Miller11

Regarding the ongoing discussions around the Women’s team… I don’t think there has been any reduction to the women’s team budget. It’s exactly the same as it has been for the last 2 years. I do need to clarify this 100% though. There’s big pressure in the fan led review to improve the focus on the women’s teams, the phrasing mentions parity between Men’s and Women’s teams, hence they playing at Ewood far more regularly last season, and the pressure is on to get them moved over to a full time model. It’s obviously a money losing venture, and to go full time would cost probably £1-2 million per year so that’s a way off at present. The club also now have to include losses of the women’s team in FFP/P&S calculations, previously they were exempt. At present there is a complete reluctance to add another significant expense on to the balance sheet. I’m not sure how big a story the players leaving is. It’s similar to non-league in that there is an exodus of players every year, it’s just the reality of the situation. Saffron Jordan packed it in last year to concentrate on her full time career. Having said that some good ones have moved on, but some of the more profile ones have remained. Several of those who have left have apparently done so as they’ve got the opportunity to go full time.

I hope you are right, but I don’t think it will play out like that. The players and probably the manager seem to think the result has somehow vindicated the approach to every game we’ve played so far. Can’t see a lot changing in terms of performance level or tactical approach, and luck will run out at some point.

There’s something quite unlikeable about this set up, even aside from the wretched performances. There seems to be a real arrogance amongst the players and manager - their reactions to the recent justified criticism has demonstrated it. It seems to be the modern way that managers like to stick stubbornly to their “philosophy” and changing anything is a sign of weakness, but it barely seems as if there is any real plan here in the first place. Some real cockiness in the celebrations too - it should’ve been complete and utter relief. Pretty sure Kane claimed in his post match that Bellinghams goal was “the greatest in our country’s history” which is almost as arrogant as it is delusional. Big changes are obviously needed next time out after fluking it through that tie. Obviously won’t happen though.

That includes half season tickets and final 5. The comparative numbers above on Josh’s pictures are: STs sold so far this summer (+208 hospitality) Last season before start of the season Last seasons early bird In addition, renewal rate as Josh states is *thought to be* 76% - some questions over the data so a slight chance it’s slightly different 69% of ST holders in BB postcodes Riverside accounts for 19% of all sales and is up 1% (checked this to gauge entry level offer)

There’s very little difference between Connor Gallagher and Lewis Travis. That sub sums up Southgate. One of his 3 desperation subs was a good one though. Watkins MOTM for England.

Another thing I’ve noticed about Alexander-Arnold, he goes hiding in there. Only interested when he’s in acres of space. Not interested in getting the ball in remotely tight areas.

Really strange how the humidity and a pitch that is cutting up only impacts one side, if these pundits are all to be believed

Denmark by far the better team that half. Not many who could complain at being subbed off, but Arnold and Foden top of the list again. Midfield needs Wharton, simple as that. Forward line needs someone pressing out of possession and playing off the last man’s shoulder when we have possession.

It’s astonishing really that we are talking about 3 players being played out of position. It’s the first match of an international tournament, not a League one game in the middle of a December fixture like up! 2 of those 3 were dire. Trent and Foden shouldn’t be accommodated.

Trent is not in Adam’s league. Nowhere near.

The idea is to alter the format a bit of the fans takeover games rather than just doing the same thing again. It was reiterated we would still have the opportunity to have some cheap ticket offerings. Burnley was one mentioned. That seems like a good game to try and pack out with home fans and create a bit of atmosphere around.

They do. The cheapest tickets are one small block of seats on one side. A few hundred at most. It’s block Y on the below map. A season ticket in block X is £585 for an adult.

Agree with Chrisene to a point, but I think Pickering would still be above him in the pecking order and Georgie Gent will probably be around the first team squad. Disagree on Ayari, he saw very limited minutes in this current squad and we now have Travis back who’d be way ahead of him.

If we are looking to bring back any of the loanees we had last year the conversation should start and end with James Hill. The only loanee who added real quality rather than just padded out the squad.

Well that should do Adam’s chances of starting the first game the world of good! Dreadful display, particularly in the middle of the park.

I really can’t be arsed arguing. For about the hundredth time the question of a sell on has come up with people doubting its existence or speculating the figure. It’s 15%.

It is standard. Armstrong was an exception. We got him cheaper than Newcastle valued him at because of the higher sell on.

The sell on is 15% of any profit. Basically the standard sell on.

You can get 50/1 on Adam to win the Young Player of the Tournament award. So long as Southgate is brave enough to start him in the first or second group game I think he is a shoo-in.

We had a far superior player to O’Brien in Wharton. Unfortunately he was dropped for a prolonged period and always played second fiddle to Tyler Morton until he got injured.

We are also hampered by the ridiculous current state of the player identification and recruitment industry. We were frequently told that everyone was aware of Wharton, which I believe this was true, but opinion was based largely on a set of data, and as such he had a fairly arbitrary value attached to him that was met by Palace. I have it on good authority that bigger clubs were concerned about his lack of physicality. They also felt they needed more evidence (data) of him playing at a higher level, so again a lower end Prem club was going to be his destination. There were loads of Rovers fans at the time claiming selling him was a great deal because he was only a player with potential, and “his numbers” didn’t support what those of us who actually watched him properly with our eyes could blatantly see - that he was fast becoming world class. In the immediate aftermath of the sale, anyone who thought we’d had our pants down was in the minority. I was called delusional for suggesting it. Honestly, I doubt that very much negotiation happens these days at all over permanent transfer fees as players pretty much have a book value determined by people sat in front of a computer screen. By subscribing to this way of working we have little to no chance of unearthing any gems in the transfer market, or getting really good deals for our players. Hopefully we move away from being so reliant on data, de-prioritise “adding value” to players, and scout with eyes with a priority on improving the first team.

A lot of players who are praised for their off the ball work aren’t great on it. Wharton will never need to run around like a headless chicken because he reads the game so well. Faultless cameo. Get him on that plane.

Adjusted for inflation there is probably very little difference in what you paid then and todays price.

How low would you like to see the standard adult ticket go? Would dropping them down to £300 be enough? Or would that be not too different enough from what they have actually done? Again, Preston are seen as the benchmark. They don’t offer any reduction in their early bird prices on either senior tickets or young adults. We are far cheaper in both of those brackets. And if a parent is taking kids of secondary school age then our tickets come in quite a lot cheaper than theirs. Our adult tickets are £55 more expensive, but our tickets for those aged 11-18 are £75 cheaper, and our young adults (that run a year longer) are less than half the price of theirs. I’d argue that this focus on providing real value for younger generations is a step towards the exact sort of long term thinking we need. I can’t argue with the phases and I hope to see the early bird period extended. I don’t think the £10 charge will be a preventative factor for people, but rather a minor annoyance. There is definitely a reluctance to provide a flexible alternative, I think largely due to a fear that people who are renewing would opt for that instead of a full season ticket rather than seeing it as a source of potential new sales. There may be some truth to your last point, but to counter, there are a number of fans who are very vocal on here, twitter etc. who are incredibly unhappy with all facets of the club and the people responsible for ticketing decisions, and are also naturally inclined to view everything in a biased way too.

I can only speak for myself, but I’m really pleased with the offering this season. I don’t believe that there is any sort of magic formula that the club could’ve used to spike numbers this season. It was difficult to give tickets away last season. If we had dropped them to £300 across the board rather than £350, how many extra do you think we’d sell purely based on price? A long term plan to re-engage support and make attending games at Ewood a more attractive proposition is needed. At the most basic level, the club will always judge season ticket sales in terms of revenue, and supporters will always judge them in terms of numbers. With concessionary tickets at the level they are - undeniably the cheapest they have ever been - I see this as a step from the club to attempt to boost the numbers while protecting their revenue target. Before any official announcements it was widely accepted/suspected by a large portion of the fanbase that we would see an increase across the board. On here and on Twitter it was stated that people had inside information and a 5% increase was happening. I’m delighted this wasn’t the case. While I wish they had gone in a bit more committed on the Riverside introductory offer with something closer to what we proposed, and I wish they would bin the idea of early bird and tiered pricing completely, they have exceeded expectations in terms of concessionary tickets and offered a discount across the board. So yeah, I think it warrants being pushed as a success story.