He wasn't. You can try and emotionally blackmail people all you want by claiming that local people will be put out of jobs if fans don't renew but it's always been the case that it's optional to buy a season ticket irrespective of the manager or the standard of the fare on the pitch. There's only so far you can test the loyalty of the fanbase. If you have a terrible meal in a restaurant do you pile back there the following week because you're worried the staff there will lose their jobs if you don't go back? Or do you rightly take the view that if that happens it's the fault of the management for serving crap food?

And your language and Abrasive attitude says a lot about you. People of all age ranges have financial problems in general and have been badly affected by the pandemic. Try telling someone who's lost a loved one or a parent that the younger generation, who in general don't get as seriously ill from the virus, have been the worst affected. I only meant that if you were entitled to a £179 ticket originally and are STILL entitled to a disounted ticket on account of age it's unreasonable to expect another massive discount on an already heavily discounted price. A friend of mines son has actually just turned 24 and therefore has gone from being asked to pay £179 to £399 with no discount. So after showing loyalty by renewing last year, there's no incentive whatsoever for him to renew again. He will I'm sure still renew anyway as he has a job and is keen as mustard but that isn't really the point

Waggott's wet dream probably, as well as becoming a bit of a yo yo team between the Championship and League 1 where the Coventrio are obviously far more comfortable and at their natural level. Up to us as fans to preserve Jack's infrastructure until we can see these charlatans off and get someone decent in.

Was speaking to a Luton Town fan last night, he said last season they had the smallest budget in the division bar Wycombe and had great difficulty persuading anyone to join them. This close season they've been active already making three signings and poaching Wycombe's star player, a striker, off them and this Chap was delighted to note that the signings were now talking about being delighted to join "a Championship Club" as opposed to "Luton Town". Different expectations but a Club clearly moving in the right direction and doing their utmost to try and improve. The polar opposite of our mob down at Ewood.

🙂

That'll be me gone by about 15.15 opening home game then!

You do have to wonder if it's being done deliberately to some end. I'm talking from those on the ground at Ewood rather than India but at the end of the day it's their name over the door and the buck stops with them. I can't believe anyone could actually be that stupid.

Would it? Selling only 2.5k season tickets last season doesn't seem to have earned anyone the sack. Be meat and drink to Waggott I'd have thought, give him the ammunition to mothball Ewood completely and return with fresh plans to flog off Brockhall on the strength of promises of non existent new training facilities. Can see both sides of the argument. It's a no win situation for most supporters, renew and endorse the "chumocracy" (copyright Hoochie) or boycott and give Waggott carte blanche to run amok.

Who drafted that load of old cobblers? Might as well have said, "Supporters must not enjoy themselves or have a good time inside the Stadium" All they needed to say was something like "Please treat other supporters with respect and be aware of their safety". And who's going to remember to carry photographic id every game? They can't even speak proper English. Shouting and singing "is" discouraged. Christ. Sums us up under Waggott. Don't want any bloody customers in or anyone enjoying themselves.

That part of it is completely unfair, you're paying exactly what the Club have requested you to pay. You don't get a say in that, or an option, so there's no way that young fans who renewed last year should be excluded from the mosaic.

True. The pricing overall is ludicrous but Waggott dug the Club's grave on this 12 months ago by increasing prices at the most inopportune time imaginable and removing the affordable seating. There was never any way back in the short term given the fact we're obliged to offer discounts to the hardy souls who renewed last season.

I'm absolutely the last one to defend Waggott normally but pull the other one, you were paying a vastly discounted rate in the first place so you can't expect another substantial discount as well on top of that as well. You'd be getting the ticket for next to nothing.

My thoughts exactly. If nothing else at least something good has come out of this dire close season, we've finally offloaded those two lead swingers Bennett and Evans. Thankfully I haven't seen Bennett being described as a "legend" anywhere. If I had I think it would have made my blood boil. I'd say exactly the opposite and say that they both epitomise everything that is wrong with the modern day footballer. How Evans survived eight years and various contract extensions here is beyond belief. The master of doing the square root of naff all and apparently convincing some he was doing something useful. Bennett never performed for us from the minute he arrived at the Club but seemingly managed to convince people he was an all round good egg by becoming active on social media and talking a good game and by becoming a sort of unofficial cheer leader. The ONLY way we'll progress out of the malaise we're in (in tandem with appointing a decent manager) is to stop bringing in dollopers like this who draw their money week after week, year after year for not performing and bring in players who regularly do the business on the pitch. Shearer, Hendry, Garner etc = legends. Bennett/Evans = leg ends. Good riddance to both.

Really don't think you are correct there. It would mean the player was getting paid twice by the Club who bought him and the Club he's left who he can no longer play for. There'd never be any point in any Club selling a player as they'd end up paying a player who can't play for them. The only way a player is entitled to the money under his contract is if he sees it out to the end. There may also be a loyalty bonus for the player which kicks in at the end of the deal but again you wouldn't expect it to kick in before that. If a player leaves by mutual consent, all bets are off regarding his current deal and he's then paid by his new Club. Conversely if a player doesn't wish to move and wishes to sit on his contract until it expires then he can do. If a Club wish to hold the player to a Contract then again they can but they risk having an unhappy player who won't perform and getting nothing when he finally does leave.

No, the Raya figure was just friends in general, I assumed it had been quoted in the LT or something. The other was someone who certainly should have known what they were talking about in theory! 🙂

Everyone I've spoken to seems to think that was £2m.

Surely a loyalty bonus would only come into effect if he stayed? Therefore one or the other and I'd imagine the sell on percentage would be way higher than any loyalty bonus that may or may not be applicable.

Are you surprised? Our esteemed CEO was probably too busy planning housing developments.

As stated in the transfer window thread, I can't see the point in letting him leave for any less than about £18m absolute minimum if Newcastle have a 40% sell on clause.

Just on Armstrong, I may be in a minority but I don't think it's worth letting him go for much less than £20m if it's true that New castle have a quite ridiculous 40% sell on clause. If we sold him for £10m the Club would only see £6m of it - might as well keep him for the season. Wonder who agreed to a ludicrous clause like that (as if I need to ask). It's like with the loanees, as if we've still been developing someone else's player for them even though to all intents and purposes we signed him permanently!

Spot on. The Club have clearly been aware all along what we needed to do to avoid going into embargo and has previously stated they had either complied with any filing requirements or would do so before any given deadlines. So it would look very fishy if we end up in embargo again for failure to file our accounts on time.

Can you imagine the irony if we get placed under another transfer embargo and we haven't even put season tickets on sale at that point?

Why would "a clean sweep" of (underperforming) management be more likely to put us in League 1 than Armstrong leaving? What a load of rubbish. Whether people choose to renew their season ticket if Mowbray stays is very much a matter of personal preference. Many won't and I think you'd be in a very substantial minority if you think that replacing Mowbray and his coaching staff wouldn't lead to a substantial improvement on the pitch.

When listening to anything any politician has to say, always better to abide by the motto "How do you know when a politician is lying? "Their lips are moving". Good letter this time from the Trust, shame they were so conspicuous by their absence in taking a Public stance on the proposed sale of Brockhall considering how keen they are meant to be to secure and preserve the assets of the Club. What was that about politicians again?

He's on holiday until the middle of this week apparently, but wasn't really conspicuous before that either. Would be nice if the reason was they were all getting the push.