RevidgeBlue

Yes, 3 days into the close season and one near meltdown already. Next one will probably come soon when Nixon or someone similar runs a story claiming that club X are big admirers of Dack and "could" be ready to make a swoop for him in a deal worth a half eaten mars bar and a box of liquorice allsorts.

Thanks for the confirmation Kamy. Without wanting to sound too much like Chaddy exactly as I predicted! Taken in that context it actually sounds quite positive to me. It implies that we'll be spending a decent amount on transfer fees and wagesin the first place!

I agree. Stadia are all seaters and you know that before you go in. You Don't go to the Cinema and stand up throughout the film with the view that "Because I want to stand up I will do and if anyone behind me doesn't want to or Can't see, **** 'em." But apparently you do at away games and increasingly it seems it's creeping into home games as well. The same principle applies to the seemingly increasing practice of running on the pitch as well. A completely spontaneous outpouring of emotion immediately after you've won something is absolutely fine. A preplanned notion to invade the pitch a couple of weeks after the event you're celebrating and hold a competition to see who can act like the biggest prat on the pitch regardless of whether it disrupts the officially planned celebrations and therefore annoys the majority is something else entirely imo.

I'd be surprised if he wasn't merely trying to dampen expectations a bit and said it in the context of "If we go out and spend Willy nilly we'll be heading for an embargo" and the quote wasn't conveniently cropped and a different interpretation attached to it

Thanks. That's what I meant.

Absolutely! The stench is overwhelming. Firstly we were governed by League 1 rules last season so we couldn't have fallen foul of any Championship rules last season. Secondly, isn't the Championship rule that owners can spend £39m as they wish within any 3 year period. How can we be in breach of that before we've even got there? Lastly, if we were in breach of Championship rules last time we were there surely action would have been taken against us long before now. On the contrary, all the indications were that we had actually moved from a position of being in breach of FFP to being in compliance with it. The entire rule is complete bolloxios anyway. How can you stop an owner spending his money as he sees fit? I wish someone would go to to Court and get it kicked into touch once and for all. The rule should be that you can inject as much cash as you like but Can't load Clubs up with debt.

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.