Who's to say attendances haven't improved in relative terms over the last 10 seasons anyway? Three of the first four gates in 1994 to watch Hendry Shearer Le Saux Sutton et al (who finished 2nd in 1993/4) Leicester 21050 Coventry 21657 Aston Villa 22694 (at this point seven games in we must have been top) Inbetween was a 26,500 gate for the visit of Everton

To me anyway it doesn't seem difficult to explain. We were hit by a fairly unusual set of circumstances. When gates recorded a modest few hundred increase to an average of 26,200 in 2002/3 it's probably fair to say we were not that far off our natural current maximum given we only recorded an all time high of just over 27,000 the season after winning the Premiership Having finished sixth I personally expected us to move forward and strengthen by adding retaining the players we had and adding maybe one top quality player to the squad. Instead, regardless of whether you think the club had no option, we lost our two most "glamorous" players in quick succession. I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that gates were down before Duff and Dunn left. Dunn left at the start of the close season so it's difficult to argue that had no effect. The previous 2 summers were also rife with speculation about Duff leaving so quite a few people must have been waiting to see what happened there as well and some of those obviously didn't renew either. Whilst we were losing our two star names and home grown boys, and slumping from 6th to 15th over at Bolton, they continued with the consistent improvement they've shown since being promoted with us. Yet despite Bolton being twice the size of Blackburn only last season did they record a higher attendance. Given the extremely limited assets they've had at their disposal over the last three years compared with us they've wildly exceeded expectations. All this wailing about "why are we the ONLY Club to be losing support?" presupposes that people from Blackburn have three heads or are different from anywhere else or something. This is plainly nonsense. It's a bit of all the factors mentioned previously impacting on us to a greater degree than would be the case elsewhere due to our smaller fanbase.

Admitting as GS has done on numerous occasions that the cups "aren't a priority" is tantamount to saying you're not going to give them your best shot. From what has been said at Fans Forums it would seem it has been recognised within the club that this sort of message is counterproductive. Saying that "survival is the aim" (and again the message has been modified more recently) smacks of lack of ambition and sends out the signal that the season is going to be a grim cheerless struggle. The other important factor I forgot to list is the probability of missing a few games due to Sky chopping and changing. Again this is currently likely to impact on Rovers far more than other clubs due to the finite fan base. Where's Chalfont St Latimer?

If you broadened the point re: comments about cup competitions to include negative statements about our ambitions generally I would say they're ALL primary factors influencing season ticket sales. Obviously the other one being lack of finance in some households.

Err....hello? I'm here you know! Apart from my dozens of posts making that point then yes Scotty is more or less alone.... Be fair. A hell of a lot of the posters on here realise the problems Rovers face due to their location. O.K. both of you then. Be fair, I did say "more or less" alone.

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.)