Stuart

Not this tired argument again. We won’t be short of buyers, what we are short of is a seller. Trouble is the longer it goes on the less likely it becomes.

The fact thing is, it used to be cheap and accessible and absolutely packed. I imagine Hillsborough changed the game more than the PL. The answer wasn’t seating only but crowd management. That in itself became political. Easier to save a few arses in the establishment by blaming the working class football fan. I’m interested in that middle part though. Post big crowds (or small crowds) who were largely friendly foes and the riotous mobs. Thatcher crushing the unions and using football management tactics to demonise the working man? Or militant anti-Tories finding it easy to bait police at matches? Or something else? Something changed that took away the fun and made it serious.

You do wonder what it was that changed all that. Politics?

Fair play on doubling and trebling down Philip but it’s time to put the shovel away. We remain a basket case of a club and during this wonderful last two years we have seen the professionals they have left to ‘get on with it’ destroy our fanbase. Model owners would be holding their team to account, not turning a blind eye and paying (adding to the debt) the balance of annual failure. They need to fund promotion (being creating with FFP), or sell to someone who can before the bank intervene again. Instead they are still heeding advice from the wrong people.

We are probably happy to get the insurance compo from NI and save paying his wage. Beyond a joke now.

Funny though isn’t it. “Happy clappers” has stuck (mainly as a stick to beat people who aren’t eternally positive) but the original disparaging phrase it was created in response to hasn’t. All very political. And just like in football, the ref only ever sees the retaliation...!

Astonishing OP. The bit I like best was the fact that there is absolutely no danger to the future of the club under Venkys. That is quite the volte-face right there from someone who previously fought tooth and nail against them. I suppose it has taken 10 years though. (Wow we are all getting old!)

Interesting post. I think there is something in the “choose to be happy” comment. People can choose how they view Rovers current situation. Bury their head in the sand and pretend all is well until the lights are switched off then they go and support a PL club. Or be very concerned about our situation where we are £180m in debt and rising (this figure never gets better) and a management team and board who are highly paid but completely unaccountable for failure - and instead call it progress or even worse stability (as though that is even a thing in the volatile world that is professional football. No matter which group you fall into there will be a very small group of people who end up holding the buckets to try in vain to raise money to save the club. We really need a rich owner who actually likes football to take on the debt that Venkys have racked up and bring in a management structure to reinvigorate this club. The current one is literally letting the ground rot. As far as Mowbray is concerned, his job is to win football matches. If he does that he gets to carry on and dissenting voices will lessen. His mission is to get promoted. If he does that then he deserves credit. Perpetual backslapping for finishing midtable is worthless. Except to the ostriches who ignore the bigger picture. I do not choose to be happy with our current situation. That’s a reflection of the club not me personally. P.S. When people erroneously compare his stats with other managers to make him look good, it will get a response.

Do you work for the government in their Coronavirus reporting team because they are some very selective stats. Mowbray has taken 700 games to reach those wins - including at Celtic where it’s the easiest job in the world (yet he failed) and L1 with the biggest budget. Let’s compare their records in this division. Hughton. 108 wins out of 206 games. 52% Overall 1.86 PPG. Mowbray. 131 wins out of 328 games. 40%. Overall 1.46 PPG. These two big wins are going to buy Mowbray a heck of a lot of time.

Sorry but that’s not obvious to me. The discount has already addressed that, hasn’t it? For example, if next season’s Riverside ticket stayed at £399 (while the elsewhere went to £439) - and ignoring the devastating impact such pricing will have on attendance even generally - then renewers would pay the discount rates (£239 and £269 - assuming they got to no games this season). Anyone renewing or a new buyer would still be hit with the £439 price to start with. There couldn’t surely be a £439 price for renewers and then a £479 price for newbies/returnees (in some kind of pseudo early bird deal)? If anyone at the club suggests that then they haven’t got the club’s long term interests at heart. In fact, the Riverside price is likely to have to be reduced next season while the other areas would have a £399 price freeze. That would be somewhat understandable. To not do this will cripple us. Talk about taking from the poor to give to the rich - or killing the not-very-golden goose! Meanwhile Venkys are, what, the fifth richest owners in the Championship? Waggott needs to have a massive strategy rethink or rethink his own position.

Wish I hadn’t.

Is it over yet?

Not buffering here but very clunky. Looks like poor bandwidth. Worst I’ve seen it.

That’s an amazing clash of kits!

Many a true word is spoken in jest. Read some of the comments on here by Airman Brown... https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/80230/steve-waggott-appointed-chief-executive-of-blackburn

Maybe that’s what grounds look like in the North East. I’m sure he’ll blame the fans though.

You’ll both be shocked I’m sure but I don’t believe that.

You should absolutely NOT swap the defence around based on the opposition. If you have to do that you’ve assembled the wrong defence.

Lenihan dropped or injured?

Now I’m not a fan of illegal streams. In principle, if everyone watched them there wouldn’t be any legitimate ones to even pay for. However, overtly going after your own fans is only going to drive a bigger wedge and more resentment. It’s clear that this bloke does not believe in incentives to buy but only threats and penalties for not doing so.

It really is critical for the future of the club that Waggott doesn’t set out a ST strategy next season that penalises fans who didn’t buy this season - for whatever reason. He has demonstrated so far that he does not understand the demographic of Blackburn and now that he doesn’t understand the tipping point for existing fans. He has just gone past it and needs to row back for next year. Maybe like Mowbray he can swallow his pride and turn over a new leaf. We need bums on seats not an attempt to empty the wallets of the most ardent fans.

There should have been no concerns over reserving your seat by paying for a season that never was. It should have been unreserved setting - and seats reserved for the following season. Hopefully that will still be the case. Next season there is some humble pie required and no further price increase PLUS a decent reduction in the Riverside. The “discount” offered for next season is more likely to soften a further price rise. Let’s just hope he hasn’t pissed off so many people that we end up with sub-5k in a non-socially distanced 2012/22. That would be unforgivable.

It only adds to the distrust. ”You’ll get a discount off next year’s season pass”

I think I see where the problem lies...