Attendances: A cause for concern

[Butty]

Why did I leave it till today to try and get tickets? Been busy at work but I’ve just spent 40 minutes failing to get through to the ticket office and refreshing the website online. What a tit. If anyone ends up with 2 spare tickets somehow could they give me a message. 

[Bad Boy]

17 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Blackpool away tickets all sold out. 

Looks like season ticket holders bought them all

Excellent news Chadders.  I wish we had a few more.  Rovers fans were queuing from early this morning and 100’s turned away according to Facebook.

 No doubt the Blackpool ticket office will now be checking postcodes and ticket purchase records.

Edited September 21, 2021 by Bad Boy
Update

[Bad Boy]

7 minutes ago, Butty said:

Why did I leave it till today to try and get tickets? Been busy at work but I’ve just spent 40 minutes failing to get through to the ticket office and refreshing the website online. What a tit. If anyone ends up with 2 spare tickets somehow could they give me a message. 

You can by online from the Blackpool FC site.

[JHRover]

23 minutes ago, Bad Boy said:

You may be surprised at the number of Rovers fans in Preston including our very own ‘Tulketh Blues’.

If you watch a game at Chorley FC you will often see Rovers, Nobbers, Wigan and Bolton  shirts.  Chorley is a prime target area, especially the outlying villages on the Blackburn side of town.

I'm well aware that there are huge numbers of Rovers affiated families in places like Chorley, Leyland, Bamber Bridge, Penwortham

Again it seems the attitude is that these areas aren't ours, that they are too far away or belong to other clubs.

If we had Premier League football then the problem would more or less take care of itself but until and unless we have that the Club needs to do more to persuade people in those areas to come here and ensure generations of fans aren't lost. Many of these people will never visit Blackburn unless for the football and over time will have less and less ties to the town.

In the case of Chorley and Bamber Bridge again it baffles me why some see these places as PNE territory to hoover up support in when distance and travel wise it is just as easy to get to Ewood as it is to Deepdale from those areas.

These sort of areas are also more affluent and attractive places to live and are growing rapidly with huge housing developments. Clitheroe is another one -  loads of people moving there, nice houses being built - should be targeted with serious efforts including a Rovers bus. Is anything at all being done? Not that I'm aware of.

Edited September 21, 2021 by JHRover

[Butty]

11 minutes ago, Bad Boy said:

You can by online from the Blackpool FC site.

Not the same sitting in the home end! 

[Bad Boy]

3 minutes ago, JHRover said:

I'm well aware that there are huge numbers of Rovers affiated families in places like Chorley, Leyland, Bamber Bridge, Penwortham and

Again it seems the attitude is that these areas aren't ours, that they are too far away or belong to other clubs.

If we had Premier League football then the problem would more or less take care of itself but until and unless we have that the Club needs to do more to persuade people in those areas to come here and ensure generations of fans aren't lost. Many of these people will never visit Blackburn unless for the football and over time will have less and less ties to the town.

In the case of Chorley and Bamber Bridge again it baffles me why some see these places as PNE territory to hoover up support in when distance and travel wise it is just as easy to get to Ewood as it is to Deepdale from those areas.

These sort of areas are also more affluent and attractive places to live and are growing rapidly with huge housing developments. Clitheroe is another one -  loads of people moving there, nice houses being built - should be targeted with serious efforts including a Rovers bus. Is anything at all being done? Not that I'm aware of.

Exactly.  You only need to seethe queue of cars going down Livesey Branch Rd and Blackburn Old Rd after each game.  I wonder if the Fans Forum members could ask for a breakdown of ST sales by postcode; Rovers will have the information at their fingertips and a comparison of the percentages per postcode area over say 10 years may show some interesting trends.

[1864roverite]

21 minutes ago, Bad Boy said:

Excellent news Chadders.  I wish we had a few more.  Rovers fans were queuing from early this morning and 100’s turned away according to Facebook.

 No doubt the Blackpool ticket office will now be checking postcodes and ticket purchase records.

Just register as a fan it’s automatic!👍👍😅😅

[Sparks Rover]

13 minutes ago, Bad Boy said:

Exactly.  You only need to seethe queue of cars going down Livesey Branch Rd and Blackburn Old Rd after each game.  I wonder if the Fans Forum members could ask for a breakdown of ST sales by postcode; Rovers will have the information at their fingertips and a comparison of the percentages per postcode area over say 10 years may show some interesting trends.

I'm in a PR postcode, and as I posted last week, not had any marketing material for yonks.  Over the years I've had loads of stuff through the letterbox, seems to have gone by the wayside....another thing our CEO hasn't a clue about.

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Blackpool away tickets all sold out. 

 

This is one of those games where everything aligns - in decent form, local game we expect to win, 3pm Kick-off, early on in the season so optimism hasn't been eaten away, potentially decent weather. It's almost the perfect away day.

Based on the number of people I know that are going or wanted to go we'd have shifted well over double our original allocation. 

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Hasta

[Cherry Blue]

8 minutes ago, Hasta said:

This is one of those games where everything aligns - in decent form, local game we expect to win, 3pm Kick-off, early on in the season so optimism hasn't been eaten away, potentially decent weather. It's almost the perfect away day.

Based on the number of people I know that are going or wanted to go we'd have shifted well over double our original allocation. 

 

Think capacity at Blackpool is 19k and their home fans up to 10k so on paper loads of room. But it depends on how they've separated away and if there's space in that area.

Fortunately got mind last night after seeing chaddys post. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Cherry Blue
Spelling

[arbitro]

6 minutes ago, Hasta said:

This is one of those games where everything aligns - in decent form, local game we expect to win, 3pm Kick-off, early on in the season so optimism hasn't been eaten away, potentially decent weather. It's almost the perfect away day.

Based on the number of people I know that are going or wanted to go we'd have shifted well over double our original allocation. 

 

I think this is also the type of match which attracts the 'casual' fans who hardly ever go either home or away. I already know several of these who have borrowed season tickets, booked hotels and are looking forward to a good night out more than the actual match itself.

[arbitro]

Wasn't Waggott supposed to be 'looking into' arranging free buses from various locations around the county? From memory it was to be an experiment to gauge the level of interest.

[rigger]

55 minutes ago, Butty said:

Not the same sitting in the home end! 

If everyone gets seats in the jimmy armfield stand nearest the Rovers fans, we can start our own away support.

[JHRover]

The East stand where away fans are housed at Blackpool holds over 5000. Sounds like we've shifted just over 3000 with the allocations so far so unless there are safety reasons (it is a temporary stand) there should be plenty of scope for further tickets.

Imagine Lancashire Police will be doing their bit to ensure we don't get many more but Blackpool would be daft to turn down the extra cash.

Think people might be surprised by how full the home ends are - Blackpool are getting much better gates than they were in the Oyston days.

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

The failure of the Club to take any interest or make any effort in areas outside of the narrow confines of BwDBC I think is perhaps the most tragic and damaging thing that they have done, and takes some doing.

I can perhaps forgive a newcomer to the Club and area who starts off with the expectation that the vast majority or all our support is in the town in which we are based. I imagine that this is the case at the majority of Football League clubs, and therefore quite rightly the majority of efforts are concentrated on those towns and cities rather than elsewhere.

That is not the case at Rovers. And it is only going to get worse. Those running the Club should be aware of that by now and if they aren't then they aren't doing their jobs properly.

I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of season ticket holders and match attenders at Ewood a season were people who live outside of BwDBC. Maybe it wouldn't be a majority but it would certainly be a substantial percentage. I also reckon that a lot of lapsed or former season ticket holders will not live in Blackburn or Darwen, and I also strongly believe that the most potential for growth lies outside of BwD - in surrounding areas such as Ribble Valley, South Ribble, Hyndburn and Rossendale.

A refusal or avoidance of tapping into those areas is a recipe for disaster. Whilst attempts to engage the population of BwD are at times admirable restricting ourselves to these areas many of which are in groups who have no tradition of following football clubs is restricting the club and causing untold damage.

This all happening at a time when the Dingles can rely on PL football and income to entice people and Stanley are undercutting us in our back yard whilst also making far more serious attempts to create a new generation of support by targeting primary school kids and families.

It seems that there is some sort of belief or gentleman's agreement between clubs that Hyndburn is now Stanley's area for them to work on and we have to just focus on BWD.

I'm afraid if that is the case then the Club is going to slowly die.

It is also completely illogical, because Hyndburn is not Accrington, many parts of Hyndburn are as near to Blackburn as Accrington and even if they weren't this is a free market and it is our back yard. It is the equivalent of the dingles not promoting themselves in Nelson/Colne because they already have their own clubs or Preston stopping at the River Ribble because they don't want to upset Bamber Bridge or Chorley.

So when we have the 'Next Gen' thing at Ewood and it is allocated exclusively to people from BwD I would love the club to explain why this isn't expanded to other Rovers supporting areas that are getting left behind. It is unforgiveable.

I thought the Club had abandoned this nonsensical attitude but it seems not.

I lived in Hyndburn all my life and I remember when I was Primary School we had Blackburn Rovers come into the school over summer half term to do a 4 day training skills course where we learn football skills, received coaching and play matches. Do Rovers still do that outside of BwD area? We also attended the Blackburn Rovers indoor centre to play for few matches pre match. We also attended a few night matches with school. is the Indoor centre behind the Darwen end still in used? I guess it does help when you have a deputy head teacher at that time who was passionate Rovers fan and was ST holder and knew people at the club. Whether thats the case now I don't know. 

Rovers should be engaging with schools, youth clubs and children charities in promoting the club and getting them interested in football throughtout the BwD, Rossendale, Great Harwood, Clayton Le-Moors, Ribble Valley, Chorley areas by a number of schemes like football coaching days, meeting players, free shirts and cheaper tickets. 

I have said time after time that Children under 12 should be a pound a ticket and 20 pounds a season ticket. You have to get them hooked early in life. Thats how my dad did with me. I remember my 1st game and many games since them. 

1 hour ago, Bad Boy said:

Excellent news Chadders.  I wish we had a few more.  Rovers fans were queuing from early this morning and 100’s turned away according to Facebook..

Its excellent news and shows that the support is there for the club. Waggott and co need to make coming to Ewood Park more attractive by better prices and they need to engage better with fans who haven't bought a ticket this season

1 hour ago, Hasta said:

This is one of those games where everything aligns - in decent form, local game we expect to win, 3pm Kick-off, early on in the season so optimism hasn't been eaten away, potentially decent weather. It's almost the perfect away day.

Based on the number of people I know that are going or wanted to go we'd have shifted well over double our original allocation. 

 

Well Rovers have asked for more tickets so we see the response from Blackpool. 

[1864roverite]

1 hour ago, Cherry Blue said:

Think capacity at Blackpool is 19k and their home fans up to 10k so on paper loads of room. But it depends on how they've separated away and if there's space in that area.

Fortunately got mind last night after seeing chaddys post. 

 plenty of seats available in the JA Stand next to Rovers fans look on their website its almost empty in the nearest section

[gumboots]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

 

These sort of areas are also more affluent and attractive places to live and are growing rapidly with huge housing developments. Clitheroe is another one -  loads of people moving there, nice houses being built - should be targeted with serious efforts including a Rovers bus. Is anything at all being done? Not that I'm aware of.

Interestingly, Clitheroe are growing their crowd again. Season tickets at £30 for seniors. New covered areas. Improved refreshment facilities. Cracking match the other night v Marine. Very feisty and ended up with a 2-0 victory for Clitheroe who ended with 10 men while Marine only had 8. 2 on pitch fights. Almost kicked off in the crowd behind us. And over 500 on to watch it. Pie and peas plus 2 chocolate bars, a tea and a can of pop for £11.80. Good big hot pies too. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by gumboots

[47er]

1 minute ago, gumboots said:

Interestingly, Clitheroe are growing their crowd again. Season tickets at £30 for seniors. New covered areas. Improved refreshment facilities. Cracking match the other night v Marine. Very feisty and ended up with a 2-0 victory for Clitheroe who ended with 20 men while Marine only had 8. 2 on pitch fights. Almost kicked off in the crowd behind us. And over 500 on to watch it. Pie and peas plus 2 chocolate bars, a tea and a can of pop for £11.80. Good big hot pies too. 

How did Clitheroe get away with having 20 players?

[gumboots]

Just now, 47er said:

How did Clitheroe get away with having 20 players?

Oops. Fat finger typing.

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Well Rovers have asked for more tickets so we see the response from Blackpool. 

Have they? Cant see this on twitter or the official site? 

[MarkBRFC]

1 minute ago, Hasta said:

Have they? Cant see this on twitter or the official site? 

Rich Sharpe has said that Rovers have asked the question, can't see anything else other than that.

Edited September 21, 2021 by MarkBRFC

[chaddyrovers]

12 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Have they? Cant see this on twitter or the official site? 

Sharpe and Crooke have tweeted this

[Wheelton Blue]

5 hours ago, Bad Boy said:

Chorley is a prime target area, especially the outlying villages on the Blackburn side of town.

Living in Wheelton, I see all sorts of affiliations.....Rovers, North End, Bolton, City....there's even a dingle in the village. 

So there's plenty of competition.

[Bad Boy]

1 hour ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Living in Wheelton, I see all sorts of affiliations.....Rovers, North End, Bolton, City....there's even a dingle in the village. 

So there's plenty of competition.

Wheelton always used to be 90% Rovers.

[chaddyrovers]