Mattyblue

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.

Not selling well by the looks of it. As said before, Rovers fans don’t do cup ties (unless it’s Liverpool).

Different because our gates are always fairly static through the season due to our catchment area. They only really rise in the summer if season ticket sales have risen. If we ended up around the play offs in the next few weeks, our gates would rise a little, but other clubs in bigger cities or with little local competition (like Ipswich) would rise by more, largely due to the fact they have that bigger catchment area, so a bigger floating support. Our support, considering our demographics, catchment area and years of mediocrity have held up well, but we do find it difficult to increase them substantially. But none of the above negates the need to try stuff.

ANDERSON OUT posters produced by their local rag being held up in the Darwen End...

They have. We have a very loyal core, a core that isn’t dissimilar to a lot of clubs at this level, but we just don’t have the same level of floating support that a lot of clubs have (Oxford was a very specific set of circumstances) that just appear in big numbers for a discounted run of the mill game. However, we do have at least 18,000 empty seats every week, so surely we should try something, even if it didn’t result in a 21,000 crowd?

I noticed at one point last night we had Raya, Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis, Nuttall on the pitch. Great to see.

And the Conference is a bloody tough league. Chesterfield as an example, long standing Football League club. I imagine they expected to bounce straight back, they attract 4/5,000 gates and there’s every chance they’ll suffer a double relegation.

Christ we’ve had some right old shite darken our doors post 2012...

I do like that ‘oooooooooo’ war chant thing their fans partake in!

They should’ve put me in charge of a certain 19 year old’s negotiations...

We rejected £15million from West Brom in August and his profile and goal tally has only increased since then. He’s scored as many goals as this time last season - but at a higher level, so hasn’t ‘dropped off’ at all. So of course £18million+ is reasonable in this daft market.