How many players did he bring in though? He might have been able to spend a bit more if he'd brought in a bit more quality and a lot less quantity.

Course it is chaddy. Don't be so selfish. I think you should also set off to the ground several hours earlier and pick Baz up door to door, and give him a free lift down to and from Blues Bar. Not forgetting of course to treat him to a slap up meal an route. Then go back and repeat the process several times for other of the unfortunate fans who apparently Can't afford an extra £5 -£6 per month on direct debit over 9 months. On your way to and from the ground, try also not to knock over any unfortunate wretches who according to Jim will be staggering out of the food banks because no-one in Blackburn can afford to feed themselves, or any of the bone idle 18-25 year olds lazing about because according to many others no-one in that age range is capable of finding any form of gainful employment.

I felt Bowyer received a hell of a lot of backing from the owners. He must have brought in over 40 players either permanently or on loan and obviously we did very well out of 3 or 4 of them showing that as with Dack a modest amount invested in the right player can go a long way. Unfortunately however despite giving it "a right good go" good old Gaz wasn't the man to deliver a promotion push. I also think your overall assessment could be a bit harsh. TM obviously asked for a transfer and wage budget that would deliver promotion a year ago and in January and rather surprisingly they obliged. Would there have been much point in spending any more? Looking forward I fully accept what others say about it possibly needing £25m to £30m if we were to have another tilt at promotion. However we have no idea what their view is at this stage and I'm told that TM has already delivered his list of targets to the Club. So who knows. We might just be pleasantly surprised. (Again)

Excellent post.

If you Can't make it to every game then obviously it's always a bit of a balancing act as to whether a season ticket or match by match is better value. I'd guess that if you're going to miss no more than 3 or 4 games max out of a 23 game season most people would still see a ST as a worthwhile investment. Anything above that and it becomes a bit trickier. I bought a few tickets in the Riverside for a mate who is a lapsed ST holder after Christmas and with the £2 1875 Club discount the walk on price was usually either £18 or £20 depending on the category of game. At that rate and allowing for the occasional £10 offer I reckon you could get to at least 17 of the 23 games as a walk on for the cost of a season ticket. When you work it out like that I'd say the differential between ST prices and walk on prices isn't actually wide enough. Season tickets should be cheaper relative to walk ins or vice versa. Either way though I Don't think a total annual cost not exceeding c£350 for an adult in most parts of the ground for your year's football is in any way unreasonable. I guess we'll see from the sales figures whether the majority agree with me and chaddy on price or with Matt and MCM. I Don't know what the total sold first half of the season was last year but all things being equal I'd expect to see a substantial increase of at least 3k following promotion. If we Don't see that then I'd have to agree the Club haven't got the pricing strategy quite right.

Agree 100%. I Don't rate him at al now

FFS. It's not £400 up front. I couldn't justify that myself. It's from as little as £35 p.m. on DD.

Don't be silly. A £30 ticket must be worth at least 40 stamps.

Football for the working. Being able to afford £35 p.m. hardly qualifies you as rich. I wouldn't actually be opposed to very cheap tickets to anyone who is out of work for whatever reason either. Certainly a much better idea than rolling out cheap tickets to 25 year olds who are working.

If you think £319 per season to watch football is a '"small fortune" there's obviously no point debating the subject further as you're not prepared to take it seriously. That works out at just £35 p.m. on direct debit and anyone who Can't afford that or isn't prepared to spend a bit less on other aspects of their socialising should not be thinking about wasting money on football but spending their money on essentials like food and household bills instead. Same with the comment about the 1875 membership going up to £10 above. Are we actually moaning about what is effectively a fiver for ticket priority if needed for a big game and which may still entitle the holder to a match by match discount on walk on prices? Never a truer word spoken than by Gordon years ago.

Once again you seem to be focusing on walk on prices in JW upper. There already was your so called "middle ground" last season, £20 or £22 in the Riverside and you could even spend £5 On an 1875 membership (instantly refundable through the Club shop anyway) and get a further £2 per match off bringing it down to just £18/£20! I really Don't know how much more people could expect.

With the benefit of hindsight words of wisdom from our Gord.

Yet they start at a fraction under £14 per game if you have a season ticket! Why do people fixate on the maximum possible walk on price? It's quite simple really, you pays your money (or you don't pay) at the start of the season and you takes your choice! If you want to just dip in and out next season then that's absolutely fine but surely you Can't expect to pay anything like the same as a ST holder. Otherwise, as the ground is nowhere near full there'd be absolutely no point in having a ST.

On the other hand I completely agree with this. We should be trying to fill the ground with home fans not taking the easy option of filling it with away fans. It's also effectively capping the home support at around 22k. I had numerous run ins with John Williams about this over the years and thought that negative short sighted policy had gone forever. Pricing is good but bad move in that respect.

It says the early bird cost in the Riverside is £319 not £349. Last season I think it was early bird £279 or £289, "standard" £319. Cheap as chips either way.

Can't believe what I' m reading above. Firstly there's no justification whatsoever for reduced price season tickets for under 25's many of whom will be working. Secondly these early bird prices will presumably be cheaper than this seasons "standard" prices when the discount period expires. Honestly, some people expect the Club to go out and spend 10-15m on players but in the next breath expect the tickets to be virtually given away.

Seems like the early bird prices are the same as they were if you missed the early bird period last season which I did. I could have paid about £279 last season if I'd been quick enough off the mark but ended up paying £319. Nevertheless season tickets still represent absolutely exceptional value for me, especially given the fact we've gone up, and surely no-one can moan about that. I'm sure someone will be on mid season though whinging about the price of a walk on ticket. Buy a bloody season ticket then!

Will wait for the official announcement but if he's as good as you say he is, sounds very promising. How old is he?

Very worrying to hear the way TM is bulling up Conway. It would be a shocking decision to offer him a new deal of any sort imo, especially if funds are limited.

Excellent article on our recent history both pre and post Venky's from David Conn. Factual comprehensive accurate and none of the usual conspiracy nonsense about shadow owners and the like. As for next season going forward the owners have absorbed a loss well in excess of 100m to date, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't accept a further loss of say 10m next season if they could be persuaded that by doing so further progress would be made.

The level of investment over the summer will determine the sort of level we're competing at next year. If we're going to compete towards the top end of the division I'd say we need ideally: Big nasty centre back experienced at Championship level. Big nasty midfielder experienced at Championship level, Creative midfielder, 2 wingers one of which hopefully Chapman if he can demonstrate his fitness. Proven goal scorer at Championship level. Out: Caddis, Williams, Evans, Conway, Samuel, Whittingham

Why? Unless he has improved substantially I thought Gallagher was some way short of the standard required at that level when he was here. Started well but faded very badly.

There was a Sunderland fan moaning on a phone in on Talk Sport last night and one of the points he made was that they sold Pickford and Mannone and brought in the 2 worst keepers he'd ever seen in a Sunderland shirt. I did laugh. Then I became more reflective of the fact that if we'd shown some balls and fired off Steele in favour of Raya a lot earlier last season we'd probably have stayed up. Yes he would have made a few mistakes but would probably have pulled off enough point winning saves to keep us up given we only went down on goal difference. Steele never saved anything. Practically every time the opposition had a shot on target it was a goal.

All true. That said in chaddy's defence whilst you can't ever completely discount the possibility of a Club coming in and offering way more than you think one of your players is actually worth, the bit of feedback I've had is that we have no intention whatsoever of selling Dack.

Maybe not now, that's rather the idea! Dack is a bit "Besty" isn't he which is probably why he is still plying his trade in League 1 at this stage of his career. However if he doesn"t let himself go too much in the close season and unlike this season hits the ground running I see no reason whatsoever why he can't bag another 20 goals in the Championship. Then I would say those are the kind of figures you would be talking about, particularly if transfer fees continue to go through the roof generally. Someone told me a month or two ago that he had the best percentage stats of any player in Europe at that point in terms of scoring and contributing in goals for other people combined. No idea if that is true or not.