Rovers Ladies making an absolute mockery out of last year’s “rules”.

Thornley would have come through when Rovers would have been playing against them. I wouldn’t wish a career ending injury on anyone - not a red rat or a dingle - but to want effectively Alan Shearer to be playing against us during that period. No nay never.

A fan not wanting to see brilliant players turning out for United. On a Rovers fan site. Whodathunk? Good to see you posting again, batty boy.

I clicked like on that post but as Chaddy might say: it was only for part of the post. The penultimate sentence I can’t agree with!

It does make you wonder what the future of football looks like. Empty seats aren’t only a problem for Rovers. It’s endemic throughout the divisions. The next obvious step for TV companies is having the red button around the clock - including 3pm. Unfortunately many clubs are dealing with this like pubs did when their footfall dropped off. They increased prices and charged the loyal customers more - driving them away or forcing them to spend less. At the same time they put up a barrier for new punters who had to find an alternative way to get their fix. The pubs closed or limp along still, propped up by the breweries. Clubs will be propped up by TV money (ironically) and by developing players to sell. No change there I guess. Football will survive like alcohol does but many local clubs will vanish and the football need be satisfied by bigger clubs and by TV coverage of the teams who can sell enough players each season to cover their costs - the ones without cash rich owners at least. Non-league style football could become the norm all the way up to mid Championship and the ‘haves and have-nots’ system in the PL could be replicated in the second tier. Maybe we only have 60 EFL clubs not 72 - and then maybe less. It’s a bleak post apocalyptic football landscape but without fans in the ground, it doesn’t matter if you have 30,000 seats or 10,000, if you are only getting 6,000 - 8,000 fans turning up. Maybe smaller stadia are the answer but it’s would be a pretty poor state of affairs if the TV matches were Walsall-style grounds week in week out just to generate any atmosphere. But no, clubs and TV companies need to find a way to bring people along to live games for the experience while beaming back to those who win’t/can’t. The only way I can see that they do this is for money made from TV has to be shared with clubs to compensate them in offering subsidised tickets. At least that way clubs still get funds. Football used to be a socialist sport but it’s very much a capitalist one now. If TV continues to take the money and the fans out of the game/grounds then clubs need to take back powers from the TV companies and that means reforming under a new FA-affiliated organisation. But this won’t happen either under the current system where rich turkeys are the ones voting for Christmas. Sadly the only real answer is simply for fans to put up with the leeches at their clubs, paying the man and fighting to keep hold of their (usually, town) club. Unfortunately we know at Rovers there is no appetite for that from more than a couple of hundred, and no more that 10,000 or so prepared (or able) to pay the man. What a mess.

That escalated quickly! ”Let him know you’re there” is not the same as “hurt him”. It’s making your opponent know that you are not afraid to put a strong challenge in. “Reckless” might be more on the the right lines. The football equivalent of “negligence “ which will be the basis for the legal action.

Such a shame, churlish even, that after everything Venkys have done anyone should point the finger at Jack for the bums-to-seats ratio. Jack ‘thought big’ and he had a vision for what this club could look like. He accomplished what many many clubs haven’t in the time between. Had it not been for the apathetic, ignorant and spoiled nature of his offspring we could still have been drawing in huge crowds even now. The TV money along with an excellent board would have meant offering great ticket deals - probably the lowest in the region. That would have brought in the numbers. It is purely and simply Venkys fault for our empty seats, by ruining our club, and not Jack’s for creating too many of them.

That’s exactly what’s happening. Milk the faithful and wonder why the floating fans won’t join them. Oxford + a great early bird offer + imaginative match day prices = reasons to complain about the fanbase Price increases + surcharges + withdrawal of unreserved seating + average-to-poor home form + complaining about fans (+ implied threat of budget cuts due to attendances being below planned level) = bringing it on oneself

I think Waggott is undermining the good work that Mowbray has done. Pushing the blame on fans for low gates while doing EVERYTHING to discourage them is about as low as it gets. We put up with crap like this for no other reason than out of fear that we could get worse. You got it wrong, Steve, and now you have attendances at the level you instigated. And you went after the loyal fans too. Man up and admit you got it wrong - then do something about it.

Some folk seem to spend more of their time commenting about their disdain for the opinions of other fans than on the football!

I’d say we have had a good start to the season. Sheffield United have had a great start.

I can see why you are disappointed Merce. You're comparing him to Shearer. ?‍♂️

Great news that the AVC for Ewood has been renewed for 5 more years. Congrats Rovers Trust. Well done and thanks to everyone involved. http://www.roverstrust.com/2018/10/07/rovers-trust-secure-continued-legal-protection-ewood-park/

I’d love to see just one of these ex players interested in management be give a player manager role before they finish. They know the club inside out and if they have what it takes they should be able to make their mark there with the existing infrastructure. Too often these days the incumbent manager is dismissed along with most of the backroom team. Some will say it’s too big a job but did it get any bigger than when Kenny did it at Liverpool? They were a massive club then - far bigger than City and Chelsea, even in today’s terms. And yes, I know Kenny was special.

It looked pretty balanced to me. The last part was a positive given how close we still are to 6th. We’ve hardly had a great start to the season but we are still in touch.

He’s only stating fact! Why has it always got to boil down to positive and negative?

* and Rovers’.

Nailed it.

Sadly the most ignorant are the ones who seem to shout the loudest. As well as those with the most to gain (financially). And I’ve posted that Friends of Real Lancashire link many times in here to nil response. It’s nice to see that it has been picked up anyway.

Tyler Roberts doesn’t have the “England Premium” mark up.

£7m is the problem here. The market has caused that value but Rovers still went and committed it. On Brereton. The view presumably being that he is young enough to provide a return on that investment in resale value. The daft thing is £7m could probably have bought a much better finished article at this level with the return on investment being promotion. Imagine how much worse it will be if he is still a flop come January and we have to sell Dack to pay for him! Here’s hoping not. For us to get back any value, either resale or PL cash, he needs to start finding the back of the net. Maybe in the next two windows we will buy a couple of wingers and a centre back and all will be well but I’m yet to be convinced. This might just have to go down as Mowbray’s Grabbi or Davies or Ward. Better managers than he have made expensive mistakes - no matter how much In Mowbray We Trust™️.

Despite these humiliating searches (unusually very badly targeted) they never seem to stop idiots bringing in pyrotechnics. The banger that went off at the start of the game in the DE on Weds was a reminder just how easy it would be for someone to do some very real damage indeed at a game. Frightening really. I don’t like it but until they start handing out jail time and/or huge fines for carrying fireworks, flares and other incendiary devices in public the morons will continue to think it is funny/clever and searches will continue to be necessary.

I’m honestly not sure what credentials D Lowe has to coach in the Championship. We need better.

It was Reed who dropped into DM. Dack just floated around and generally looked out of sorts. Armstrong was also very poor today. Very hard to pick out anyone who had a good game. Mowbray needs to stop meddling with the line up and formation. Stop playing players out of position or altering the formation to suit. Travis can play right back. Stop playing Bennett there. Pick either Bell or Williams, not both. Pack the midfield to make up for the lack of natural width, we have enough bloody centre midfielders. It will be a brave man to drop Graham for Brereton but pick your best side and preferred formation and stick with them for a few games. Tonight’s result has been coming.

That’s tosh though. Rovers are absolutely intent on filling our away end. And for several years now we have had home fans in there who have now been evicted to make room for away fans. Tacky response from inside a glass house.