[Archived] Rovers vs MAN CITY FA Cup **NO TICKETS AVAILABLE ON DAY**

[Parsonblue]

9,000 home fans is not pathetic Rev. It's a fact of life. Venky's took a well run club that was comfortable in mid-table in the Premier League and turned it into a national laughing stock that was relegated and now has debts of £54 million and growing. Supporters witnessed a team of internationals sold and replaced with inferior players. We are now back to a similar position we had between 1966 and 1992. Visits from the top teams might have excited us back then because we had been away from the top flight for so long. However, until Venky's got involved with the club, visits from City, United, Chelsea etc were part of our regular diet of Premier League football. Personally, I wasn't excited by the visit of City yesterday rather the opposite. It just reminded me what the idiots in Pune threw away because of their stupidity. For me, the visit of Doncaster next week is far more important because a win keeps us in the hunt for returning to the Premier League.

I totally agree that Gary and his team are fully deserving of support. But, sadly, the last three years have seen supporters lose a connection with the club and find other things to do with their leisure time and money. As John Williams always said there is stiff competition for the 'leisure pound' these days but, unfortunately, that is something which Venky's have never understood and hence the alienation of many long standing supporters from the club. Watching Blackburn Rovers these days is something which many supporters can take or leave and it's fully understandable after what has happened over the past three years.

The only way to win the fans back is for the owners to put the club back into the same position it was in when they arrived.

[Doug]

I would rather see a packed Ewood for league games to be honest. The importance of good support this season cannot be overstated IMO. We all know the importance of promotion and a decent attendance could be the 12th man that makes the difference.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

I disagree about the City game and unfortunately there'll only be c12k home fans on against Doncaster as well. If 20k fans suddenly rocked up for the remainder of the vital League fixtures and only gave any remaining Cup games a swerve because it was the Cup I'd have to concede you had a point.

I'd like to think that if we were to have a play off semi final at Ewood in May, we'd get over 15k home fans. Certainly more than yesterday. And as you point out, there will be more home fans for the Doncaster game than the City game. Why? Because the cup doesn't mean a great deal at this stage, we were almost guaranteed to get hammered, it was on TV and at midday. Simple.

[Gav]

I think the gate debate and the rights and wrongs of fans turning up is being blown out of proportion to be honest.

When have we ever had good gates in the early cup rounds against decent sides? It's always been the same as far as I can recall since we went up to the Premiership in 92.

If you want to talk about poor cup turnouts, the UEFA cup gate against Trelleborgs will forever live with me as the most embarrassing cup gate ever.

Good performance by the lads yesterday, lets not over shadow things because of a daft remark from Rev.

[RevidgeBlue]

9,000 home fans is not pathetic Rev. It's a fact of life. Venky's took a well run club that was comfortable in mid-table in the Premier League and turned it into a national laughing stock that was relegated and now has debts of £54 million and growing. Supporters witnessed a team of internationals sold and replaced with inferior players. We are now back to a similar position we had between 1966 and 1992. Visits from the top teams might have excited us back then because we had been away from the top flight for so long. However, until Venky's got involved with the club, visits from City, United, Chelsea etc were part of our regular diet of Premier League football. Personally, I wasn't excited by the visit of City yesterday rather the opposite. It just reminded me what the idiots in Pune threw away because of their stupidity. For me, the visit of Doncaster next week is far more important because a win keeps us in the hunt for returning to the Premier League.

I totally agree that Gary and his team are fully deserving of support. But, sadly, the last three years have seen supporters lose a connection with the club and find other things to do with their leisure time and money. As John Williams always said there is stiff competition for the 'leisure pound' these days but, unfortunately, that is something which Venky's have never understood and hence the alienation of many long standing supporters from the club. Watching Blackburn Rovers these days is something which many supporters can take or leave and it's fully understandable after what has happened over the past three years.

The only way to win the fans back is for the owners to put the club back into the same position it was in when they arrived.

Having been on the Fans Forum with John many times Parson I think he'd be bitterly disappointed with yesterday's attendance as well were he still here. Whilst he understood the pressures on the "leisure pound" later on in his tenure after prices were slashed I don't think he really appreciated that in the early days, I was paying 570 for my ST in JW upper 10 or 12 years ago and I don 't think he ever got his head fully round why the ground wasn't packed out with 30k home fans every week like at his home town of Southampton for example as I think he felt they were doing everything they could at their end. My argument which I put to him on numerous occasions was "I dont mind paying nearly 600 quid to watch Damien Duff but I'd begrudge it if he was sold and whilst I might be in a minority I'd rather pay even more to watch a team of Damien Duffs"

That's by the by. To deal with your last point the less fans turn up then the less chance we have of getting back to our original position, it's a vicious circle. We'll never attract the average gates we had in the Prem but if even the 17 k who rocked up out of nowhere aainst Wolves when Kean was sacked could be tempted back it would make a tremendous difference to the team and the atmosphere in the stadium imo. Unfortunately Eric Black served up an absolute shocker of a game, fans understandably took the view nothing had changed and attendances plummeted instantly back to Steve Kean levels.

I feel the situation is very different on the pitch now though, don't you?

[Jim Royle]

.....and Rev calls Mani an attention seeker!

Meanwhile, in the real world....BRFC have just faced the best team in the country and stood toe to toe with them, playing wonderful football, showing great technical ability and a work ethic that all fans should be proud of.

Unfortunately we have probably missed our chance of going into round 4, but well played lads, I for one was walking off Ewood with my chest stuck out, head held high. Well chuffed.

Anyway, back to your willy waving contests....

[Riverside67]

Deby have had tough times like ourselves with owners and performances

The support there never dropped off lito the same degree as ous ours and I know guys who saw it as a duty to keep supporting the team.

Now they appear to be getting their rewards.

Maybe a lesson there somewhere

[John]

Aye, I had a good feeling about Appleton too at the start. He addressed our defensive frailties and seemed to be saying the right things. Unfortunately he had no clue beyond ultra-defensive counter-attack and his comments became repetitive very quickly. He would have taken us down imo.

Appleton talked a tough/good game however his previous managerial record, including win ratio %, prior to joining us was appalling - perhaps a decent coach but to date he's been a very poor manager.

[RevidgeBlue]

Sorry jim PB referred to JW's take on the issue and I replied in kind with what I thought it would be.

For the record I don't think there's anything the least bit impressive about being on or formerly on the Fans Forum. As I understood it anyone could pop in and put their view across to John over tea and biscuits.

As for the FF I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and it was a privilege to get insights into the running of the Club.

[Stuart]

Deby have had tough times like ourselves with owners and performances

The support there never dropped off lito the same degree as ous ours and I know guys who saw it as a duty to keep supporting the team.

Now they appear to be getting their rewards.

Maybe a lesson there somewhere

Ignoring the footballing demographic of each club's catchment area, and assuming away visitors are similar...

Derby pop: 248,000

County average att: 24,000

Percentage: 9.6%

Blackburn pop: 105,000

Rovers average att: 15,000

Percentage: 14.2%

What lesson is it you want us to learn?

[DE.]

Appleton talked a tough/good game however his previous managerial record, including win ratio %, prior to joining us was appalling - perhaps a decent coach but to date he's been a very poor manager.

To be fair to Appleton the majority of his managerial career prior to us had been spent with Portsmouth, who were in utter freefall at the time. He'd barely had any time at Blackpool before we took him. As a result he was pretty much another unknown, Venky's favourite form of manager. Appleton had hardly any experience of a stable team or structure, so it was impossible to make any worthwhile assessment on his abilities. For that reason alone he should never even have been considered.

[Riverside67]

Suart

It was the scale of the drop off I was referring to

Derby down from 30k to 24k = 20%

Ours down from 23k to 15k = 34.7%

[Stuart]

But even during the worst period in Rovers recent history, we still have more attendees per head of population than a city club.

It just goes to show that for a town of our size that attendances were incredible and now they are just very good.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

But the assistant saw it once! There was no time to get the geometry kit out! When the convention now is that the attacker gets the benefit of the doubt, that was never going to be a pen. Just too fractional.

The assistant did only have one chance to get it right but from a corner should have been in line and should have had a clear view. It was tight though and I could see him missing it. On the other hand for that scouse prat after watching it several times to say it was only an inch so no problem with the goal being given?

Just watching Forest v WHU. City ground looks just as sparsley populated as Ewood was yesterday in the home areas.

[RevidgeBlue]

Ignoring the footballing demographic of each club's catchment area, and assuming away visitors are similar...

Derby pop: 248,000

County average att: 24,000

Percentage: 9.6%

Blackburn pop: 105,000

Rovers average att: 15,000

Percentage: 14.2%

What lesson is it you want us to learn?

To be pedantic the population of Blackburn with Darwen is actually around 140 k. and gates have dropped off by around 50% from a 26k peak under Allardyce.

Even allowing for far less away fans in this division I think the drop off is a lot more severe than you'd expect purely by virtue of relegation with no extraneous circumstances.

[Riverside67]

Stuart, Us and Burnley probably best supported in all the leagues on that basis, totally agree

It is the fickleness that just gets me riled at times.

We all know the history in boring absolute detail but if people would stop being so embittered for so long we could really do with 20k crowds again as we have to compete with Forest, Leicester, Derby, Brighton, Leeds etc

Just feel Bowyers deserves our backing and all he gets for his admirable achievements is miserable bickering.

[Stuart]

To be pedantic the population of Blackburn with Darwen is actually around 140 k. and gates have dropped off by around 50% from a 26k peak under Allardyce.

Even allowing for far less away fans in this division I think the drop off is a lot more severe than you'd expect purely by virtue of relegation with no extraneous circumstances.

They are rough numbers, Rev. If I wanted to be pedantic, I could attempt to look at the ethnicity of the population of each and include the traditional lack of attendance by ethnic 'minorities' and factor that into the catchment assumption. The Derby population is out of date too and will certainly only have increased.

Whichever way you look at it, we have punched ABOVE our weight for a long time and continue to do so.

[broadsword]

We're 55m in debt and losing money at an alarming rate. Use it or lose it otherwise the nightmare scenario of Gordon's Lancs United draws that tiny bit closer.

Good Lord, do you really think attendances could have that much effect on our financial situation?

Ticket prices must've gone up alarmingly.

In my view, it will have no effect whatsoever on our financial future, we're in very deep water. It's like getting people to bail out the Titanic with soup tins. If Rhodes goes it won't be because fans have stayed away.

[RevidgeBlue]

The assistant did only have one chance to get it right but from a corner should have been in line and should have had a clear view. It was tight though and I could see him missing it. On the other hand for that scouse prat after watching it several times to say it was only an inch so no problem with the goal being given?

Just watching Forest v WHU. City ground looks just as sparsley populated as Ewood was yesterday in the home areas.

Playing WHU is not the same as playing City though is it? It's almost like for like. Just as us as the Champions of England playing minnows like Trelleborg is not like us half way down the championship playing rhe Premiership winners elect. If I'm the only one who gets that distinction, fair enough.

Good Lord, do you really think attendances could have that much effect on our financial situation?

Ticket prices must've gone up alarmingly.

In my view, it will have no effect whatsoever on our financial future, we're in very deep water. It's like getting people to bail out the Titanic with soup tins. If Rhodes goes it won't be because fans have stayed away.

No, it'll be because the owners give up the ghost. But continued poor attendances won't help in that respect.

[Stuart]

Stuart, Us and Burnley probably best supported in all the leagues on that basis, totally agree

It is the fickleness that just gets me riled at times.

We all know the history in boring absolute detail but if people would stop being so embittered for so long we could really do with 20k crowds again as we have to compete with Forest, Leicester, Derby, Brighton, Leeds etc

Just feel Bowyers deserves our backing and all he gets for his admirable achievements is miserable bickering.

Agree with most of this but we aren't going to reverse that by bemoaning the drop in numbers. We need to start telling our friends, neighbours, family how good the football is.

This last 2 games, Bowyer has given us a chance to do that by adopting a much more positive style of play, and for that he does deserve credit and praise. However, he could easily undo all that by reverting to playing Lowe in a deeper role against Donny and reverting to negative, attritional football. Grinding out results will not bring the fans back. We took the game to city yesterday and it paid off - and everyone went away proud as punch and genuinely happy for the first time in ages.

This second half of the season we need to really go for it and people will come back. Good football, played by good players puts bums on seats.

[Riverside67]

Change came in second half v Birmingham. Different mentality put prssure on the opposition for a change.

Did Bowyer stumble on to that. It certainly looked like it.

Totally agree to go back to attritional stuff will see us make little progress. I think Bowyer has learnt that now though. I hope so anyway.

Let's hope for a better second half of the season and some more bums on seats.

[broadsword]

Playing WHU is not the same as playing City though is it? It's almost like for like. Just as us as the Champions of England playing minnows like Trelleborg is not like us half way down the championship playing rhe Premiership winners elect. If I'm the only one who gets that distinction, fair enough.

No, it'll be because the owners give up the ghost. But continued poor attendances won't help in that respect.

Do you really think poor attendances will be the straw that breaks the camel's back?

After all the years of demonstrations, booing, snowballs etc, they'll pull the plug on the club financially because fans are staying away? How ironic given that really it is their fault that the fans are staying away in the first place. Wouldn't that be a vindication of the fans staying away, that the owners are so poisonous that they're willing to send the club to the wall because the fans are fed up with them?

[Blue n whites]

I think the people who took a stand of boycotting Ewood, because of the venkys are probably lost to the club, although will still take an interest from a distance and give opinions on message boards. At the time of the mess I could understand.

But the last few trips I've made down I feel like the players are really trying, we are improving and GB has signed good players while trying to get rid of the deadwood. But we all know this. If we don't get promoted this year I feel we never will. So it's the right time to come and cheer on your team, otherwise what's the point of being a fan.

I'm talking about the choose to stay away fans rather than can't for whatever reason attend. On a side note it costs me more to watch Arbroath than rovers.

At the end of the last 2 seasons we have prayed for the owners and SS to stfu,

Get a football man in place and let him get on with it.

Stop taking advice from agents.

Learn from there mistakes and apologise.

Now apart from getting o there knees and saying sorry they've done everything I wanted. And even if they did sorry these fans still wouldn't come bk. As they most probably do other things on Saturdays.

Plus they continue to pay for there negligence financially. The stay away fans try and justify there absence by claiming once there skint they will go. So will the club, downwards. The lack of fans are hurting our club more than our owners.

[EWOODACE1]

Ignoring the footballing demographic of each club's catchment area, and assuming away visitors are similar...

Derby pop: 248,000

County average att: 24,000

Percentage: 9.6%

Blackburn pop: 105,000

Rovers average att: 15,000

Percentage: 14.2%

What lesson is it you want us to learn?

leeds as well. Looked at theirs a few years back and for their population and the fact that they're the only team in Leeds, their attendance is very poor.

[den]

The lack of fans are hurting our club more than our owners.

Out of any post I've ever read, that has to go down as the most absurd.