Well Part 1 went to plan! 2800! THE CLOWNS! Watch out for part 2! As I said before the people that run the club know nothing about football and the people of East Lancs. How could we expect them to ..... after all theyre just supposed to be top business men! Im far from bitter cos Ive fortunately got a ticket. How much better would it have been with 6-7k though? And how much damage will be done if part 2 ends similarly? I tell you, rovers have mad another big mistake giving celtic the whole DE. Gav - home fans average this season is much better than 20k! There werent 4000 empty seats on Saturady. In addition to the official attendance you need to add another 1500-2000 for free under-8 season tickets which the club do not (I believe) include on the attendance figures. I could sell 50 tickets for each leg on my own ..... and many of mates have got tickets for away leg, most will have for home. Someone earlier said they should get out and speak to the fans - EXACTLY! It aint hard, just requires a bit of effort!

And so it rumbles on .......... Final thoughts on this because nothing will be changed now for the tie 1. celtic nave obviously done the best thing for themselves - fine 2. rovers board appear to have done little to further the interests of rovers fans in either leg 3. with a little imagination and simple business acumen and negotiation SURELY they could have either got more tickets for celtic park or delayed giving tics whole 8000 in DE - give home fans chance of buying first - if still empties after 1st leg then offer to celtic (unless club think that it will be all over after first leg ...... in which case tickets should have been on sale for past week - why the delay? 4. longterm thinking is needed to build fanbase - take some risks some times!!! 5. increased fanbase comes from people seeing the BIG matches - not being offered cheap tickets vs walsall or sofia 6. if worried about walsall tickets - bundle with celtic match!! 7. make it clear that rovers fans wanting a ticket for umanuu in Decemebr must have a stub for home celtic match 8. why does nobody in the club show any imagination (took me half an hour to think of above - with a little thoughts and consideration from the clubs business brains they should have no trouble) 9. 8000 tickets for tics only encourages more to turn up! offer them 2500 initially, they dont plan to come then offer more (if we dont sell) 1 week before. they still sell but you dont have half as many ticketless fans trying to get in all areas of the ground FINALLY The proof of the pud will be in the eating Will away tickets sell out - what will board comment be if they all gone on monday? Will home tickets sell out - what will board say if all tickets for home areas sell before 1st leg? If Im wrong on this I will be on here eating humble pie but if Im right I would expect someone from the club to do some explaining ONE MORE (AGAIN) If the main aim of the club has been to grow supporter base, and the suits in charge (who devised the main aim!) havent achieved that (which they havent) what does it say about the capability of those in charge?

He should have made sure that it's the "normal hard core away support" who get the tickets by using people's purchasing record from the database or asking for away ticket stubs. The way it is being done could result in these people missing out and people who do not travel often or even at all getting tickets. Boris,see my message above - some of us have done loads of travelling in the past, does this count for nothing now?

And another thing ........ Some of us have young families and have done our away travelling in the dim and distant but we are still up for the odd match and definitiely this! (You only have to look at the number of threads vs number about saturday to realise the depth of feeling on this). Although Im not about to start carting my young son off on 6 hour slogs every other weekend (want to spend time with mum, etc) THIS IS PRECISLEY THE TYPE OF MATCH THAT I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE WITH HIM AT EWOOD! To see the look on his face at the crowd, the colour, the atmosphere under the floodlights and Im sure there's plenty more like me. I also wouldnt taking my Dad - a life long rovers fan who cant get to many now cos of his money situation - but Im not going to get the chance am I? 17000 season tickets + 8000 celts leaves 5000 only. Hardly the best way to cultivate new/occasional fans! My first match at ewood was when I was 7ish - we beat Plymouth 5-2 during Div3 promotion year. Big crowd - down 2-0; comeback and win 5-2. MAD and I was hooked going mad under the floodlight on Riverside. The point is that most of get hooked by the big, bright, loud occasions (e.g. Celtic / Utd) not against Charlton or Southampton but the club dont give the opportunity. The problem now is that people think they wont/cant get a ticket so wont try!

The point is: 1. Rovers definitely could have got more tickets! The club are misleading us by saying 2800 (not even 5%!) was the only offer. 2. As stated earlier why not give celtic 1500 (half upper DE, leave rest of DE & see how sales go? Tickets to Rovers/Celtic depending? 3. Celtic will be all over ground irresepctive of whether they get 1500 or 8000 - if fact I think the clubs stance has made things worse! They will all be down ticketless cos they think we cant be bothered! 4. Sales of the paltry allocation will be a farce with absolutely no thought whatsoever into priorities, etc. We COULD sell more than 2800 - this is celtic away in europe and should not be confused with boro/west brom away!! This is precisley the type of match that our cash-strapped fans have saved their money for!! 5. MOST IMPORTANTLY - WHY IS THERE NO IMAGINATION AT THE CLUB? THE ONLY TOOL THEY USE IS PRICE! I THOUGHT THEY WERE BUSINESS MEN - IF SO WHERE'S THE SALES TEAM? WHY AREN'T THEY USING THE 30000-STRONG "CUSTOMER" DATABASE TO GENERATE REPEAT SALES?? A TEAM OF 5 WOULD COST PERHAPS £200K A YEAR. GET THEM ON THE PHONE CALLING THE 3-4 GAME A SEASON FAN. 10K TICKETS OVER A SEASON WOULD COVER THE COST (500/GAME = 10/DAY PER SALES PERSON = HARDLY A BIG RISK!). WHY? Because they are lazy and unimaginative CLOWNS! I am seriously @#/? at the mo. Why should I bother buying another season ticket next year when the club is run by amateurs? HAvent the present lot been trying to increase the fan base for several years now? With no success? And guess what - its all my/your fault for not bringing a friend! In any business such poor results would result in the proverbial trapdoor. With this lot in charge we'll never get anywhere!