If they hadn’t have already been selling tickets in one of the blocks that might have been feasible, but they only took them off sale in that block because they wanted to concentrate on selling the central areas first, which is fair enough. To then say they now can’t sell them as there’s maintenance planned, but hours later you can buy them. All’s well they ends well, but all very strange like so much in VenkyLand.

So what’s gone wrong post relegation? You chuck a load of cash at it but you seem to get worse every year.

What on earth was that Yasir going on about with that ‘maintenance’ stuff? Such a weird lie that lasted around a day (it was plainly obvious that it was a lie as they’d already sold a few tickets in one of the end blocks). Lying does come very easily to the hierarchy down there.

Of course he’s an integral player, he’s largely been a first choice attacking player for years.

Of course always levels, there is in every division. But for me his graft and ability to make things happen will keep him solidly in this division and he’ll make a decent living. Which is some achievement from being released from PNE after being on loan at Clitheroe.

Doesn’t seem nuanced to me, hundreds of pros at this level and he’s a standard one. Can be crap, can be very good, like most of them. I’d be absolutely amazed if he doesn’t get a three year gig or whatever for a Championship club. That’s him a long way from League 1… Buckley on the other hand.

Problem with this league if you want to keep hold of your manager is that you are only seemingly ever a week away from another sacking.

He’s a decent Championship player. Works his arse off, always looking to get involved and makes thing happen. Is he also inconsistent? Make the wrong decisions? Yes, it’s why this is his level. Plenty of Championship clubs will be looking at him in the summer, no wonder he isn’t signing, his agent will be telling him he’d be mad to. Some folk being a bit daft on here saying ‘he’s a League 1 player’ which will be proven next season.

Why is he playing in the fourth division, rigger?

So am I. All 500 or so seats in the that end Riverside block weren’t sold on the first morning. Perhaps the back few rows were sold with the rest netted off, but not the whole block. Though obviously hope I’m wrong as that would leave only 300 or so in the JWL end block unsold. So when those upper tier seats sell out in the next day or so, they then need to get that additional seating on sale however many it is.

Great ‘Walkersteel’ reference there. Still hanging on in the folk memory unlike the Fraser Eagle stand.

I went on the planner the morning they went on sale and every seat was grey. Seems highly unlikely that the whole block was sold in the first hour.

Isn’t he over 6 foot? How tall do you need to be?

Why will this latest fella turn it round at Man Utd when the last six couldn’t and the club is as toxic as ever?

The club’s ’600 left’ isn’t including the other 500-750 niko is referring to in the Riverside/JWL end blocks, just the Blackburn End Upper. It seems like the club are currently not planning to sell those, which is very odd if the demand is there (though they weren’t planning to sell the additional 500 in the BEnd Upper until today so maybe they’ll change their mind).

It doesn’t put to bed the cost argument at all whilst we are in the second division, Boxing Day, Dingles are the exceptions, not the rule. We’ll be back to 12-14k home turnouts for most other games this season. Why? Because we have expensive season tickets so only sold 9k of them and you aren’t getting another 9k buying walk ons every week when it’s a cold February day against Plymouth etc. It will be the same next season if we don’t go up, even if we have a ‘product worth watching’ as our fanbase aren’t buying second tier STs in big numbers at £400/£500. At this level price reductions on STs is the only way to substantially increase gates. Now of course if the product on the pitch is ‘worth watching’ because it’s the Premier League, then yes we’ll see gates like this every week.

Exactly right, if gates hadn’t dropped so much post 2012, all Dingle games at Ewood since would have had a split Darwen End just like 2009. The views of Lancs Plod wouldn’t have come into it.

Why is it that pretty much every other derby is stewarded by a line or two of stewards, often in the same stand (including over at their hovel) where this one at Ewood needs thousands of netted off seats across three stands?

Sounds great, but Swag is far too risk averse for that.

Of course, that’s why we need them to feck up this season and next and lose their parachutes. But for as long as they are yo-yoing they’ll sell most home seats (largely to ST holders) due to FOMO of the PL and a scarcity factor as they only have 19k home seats to play with.

More nonsense from them. There’s two additional full empty blocks currently that aren’t on sale. But then they did say the 500 were unable to be sold, err, a day ago. So who knows what additional green dots they’ll muster up.

They pretty much fill their (much smaller) ground with their own fans each week, so why would they give more than the minimum required by the regs - we don’t, so no issue from me, get the place full to the brim.

A missed opportunity not giving them the full end. A 30,000 gate for a second division game live on TV. One of the oldest derbies from the heartland of the game in all its glory.

Did they have to pay Bank Holiday rates for the maintenance work?

Are the FFP-style regs now being changed for Leagues 1 and 2, did I read the other week?