Knew I forgot something. Over the last two games there seems to be a determined effort for the players to acknowledge the crowd rather than just trooping off. Keep it up lads, it can only be positive

Well I'm surprised by many of the reactions on here. As far as I can see only a couple of posts are from fans who were at Ewood last night. That is not to criticise you but it does point up the difference between radio commentary, TV viewing and being at the game. Very much agree with the points made by Revidge. I haven't seen MOTM but on the Savage, Neill and Todd incidents from our seat at the front of the FS - Savage didn't seem to be a booking, Neill's first tackle looked to be perfectly OK, the second was always going to be a booking given Gallagher's attitude on the night and Davids collapsing like a house of cards. Todd's "elbow" or "head butt" - don't know as I was watching the ball on the opposite side of the pitch. The general view around me was Todd elbowed him. As for the game itself? I can't agree with many of the less positive posts. Rovers played really well for the entire game. WE pressed a supposedly very good Spurs side for the whole 90 minutes, dominated poessesion and prevented them from playing at all. Spurs didn't manage a corner, though it has to be said they had the attacking ambitions of a giant sloth - or did we simply present too great a threat? The game was fast flowing, Rovers passed the ball well, worked hard for each other, frequently played nice quick tempo triangular passes to get out of trouble, constantly looked to attack and were solid at the back. We were odds on throughout the game to win, and at no time did I feel there was any danger of losing. The players also looked very strong towards the end of the match, which considering their effort, says a lot for their improved fitness. In other games we would have conceded a sloppy goal, as on Saturday, never a danger tonight. Clearly Spurs wanted to play on the break and they didn't get many breaks. If this is the brave, new Tottenham Hotspur I keep reading about, which has Spurs fans dreaming of Europe - wake up and smell the coffee lads, you ain't going anywhere as Rovers will be ahead of you. Penalties - Emerton's was never a shout and he should have made more effort to get the ball. Kugi? clearly fouled but just outside the box at the point of contact, inside by the time he hit the ground. One interesting aspect of Neill's sending-off is a few months ago we would have dropped back, defended in a total panic and probably lost. Last night we continued to attack and push Spurs all the way. Being a man down only showed in glimpses and was quickly compensated for by the whole team. I left Ewood knowing we should have won but in no way disappointed by this, thoroughly entertained for the whole 90 minutes, delighted with MY team's performance and feeling this was the game in which Hughes' influence really shone through for the first time.....and the crowd were superb, noisy boisterous. Compare that with the Tottenham crowd, 4000 was excellent, who were left with nothing to cheer. Less than positives? (As I refuse to be negative after this game). Well truth be told Kugi should have had a goal and despite his hard work I'm doubtful he can fulfill the lone striker role. Savage, he really is irritating me now. At set pieces he uses his personality to dominate MGP when MGP is clearly the better at both corners and free kicks. Three times in the second half he pushed MGP away and then delivered truely crap balls. Come on Morten stand up for yourself. The only other question I have is how many clear cut chances did we create? Plenty of half-chances but nothing really threatening to Spurs. Loved the new Rovervision thing at half-time. This morning I'm just so pleased to be a Rover. Anyone who didn't go to Ewood last night missed a great evening's entertainment. 10/10 to Mark Hughes, this is what we need - along with a striker and another creative midfielder I will be telling every stay-away what a good night they missed.

One word answer to this question - Marketing. It is purely that, as an average household and business user, I run XP Pro at home because it does all the stuff everyone wants - simply and easily - and Windows 2000 on our office network because it never falls over. Macs are perceived as the realm of academics, publishers, printinting and computer buffs - if you just need soemthing that works use Windows is the answer.

Which is why I said No, the rule in our house is "one goes, all go" so I'd be looking at £200+. Aside from that I'm nt sure I would pay £48-£60 om a regular basis, only evr paid that price for cup or semi-finals before. Theno could you really justify £60 for a game for a season, I think not?

No.

If we want the crowds back this is the sort of move the board/trustees may have to consider. I can't see what else might excite the local support. Philip - I know the point you are making but Saturday wasn't that good. Rovers played as they should but where some way off brilliant. Two superb goals, Neil's effort off the bar and Friedel's save don't make up for two seasons of unrelieved dross. A season of this type of performance and things may get better otherwise I suspect this may just have been the result of Hughes b*llocking for the team.

All very true and all irritate me in equal measure, some points move up and down the agenda depending on what's making the news. If we are talking specifically about Rovers the two points that really get to me are the recent (pre-Hughes) attitude to cup competitions and the appalling home performances for the last two years. I fully appreciate cost is important to many families but do believe Rovers have done just about all that is possible on this side. I'm paying for four STs at the moment, £905 in total, as I'm having to sub my eldest. Over the season this represents a cost of £11.90 per game per person, it has to be the best value in the PL and Championship combined. However finding £900 per season for many households will be difficult, it would seem the only solution left to the club is to consider charging the equivalent on a matchday - £12 per seat and your still faced with having to find £50 evry other Saturday just to go to the footie.

Didn't like it one bit I'm afraid

Exactly. We have the same old rubbish shoved down our throats from every possible media source. Probably 90% of press speculation is nothing more than lies printed or broadcast in an attempt to sell product. The players talk complete crap, kiss the badge, "always wanted to die for XXX FC", "YYYYY is a great manager and is the reason I came to this club." "We owe it to the fans to win this one." "At the end of the day it's down to us, the players, we haven't performed this year and we need to put it right." I could write all the back pages in a couple of hours each night, It's alll utterly ubelievable and they expect intelligent people to swallow this garbage. I no longer believe anything I get from the media, my intelligence has been insulted one too many times......and it seems like thousands of others feel the same way. We have an England international openly admitting he didn't prepare for a game which 4500 fans had travelled to Denmark to watch. Last week Hughes reckoned we had 4-5 who weren't up to the mark. It beggars belief and clearly demonstrates why the supporters are turning away from football.

MC - I was thinking of annual running costs and in particular wages as opposed to transfer fees.

On MOTM I counted 6 (six) players who didn't have a Fulham player near them when Fulham equalised.

That's excellent waggy. We had a spare yesterday as one of the lads was away for the weekend. I asked my youngest if he wanted to take a friend, only to get the response, "None of my friends support Rovers." Not quite true as two of his friends are Rovers, but he doesn't know anyone else to ask.

They can and will carry on but are quite clearly losing money. The problem shows/will show itself in the transfer market. We are in a vicious circle of fans staying away because they see no significant changes in the squad and, one presumes, the board being reluctant or unable to spend to strengthen the side. Without pre-judging next summer at least 2 from these 4(next season's ages), Dickov (33), Tugay (36), Flitcroft (33), Amoruso (35), will be at the end of their PL careers. Losing support at any time is a problem, we desperatley need a good season to persuade the stay-aways to return. I'm not sure it will happen even then. There were new faces around us in the FS yesterday, but I'm not sure what that tells us.

Now I've seen MOTM I realise he was never going to attempt a header. Must have been the angle I was watching from.

The team news text we received didn't include Kugi so I arrived at Ewood thinking we would start without a striker of any sort. Nearly turned the car round, especially when the parking has gone up to £3. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but not a lot has changed. This was our second game of the season and after, by all accounts, a terrible performance at West Ham the players will have had a roasting from Hughes. Of course we were going to see more effort. With so few changes to the squad we can't expect to see brilliant performances week in, week out. The team played well, they are professional footballers and did their jobs against a poor Fulham side. I didn't feel anyone was brilliant, all performed as we should expect. Better teams will have us scampering around desperately putting in tackles, chasing the ball and trying to get into the game. Bellamy and Mokoena were injured, add in those two and there's our top 13 players, injuries and suspensions could be very costly. Yesterday was better than I hoped or expected but the 20 minute wobble had me thinking "here we go again" - full credit to the team for coming through that, especially after conceeding a typical Rovers goal from last season. Two wonderful goals from MGP and Tugay. If Emerton had found himself in the same position as Kugi the cross would not have been delivered. Watching the cross I thought MGP would attempt a header; when he didn't jump I thought the chance had gone; his stunning volley was just fantastic to see, real out of your seat, punching the air stuff! Kugi should be given time, he was willing to work, was a nuisance to the defence, won plenty of headers, got into scoring positions but his first touch and shooting were not up to the mark. MGP and Tugay have tried that corner before, today it worked and I nearly put my arm through the roof. I think only Scotty has mentioned Brad's great first half save. somehow getting his right fist to a close-range goal bound effort from Fulham. The other great moment was Neil's shot which hit the bar with 8 minutes to go - the first to leave got up and went immediately afterwards. All in all a pretty typical PL game, average standard, lit up by two outstanding goals, an excellent shot and a superb save from Brad. Spurs will tell us a lot more about this team's attitude for the season. The attendance? As I feared, just on 17,000. That's 6500 down on the first home game of last season against WBA who I guess (can't remember) will have brought 4500. Against the same fixture, and last home match, it's 2000 down. On this evidence we've lost 2000 paying fans.

This is an excellent article and I feel sums up much of my view of football these days. I've probably been saying much of this, less articulately, for a couple of years. If this isn't true why don't I feel excited about the first home match? Why is football something I do as part of the routine? Why has football stopped dominating the week-ends plans? Why do I go to bed rather than watch MOTD? Why don't I bother to watch Rovers on Sky anymore? Why was the only reason I renewed my STs because the kids wanted to go? Why do I feel utterly disconnected from every player who wears blue and white? Sky, the players, the agents have destroyed the game and the FA, PL chairmen and clubs were to weak to stop them. Give me Simon Garner over Craig Bellamy any day....I'd sooner watch the youngsters than the overpaid, idle bunch we will put out on Saturday afternoon.

............always look on the bright side of life te-to, te-to........... Official from Lee (BRFC text): Craig Bellamy will miss game after picking up thigh injury with Wales Nelsen should play

.... on t'other hand if things are really bad, Hughesy may want to keep Fulham guessing

No it isn't the same link but it's a good incentive, Lee's was about football teams getting coaching before/after games plus a match ticket etc.

Well not exactly Lee but similar. There was a guy, I think called Tony, who was involved with Rovers (pretty sure he was on the staff) and also in local youth football - Blackburn Boys perhaps?, who ran this. It was booked on a game by game basis and was per child, not per team. Thinking about my lads age it would have been around 8-9 years ago. It was really excellent and should be revived if possible. Your link looks very good but it appears to require a team? My lad went on his own and got into local Blackburn football for a while as a result of folk he met.

Always felt one of the best children's things Rovers have ever done was the "Saturday Club". It wasn't called this, I'm old now, but ran in the early 90s: Drop kids at Witton Park at 10.00am Football training Five a-side Lunch Kids bussed to the ground for 2.30ish Those with STs met by parents the rest went to seats somewhere. All this for, I think, £10 including match ticket and £5 for ST holders. It was brilliant and our lads often went.

There is the problem. If the kids are to be supervised everyone involved would have to have a CRB at the very least. It's become almost impossible for adults to supervise other people's children these days for fear of being sued. I help run a youth club and we can't touch the children at all. I also recently watched an under 11 cricket match where one lad took a ball full on the head. the coach could only stand and watch as this poor child rolled around on the ground. We had to watch and wait till his father and myself made our way to the pitch to comfort the lad. Now this was extreme , and unecessary in my view, on the part of the coach but his immediate reaction when I and the father went to help was "I'm sorry I'm not allowed to touch the children" Bloody stupid laws basically

So we'd like Brett Lee next?

I don't understand why Warne isn't being put into bat? He was a real problem in the first innings and he'll be no use to Australia if he has no partners left?