For the sake of clarity I think we must have some comment from the Board and/or MH. IMO Lucas is a fine player and excellent athlete, in his early years with us his positional awareness was naive, but he should NOT be dropped as he is one of our best defenders. But we need a more fitting skipper until the Admiral returns. I have been impressed when he has played centre half and with our current frailties in that area and Bert's fine form at RB I'd play Lucus there. Does anyone disagree that his position as captain is untenable?

Indeed, Duggie, Ronnie, Noddy & TP all fine examples of players who in the past have shown magnificent loyalty to BRFC, you could even add SG & Faz to that list. These were still in a minority with many dissatisfied players seeking a move, however they just got on with it and were shipped out. But all from a bygone age with maximum wage, dictatorial Chairmen and pre player power. In the current age we have, transfer windows, agents, multi-media, the world wide web with players having their own websites and quotes being sought from an insatiable media. In my view it's intolerable for our club captain to make such public statements and he needs to wise up. Something which BRFC IMO needs to address, NOW by appointing a new interim captain. I can understand and applaud MH's attempt at trying various methods to persuade a very good player to re-sign, but it must now be seen as unsuccessful. Please Ryan get fit soon!!

We need a response from the club, either the manager or the board, soon! This situation where our club captain makes statements like this does not help matters especially with the current "feel good" surrounding the club. This cannot be allowed to continue. I know loyalty can no longer be relied upon and you could suggest that it never has, in the past it was kept under wraps. In my view player power highlighted in such a manner only disheartens supporters more and provides excuses for non attendance.

No, this is wrong!

I don't think it serves any purpose for aybody on this messageboard getting precious with each other, as if you post on here I'd suggest it's taken as read that you "support" BRFC. The questions for supporters' discussion and the club's consideration are "how do you increase our gates", "where have the missing supporters gone", and "why won't they come back when we are playing well and we are realistically in our highest position in the league". Lets face it the income from gates is less important as it's imperative to achieve premiership survival as this pays the bills. As ST holders we can pay roughly the same for our tickets, sit in a half empty stadium and object to initiatives from the club to entice missing fans. Hence the problem facing the club is that it would take a monumental decision to reduce ALL ticket prices with consequentially major financial risks in order to fill our ground. Otherwise you alienate the ST holders. It would appear from the offer to freeze ST prizes by renewing in April, no such radical plans are on the cards. I hoped that they might at least move the family stand and create cheap season tickets & matchday tickets to create more atmosphere. I'd suggest that the club are playing it safe. It's probably easier for Gordon Brown to balance his budget than BRFC!

I've heard on the grapevine that most of the major local pubs who have been showing live footy on Saturdays at 3.00 have this week been issued with a letter from Sky (who have exclusive rights in UK) warning them that they face fines of up to £20,000 if they are caught. I think this may scare off a number of the landlords. Also from another source that this was at the instigation of BRFC.

Yes indeed a fantastic post by Tris and the sort necessary to provide meaningful debate on this integral theme. However I would not share the 100% faith in the actual staff at BRFC being able to deal with the necessary resulting issues. I do at Board level and would add that in John Williams and Tim Finn we have excellent men working hard to provide direction. However the staff below them are frankly average. May I give an example? Perimeter Advertising boards at Ewood Park and BRFC’s marketing department. The club deal directly with the main national advertisers but sub-contract the other boards to advertising companies to sell, although they do not make this point clear. Last year this was performed by a company over in the Fylde and this year by one in West Yorks. My firm was contacted and I agreed (with this being the first corporate sponsorship at BRFC) that we would have a board last year. Putting to one side the resulting atrocious service which manifested itself in our board not being in place until way past the start of the season with the Man U game being missed. From that day until last week, when the West Yorkshire firm contacted me to enquire if we’d be interested in having an advertising board, nobody from BRFC’s marketing department has bothered to make contact with us to see if we were happy and whether we might be interested in any other corporate sponsorship! I have found this staggering that BRFC have a local business who are obviously interested in supporting Rovers but no one has even contacted us, missed opportunities? I’d be tempted to say that it was Conference standard, but that would be unfair on Stanley who in my experience are better than BRFC in the marketing department.

Yes I have noted BRISA's recent newsletter, I did mention this in my first comment on this subject, although I'll reserve judgement about the club actually monitoring this effectively! I’ve read the various posts, BRISA newsletter issue no. 2 and noted the Chairman’s remarks in the annual accounts concerning our falling attendances and wished to propose a couple of alternatives for consideration for next season. I’m sorry if I’ve gone over points already raised. As regards the assumption that cost was the only factor, I'd agree and did mention earlier that there are many reasons why we have missing home fans when we are currently serving up an excellent product. But as it does seem to be the major reason ex regulars give for no longer going, I thought it may be beneficial to consider what alternatives may be available to dispel the notion one way or the other that cost prohibits people attending. Thought provoking for consideration to address this issue, or otherwise lets accept that our 30.000+ ground will only have a 50% home capacity with no chance of The Riverside ever being re-developed.

I appreciate that there are many reasons why our gates are down, but just looking at what many consider the main factor, cost. What is the impact of failing to get missing home fans that may be cost sensitive to attend Ewood? Apathy has a tendency of spreading into many areas which might continue if not addressed. Do we think that the main reason for the missing fans is due to cost? If we think the answer is yes and we want to do something about this by offering cheaper tickets to them, I would imagine we could not afford to achieve this without also having a negative impact on the overall matchday income, which is I would suppose completely unthinkable. Hence any radical change must look at the affect this would have on the overall ticket pricing policy. Decreasing the cost of home matchday tickets in any other area of the ground excluding the upper B'burn end would impact on the matchday ticket price, we are compelled to charge the same amount to visiting supporters. If the average home fans attending in a season could be increased by only 3,000 at £15 per head, this could generate at least £855,000 of income. So it is rather more than stiffing Man U fans to generate £100,000. I’d agree that it would be a major upheaval for regular supporters content with their seats. I think I did mention that hopefully regular supporters might be tolerant in view of the attendance problem and a degree of tact and diplomacy might be required, something which the powers that be down at Ewood can sometimes be lacking! I too am all right “Jack” (Roversmum) in the Jack Walker lower tier, but should we not be looking at the bigger picture? As regards the smoking issue, I think we might find that the new legislation concerning smoking in pubs etc… is the tip of the iceberg, with employment law ultimately affecting employers such as BRFC banning smoking completely, in order to head off any resulting actions from employees who have worked in smoke filled areas. However could a portion of the concourse be sectioned off into a no smoking area?

Indeed sneaky, at the expense of many visiting supporters who are used to the concept of £40 ticket prices. How many times have we balked at the cost of tickets at away grounds? Would the typical away fan know the actual price, because the home tickets would be advertised with the exact same face value but cost the member say 75% of that shown. Sneaky might also be considered shrewd business! Yes a season ticket holder in the JW lower tier may pay more for their guaranteed regular seat in a prime part of the ground, as compared to the top tier of the B'burn end behind the goals. I'd agree that a balance must be found. The amounts were chosen as merely round sum amounts for ease of examples. Just some thoughts to try to generate some meaningful dialogue from us the supporters to rectify our attendance issue. I do appreciate that there are many reasons which have turned off many supporters; not least the overpaid prima donnas; the over exposure of the product on tv's whereby virtually every game can be viewed by many local pubs; tightening of spending in the entertainment sector whereby since last year people are watching what they spend.

I’ve read the various posts, BRISA newsletter issue no. 2 and noted the Chairman’s remarks in the annual accounts concerning our falling attendances and wished to propose a couple of alternatives for consideration for next season. I’m sorry if I’ve gone over points already raised. The major issue facing BRFC is increasing revenues to facility a reduction in the wage/revenue ratio, without affecting major wholesale price rises to the regular home support and also increasing volumes (attendances). In light of the disappointing reduced gates in a season to date that has been so successful, a radical rethink to provide a solution should be considered, which all loyal supporters should look at dispassionately and with an open mind. Increases to home ticket prices? Well on the whole most of the remaining fans will accept increases for success and entertainment at home, but this will not fill the empty seats. Obviously many have reacted to below average performances in the 2003/04 & 2004/05 seasons and voted with their feet. Once out of the habit of going to home matches every other week it’s easy find other things to occupy that time. We must accept that demographically we have areas of deprivation that precludes potential home support and part of any solution should look at addressing this. Increase visiting supporter’s prices? We must be one of the cheapest prices in the PL, as a result of our relatively lower priced home matchday tickets. Lets look at ways to increase revenues in this area in order that we can continue to discount home support prices. Possibly also enabling the club to offer more ways to encourage home support. Is it true that we must offer the same priced tickets to visiting fans as a similar seat in the home area? E.g. a matchday seat in the lower tier B’burn end must be priced at the same price for a visiting ticket in the Darwen end lower tier. Two possible alternatives: 1. Membership scheme. Make a really concerted effort to facilitate a successful scheme that encompasses a wide spread of membership. This will involve cheap and easy application, with a benefit of say a 25% discount on matchday prices. We could then sell matchday tickets at say, £40, that cost the members £30, with the result that visiting supporters matchday tickets are £40 with no discounts. Do BWFC have a scheme such as this which is successful? 2. Cheaper tickets in a specific area within the ground for home supporters. Linked to this, a pre-match cash turnstile. The obvious area is the B’burn end upper tier as this has least impact on the effect from mirror visiting matchday prices. Offered at a standard £20 fee, which for members equates to £15.  This obviously impacts on the family stand which offers excellent value for families and was fairly successful initially. I would suggest that of late from my view for this season it would appear to be only 50% of capacity at best.  Relocate family stand en bloc to another area that provides similar standard of facilities. I’d suggest the Jack Walker lower tier B’burn end side. Riverside stand attendees benefit from a side on view and a discounted price to Jack Walker stand, but obviously have inferior standard of facility.  The negative impact of this is; a small loss of revenue (corresponding adult ticket is currently £34 as opposed to £32; displacement of ticket holders in JW lower tier; displeased affected ticket holders resulting from both sets of supporters who currently may be happy with their current seats.  The positives would be; increased home support and demand that does heighten the overall product/experience and might provide an antidote to the current apathy; family stand members will obtain a better overall product adjoining the home bench and alongside the pitch; B’burn end upper tier may have the possibility to attract, perhaps let me say “a vocal element” that increases the home support volume. Achieving this would require a degree of diplomacy from BRFC, but hopefully a positive response from the majority of supporters who can see that a problem exists may be forthcoming? For the record I’m a season ticket holder in the Jack Walker lower tier Darwen End side.

May I just add an observation on Graham Poll, our alledgedly leading referee and nominated FIFA official? I think his refereeing style is ideal for matches between the "big" teams (eg. Chelski v. Man Ure, Scousers v. Arse, [please note my omission of Brum & Spuds]) in the Premier League, Champions League and Internationals, as I do consider him to be a good referee. However in games that include these "big" teams against other opposition he appears; too friendly and matey with the players and management, willing to look for any excuse to give a major decision in their favour. Why might this be, self preservation for his lofty position as England's leading official? Or is this just paranoia? On a similar vein, Robbie Savage. With him already being on 9 yellow cards in the past three matches, has he become the victim for the opposition team players to target him? We know he loves the attention and is probably one of the biggest wind up merchants going. Smith in the last 2 games, and all the Notlob players have looked to spark a reaction. All credit to him for not responding. Perhaps Reidy or Toddy might just take a yellow card next Wednesday and kick Smith 10 feet in the air. On reflection could I add, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy, Ferdinand, Gary Chuckle to this list please?

Great performance by our team in keeping possession and driving them back for them to defend deep. However with our passing game comes the risk of a sloppy pass or being caught on the ball, especially on such a poor surface, that at the end of the day cost us with the two goals conceeded. Interesting to hear how important the Man Ure supporters felt the Carling Cup is to them. How things change. We have improved significantly and United are nowhere near the side they were. That's why with a fit Dickov and Bellamy I feel the result may have been different. Bradley was awesome, good performances by Reid, Savage, Nelson, Zurab, Neil, Bentley, I was disappointed for MGP but has he set the bar too high in his other performances. I'd not wish to criticise Shefki as his effort can never be doubted, how bad actually is Bellamy's hammy? Is the slightest twinge in his head more than than his hamstring? What effect would 1 quality striker (McCarthey?) have upon this current team, surely it would take us onto the next level. Although with our attendance's and finances is it wise? Anyway, onwards and upwards, a result on Saturday and then lets really stick it up them next Wednesday!

I think in general sense must prevail if you are a visiting fan in the home area. Being a season ticket holder in Jack Walker lower tier you do come across visiting fans and as long you keep things fairly relaxed, friendly and perhaps consider what you are wearing, you can have some good banter. How it used to be and still should be. Of course there are exceptions in parts of most grounds, but in the main I've found that if you engage with the other supporters around you and don't wildly celebrate when Rovers score, despite perhaps wanting to, no problems. There are visiting grounds where of course this does not apply, Elland Road for example, you need your bumps feeling if you go anywhere near here on matchdays!! But as I said in my original post, City are I'm sure, extremely tolerant and understanding. If anyone objects I'll check if they were at Ewood on 7 May 2000!

10.45 am. Just spoke to ticket office, they've contacted MCFC and no further tickets are available. I suggested that JW intimated at the BRISA meeting that more tickets might be obtained, "news to us in the ticket office, perhaps you might ask JW's secretary". I've been offered 4 tickets in main stand, so look out for small pockets of Rovers fans dotted around the stadium!

Complaining......? I'd suggest most people were merely commenting in the hope that the powers that be might realise when performances improve to the highest level in recent seasons, combined with the locality, fairly reasonable prices and a break in fixtures may well lead to increased interest.

Very frustrating, I'm a home season ticket holder who selects 3/4 away games each season and dependent upon; our current form/locality/cost of tickets/neanderthal level of home fans (e.g. I'd never visit Leeds again!). A few mates agreed before the Charlton match that if we continued playing well we'd meet in the Bulls Head and catch the train to Manchester. As then happens your waiting for one or two to confirm that they want a ticket, we then get the OK that everyone's up for the trip and plan to nip down to Ewood to get a dozen tickets and then you find out it's sold out!! Doh! It's probably fair that someone who only occassionally goes away doesn't get a ticket at the expense of someone who hardly misses an away match. I'll ring the ticket office to enquire if an increased allocation is likely. I may even try City as they shouldn't have a problem with visiting supporters in the home areas (7/5/2000!).

I've just heard a rumour (no idea if it's true!) that the best supported club in world, with the most passionate fans have only sold 2,800 tickets to date! Combine this with other topics concerning falling attendances. Great North Run on Sunday and £6 on Sky. We're selling them tickets at £30 with concessions. Only 20,000 at Ewood on Sunday?

It gets better, that tool Lawrenson has forecast a Bolton win! That's a nailed on 2-1 Rovers victory, Thompson, MGP & Jaidi or some other 6 foot plus Notlober scoring from a set piece.

This is an excellent post by Scotty. There's obviously a book in him.