[Archived] Poll - Falling Attendances.

[andyrovers]

What a rip off Palace was!!!! £35 for wooden seat!!!! £4 for a crap programme!!!! £3 for a crap bottle of beer.

Away fans should'nt be exploited!!

[tcj_jones]

I think this might have been covered in another thread. But anyway, I was a bit annoyed they only took cash - I had to walk five minutes back in the direction I came and que in sainsburies to use their cashback service.

[1864roverite]

Pre Chrimbo the crowds are annually down on their averages. I think this year we will see a crowd of around 28k for the Everton game as they have sold their full allocation.

[stuwilky]

I feel the same about Bolton, there was no way on this earth I was paying £70 for me and mrs stuwilky to go to that shower.

Fortunately being me I managed to sort the student tickets, so they were only £48. And the extra twenty has been spent in the club shop - a much better place to spend my money than giving it to the nobbers.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

They really are taking the p1ss. Enquired about tickets for the Bolton game for our family of five:

Four Adults (over 16) plus one under 16

Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers £159 + £2 booking fee = £161 - 90 minutes football

I really do think I've had enough 

Its bl00dy ridiculous,nice to see people making a stand(arf! arf!!)

Spend your coin at Ewood where it REALLY matters over the Christmas period.Everton,Newcastle...invite friends at just £15 a ticket and fill OUR Stands and OUR clubs coffers first.

GREEDY NOTLOB SODS!

Edited December 12, 2004 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[BRFC4EVA]

I think this year we will see a crowd of around 28k for the Everton game as they have sold their full allocation.

How many did we give Everton?

[stuwilky]

Full Darren End

[Paul]

I meant to include this last night:

England National Squash Championsips 4 x semi-finals and 2 x finals matches - £32 for me and the lad - 6 hours squash at the highest level

England - Australia Test Match at OT - 3 adults, 2 kids - £72

This is top quality sport at affordable prices

[MCMC1875]

I think this year we will see a crowd of around 28k for the Everton game as they have sold their full allocation.

How many did we give Everton?

And how many have the Geordies been given?

[Dan Furness]

Whole end as we generally give to everyone.

only club I know who throw 8,000 tickets at away fans, and lets face it without them our average would be worse than it is now

[Claytons Left Boot]

I meant to include this last night:

England National Squash Championsips 4 x semi-finals and 2 x finals matches - £32 for me and the lad - 6 hours squash at the highest level

England - Australia Test Match at OT - 3 adults, 2 kids - £72

This is top quality sport at affordable prices

Go to the JJB to watch Wigan Warriors - take TEN of your mates and sit down the side in the East Stand (equivalent to the Jack Walker upper). During the game you will be able to sup three pints of bitter (you can take ale to your seats at trouble free rugby league) and still have summat left over for a big tasty pie. That's what £161 will get you.

[Paul]

An interesting article in today's Observer

'The Premier League's official line is that stadiums are operating at over 90 per cent capacity and that everything is fine,' he added. 'But the reality is that, beneath the surface, there are worrying trends, such as the fact that the ability to watch 50 minutes of highlights of any Premier League game at 10.15 on Sky on a Saturday night is making some fans who used to travel now stay at home.'

[philipl]

I am really glad the Prem are doing this and recognising the problem.

My view is they got the TV contract balance right until some misguided fool at the EU Commission intervened.

Then they did nothing when a far more monopolistic deal was done for French football "because nobody complained".

[FourLaneBlue]

This thread begun with Tris bemoaning the lowest league crowd at Ewood since promotion.

Last night was even lower than that; 20,056. That is an amazingly low figure for our local derby, even taking into account it being a monday night game on Sky. Our highest ever home crowd was an FA Cup tie in 1929 against Bolton so it is a big surprise it brought out so few. A dismal game and yet another poor home result won't help matters.

Even on gates of 25k we'd still be getting one of the lowest amounts of money through the turnstiles but gates of 20k, if not addressed, will make it harder and harder for us each year to compete.

How to get the buzz back into Blackburn Rovers?

[jim mk2]

How to get the buzz back into Blackburn Rovers?

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, how about a winning team playing attractive football ?

We were doing that a few seasons ago until the manager got rid of all the best players.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

I think it is more than that - I think Rovers are at the leading edge of what is happening in football in general.

Due to the rapid rise in our attendances we obviously have more "fair weather" fans than most premiership clubs (or we would have been getting gates of 20k prior to Jack's money). We also have one of the smallest and most fiercly fought over catchment areas of probably any Premiership club.

But overall - almost every footie fan I talk to is sick of the over-exposure of the Premiership, and the total money monopoly that now dominates football. Though Liverpool enjoyed dominance in the 70's and 80' you could still have a Wimbledon, Notts Forest or Ipswich rising to prominence. Now the reality for the majority of clubs is just trying to stay in the Premiership. Even the mightly Liverpool play a game of constant catch up with the top three where they constantly have to qualify for fourth place to even keep withing touching distance.

We effectively have a Scottish Premiership - there is no competition for the top three clubs. Look at it realistically Chelsea have lost one match so far - Arsenal lost none last season - hardly a competitive league.

[roversWASmylife]

The attendance last night was grim.

A Lancashire Derby which is usually a good game to go to. But the attendance was poor.

I knew loads of people both Blackburn and Bolton fans who said they weren't going to bother turning up for the game because the game was being televised on Sky.

Sky has ruined football and the future's bleak.

[bubblerrovers]

The attendance last night was grim.

A Lancashire Derby which is usually a good game to go to. But the attendance was poor.

I knew loads of people both Blackburn and Bolton fans who said they weren't going to bother turning up for the game because the game was being televised on Sky.

Sky has ruined football and the future's bleak.

And i spose Dropping Gate figures have nothing to do with the fact

Going to Ewood is a nightmare to get to and leave

Tickets are well overpriced

There are no creative players worth watching

We always play rubbish at ewood or scrap a drab 1 nil

im sure Sky is the only problem

[MCMC1875]

The attendance last night was grim.

A Lancashire Derby which is usually a good game to go to. But the attendance was poor.

I knew loads of people both Blackburn and Bolton fans who said they weren't going to bother turning up for the game because the game was being televised on Sky.

Sky has ruined football and the future's bleak.

And i spose Dropping Gate figures have nothing to do with the fact

Going to Ewood is a nightmare to get to and leave

Tickets are well overpriced

There are no creative players worth watching

We always play rubbish at ewood or scrap a drab 1 nil

im sure Sky is the only problem

First point - Ewood is 3/4 mile from a motorway jnc. There are five main roads radiating from the ground (a point considered before the redevelopment). Not many English grounds are better situated.

Then again you could always trade the character and tradition of Ewood for somewhere like the Breezeblock Stadium??????

Edited January 25, 2005 by MCMC1875

[trawdenblue]

It's quite simple really. For the past 18 months Rovers' home performances have been dross (compared to previous seasons).

10 home defeats last season, only 2 wins so far this season, with NO entertainment.

Fans go to watch their team with expectation of a win or at least, an exciting perfomance.

Even three years ago, when we were in the bottom 6, the home performances in the 2nd half of the season were enthralling - remember Dunn's goal against Villa - this coincided with Andy Cole's arrival and they capped it by winning the league cup.

Stead's arrival created some excitement last season, but even he's gone off the boil.

Look at the attendances we had in the First Division. It was exciting stuff, winning games in style, the fans couldn't wait for the next game.

I don't think the low attendances at Ewood, have anything to do with Sky's coverage or the ticket prices. In my opinion, people have had enough of being disappointed time after time.

I even know of some fans who have turned down the chance of a free ticket!

Rovers are short of players who get the crowd on their feet and can make things happen.

They need an Andrew Johnson, Darren Huckerby or a Jermaine Defoe.

Let's hope we can unearth some players to attract the fans again.

[Blackburn Ender]

I rang last Friday for a ticket in the Blackburn End for a friend and was quoted £28.

You could've sat in a warm pub, watched the game over three pints of bitter at less than £6.

The quality of football on offer last night was dire with half a dozen, at least, of our lot looking like the mediocre journeymen they are.

[joey_big_nose]

How to get the buzz back into Blackburn Rovers?

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, how about a winning team playing attractive football ?

We were doing that a few seasons ago until the manager got rid of all the best players.

I say this hesitatingly because I cannot attend regularly due to not being able to get down from edinburgh, but if we need to play good football to get decent crowds we are screwed.

We cannot sustain a Premiership club on the attendence we get, and except for a few purple patches it is unlikely we will always play good football.

We will eventually be replaced by the likes of Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Forest, Ipswich, West Ham, Liecester, Sunderland who can attract the fans even when playing dire football.

It all comes down to catchment areas. Wecannot complain about prices because we are the cheapest in the Premiership (for season tickets, anyway). If people want them lower we will need to drop down a league.

It is just the raw economics of it.

[ABBEY]

I rang last Friday for a ticket in the Blackburn End for a friend and was quoted £28.

You could've sat in a warm pub, watched the game over three pints of bitter at less than £6.

The quality of football on offer last night was dire with half a dozen, at least, of our lot looking like the mediocre journeymen they are.

3 pints in 2 hours??man you dont drink much in preston lol

On a serious note its been said on this board before ..scotty?rev?gav,sg?not sure who but its like a drug,the people who have stopped coming have lost the habit.Whether it be lack of entertainment,lack of winning ,ticket prices etc its hard to get these fans back 10 pound tickets 5 pound tickets it doesnt matter.Same with away matches back in the 80s i did 3 years home and away lost 3 jobs umpteen girlfriends but went wouldnt think twice about going to oxford hullpompey for a night match.But now the cost is silly £35 for bolton /palace but sorry I aint paying it.Then Charlton away 15 not bad value but cant be arsed going because im used to radio lancs sky tv etc.

The crowds wont come back until there is something they feel worth paying for.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Going to Ewood is a nightmare to get to and leave

Tickets are well overpriced

There are no creative players worth watching

We always play rubbish at ewood or scrap a drab 1 nil

Im sure Sky is the only problem

Well thats it then....we might as well shut up shop for good.

Our club's between a rock and a high place with attendance's at the moment,'fair weather' fan's will not come to watch a home side that does not entertain and put quite simply, as warned many time's before, the club cannot sustain top flight football on these sort of crowd's for much longer....that is the reality in the cold light of day and it hurt's to say.

20,000 was a poor crowd for a local derby and only gives the national media more ammunititon to belittle our beloved club with....I so look forward to the football phone in on Century tonight when Laurel and Hardy (Sharp and Thomas) gleefully and oh so predictably stick the boot in.

Until matter's improve on the pitch we are in a lose,lose situation,one big vicious circle.

Edited January 25, 2005 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Alan75]

Well a conversation I over heard in the Fox & Hounds last night sums it up.

A season ticket holder had passed his ticket over to a mate for £5 as he couldnt be bothered and was going to watch the game in the pub.

For the exiled suporters information, the F&H pub is no more than a 5 min walk from Ewood Park.