RevidgeBlue

Gordon, you make some very valid points as always but think you're well wide of the mark by continually beating the "Lancashire United" drum. If hypothetically BRFC were unable to draw more widely across the white indigenous population of the North in future, why on earth would Lancasshire United be able to? It's one and the same thing, asking people to support a different team to the one they're used to! Besides does anyone actually know anyone who would pay to watch a combined "Lancashire United" I certainly wouldn't, being an interested armchair observer would be as close as I'd get. And that would be extremely doubtful.

As I recall that gate was artificially capped at a lower level because the new Ewood was in the early stages of construction. As far as the goals are concerned, Shearer was the greatest Rovers player of all time for me, but having seen the superb build up again to MGP's goal I can't recall a better goal from a Rovers player. Big Al or no big Al.

There's no point pussyfooting around the issue any longer. Whilst the sale of star players and poor performances on the pitch have been contributory factors the major problem or issue facing the club over the last few years has been the question of how to get more of the local Asian population down to Ewood. Up to now the question seems to have been periodically raised then swept under the carpet. Without beating ourselves up about it, as the town rapidly moves towards becoming predominantly Asian it stands to reason that our attendances will decline unless either a) A far greater proportion of the local Asian population can be persuaded to attend or b ) We draw in support from further afield. Far from easy to crack but frankly John Williams is paid more than handsomely enough to come up with some solutions.

Strange game today , thought the game was generally poor but was rather undeservedly graced by two of the finest goals I've ever seen at Ewood. (Stuart Hall apparently said MGP's goal was the best he'd ever seen) On the down side Fulham were dire yet we so nearly let them back into the game due to a lapse in concentration immediately after half time, as at West Ham. Emerton was dismal once again, how he survived 90 minutes was a mystery. He must be dropped if only to send a message that you can't get away with playing like that and retain your place. There was no lack of effort from Kuqi but on today's evidence he looks a long way away from being Premiership quality. Once again playing 4-5-1 I feel we offer little by way of attacking threat. On the plus side, I thought Savage was very good, harrying the opposition to death, much more of what you expect from him. A rejuvenated Neill desevedly MOM. Wednesday's game against Spurs will give a much better idea as to our prospects, we need to show more up front and can't rely on 2 wonder strikes from midfield to pull us out of the fire every week. If we can nick a win it will be an excellent start though.

Amazing how the emergence of young Andy Taylor as potential competition has seen a complete transformation in Neill after two years of crap displays. All credit to him for today's performance though. Although he did completely switch off for the Fulham goal (along with the rest of the defence)

Edited

Whilst every supporter wishes their club could be that bit more successful, surely watching us compete against the best with players like Cole and Bellamy in the blue and white halves makes it all worthwhile? If you're not happy with that then there's no point being in any of the lower leagues either as the ultimate goal of promotion to the Premiership becomes pointless. That's not to say there isn't a point at which the product becomes simply too expensive.

I liked the "competition" element of that article. The sooner Chelsea, ManU, Arsenal etc clear off and have a European Super League the better (why do they want to compete with the likes of Blackburn Rovers?) - then us mere mortals such as BRFC might just have more of a chance of taking part in a meaningful competiton - who knows it may even be interesting and affordable. 339894[/snapback] Not sure I agree with that part Bob, for me a large part of the attraction of being in the Premiership is watching us pit our wits against the big 3 or 4 and trying to figure out a way to beat them. Take that away and you almost might as well be in the coca cola league playing Forest, Wolves Derby etc.

There was a phone in on TalkSport the other night asking whether the Premiership was value for money this season. The programme started by pointing out that six category A games at Spurs this season will cost more than 70 quid!!! and that the most expensive season ticket at Arsenal would set you back 1800 quid. My view is that the prices at many grounds are now stretching the loyalty and patience of even the most diehard fan but that by far the biggest turn off factor is players earning anything from 20k to 90k p.w. who obviously can't be arsed putting in a decent performance on a weekly basis. I thought one or two callers might be thinking along these lines but to a man not one complained about price/lack of competition etc. They all displayed the sort of mentality outlined in the article and compared the experience of supporting a club to being part of an large extended family. Fans of lesser Clubs argued that a promotion via the play offs once every blue moon more than compensated for the years of overpriced crap inbetween etc As long as people still think that way, and I'm not necessarily knocking them for their loyalty, the TV Companies, players agents and Club owners will obviously try to milk them for as much as they are worth, and I don't suppose you can really blame them for trying either. The main problem is the "prune juice" effect. There's huge amounts of money out there but most of it completely bypasses the clubs and ends straight up in the players pockets. So the clubs feel obliged to try and screw that just that little bit extra out of already hard pressed fans. If they're successful the players ask for even more - and so on and so on. At some point the fans as a whole will say "no more" but we don't seem to have reached that point yet, although some have started dropping off.

Still don't understand how Bellamy can be struggling so badly with injuries after a close season off. What's he going to be like later on in the campaign after a gruelling series of fixtures?

I expect us to win this game comfortably, if we don't we may be in for another hard season. 2-0 Rovers.

To be fair to Mokoena he has looked absolutely outstanding whenever playing a holding midfield role but has never looked at all comfortable playing centre back. We need more cover in that position. I didn't think Savage was as bad as a lot of people are making out but he is capable of a lot more. Still think he is some way away from peak fitness. Emerton needs to be taken to one side and told he will be packing his bags if there isn't an immediate and drastic improvement on his "exertions" of the last 2 seasons. Meanwhile would give Gallagher another chance in that position. Since Christmas Dickov seems to have had little to his game other than falling over looking for fouls, and constantly whinging at the referee. He can pack his bags now for me after Saturday's unbelievable stupidity. I thought it was extremely strange that Bellamy was beset with injury after a close season off and if it is right about him needing injections at this stage it's very worrying. There was a throwaway comment in last week's LET that we had asked Newcastle for his medical records although it was stated it was "standard procedure"

Also watched the game live on foreign TV and on the evidence of today's game disagree with those who say we must play 4-5-1 - that's where it all went pear shaped today IMO. West Ham are not a great side and for the first half hour we were well in control of proceedings. We then gradually let them back into the game and poor defending immediately after the half time break gifted an equaliser. West Ham then built up a head of steam and what we really needed to do was try and retain possession better and ride out the storm for 10 minutes or so. Instead I felt Hughes panicked by pulling Kuqi off after just 55 minutes, this effectively signalled to West Ham we had given up any notions of trying to win the game and gave them even more impetus. The situation was then exacerbated by a poor piece of defending from Mokoena and at 2-1 down the decision to pull Kuqi off then looks foolish. Hughes was eventually forced to revert to 4-4-2 but is undone by a suicidal piece of play from the woeful Emerton. Game over but to rub salt in the wound that is immediately followed by another ludicrous and completely unnecessary challenge from Dickov. Overall desperately disappointing to finish well beaten by a side that will be down amongst the dead men at season end - especially after looking in control for much of the first half. If any evidence is needed of how important Nelsen is, here it was. Todd and Mokoena had very poor games. Matteo was back to his sluggish early season form of last year and Emerton and Bellamy were both completely anonymous.Bellamy has a bit of an an excuse after missing pre season but the Aussie must surely be in last last chance saloon. Hopefully today's reckless lunge will be Dickov's last act in a Blackburn Rovers shirt. Huge improvement needed for the two home games coming up, and Mark Hughes needs to be more positive with his game plan.

Probably means it will be totally wrong but Mike "porky" Parry on TalkSport is thinking along similar lines to me today. He has us to be the season's surprise package in 6th behind Chelsea, Man Ure, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton (who he supports) Spurs 7th.

On the eve of the new season it's mighty rib tickling to see Newcastle going into the new season without a fit striker. The admirable but ageing Shearer injured, Ameobi suspended and Chopra apparently out for 3 months with a longer term injury. Quite how Souey has managed to turn a top five outfit into such a shambles in such a short space of time is anyone's guess. Makes our 6th to 15th in one season look almost respectable.

If we have an exceptionally clear run of injuries there's really no reason why we can't "do an Everton" and finish 4th 5th or 6th. The season will however largely hinge on keeping Bellamy clear of injuries (not looking good so far) and suspensions and nothing happening to Todd and Nelsen. Reid could also be a key player judging by his form last year and his performance against Espanol. Optimistically and with an injury free run, 6th behind Chelsea, ManUre, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs.

Mine never arrived either. Just had to ring to organise a replacement. **** poor really. EDIT: It gets worse. The ticket office have just rung back. The ticket hadn't been sent out because they hadn't had proof from Premium Credit that the first direct debit payments had been received. I received a letter from Premium Credit confirming the payments over a month ago but apparently sight of that letter isn't good enough for our wonderful ticket office, they won't release the ticket until they've had confirmation from Premium Credit directly. The words "organise" "brewery" "Couldn't" and "knees up" spring to mind.

Paul if you have a season ticket I think you can try out another area of the ground by requesting a season ticket "exception" from the ticket office.

Den, I don't think the club can do any more on prices overall, but it is quite apparent that JW upper central is rather expensive in comparison with other parts of the ground. For that part of the ground to be more attractive it either needs reducing in price or the rest of the ground would have to be closer in price. Actually hypothetically I'd rather pay 1000 quid for my season ticket and watch Duff if you see what I mean but I doubt this is a widely held view.

As regards numbers of season tickets sold there seems to be some considerable under exageration. Last year's ST figure was 14,000 not 12,000. The only official word from the Club has been that sales were COMPARABLE TO THE SAME STAGE LAST YEAR. Pre Bellamy or indication of anyone decent coming in that would have been quite encouraging IMO.

The frequently mooted suggestion that we demolish the Riverside to increase demand is the most ludicrous I've ever heard and frightens me senseless. Yes we would sell out the other areas of the ground quicker but all we would be doing would be capping our maximum potential capacity at around the 25-26,000 mark and missing out on the extra revenue from the big games. And we would be ensuring in future that no more than 18-19,000 Rovers fans could gain access to Ewood thereby killing off demand IMO as people couldn't get tickets. The Riverside is a problem though, it will have to be replaced at some point and do we want to be the only club in the League playing to three sides? I thnink the current capacity is about right, something aesthetically pleasing on the eye with a similar or slightly increased capacity to the current Riverside would be the ideal solution in an ideal money no object world.

I knew Souness had lost the plot big time over the last few seasons but the man is now clearly certifiable. "Dyer is the obvious replacement for Bellamy - and he will score more goals." Oh my aching sides. Oh to be a Newcastle fan. Maybe he'd give us back the money he wasted on Amoruso to use him as a target man. Maybe it's time to log onto Betfair to put a bet on Newcastle being relegated.

I was there when we were bottom of the 3rd in the early 70's!

It's part of the terms and conditions of the standard contract produced by the League managers association that a manager has complete autonomy over the footballing side of matters and in the hiring and firing of his backroom staff. So hypothetically if Hughes is given a transfer budget of 10m quid and wants to sign Grabbi for 7m, a figure well within that budget, in theory the Board shouldn't intervene. If however he wants to sign someone for say 12m, a figure above that budget, it's then down to the Board to either refuse the request or justify it on the basis it's an exceptional player etc.

I haven't renewed my seat yet, definitely will before the start of the season but to be frank I couldn't possibly be feeling less enthusiastic about the forthcoming season at the moment. We've raked in around 7m quid from the departures of Ferguson, Stead and Beattie and there's absolutely no indication at the moment we're going to be doing anything other than starting with a forward line of Kuqi, Dickov and possibly Cole. About 106 years and 150,000 quid between them. If season ticket sales are holding up well then that's a remarkable show of loyalty from the fans in the circumstances. The Club really do need to do something to fire people's imaginations a little.