Mattyblue

FLDC played us off the park, something The Analyst couldn’t muster in two attempts.

I bet that’s the game I spotted him have a few crafty fags at the back...

I know there isn’t. The fact 40% of ticket buyers are paying it proves it isn’t having the desired effect to make folk buy early. I doubt it puts off most of the 1,000 or so fans that pay it every game, this forum is rarely representative of the larger fanbase, I mean if you are willing to pay £25 to watch Rovers v Ipswich in January, then what’s 3 more quid? That doesn’t make it right, So I’m just glad they have a week where they don’t have to. And here’s hoping after a couple of years attempted re-training of people’s buying habits, I.e buy early, it’s quietly dropped from next season. And I would hope you will be campaigning for that in the Fans Forum.

How will we O2G? I doubt it puts many folk off. We have a core of people that buy tickets game by game, and nearly half of them buy on the day, ‘twas ever thus, they just now pay an even more ridiculous price for mid table second tier football. In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose. Only a hardcore will be spending £25 for a game against Ipswich in January to start with. Folk just won’t get ripped off for once.

Most Rovers fans I know are season ticket holders who don’t spend their time on sites like this, so I imagine most of them don’t even know about it. However, nearly half of our match ticket buyers arent using tablets or mobiles to purchase, but are still buying post 12pm on a match day and being charged extra for it, so it obviously isn’t having the desired effect of making folk buy early, just ripping people off. I have no idea if its putting anyone off coming, but why put any more obstacles in the way, when we have nearly 20,000 empty seats every week? Look across Ewood Park on a match day, the surcharge isn’t exactly a form of crowd control!

We don’t live in a perfect world, that’s why tickets currently cost between £22 and £30 which is more than enough for bottom half second tier football. Another £3 because you buy your tickets at 1.30pm is a pisstake and not far off half of those buying tickets are being ripped off. It was not something we needed for 20 years before last season, a period when we had much higher attendances by the way. I agree, it is a fuss - one created by the club.

Should people behave like that? No. Are they total cretins? Yes. Would any of those people talk to him like that in a pub? No. Will it ever stop on social media? No. Almost every celebrity, public figure, politician or sportsperson get abused on social media; doesn’t matter if they are a genius, a scumbag or just a middling type. Just look at what Messi and Ronaldo receive. If you have a Twitter or instagram account as a famous person you will get trolled, it’s sport for that bizarre subset of people that inflict it. Your only option is to come off it, go private or put up with it (death threats aside, obviously). For those in their 20s and under, social media of some description has always been there, from MSN messenger onwards and this kind of thing just seems normal and it can’t be good for society.

I can imagine a lot of it ‘is you’re shit’ and varieties there of. That unfortunately does ‘come with the territory’, it’s a shame but that’s the online world, the Pandora’s box is well and truly open and the only option you have is to come off it. However, what kind of vile stuff has there been? Genuine question as I try to avoid reading comments.

We could feasibly finish anywhere between about 8th and 18th, this league is far too fluid to even try and guess. So surely all the ‘underachieving’ ‘overachieving’ stuff waits till May?

I take it it used to be substantially higher than 40% of match ticket purchasers who bought them in the run up to KO? If not, the surcharge has made little difference and is purely ripping folk off...

I think match going Rovers fans have been excellent with him considering he hasn’t had an auspicious start (to say the least), so all credit. 20 years ago that would be that, apart from the Lancashire Telegraph letters page! He wouldn’t hear folk saying he’s shite down the pub, Now with social media being what it is he can’t escape it. Everybody gets it, even well established players having a bad spell. It’s a cesspit full of a sub section of very sad people. He’ll need a thick skin.

Course it worked. Over 12,000 home fans attending a midweek 3rd round replay in January and it was live on TV. I’d say there was considerably more Rovers fans actually in the ground than many league matches. Take out the Liverpool/Man Utd matches, I’d say it was the best attended cup tie we’ve had for donkeys years, possibly since Burnley in 2005. More home fans than the Man City weekend tie in 2014, more than the 5th round weekend tie against West Ham in 2016. More than double the figure for fairly recent weekend ties against Stoke, Swansea etc. Nevermind the quarter final replay against Millwall or league cup semi against Villa. Lets hope Waggott is comparing like for like when gauging its success.

No surcharge on Saturday as a ‘post Christmas gesture’. First sign of a climbdown?

How can it be right that a cup tie only has VAR in one leg and not the other? Just because one side happens to be in the PL? It’s Ewood Park not the Crown Ground!

Extra time is rare, but we looked absolutely knackered in the second period - though them scoring right on half time looked like it deflated us. Bit we’ve seen it in the later stages of league matches too...

Cue meltdown at 2pm on Saturday (me included)...

I’m trying to be as supportive as possible. So I watched him closely last night. Nothing more needs to be said about what he’s not doing well and the fact his confidence looks completely shot. But to me, I *think* his game is about strong running with the ball, trying to nick fouls etc (I’m really reaching, as by the time he’s got up to speed, he’s usually either lost control of it or been dispossessed). He isnt going to play up front and we have better options out wide, 10 mins here and there won’t help. So he MUST now be the main man for the U23s or loaned out, he needs to improve his game dramatically, not just play them and Nuttall promoted to the first team squad. We can make do until May, I suppose. A new, EXPERIENCED striker has to be the priority in the summer, let’s hope there’s dosh left...

Not conjecture, there’s cup tie after cup tie against standard PL opposition and even quarter and semi finals going back 15 years that proves it.

Well they do as you could halve that 11,000 (if not more) if it was normally priced.

If there’s 11,000 home fans on for a midweek January cup match (3rd round at that), that’s a good effort for this club. Weve had FA Cup quarter finals and League Cup Semi finals with considerably less.

Had a look at the planner before, we’ve shifted a fair few since this time yesterday. Jack Walker upper and BBEnd particularly.

Norfolk and Suffolk combined has the same population as Lancashire (modern boundaries). It would be like us and Burnley having it to ourselves, instead of sharing it with 5 other league clubs, plus all the others on our doorstep in the the rest of ‘real’ Lancs.

For me it’s about knowing the fanbase. For decades, the vast majority of our support in the ground is from season ticket holders. Our average crowd waxes and wanes directy in correlation to the increase or decrease in season ticket sales that summer. So, it is that package that needs to be looked at. For a start, there must not be any more increases, or we’ll start to lose the slight increase we’ve seen, never mind increasing it still further. I would introduce a young person season ticket, a demographic that often falls off a cliff once they get too old for a kid ticket and see the adult price. I’d look to create a proper singing section. We need some proper marketing to potential new and lapsed purchasers, because it seems pretty non existent to me, just an expectation that the usual 8-10,000 will renew. End of the day we are thrashing around in the dark without knowing what Waggott WILL DO (FF?) , but increasing season ticket sales summer after summer is the only way crowds will rise consistently, if only incrementally at this level. But, it isn’t done in isolation, the package on the pitch needs to help too, the best marketing vehicle there is.

Not at all. I’m just explaining why they don’t work as well as they do at other clubs for run of the mill games. There’s loads of slack between a season ticket average price of around £350 and an average match ticket of £25 (£25 x 23 = £575), so they could offer a load of stuff and it would still be better value for a season ticket - which is an excuse chief execs hide behind to offer nowt. I have banged the drum over and over again on how picking the right game could work a treat - West Brom on NYD would have been a fantastic opportunity for £10 to £15 anywhere in the ground, we’d have sold plenty more, so would WBA and we’d have had a cracking bank holiday crowd and atmosphere. Something to attract folk back with. Then I’d have contacted every buyer offering half season tickets with that game discounted off the price. I’d be doing it again in the run in, with a season ticket pack with every purchase - as we’d actually have them on sale early like every other club. Not guilty m’lord as I’m up for anything and everything to get the crowds up, but we do need to be realistic, the team must improve too as we won’t be seeing 20,000 crowds every week when mid table in the second tier even if we offer £199 season tickets or whatever else.

The Premier League pledge didn’t result in season ticket sales much higher than the near 10,000 we have right now. We lost thousands of season ticket holders immediately on relegation and those pledges only slightly raised levels around 2013/14. Of course we have the numbers, but they aren’t interested at his level most of the time whatever the price. 20,000+ crowd at a tenner a ticket for a May promotion party is a much easier sell than £12 on a cold January day for a game against Rotherham when we sit 14th. But Ipswich due to their catchment area can still attract 21,000 on that cold January day. Now If we are needing to beat Swansea in May to get top 6, you make that a tenner and they will pour in.