Because United coaching staff have spotted something in him. If Thompson can’t get a look in than that’s also a judgment call. Buckley has been given plenty of chances this season, he doesn’t look anywhere near ready, Travis did. They are the experts, not us. They see these players every day, their mentality etc. Sometime’s they will get it wrong, and they’ll do well elsewhere, but many just don’t ‘have it’ even if they look the part in half paced development games, that’s football.

Because it doesn’t matter what ‘division’ they are in! It’s U23/Reserve football played at about 30% intensity. Some weeks we’ve got half a side of first team players in the team. United aren’t bothered what league it is, as long as there is a Rashford or a Greenwood to promote, if 7 or 8 of them never make it, so what?

JRC came from United too. Taking players from those clubs at 16/17 is a large part of our Academy strategy. Thought you’d know that. And a good one it is too if JRC also becomes a regular.

Lenihan came from a junior club at 15, of course he counts.

Four out of the 10 outfield players were Academy grads at full time on Tuesday (would have been 5 out of 11 if we hadn’t sold Raya). Good ‘un’s too, is it all bad? Isn’t that the point? A conveyer belt to the first team for the best prospects?

Exactly, your perception as a biased Rovers fan that our Academy has better players in it than Man Utd’s. We haven’t produced a striker for the first team in about 20 years.

Not sure what you are disagreeing with Joe? It obviously doesn’t matter that United aren’t in PL2 as they are still producing Rashford, Greenwood, Williams etc. Players that will have a career at elite level. I love Travis, JRC looks a tidy player, Buckley has potential. But they aren’t and never will be elite footballers. It is very simplistic to think that just because we happen to be in a higher league than Man Utd for a level of football that is a mishmash of 17 to 22 year olds and recovering/frozen out first teamers, our Academy should be producing better players than MUFC. They have the pick of world talent, we don’t.

It doesn’t matter what ‘League’ U23 teams are in, it’s non competitive football made up of youngsters of differing ages and senior pros out of favour/coming back from injury who are often de-motivated. It’s all about those 2,3 players in a crop that can make it. United’s 2 or 3 will usually be of a better standard than ours as they can cherry pick the region/country/world’s top talent whilst we try and polish up bigger club’s cast offs and whatever is left when those club’s have had their fill.

We actually sold slightly more (100) according to the FF minutes. End of the day, at £350-£500 a season ticket, £22-£40 a match ticket and a team that is perennially in second division mid table, we ain’t selling many more, as proven with the fairly static figures since the sales collapse of summer 2012. A consistently challenging side, big discounts and, of course, the Premier League are the only events that would see a significant increase. I can’t see any of those things occurring any time soon, so nothing will change however much we hand-wring on here.

We didn’t lose 1500 season ticket holders from what I can see. A few hundred at the most. Our night games last season also had c11,000 home fans. The home turn outs are pretty much where they were last season. Only change is Waggott now only talks about STs sold, not the total number of holders (paid, comps, free Under 8s).

£22? Try £32 if you bought one on the night in the Jack Walker Upper...

I don’t think ‘the pub’ and real life generally is particularly awash with ‘cynicism’ and ‘abuse’ when it comes to Rovers. Majority of fans I come across are pro Mowbray, Venky’s the lot. If they are right to be so is up for debate, but that’s what I find. As recent elections have proved, seemingly majority opinion on social media platforms does not usually equate to reality on the ground.

Really low crowds across the league’s tonight. Night games are always substantially lower, but this one in particular is just before payday after a looonnnggg Christmas/New Year period, so of course rearranged games on a freezing January night are going to be lowly attended (QPR brought Just 250 to add to it). So not a game to make a judgement on either way. Move on Paul and stick to your ‘football man’ routine as I don’t think attendance talk is your bag

But I’d say the ‘fanbase’ isn’t particularly upset with them these days. Some are, personally I’ll never, ever forgive them. There is still a hardcore of boycotters. But a majority of fans I come across these days, regulars or lapsed, tell me how grateful we should be to them, how they put squillions in, more than Jack did, there’s no alternative, BADLY ADVISED, and so on and so on. Crowds collapsed in 2012 as a direct result of the actions of the owners and yes, they were largely despised back then. In 2020, crowds will not not grow because of Venky’s themselves, but because their mismanagement has ensured we’ve spend a near decade treading around in second division mid table (at best) as prices steadily rise for the privilege of seeing it.

No Huddersfield reduced prices the summer before promotion.

You still don’t get it Paul. WE turn up through thick and thin as we are the hardcore. Many floating fans see football as entertainment as much as some display of loyalty and therefore DO turn up on the back of ‘what’s being served up’.

Again I’m not asking them to be ‘slashed’ just not to be priced at a ridiculous level, like £35 on the day to watch Rovers v Middlesbrough in the Jack Walker.

Tried what?

There’s a happy medium to be found between giving tickets away and charging £30+ to watch mid table second division football in a town like Blackburn.

Of course loads of fans are fickle. We have a 10-12k hardcore that turn up for any old shite, it’s their ‘priority’ or they wouldn’t be doing it, the rest are floating or ‘fickle’ fans. They’ll go if they fancy it, they don’t feel a responsibility to be at the ground for QPR on a January night, just how it is, many types of fans make up a fanbase. So make it as affordable and easy as possible to attract the non core, even if it’s only a handful of times a season they go. I.e. not £30-£32 in the Jack Walker, rising to £33-£35 if you fancied it on the day (and that’s not counting the Cat A+ £40 games)

They can go for me, but as someone that likes a local away day it’s looking barren next season. No Wigan, Bolton, Burnley (), just PNE (unless they somehow scab a promotion). Wigan will be back to the old Lancashire hotbed of the third division.

Apart from Sheff Utd last season, who we couldn’t get near, it is rare to be outplayed at Ewood under Mowbray. It is that soft underbelly on the road, coupled with a lack of ruthlessness at times at home to convert draws into wins that has us plodding in mid table.

He’s doing it for a reaction now (as he said on the last match thread that he would).

Who wants them ‘slashed every week’? An odd promotional offer and Jack Walker tickets that don’t cost up to £33 on the day isn’t too much to ask...

A lot of hubris on the Bolton forum that they will ‘piss League 2’. Sounds like they still don’t have a pot to piss in and other club’s that on the surface, at least, are too big for that league -say Plymouth and Bradford seem to spend a lot of time there.