The line is going to have to be drawn in the sand at some point. Where does it end? To take the maximising revenue argument on a stage it'd be far easier logistically to charge 2600 people one hundred pounds a head than 20,000 thirteen quid a head. Less staff, overheads etc. But not even thick Mancs would pay that and it's not just about that is it? You have to strike a balance between revenue and filling the ground and creating a viable atmosphere. For the same sort of 260,000 total revenue I'd much rather see 30,000 people in at an average eight pounds a head. Probably wouldn't work that well but you can see the point I'm trying to make.

Neither are Pompey - not by a long chalk. The only two possible reasons for the move are 1) We think 5m is a good fee for Nelsen. (Can't agree there in relation to the adverse effect it will have on the team) 2) Nelsen will get more money in wages by moving to Pompey. (Can't understand why we would allow that to happen) Doesn't mean a great deal but Andy Neild in this morning's LET claims that we have rejected all three Pompey bids and are insisting he's not for sale. And that Ooijer is being lined up as a possible partner rather than replacement for Nelsen. The vital difference now from the Pickering, Newton , England, Field, Jones, Oates, Hird, Bailey days is that we don't NEED to sell. Uncle Jack bent over backwards to try and get Shearer to stay. And Souey couldn't wait to get Duff out of the door so he could start frittering away most of the 17m.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with the current gate debate but does it really matter if you're sat next to a couple of Man Ure or Liverpool fans? I've had that in the past on numerous occasions with no problems whatsoever. And as with any other fan if they're out of order it's down to the Police/stewards to eject them. They don't seem to have any problem ejecting our lot at away games.

An Asian lad on the Fans Forum didn't agree with this at some point last year. Apologies if this sounds flippant, (not meant to be) but he said the first question on most young men's lips on coming out of the mosque was not "How did the cricket go? but how did Rovers go on?" He thought the interest was there. That said - he didn't have any obvious solutions for getting them down to the ground.

I don't think it's any secret that Ive always been extremely strongly opposed to the "pack as many away fans in as we can" philosophy and I think from memory the Fans Forum Chairman invited me on partially because of that. At that time when we arguably could have filled the ground with Rovers fans for the big games, we made it far too difficult for "floaters" to get tickets because of restrictions citing THAT City game. With the benefit of hindsight a few years on, the failure of that policy can't be denied - average gates have plummeted. Now the restrictions are largely forgotten but unfortunately we can't fill the ground with either home OR away fans for at least seventeen of the nineteen games. We have to be extremely careful we don't put any more people off with unrealistic pricing. 36 quid at a third empty stadium is not the same as to 36 quid at a stadium that is sold out.

The "maximising revenue" argument is an extremely shortsighted one and if we're going to maintain let alone increase the home fanbase for the long term good of the club we need to look at rather more imaginative ideas than fleecing a few sets of away fans for every penny we can and putting off our own supporters from attending the same games. The mantra should not be "How do we maximise revenue for the Everton game?" but "How do we get as many Blackburn fans into that game and more importantly how do we get them to come back again and again? If gates continue to decline this is going to have to be addressed as a matter of urgency. It's my perception from going to games that the core support at Ewood is very elderly compared to that at City grounds - there'll be a relatively high percentage unable or unwilling to go each season due to infirmity. Where are the people going to come from to replace them? I'm haven't got stats to prove it but I would have thought that most new adult ST'S come from people who have had a reasonable history of attending on a match by match basis. I doubt many people go straight from not going at all to buying a ST. We can't simply disregard or take a "tough titty you should have bought a season ticket" or "I'm a better fan than you" attitude towards the walk on fan. The one section of the town's population that is expanding at a prodigious rate is the Asian community. What's the progress (or otherwise) with encouraging them down in far greater numbers? In an ideal world we could do with writing off the 6m gate receipts we get every year and starting completely afresh from a perspective of how to fill the ground with home support, getting them reasonably hooked and taking it from there. Obviously we can't afford to do that but by the same token we should never ever throw in the towel on attendances.

Don't suppose the fans are very happy with two straight defeats and no goals either! Was speaking to a Burnley fan yesterday and he doesn't think Stanley will take many off them either.

--> QUOTE(ste b @ Aug 8 2006, 11:08 ) 433109[/snapback] He might have to move that Dartboard with your picture on it in that case. Perhaps Rovers should also be given some credit where its due for a change. I renewed my season ticket at LAST YEARS prices because of the early bird scheme, and have spread the cost of the ticket over 10 months. That means I don't have to spend 72 quid in a week to get to the first two home games. I'll have to take JW a fresh set in - the others have probably worn out by now. I've always agreed the early bird scheme was a good move. We now know a large part of the reason it was implemented in view of the Bellamy situation though. Good deal for ST holders or not, you can't just say "to hell with the pay on the dayers". We've got to do our utmost to get them in as well.

You may well be right although I sincerely hope you are not, surely we have more imagination, ambition and ingenuity than that. The thing is though, are we really maximising revenue? What are we really gaining by charging up to 5,000 (I doubt there'll even be that many) Everton fans 36 quid instead of say a more reasonable 26 quid? Even if no more fans attend at 26 quid (unlikely) we're only gaining a maximum of 50k. But the knock on effects in terms of home fans not attending either that game and other games this season and the general loss of good will towards the club must surely exceed that many times over.

A pound's a pound but at the end of the day we're not in the market for these sort of players because of our attendances, whether they be 15,000, 18,000, 20,000 or 25,000. We're in for them because of the 25 m plus we receive from Sky and the Premier League every year.

Couldn't agree more! Could somone please mock that up in letters nine feet high and put it on the wall of John Williams' office!

That argument is fatally flawed. Relatively few people will actually pay the 36 quid price, the vast majority of the crowd will be season ticket holders anyway and/or juniors/ OAP's. Practically the only people paying the full whack will be the travelling support. Where will they be the first time we face Reading or Watford? At Goodison Park. All you've achieved is dissuading your casual Rovers fan from attending the Everton game and quite probably the Reading and Watford games as well. As I said on the other thread, imo there shouldn't be any categories with the ground a third empty! In the current climate there should be a uniform price for all games. Our average attendances have dropped by at least five thousand since categorised prices were first introduced, and they're not now relevant.

All part of our extremely short sighted policy of trying to fill as much of the ground as we can with, and make as much money as possible as we can out of the travelling support. EDIT: In my view (which I've previously expressed at the Fans Forum) there's no justification whatsoever for category A + prices with the ground one third empty! That sort of pricing structure is only valid imo when you can sell out every week anyway but can still make some extra bunce for the big games. I wouldn't be against the prices of the cheaper games being higher but Category A + prices just make Rovers fans think they're being ripped off even if in real terms the actual price stands up favourably to prices elsewhere. Until we can fill the stadium every match should be the same price imo.

Surprised we got "nil" starting with Kuqi and Jeffers up front. On the other hand conceding five is fairly uncharateristic of the Hughes regime, whether the central pairing was Zurab and Matteo or Nelsen and Todd. Stating the bleedin' obvious here but he won't be happy with that aspect. Did Lorenzo Amoruso suddenly make another guest appearance? :ph34r: Not too much to worry about at this stage, but does it say anything about our strength in depth?

Can't really see it, John Williams was quoted as saying there was room for one more striker when Roberts signed. Can't see Gallagher and Derbyshire being allowed to leave. Not expecting miracles from Benni and Jason, certainly not Hughesey's wildly optimistic 30 - 40 goals but if they can come up with 25 goals in the League between them and MGP contributes another 10 we should be well placed.

Clifford let a statement slip a couple of weeks ago about how from a PR perspective it was good for his client McClaren to be following a perceived failure in Sven. If Sven had won the Woorld Cup it would have been a near impossible act to follow. Which shows the absurdity of the situation the FA created prior to Germany 2006. Our head coach was sitting next to Sven and part of him must have been hoping we'd fail!

Can't be bothered flicking over channels to watch that lot but if you're looking at Fletcher and O'Shea that's their first choice midfield.

No point worrying about it unless the story gains a little more substance. But surely even if it did we'd be in a position to demand a fee in the region of 10m?

Biggest plus point has to be Derbyshire featuring and scoring? EDIT: Gallagher as well in view of ihb's opinion below?

I was thinking this afternoon of going along at the last minute but was told from a couple of different sources it was sold out?

I guess the 64m dollar question now is would people buy a slightly tweaked halved away shirt in the same sort of numbers as the current away shirts? Personally I've never ever bought an away shirt, I just don't see the point in forking out on a Liverpool coloured top or a tour de France yellow jersey just because someone has stuck a Rovers badge on it! I'd much rather sport the blue and white halves if I'm going to wear a football top. However if we had a permanent away strip with "our" design on it i.e. halves I'd feel much more morally obliged to make a purchase now and again. Worth a poll? - more/less likely to buy etc?

Tend to agree. But if we also had an instantly recognisable and permanent halved away strip (in say red and black) it would surely further strengthen the Blackburn Rovers brand. Save the daft pink, yellow, grey, copper colours for the 3rd strip.

They don't have to. What seems to happen in this country is: Ferguson rants on in the press about how such and such a referee is "incompetent" and not fit to referee top flight games etc whenever any decisions go against them. Result: 1) That referee mysteriously seems not to be given control of any game involving ManUre for five or six seasons. 2) Other referees are intimidated into not giving any decisions against ManUre. 3) Ferguson gets off scot free. Another example is Mourinho complaining about us being "bully boys" and being borderline libellous about a fellow manager. Result: Others teams are scared stiff of tackling a Chelsea player, or if they do referees feel duty bound to take action. It's also my impression that Wenger has become far more out spoken about referees in the last couple of years, although I can't quote any specific examples. A ten point deduction every time we have one of those sort of outbursts would do just fine.

In answer to your second paragraph - "sure does" In answer to your third paragraph - agreed. Two identical handball incidents? Still by no means the worst example over the years though. I was thinking the same thing myself this morning, i.e. "Now for ManUre, Arsenal, Chelski, Liverpool." Unfortunately then the alarm clock went off.

It looks a rather fetching shade of pink on my monitor?