Steve McClaren. Tried really hard. SACKED. Gary Rowett. Tried really hard. SACKED. And so on... doesn't save any man. Welcome to the results business.

Gorillaz - Kids with Guns

Fair point on the pubs, I’m more nit picking at the lack of variation of places for 18-25’s - nowhere near as big a problem as other things though! I drive past the Black Bull on my way back from games and have nipped in for one on occasions - deserves every bit of acclaim it’s had, great place.

I go to away games with a number of 18-25's who go to Ewood once or twice a season. One lad I go with (23) went to every Saturday away game last season, yet he only went to Ewood once on the last day vs Oxford. I think the last game he went to before that was Burnley. Call it fickle but recognise it's reality. Most people in this age bracket go to games for the overall experience rather than a 90 minute football match. Aside from the stuff on the pitch, that's our issue - the Ewood match day experience barely exists. If it DID exist we could make a significant addition to the crowd week in week out. Away from home for most 18-25's it's great. Spend a few hours with your mates beforehand, most having a drink. Have a good sing during the game etc, make some noise and proudly show off how much noise your town can make, often stay in the town/city for a few hours afterwards. It's a good day out and you get a right laugh for your money. It gets rinsed and repeated. Folk spend loads doing it all season because it's worth it. It doesn't feel like that for home games. The product doesn't equate to the cost due to the overall experience. A load of people realise that, especially after good experiences away from home, and turn a blind eye to going to home games because they can go and do something else more enjoyable, more worth their time and money. One issue, the toughest to influence - the area. There is not much worthwhile to do around Ewood before and after the game. There are only a few pubs within walking distance so the opportunity to have a good day out both before and after the game barely exists. On top of that the rather uneventful town centre is a distance away from the ground with awful public transport links so that doesn't help. Out of our control but a better train link would help that big time. Always said that going to Ewood would be much improved if the area with an Aldi/Maccies on was redeveloped, similar to a mini version of Middlebrook next to the Reebok. A few shops, restaurants/bars and even something like a cinema would attract more people and would make the day experience better. Go for food/a drink, watch the game, go and do some sort of activity/drink in a nice place and call it a day. But just like transport infrastructure, it's not something we can do a great deal about, unfortunately. (And we all know the inept BwD council don't give a toss, shown by their decades old blantant disregard for parking solutions and numerous other things, but that's a rant for another day). But there are very realistic things we CAN do something about, away from on the pitch, cost and council addressed areas, that other clubs HAVE done something about. One being the experience directly outside/at the ground... the fanzone is a bit of a gimmick, just a small bar under a tent serving up sunday league entertainment. I went to Bristol City away this season and they had loads of pop up food/drink areas directly outside the ground with decent music and so on. Everything was busy with a real buzz around (they weren't doing that well in the league at the time just to add). I've been to games in Germany where it was similar - grab some decent food and drink, mill about just enjoying the vibe around the place. The fanzone was a step in the right direction but we need to go one step further. These things are easy enough to set up and pay for themselves if done properly. Perhaps the key thing; the main turn off for most 18-25's is the atmosphere. I think it's been covered to death in this thread so I won't go in to it, but we really need to address it and at the very least designate a signing/atmosphere area. I know people who are embarrassed by how quiet Ewood is these days and won't turn up because of that. They would genuinely go if it was louder, it's that simple. Boro, Derby, Ipswich and many other clubs have CONSISTENTLY boosted their crowds by designating an area. Many clubs boost their crowds this way without serving up Premier League football. You can't just expect/ hope it sorts itself out when the atmosphere has got as bad is it is, you can't just say 'well they could choose to go and sit somewhere and sing' as that isn't realistic. Designating somewhere is cheap to do, just needs a bit of a marketing campaign. Ridiculously easy, baffled we haven't done it. These are quick wins that have proven to stand the test of time at clubs like us. The matchday experience for anybody above the age of 12 hasn't been touched. 'Looking at keeping the price of season tickets competitive to retain the support' what a load of non-commitall tosh. Don't act, don't get. As we've seen so often in recent history, we focus on little things and make a song and a dance about them when in reality we're standing still compared to clubs of a similar and smaller stature to us.

We're a long way off Derby. They've got a good balance, lots of experienced leaders (Carson, Cole, Keogh, Johnson, Huddlestone, Nugent) mixed with lots of young exciting talent (Wilson, Mount, Lawrence, Holmes, Bogle, Tomori). Looking at their bench from Saturday, not even their first 11, I think every player would walk in to our team at present. Think of our left back situation. Then realise they've got an absolute legend of a left back in Ashley Cole.... on the bench! Only saving grace is they have been inconsistent for years and always seem to have a slip up on the horizon. Hoping they have an off day and we can battle for a point or 3 although that's certainly more hope than expectation. Let's go out to try and cause them a few problems. Forget doubling up on below average deep lying mids, or playing crap 'defensive wingers' to cover the full backs to 'keep solid' as it has never worked and never will with the players we have. Would make logic with better players but it just doesn't with the current side. Raya Nyambe Lenihan Rodwell Bell Reed Evans Travis Rothwell Brereton Arma Not putting Evans in with a smile on my face but it's working with the tools we've got & see below point on Dack. Rest Graham & Give BB a chance in the central role to grab that goal. Reed and Travis to play a bit more advanced than usual but counting on their energy to get back and do some dirty work. Chapman as an option from the bench with a point to prove to their manager, probably for an out of form Arma. Would be happy to see him start though. Controversial but I think coming on off the bench (probably earlyish for Evans) will do Dack some good. Get a bit of fire in his belly, let him do what he does to let us know that he should be back to being the first name on the team sheet next Saturday. COYB.

Missed my first home game of the season yesterday so can’t comment on the game itself. But I refuse to believe we selected Bennett at number 10. Can’t believe my eyes. I’d play most of the squad in that position before him. What were you thinking Tony? Benno’s been awful all season offering nothing, particularly going forward. Last game at Villa he was the worst player on the park by a distance. Couldn’t do anything right. He gets rewarded by arguably playing the most important position on the pitch, a place he’s never played and obviously can’t play? An actual football manager put him there, thinking it would be the right move? There is NO logic to it. Really angry with that. Amateur. By all accounts he didn’t do well but even if he’d had the game of his life the selection would still be baffling. Tony you’re losing the plot pal. Sort it out.

Centre half is unquestionably the priority area, closely followed by a goalkeeper and a left back. Yes we need to add further up the pitch but the above 3 are utterly critical.

The Sky Sports Football League.

Doves - Black and White Town

I understand a lot of that message. We are where we probably should be and we're living within in our means. But to effectively say 'Don't question 4 points out of 30 because other teams would be happy with where we are' is silly talk. Fans have every right to question a really poor run; neglecting issues as with anything leads to further decline.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Dack and Rothwell playing similar roles next to each other from the start is definitely an experiment worth having.

Goals contribution would be very hard to replace. Even a change in system allowing players more attacking freedom or whatever wouldn't do it & you couldn't see Travis banging 10 goals in just because he's a few yards further up the pitch. Even harder when the focal point of our recruitment needs to be further back the pitch. Certainly don't need to sell just would be interesting to know our budget and how valuable the impact of a big sale would be towards bettering it. For what it's worth I would be keeping Dack; just interested in opinions on two very possible scenarios that will come up in discussion & will have to be thought about.

For once I'm actually expecting (more hoping for) a bit of positive variation, purely due to the fact it's a 3 game week. Rothwell and Brereton seriously brightened up a previously mundane approach at Villa, and Reed added more quality in midfield, so I'd like to see all 3 of them get the nod. Chapman won't start, that's a fact, but we might see him on the bench. Really looking forward to seeing him play again. But above all else NO BENNETT IN CENTRAL MIDFIELD (or anywhere else for that matter).

Obviously Venkys are still our owners and there's every chance they'd swallow any Dack money. But whilst there's a chance we could sell and invest on the playing side there's a discussion worth having. Plenty of situations make it realistic, Tony bluffing to walk if we sell and don't see any money, Venky's having a proper flirt at getting in the big time and so on... So being totally hypothetical on choosing whether to keep, or whether to sell and buy some new players with that money.... Really tough call. First half of this season I was firmly of the mindset 'we must keep if we want to progress'. The sell your best player and reinvest idea rarely works - we've had numerous examples obviously with Shearer standing out. However, In recent months Dack's influence has dropped massively. So much so that I'd argue if he doesn't start on Saturday, we wouldn't miss him on present form. On top of that there's obviously a chance that he could be poor for the rest of the season, not doing any better at the start of next season; that'd be a nightmare situation. Therefore there's a strong argument to sell and invest whilst he is worth a decent amount, particularly in a time where we're crying out for a few new positions. We aren't going to get the fantasy 20m but we could certainly still get 8-12m for him in the current market. At this level, with say 8 million, I'm sure we could bring in a goalkeeper, a centre back, a full back and a midfielder that would make us in to a much better team than what we currently are. On top of us being able to improve the playing squad, selling could also let us play a different differently. First with the 4-3-3 that has been mooted by TM this morning; Dack wouldn't fit in to it. Similarly there has been a number of occasions where we could've gone to 4-4-2 but probably didn't because we've felt the need to keep Dack on the pitch. I don't blame the manager for that. Last year it was imperative in the side and we were always better off keeping him in, however in a much tougher league it's more important to play your best system, to the strengths of the squad, rather than trying to accommodate one player; there isn't a player in the whole league that could break that notion for me. Don't get me wrong. Dack is still a quality player. I really like him and I want to see him stay and continue on a journey with us. But we've got to be realistic, considering the ambitions and mentality of the modern day footballer. Add to that the fact that his value isn't on an upwards trajectory, he's not on song, with questions regarding fitness and so on, there's certainly a decision that needs to be made for the good of BRFC.

Phrase. The Evans (The Ev-enz) - 'To receive the ball on the edge of the box with a clear sight of goal, shyte yourself, turn and play it square losing all attacking momentum'

It's critical he knows going in to the summer. Hopefully he knows in his mind what we will be moving towards, and the lack of consistency at times this season has been purely down to not having players available who can play the desired system. Back 4 then we probably need to sign a first choice centre back and an old school left back. Back 5 then we probably need to sign two first choice cenre backs and a totally different type of left wing back. They're both before addressing non defensive positions. If we are not precise and decisive, we could end up with further square pegs in round holes which we MUST avoid.

You allude to it, but those stats can be massively irrelevant. On Saturday at Villa, I saw our best player on the opta stats was Bennett. He was awful, stand out worse player by a mile for me. Similarly Corry Evans one season was rated as one of the best central midfielders in the league. At the time I couldn't remember anything he'd actually done. On Nyambe, I really like him. Season to season, since a howler of a debut at home to Barnet (I think) in the cup I think he's come on leaps and bounds. Granted he makes a few mistakes but he looks a lot more defensively solid than he did. The progress made, weighed up with his age, the scope he has for further development and his current performances/abiity for me totally justify his spot as the clubs number 1 right back. Unlike left back, in which we need to sign a new starter, I genuinely think we only need back up at right back. To stifle a 21 year old talent like him now when we have priorities elsewhere on the pitch would be needless and counter-productive, he can already play in this league and will only get better. Your point on the attacking sense does stand though. He does need to produce more. He is starting to burst further up the pitch getting in to decent positions when the game allows but the end product needs to be worked on. There is a team issue there though, with the midfield not contributing enough also.

Quite the opposite...

Oasis - Up In The Sky

Karanka's a bit mad? He's worked with mad men? Pull up a chair pal, welcome to the mad house

Wouldn't be my first choice but you haven't included Karanka - he's free and would be a good choice imo

Good point, wasn't my first port of call but I'd probably agree with a replication of that. You might well be right to say away fans being moved to a portion of maybe the JW, with the focused home singing area being the Darwen End Lower would be the best move. But that's stage 2 or 3 of the discussion. Stage 1 of the discussion, the topic of having a marketable singing section at Ewood hasn't even been had by the club yet, which is amateur.

Another big mistake came from that - not addressing the atmosphere issue. I wasn't overly fussed about the Darwen End moving, the criminal mistake within that was not designating a clear section as a singing/atmosphere section. If marketed correctly i'm sure N01 of the BBE would've been really successful as the 'traditional end' I grew up in awe of. If not N01, there are loads of options whether it be the BBE upper, JW corner, Riverside corner of wherever. With clear comms we would've made a fist of it rather than letting 95% of people interested not bother, and leaving 5% of them to congregate in an area with not enough bodies to make any noise. We neglected the situation and have been left with an even worse atmosphere. I think I'm correct in saying only 2 clubs, Leeds and Preston brought comfortably more than half of the capacity of the Darwen End. Leeds are bound to go up and none of the relegated or promoted clubs would be expected to fetch more than 3000. So it'll be even more pointless next year. If we had left the ST holders in the Darwen End they would've had to move less than any other season in the last decade bar league one!

Bolton at home on Easter Monday is Category A. Not saying it had to be dirt cheap (I'm a ST holder so don't want the value to be undercut) but with people off work, and this being the penultimate home game against local rivals we had a really good opportunity to pull in a larger than usual crowd. But most importantly, with the season petering out with nothing to be excited about, this was the last chance to get bodies through the door to sell the product as well as we can before next season. Do we want to shift any season tickets??? Anybody deciding to walk on on the day will have to fork out £27-£34. On that alone we've wiped out the chance of pulling in a decent pool of folk waking up with a free day who may fancy a mooch down to the football. This is an end of season game in the second tier. Both sides in the bottom half of the table. Category A in my mind used to be playing a top 4 Prem side. On this topic, it's one step forward, two steps back.