Bolton Preview

[tony gale's mic]

i'd rather see blackburn rovers in the conference than lancashire united in the premiership. without a shadow of a doubt.

[Wild Irish Rover]

Hear hear! I can't EVER think of a time when I would lose my passion for all things BLUE AND WHITE - even if Lancashire Amalgam FC played in those colours, I just have too much invested (emotionally, psychologically, physically) in the Rovers to ever conceive of supporting something else.

As they say - Rovers Til I Die!!

[BiggusLaddus]

i'd rather see blackburn rovers in the conference than lancashire united in the premiership. without a shadow of a doubt.

And that is why it would never work. A large number of fans from all of the clubs would feel exactly the same way, and the new 'superclub' would have very few, if any more fans than we currently have. The premiership novelty might draw in a few from the other clubs, but IMO the die hards just would walk away.

Apart from us miraculously becoming champions league regulars and attracting glory hunters I can't really see any viable way that we can drastically increase our fanbase. If all of our near neighbours went bust then we would take up some of the slack, but I think the majority would be more likely to migrate to Man Utd.

Unless we manage to crack the Asian chunk of Blackburn's population of course, but I feel that would take a concerted effort on Rovers' part. Why should immigrants and their children and grandchildren feel any affinity to our club over Man Utd and Liverpool etc?

[colin]

...and Fulham would be top if games stopped at half-time. Probably about half of the teams in premiership can find a statistic that makes them look very good, but the thing is you can't escape the fact that we have now fallen behind in too many games this season. At the moment I expect us to go behind, from that moment on I rate it about 50/50 whether or not we'll come back, now that's a better chance than I would have given us in previous seasons, but we're falling behind so often that the fighting spirit isn't producing extra points. We also can't escape the fact that we let in a lot of soft goals, particularly for the first goal in a game.

Eddie,

I know it's all statistics cooked up from a bunch of geeks with too much time on their hands, and that if we didn't go behind in the first place then we wouldn't be in that table in the first place. But it's not a bad one to be top of the table.

At worst it shows we ship early goals, but at least we get back in the games after.

Lies, Damn lies, & statistics eh?

[thenodrog]

If you think the answer is for a "Lancashire United" football team then you really have no soul, no heart, no committment, no "I know it doesn't make any sense but I do it anyway because I'm a supporter."

You might as well be called Glazer, Hicks, Gillet, Abramovich, Shinawatra or Ashley.

Go! and never darken our towels again!

i'd rather see blackburn rovers in the conference than lancashire united in the premiership. without a shadow of a doubt.

Hear hear! I can't EVER think of a time when I would lose my passion for all things BLUE AND WHITE - even if Lancashire Amalgam FC played in those colours, I just have too much invested (emotionally, psychologically, physically) in the Rovers to ever conceive of supporting something else.

As they say - Rovers Til I Die!!

And that is why it would never work. A large number of fans from all of the clubs would feel exactly the same way, and the new 'superclub' would have very few, if any more fans than we currently have. The premiership novelty might draw in a few from the other clubs, but IMO the die hards just would walk away.

Apart from us miraculously becoming champions league regulars and attracting glory hunters I can't really see any viable way that we can drastically increase our fanbase. If all of our near neighbours went bust then we would take up some of the slack, but I think the majority would be more likely to migrate to Man Utd.

Unless we manage to crack the Asian chunk of Blackburn's population of course, but I feel that would take a concerted effort on Rovers' part. Why should immigrants and their children and grandchildren feel any affinity to our club over Man Utd and Liverpool etc?

Yes right but the marketeers dont give stuff what stubborn old gits like you lot think think. They court the impressionable kids (and more importantly now it seems impressionable kids in the far east).

As for me I'm sick of seeing kids in our town turning into MU / Chelsea supporting scum, I'm sick of backsliders deserting the ground and watching matches through the bottom of a glass on some cheap flat screen TV in some crappy pub, I'm sick of the press/media treating us like hillbillies and thugs to boot, and I'm heartlly effin sick of gobshyte neverwinowt outfits like NUFC having the perceived power and necessary finances to blithely nick our best players and managers cos they alledgedly have 'fanatical supporters' in the North East.

Can you tell me a workable alternative guys? C'mon don't be shy....

[Fife Rover]

Yes right but the marketeers dont give stuff what stubborn old gits like you lot think think. They court the impressionable kids (and more importantly now it seems impressionable kids in the far east).

As for me I'm sick of seeing kids in our town turning into MU / Chelsea supporting scum, I'm sick of backsliders deserting the ground and watching matches through the bottom of a glass on some cheap flat screen TV in some crappy pub, I'm sick of the press/media treating us like hillbillies and thugs to boot, and I'm heartlly effin sick of gobshyte neverwinowt outfits like NUFC having the perceived power and necessary finances to blithely nick our best players and managers cos they alledgedly have 'fanatical supporters' in the North East.

Can you tell me a workable alternative guys? C'mon don't be shy....

Yeh! Go and support Accy Stanley. They need it!!!

[cletus]

Yes right but the marketeers dont give stuff what stubborn old gits like you lot think think. They court the impressionable kids (and more importantly now it seems impressionable kids in the far east).

As for me I'm sick of seeing kids in our town turning into MU / Chelsea supporting scum, I'm sick of backsliders deserting the ground and watching matches through the bottom of a glass on some cheap flat screen TV in some crappy pub, I'm sick of the press/media treating us like hillbillies and thugs to boot, and I'm heartlly effin sick of gobshyte neverwinowt outfits like NUFC having the perceived power and necessary finances to blithely nick our best players and managers cos they alledgedly have 'fanatical supporters' in the North East.

Can you tell me a workable alternative guys? C'mon don't be shy....

With all respect Theno, you don`t half talk sh1te....mostly just to cause arguements on here.

Lancashire, with all it`s little clubs & rivalries has probably the best history & traditions of ALL the footballing regions of England. Most clubs have more than a century of proud history.......it`s part of our culture. If i wanted to follow a huge successful soul-less money-making machine, i`d be at Old Trafford every week. Lancashire United will NEVER happen because the people won`t allow it to.

[roversmum]

Let's face it, those come lately local 'supporters' of Man Utd and the like are taking the easy option. They can watch 'their' club on tv safe in the knowledge it will be unlikely that they will ever have to get their backsides along to OT. They have the 'nous' of supporting the current Champions and are aware that MU are unlikely in the foreseeable future to be outside of the top four in the EPL and play in the Champions League.

They won't have to get themselves down to Ewood on a cold wet winters' night/day either. And there is a decent array of memorabilia that they can flash around to be had easily (not like our pathetic excuse for a shop).

BiggusLaddus mentions mentions the Asian population, inroads are slowly being made here, despite assumptions to the contrary, many of them are coming to regard England as 'their' country sport wise - supporting the England Cricket Team and Football Team and things can only improve here. Rovers are doing stalwart work in the community and sooner or later it will pay off.

[jim mk2]

Local people supporting ManU is nothing new. Blackburn bus and railway station in the 1960s was full of fans in red and white scarves heading for Old Trafford. It made me sick in the stomach then and it has the same effect now. Disloyalty I call it - the same as Englishmen who support Australia at sport.

Our neighbour supports ManU. Every so often I decorate his front gate with blue and white scarves. Just so he gets the message....

[roversmum]

No, I appreciate that, Jim, but looking at the youngsters, you'd think they would want to support a successful Premiership club on their own doorsteps.

[thenodrog]

Yeh! Go and support Accy Stanley. They need it!!!

Very good Fife. Have another Werthers.

[thenodrog]

BiggusLaddus mentions mentions the Asian population, inroads are slowly being made here, despite assumptions to the contrary, many of them are coming to regard England as 'their' country sport wise - supporting the England Cricket Team and Football Team and things can only improve here. Rovers are doing stalwart work in the community and sooner or later it will pay off.

So one day we might even sell 18000 heavily discounted ST's eh Mum?

May I remind you at this point that the ENTIRE adult male population of Blackburn could fit into any 3 sides of OT with plenty of room to spare.

[thenodrog]

With all respect Theno, you don`t half talk sh1te....mostly just to cause arguements on here.

Lancashire, with all it`s little clubs & rivalries has probably the best history & traditions of ALL the footballing regions of England. Most clubs have more than a century of proud history.......it`s part of our culture. If i wanted to follow a huge successful soul-less money-making machine, i`d be at Old Trafford every week. Lancashire United will NEVER happen because the people won`t allow it to.

So you are quite happy to see us continually suffer as a football club by losing managers and players to so called 'big' clubs until your dying day Cletus? Tell me would you be happy to see Hughes go to the bar codes? How about Bentley to WHU? Samba to City? etc etc. Notice I have not even included proper 'big' clubs in this instance.

[thenodrog]

Local people supporting ManU is nothing new. Blackburn bus and railway station in the 1960s was full of fans in red and white scarves heading for Old Trafford. It made me sick in the stomach then and it has the same effect now.

Me too. That was a direct result of the abolition of the maximum wage in the early 60's. You would not have seen that 10 years earlier. The first step on the slippery slope of the current malaise where the Prem title, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup is simply a tedious procession of the big 4 with 88 teams of no-hopers. Not a healthy situation.

[thenodrog]

No, I appreciate that, Jim, but looking at the youngsters, you'd think they would want to support a successful Premiership club on their own doorsteps.

That term does not include us or BWFC in the impressionable minds of teenagers I'm afraid mum.

[philipl]

Me too. That was a direct result of the abolition of the maximum wage in the early 60's. You would not have seen that 10 years earlier. The first step on the slippery slope of the current malaise where the Prem title, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup is simply a tedious procession of the big 4 with 88 teams of no-hopers. Not a healthy situation.

Unfortunately, we need it to be like that this season as well.

A Big 4 Carling Cup winner and two Big 4 FA Cup Finalists and sitting in 8th, we get the Intertoto again!

[thenodrog]

Unfortunately, we need it to be like that this season as well.

A Big 4 Carling Cup winner and two Big 4 FA Cup Finalists and sitting in 8th, we get the Intertoto again!

Crumbs from the top table Philip.

We must all continue to rememeber to stare at our boots and wring our caps when in the presence of any Man U fan.

[roversmum]

So one day we might even sell 18000 heavily discounted ST's eh Mum?

May I remind you at this point that the ENTIRE adult male population of Blackburn could fit into any 3 sides of OT with plenty of room to spare.

Did you read the first part of my post, theno? They don't actually want to in my view. They have the excuse that OT is (allegedly) oversubscribed, it gives them the 'kudos' of supporting one of the 'big four' and gets them out of having to get off their ars backsides down to Ewood. I'm willing to bet 99 per cent of MU's local 'supporters' have no intention of gracing OT. Plus the fact that Rovers' local supporters contain a fair few of perennial whingers who do little but slate the club and every aspect of it which doesn't help us in the long run - some of the criticism is bound to stick.

[Iceman]

aaah everybody just loves to whinge....so typical of us Rovers supporters lol.... mum also likes her whinging mind you,so im not really sure whats she's on about. but we still love you

[only2garners]

Piffle. Where did you (not) do your research? Bolton have had bigger crowds than BRFC for only half a dozen years in the last 40 or so. They are miles adrift of us!

Their support for such a large town is abysmal. No doubt the proximaty of Manchester has stiffed em over the years but our changing demography hardly helps us does it?

Check it out.

http://www.european-football-statistics.co...landcontent.htm

Whilst you are at it why not compare the crowds of all the Lancashire clubs and you will find that Bolton, PNE and the Dingles are all very much our poor relations. As I have said many times there is only enough support in the entire county to support ONE TOP FLIGHT TEAM.

Well I took your advice and did some research from this website and found my comment somewhat closer than yours. The two clubs have played in the same division in 32 seasons since the war. The average attendance in those 32 seasons is 18,443 for Bolton and 17,791 for Rovers. Rovers have has a bigger average 18 times to Bolton's 14. The last 4 seasons have seen Bolton get between 10% and 20% more than Rovers. That is likely to reverse this season, partly due to performance but more to do with Rovers' more imaginative ticket pricing.

[Fife Rover]

Let's face it, those come lately local 'supporters' of Man Utd and the like are taking the easy option. They can watch 'their' club on tv safe in the knowledge it will be unlikely that they will ever have to get their backsides along to OT. They have the 'nous' of supporting the current Champions and are aware that MU are unlikely in the foreseeable future to be outside of the top four in the EPL and play in the Champions League.

They won't have to get themselves down to Ewood on a cold wet winters' night/day either. And there is a decent array of memorabilia that they can flash around to be had easily (not like our pathetic excuse for a shop).

BiggusLaddus mentions mentions the Asian population, inroads are slowly being made here, despite assumptions to the contrary, many of them are coming to regard England as 'their' country sport wise - supporting the England Cricket Team and Football Team and things can only improve here. Rovers are doing stalwart work in the community and sooner or later it will pay off.

Very well put Mum. I hope and trust that your scenario will eventually come to pass. Also as Cletus correctly stated that Lancashire clubs (which of course until comparitively recently used to include all the clubs in the new conglomerrates Greater Manchester and Merseyside) have a long tradition of competing in the Football League and between them have won everything there is to win in the world of Soccer. Each club has it's own proud memories and tradition and their supporters would rather die than start supporting some upstart money making club designed purely to suit TV viewers round the world and to make millionaires of it's owners and players. I know I would.

[Ozz]

Crap match day photo off my mobile phone. Great view for the three goals though!

[Fife Rover]

Me too. That was a direct result of the abolition of the maximum wage in the early 60's. You would not have seen that 10 years earlier. The first step on the slippery slope of the current malaise where the Prem title, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup is simply a tedious procession of the big 4 with 88 teams of no-hopers. Not a healthy situation.

This has been moved on here before as the primary reason for starting the long, slow, painful death of real football. I know because I was the one that advocated it and have staunchly defended the position ever since in the face of many detractors and often bitter and sarcastic comments; mainly from the younger one's who have quite simply never known what football was like in the days prior to the 60's. But also I seem to remember you Theno (who are old enough to remember the 50's at least) have been known to oppose my arguments on several occasions. (At least you did it in a civil and reasoned fashion, even if you were wrong. )

But now; surprise surprise! I find you agreeing with my original contention: that football has cut it's own throat almost 50 years ago by removing the maximum wage and various other suicidal moves since then. And before the PC brigade starts throwing up arguments about constraint of trade, or human rights etc, consider this: If the clubs agreed a reasonable ceiling for players wages( possibly by division), and all stuck to it there would be no problem. Players would have the choice of playing football for a living (very enjoyable and excellent wages) or like the rest of us doing something else for whatever salary our talents and qualifications can command in a free market. For the vast majority of footballers (even those who are degree qualified) it would be no contest. Football would win every time, and clubs would be able to truly compete with each other just as they had done from 1888 to 1961.

[mjs]

With all respect Theno, you don`t half talk sh1te....mostly just to cause arguements on here.

And people are still falling for it hook, line and sinker.

[cletus]

So you are quite happy to see us continually suffer as a football club by losing managers and players to so called 'big' clubs until your dying day Cletus? Tell me would you be happy to see Hughes go to the bar codes? How about Bentley to WHU? Samba to City? etc etc. Notice I have not even included proper 'big' clubs in this instance.

It`s all part & parcel of being a Rovers fan Theno. Infact the fans of probably 89 of the 92 league clubs will agree.

Rovers have had plenty of ups & downs over the years. It builds character & makes the few trophies that come our way all the more sweeter. I`ll bet 99% of Man Ure fans wouldn`t even remember if they`d won the Full Members Cup or how many League Cups they`ve won.

14th May 1995 is a date that will live in the memory EVERY rovers fans who was alive that day.

Yes it hurts when your favourite players leave, or your manager moves on to supposed bigger & better things.......but would i sacrifice being a Blackburn Rovers fan to follow a financially more powerful (but history void) Lancashire Utd?? The answer is no.

I started supporting BRFC when they were in the old 3rd Division.....& i`ll still support them if they ever end up back there. You pick your club....& stick with it for life.

Mjs..."And people are still falling for it hook, line and sinker"

He`d start a fight in an empty room, which is probably where he spends most of his time