gumboots

Did you go to the away game at St James's Park?

If you want to keep your seat you obviously have to renew earlier but if you don't and possibly, unless yours is a very popular area, even if you do, there's no real rush. Pay for your holiday first and then get the ST. Waiting doesn't make you less of a fan.

Can I say again that I have never mentioned the fee. I just haven't seen anything to suggest that even if he only cost tuppence ha'penny he's good enough

I never mentioned the money. I merely mentioned that in the matches I'd seen I couldn't see a championship footballer. There are a lot of lads who do well early in their career at junior and even U21 levels who for whatever reason do not push on and make the grade. We've seen it with some of our own youngsters in the past. Brereton looks like that to me. We don't doubt that he's shown ability at youth level. But to move up and take that ability to the next level requires more than Brereton currently seems to have and I don't think he's finding it here at Rovers

You've got to be kidding. What exactly are you suggesting Brereton offers to the team because from what I've seen in the matches I've attended I'd have been almost as effective as he was

Rugby operates on a salary cap. Don't know about what the rules are with respect to overall funding but what you pay your players is capped. Doesn't stop Sale having De Klerk, both Curry twins who've just signed new contracts, Solomona, Chris Ashton and a number of other very good players. No doubt if you are really interested you can find the rules on the Premiership Rugby website. And you brought up the ST question. I know you don't care whether I buy one or not. That wasn't the point here. It was to look at ways other clubs and other sports try to improve ST takeup and overall attendances. My purchase of a ST or not only came up in that context

Actually I'm more worried. Mowbray saying that Dack is not likely to leave means he almost certainly will. It's happened before so we all know the chances are high

As far as I'm concerned it's not. And I survived longer than you. Apart from a brief spell I had a ST till Coyle rocked up. That sort of coincided with retirement and a freedom to go away on hols if I felt like it. A ST did not make economic sense but of course once you haven't got one you find there are a lot of other things to do at 3pm on Saturdays and you explore those. This year a different economic situation presents itself as I'm now a senior so the ST is cheaper. It may make better sense to get one. Hence I'm waiting for the fixtures, not the signings

I did say it might not work at Ewood. It was more about the idea of some kind of incentive other than lower match day prices as opposed to walk on prices. The problem is that if you're going to miss lots of games the price difference gets smaller so buying a season ticket if you know you'll definitely miss 6 games becomes less enticing as you know events over a season will cause you to probably miss another couple. Compensating for that in some offer would perhaps entice a few who are going to be borderline. I don't know but its just a more imaginative idea than some I've heard. And you can't just choose on the day at Sale. You have to give 72 hours notice and of course you could block certain high demand matches from free tickets if you made that clear when the scheme was set up. But it wouldn't have to be ticket exchange. It could be other rewards like money off friends tickets or off your next season ticket, discounts in shop, or whatever you think might make wavering fans commit

I don't fall into either of those categories. I fall into the "they finally found the straw that broke the camel's back and I haven't been drawn back to my previous level of commitment" category. Doesn't mean that I can't or won't be persuaded but I will admit that, among other considerations, we're waiting for fixture list to see what we'd be able to get to

Something like that might work. If you're committed enough to be prepared to buy a ST then, if you miss a match, it's not often that you can't be bothered to go. It's because something makes it nigh on impossible for you to be there, either work, or travel, illness or family obligations. Doing something to reward you for buying the ST and committing cash to the club in advance would be feelgood. The Sharks idea is to get more people into the ground as they currently have one of if not the lowest attendances in the league so a free ticket for someone else for a future match of your choice is good for them. When my kids were at home it was easy enough to pass season tickets to someone else (yes, I know you're not supposed to but everyone does) but now they don't live close enough to be able to attend if we can't. But being able to get a free ticket for them if I couldn't attend a ST match would mean we could have a family outing again.

Sale Sharks do a seat exchange scheme. If you ring them up to 72 hours before a match to say you can't attend, they cancel your ST for that match so nobody can use it but issue an extra ticket for a game of your choice. On that day you go along on your ST but get an extra ticket to take a mate or family member who does not have an ST. Might not work at Ewood but the kind of imaginative thinking that might encourage more to commit to an ST if their concern is missing too many games and therefore not getting value

I'm glad I wasn't the 9nly one shocked and annoyed by that

Actually as a Smoggie myself I can tell you we always hated Sunderland as they spent more time in our league. They hated Newcastle because they were geographically nearer.

So you are Mme Desai, are you? The sacking of a manager hasn't really been about fans' reactions, or results here since the Rao family rocked up. Mowbray will not necessarily be sacked if he doesn't sort the defence. You or I might think he should be but that counts for next to nothing at Rovers

Don't think I've heard the Pakistan anthem before. It sounds like a Disney tune.

Waverers might be persuaded by a couple of heard of signings. Don't have to be mega but people who can do a bit more than just do a job. Think most people, even those who definitely intend to get a ST are holding onto cash for the moment to see how the fixtures are, how many games they'll miss, who we look like bringing in and any number of other factors like who of the people they go with still wants to go.

No you have to list at least 6 players most of us have never heard of or know little about and then express scorn when someone asks who. Then if we're even vaguely linked with one of them you claim credit for having spotted their immense talent

I don't like Archer coming in like that but I'm questioning Dawson more because he hasn't featured at all in the warm up matches so fr. I heard them explaining this morning why he has to be included but if so why not in this last match when they'd already pretty much decided that Denly wasn't going to be involved in the World Cup ?

I know we probably need a third spinner but what has Dawson done to be that

It's not just about being safe. It's about feeling safe. And I'm not making a problem because I personally don't have one. I'm merely pointing out that there are potential advantages to a bus service for those coming on their own from further away. We ought to be encouraging as many people as possible to use public transport for all sorts of reasons

Very different if you're female attending an evening match on your own or even a 3pm match in winter walking back to the car after a match. Much safer feeling getting on a bus at the ground

I keep going back to talking about the AJBell. They run the buses from the Trafford Centre to the stadium free on match day and cars are held in the car parks for 20 mins after the match. Increasingly the buses are being used as car parking near the ground is more limited as development takes place. Does it increase crowds? I don't know but it certainly improves the matchday experience as a whole. Buses leave from 2 hours before the match so you can get there early and eat, drink etc, or chat with players in the shop where those not playing because of injury help out and youngsters can have photos with other players designated to be in the Shark truck that week. A marquee has live music. After the match buses run for an hour after the match so you can stay behind for a drink afterwards if you so wish or get away quickly if you need to as the buses have priority for 20 mins. Now Rovers can't do it for free necessarily and they'd need to look at pickup points and whatever but although people say parking is easy since the changes in road layout and the closure of some car parks we've found it less so on the occasions we've attended. A bus service from the Ribble Valley even if it started in Whalley not Clitheroe might be a good idea. And there are other areas like Chorley that might benefit from a similar service. Like it or not, travel is part of the matchday experience and the easier it is, the more likely people are to go to matches and keep going.

To be fair, we've been there with lots of other managers toi

3000 fans? How many come to Ewood at the moment? Would a singing section really pull that many? Again I'm not knocking the idea, just asking.