Answer my question first. How do you keep an idiot in suspense?

Somewhat disingenuous stats. His Rovers Championship stats are: He is buoyed by his League One results, having had the best squad in the division (and still finished second - I add slightly churlishly): Good, without being spectacular. So we can expect what we are seeing 1.5 points per game. 69 points at best. Anywhere between 7th and 10th. No shame in that but at some point we are going to need better. Source: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/tony-mowbray/leistungsdatenDetail/trainer/1584/plus/0

@chaddyrovers how is this in any way funny? Another one making themselves look foolish.

I honestly think that this is Mowbray’s limit. His Summer recruitment looks like poor business, with the re-signing of existing players being the main ones. Brereton looks like a hugely expensive mistake - already - and he has pretty much binned the youngsters that were coming through last season. He is dining out on last season’s success but is looking more and more out of ideas and desperately trying to find the magic solution. Dack needs dropping but we have nobody who can put the ball in the net without him. How long before he starts blaming the fans? The half season ticket sales are already being lined up as fans not being on side. It’s worrying times and Mowbray needs to do extremely well in the January window just to keep us mid table - hardly a convincing pitch to any proven Championship quality out there - which is what we need.

Neither am I to be honest. As you were.

You laughed at Jim when he predicted a 3-1 defeat before kick off. You’d think you’d be a little less vocal after making yourself look so foolish. Mowbray once again picked a team with no strikers. It must give the opposition so much confidence and a platform to get forward. You mention a lack of motivation. How can Mowbray’s selection not demotivate players? Fans shake their heads so players must too. Mowbray, like any manager, will get stick when he gets something wrong. I expect he’s big enough to accept that.

Thanks an effing bunch Mowbray. You’ve just made a laughing stock out of Rovers fans on Monday. The amount of shit I’m going to get next week. ?

I’d have turned it down as well. It’s probably a pint of Chablis! I wouldn’t be able to keep up!

Pretty much. Despite these many meetings since this as introduced, any big decisions have been made outside of these meetings and imposed on fans. TV camera move, DE closure, BBE upper closure, Jack Walker Lower eviction, ST prices, etc. They have the opportunity to raise these things and do not - it’s an incredible snub really. Some will say that they have no right to any say, and that is true, but it makes a mockery of the meetings even being held then, and simply backs up the ‘box ticking’ argument. Fans are ‘emotional shareholders’ in the club and the club needs to treat these meetings as such. Should the manager be there? Not if it is a distraction from the matters at hand. Not if it becomes a tub thumping session about how fans should back the club “through thick and thin”. This isn’t the 80s, the world has changed. People demand answers more than ever before, people want to feel they are being listened to. When the issue of attendances comes up, it needs to be linked with innovative thinking for a club with a large number of clubs on their doorstep - competing for the floating fans. Bashing the faithful and telling them to go forth and multiply to create more faithful is a very long term strategy - or a very short term one.

Apologies if someone has already posted this... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46302680? Could be a game changer...

And at the same time we are spending £7m on a striker to play on the right and talking about spending more in January. If money is no object, get the fans back on side!

Safe standing is beyond the club’s control and isn’t happening any time soon. What the club can do is designate an area for unreserved seating* - ideally the back 6 rows or front 6 rows of the BBE. The back is preferable and fans would likely stand. But is anyone likely to move? No, because “this is my seat and I’ve been sitting here for X years. The could do to make a radical decision at the end of the season - like they did when they moved the family stand and have no renewal option in the BBE next season. Back however many rows become unreserved and the rest can be applied for on a first come first served basis. Just a one-off to create that segregation. In future seasons you can renew you BBE seat or your unreserved ST. Use the Riverside for surplus. Wont happen. Why? “Because I’ve been sitting here for...” * I’m not in favour of reopening the DE because it divides fans - and the atmosphere in the BBE is noticeably better this season.

I’m talking about people who need a bit more convincing. Even £27 is too much - the £3 is just an insult/principle. You don’t turn them into “registered customers” you turn them back into supporters!

So what olive branches do you suggest? We need people to get the bug again. Imagine you’re already disenfranchised or out of the habit and you start getting that itch again, maybe egged on by friends. You look at the match day price and go “£27 for Sheff Weds? I’ll not bother.” But your mates persist and by Saturday your combination match is called off or you pilates class is cancelled and you decide to rock up to Ewood only to be told “£30 please”. Do you honestly think that’s going to make you think: “I really need to get a half season ticket?” Or more likely “Nothing’s changed, has it, still taking the piss out of fans”? Get people in with a good offer and a feeling of being wanted back.

I don’t know who that is.

It’s not funny, Joseph, but it’s noteable that the same people still can’t be trusted not to abuse the laugh emoji button. We need all the fans we can get and there is absolutely no impetus from the club to do so or the FF to demand that they do.

It’s become an echo chamber I’m afraid. The hardcore do not want to be making offers to casual fans.

Who needs Zlatan when we’ve got Smallwood?

Possibly because he fell out with Dunn and left when we were on our arses? Or because he ended up losing the dressing room? Bemoaning is getting into the UEFA Cup? But I completely agree. Souness was a breath of fresh air at Rovers, who brought in some great players - including Mark Hughes himself. He should never have sighed Dwight Yorke. He ruined Andy Cole for us. Jansen getting injured also didn’t help his cause. Great times.

You literally have more money than sense.

Sorry GB but I’m sick of websites selling our details to 300+ companies. Bloody GDPR rules have made using the Internet even worse. It hasn’t stopped companies trying to data mine it has just made them all try to force you to let them.

£13 a ticket is why the cinema is empty most of the time.

Those aren’t deals, they are just normal prices. I can’t help but think you don’t actually want to get more people in the ground and think that if people were proper fans they would pay the asking price. That’s all well and good but for Blackburners there is a price sensitivity. £10 is the bums on seats number - and it needs to be an interesting game. If we go up to the PL and they charge £30 and more for walk-one we’ll still have swathes of empty seats. The way Waggott is going, I could well see a “fantastic offer” of £449 for a PL season ticket in the BBE. I presume that too would be a good deal...?

Quite. It’s a point lost on many. Why should we remove the surcharge and why should we be looking to offer deals / local promotions? Because not doing is limiting our attendances. Over 27,000 people came to watch Rovers v Oxford. We are averaging 12-13k at the moment. If we get half that addition it’s 20k-plus.