10 hours ago, DE. said:

I'm more worried about where our squad will be by that point in all honesty. If FFP really is a problem and we have to start selling our better players to keep our heads above water, we could end up back where we were in 15/16 with a rapidly worsening team and all money from sales disappearing into the FFP void. Selling Dack for whatever price, whether it's £500k or £5m or even £10m may help us stave off FFP but the loss of such a key player with no means of bringing in a worthy replacement could mean another exit from the Championship causing a much bigger financial headache.

Of course right now it's impossible to predict the future. Who knows where we'll be by that point, or who will be in charge. If it's still Mowbray then I think the above concerns will be valid, if it's somebody else then it depends who's in the manager's chair and what kind of support he has. We also have no idea how Dack will perform upon his return so for all we know there may not even be any interest in his services. One thing that's been a common theme of Venky's tenure is that the sale of better players never leads to bringing in suitable replacements. They are pretty much always worse, sometimes hugely so. We haven't had to sell any of our best players in some time so I suppose it's easy to forget how bad we have been at replacing good players since Venky's arrived. 

We may at some point end up selling the £7 million and £5 million golden boys that play upfront just to stave off FFP...

I personally wouldn't be to upset at selling these two off at a small profit lol

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 18:36, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

Or maybe they’re pragmatic business decisions that have been made because no one is making use of the facilities you’ve listed..

We had 11k on last night. I don’t think you can blame the club for shutting parts of the ground if only 1/3rd of it is full.

 

So why not close the Riverside and Blackburn End? Put all home fans in the Jack Walker Stand (They would fit most games). Less stewarding costs etc?

13 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Oh my god ? 

14 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

A better picture of the Keystone Cops. Would make a good “What happened next?” Question of Sport brain teaser 

£15 million worth of Strikers in that pic and we failed to score from there.

Still waiting for the "Why did you not renew" communication from summer.

Steve Kean and Jerome Anderson just about everything connected to the clowns.
 

21 hours ago, MCMC1875 said:

What does Caley do for his salary, apart from netting off seats?

Asks for swathes of the Stadium to be closed off... #EasyDayAtTheOffice

An odd thread,

I'm sure yesterday I saw a thread about a senior employee leaving Rovers for Blackpool, unless I imagined it. Something about Waggot tearing up a letter in from of said person? Can anyone shine some light on this?

10 hours ago, Bad Boy said:

Which one and why / how?

Just a drunken idiot over zealous and it got ripped if I remember rightly..

Will find out tonight.

One of the flags got destroyed after the Oxford game..... If I remember rightly

When asked at the end of the PNE game "Have you got a big decision to make now" Steve Waggot replied "Would you have asked that at half time"........ TM is safe as houses at the moment

THE VENKY EFFECT.....

They haven't quite killed the club, but we are in a decade long coma with life support keeping us technically alive. All ambitions have been dumbed down to accept and be grateful for mid to lower championship mediocrity and "stability".

The writing was on the wall years ago but the nay sayers simply said "Support the boys".

The twelve payment debate, would it have made me renew our tickets? quite probably yes.

Taken from FF minutes

"All those who had not renewed had been contacted by phone and there had been very little negativity about the club and the majority had personal reasons for not renewing."

An out and out lie, neither myself or my wife have had any contact from the club asking why we didn't renew.

7 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

It’s a Muslim school I think Taudheel 

Ah, I didn't go so wasn't sure. Just saw this pic online.

Surely the club haven't segregated fans?

Just now, MarkBRFC said:

A lot of clubs in the lower leagues do a flexi ticket now.

Bet we haven't even thought of the idea.

I'd wager the club have thought about it, but that will be it. (thought about)

Please don't tell me that the club are considering giving a scarf to new born babies? surely not

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Would it?

Pretty sure our wage outlay on squad was the 16th highest? I may be wrong though.

My expectations remain between 11th - 16th, which would see us over performing on our squad value.... A play off chase is achievable though this year as there doesn't seem to be a nailed on promotion stand out team this season. Get on a good run and who knows.

45 minutes ago, Paul said:

I understand about the proximity to motorways but I feel more than that is required. When I travelled I wanted interesting restaurants, perhaps a decent pub etc. nearby. The last place I wanted to be in the evening was in the hotel which is simply a room and a bed.

I see your point but within a stones throw of Ewood we now have:

Premier Inn Blackburn Town Centre
Fernhurst Hotel
Premier In Blackburn South
Willows Blackburn
Travel Lodge Blackburn / Darwen (M65)
Wetherspoons Postal Order (Creating a hotel)
Doubletree by Hilton Whitebirk with wedding and conference centre

This shows that hotel chains see sustainability in and around Blackburn. The Hilton one is of particular interest, with the already existing facilities at Ewood and car parking close proximity to motorway network, with a little imagination and creativity Ewood could be an excellent wedding, conference and accommodation venue.

This could see a significant return on the costs incurred in redeveloping the Riverside. Maybe a smaller capacity stand which incorporated good disabled seating, Hotel facilities, that complement the conference and event facilities in the Jack Walker Stand and Blackburn End, maybe a state of the art gym within the Darwen End.

Making Ewood a 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year money maker. 

13 hours ago, Paul said:

When did this one about building an hotel resurface? I haven't heard this madness in 10 years.

Speaking as someone who used to travel a lot for work the Ewood area is completely wrong for the business traveller. For leisure purposes one has to ask the question why would a tourist want to visit Blackburn.

If an hotel is built at Ewood it will be an unwanted burden on the club. One has to be realistic, Rovers apart why would visitors want to be in the area?

I recall Waggot saying that they had or was looking into the viability and demand for another  hotel in Blackburn, since then a new hotel has been announced above the Postal Order, a Doubletree by Hilton is being built at Whitebirk (with wedding and conference suites)  even the old stage door in town is being turned into a hotel. Clearly there was a demand..... is there still?

On ‎16‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 14:56, only2garners said:

Close crimpshrine. The numbers are about 1,000 down - 1,700 non renewals offset by 700 new ST holders.

As far as I'm aware every one of the 1,700 have already been contacted. 

I can assure you we have not been contacted (at least me and the wife haven't)

5 hours ago, JHRover said:

Its happening with Barnsley, it's also happening with Preston, it will happen with Luton, its already happened with Huddersfield. Small clubs that usually float between the 2nd and 3rd divisions are catching up to us and overtaking us.

There are two responses to that. Shrug your shoulders, have a moan, then use it as an excuse for us struggling on the pitch. Or do something about it. 

I'm afraid shuffling prices about a bit whilst maintaining a price increase, coming up with daft competitions (does Waggott seriously think that people are going to cough up for a season ticket just to potentially give themselves a £10,000 lottery ticket?) are not going to deliver the numbers we need.

There's more to it than simply 'freezing' the price and sticking a few posters up and some videos on Twitter. We are way behind the game these days as the club has been reduced to a skeletal staff with little idea on how to grow the fanbase. 

Football is changing and we are getting left behind. Is that because we are as a club behind the times or because Blackburn is a unique place in the country that doesn't react to things the same as everywhere else? I know what I think is the answer. 

The whole club needs revitalising and there needs to be an acceptance that we are falling well short as a club. A quick look at Stanley under Holt shows what can be done on a budget to increase numbers. I've done it to death the lack of interest in doing things at Ewood, even from minor things such as improving the bar offerings.

Weve closed home areas down, moved people around, put no effort into relocating them. The Darwen End area - not my cup of tea but certainly better than it being closed. Most clubs are actively trying to build singing sections next to away fans, we are actively discouraging that by moving away fans upstairs and breaking up our singing section. Just ludicrous but typical of the downscaling operation. 

Reading, Huddersfield have recently succeeded in creating singing sections next to away fans. We failed miserably because we had no interest in promoting it or growing it, eventually shutting it when numbers dropped because it saved a few quid.

When Waggot closed the DE, without any or minimal warning a few of us met with him down at Ewood. We suggested the W01 singing section in the jack Walker Lower. Waggot nodded and agreed, stating the club will work with you on this idea, the social media guy will be in touch.... What happened?

Nobody got in touch
The Club did nothing to promote it
The Club moved away fans to Riverside half of DE
The Club then moved away fans upstairs...

Before people say the JW Lower didn't attract numbers, The DE section got split around the ground, the club did nothing to help out with the W01 and then moved away fans as far as possible...

This left me this year not buying a season ticket, I miss half the games due to work. This year the thought of paying £700 to be next to an empty stand appealed like a hole in the head.

Buy tickets on a match by match when not working was the plan. Yesterday I got an early finish (12.00) and thought should I get down and buy a ticket? Not prepared to pay the additional £3.00 to do this so watched it online instead...... Makes no sense at all.

16 hours ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Are the Action group still in action ?

Are they pressing the club on these issues ?

Yes, but thankfully not in such a time consuming way as a couple of years ago,
As a supporter representative group we still press the club on supporter issues as and when they arise, and attend bi annual meets with the club etc we still have contact with other supporter groups. 
Will be here if and when the next venky sh1t storm happens? Yes

22 minutes ago, superniko said:

Agree with all of this. There is no initiative being taken by the club to move with the times.

Food and Drink - Same crap every year, the amount of good quality street food available on the high street now why are we still serving the same rubbish. I know Beavertown is a north london brewery but more clubs should be going down the route like Spurs to mix up the beer on offer rather than just Fosters, Smiths etc. Don't Brighton ship in the local ale for away fans, if they can do this surely we can sell some decent stuff to our home fans.

Cashless bars to speed up the current shocking service

We have a fantastic Blackburn Brewery just up the Road from Ewood based at The Black Bull on Broken stone Road, I'm sure some of their ales would be a welcome addition.