though.

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

The way they drew their horns in so quickly last season after a few mild questions got Mowbray rattled says it all.

Just exist as the clubs official mouthpiece now, i suppose it's a bit frustrating for the reporter. Not half as much as the fans though. 

 

Exhibit A, Sharpe’s tweet adding the spin that the lowest ST sales for c40 years was some kind of positive.

3 minutes ago, david brent said:

 

Across the Twitter and Facebook spectrum our fanbase is getting dogs abuse due to the pathetic 6k season tickets sold. Fans of Bolton, Coventry, etc who’ve sold a lot more season tickets than us, and had it a lot tougher than us in recent years, aren’t interested in the ‘venkys’ excuses. They just think we have a terrible ‘tin pot’ fan base.
 

You know, I used to really care what other fans thought of us, how they were often misinformed etc and needed correcting.

Now I really don’t, every club and fanbase has its unique issues. Crowds wax and wane everywhere (well, not here it’s been a fairly clear graph over a decade) over a whole host of issues. So today’s ‘tinpot club’ is some other one this time next year.

5 minutes ago, Gavrover said:

That could be me...

It’s many of us! Your namesake is certainly among our number.

Is this the same Gav ‘polluting’ numerous threads saying how doomed we are under these owners?

8 minutes ago, matt83 said:

I’d be astonished if get more than that. Opening day, unprecedented (outside of war) of not being a competitive game for 18 months by rights there should be 18,000 home fans on. I’m going for 7,500 home fans plus whatever Swansea bring. 

We always sell more than 1500 walk ons on a Saturday, I imagine there will be at least double that sold today - opening day, post lockdowns novelty etc, so with 6,000 ST holders, I imagine we might get close to around 10k home fans - still piss poor, and the most depressing thing is we will rarely sell that amount again for the rest of the season (the 7,500 home fans you predicted will very much be the norm).

6 minutes ago, arbitro said:

First day of the season which is normally one of the best days in the football calendar. Every club starts off the same and dreams and aspirations abound but today my feelings are different. I'm going today having bought a season ticket this week but I just feel disconnected from something that's has been a fundamental part of mine, my families and friends lives for decades. There are many reasons for this but the common denominator in these reasons is the owners who have decimated almost every aspect of the club in their decade of destruction and today that will culminate in our lowest opening day attendance in decades. And I still hear of people (I don't know any personally) who believe that they are good for our club. It's incredible to think that lots of fans will be happy with a fourth bottom placing before a ball is kicked. Sad times indeed.

I expect Mowbray today to once again be too clever and come up with over complicated systems and tactics whilst having square pegs in round holes. Swansea are in a bit of disarray so it could be a first day six pointer. Wow.

A WhatsApp group I’m in was absolutely buzzing for the new season last night. Fair enough, especially after the last 18 months.  I’m certainly looking forward to getting into my old pre match routine, couple of pints, the walk down Livesey Branch etc.

But the season itself? A three quarter empty Ewood (not today, as there will be plenty of walk ons, but certainly as the campaign progresses), the same stale people going through the motions, the undoubted fractious scenes in the stands, the probable resurrection of the disgraceful shenanigans over Brockhall and the decent chances of a relegation battle, just makes me feel completely deflated.

But hey ho, it’s my cross to bear and I’m clinging to the hope that one day, the club will begin to resemble a professional, proud institution again and there’s enough of a fanbase and infrastructure left to re-build from.

6 hours ago, JHRover said:

His days were numbered at Coventry. If he hadn't walked he would have been pushed.

He thought he was too good for League One to start with. Never mind League Two.

 

Always made me laugh at his haughty attitude in League 1, ‘my methods aren’t suited to this division’ etc.

As if Wigan, Portsmouth etc should have been honoured to have Tony bloody Mowbray on their premises.