Well pleased for Darren Moore, had some horrendous abuse this week. Always seems like a thoroughly decent fella. I would say it’s crazy how we had him on the coaching staff a few years back, but they were ridiculous times.

Silly concept kit season is even worse than silly transfer rumour season. Saw this absolute abomination the other day… One supposed Rovers fan said it was nice, but “the dinosaurs” among us wouldn’t like it. Well, I for one am a massive T Rex in that case. You really ought to have some mandatory education in your clubs history and traditions before being allowed to call yourself a supporter. On a more serious note, the sooner the Macron deal is up the better. It’s massively restrictive in terms of order numbers and lead times. Our own willingness to be treated like a poor relation is certainly a contributing factor too, but their inflexibility and the frankly terrible deal we (Fielder) have agreed is the reason nobody could buy a shirt since October.

Not as things stand. They have a 99.9% stake in a club worth the hundreds of millions they have put in, on paper at least. No way will they sell us for a small percentage of that “value”, they don’t need to. Promotion gives them an exit strategy. I think if we went up they’d crawl out from under their rocks and lap it up for 6 months, but soon get bored. All of a sudden we’d be a different proposition for a buyer, and Venky’s might be able to recoup the bulk of their losses and save a bit of face. Probably wishful thinking, but it’s a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for me, and a big part of the reason I’m so disappointed at how the last couple of seasons have panned out.

Regarding the match day experience, we haven’t got into a great deal of detail on that yet. In fairness it’s probably more of a discussion for the fans forum. The ticket pricing and strategy has been our main focus, but we’ve made some suggestions like the one I mentioned about fans having input to a pre-match play list was one. I have the exact same thoughts about the Riverside. Wouldn’t want to sit anywhere else. Steve Waggott actually said “you tell us the Riverside is the best stand and has the best views… maybe we should be charging more in there?” - just to point out this was tongue in cheek on his part (I hope!).

That’s actually really helpful. I know people who have been knocked back for direct debits who have attended every home game this season, obviously this idea would really benefit them. How many of those fans there are would be an estimate, so trying to find different supporters or scenarios and weighing up how effective it would be is important to consider. I’d personally push it along the lines of “you can still be a season ticket holder if you can’t attend every game”. The habit point you mentioned is again something we’ve discussed at great lengths. Aside from the price issue we’ve tried to convey how the mood of supporters has changed over recent times.

Out of interest would you buy the following… Membership to a “pay as you go” season ticket scheme - £50 That would then allow you to purchase individual tickets for £23 in your preferred area of the ground, £19 if you wanted to sit in the other areas. You’d also get the same priorities on away tickets as season ticket holder, along with any other fringe benefits. I ask as I’ve put this idea to Waggott. He said he liked the idea, but I sensed there was again a fear it might impact that base revenue target. Rather than see any positives in terms of potential uptake from people such as yourself with other priorities, they worry that a % of people who will still buy ST’s in the knowledge they will miss a number of games might opt for this instead.

From a Trust point of view I’d say there were discussions rather than consultations. They key recommendations we put to them included 1. Entry level pricing 2. Focus on ST retention after earlier start of ST sales 3. Flexible ST offers 4. Market more effectively in the wider east lancs area and beyond 5. Improve the match day experience So I’d say they listened to point 2, but then negated any benefit by increasing the price a few weeks later. There’s quite a bit more detail about the discussions we’ve been involved with back across this and the Trust thread. Glen’s 5th point is where we face difficulty - we have to prove there is enough appetite in the non-attending fanbase and persuade them to risk a price cut. It’s a battle. Edit - just seen Glen has posted the full response. Hopefully you’ll see what I mean in my last 2 sentences.

That’s me on the podcast. My response to Waggott was “Steve, that’s what we’ve been telling you for years”

Speaking from a Rovers Trust perspective, regular focused two way dialogue has only really started after their plans will have been broadly in place. The main feedback the club took from last years sales were that revenue targets were hit and the figure was up on previous years. If the Supporters Trust, fans forum, or any individual fan said to Waggott “reduce ticket prices”, he’d point to potentially missing revenue targets. We’ve spent recent meetings trying to prove that this wouldn’t happen and that there is enough appetite there from supporters to ensure that they can still meet these targets while growing the fanbase.

I’d not really considered the idea of Klarna and the like for season tickets. A quick google search shows Hibs, Celtic and Roma all have it as a payment option and It’s probably something every club will jump on soon. I can see them tightening (or implementing) regulation around this type of credit sooner rather than later though, no doubt Rovers will miss the boat. I have to say that recently the discussions have been a lot more two way, and a lot better received. We should be able to announce some more detail in this soon and provide a lot more depth at our AGM in June. I wasn’t expecting anything remotely dynamic or revolutionary with this seasons offering. The timescales they seem to operate on wouldn’t allow for it, and the “sign off from India” seem pretty arduous. The ultimate argument is always that failure to hit the revenue target is absolutely unthinkable, and there is a real fear of cutting prices. My personal point of view is we need to keep banging the drum and making suggestions (and back them up) over the next few months. If there isn’t a significant change in the clubs approach, and a far more varied/flexible offering for the 24/25 season, I’ll be disappointed.

Completely agree Chaddy. Another point I’ve made repeatedly is why do we ever take season tickets off sale? For example what if someone who is out of work gets a new job in August, they may have to wait until September til they get paid, but they’d have to wait til Christmas for a half season ticket. I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t make them available at a pro rata rate, so if they buy one two games into the season they get around £38 off.

I’ve put this to Waggott and co repeatedly over the last 2 years in pretty simple terms… You are giving people one, or if they are lucky perhaps 2 paydays to find the money for a season ticket. It’s not enough time, you need to get them on sale earlier. Give them a chance to get the funds together. I was happy when they were released at the earliest date in living memory, a breakthrough maybe? But no, the earlybird means that there’s a price hike if you haven’t bought within 5/6 weeks… or one payday, two if you are lucky.

Generous for that particular game!

Steve Waggott has said these exact words to me: ”We invested £6 million on Ben when he was one of the brightest prospects in the country”. While the fee will have been paid in instalments, as is the norm, I don’t think that it was dependent on any clauses, the conversation around this didn’t suggest so. I went for 7 based off that 6, plus a signing on fee and possible additional fee due to him becoming a full international.

Mowbray and Waggott are both on record as saying that the plan was to “polish him up” and sell him at a profit. That’s been touted as the Rovers model for at least 5 years and it’s failed more often than it’s worked.

What a strange saga it’s been. I think a lot of the recent criticism has been harsh, that said I mocked him for 2 years. Signed out of the blue, to all intents and purposes outside a transfer window, for an extortionate fee. Touted as a project signing that will generate a big profit by Mowbray and Waggott which appeared absolutely ridiculous due to his hopeless performances for 2 years. Finds some minor form, gets recommended to the Chile set up thanks to some football manager players and a throwaway comment on a Rovers TV interview, blags a passport, becomes a national hero, becomes a goal machine, wins a load of Rovers fans thousand of pounds, Rovers completely fail to capitalise on his newfound celebrity and literally knock back lucrative opportunities, fail to negotiate a new deal, reject offers for him, watch him walk away on a free. Good luck to him, it’s been bizarre, enthralling and frustrating. He’ll probably go down as a cult hero to many. He has to go down as a dreadful piece of business too, but it could’ve been oh so different. This is “the project/model” at work.

I said yesterday that when it really is do or die, we have been good. Our FA cup run and our improbable comeback today attest to that. Taken in isolation what we did today should’ve been a result for the ages, but it’s just a footnote to a disappointing season. There’s plenty of moments to point to this season, some terrible decisions have gone against us, and there have been some horrific self inflicted mistakes, but I think the ultimate issue is a mentality problem from the top down. It’s took us til the last 45 minutes of the season for us to really go for it and batter a team. Millwall couldn’t live with us second half, but where has that level been over the last couple of months (Huddersfield second half aside)? We’ve apparently had “8 cup finals” and every game since the beginning of March has been touted as “must win” but we’ve only done the business when it’s been mathematically the case. Until today there’s always been the next game. I doubt there is much disappointment within the club. If there is it will pale into insignificance compared to that of the fans. It’ll be a shrug of the shoulders, bemoan how unfair the system is, waffle about a project, and say “there’s always next year”. No urgency, no evidence of any desire to get promoted, it’s always a distant hope rather than an objective. We all blamed Mowbray last year (and before)… it goes deeper than that.

I doubt it, but I’m praying. Disagree. He has astonishingly little composure in the box on the very rare occasions he gets in there.

I don’t think there is a single player in our squad I wouldn’t rather have as a centre forward (false or otherwise) than Ryan Hedges today. That includes goalkeepers. I hope to god he’s out wide and Brereton is up top.

Two cracking games in the Conference playoffs today!

I think Swansea will get at least a draw. While Sunderland Mowbray seems a lot more interested in his job then Rovers Mowbray was for at least his last 3 years with us, we all still know he is more than capable of a monumental collapse or an uninspired nothing performance. PNE can be really hard to beat when they want to be, and they are at home. There’s every chance it comes down to us and Millwall. I know we’ve supposedly had loads of “must win” games lately, but this one actually is do or die. The last couple that were genuinely that (Leicester and Sheff Utd) were incredible performances and we’d have won both but for bad substitutions. It’s definitely more hope than expectation, but I’m believing.

Yes. Renewal process is underway. Should be reasonably straightforward.

For something that size I couldn’t even hazard a guess. There’d be a wide range of price options for sure.

I’m not sure who picks it to be honest. I think the biggest issue at Ewood is that the PA system is absolutely knackered. In some areas of the ground it’s deafening, in others you can’t hear a thing, and sometimes it’s just unclear noise. They who supposedly never refuse a cheque should be tapped up to replace it.

Personally I think that list Millwall will be playing on Monday is belting! I’d like us to come out to the pitch to either Hardocre Uproar by Together, The Illicits version of Born Slippy, or something by New Order, perhaps Ceremony. However I think that we should implement something like Millwall where every fan can make a request. We might get a good bit of variety rather than a 12 season long repeat of some random “indie hits of the noughties” CD. A little thing to include the supporters, and hopefully generate a bit of buzz pre-match.