Teesside is three quarters of a million people and they are the only club. Akin to Rovers being the only club in east Lancs, Bolton and Preston.

We all know big season ticket sales will only happen on promotion, and no hand wringing or innovative ideas on here will alter that fact. However, this summer Waggott targeted an increase of 1,250 on last summer. The only time that kind of increase has happened since 2012 is the summer of 2014 on the back of just missing out on the play offs the previous May, so a decent side to watch and a lot of optimism around that we would go one better. I don’t know why Waggott would think finishing 15th, with a fairly small net spend and £325-£450 prices would lead to a similar increase this summer? Very optimistic to me.

One of the 5 first team outfield players has refused to play (Magennis).

Obviously that can’t and won’t happen.

There is some truth in that. The white population of Blackburn and east Lancs have been going down t’Rovers for nearly 150 years. Passed down from father to son, or mates dragging down other mates. A culture of going to matches. That culture just doesn’t exist in the Asian community. We are largely attempting to build a fanbase from a standing start. As I said, very difficult. So do we just not bother with half the town?

Cricket certainly isn’t anymore for the vast majority. That’s long gone with younger generations. I spent some time in Pleckgate school (95% Asian intake) recently. Football is massive. By far the number 1 conversation. Unfortunately your second point is sadly true, the bags/pencil cases were to a lad United/Liverpool/City. Rovers just don’t register. One lad asked me who I supported, ‘Rovers, of course, I’m a Blackburner’. He looked at me like I had two heads. About 10 minutes later he said, ‘but no really, who do you support?’ It will be a long and often frustrating process to get the Asian population in the tent, but it is a must as it is too large a demographic to be ignored in our already small catchment area. But we cannot expect quick results. However, more short term we can look to ensure that those existing fans now further afield from BwD are chased and chased and the club realise that we are now more than ever a club with a Lancashire wide fanbase.

He’s angry as he knows this is his last chance. I think he envisaged bouncing straight back up and a rehabilitation of his career. Instead an early sacking/resignation is incoming and that’s him done at a decent level in England. More fool him for not working out how Evans operates, not the expert he thinks he is, obviously.

‘Passionate north east’ is the biggest myth in football. 3 league clubs for a whole region that stretches from the Scottish border to Yorkshire, so no surprise they get decent numbers. Old Lancashire is as passionate as they come, we are just chocka with clubs, a double edged sword, as it shows the heritage and passion for football, but makes it fiendishly difficult for non PL clubs to attract big numbers. Something else Waggott doesn’t seem to get. We are not Coventry that is the main club for a good size city and county (Warwickshire), we are hemmed in by historic clubs, with mega sized clubs also in the vicinity.

I think he understands that the Asian population of the town are small in number at Ewood and wants to change that. Good to hear as it is a necessity if the club wants to continue to thrive in the town itself. However are they doing enough to entice in and entice back the large and ever increasing numbers of fans that now live across Lancashire? As the further from Ewood you live the more of a palava it is to trek to the ground every other week. Also, he must be in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks a club based in east Lancashire with its socio-economic factors, can charge £25-48 for match tickets.

As I’ve put on the Attendances thread... why would he expect a big increase? Average season last time, average spend, same price. Because they’ve put billboards up in Preston, that counts as ‘hard hitting?’

So around 9,500 ‘allocated’ STs thus far then (8500 sold plus 1k complementaries). Probably about 9,700 by the time they go off sale. So fairly flat not counting half ST sales. Obviously the usual suspects below the line on the LT will lap it up, ‘yeah bang on Steve, WHERE are they!’’ But in reality why would finishing 15th in the second division and a net spend of about a million on players lead to a big increase in season ticket sales that are still priced at £325/350/400/450? The floating fan who needs to be enticed in aren’t going to be falling over themselves, are they? Knock around the top 6, a play off appearance and maybe next summer will be better (PL being a totally different issue), but not for an average side that has tread water for a near decade.

Prior to Early bird deadline in 2017 was £299 in the Blackburn End. 2018 prior to early bird deadline was £349.

We finished 15th. And went on a two month run where we couldn’t buy a win. We had a good first half of the season, a lot to be said for the momentum and confidence a promotion can bring. However, a lack of consistency is the hallmark of a side that isn’t good enough to last the course. No shame in that, we needed better players.

Surely it is also due to not having players of sufficient quality to consistently win enough matches over a full season.

6 is Smallwood. 5 will presumably be Tosin when confirmed by EFL. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/august/squad-numbers-announced/

I’m talking about us mere mortals and the feel round the ground, not those ‘ITK’.

12pm deadline today to register players for tomorrow’s game. So with 5 outfield players on the books, presumably half the side will be Academy lads (if the pros actually agree to play) But will this be another rule the EFL bend and the likes of Conway miraculously turn out for them?

2014 felt more optimistic to me. We had put together a real good side at this level and 15,000+ turned up for a Friday night Sky game against Cardiff. A real buzz at Ewood that night. Didn't last.

Hope you’re right. We had 13,200 for Milwall last season and they brought up similar numbers. Though I suppose that was the first home game, not the first game of the season...

My season ticket went up nearly 20% last season. So not sure where you get ‘prices frozen for 3 seasons’ from.

It seems as if we’ve flogged as many STs as last season, Though hard to tell with all the different figures bandied around by the club. If so, I’d expect a crowd of around 13,000 for Charlton. End of the day, we finished 15th last season and this summer we’ve had a fairly flat net spend. So I didn’t particularly expect to see any improvement in sales. Treading water in the second division fairly consistently for 7/8 years (aberration in League 1 aside) does not lead to big improvements in crowds for a club with our fanbase.

Just rename Lancs county council as Greater Preston and be done with it.

1970s bureaucrats have a lot to answer for...

YES they are!! (Not Sedbergh). From medieval times!!! The boundary set in 1182 at the River Mersey. Why else would Lancashire county cricket club in the 1860s set up their club in Manchester!! How much more ‘tradition’ do you want! Bloody hell!

Because they’ve been out of the modern county for 40+ years, younger Scousers see themselves as ‘Merseyside’, fine, doesn’t change the facts that the historical county exists. And yes Southport has been a Lancashire coastal town for hundreds of years, despite the 1974 administrative boundary changes. Always amazes me when Lancastrians inside the ‘modern county’ try and diminish their own heritage. Anyway. Let people talk about players from Lancashire town clubs, as it could be an interesting thread.