I think Scotty is more or less alone on this forum in recognising the challenge we face due to the restricted size of our fan base. If we naff poor old Joe Bloggs off with poor home displays and/or by selling the star attraction there aren't as many people out there ready and willing to take Joe's place as compared to other places. People get just as disillusioned from time to time at these other clubs but the effect is less noticeable because for the time being at least there'll always be some other (mug?) willing to take Joe's place. As Scotty memorably and succinctly put it once, "We're no better or no worse than anywhere else, there's just less of us"

Or the Blackburn that had 5k gates? I'm talking about now, stop living in the past FFS. But you're living in the past as well, you're trying to support your point by banging on about attendance figures for the Blackburn Rovers pre Jack Walker. Effectively 2 different clubs and situations. Chalk and cheese. And to compare Blackburn with a place the size of Newcastle is with all due respect ridiculous. Yes the fans love the game with a passion there but that isn't matched in many places. If Arsenal were a town, would you call it a "footballing town?" By your criteria you wouldn't.

Our crowds have decreased for one season after increasing markedly in the previous two seasons before that. Without getting into the same hoary old debate again, or I'll be in trouble with Bryan and Tris, it wasn't that surprising on the back of the sale of our two "star names" If there is the sort of improvement we all want in home performances this season, I would expect match by match attendances to increase slightly again.

Hmmnm.............. I know he's by no means in the top bracket of earners but I still see £650k p.a. as a reasonably "hefty" chunk out of our wages budget. Still can't see anyone one else coming in if there's no movement out. Any two senior players moving elsewhere and I think there'd be a fair chance.

Whilst we haven't spent anything on transfer fees we all know there is no such thing as a "free" transfer these days. Even Dickov will be on very hefty wages. The problem we have at the moment is that 3 names have been added to the already creaking wage bill with no-one out. Can't see anyone else joining under those circumstances. Having said that we were also carrying Babbel and Baggio/Andresen extra on the wage bill last season. If Yorke, Todd and Flitcroft were suddenly to be offloaded the situation would no doubt look different.

Don't agree with that at all ossy. Name me another "town" a comparable size to Blackburn with better attendances.

I'd rather see Matteo and Short.

Good signing on a free, at the £1.5m quoted in the National press it would have been overpriced given Leeds situation, his age and injury record.

Sounds as though the club are hoping there will be official contact soon. Every time Souness is quoted regarding the strikers he praises Dickov to the heavens and pointedly avoids making any reference to Cole. I'm afraid I can only see one outcome. Show us the quotes. Oh you can't - it's another bee in the Revidge bonnet. There was the one LET article the day we signed Dickov and suddenly you've turned it into a vendetta by the entire management structure at Rovers against Andy Cole. Which would be completely understandable given the Lazy One's pick-and-choose attitude as to when he wants to perform rather than moan at his colleagues or test the hips with his hands, or jet off to Dubai on the back of a stupid red card, but it's not happening so don't invent things to suit your increasingly ridiculous agenda. Been on the sherbets by any chance? We'll wait and see who's wrong then.

Sounds as though the club are hoping there will be official contact soon. Every time Souness is quoted regarding the strikers he praises Dickov to the heavens and pointedly avoids making any reference to Cole. I'm afraid I can only see one outcome.

Excellent post as usual Paul but does this not tend to suggest that the problem lies with the clubs and chairmen themselves and not Sky? Not one of your mates has cited Sky as a reason for not going to games more the players commitment and attitudes. Sky simply pays the money to the clubs. No-one forces them to pay out nearly all that dosh in players wages. Alan Sugar isn't usually someone I have much time for but he was correct when he called this "the prune juice effect". i.e. all the Sky money completely bypasses the clubs and ends up straight in the players wallets. Personally I like watching as much Premiership football as possible on Sky. Neither do I mind if our weekend games kick off at 12.30, 2.00, 3.00, 4.00 or 5.35 etc. If the time came (and I wouldn't be that surprised to see it) when we were kicking off against ManUre at 1a.m. on a Thursday morning to satisfy a huge far eastern TV audience I think you could then say that things had gone too far.

I think it's £600k - £700k for a "normal" Sky appearance and £200 - £300k for a PPV. So to put it in perspective just one "normal" Sky appearance equates to the income from 1500 season ticket holders. Which is why it's so important for a Club like Rovers size. One or two extra TV games make a huge difference.

Usually in complete agreement with you on everything Paul but don't agree at all on this. Really don't see why people are complaining about Sky - in the post Jack era with the Trust seemingly having firmly zipped their wallet up for the time being, the TV and place money is the only thing which allows us to compete on such relatively favourable terms. As far as the televised highlights are concerned, again I think this is a good thing for us. If the product at Ewood is actually any good it will potentially encourage a far wider audience than would otherwise have been the case to come along. And we have the unique advantage of being just about the only side who can accomodate new fans. As for the match times, I know that it is occasionally difficult when faced with a long away trip, but does it really matter whether a game at Ewood kicks off at 12.45p.m. or 3p.m. or 5.35p.m. on a Saturday?. Doesn't to me. As long as you know the kick off time well in advance you can plan your day and family arrangements accordingly. I'm sure a lot of people complaining use the same argument in reverse criticising the Riversiders who leave early - (What do they do with that extra 15 minutes etc?.) Bottom line is we can gladly take the Sky money and kick off as and when required. Or don't and scrap around in the lower leagues. Not even an issue for me.

According to today's LET sales are not as bad as initially feared. Already broken through the 10,000 barrier which is slightly down on the same stage last year. Club hoping for a "late surge." People who haven't so far renewed being targeted. There is also a picture of new skipper Bazza holding up the new season ticket cards. They're in blue and white halves with the Club crest and look very snappy.

Right, given the date change, is anyone flying out from Blackpool Saturday lunchtime returning Sunday morning?

Those people are sadly misguided IMO. What state would the club be in if everyone followed that example?

Am I alone in thinking he was originally offered a two year deal which he turned down and the club caved in and offered him a four year deal which now has three years left to run? On checking the LET archive I was one year too long and tnr one year too short. He was originally offered a 12 month extension on top of the 12 months his original contract then had to run. He declined and was given a three year contract running until 2006. With the benefit of hindsight not a particularly good deal for the club in light of his performances last season.

Am I alone in thinking he was originally offered a two year deal which he turned down and the club caved in and offered him a four year deal which now has three years left to run?

Its nothing to do with motivation - we were just crap! ...........Because much of the time we weren't sufficiently motivated IMO.

There seems to be quite a lot of varying guesses over how many ST holders we have/have had. 2 seasons ago we managed 16,000 which historically I think was one of our best ever figures. The best ever was I think a tad short of 20,000 the close season after we won the Championship. That 16,000 figure dropped by 1500 overall 12 months ago. That actually consisted of 2500 people dropping off but encouragingly1000 new uptakes as well. I think anything anywhere near that 14,500 figure will be a major achievement given the season we had but to their credit I must say the marketing department are pulling out all the stops with their advertising campaign, at long last extremely prominent in the LET, and a 200,000 leaflet drop in Blackburn and the surrounding areas. (One dropped through my door 2 days ago.)

hmmmmmmmm.....interesting (cletus little brain starts to tick) I couldn`t....could i? Possibly in seasons gone by, but probably not this season with the new credit card type season ticket. All the turnstyle steward has to do is to look at what colour light flashes up on the turnstyle to ascertain what grade of card has been fed in. All you would be fraudsters have been warned!

Ditto. Nothing like getting in at 2a.m after a night on the lash and starting an essay to be handed in for 9a.m. Or I thought so anyway. Many will probably disagree!

Smiffy, as you probably know, that guide dog picture was one of a few examples of works by internet wags published in the Sun today. I liked one picture of Romeo on Posh's knee underneath the caption "Romeo, dad can only score behind our backs...."

Extremely good call. Can't see it happening as long as Sven is in charge though.

You may mock my "academic response" to your point. I made my point of view known and I make no apologies for my tone. If your an academic basher that's your bag. I however stand by my completely valid view point and it seems to be mirrored by many on this site. I have no issue with you and your views but I don't expect to be dismissed merely on the fact that many of my points are based in academia rather than a Blackburn lad point of view. I am from Blackburn, I love my team and my country yet you dismiss my argument because I balance my argument with what I've learnt outside b'burn town centre. And to completely counteract your point, PATRIOTISM has everything to do with it. Please see my earlier post. And I think that I've earnt enough respect not to be patronised like that. I look forward to a reasonable,valid debate in the future. With respect JonnyH PS: I apologise my dismissive sentence of "pointless thread", although I stand by my balanced support theory and my previous posts. It was wrong however to dismiss an argument. (Happy Don? ) What made you think I was mocking your post? When I said I was "fascinated" by your post I was trying to be complimentary. I said it was an "academic" one as a matter of fact rather than intending it to be in a derogatory way. I thought it was an excellent explanation which answered my original question extremely well. P.S. I have been to University and ventured outside B/Burn town centre in the dim and distant past myself you know. I repeat, it must just me be who's at fault here as jim seems to think. I got togged up in a couple of new England tops to watch the games and wanted them to win as much as the next person. What I couldn't do would be to do the same to watch an England team in a SPORT I DON'T LIKE. That's why I was wondering originally if all these previous football indifferents must really have some latent interest in the sport which could be tapped to rovers benefit - as DB suggests