gumboots

Happens in other sports too. Steve Diamond at Sale Sharks is a real old fashioned manager, often called a dinosaur, but he has brought through Tom Curry and reinvented Faf de Klerk who has just won the World Cup. A year or 2 ago de Klerk couldn't get in South Africas squad

He plays differently for Sale. More passing game.

It was youth v experience and experience won in the end. Most of our lads will still be there next time and some the time after that and they'll have this defeat to look back on and spur them on. Delighted for de Klerk and cant wait to see him back at Sale but gutted that England couldn't get going and give them more of a game. I think Sinklers going off so early took so much away from our scrum and just knocked us back a bit where we needed to be on the front foot. A different early start might have made a difference.

To be fair, they have tried to buy the ground. But it's not about the giveaways. It's about promoting a feel good factor for fans who go and attracting new fans when there are potentially people who might think, I enjoyed that. Perhaps I'll give it another go. Simon Orange is a local businessman who gets the fans or who employs people who get the fans. It comes down to the way the club is run. It's not about spending loads of cash. It's about using a bounce in your fortunes to the max and making fans feel important. We've had it at Rovers in the past. I used to enjoy going to Ewood so much that I couldn't wait for the next match and used to go to youth cup games and so on. Now, even when I do go, it's more in hope than expectation, and I almost have to twist my husbands arm to make him go with me

Very true. Also someone who watches a lot of rugby nowadays

Wales 22 not 25. Rugby's been metric for years! Lol

I've acknowledged it's a one off for Sale. But Rovers had an albeit smaller chance to ride the crest of their wave when we were promoted and nobody grabbed the chance. It's more attitude I'm talking about. Not the size of the opportunity. It's about making the most of whatever chances come your way and looking at situations to see if you can make something from what's on offer Growing their fanbase is important to them. It doesn't seem to be important at Rovers

If you want to see how good marketing works look at Sale Sharks this week. They're not a fashionable club. Less than a minute on the premiership highlights most weeks even if they wipe the floor with the opposition but they know how to cash in on good times. This week Ben Curry has been on Breakfast TV and 5live and would have been on Sportsday but for events at Westminster. Then today they've had breakfast tv at their training ground at Carrington. They're offering free bacon sandwiches to ST holders who turn up tomorrow to watch the World Cup final at the club. And if England win the World Cup they're giving away 100 half season tickets. They have a marketing dept actively seeking opportunities to connect with fans and riding the wave of international player success. Compare with Rovers who seem to miss opportunities to connect with their fans at every possible moment. I know this is a one off opportunity for Sale but they've certainly worked out how to milk it

Complicated. And then they wonder why people can't be bothered.

First things first; I didn’t speak to a single person at half-time at Preston who thought the home side would play anywhere nearly as bad in the second half, writes Simon Smith I struggled to read past the mistake in that phrase nearly as bad

Other clubs of all kinds are looking at initiatives to improve crowds. Season tickets at Clitheroe were reduced to £30. Yes its non league buf its increased crowds by 10% this season. Sale offer their free buses. They're riding the wave of good publicity from allowing Ben Curry to go and watch his twin play in Japan. Clubs like Accrington have been quoted before as doing drinks at cheap prices, giving schoolkids shirts etc. Rovers have to look at ways of doing things differently. Crowds have to be wooed and won nowadays. Its not a given that your dad takes you when you're little and you become a fan for life as used to happen. Good initiatives can improve situations even when the team isnt doing great on the pitch. It's all about the all round experience which has to draw you in. Success on the pitch is part of it, but better crowds can help performance so you have to get people in and improve your chances of success.

I said I wasnt advocating a bad change. However, if it brought more points than not changing did then where's your problem?

Even a bad change could be decent. A change nearly always brings some kind of reaction. I'm not advocating a bad change, but we need to do something different because what were doing now is not working

I havent but feel free to on my behalf

If change needs making by christmas then we might as well get on with it. It could take till christmas for a new manager to get in and assess the situation and try to do something about it in the January window. If we wait till christmas to change then well miss the window or rush and make stupid mistakes again. Get it done now and we have a chance of doing a bit better than just surviving

If England get anywhere near yesterday's performance they have nothing to fear in the final. Plenty to be wary of but nothing to actually fear.

I think SA would be a more exciting match than Wales. The Welsh are niggly and difficult to play against. Would be a feast of Sale players on show too, so I wouldn't feel as disappointed if England lost as I would if we lost to the Welsh, although if we can find a performance like yesterday's we wont lose to either of them. Tom Curry has been immense for England so far.

Put it back in then because Rangers are, like if or not, atm a much better job and why give up the crowds at ibrox for the morgue that is ewood

We were out this afternoon. When we left the house it was half time 2-0. After we'd walked round Dunham massey my husband asked me to guess the score and without hesitation I said 3-2. So predictable.

I just dont see it as a model Venkys would go for. It would mean getting 2 appointments correct and what chance is there ov that, given their past record of not getting 1 really right

Who did the survey go to?

I'm with you on this. I don't know who'll come next. We take a huge risk getting rid of Mowbray and in many ways I'll be sorry to see him go but the time to change manager is not when things are so bad they can't be redeemed. You have to give yourselves a chance of improvement. Are this squad going to improve under Mowbray? I doubt it so we need to do something now

Faf de Klerk was superb today too. Two Sale players motm in the quarter finals. Brilliant stuff

Tom Curry was immense. Every minute of every game so far I think.

I wanted to get a season ticket this year for the first time in ages. I know I've mentioned this loads of times but this year, for the first time, i was very serious. I got as far as filling in an application. But my husband was less keen although it seemed a very reasonable price to me. We didn't do it. But we did attend the Luton game, the first game wed have been able to attend anyway as we didn't come home from holidays till mid september. How glad I was that we hadn't committed to watching that every few weeks. As Dolly Blue says, it's not winning every match that matters. Its watching 14 guys across a match on the pitch where you feel every player has given everything in a system that suits them so that you feel you have a chance of winning. Premier league or not, many fans would want to watch if the team looked to have a coherent pattern of play and looked fit, ready to play for one another and won or drew more than they lost