Fans Forum/Roverstore/Commercial Chat

[Mattyblue]

30 minutes ago, JHRover said:

The problem we have is that Waggott considers only Blackburn and Darwen to be our 'community'. He doesn't consider Chorley, Leyland, Clitheroe, Whalley, Accrington, Rishton, Clayton, Harwood, Ossy, Haslingden or anywhere else to be anything to do with Rovers. 

Evidence? Well I doubt he or anyone else can point me towards one single act he has taken in 6 years to encourage, promote, develop, entice support from any of those regions.

Lets be honest they do hardly anything in Blackburn or Darwen either, but at least the community trust sends a couple of players out on their afternoon off to visit a primary school from time to time. 

It's the first fundamental mistake of a non-East Lancs outsider who comes in and assumes that Rovers=Blackburn and that 20,000 a week are going to wander down from Mill Hill ,Darwen, Feni. 

I think anyone who goes to Ewood will know that a very large portion - if I were a betting man close to if not more than 50% - of our season ticket holders - reside outside of BwD. Of course he will have quick access to this data.

Fundamentally though it is easier to make excuses - like he's done with regularity since he arrived - than do anything to address it. He's now got another recently made up excuse that threatens the very future of our support base and club which is that we 'can't' target non-BwD areas because it would cause complaints from rival League clubs. I'd suggest he should resign immediately if he accepts that.

Yep, Mike Graham has confirmed that the majority of our ST holders now live outside BwD.

So the percentage in Blackburn itself will be lower still - yet I’d wager the vast majority of outreach is done in Blackburn. The lazy, complacent attitude you come to expect from this club.

[Lancaster Rover]

I see Waggot and Fraser Read have acknowledged (to some extent) they got it wrong on ST and looking at them coming down, also stating they viewed Watford as a success but took less money than normal. I find that hard to believe to be honest given the numbers that were there.

[MarkBRFC]

8 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

I see Waggot and Fraser Read have acknowledged (to some extent) they got it wrong on ST and looking at them coming down, also stating they viewed Watford as a success but took less money than normal. I find that hard to believe to be honest given the numbers that were there.

I imagine they have to throw that comment in there as a way of justifying to themselves the current prices.

[Bethnal]

27 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

I imagine they have to throw that comment in there as a way of justifying to themselves the current prices.

Honestly never been able to understand it from a supply/demand perspective. Supply is massively up for tickets, so drop the price. When demand increases, raise the prices in line with the demand. 

I get that there are lots of contextual arguments either way, but I’m confident a good atmosphere and matchday experience will trump a lot of the things they might suggest as threats to the demand

[Mattyblue]

41 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

I see Waggot and Fraser Read have acknowledged (to some extent) they got it wrong on ST and looking at them coming down,.

Let’s hope we have a decent end to the season then, as even if they reduce them significantly sales won’t be great regardless if the campaign carries on like this… though they won’t reduce them significantly anyway, I’d wager.

Edited January 18 by Mattyblue

[K-Hod]

3 hours ago, RoversClitheroe said:

What's the point of of these Fan Forums?

He doesn't get put under any pressure? 

Him saying we're small just shows his lack of ambition, did no one say "we are prem league winners with a massive catchment area, Bolton are bigger than us currently because he doesn't understand the fan base."

It wasn’t in the minutes, but when he said ‘any questions about the Liverpool legends evening?’

I did say ‘why’s it not at Anfield?’.

Seriously though, a few members get stuck in (including myself), I don’t think it’s quite in the remit of the FF to put it across like we would on here. 
That’s not to say he gets away easy, it’s impossible to condense everything from a sometimes 2 and a half hour meeting into minutes that need to succinct and to the point.

[MarkBRFC]

15 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

It wasn’t in the minutes, but when he said ‘any questions about the Liverpool legends evening?’

I did say ‘why’s it not at Anfield?’.

Seriously though, a few members get stuck in (including myself), I don’t think it’s quite in the remit of the FF to put it across like we would on here. 
That’s not to say he gets away easy, it’s impossible to condense everything from a sometimes 2 and a half hour meeting into minutes that need to succinct and to the point.

Best of it is, there's a Shearer night next month, and a Rovers legends night later in the year, at King Georges Hall.

Why couldn't these have been at Ewood?

[tomphil]

They are talking shite about Watford but Waggot has the same generic answer every time for these things.

There'd have been 3k home fans and half the number of away fans at best at normal prices but there were around 4k extras pitched up due to the pricing.  Take in added spend around the ground, shop etc and the taking can't have been much different, of course the team went and ballsed it up as is standard for Rovers these days.

[only2garners]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

They are talking shite about Watford but Waggot has the same generic answer every time for these things.

There'd have been 3k home fans and half the number of away fans at best at normal prices but there were around 4k extras pitched up due to the pricing.  Take in added spend around the ground, shop etc and the taking can't have been much different, of course the team went and ballsed it up as is standard for Rovers these days.

I'm pretty sure that the club are right and you're wrong here Tomphil. You're right that it wasn't much different, but it would be a bit less.

Tickets for the Watford game were quite a bit less than for a normal Saturday game. I would assume that it would have been priced at £25/£20/£10 as the QPR game is priced. For the Watford game it was £10/£5/£2 (ignoring the £1 for the Community Trust). So the average take per person is going to be well under half. My best guess would be say £6pp against £15pp*. Sure stop and concession profits would have closed the gap but I'm fairly sure that the total would have been "a little less" as in the quote in the minutes.

None of this changes the overall view from the club that the day was a great success and indeed another day is planned before the end of the season.

* That's my estimate, not based on any inside information, but in line with all I have heard over the years going back to John Williams' day.

[tomphil]

The main thing is double the walk up punters turned up that what would have at even cat C £20 quid so that is the whole idea of reduced tickets. They won't have ended up massively out of pocket and had the team done the job then a few more would have returned for the next one at full price.

Adding in the extra takings elsewhere in the stadium and shop it wouldn't have been far off balancing out.

[Upside Down]

11 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Swag answered it - ‘Other clubs are in larger communities’.

No ‘think big’ here. We are ‘small’ and that’s that.

Small thoughts from a small mind

[Mattyblue]

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/january/18/express-your-interest-for-the-first-ewood-express-of-2024-/
 

This is a prime example of it:

“Ewood Express provides new opportunities and a safe, accessible service for young people across the borough to join us at Ewood Park and has been a great success since it started.”

So if you have different coloured bins because you happen to live on the other side of some arbitrary drawn border we aren’t interested in you.

Edited January 18 by Mattyblue

[superniko]

21 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/january/18/express-your-interest-for-the-first-ewood-express-of-2024-/
 

This is a prime example of it:

“Ewood Express provides new opportunities and a safe, accessible service for young people across the borough to join us at Ewood Park and has been a great success since it started.”

So if you have different coloured bins because you happen to live on the other side of some arbitrary drawn border we aren’t interested in you.

Whilst I agree about the borough thing and the shocking input outside of BwD (I speak first hand from Chorley originally), I do think it’s a positive to have this scheme running….i believe it’s more Yasir Sufi than it is Waggot mind you. 
Reading some of the comments on social media are depressing “why carnt we av buzzes running from are local church too?” Some of these lads just need to grow up, such a backwards bunch.

Good work by those setting up - would be nice if they actively approached schools with the offer (not sure if they do?), I remember getting tickets through my school in Chorley early doors. 

[Mattyblue]

Massively important to engage Blackburn’s Asian community, no question. But Blackburn seems to be the start and end of the club’s outreach which is a very blinkered approach considering more and more of the fanbase lives elsewhere.

Though of course we don’t want to encroach on Accy Stanley’s patch or anything…

[Ossydave]

On 18/01/2024 at 13:17, Mattyblue said:

Let’s hope we have a decent end to the season then, as even if they reduce them significantly sales won’t be great regardless if the campaign carries on like this… though they won’t reduce them significantly anyway, I’d wager.

You're absolutely right, I've got multiple season ticket holders mates who are already saying no to next season as things stand.

There comes a point where people say enough is enough, this is stupid, this is a waste of money, this provides absolutely zero enjoyment. That's pretty much where I'm at the moment too and I have to say, I never felt like this during the Kean era. There was always hope that things could get better eventually back then. Right now, I'm not so sure.....

[Upside Down]

17 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

You're absolutely right, I've got multiple season ticket holders mates who are already saying no to next season as things stand.

There comes a point where people say enough is enough, this is stupid, this is a waste of money, this provides absolutely zero enjoyment. That's pretty much where I'm at the moment too and I have to say, I never felt like this during the Kean era. There was always hope that things could get better eventually back then. Right now, I'm not so sure.....

After 13 years we know that nothing is ever going to improve. 

[MarkBRFC]

Season tickets are a tough enough sell anyway for next season with the new TV deal kicking in and 5 championship games moving for TV every weekend. 

Add in the price, which let's be honest isn't going down, the terrible home record, venkys nonsense, a good portion of fans getting sick of JDT etc etc and we could be looking at less than 7k again.

[Mattyblue]

This is the problem when sales are so low go start with, it doesn’t take much in the prior season, be if results, be it Sky pissing everybody about, be it the general mess of this football club for sales to end up at levels that wouldn’t stand out in League 2.

[K-Hod]

I’ve got a dilemma myself, next season. I start work at 6am during the week, so mid week matches basically aren’t gonna happen, I’m getting next to no enjoyment out of it either.

Only time in my life I’ve not had a season ticket was the season under Coyle….

[Ossydave]

1 hour ago, Upside Down said:

After 13 years we know that nothing is ever going to improve. 

Yep, and I think that's hitting home for many at the moment. Perhaps the biggest frustration I have though is that any form of protest is a waste of time when the wankers have no interest in the fans, let alone actually attending Ewood.

[Mattyblue]

All depends on how we finish the season, plenty of home wins and a fair few waverers will renew in the end, for most it is all about what goes on on the pitch, and it’s not as if Sky have taken much interest this season to inconvenience the fans either.

On the flip side this home form carries on till May and we really could be looking at sales even worse than the sub 7k we sold in 2021/22 which I thought had to be the nadir - but no this ‘club’ can always outdo itself.

[rigger]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

All depends on how we finish the season, plenty of home wins and a fair few waverers will renew in the end, for most it is all about what goes on on the pitch, and it’s not as if Sky have taken much interest this season to inconvenience the fans either.

On the flip side this home form carries on till May and we really could be looking at sales even worse than the sub 7k we sold in 2021/22 which I thought had to be the nadir - but no this ‘club’ can always outdo itself.

in the wrong direction.

Edited January 20 by rigger

[Upside Down]

3 hours ago, Ossydave said:

Yep, and I think that's hitting home for many at the moment. Perhaps the biggest frustration I have though is that any form of protest is a waste of time when the wankers have no interest in the fans, let alone actually attending Ewood.

Protests are a good thing as it raises attention to our situation and most importantly, raises attention on the owners which is something they really don't want. 

The best thing we can do is keep the spotlight on them. Shine a light on every dark corner of their world.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Cant see Season Ticket prices coming down when we appear not to have a pot to piss in,cuts here, there and everywhere.

The product on the Pitch is bloody terrible tbh...I will be amazed if we sell anywhere near this Seasons total.

[Mattyblue]

If we have a barmstorming end to the season at home, coupled with a decent summer window then we could just about tread water.

But far more likely is that we don’t, and we then sell more of the family silver in the window - ergo perfect storm for a collapse in sales.

Edited January 22 by Mattyblue