Semi Final

[Paul]

Not so much optimistic, I just believe we will win. That's how I am. It's like I believe we are going to win the cup. Always travel in hope.

[broadsword]

Er ... that sounds like being optimistic then, since we are a poorer side than Arsenal (just look at the table!)

Paul - you're being optimistic, accept it.

[Paul]

OK

[Lee]

There's a thread on the official messageboard about who will take the penalties should it get that far.

The contrast between the two messageboards is quite great. Maybe its the optimism of youth verses the synicism of experience?

As for stories in the LET, Andy Neild speaks to John Willliams every day and he gets chapter and verse about the ticket situation.

We can't dictate what the LET chooses to run in the paper.

[Dan Furness]

12,000 so far according to LET. Cant see more than 15,000 going.

Scoreline - we will lose 2-0, I really cant see us scoring. We have become (hard to say, really is) the..... Burnley of the Premiership...... there I said it!!!!

[greggyk]

12,000 so far according to LET. Cant see more than 15,000 going.

Scoreline - we will lose 2-0, I really cant see us scoring. We have become (hard to say, really is) the..... Burnley of the Premiership...... there I said it!!!!

no offence mate but...

you are a PRICK!

There ya go, best ever post on this forum ever.

Edited April 7, 2005 by greggyk

[Dan Furness]

12,000 so far according to LET. Cant see more than 15,000 going.

Scoreline - we will lose 2-0, I really cant see us scoring. We have become (hard to say, really is) the..... Burnley of the Premiership...... there I said it!!!!

no offence mate but...

you are a PRICK!

There ya go, best ever post on this forum ever.

truth hurts eh!

t0sser

[mattjansen]

According to my neighbour, who is a scouser, we will cruise to a 2-0 win thanks to two own goals plus the primadonna ljungberg getting a red card.

[waggy]

can't believe we are in the same block for this match as we were for the spurs game,same seats just 4 rows further forward.

same result please boys

[JAL]

Cant wait for Friday night in Cardiff in anticipation of the game drinking with.... real..... Rovers fans having a good time burning cash we dont have, but building long lasting memories instead of staying in dreary Lancashire with those those boringly dull descendents of the cotton weavers.

At least the true genuine fans will be their - committed to the cause supporting the Rovers!

[Dan Furness]

I sat on very first row last time, and robbed MickeFIN's massive flag!

[Hughesy]

Cant believe only 12,000 tickets have been sold, after the weekend game and a few more sales it looks likely that we wont even sell 20,000.

So forget the ones who aint coming, its up to us who are going to get behind the club, as the others havent!!

Final tickets should we get there should go to those who have a stub for the semi final. It seems only fair to me!

Edited April 7, 2005 by Hughesy

[SouthAussieRover]

I feel we are gonna win this one.

I hope so because the comments re Finals tickets and their availability will be dynamite

[Will]

Arsenal are selling tickets on Ticket master !!!

They are really struggling.

[Exiled in Toronto]

There's a thread on the official messageboard about who will take the penalties should it get that far.

The contrast between the two messageboards is quite great. Maybe its the optimism of youth verses the synicism of experience?

As for stories in the LET, Andy Neild speaks to John Willliams every day and he gets chapter and verse about the ticket situation.

We can't dictate what the LET chooses to run in the paper.

....or maybe it's that the optimistic youths have had their tickets bought for them by their cynical parents. We are noted as being a family club after all.

While I will only have to struggle out of bed at 7am to watch this one in the company of an Arsenal supporting mate, I can only agree with the likes of waggy and Colin et al.

To my mind, a semi-final is not "worth" double the usual prices for double the number of family members at double the usual distance away. I would have still paid it if I was in the UK, but I would not have been happy.

While it is indeed our first FA cup semi in 45 years, it is also our 4th cup semi in the last 13 years (are you listening Dingles???) so I don't buy the "once in a lifetime" stuff. As a Premier League club, we should be hoping to reach semis every now and again.

Semi Finals do not have the same appeal and cachet as the final itself. Yes, they are special, but they are not the same. I think the old approach of Saturday afternoon at a neutral ground got it about right. It was exciting to go to another ground and for an afternoon "own" the Holte End or the Stretford End. The prices were a bit higher, but not double, and one could expect no more than a 2 hour drive. When I lived in Birmingham I went to the Man City-Ipswich semi in 1983 at the Villa - very enjoyable - but nothing like the City-Spurs final, which I also attended.

I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the club appear not to have taken the fans side on this issue. It has been a consistent theme of our excellently rewarded "Chief Executive" (how many other executives do we have???) to blame the punters for not rolling up like compliant sheep, whatever the circumstances or standard of play on offer. I'm sure he does give chapter and verse to poor old Andy Nield every day, but if I were at the LET then I wouldn't be running stories calling the good people of Blackburn a bunch of ungrateful wretches either.

Maybe Mr. Williams should have done his homework before leaving the relative sophistication of Granada Studios. Part of being a Blackburnian is bluntness and a healthy cynicism of anything overblown or too fancy. We have seen through the exploitation of this semi final - won't be taken in by it. Would Bradley Hardacre be stumping up 45 quid per ticket? I don't think so.

The fact that poncy ManU fans and thick Geordies have fallen for it just reinforces what gives us our uniqueness. Let the poncy southern press have a field day; since when did Blackburnians give a sh1t what they thought anyway?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

http://boards.footymad.net/mboard/fmb.php?...&mid=2140622678

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Cant wait for Friday night in Cardiff in anticipation of the game drinking with.... real..... Rovers fans having a good time burning cash we dont have, but building long lasting memories instead of staying in dreary Lancashire with those those boringly dull descendents of the cotton weavers. 

At least the true genuine fans will be their - committed to the cause supporting the Rovers!

And who are you descended from, Jal? If I may ask?

How dare you have a go at the people of Blackburn! They are the ones who have made our club what it is.

No, Blackburn Rovers are not a world beating outfit but a club that has pride in what it does and serves the people who support it as well as it can.

I'll wager you weren't one of those around in the 70's and 80's when the club was almost on its knees and when more than one descendant of Blackburn put their money where their mouth was so that idiots like you could have a team worthy of the town and its folk.

So yes you have a great time in Cardiff but don't have a go at those who have chosen not to.

Edited April 7, 2005 by Uddersfelt Blue

[1864roverite]

It doesnt really matter if we sell 11k, 12k or 25k, Rovers in a semi final is a must see football match.

There is every liklihood that you will never get the chance to so again.

We all know the fa have doen us big style, we all know or knew that the ticket prices would be extreme and we all knew that travelling to cardiff was going to be nightmare to say the least.

Those of us fans who are going have got to enjoy it and get behind our team.

yes we are expected to lose as we are playing arsenal, the current champions who have recently completed the double over us. It still doesnt mean that a fairytale cant happen.

FFS we went to Cardiff for the WCF versus the mighty cup team that is spurs and BEAT them, why cant we do the same here ?

We have to hope and we have to dream that PAUL's prediction is right otherwise he gets the beer in for every one of the boards members

[Gav]

We have to hope and we have to dream that PAUL's prediction is right otherwise he gets the beer in for every one of the boards members

I think you'll find Berkshires buying the ale

[stuwilky]

Can I explode a few myths that are doing the rounds on various websites.

Firstly, Rovers fans have tickets in the BT Stand East and the North Stand, the capactity for these two areas is 20,000.

All £25 and £35 tickets for these areas have been sold.

As we have sold nowhere near 20000 tickets, it is almost certain that the West Stand area will not be available for Rovers to sell to fans and will be empty.

Indeed, if Arsenal get a rush on tickets, they could ask the FA for those seats.

Had we been playing Man Utd or Newcastle, they'd have almost certainly been snapped up by the other club.

yes but do rovers have £25 and £35 tickets in there possesion

And for the three hundreth time, it isnt relevant - and they have probably been sent back with a copy of John Williams latest interview and a note that says "stupid kick off, stupid venue"

The club can ONLY sell the tickets in the order specified by the FA, its rule 26 b of the challenge cup rules.

[the original david brent]

About time people stopped sticking up for the stayaway 'fans'. The fact of the matter is this town doesn't deserve a premiership club; the size of our current fanbase and the attitude of some folk resembles that of a football league club. Ive never heard so much garbage for people not attending a our first fa cup semi final in 45 years. Im sick of hearing 'well I was there in the 70's and 80's.' Whats that got to do with staying away from next weeks semi final.

Yes, it was wrong to play it in cardiff, its a silly kick off time and its a tad expensive. But so what! Its affordable, its our biggest game in a decade and its an experience that might never happen again. Personally I will find it embarrasing when there are 15k rovers their next saturday. And before the 'stayaways' start crying that they can't afford, I guarantee they'll be p***** their money away in the pub next saturday.

Bring it on 4am start!!!

[Paul]

I hope so because the comments re Finals tickets and their availability will be dynamite

We've requested extra band width

[thenodrog]

Every cloud has a silver lining............. at least we'll be able to get out of Cardiff in record time!

but

I expect the FA to give us Mike Riley for every cup game next season to make sure that we never sully the later stages with our presence ever again. They have long memories and will carry a big grudge.

[mhead]

How much is DAVID BRENT(and Jal) right. All my life i have avoided what my parents(from Blackburn and Nelson) used to say:

"If only we'd gone we might have enjoyed ourselves."

I think its called curmudgeonly...which means short-sighted and miserable.

The hand-loom weavers have a lot to answer for. But on 2005,Friday 15th the town centre pubs will still be full with punters pouring their hard-earned money down their throats rather than seeing the famous Rovers in the FA Cup Semi-Final for the first time in living memory.

[Ste B]

12,000 so far according to LET. Cant see more than 15,000 going.

Scoreline - we will lose 2-0, I really cant see us scoring. We have become (hard to say, really is) the..... Burnley of the Premiership...... there I said it!!!!

no offence mate but...

you are a PRICK!

There ya go, best ever post on this forum ever.

GreggyK, please check the site guidelines as there are no personal insults allowed.

I've had 3 complaints from Pricks who dont want comparing to DMF.