We had every right to refuse to move it (again) didn't we?

Bigbear is spot on, apart from the fact Rovers have had no regard whatsoever for the views of their own support. We are downright wrong to move this fixture a second time, both in terms of upsetting our own fans and giving us less time to recover before the Birmingham game on the 18th. We sure as hell had better get a favourable result out of that game now.

That was my first thought. Although it's only really harming Hughesey and the team. Other than any potential loss of revenue, the management obviously couldn't care less.

Not give away fans the best facilities, you must be joking! This is Blackburn Rovers! After the Liverpool farce I expect us to start placing a blanket ban on home fans and bussing in away fans for free presently. On a serious note, excellent ideas from you and ihb. It surely shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to devise a segregated path round to the Riverside for away fans. The Family Stand also ought to be moved. Doubt it will happen though, our strategy doesn't seem to extend beyond trying to cram as many away fans as possible into the ground and screwing them as hard as possible price wise for the 3 or 4 A+ games.

Absoluely pathetic from Rovers management point of view. As usual we completely disregard our own fans to please one of the "big" clubs.

Then again massive respect to people like Krislu and Dillo who make the effort to get to Ewood every season, in dillo's case it being from Japan. It would make a big difference if every exiled Rovers fan made just one trip to Ewood a season in the same way that it would if the local "floater" went 2 or 3 times.

Put another way getting Amoruso alone off the wage bill is like having the income from another 3,000 adult season ticket holders available. His 16 appearances have cost the club about 4.5 m in wages and transfers over the last 3 seasons. Nearly 300k per game! Then again it was a similar story with Grabbi. Getting Amoruso, Gresko and Matteo off the wage bill is like suddenly "finding" another 9,000 adult season ticet holders.

Not the most helpful example from Jan originally, the season might stretch over 9 months, but you only go through the turnstiles 19 times. The equivalent nineteen lots of 90 minutes entertainment at Vue costs just 114 quid. For an adult. On a Friday/Saturday. It's less any other time of the week and for kids. Just emphasises how hard Rovers have to work to compete for the "Leisure pound" these days.

Obviously you're encouraged to go to University. Beyond that there's no agenda encouraging people to either leave the area or stay local but you can't stop people following the better paid jobs/doing what they want to do at the end of the day. Not everyone can earn 25k p.w. playing for Rovers.

I'm sure it's not turning out juvenile delinquents. It probably turns out a lot of people who go on to be successful but move away from the area. Not the school's fault.

Is that really the case though? Liverpool (rightly or wrongly) choose to consult with the HFSG. They did this at the start of the season and given all the prevailing circumstances a decision was taken to request an away fixture on the 15th which the Premier League apparently granted. The only lack of common sense comes from a certain section of the Liverpool support. Not altogether surprising judging by the contributions on the liverpool fansite.

Perhaps "cave in" wa the wrong expression. Other than that you're exactly right. We're bound to displease some people now whenever we play so we should consider the wishes of our own support first. Especially after accomodating Liverpool once already.

Sorry Den, but if we cave in again, it's being excessively awkward to our OWN supporters who have booked travel arrangements. And quite possibly Mark Hughes and the team.

Chuckling along with most of your post but what exactly is your beef with QEGS?

I would say it's essential. The key point being that the change of time, but not date, was at their request.

Hope that happens, if it does that would get us neatly off the hook with both sets of fans, and that section of Liverpool support will still be brassed off with Parry because he agreed to a change for Sky but not because of the Hillsborough tragedy etc.

Should Blackburn Rovers really be bothered about what those jokers think? One of the HJC campaigners admits on the site not even all Liverpool fans are that bothered. They're predictably referred to as "knuckle draggers" or modern day "glory hunters" Ironic given they've won relatively little over the last 15 or 16 years compared with the 70's and 80's.

We've already agreed to move it to 5.15 on April 15th AT LIVERPOOL'S REQUEST once for crying out loud. Did they request the game on another date then when it didn't ideally suit their fixture list? Did they heck? We may get a bit of bad press in certain quarters from those who don't know the full facts if we fail to move it for a second time, but that doesn't alter the fact that it is Rovers decision and Rovers decision alone whether to move it. Any compensation claim Krislu and other Rovers fans might have (which technically they probably don't) should lie against Rovers. We will always be the team that fails to look after the interests of our own fans in preference to those of other teams if we re to carry on like that. Even more importantly is it in the best interests of Hughes and the Rovers team to move the date of the fixture? If Liverpool themselves weren't prepared to do this if it wasn't in their team's best interests, why the hell should we?

Eh? Why? Liverpool can only make the request. It's Rovers who have the final say on whether or not the match is moved now. Nothing to do with Liverpool.

HT: Our new favourite club 2 Fulham 1

Presumably it was. Liverpool FC apparently consulted with the family support group who recognised the club would eventually have to play at some point on April 15th and requested an away game. This request was granted. Liverpool themselves were originally content to play on April 15th because it suited their then potential fixture list best.

It doesn't affect me one way or the other when the fixture is held but I also agree we should turn this latest request down flat. We've already accomodated Liverpool once already, they were perfectly happy to play on the 15 th when their fixture list was as originally scheduled, now because they're crap and have been knocked out of the Champions League, they want to move it, just to save face with a section of their support. We should be considering our OWN fans who have made the appropriate travel arrangements.

From what I can deduce after trawling through 18 pages of diatribe on the Liverpool fans site last night this is the story so far: (Deep breath) As a bit of background Liverpool Football Club only apparently recognise the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG). They do not recognise the seemingly more militant Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC). The HJC seemingly won't rest until they achieve "justice" although i'm not sure that anyone knows precisely what "justice" is. The HJC seemingly despise the HFSG seeing them as tame puppets of the Club. Another reason they seemingly despise them is that they originally wouldn't allow survivors of the tragedy into their membership, only families who had lost a loved one. From what I read that has apparently since been changed althogh one poster claimed the HFSG wouldn't even allow membership to families who had seen a loved one commit suicide in the aftermath of the tragedy. The HJC also think that Liverpool Football Club is trying to sweep Hillsborough under the carpet and distance itself from it. With it so far? Good..................................... (Another deep breath) Liverpool FC apparently consulted with the HFSG before the start of the season and they seemingly took the pragmatic view that Liverpool would have to play on April the 15 th one day, but requested an away fixture so that the memorial service could be held at Anfield. This was granted. This wasn't good enough for the HJC or a certain section of fans who don't think Liverpool should EVER play again on that date. Rick Parry the Liverpool Chief Executive appears to be a particular scapegoat in all this and the pressure seems to have been mounting since new year. Hence presumably the initial switch from 3 p.m. to 5.15 p.m. This still obviously wasn't good enough, their one valid point being that it is wholly inappropriate to hold the memorial service at Anfield then have a mad dash to get to Ewood bearing in mind a contributory factor at Hillsborough was fans arriving late. Hence pressure still seems to have been building on Liverpool the Club and Parry in particular, which is probably the reason for Liverpool's latest about face.

Fair comment.