The State of Ewood Park!

[arbitro]

I think I am right in saying that stadium maintenance and improvement doesn't have an effect on P&S. Our owners who allegedly never refuse anything should be approached and affirm the statement that the woman Rao made when they bought us. It was something about respecting Jack's legacy.........

[1864roverite]

25 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

 

Re food pricing. The prices for drinks and food are beyond a joke. My daughter always used to got herself a hotdog, she reckons last season it was £3.50 which was bad enough. This season....£4.50 for basically a bread roll and a frankfurter.

On Saturday, I bought 2 soft drinks and 2 chocolate bars. It was over 7 quid!!!!

This will have a massive effect on match day, once people realise its a total rip off. Furthermore, Maggot wont even respond to emails now he has gone silent!

[Mattyblue]

‘Good first steps’ etc etc I read on here (from folk who should know better) when that statement ‘from Bilaji Rao’ was published.

Let’s be frank, nowt’s changed, there is no revitalised interest from the owners, in fact the club’s whole infrastructure is becoming increasingly decrepit as the very basics of running a professional football club are neglected.

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

4 hours ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Spot on @tomphil.

Eventually all the little things will add up and we'll have a big bill. Someone mentioned the cracking steps in the family stand; I saw the exact same thing myself at the U23 game last week. Before they know it, the frost will come, the steps will fail, and they'll have a H&S issue.

It's similar in the JWU. The stairways have seen better days, they can't even be arsed repainting the yellow strips at the edge of the steps. It just looks scruffy.

Re food pricing. The prices for drinks and food are beyond a joke. My daughter always used to got herself a hotdog, she reckons last season it was £3.50 which was bad enough. This season....£4.50 for basically a bread roll and a frankfurter.

On Saturday, I bought 2 soft drinks and 2 chocolate bars. It was over 7 quid!!!!

I think the attitude for a while was leave everything until we get back to the Prem but clearly that's very unlikely to happen now under the current direction.

So there is a monumental pile of problems here building up under the surface that there will be no quick fix for.

Waggot to be fair has inherited a lot of these problems but the direction under him and Mowbray has done nothing to help it either. Just piling one thing on the top of another whilst skirting around the edges.

He'll be gone most likely when the real do do hits the fan and Kean, Anderson and co who started the rot will be an afterthought. All that'll be left is a ground and pitch needing as much spent on it as it cost to build and the owners looking confused at the bill.

They need to wise up pretty quickly this downgrading lark will end up more expensive than ever. Totally defeating the object, unless the objective is to sell of course.

[GHR]

12 hours ago, tomphil said:

Ground gets neglected in areas for so long as well as the pitch that suddenly they are faced with a multi million pound bill to refurbish it all.  

Somebody will pitch it to the owners it'll be cheaper and more in keeping with our modern status to whack up a new smaller ground next to the motorway.  The ASDA brothers buy the Ewood site for a supermarket.

Rovers get a 20k state of the art (Ikea style)  Venky ground with training facility next door just up the road.  The sales of Ewood and Brockhall cover most of it, the nodding dogs nod along on the LT and facebook groups.

Not saying it's a plan or it'll actually happen but if you were a smarmy exec or middleman it might be a plan you'd be pitching. It wouldn't happen in next few years but certainly possible within another decade i'd say. 

Because we might well end up in a situation where there is little choice and we are run by people who only seem good at downgrading and squeezing everything until it pops. The running costs for Ewood and Brockhall must be huge compared to our tiny income now.

That's before you take into account the neglect AND future vital upgrades that will pile up on top of each other as time goes on. I doubt the owners are aware or take any notice of this nor is it anything they'll consider until it gets plonked in front of them.

Without a season or 2 in the Prem the future is looking very different for Rovers and Ewood no matter how many young lower paid players they produce.

I fully expect that one day fans will come back for the first home match of a new season and it turns out they've flogged the Darwen End to Tesco, sort of like what happened at Burnden Park right at the end.

To be serious though, as a Rovers fan I do live in fear that one day someone will get in the ear of those pulling the strings at Rovers and we'll get rumours of the glorious opportunities that await us by moving to up one of the industrial sites around Whitebirk, and turning Ewood over to the usual 'residential and leisure developments'. If they were willing to have a go at Brockhall, however speculatively, I see no reason why our other major asset is beyond reproach, especially if our finances and prospects on the field keep on as they seem to be.

[tomphil]

5 minutes ago, GHR said:

I fully expect that one day fans will come back for the first home match of a new season and it turns out they've flogged the Darwen End to Tesco, sort of like what happened at Burnden Park right at the end.

To be serious though, as a Rovers fan I do live in fear that one day someone will get in the ear of those pulling the strings at Rovers and we'll get rumours of the glorious opportunities that await us by moving to up one of the industrial sites around Whitebirk, and turning Ewood over to the usual 'residential and leisure developments'. If they were willing to have a go at Brockhall, however speculatively, I see no reason why our other major asset is beyond reproach, especially if our finances and prospects on the field keep on as they seem to be.

When men in suits with no attachment to the club or town are at work and owners are so detached an far away anything is possible. 

[simongarnerisgod]

16 minutes ago, tomphil said:

When men in suits with no attachment to the club or town are at work and owners are so detached an far away anything is possible. 

is`nt ewood a registered community asset??basically meaning it has to kept for leisure use and any planning for housing is extremely difficult to achieve,when oxford greyhound/speedway track closed the shark like property developers did everything to get their hands on it but to no avail,eventually they gave up and now it`s reopening because the only use for it is to benefit the community,which is a good thing

[JHRover]

22 hours ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Spot on @tomphil.

Eventually all the little things will add up and we'll have a big bill. Someone mentioned the cracking steps in the family stand; I saw the exact same thing myself at the U23 game last week. Before they know it, the frost will come, the steps will fail, and they'll have a H&S issue.

It's similar in the JWU. The stairways have seen better days, they can't even be arsed repainting the yellow strips at the edge of the steps. It just looks scruffy.

Re food pricing. The prices for drinks and food are beyond a joke. My daughter always used to got herself a hotdog, she reckons last season it was £3.50 which was bad enough. This season....£4.50 for basically a bread roll and a frankfurter.

On Saturday, I bought 2 soft drinks and 2 chocolate bars. It was over 7 quid!!!!

Could always get a bargain with the 'meal deal' which is £8.50 for a hot dog and a pint.

[windymiller7]

27 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Could always get a bargain with the 'meal deal' which is £8.50 for a hot dog and a pint.

😅

The prices are ludicrous this season. I usually end up running around like a madman on Saturday lunchtime so rarely have chance to grab something to eat before going down to Ewood. Wasn't usually too much of an issue, I'd just grab a pie at the ground. I know it was always a bit dearer than anywhere outside, but hey, it's only once a fortnight, I'll cope. Did the same on Saturday, 2 bottles of soft drink & a pie - £9.20!! Jesus christ!

Seriously, the same order with a hotdog thrown in as well was £10.20 a couple of seasons back. I'll not be doing that again any time soon. I'll just bring a butty from home or something, same with the drinks. If I've got a bit more time I'll treat myself to a burger from the van behind the club shop.

[Oldgregg86]

And the food and drinks are awful. Would still be bad if they were nice

[rigger]

2 hours ago, windymiller7 said:

😅

The prices are ludicrous this season. I usually end up running around like a madman on Saturday lunchtime so rarely have chance to grab something to eat before going down to Ewood. Wasn't usually too much of an issue, I'd just grab a pie at the ground. I know it was always a bit dearer than anywhere outside, but hey, it's only once a fortnight, I'll cope. Did the same on Saturday, 2 bottles of soft drink & a pie - £9.20!! Jesus christ!

Seriously, the same order with a hotdog thrown in as well was £10.20 a couple of seasons back. I'll not be doing that again any time soon. I'll just bring a butty from home or something, same with the drinks. If I've got a bit more time I'll treat myself to a burger from the van behind the club shop.

Top tip, you are only in the ground for two hours. Don't eat or drink anything.

[windymiller7]

15 minutes ago, rigger said:

Top tip, you are only in the ground for two hours. Don't eat or drink anything.

As I said, I generally don't get time to get dinner (lunch for you posh folk) before arriving at the ground & believe me, you don't want me sitting there getting hangry! 😄 I shall, however, be sourcing an alternative in the future.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

Top tip, you are only in the ground for two hours. Don't eat or drink anything.

Some people have a fast metabolism.

Plus you should be able to get some refreshments or late lunch if you've rushed there that's what the snack bars are for. What you shouldn't be is ripped off inside a football stadium for second rate grub.

It isn't the cinema or theater after all so the food should be more in line price wise with the surroundings and experience.

[roverblue]

The price is one thing but the service in the Riverside actually stops you from spending money at most games. The one poor lad in the snack bar with the slowest pouring pumps in the universe normally means they get through about 10 of the 100 people queuing up for a beer or snack before the game restarts and we all wonder back moaning about how shite it is

[rigger]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

Some people have a fast metabolism.

Plus you should be able to get some refreshments or late lunch if you've rushed there that's what the snack bars are for. What you shouldn't be is ripped off inside a football stadium for second rate grub.

It isn't the cinema or theater after all so the food should be more in line price wise with the surroundings and experience.

What I am trying to say is : If you want the food at that price,go ahead, but don't moan about it. If you don't want the food at that price, then don't buy it. Do they sell pies at the theater ?

Edited August 24, 2021 by rigger

[chaddyrovers]

7 hours ago, windymiller7 said:

😅

The prices are ludicrous this season. I usually end up running around like a madman on Saturday lunchtime so rarely have chance to grab something to eat before going down to Ewood. Wasn't usually too much of an issue, I'd just grab a pie at the ground. I know it was always a bit dearer than anywhere outside, but hey, it's only once a fortnight, I'll cope. Did the same on Saturday, 2 bottles of soft drink & a pie - £9.20!! Jesus christ!

Seriously, the same order with a hotdog thrown in as well was £10.20 a couple of seasons back. I'll not be doing that again any time soon. I'll just bring a butty from home or something, same with the drinks. If I've got a bit more time I'll treat myself to a burger from the van behind the club shop.

Yes the prices have been ludicrous for a while now and I have long time refuse food and drink inside the stadium. maybe for the daughter if she wants to but myself and others I go with we buy a burger from the burger van outside the Blackburn End which offered good quality food and its twice the quality of Rovers food. Drink wise, I buy mine from my local shop before the game

Edited August 24, 2021 by chaddyrovers

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

What I am trying to say is : If you want the food at that price,go ahead, but don't moan about it. If you don't want the food at that price, then don't buy it. Do they sell pies at the theater ?

Never been but i bet they sell hot dogs.

[DeeCee]

They should be maximizing sales at the outlets, well trained staff and a system, ridiculous they've neglected investing on a major income stream but  would you expect anything else?

[OldEwoodBlue]

If you choose to go and then buy over priced refreshments, then you have vindicated Waggott on both counts.

He will keep increasing prices. You will keep paying. So the cycle continues.

The only way out is to stay away.

[phili]

On 23/08/2021 at 13:49, tomphil said:

I think the attitude for a while was leave everything until we get back to the Prem but clearly that's very unlikely to happen now under the current direction.

So there is a monumental pile of problems here building up under the surface that there will be no quick fix for.

Waggot to be fair has inherited a lot of these problems but the direction under him and Mowbray has done nothing to help it either. Just piling one thing on the top of another whilst skirting around the edges.

He'll be gone most likely when the real do do hits the fan and Kean, Anderson and co who started the rot will be an afterthought. All that'll be left is a ground and pitch needing as much spent on it as it cost to build and the owners looking confused at the bill.

They need to wise up pretty quickly this downgrading lark will end up more expensive than ever. Totally defeating the object, unless the objective is to sell of course.

To sort out all the issues at the stadium, relay the pitch etc is probably close to £10m now with the amount of work which has been delayed.

Then you have the Riverside to sort out and decide what to do with it, probably £15-20m to sort that out.

At this rate it would probably be cheaper to knock down Ewood and rebuild it. 

So if you were buying you'd know you had probably £30m to spend on the club infrastructure pretty soon after you have purchased, probably £5m on training ground improvements and equipment that has not been replaced (Training Ground frost covers for instance). 

You'd expect Venky's probably want £60-70m to sell, you'd be at £100-110m spend before you even sign a player. We'd need £20m spent on players and 2 years to build a squad to get promotion and running costs during that time would be close to £35m. New owners would be able to boost revenues pretty easily but you'd need someone to sink close to £170m within 2 seasons to sort the club out and set us up to fight for promotion.

I think looking at it as an investor when I am buying companies, there are other clubs better placed to get that sort of investment than ourselves sadly. You'd expect probably MK Dons as a likely candidate for a wealthy investor than ourselves at the current time mainly because the money they invest would go straight to getting promotion and improving things. Here you would spend a fortune to stand still (money being sunk to rectify all of Venky's mistakes and delays since owning us). 

[simongarnerisgod]

whats wrong with the riverside?? and though we have some issues in the stadium,it`s not on the serious scale of 10 million quid to sort out,admittedly we could do with a new pitch which will probably come at the end of the season from the armstrong money

[phili]

18 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

whats wrong with the riverside?? and though we have some issues in the stadium,it`s not on the serious scale of 10 million quid to sort out,admittedly we could do with a new pitch which will probably come at the end of the season from the armstrong money

Normally when things have not been maintained well for 5 - 10 years when you suddenly start fixing things, you suddenly find out why it's best to keep things maintained.

Waggot was saying it would cost £2.5m for the new pitch, stadium i was thinking £3m to sort everything out but normally in infrastructure and maintenance you double you estimate if a lack of maintenance. Hence £10m, might be less but could well end up around that figure.

[simongarnerisgod]

at least we ar`nt in the mire as much as birmingham,st andrews is currently  open with two stands only as the other two are in a bad way and currently under repair,having failed a safety check in the summer,something to do with rusty steel

[phili]

4 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

at least we ar`nt in the mire as much as birmingham,st andrews is currently  open with two stands only as the other two are in a bad way and currently under repair,having failed a safety check in the summer,something to do with rusty steel

Lack of maintenance always proves costly in the long run. I bet Birmingham's budget for the season has gone on fixing that and quite a bit more.

[arbitro]

Does anybody know who exactly is responsible for the extortionate pricing and poor service? I would have thought pricing and staffing was down to Sodexho.