£44.99

Hope so. Hope not.

Seems nowadays that we charge double prices and sell half quantities. If we want crowds back we need to start selling to our market. I know a lot of people who won’t/can’t pay north of £30 for a shirt so the £40-£50 mark is well out of reach. £30-£40 is too much. The feel good factor from last season doesn’t seem to have been leveraged at all as far as I can see. There has been no concession this season to those who stuck by the club by renewing at the start of L1 (let alone during the Kean era) - they don’t need to, these people will pay (almost) any price. Milk those cash cows! The next phase hasn’t been to entice people in, it has been to threaten them with a price increase. Kick those dogs - we don’t need them. Now it’s about milking those cash cows again with the shirts. Towards the end of last season I saw more people in Rovers shirts (old ones mind) that I had in years. All of those people should have been enticed with great ticket offers and low shirt prices. We should be looking to get bums on seats and generate more support to the team. Instead we will go back to a half full stand and disappearing shirts. Even with a good start, who is paying our walk on prices - even with the 1875 con club? Another local sporting venue did the same thing. Raised prices and then “encouraged” people to become members of a club to “save” money. This both alienated the regulars and put off newcomers. Football clubs are not like other businesses and if Waggott thinks going after the pockets of the existing fans is the way forward then he is going to lose. Reasonable shirt prices should be a priority. They are low cost material made in low cost labour factories. Increase market reach by keeping the price low and get as many local ‘football fans’ walking round in Rovers shirts and going to Ewood to get their football fix. Opportunity missed. Again.

Sorry quite right. Let’s see what happens tomorrow. I have us as underdogs hopefully we can cause another upset.

Immediately it will but then the question marks will come. “Tin pot World Cup” will be the gibe. Nice problem to have mind. I don’t feel like favourites tomorrow by any stretch. What you see as old and below par is experienced beyond England years. Sweden knocked Germany out. Let’s not big ourselves up beyond what we thought at the start of the tournament. If we get through tomorrow then we will rightly get excited but it’s not a given. I just don’t want what has been a great WC for us suddenly be seen as a failure.

Agree but it’s never going to happen. No-one deals with individuals who oversteps the mark any more they just ban everyone doing everything. Nanny state.

This young side has already out-performed realistic expectations. I just hope a fortunate side of the draw and several ‘big’ teams going out doesn’t raise expectations above where they should be. Given where we have got to (best 8 in the world) I hope that elimination tomorrow doesn’t take away from what Southgate and his charges have achieved. Tomorrow we should be under no pressure, looking to enjoy the occasion, and gain some valuable experience. But that’s not how Engerland fans whipped up by the English media works. “It’s only Sweden - how many PL players do they have?” If we win the tournament, it’ll be a miracle. One which will soon be ‘taken away’ from us after a few weeks when the British media decides we got lucky by not playing any of the top sides. Belgium are the strongest side left and it’ll take a bad decision by a player or official for them to win. Still think Russia in Russia are the dark horse.

Diouf went to Stoke on a free at the end of his Hannover contract...

Not exactly a direct answer but possibly some interesting and surprisingly “successful” ex-loanees - in terms of their future careers if not necessarily honours. Going back over the last 20 years... Anthony Modeste - TJ Quanjian £26.1m (£4.1m Cologne, £2.7m Hoffenheim) Florent Sinama-Pongolle - £9m Atletico Madrid (Huelva £3.6m) Franco Di Santo - £5.4m to Schalke (£2.6m to Wigan) Karim Rekik (who??) £4.5m Marseille (£2.25m Hertha Berlin) Carlos Villanueva - £3.25m to Al-Shabab Danny Simpson - £2.25m to Leicester (PL winner) Eyal Bercovic £2.1m to Man City Martin Andreson - £1.8m FK Brann Mame Biram Diouf - £1.6m to Hannover 96 Shabani Nonda - £1.2m to Galatasaray David Jones (Promoted with Bumley) Colin Kazim Richard (Feyenoord, Celtic)

Why would he need to respawn?

The body language of both sets of players in the background was interesting. There looked to be a lack of belief from Colombia was pretty evident. England meanwhile were together. Not sure what Trippier was doing in the celebrations though - must’ve been caught up in the moment!

Didn’t realise I had so much influence over people. Stop being deliberately obtuse to look clever and stick to telling funnies.

Having a slow one today? Venkys are buying all of our players. Fans are keeping the lights on. Just about.

They went for it and were a breath of fresh air. Nothing but respect for them and their manager. Martinez on the other hand. Got very very lucky this evening.

I was agreeing with you! Tell you what mate. Forget I mentioned it.

Sorry pal. It’s not aimed at you. I’ve had so many arguments with people on here who believe Travis is a central midfielder and told me I’m wrong so often I’ve given up. “Mowbray is picking him for the first team as a CM and that’s that.” Now you’re telling me the exact opposite!! I’m a regular at the U23 games. Give us a shout next time you’re down.

This site is hilarious at times.

Yes!! But that’s not where Mowbray sees him and he’s just bought a replacement. Maybe he’s looking to make Travis step up and compete to start but that’s not how Mowbray operates. See - Samuel v Nuttall.

Adds some youth to our experience. A very good sign that he played 17 times (since January) in the Championship. Will reserve judgement until I’ve seen him play but it’s a positive move. Just hope it doesn’t block Travis’ progress or it’s another nail in the coffin for our development side. Tomlinson for instance must think his Rovers career is over. Has to go out on loan now.

Rev, if we are relying only on our fanbase then we are making no signings for the foreseeable future.

According to one poster yes, apparently they’ve been ripping people fans in this way for a couple of years now but emboldened by the number of apologists are much happier to shout about it. Panic over Bob. #asyouwere

Random? That’s the cost per match at £60.

Strange then that the club is marketing it as something new. But even so would you put up with paying nearly three quid to go into a pub without even getting wmc prices for ale? Some folk really do have more money than sense. This club has stopped seeing fans as the twelfth man to get behind the team and increase revenue through being a more successful side, and now sees us all as customers to be shaken down. Shame on those fans who excuse them for doing so.

This needs to be introduced to stamp out cheats like Suarez. Starting to wonder if he really is “a nasty piece of work but a great footballer” or if he’s just a nasty piece of work who creates time and space because other players don’t want to go near him!

You really can’t make statements like that after not watching any of the non-England games. This World Cup has been a brilliant spectacle. There has only been a single 0-0 and that’s because both sides conspired to make it so.