Mattyblue

How many different competitions do the U21s play in? Seems to be loads. Totally lost track.

‘Better than 50% of equivalent players in the Championship’. Typical Phil throw away statement, that’s based on what exactly?

A lot of the ST holders that stopped going in 2010-2012 have gone for good because they’ll have long switched off from all things Rovers. However, there is a whole new generation of potential ST holder, floating fans and fans that have always floated. They’ll go if there’s success and/or they’ll go if it’s cheap. They’ve no particular beef with the owners, they just won’t go to watch expensive, middling second division football.

Also c25k average in 1995/96, 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99, 2001/2, 2002/3, 2009/10, 2010/11

Like is said SG we’ll need to pretty much sell out the upper tier to get over 25,000 considering c4,500 tickets are not on sale in the Darwen End and the Riverside/JWL end blocks. It’s possible but a couple of wins will help.

Still a way to go to get over 25k purely because there’s already c3,800 empty seats in the Darwen End to start with. So we’ll be need to be pretty much filling the upper tier, possible I suppose, but a couple more wins pre will help that.

Thing is Eustace is not an all of nothing type of manager like the last two. You can certainly see us picking up points throughout from organisation alone.

Presumably it’s Fosters and Strongbow as they are Heineken brands and that’s who the club (Sodexho?) seem to have the contract with for beers. But yeah cans of those two, Christ.

🙄 Here we go thread trawlers. I do yeah, damo. It’s taken me by surprise, though I didn’t quite expect to win six games in the bounce when I posted that, if our form had carried on being middling my prediction would have been correct as it would’ve been a standard turnout for a Dingle game and you’d be wrong. But we have won six on the bounce, so I’m wrong, ah well. Thought it was tomphil you’d fallen out with?

And if a decanted can of Fosters doesn’t do the trick I’m not sure what will…

With only 9,000 ST holders in such a big ground it’s always a real mountain to climb to sell enough walk ons to make Ewood look ‘full’ (ish). So great stuff. Always worth reminding ourselves that there’s still a sizeable fanbase out there.

How long have forums been around now? And folk still try and get all high and mighty miles after the event that people blow off steam in them after defeats, sometimes irrationally, but that’s just how it is. Was he supported at games? Yes, without question and that’s all that matters.

Not had one for years, then Blackburn town centre doesn’t have many of any description. Weird set up all round that brewery. Some superb bottled beers (ales, stouts, lagers, wheat beers you name it) they export in big numbers all around the world. Yet in their pubs they’ll have one cask on and a load of shit keg.

Like a sonnet from a fellow West Midlander.

Come on now he did say ‘you know’ a lot.

Imagine how good he’d be if he actually ‘did enough’!

4,000 this time. See Jackson is getting his stories from here again.

The Boxing Day gate would’ve been much bigger, I’d wager, if not for the Dingle game a week later. I imagine quite a few fans have made a choice, and have largely chosen the Derby. Of course the first weekend of January is usually cup third round day anyway.

With two and a half weeks to go the Dingle game is already looking like it will be our highest home areas Championship turnout since 2001, and that’s with only 9,000 ST holders to build from, no question the floating support is getting behind the team and turning out for it.

‘Direct long passing’

Do even foreign fans actually enjoy these tactics? Or more the fact is the Premier League, it’s a hype train, its Ultimate Team, it’s Liverpool, it’s Salah, could be any kind of tactic really, as a spectacle, it ain’t, most of the time.

We must be at crossed purposes as I agree with your point, it’s obvious why some two bit manager at some two bit club has some lumbering centre half attempting suicidal passes to his also lumbering goalkeeper, it’s also obvious why a seven year old is being taught to play that way at Reading’s academy - but why this tactic in the first place, why not the plethora of other tactical approaches pre or around the same time as Pep-ball.

Like I said I get all that and how we are now here and why all levels of the game from five year olds up play this way . My point is more a general musing as to why it this particular tactic that was to be the chosen one in the first place. It’s boring, it makes the game less of a spectacle and is totally unsuited to most footballers. Like everything football tactics always evolve but let’s hope evolution comes quickly.

I get how it’s happening/the mechanics of it and why managers feel like they have to play it, but why has this totally unsuited tactic for most players taken over the game in the first place? Because Pep can make it look good with world class players? Just really weird and shows the herd like mentality of the game.

Bigger question obviously but why is the first one now mandatory anywhere in the game apart from in the top 4 of the PL? Just bizarre as what is it actually adding to lower league football?