RevidgeBlue

Yep.

Good stuff Stuart. But apart from that, you're fairly happy? ?

This will be an acid test of Mowbray's management, after a 5-0 win and playing well in general there is no excuse whatsoever for changing the starting line up with the possible exception of bringing back Nyambe (who hadn't done anything whatsoever wrong in the first place) for JRC. Either way, Dolan shouldn't be dropped. Will Tony give the players their head and say 'same again" or overthink it and retreat into his shell and swap it about and go safety first based on his perceived view of the opposition strengths? On a personal level I wouldn't mind a win tomorrow, had a £5 free bet on Betfair midweek on most of the favourites in the League Cup plus Rovers. £399 if we win. Can cash out now for £122. ?

That's no way to talk about our Prime Minister and Government! ? I don't agree the decision about fans is a sensible one but from a Rovers point of view given the Government's track record on the virus to date I think it was entirely foreseeable they'd bottle out of their original plan and perform a U turn. As a Club we should have been completely on top of it. Instead we were misjudging the mood totally, and issuing a plea to let fans back in asap just as the Government went down the opposite route.

Course it's at his door. We can argue until the cows come home about the timing of season tickets/memberships going on sale. To me it was the most obvious thing in the world to keep people engaged and prevent them losing interest and sign them up on a nominal membership initially and as early as possible then upgrade them to a price commensurate with an I follow pass once the Government made their decision on fans and upgrade again to the full ST price if and when fans are finally allowed back in. What surely can not be disputed though, is that if you have a product on offer which isn't as good as the one you had on sale before, you don't put prices up!

What a great post. Spot on. Waggott doesn't deserve supporters like you and the lady I met last night. ?

What a great response from the Colchester Chairman. Top man. The "Government's whack a mole" approach to high risk areas. What a great way of putting it but sadly true. Whilst Boris and the medics play silly theoretical games which will never have any impact whatsoever on them, in real life people are losing their jobs, businesses and entire sectors of the economy are at risk of going under. BTW, can you imagine Waggott going to the trouble of removing 1800 seats or changing the surrounds to the stadium around in an effort to get games on? We can't even be bothered to open the Club shop or keep the surrounds of Ewood Park tidy and free of rubbish!

Unbelievable. in the light of the Government's (predictable) cave in on allowing fans back in to live sporting events, most rational people would be admitting they made a huge mistake and coming back to supporters on bended knee asking for forgiveness. Waggott has obviously never heard of the phrase "When you're in a hole stop digging." His response?, double down on the original mistake on 20, hope that people will miraculously change their minds and suddenly won't object to being taken for granted and to being asked to pay more for something they're not actually getting in the first place, and hope that that miracle ace comes out. It's mind blowing, it really is.

The only thing Rovers could do is hold their hands up and acknowledge they'd made a horrendous mistake with the pricing at this particular time and re-issue prices along the lines of the cost of an i-follow pass to be upgraded when fans are finally allowed back inside the ground. On the assumption the Club get a cut of I follow subscriptions for individual games anyway, that move might not alter finances drastically until fans are allowed back in, but it would might restore a degree of good will and ensure that some of the missing fans are signed up and on board and ready to go when the time comes and not disenchanted and potentially lost forever. The only downside would be that that would be unfair on the noble bunch who have already renewed but I'm sure some further rebate could be worked out for them. I spoke to one such lady last night who was in JW and she thought her ticket had gone up about £50. She said she had to think about it given the likely non attendance but then thought about what had happened at Bolton and the fact she was worried about the prospect of non playing staff going unpaid. All power to her.

I can't see any harm in leaving them on sale for anyone who wants to help the Club out bearing in mind you supposedly get a rebate off next season's prices. The problem is that any such numbers will be minimal given that Waggott has destroyed any feeling of goodwill towards the Club with the price increases. Your other point is spot on though, months of inertia was excused by saying that we couldn't put on sale what we couldn't guarantee.......then when we finally emerged from hibernation we went on to do exactly that!

You keep saying this but I suspect it's a complete non issue. If the Clubs concerned sold on the condition there would be no refunds in the case of Covid enforced non attendance there isn't a problem.

So by a combination of not putting memberships on sale early enough and when they were finally put on sale raising prices by up to 25% at a point in time when it was obvious that it would not be possible to attend in person for large parts of the season, Waggott has single handedly managed to decimate the season ticket base from around 8'500 to c1200. Hats off to the bloke, genius, that takes some doing even in the current climate.

Did you put the £660 on? ?

Not wanting to "moan" but I think the fact Evans and Gallagher are out of the reckoning is a huge bonus and I think their pedestrian style would be a huge hindrance to the free flowing line up we saw today. Terrific stuff today. Dolan. Wow, just wow. If he carries on like this we'll have to give him an improved contract to scare potential suitors off. Brereton, did really well without scoring. JRC very good game. First time I've been impressed with him. Johnson ditto, best game he's had for the Club imo. Chapman looked decent when he came on ditto Buckley. Armstrong finally looked to be enjoying himself a bit more and you can't argue with four goals from two games. Let's hope we can keep it up. We appear to have performed really well in the last 3 games and I hope the manager doesn't kill the momentum by mixing it up too much to give everyone a game. Edit: forgot Rothwell, one of his better games. Well done everyone!

Best for a long time. Dolan is exceptional, he looks head and shoulders above the rest of the side to me, the fact he is only 18 is neither here nor there. Brereton also did really well in the build up for the third. Hope we don't take our foot off the gas too much 2nd half.

Absolute insanity dropping Nyambe. We better win.

From memory, this happened last season to a lot of people (myself included) with the finance Company used back then (I thought it was a different one) and the "solution" back then was that you had to go through the rigmarole of being turned down before then applying with Premium Credit who seem to accept anyone with a pulse. Not sure if the Premium Credit fall back is available this season but either way it's hardly ideal and a further deterrent to renewing.

Have to disagree on this one. Evans is an over paid over-rated dud I'd be delighted to see the back of. I can't believe he's lasted at the Club as long as he has. The problem we have is that Johnson falls into exactly the same category and is arguably even worse. It's like trying to pick a Championship level striker between Brereton and Gallagher.

That was obviously the way to go, with the exception that once fans are allowed to go back to games, the £7 surcharge and removal of i-follow shouldn't be optional, it should be automatic. The way he's done it has given him the excuse to get rid of cheaper tickets altogether and blame it on Covid, has given him the excuse to charge up to £169 on a £399 ticket this season for something with no tangible benefit in a two thirds empty stadium (guaranteeing your own seat) and has potentially locked us into a never ending spiral of price increases with future prices potentially set at a level many fans either won't be willing or able to pay. I'm sure he'll want to stick headline prices up again next season to compensate for any "refunds" given against this season's ticket. £450+ to get in anywhere in the ground next season to watch a potentially struggling lower mid table Championship outfit with further standard increases in following seasons? Exceptionally difficult times for everyone, an inferior product temporarily on offer, yet I'm sure most people would still have rallied round a cheaper season ticket, a price freeze or even a minimal increase. So what do we do? Put prices up and not only that, by an unprecedented 25% in the Riverside thereby completely removing the option of a slightly cheaper ticket for those that need it. Still can't believe we've done it tbh, it's completely inexplicable and bizarre.

£660? Blimey this isn't 1992-95, I wouldn't risk £66 on this bunch or any team managed by this manager! We might be going in my acca this weekend that's about your lot! (Good luck if you're trying to get your free ticket this way btw)

Must win game regardless of personnel and formations. Be a very long season indeed if we can't win this type of fixture.

Spot on, same position as I would be in as regards physically going down to the ground now Swag has frightened off my friends.

Spot on. There is a huge irony that Waggott will no doubt have put huge numbers of fans off attending Ewood Park this season when permissible with his appalling attitude towards a likely handful of refunds for last season and the completely unjustified and excessive price hike for this. Then in the next breath he has the begging bowl out in rather public and unedifying fashion asking local MP's to lobby for the ground to be allowed to be opened. Too late mate, there probably isn't going to be a great deal of need to get the ground open the way you've behaved. And whilst I don't agree with any of the regulations surrounding Covid, we are where we are with them Nationally so it would have been far classier and more dignified to do your lobbying in private and convince the powers that be that all requirements are being met behind the scenes. Nevertheless, this fresh plea clearly indicates we are right in the **** and has provided a fresh tug on my heartstrings. I am in a moral conundrum and am completely split between not being prepared to be taken for a complete mug any further by this absolute idiot Waggott and drawing a line firmly in the sand, or supporting the Club and even upgrading my ticket to help out as I would be gutted if we we went under at a point when I hadn't renewed. Apologies for the public soul searching as I realise whether I personally renew is of no interest to anyone else and I used to give gumboots a huge amount of clog for doing the same so I'm being a massive hypocrite in that respect. I suppose the wider theme is that if Swag is grinding my gears to this extent then many others are presumably feeling the same. I think I'll do the same as Arbitro and write to Swag telling him exactly what I think of him at which point I might feel a bit better. Renewing isn't exactly going to make him change his ways though.

Right. The mate of mine who I normally go with in the Riverside has texted back as follows: " Not rushing, might get a half season ticket. Can't see there being a problem getting in. It's a bit much." So that looks like there's at least 3 of us down there unless I have a drastic change of heart

To be fair, at £599 that's a lot better value for money than £399 for the Riverside imo. Edit: once fans are allowed back in that is.