I heard today that we had only sold 500 tickets so far! And todays result his hardly going to help is it?

We have been beaten by a very poor Newcastle side. A side we out played for an hour. However, they had Shearer and Owen we had Bellamy (clearly lacking match fitness) and little else. The goalscoring problem has not been fixed. Man U next.

The figures Gordon are based on the equivalent matches from last season and so don’t include matches involving Wigan, Sunderland, West Ham, Norwich, Crystal Palace or Southampton. Yet there is still a drop of 7%. Why? Reasons put forward for a drop in the Premiership include a lack of competition, Sky TV, boring tactics and of course money. Well nobody could say the Championship is predictable. Any team could come up or go down. TV? Well Sky cover a lot of games but the majority of matches still kick off on a Saturday afternoon or a Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Boring tactics? Again doesn’t really apply as most games are arguably more entertaining. So the bottom line must be money. A bit like in the Premiership the supporter seems to be fair game. They are squeezing us until the pips squeak.

A lot depends on how you collate the figures. The Premier League prefers to cite occupancy rates, pointing out that its clubs operated at 94.2 per cent of capacity last season, compared with 82 per cent in Germany and 70 per cent in Spain. On average, Italian grounds were a little more than half full, with the Coca-Cola Championship boasting a higher aggregate gate than Serie A last season. However as well as Premier League attendances being lower The Championship are struggling even more. So far this season gates are down over 7%.

I was reading an article yesterday about the alarming fall in attendances in the Premiership and Football League. Comparing 34 matches played so far this season and excluding games involving West Ham, Wigan and Sunderland attendances are down by 4.5%. The biggest fall surprisingly has come at Manchester City who following up a good season last year with another good start have seen a fall of 4,800 on attendances so far. Next come Middlesbrough who have experienced a drop of 3,500. Bolton following UEFA qualification have also seen a drop of over 2,000 per match. However the Premier League seem to be adopting a typical “bury our heads in the sand” attitude. When asked about the figures a spokesman said: “It’s far too early to draw any firm conclusions, but the Premier League remains one of the best-supported in Europe. Since our first season, in 1992-93, standards across the board have risen and we have witnessed a boom in interest that has seen attendances grow by more than 68 per cent. We’re operating at a very high level and will work very hard to try and sustain it.” A survey recently suggested that the main reason for the current apathy was that the league had become increasingly predictable. Before a ball is kicked we all know the clubs who will fill the top three places and in all likelihood the three promoted teams will face a hell of a battle to remain in the league. This leaves the rest of us to get enough points quickly to stay out of any potential relegation battle, look for mid-table respectability or European qualification. And the clubs expect us to pay top dollar to watch it at strange kick off times decided by TV. Wake up.

129 to win. On paper easy, but a couple of quick wickets and .

Said through gritted teeth Don?

Spot on Lee. England win the toss and bat.

Talking of one-eyed Don it could be worse, at least we don't have to put up with the awful Bill Lawry.

I must admit I was not looking forward to todays game. In fact upon arrival at Ewood I was convinced the best thing I would see all afternoon was the Peter Jackson advert in the matchday programme. How wrong I was. We were treated to two of the best goals you will see in a long time. If the first one was good (which it was) Tugays strike was even better. What a difference a week makes. After the doom and gloom of 7 days ago there is now a spring in the step. Oh and step forward and take a bow Lucas Neill. That was his best performance for a long time. Now, if we can get his compatriot playing as well we are laughing!

On the subject of commentators the website cricinfo along with Wisden Cricketer magazine have been running a poll for a TV dream team. The results were; Commentary 1st VI Votes % of votes Richie Benaud 10128 85% Michael Holding 7048 59% Geoffrey Boycott 6973 57% David Gower 5842 49% Mark Nicholas 4941 42% Ian Botham 4854 41% Commentary 2nd VI Votes % of votes Mike Atherton 4736 40% David Lloyd 4571 39% Nasser Hussain 3133 26% Simon Hughes 2806 24% Bob Willis 1802 15% Dermot Reeve 1463 12% Paul Allot 1266 11% Must admit I would put Athers a little bit higher, but it was no surprise that an astonishing 85% voter for Richie.

My prediction; Ponting to play at captains innings. Draw.

An Aussie complaining about "over the top appealing".

The defeat was bad enough but the sending off has made the day complete. Just as we wanted to start the new season with a clean slate and prove to the London media that they got us all wrong last season and we are not really a dirty side Dickov gives em more fuel for the fire. Why, why, why? Was it because we had just gone 3-1 down? Was it because he had been left on the bench and so thought he had a point to prove? Or was it because he is simply an idiot?!

According to John Williams in todays LET we are 1,000 down on last season. 700 adults and 300 juniors. But he says the ticket office are still receiving applications every day. A good result this afternoon will help.

Equally Don If OT turns out to be the dust bowl that many are predicting means the bowl will rough up very quickly. This will then aid reverse swing. How will the Aussies face up to Flintoff and Jones bowling at 90mph with the bowl swinging in late? Should be interesting!

In the last two tests against the Aussies at Old Trafford Warne has picked up a total of 17 wickets! In a Championship match recently Gary Keedy was turning it square on the first day.

Back on the subject of Rovers finanaces I read a feature in one of this mornings papers about shirt sponsorship and it makes very worrying reading if it’s true. Whilst we would not expect to be rivalling the “big clubs” in terms of cash for having a companies name on our shirts it would appear Lonsdale are paying a relative pittance to the club. The figures; Well as you would expect Chelsea top the league raking in a massive £13.5m from Samsung. Man U get £9m from Vodaphone and Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle are clearing between £5m-£3.5m. Tottenham get £3m from Thomson, Villa £1.5m from DWS and City receive £1m from Thomas Cook. Where do we rank? Well sadly joint bottom with West Ham. Lonsdale pay us £300,000 per annum. We are left way behind the likes of Fulham, Birmingham, Boro, Bolton and even West Brom, Pompey and Wigan. Worrying.

How lucky? Well let’s see; First innings 68 with the bat and 3 for 52 with the ball. Second innings 73 with the bat and 4 for 79 with the ball. It was also noticeable that when the final wicket fell Flintoff went straight to Brett Lee and shook his hand. So as well as being lucky he is a top sportsman as well.

That has never been in doubt.

The Stranglers - No More Heroes or anything by Leonard Cohen.

Didn't Coventry put 5 past us at Ewood 92/93ish?

Big problem with Flintoff is that he has hardly had a bat all summer so far. You can forget the one dayers I am talking about "proper cricket". He has only played one game for Lancashire and playing for England against Bangladesh he did not get to bat at all. Something else England need to be wary of is the bowling workload on Flintoff and Harmison. The way England have been successful of late is by using Harmy and Fred as "strike" bowlers then bringing on Giles as a stock bowler to give them a rest so they could return later refreshed. The Aussies were aware of this a simply knocked Giles out of the attack. Harmison and Flintoff bowled way to many overs and at this rate will be knackered by the end of the 3rd test.

I've been reading an article in one of this mornings papers about the cost of Premiership football this season, and its getting scary. Some of the findings are; Tottenham after a decade of absence from the top 8 in the league will on 6 occasions charge £70 for a ticket for category "A" matches. Other games deemed less attractive will fall to £51 and £41. Prime seats are only available on a season ticket at £1,350. The most expensive in the Premiership. A ticket for a category "A" match at Upton Park will cost £53 only £1 more than the most expensive ticket at Arsenal and significantly more than Chelsea. A season ticket at West Ham will set you back £745. Chelsea themselves will charge between £45 and £48 per match. The cheapest tickets in the league are at the JJB. On 8 occasions an adult ticket at Wigan will cost just £12. The article also pointed out that a monthly subscription to Sky Sports will cost you half the price of one match watching Spurs at White Hart Lane. Food for thought.

According to some of this mornings papers Cole is wanted by Man City.