v The Dingles (h) - 4/1/2025 k/o 12:30

[smiller14]

13 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Success on the pitch has played a massive part, plus when the game and a team they are enjoying watching

So what Rovers be doing? Handling leaflets out there, engage in schools, advertise on local buses? 

All of the above. I don't live locally so can't comment on what they're doing but Hyndburn has always been a fertile ground for support. The club acknowledged in the recent fans forum they can do more outside of the Blackburn area.

[Mattyblue]

They have to do more as the percentage of the fanbase that resides in the town of Blackburn is ever declining.

[JHRover]

They acknowledged this about 6 years ago and Waggott said he was going to 'look into' arranging buses to bring people in from non-BwD areas for games. Nothing ever happened because it was all hollow words and too much effort, he and they have no intention of driving anything.

The efforts that they make within BwD whilst positive are limited both in scale and in prospects of success. They aren't paying attention to the changing of the times.

Blackburn Rovers isn't a town club. Which is why I get frustrated when I see this obsession with the population of Blackburn and 'small town club' mantra. It is a regional club, with a very high % of its support coming from areas including Leyland, Chorley, Bamber Bridge, Rishton, Harwood, Clayton, Clitheroe, Accy, Haslingden, Ossy and many other towns.

Where, when or why it became 'cool' to limit our engagement and interest to the 70s borders of BwD, and in doing so immediately and drastically restrict our reach and catchment area, I am not so sure.

Thankfully under the previous regime the opposite approach applied, under Walker and then Williams some recognition of our regional support and serious efforts made to bring people in from those areas. Of course under the 'do the bare minimum' regime of today any chance they can get to reduce the club's reach is grabbed.

[JHRover]

I think initially they opened half of N08 together with N07 and N06.

Something odd has happened where this  morning all of N08 was greyed out but now almost the whole block is showing as available, whereas now the end part of N06 in the very corner is all greyed out but was available earlier.

I think they will have taken N08 off sale yesterday and now given higher demand they are opening more of it up but have stopped selling the end of N06 as it wouldn't make much sense to fill that corner block before the central blocks.

[Mattyblue]

Of course the arbitrary local government borders from the 1970s will soon be replaced anyway by merged councils - so will we be ‘allowed’ to encroach on Accy Stanley’s turf then?

[superniko]

Yeah looks like only a bit or none of N08 went on sale at the start, as I thought - 1.5k wouldn’t be enough if 3.5 blocks were opened. 

Anyway, the other half of it is open now 

Weirdly the end block has gone off sale now. That would have made sense from the start - leave the two small corner blocks off sale until the end if needed  

Edited Friday at 11:13 by superniko

[Mattyblue]

Fun watching green dots go grey, ain’t it.

[BlueNWhiteArmy]

 Oh yea I swear I saw more of no8 greyed out 

So not as many gone as first thought

Edited Friday at 11:27 by BlueNWhiteArmy

[JHRover]

I assume that 'N' refers to 'North' as Jack Walker is 'W' and Riverside is 'E' and Darwen End blocks are 'S'

Only time I've ever seen or heard stands at Ewood referred to by their compass points, whereas it is quite common around other grounds.

[smiller14]

Think the club are reading - calls for a sea of blue and white. Happy to oblige! 

https://x.com/rovers/status/1870076694142275855?s=46

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Just now, smiller14 said:

Think the club are reading - calls for a sea of blue and white. Happy to oblige! 

https://x.com/rovers/status/1870076694142275855?s=46

Not quite sure what the club are asking fans to do, just wear a home shirt? It’s early January and everyone will be wearing coats so hard to show club colours.

I saw some mention of a Tifo being designed?

[BlueNWhiteArmy]

7 minutes ago, smiller14 said:

Think the club are reading - calls for a sea of blue and white. Happy to oblige! 

https://x.com/rovers/status/1870076694142275855?s=46

I'm famous!!! "Sea of Blue and White" 🤣

[BlueNWhiteArmy]

Where did you see a Tifo mentioned ? 

I mean that would be awesome if so

 

Emailed them directly to ask lol

Edited Friday at 12:35 by BlueNWhiteArmy

[J*B]

Tifo was left last minute so won't be there, I heard

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Whatever happened to the huge Club Crest banner that went across the Blackburn End in days gone by?

Edited Friday at 12:58 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[BlueNWhiteArmy]

Gutted. Why did they leave it so lattteee😦

[rigger]

43 minutes ago, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

Not quite sure what the club are asking fans to do, just wear a home shirt? It’s early January and everyone will be wearing coats so hard to show club colours.

I saw some mention of a Tifo being designed?

What is a Tifo ?

[Mattyblue]

4 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Whatever happened to the huge Club Crest banner that went across the Blackburn End in days gone by?

Ended up full of holes and generally tatty, I believe… there’s an Ewood metaphor there somewhere 

[BlueNWhiteArmy]

12 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Whatever happened to the huge Club Crest banner that went across the Blackburn End in days gone by?

Look at all the shirts and flags here I know we can't expect it week in week out but look at the pride there. Need the same 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Very good sales in the BBE upper tier after only two day's. A handful of single seats left in the whole of the JW.

If only we could get back to the top flight,Ewood would be full for most games I believe.

 

Edited Friday at 13:20 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Mattyblue]

That would mean selling 20,000+ STs. Only possible if they were at a ‘Taking Back Ewood’ (2008-2010) kind of price… no chance of that if the likes of Swag are still around.

[smiller14]

1 hour ago, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

Not quite sure what the club are asking fans to do, just wear a home shirt? It’s early January and everyone will be wearing coats so hard to show club colours.

I saw some mention of a Tifo being designed?

Imagine they also mean flags, scarves etc. Might encourage people to bring those along to add a bit more colour. 

[the original david brent]

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Success on the pitch has played a massive part, plus when the game and a team they are enjoying watching

So what Rovers be doing? Handling leaflets out there, engage in schools, advertise on local buses? 

Yes the club absolutely should be doing these things. The club previously abandoned the traditional Rovers strongholds such as the Hyndburn towns. Indeed we seemingly backed down to Stanley chairman Andy Holt a few years ago, who complained on Twitter about Rovers community trust going into Hyndburn schools. Hence Stanley have dished out free shirts every year. Places like Rishton, Ossy, Harwood etc are as close to Blackburn as they are Accy, nevermind some made up Hyndburn boundary, and Rovers should go back to being active in these schools. 
 

On the positive, I do get the impression that the penny has dropped in recent months within the Rovers hierarchy. Hopefully they now recognise there has been a demographic shift of our support, largely away from Blackburn to the surrounding areas in a 10 mile radius. And also a recognition that we get support from across east Lancs and parts of central/ north Lancs. The club do now seem to be broadening their horizons outside of solely BB1.

[JHRover]

2 minutes ago, the original david brent said:

 

On the positive, I do get the impression that the penny has dropped in recent months within the Rovers hierarchy. Hopefully they now recognise there has been a demographic shift of our support, largely away from Blackburn to the surrounding areas in a 10 mile radius. And also a recognition that we get support from across east Lancs and parts of central/ north Lancs. The club do now seem to be broadening their horizons outside of solely BB1.

Hopefully the penny is dropping though after 7 years under this CEO and 14 years under these owners it must be the longest drop of a penny ever witnessed.

I suspect they've known this, deep down, for quite some time but simply can't be arsed or don't want any objections by making efforts outside of BWD. Easier to just keep your heads down, tick boxes and collect your wages.

[Mattyblue]

So what happens when BwD, Hyndburn etc are abolished? Do we still keep out of BB1 Rishton just because once of a day it used to share a council with Accy?