I am now totally P1ssed off with this 'Riverside go early' myth. I sit on the Riverside and contantly see the revered Blackburn End supporters streaming out way before the end when we are losing. The only difference is that the Riverside has a large area where early leavers can be seen easily. Get your own house in order before you criticise others! Al - I was a Darwen Ender/Riversider in the 60's. I was a Blackburn Ender in the 70's. I was a Riversider in the 80's and 90's. I am a Blackburn Ender again now. The 2 smiley thingies signified that it was a joke! PS - I always stay a full 90 mins like most folk in the ground.

Apparently the season tickets for the Riverside are only valid for 75 minutes. Some 15 mins before the end of the game they beep loudly before shouting, "get the f*** outta here!"

Whilst folk have, and are entitled to, their opinions, unfortunately no-one really knowns what went on behind closed doors, so no-one can say who is to blame. The bottom line is that GS is the manager and whilst in charge he should be backed by the supporters. A club the size of Blackburn Rovers is, in all honesty, out of its depth paying wages of £55k per week and it is for the benefit of the club that Andy has left. Best wishes to him but there is now a new regime at the club, one that basically wants, and will get, value for money. Get rid of Yorke the parasite and expect more of the same. After last season it's onward and upward and sod the stay away supporters - we're all in it together and it's their loss and our gain.

The latest figure seems to be 12,000 sold which is what we achieved for our first season in the PL in the summer of 1992. Pretty poor although it could jump to around 14,000 by the start of the season. True supporters take the rough with the smooth - I would still get mine if we were in the old 4th Division as would most folk on here. It's quite amusing reading some of the excuses on here though - can't remember too much complaining or excuses around 95/96.

Excellent post and I agree with every point you raise, without wishing to sound patronising. We will need a quality striker to stay in the PL - it seems like we will have Dickov and two young lads, as good as the lads are. We need a good replacement, and fast.

I don't have the answers Dr Rich , nor am I privy to any inside information - it's just something that's been in the Telegraph on the odd occasion.

I wish it was based on that - we do in fact receive £4m per year in what can loosely be termed hard cash - ie not taking into account any loans we may (or may not) negotiate with the Trustees.

Let's take the rough with the smooth shall we? Last year was not good, but over the last twelve years we have had more than our share of good times. Last night I was out with an Everton fan whose son is a season ticket holder there (at Ewood he would be a young adult but they don't do those at Goodison) and he still pays £20 more than my own ticket in the Blackburn End. Our ticket pricing is virtually the best in the PL if not the best. Last year was rough, this year will be smooth. Get down and buy one.

Apparently we lose to Italy in the semis. France to beat Italy in the final. Don't ask me how I know, it's just a talent.

Takk for informasjonen men vi alle snakker Norsk her. Jeg har vaert i Bodo en gang - deres "lokal derby" - ikke til fotball , jeg var pa vei til Lofoten. Et pent sted! Ha det bra!

Extracts taken from the local Tromso rag :- "TIL's price tag for MGP will run at 30m kroner. On Thursday afternoon Blackburn bid 18m plus a further 6-7m after a certain number of games." Figures taken seem to have been banded about by the media as the report continues..."No-one at either Blackburn or TIL will confirm the sums." The offer has been put to TIL's board but was too low. "I don't know what has been said, but I have known that they are interested and that a possible bid was on the way says a not too disappointed Pederson." "But under the loyal mask and behind the usual answers it shows that he wishes he could go to Blackburn." "And are Blackburn good enough then?" "Yes" replied MGP.

I see an Isle of Man based former Bolton man is now Bolton's major shareholder (94%). Alarmingly Bolton have debts of £38m but I understand this benefactor is wiping clean their current short term debt with the club wanting to sit down with their bankers to talk about restructuring the long term (mortgage style) borrowings. No money is available for team building.

I hope they go down - I just love it when so called "big" clubs go down. Leeds big?.......hmmm.......not formed until 1919 and didn't win a thing until winning the league cup in 1968. So for the first 93 years that Blackburn Rovers were in existance Leeds won sod all. Other than a good European record their other domestic honours are three championships and one FA Cup win. But people still call Leeds "big." They are currently pulling in around 34,000 home supporters when they are playing a mid table side from a population of 500,000 some five times the size of Blackburn. We manage on average say 21/22,000 home supporters. Pretty good in comparison. Pretty good?.....It's bloody brilliant. So Leeds a big club? Do me a favour, they're average, nothing more. Go down Leeds and don't come back.

Well done England - Rugby (both codes) really is a game for sporting hard men unlike some other game I could mention where bottle-blonde, hairband-wearing, overpaid, players spend all afternoon rolling over and over in feigned, cheating agony. Congratulations England.

Any Prog/Classic Rock fans out there try anything by Karnataka and Mostly Autumn. Two excellent bands.

I think the main problem was the amount of time Celtic fans had to get bladdered before the game and the almost extraordinary lengths the "authorities" went to to make sure they had a good time in Blackburn. I know some of you experienced problems or witnessed certain things but I found that in the majority of cases most Celtic fans were a reasonable bunch bearing in mind many had been drinking all day. In England on Official Travel, coaches arrive at the away ground a relatively short time before kick off with booze banned for obvious reasons. What happened on Thursday? The official Celtic Supporters coaches dropped them off at the Boulevard to enable them to go on the lash with the apparent blessing of all concerned. And this wasn't Rovers versus Charlton or someone, it was a sodding invasion of around 13,000. Trawling through the various topics in the last couple of days it seems Celtic fans were both loud and well oiled but there was no particular hooligan element intent on causing trouble. Contrast this with various reports of Rovers supporters :- - O'Neills and Postal Order attacked to get at visiting fans. - A mob of 100 attacking Celtic fans near the Aqueduct Pub. - Celtic fans being thumped in Bburn End and Riverside. Considering all the above and the fact that 800 genuine Celtic fans were locked out of the Darwen End I feel the Police would have been fairly pleased that a full scale riot didn't ensue. God only knows what would have happened if they had been playing Newcastle, West Ham or Chelsea to name but three.

Blue Phil has hit the nail on the head about a fair proportion of our support now being women and children. Nowt wrong with this, it's just a fact. The make up of the Blackburn supporter is far removed from that of a big city club like Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, even Nationwide clubs like Forest and Wolves. There it's wall to wall baseball caps and hooded tops, lads in the 20-35 age bracket, "up for it" both vocally and the "afters" after the game. Even though there is no real problem with hooligans at Celtic, I feel a fair few season ticket holders will have put off getting a ticket and will have opted for watching it on television. It's just the way it is at a town club. Mr Grey Slacks and Grey Slip Ons of Pleasington will always opt for the game on TV rather than face a potential hooligan element at the ground. In some ways who can blame him. This is the same reason why the atmosphere is sometimes lacking at Ewood. The place is just not intimidating enough. Away fans will not infiltrate home areas if they fear a good kicking. Would Chelsea fans infiltrate home areas at say West Ham or Leeds? No, because we're back to the make up thing and the intimidating atmosphere at certain (mainly city) grounds. I'm not suggesting away fans get a kicking at Ewood by the way. Or condoning violence, or implying we should do away with Mr Grey Slacks of Pleasington. After all, we need all the support we can get. I'm just telling it the way it is at a town club like Rovers. It's down to the make up of the town supporter. With in excess of 30k on the data base and for a once in a blue moon European game there can be no other reason.

It's an identity crisis like the Rangers fans. When Rangers fans attend the SPL matches they like to think of themselves as British and have with them Union Jacks 100%. However they must be the backbone of the Scottish national team's support but when they follow their fortunes the Union Jacks mysteriously disappear and hey presto out come the St Andrews flags. Very strange.

Just coming out of the Gorbals where it meets London Road there were some advertising hoardings saying Guiness £1.20 a pint and I think Heavy was about a quid. We were looking for the pub, then we realised the advertising hoardings had a door in them - it was the bloody pub! Pabby - should have tried the Guiness in the Horseshoe - pure nectar!

Yep, that's the one. Narrow entrance downstairs, up the stairs and in on the right. I spoke briefly to a lad I knew from the gym in the Darwen End and by coincidence he was just to my left at the game, back row. I think he was with a lass, and from memory (too many guinesses) there were 4 on their table. Was that you lot? Me and my mate were in there til around 2am before queuing for a taxi back to our hotel. Two of our lot incidentally, we had split up from earlier in the night tried the Chinese at around 3am. It was shut but they managed to keep going right up to the very top of the stairs. Knocking on the door they peered through the letter box to find a bloke and a "uniformed lady" enjoying each others company! A Chinese with a brothel above - what more could you want, maybe a curry house with a brothel on top, but bloody hell! The other lot were in a pub/club called the Victoria just round the corner - we'd been fleeced once going in the Walkabout and were unwiling to pay another £3 to get in - with quite a few lads from Darwen.

Proud to be a Rover last night - the support and singing etc were second to none. Being on the back row we were also able to stand up for the whole game. Brilliant, everyone up for it, and kept Parkhead very, very quiet. Can't wait for the return leg.

The Parkhead area is certainly better than it used to be - I last visited about 10 years ago and it seemed many old tenements had been pulled down to make way for newer housing. The same goes for the Gorbals. We walked the 2 miles back to the Days Inn through this area and whilst not the best in the world, it is no worse than Manchester or Liverpool. We had a great time in the city before and after the match. The atmosphere in the Horseshoe Bar was good as it was in one or two other pubs we went in. Enjoyed some good banter with Celtic fans and there was never a hint of trouble anywhere. Anyone find a good curry house? We were mainly in the area around the Central Station and later on walked for ages trying to find somewhere to eat. At around 1am we finally settled for the Chinese which seemed to be the only place open. It was packed with Rovers fans. We had a great time despite the result.

True, Revidge. Can anyone actually expect someone from the club to stand up and admit they got it wrong? No way, they'll stick to the official line of only getting 2800 tickets and noone will really ever know, unless Celtic offer their side of the story which is unlikely. Come on Rovers, give Celtic the Blackburn End too and force us to watch it from the hill!

I've been to Parkhead around 15 - 20 times but the last time was in 1991. Approach from the east down London Road and you should find somewhere. It's rough though with a capital "R". Expect a little "minder" to watch your car. Give him a quid and promise another quid when you return after the game.It's well worth the cost!

Top quote SG 194!! Many of the 36 seasons I've supported Rovers have been dire. The last decade has been excellent. Over the years and only once a blue moon a match stands out that catches the imagination as one everyone wants to see. It's almost worth the pain of seeing match after dreary match (1966 to 1991) to land a plum fixture in a certain cup competition. Derby away in the FA Cup in the early 70's was one. Ten thousand Rovers fans made the trip an awesome experience even if we did lose 3-1. We seem to have played at Anfield several times in the FA & League Cups and have taken between 3,000 and 8,000. Aston Villa was another. In the FA Cup replay we took 8,000 for a night match. West Brom beating us 3-2 was another when they were a big team. Thousands travelled. There were probably more that I can't just remember now including perhaps Charlton in the Full Members when 30,000 travelled and the victory over Spurs in the Worthington Cup final when 30,000 tickets were sold without having gone on open sale because Rovers were so sodding frightened of tickets going to Spurs fans. Apart from the Spurs match, Celtic away is in my opinion the biggest of all these games I've mentioned. A game where everyone wants to go no matter what. You only need to go in the local pubs to see how many folk are gearing up for a "day out" on a pub coach as opposed to going on the official travel. Why didn't someone from the club come and speak to us and get a feel for it - not at some forum or a closed meeting - but out in the town. The turning away of a few thousand extra tickets is scandalous but ticket fiascos never die at this club. Just ask the extra support Burnley gained from the Accrington & Ossy areas in the early 60's as proof! Come on Rovers, get your act together. Our town, our team our cockup!! Sed you at Parkhead. :!: