2 hours ago, superniko said:

First email in what feels like forever from Blackburn Rovers ahead of this game. 
Flying over tonight, should be a cracking day tomorrow.

Not been in the Jack Walker for a while, anyone know if these bad boys are sold in there?

As for Szmodics, beggers believe he wasn’t rested away at Southampton where he could have actually stayed at home in a no hoper for us. Maybe they thought he’d get lots of rest on our swanky team coach.  

Try the Butter Chicken Curry - it is lovely. They sell it in the JW.

WTF 🤬

Sammy Szmodics out due to being fatigued.

He has looked knackered for the last few games.

11 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

I’m not expecting you to share but are you privy to what the financial target is?

I’ll certainly share any ideas I have but I wouldn’t go holding your breath 😀😁

Yes I know the figures.  Those attending the MoU meetings are privy to some confidential information.  The first time we breech confidentiality will probably be the last time financial and other information is meaningfully shared and the Trust will lose our credibility.

22 minutes ago, rigger said:

Who in my opinion will be totally ignored by the club.

At their peril.  In my opinion it will not be totally ignored. 

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

I’m willing to have my mind changed. So what has he improved on the sales and marketing front in 18 months?

Email him and go and talk to him.  I am not a spokesperson for the Club.  However I do have a lot of time and respect for him.

7 minutes ago, JHRover said:

May be correct, but I think this is ultimately the responsibility of the club, owners, board, to not just sit back and wait for the Trust to come along with proposals and ideas and then when they do 'yay or nay' them. Someone somewhere in a position of power and decision making has to take a lead on it and be judged on it.

Unfortunately the owners don't get this, or simply don't care, and as such it appears nobody is tasked with growing anything, infact quite the opposite, if it saves money they have licence to cut and reduce.

Over a decade the damage becomes huge and potentially irreversible, no matter how positive the intentions of people trying to change it.

Speak to fans of any club and it is our job to take issues, ideas and proposals to owners, CEO’s, MD’s and FD’s.

If we did not we would inviting disaster.  The Trust has a responsibility to take up issues on behalf of our present and future fanbase.

5 minutes ago, JHRover said:

What it needs is the club to DRIVE this and build on it. That's the only way we will get attendances moving in a positive direction and for it to be sustained.

What we appear to have here is the ideas and effort being made by supporters, which I've no doubt the club will facilitate and allow, but that can't be the way of it longer term, it is the club's job to do something about numbers through the turnstiles.

Unfortunately with negligent ownership quite content to leave the same old faces in place ticking their boxes and meeting their personal targets that isn't going to happen, and no matter how much goodwill is developed by JDT's team and initiatives such as this one, it will be smashed to bits if Waggott keeps on bumping up ST prices and reducing the quality of the product on offer.

Very good points.  The Trust wants a long term relationship with the club based on a long term plan.  We have to start from somewhere and to be honest the bar is pretty low at the moment.  They seem prepared to listen so the door has been opened, but we need to also prove they can trust us.

5 minutes ago, Hasta said:

I’ve also worked long enough with people who bullshit about their reason for doing stuff rather than being honest. It is clearly all about money, if only a ‘test’ at tin this instance.

You say engage with him, but several people have and yet have just been fed the ‘carbon footprint’ line. No explanation as to why not printing off a couple of thousand tickets is worth the risk of alienating long standing supporters. Just trot the same line out again. 
 

He may have been ultra-helpful in organising Saturday, and fair play to him if he has been. However in this instance he is pissing off supporters by his ‘actions’ and also not being truthful as to the reasons for doing it. It’s just more lack of transparency from those at Ewood.

As a (now retired) National senior trade union official I can spot and smell bullshit a mile off, sorry 5 miles off. Fraser is not one of them.

However you will make your own minds up. 

8 minutes ago, Gav said:

Thanks for all your efforts behind the scenes Mike, giving up your own time to try and break down barriers between the fans and the club. It looks like that hard work will bear fruit this weekend with 16k+ getting down to Ewood.

Keep up the good work. 

Thanks Gav.  If the Trust did not engage (along with the fantastic support of brfcs, RoversChat, Her Game Too, Proud Rovers, and South Asian Supporters*) we would probably have been looking at a miserable 11,500 gate.
 

* btw this is a powerful coalition we are building 

4 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Thank you for all your efforts.

On the bit in bold - has the club indicated to you that they’d be open to suggestions?

Yes.  The challenge is that the owners set financial targets for sales so we may have focus more on the structure and options of the ST offer.
One of our Supporters Trust Board members has already made a presentation to the Club and we will have further discussions.  If you have any ideas please send them to enquiries@roverstrust.co.uk or post on brfcs under the Trust thread.

It is looking like 16.5k to 17k.  I had hoped for a few more but this is still a fantastic achievement thanks to the Supporters Trust and the coalition of fans groups, brfcs and of course the Club.

The joint working with the Club, fans groups and the Community Trust is something to build on.

The Club have welcomed our ideas and involvement.  We need to take this further and look at how we can influence future ST pricing and options.

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Hardly having a go, he commented that you didn't reply to him which is only unfair if you had actually replied but he claimed you hadn't.

Sorry but I don’t understand the above.

Good try gents but I am not going to get sucked into what will be a tit for tat argument; I had enough of that in my working life to waste my energy on it.

I sincerely suggest you try and engage with the Club.  This Saturday is a good example of that.  

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

I asked Mike what has improved marketing /sales, sorry ‘consumer’ wise since he arrived… I didn’t get a response.

So guys you are having a go at me now.  Lovely stuff.

5 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Sorry to keep digging out the Fans Forum but he's actually "a credit to the Club" according to Mike Graham (of Fans Forum Fame)

(Rightly) Having the piss taken out of us by Darwen FC. That's about where we are right now as a Club.

Thank you Simon.  I stand by my comments.  Try engaging with the guy.

4 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

"Eco-friendly initiatives" = cost-cutting measures

Let's call it right

There are no staff cuts planned due to this.  Rovers receive financial incentives from the EFL.

A massive communications improvement:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2023/december/20/additional-support-ahead-of-digital-day/

The ‘technical issue’ between the Rovers and Cambridge systems is that CUFC are not with Ticketmaster.

Just over 4k home tickets sold and just over 1k away tickets sold.
 

That takes us to around 14,500.  I was always looking at around 18k.

24 minutes ago, rigger said:

I received an E-mail from Christina Hayes this morning, in reply to my question about the digital ticketing. The response was well reasoned and acceptable, up to the point were she stated that the Rovers were changing to the digital system, to keep up with the majority of other providers who where also going down the same path( or words to that effect).

Meanwhile…

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/14/cash-payments-rise-in-uk-as-people-seek-ways-to-manage-budgets

Local Brindle based Rovers historian Steve Williams is making one of his excellent talks at Blackburn Library in February.  For those who have heard Steve present before you will know you will be in for in excellent evening.

This is sponsored by We Are The Rovers - the Rovers Supporters Trust.  Free entry.

12 minutes ago, rigger said:

The relationship with Mike Graham.

😂😂😂

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

That may all be correct. 

The important question is whether he is any good at his job, not whether he tries, listens or is a decent bloke.

This is supposed to be a professional organisation in a cut throat competitive industry.

Having a cup of tea with people and listening to their views pretty insignificant in the scheme of things.

It really takes a special level of thought process to give away fans more options and choice than you do for home fans including season ticket holders, but that's what we have here.

'Sh1t on your own fans' certainly applies here

I have met Fraser plenty of times, never over a brew nor biscuits, and I am confident from what I have seen and heard that he is bloody good at his job.  It may not be popular but I am prepared to stand up for, and stand by people who have the Club and fans at heart.  We could do with a few more like Fraser at Ewood.

Watford are hiting some good form.

How many fouls against us have not been given?  Dreadful refereeing.

Saints TV have twice referred to us as Bristol Rovers 😂😂😂

Game over.  We will be lucky to keep this under 4-0