Football League Suspended

[JacknOry]

49 minutes ago, Rogerb said:

The Dutch league has cancelled all results no champions or relegation from eredivisie

Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....

[iacok]

Please!!!!

[Sparks Rover]

3 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....Please happen here.....

But we have a chance of promotion ...although I'm not sure they'll play all remaining games.....so, yes...

Edited April 24, 2020 by Sparks Rover

[tomphil]

The common sense approach in the best public interest for peoples health and safety, footballers etc included would be to write it off and start afresh late summer/early autumn. When we can see if this thing is finally under control and not a moment before, that's what matters. Even if they have to do the first half of next season behind closed doors or severely restricted numbers.

Otherwise just leave this season till August and finish it behind closed doors for the sake of sporting rivalry to sort out all the champs/ups and downs. Then have a mini season where reduced games just playing each other once or split North & South lges. Instead of ups and downs maybe offer a points bonus to take into the next proper season. 

[Stuart]

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/april/efl-statement-coronavirus-update2/

Looks like player testing will take place but only after NHS staff so could be a while.

Supporters mentioned in passing and a hint that games will be closed doors but with TV coverage although “there are a range of opinions” still.

I wonder if the insistence on getting the season finished would have been there if City were top and not Liverpool. With time ticking on and precedent being set in Holland, I’m leaning towards a complete scrap at this point.

If it does go ahead then I think that there needs to be a recognition of fans (and the lockdown) for televised games). PPV could encourage people mixing in groups - which is maybe why the water was being tested yesterday about “extended household” or “bubbles”. There should be some free to air games to encourage more to stay in their own home. I also think there needs to be some acknowledgement and recompense for paid up ST holders.

[K-Hod]

Some may find this view controversial and just to reiterate, finishing the season behind closed doors should be a last resort for me. But, if the season wasn’t scrapped......

In light of the exceptional circumstances, if the aim was to finish the season behind closed doors and the remaining games were streamed for free, personally, I wouldn’t want any money back from my season ticket which was paid up.

It seems likely that clubs including ours will be struggling after all this, so if I can help in any way to keep us going, then I’d be happy to do that. Call it in lieu of the promotions I’ve seen, the league cup win and obviously the title win in 1995.....

Yes, obviously, I’d rather be sat at Ewood, surrounded by fellow blues, but if it isn’t possible, then it seems like a fair enough compromise to me. 

[rigger]

33 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Some may find this view controversial and just to reiterate, finishing the season behind closed doors should be a last resort for me. But, if the season wasn’t scrapped......

In light of the exceptional circumstances, if the aim was to finish the season behind closed doors and the remaining games were streamed for free, personally, I wouldn’t want any money back from my season ticket which was paid up.

It seems likely that clubs including ours will be struggling after all this, so if I can help in any way to keep us going, then I’d be happy to do that. Call it in lieu of the promotions I’ve seen, the league cup win and obviously the title win in 1995.....

Yes, obviously, I’d rather be sat at Ewood, surrounded by fellow blues, but if it isn’t possible, then it seems like a fair enough compromise to me. 

Me to 

[Ossydave]

Anyone pursuing a refund of some kind in these times is a massive bellend, it's as simple as that, unless of course they've lost their job and struggling. 

[den9112]

I have personaly written off my season ticket (cost) this season..I would hope though that if games were to be played behind closed doors i was able to view via ifollow free of charge.

Failing that and if the season was written off i would like to think that the club would give the season tickets holders something back even it was a few free games via cups or even freindlies when a new season was to get up and running ,to me it would just be the gesture but at the end of the day to me personaly it's no big deal .i wouldn't mind if i got the new home shirt for free as that would save me a few quid..

[arbitro]

6 minutes ago, den9112 said:

I have personaly written off my season ticket (cost) this season..I would hope though that if games were to be played behind closed doors i was able to view via ifollow free of charge.

Failing that and if the season was written off i would like to think that the club would give the season tickets holders something back even it was a few free games via cups or even freindlies when a new season was to get up and running ,to me it would just be the gesture but at the end of the day to me personaly it's no big deal .i wouldn't mind if i got the new home shirt for free as that would save me a few quid..

Pretty much my thoughts. Rovers could score massively from a supporter relationship perspective by offering some incentive to current season ticket holders by some gesture of goodwill. Waggott has spoken previously about valuing customers - now is the time to be innovative.

[Stuart]

2 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Some may find this view controversial and just to reiterate, finishing the season behind closed doors should be a last resort for me. But, if the season wasn’t scrapped......

In light of the exceptional circumstances, if the aim was to finish the season behind closed doors and the remaining games were streamed for free, personally, I wouldn’t want any money back from my season ticket which was paid up.

It seems likely that clubs including ours will be struggling after all this, so if I can help in any way to keep us going, then I’d be happy to do that. Call it in lieu of the promotions I’ve seen, the league cup win and obviously the title win in 1995.....

Yes, obviously, I’d rather be sat at Ewood, surrounded by fellow blues, but if it isn’t possible, then it seems like a fair enough compromise to me. 

I agree. By recompense I don’t necessarily mean getting my money back. If not refunding ST holders means we get to keep the club in business then I’ve no issue with that (even though Venkys could easy foot the difference).

If people have already paid for a ST then streaming home games free to them via iFollow would be acknowledgement enough. (Away games would be a Brucey bonus but I wouldn’t expect it).

One of the unintended consequences that will be interesting to keep an eye on would be whether 46-game UK iFollow subscriptions might be available in future - which would include 3pm ko times. The money they could have made from such a scheme might have saved football from its current perils.

I’d like to see an imaginative/aggressive post-COVID-19 match pricing strategy, for example:

* iFollow-only 46-game deal - £299 (or 20 games of your choice for £149 plus PPV option)

* 23-game Home ST and 23-game Away iFollow inclusive (plus optional 6 home games of your choice but ST not valid for those games) - from £349 (£299 R/S) (ST details required to log in)

* 23-game home game ST only £249 (£199 R/S) + iFollow Away PPV

All cup games would be PPV options with match discounts for full package holders.

Personally I’d still go to home games and take up the iFollow. I don’t/won’t attend away games but would watch them on TV.

(For iFollow, you could substitute ‘Rovers TV’ if they were prepared to make it a media enterprise on its own).

In reality, 12 months on from now we will be back to the usual routine with the same lack of options. In fact, prices will likely rocket due to COVID-19 losses. “We’ve done all we can”.

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

Pretty much my thoughts. Rovers could score massively from a supporter relationship perspective by offering some incentive to current season ticket holders by some gesture of goodwill. Waggott has spoken previously about valuing customers - now is the time to be innovative.

I tend to go off his actions.

I’ve yet to be impressed.

[Vinjay]

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

Pretty much my thoughts. Rovers could score massively from a supporter relationship perspective by offering some incentive to current season ticket holders by some gesture of goodwill. Waggott has spoken previously about valuing customers - now is the time to be innovative.

This is a club which took the time to run a mascot competition then picked the most uncreative option possible. Innovative isn't the most commonly used word at Ewood (or anywhere if you want to be pedantic about it). The marketing has been substandard for 20 years.

With FUP as well it makes sense to do thing completely differently. Rovers fans aren't the most rebellious bunch so any major direction would have to come from the club. I've said this before but why has no club made serious overtures to Maradona? The marketing publicity would be huge and the documentary rights fees would surely be considerable. Netflix should be looking for a Championship or midtable EPL club to facilitate this. If a club already has a rich owner then the key phrase is "sustainable trainwreck" and how people wouldn't be able to look away. There's a place for a club that's basically a Jerry Springer freakshow. Deliberately sign players who are controversial. Rather that than that sign a bunch of boring corporate puppets who don't really give a damn. Do everything possible to attract headlines and publicity. Who cares what other fans and media think? How could you do something more explosive than bring Maradona to England? He's still a football man it wouldn't be like "find the biggest name possible to manage the club whether they are football people or not". 

Another option could be something drastic like refusing to pay transfer fees. Would this mean more years of medicority and risking relegation? Probably but with FUP what's the point of spending anything? I never thought this would be something endorsed by me but beginning to come round to the idea. Union Berlin didn't pay transfer fees for years (only recently relaxed) and are now in the Bundesliga. They also have the rebellious fanbase to go with it. You could do everything within reason to scrap commercialism though being anti-commercialism is somewhat of a commercial identity. 

You might alienate some fans but as long as it isn't boring then you might actually win some round. In this country renaming a club "tigers" or changing the shirt colour is seen as innovative. Neither were innovative. You can make drastic identity changes and be truly innovative and with that attract a new audience. Rayo Vallecano are another said to be very anti-commercial. St Pauli would be another but that wasn't initially a club led movement. What is there to tap into locally other than the Asian market? There's not an awful lot of personality to the place so there's no other group which hasn't already been tapped into. Need to look a bit wider. 

Do everything possible to become the "cure for the common club". It wouldn't always be a "sustainable trainwreck" there could be years of success as well. Most clubs have had some degree of success like being promoted. Look at the Championship Ipswich were in it for 17 straight years but every other club had moved one way or the other in that period. With FUP what's the point otherwise? Just say "to hell with it" and be completely unconventional. 

Now I know people on here will read this and say "thank goodness this guy hasn't got power". If any club wants to be truly different though they need a mind that's just a bit crazy. There's so many clubs that need to be shaken up. So what if they come across as publicity hounds? You need to make the media ask "what the hell are they gonna do next?".

In this unprecedented situation it's time for extreme innovation. For some clubs it might even be the key to survival. Challenging someone to a game on FIFA to me isn't "an innovative way of keeping the club socially active". People aren't going to think "oh wow someone still has the password to the Twitter account".

Edited April 26, 2020 by Vinjay

[Oldgregg86]

46 minutes ago, Vinjay said:

So what if they come across as publicity hounds? You need to make the media ask "what the hell are they gonna do next?".

The venkys  grabbed all the headlines for the wrong reasons, signing beckham and Ronaldinho, why hasn’t the keeper scored more, 5 million and champions league football, jacks legacy,  manager after manager, the stupid advert, the fans vs the fans vs kean, agents, agents sons and even a nonce for a mascot. I even recall us being linked with maradona as the manager
I don’t recall that working out to well with the fan base being decimated, the debt bigger and more unsustainable then ever , league one and the biggest bunch of losers to ever wear the blue and white halves in my life time . We were literally only missing the Netflix special and thank Christ we never had to endure that . Meanwhile our six fingered friends up the road where off to Aberdeen on there jollies and barely got mentioned in the telegraph

Edited April 26, 2020 by Oldgregg86

[arbitro]

52 minutes ago, Vinjay said:

This is a club which took the time to run a mascot competition then picked the most uncreative option possible. Innovative isn't the most commonly used word at Ewood (or anywhere if you want to be pedantic about it). The marketing has been substandard for 20 years.

With FUP as well it makes sense to do thing completely differently. Rovers fans aren't the most rebellious bunch so any major direction would have to come from the club. I've said this before but why has no club made serious overtures to Maradona? The marketing publicity would be huge and the documentary rights fees would surely be considerable. Netflix should be looking for a Championship or midtable EPL club to facilitate this. If a club already has a rich owner then the key phrase is "sustainable trainwreck" and how people wouldn't be able to look away. There's a place for a club that's basically a Jerry Springer freakshow. Deliberately sign players who are controversial. Rather that than that sign a bunch of boring corporate puppets who don't really give a damn. Do everything possible to attract headlines and publicity. Who cares what other fans and media think? How could you do something more explosive than bring Maradona to England? He's still a football man it wouldn't be like "find the biggest name possible to manage the club whether they are football people or not". 

Another option could be something drastic like refusing to pay transfer fees. Would this mean more years of medicority and risking relegation? Probably but with FUP what's the point of spending anything? I never thought this would be something endorsed by me but beginning to come round to the idea. Union Berlin didn't pay transfer fees for years (only recently relaxed) and are now in the Bundesliga. They also have the rebellious fanbase to go with it. You could do everything within reason to scrap commercialism though being anti-commercialism is somewhat of a commercial identity. 

You might alienate some fans but as long as it isn't boring then you might actually win some round. In this country renaming a club "tigers" or changing the shirt colour is seen as innovative. Neither were innovative. You can make drastic identity changes and be truly innovative and with that attract a new audience. Rayo Vallecano are another said to be very anti-commercial. St Pauli would be another but that wasn't initially a club led movement. What is there to tap into locally other than the Asian market? There's not an awful lot of personality to the place so there's no other group which hasn't already been tapped into. Need to look a bit wider. 

Do everything possible to become the "cure for the common club". It wouldn't always be a "sustainable trainwreck" there could be years of success as well. Most clubs have had some degree of success like being promoted. Look at the Championship Ipswich were in it for 17 straight years but every other club had moved one way or the other in that period. With FUP what's the point otherwise? Just say "to hell with it" and be completely unconventional. 

Now I know people on here will read this and say "thank goodness this guy hasn't got power". If any club wants to be truly different though they need a mind that's just a bit crazy. There's so many clubs that need to be shaken up. So what if they come across as publicity hounds? You need to make the media ask "what the hell are they gonna do next?".

In this unprecedented situation it's time for extreme innovation. For some clubs it might even be the key to survival. Challenging someone to a game on FIFA to me isn't "an innovative way of keeping the club socially active". People aren't going to think "oh wow someone still has the password to the Twitter account".

No disrespect as I know you replied to my post but I lost interest after reading your first paragraph.

 

[Vinjay]

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

The venkys  grabbed all the headlines for the wrong reasons, signing beckham and Ronaldinho, why hasn’t the keeper scored more, 5 million and champions league football, jacks legacy,  manager after manager, the stupid advert, the fans vs the fans vs kean, agents, agents sons and even a nonce for a mascot. I even recall us being linked with maradona as the manager
I don’t recall that working out to well with the fan base being decimated, the debt bigger and more unsustainable then ever , league one and the biggest bunch of losers to ever wear the blue and white halves in my life time . We were literally only missing the Netflix special and thank Christ we never had to endure that . Meanwhile our six fingered friends up the road where off to Aberdeen on there jollies and barely got mentioned in the telegraph

Not sure what you're even talking about? Could you perhaps try just once to come up with an insult that's witty and original?

[Oldgregg86]

3 hours ago, Vinjay said:

Not sure what you're even talking about? Could you perhaps try just once to come up with an insult that's witty and original?

I was pointing out how ridiculous as always your post was .  The point wasn’t to be insulting the point was to highlight all the things your advocating or suggesting have failed and failed miserably whilst the complete opposite happened down the road to great success i would have worded it differently if I had known that city fans got defensive over their Yorkshire neighbours 

[Vinjay]

When I think of "great success" Burnley isn't the first thing that comes to mind. Boring club with a dreary name that offers nothing to the EPL. Why would I want to be like that? If you're jealous of that then it's you who's being ridiculous. As for "jollies in Aberdeen" as you describe it so what? I've never been there but it's hardly Las Vegas is it? 

Even clubs that support FUP should at least try and come up with new ideas. How else can you grow without attracting mass publicity when there's an enforced financial ceiling? Why am I even on here anyway?

Edited April 26, 2020 by Vinjay

[Vinjay]

Spend the least money possible on players with big (cool) personalities even if they are extremely controversial. Not people who care only about having a bimbo on their arm and showing off their cars/mansions. Sign a manger who is a big personality with the biggest name possible. Maradona would fit perfectly.  If that means regulartly risking fluctuation between league 1 and the Championship so be it. Approach brands known for a rebellious nature. Attract people with a rebellious nature which rules out virtually all of Blackburn. That would be easier to market in London. Find every way possible to get a headline. Constant publicity stunts. Never boring. Invite people to games who are guaranteed to be noticed even if it's a "one off". Send a free shirt to the top 1000 people on Twitter (except United players). It's a nice kit who's to say some of them won't be pictured in it? There's countless things that could be done and too many to list. 

Downsize the academy as much as possible. If you want to be "counter culture" then you're not gonna be used as a stepping stone.

Of course this all assumes that the Raos aren't bothered about getting their money back. With FUP and this virus situation why not try to be different? Would you rather be boring and even if club got into EPL finish midtable season after season? Europa league? Been there done that even if underachieved. Would it alienate some existing fans? Well at this club you can't even get people to say FUP so what the hell? 

This could apply to many championship clubs. What's wrong with being creative and unconventional?

I didn't particularly want Ronaldinho for the record. Past his peak and big payday. Not interested in that. Though he's had quite a bit of publicity for other reasons lately!

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Vinjay

[Oldgregg86]

So downsize the academy and sign players like Anthony stokes , sack Mowbray and sign maradona . Am I missing something seriously because I’m struggling with this

[Vinjay]

10 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

So downsize the academy and sign players like Anthony stokes , sack Mowbray and sign maradona . Am I missing something seriously because I’m struggling with this

Did I say sign Stokes? No. If people want to chant about the IRA that's what Celtic are for. You would struggle with anything which isn't boring and conventional. What's the point of the Academy with people like Jones and Mahoney? One who tried to screw the club on a clause and the other who hardly brought in meaningful money anyway.

By "controversial" that could just mean players who are funny, loud, cool and a "bit of an edge". The only "controversy" if you could call it that is not signing stereotypical footballers. Derby got publicity from signing Rooney. He's just a thug with nothing likable about him whatsoever. Why would anyone want that to be the face of your club?

Edited April 28, 2020 by Vinjay

[K-Hod]

3 minutes ago, Vinjay said:

Did I say sign Stokes? No. If people want to chant about the IRA that's what Celtic are for. You would struggle with anything which isn't boring and conventional. What's the point of the Academy with people like Jones and Mahoney? One who tried to screw the club on a clause and the other who hardly brought in meaningful money anyway.

The point of the academy at the moment is that it has provided roughly half of the first team!

[Vinjay]

17 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

The point of the academy at the moment is that it has provided roughly half of the first team!

So what? How many of them are marketable? 

In the EPL of course there's all the Tv money coming in. So you could spend more there even with FUP it wouldn't be a dent in owners pocket. Who would I try to sign first in the EPL? Probably Balotelli. Yeah OK he's got the big car and all that but he's personable. He's got his detractors on the pitch but "instant relegation" if you sign him? Of course not. He's much more likable than a thug like Rooney or a typical bore who says all the right corporate bywords. Sign players who want to play with freedom and express themselves. 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Vinjay

[rigger]

14 minutes ago, Vinjay said:

So what? How many of them are marketable? 

In the EPL of course there's all the Tv money coming in. So you could spend more there even with FUP it wouldn't be a dent in owners pocket. Who would I try to sign first in the EPL? Probably Balotelli. Yeah OK he's got the big car and all that but he's personable. He's got his detractors on the pitch but "instant relegation" if you sign him? Of course not. He's much more likable than a thug like Rooney or a typical bore who says all the right corporate bywords.

The ideal for Rovers is not that they are marketable, but that they are good enough to play for a successful Blackburn Rovers team.

[K-Hod]

19 minutes ago, Vinjay said:

So what? How many of them are marketable? 

In the EPL of course there's all the Tv money coming in. So you could spend more there even with FUP it wouldn't be a dent in owners pocket. Who would I try to sign first in the EPL? Probably Balotelli. Yeah OK he's got the big car and all that but he's personable. He's got his detractors on the pitch but "instant relegation" if you sign him? Of course not. He's much more likable than a thug like Rooney or a typical bore who says all the right corporate bywords. Sign players who want to play with freedom and express themselves. 

To be honest, your post fell into the ‘TLDR’ category. I’m not bothered about how marketable they are, I’m bothered about how good they are at football.

That should be the primary consideration and I’m surprised I had to spell that out really.