Not the best picture but Luton had 7500 there upstairs

Yeah if needed it can go round the bend and into the main stand. Luton had nearly 8000 up there last season or season before.

If they've kicked off with 3000 allocation then they'll definitely be allocated in the gods upstairs. They won't have 3000 away fans pitchside. Infact I think that police/safety bods don't allow it there as that's why away fans are still upstairs when a Premier League rule says away fans should always be pitchside. They're the only club that got special dispensation as everyone else has had to introduce it. If however we don't sell very many e.g. only 1000 and Newcastle only shift 30,000ish then it wouldn't surprise me nearer the time for them to move away fans down to the bottom corner where they can be easily accommodated without needing to open the upper tier. I would however expect us to sell at least 1500 at that price, probably 2000, and Newcastle could well turn up in their droves at that price even though they didn't last time in the cup.

Doesn't need to be an either/or for me. If the owners are deciding to throw £7 million at teenagers that tells me there's plenty of money around for reinforcements whilst keeping the senior players at the club, if they want to do it.

I think that new deal is fair enough. His performances at the end of last season and so far this show that he can be an important player for us and he still has years on his side moving forward. Think they're pushing it a bit with the 'Commitment' line in an attempt to encourage more season ticket sales mind.

When I looked last you could get the train from Manchester to Newcastle direct going at 10am and returning at 10pm for £66 each. Not ideal and you'd have to get a taxi to Piccadilly (£25?).

In both of those cases, and Bradford too, the massive reductions were made following or during periods of success. Bradford did it shortly after promotion from League Two and their run to the League Cup final. Huddersfield did it ahead of Wagner's first full season and did all the promotional stuff with creating a singing section next to the away end. Forest did it following their takeover ahead of Karanka's first full season whilst throwing silly money at transfers so everyone expected them to be pushing for promotion. Not sure how cheap Forest have made their tickets but I know there's good deals there for young adults and students (better than can be found at most clubs). I suppose some could argue that Bradford and Forest have vastly greater catchment areas than we have to tap into but that doesn't explain the Huddersfield one where as you point out their gates were below ours the season before and then almost doubled. That's what good marketing does. I very much doubt Huddersfield limited their promotional material to posters round their town centre, they were pushing it all over the place in all sorts of ways to get as many as possible buying into it. No doubt a full house every week assisted them on the way to promotion and has probably, in conjunction with their time in the Premier League, resulted in a new generation of fans who will be getting into the habit of going every week. Financially they probably did ok out of it with 20,000 paying less for tickets but spending on food, drink and merchandise whilst there. Maybe it is asking a lot for us to go to those prices but the proof it there that it works. Sadly I think that the boat has been missed. The positivity of last season and promotion was the time to do it, yet we had no imaginative pricing, no serious promotion, delayed our sales window and put prices up by 17% whilst closing another stand. All things you wouldn't do if you were serious about significantly increasing crowds. You would have got them on sale as soon as practically possible, at the very least during the promotion run-in, at the latest of the Oxford game, you would have kept prices frozen or at most increased them ever so slightly, embark upon a significant promotional campaign over several months, and don't annoy people by shutting stands. I wasn't a fan of the DE as it was as there weren't enough people in but the result we've got with a cluster in the JW lower and it seems some no longer going to games is a poor outcome. People will respond to periods of success as Oxford showed. If this season pans out as expected and we finish mid-table that will be a success (in my opinion) but it isn't the sort of success that will entice people to flock to the ground. Promotion, play-off campaigns, significant investment and impressive recruitment are what makes people take an interest and bumping up prices rather than trying to fill the place up more appears to be opportunity missed.

Apparently Anderson pays himself £500,000+ a year in 'consultancy fees' from the club. Suppose it takes the biscuit then when the club can't pay staff wages.

https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/early-bird-season-card-deadline-is-today Adults in the North West, North, South and Family stands at Middlesbrough cost £397 for a full season. If I remember correctly our cheapest was £319 but that only applied in the Riverside stand. For the majority who sit in the BBE or JW stands it was £349. So almost £50 cheaper over the season. Not really anything to moan about I agree, but all it does is show we're in a similar ball park to others.

Blackpool have allocated Sunderland 7,800 tickets for their New Years Day fixture after their initial allocation sold out in hours. Rumours also that if they sell those they will make more available. Presumably Lancashire Constabulary will be insisting that the game is moved to 12 noon as that number of away fans at a ground is a safety issue? Or does that only happen at Ewood Park?

Don't think anyone would argue (Dack aside) that Mowbray has done a better job with those players already here than he has at bringing new ones in and integrating them. He has done very well indeed at getting more out of existing players like Bennett, Evans, Graham, Mulgrew and Lenihan than his predecessor(s). This can even be extended to general fitness as all appear to be fitter and more dependable than they were previously. E.g. I believe the run of games we've had out of Graham and Mulgrew has been nothing short of miraculous given their backgrounds and Evans is having a new lease of life and probably his most consistent run since he joined the club more than 5 years ago. Indeed Mowbray has also done very well at developing and progressing a few of the prospects at the club - specifically Raya and Nyambe who have progressed into mainstays of the first XI having been far from that before he arrived. But in terms of recruitment purely from a numbers point of view the judgment has to be at this stage mixed. Clearly the Dack factor skews the graph massively as the returns on him will offset everything else, and obviously the results are the ultimate measure of a manager and nobody will really care if every player signed is a failure as long as the results continue to be good. St Dyche at Burnley has dropped some real clangers in the transfer market for far more money than Mowbray has had yet people still think the sun shines from his backside as he manages to eek out results with what he has.

Going back to the red button issue, I feel the only way that it can continue without massively damaging attendances is if there is a rule introduced that states that when games are available via the red button or otherwise moved for TV then tickets are automatically heavily discounted to try and encourage people to attend. By significant reduction I don't mean a few quid off the price of a ticket, I mean half price tickets. When we are away at Swansea on a Tuesday night and the game is live on Sky then they should not be allowed to charge our fans £30 each to attend. It should be £15. If clubs complain about it then the League needs to remind them of the windfall they receive from Sky tv which covers any losses. The only obstacles to doing this are firstly greed, as clubs won't agree to miss out on extra cash, and secondly how to navigate round the issue of season ticket holders who would probably be upset at numerous games being offered for pro-rata less than they have paid, but I'm sure the brainboxes paid 6 figure salaries could come up with a sensible way round that. Failure to do so, along with continuation of the red button and Ifollow, even if restricted to domestic viewing and not in pubs and clubs, will cause extreme damage to attendances and long term numbers going to games. Are they that bothered? Probably not at this point as they're reaping the benefits of both worlds at present, but it won't take long for people to give up going once they realise how easy it is.

Maybe, but you can't argue that £7 million (IF TRUE) is a huge amount by anyone's standards in this league, and much more than most could afford to pay for a single player. So when people come on bemoaning the spending power of other clubs in this league I think that is disingenuous when most sides haven't been anywhere near a net spend of £10 million.

Yep. Lucky Notlobbers could easily get out of jail again this season with a target way below what we needed to survive. Also managed automatic promotion with a much lower total than we needed last season.

With 1 win in 21 games Ipswich should be virtually down already, but as it stands they are 'only' 8 points from safety, which is still a bridgeable gap given the poor standard of those hovering just above them. Reading and Millwall can't buy wins. If they can get through to January and be less than 10 points from safety whilst a tough ask they could still clamber to safety, though it will be tough and seems unlikely unless they can massively strengthen in January.

I'm 'obsessed' yet it was you who compared us to Sheffield United and Norwich by saying that they were better placed and more likely to get Reed on a permanent than we are. Daft systems like playing midfielders up front when Graham is injured rather than using the natural CF we paid huge money for. If Brereton is indeed a 'long term project' then what is the ultimate purpose of the project?

The bit about Graham is correct, I think we all accept that he is our number 1 and will be when he is fit. That doesn't explain why Brereton doesn't even get a look in when Graham is injured and we're playing all sorts of daft systems to avoid starting Brereton, nor why Brereton doesn't play in his favoured position when he does get his 15-20 minutes. I have considered the fee Southampton might want for Reed. I've said I believe £7 million would be enough to get him. He isn't getting a look in there and has been loaned out to the Championship for the last 2 years. Wages *could* be an issue as I've also said but again I wouldn't expect him to be on mega bucks given his background. The key is to get in there before the summer when others might be interested. Norwich had him last season and didn't take him back this so would they really spend a lot to sign him if promoted? You mention 'sadly' we couldn't match the fees Norwich/Sheffield United could offer. I'll come back to the Brereton deal. If we believe the £7 million figure to be accurate then by my reckoning that is more money spent by us on one player than anyone in the Championship last summer, with the exceptions of Stoke with Afobe and Ince, Middlesbrough with Aden Flint and George Saville, Leeds with Bamford and Forest with Carvalho. So only 4 clubs paid more out on a single player than we did last summer (if £7 million is accurate which it seems Mowbray has confirmed). 2 of those are receiving parachute cash. So if the figure is correct we are now among the big spenders for this league and certainly cannot bemoan a lack of cash or being unable to match fees paid by others. At net £10 million for the summer we blew the likes of Sheffield United and Norwich out of the water, along with many others.

Don't think it suggests people have an axe to grind with Mowbray, only that he's (allegedly) had significantly more money than most Blackburn Rovers managers and yet (allegedly) has decided to spend it all on a player he clearly doesn't think is ready to play, even when we're short in that position. At best it is a dubious policy of long term player development when all the focus should be on the here and now. At worst it is a significant error or something more bizarre. I'd argue that Bowyer signed Varney and Brown because he wasn't backed heavily by Venkys, and he was having to fill gaps with limited funds. In more than 2 years as manager he broke the million pounds barrier perhaps only once on Ben Marshall, so he had to recruit on the cheap and unearthed gems. People are scratching their heads because uncharacteristically Venkys appear to have sanctioned a major cash purchase and for some reason the decision made has been to go and sign someone the manager doesn't think is ready or good enough to play.

if we can afford to 'spend' £7 million on a project like Brereton and have the luxury of him sitting around 'developing' more than 3 months after his arrival then I'm sure Venkys can come along with £7 million to offer Southampton for Harrison Reed on a permanent deal, and I'm confident Southampton would be persuaded to sell him for that. That piece of business would be a 'no brainer' in terms of his ability, age, contribution so far and I could see him being worth an 8 figure sum in the not too distant future. I know it isn't quite as simple as that as we've to factor in wages and the rest but I very much doubt that sort of deal will be on the table. This is why I'm so perplexed by the Brereton deal. The money appears for someone who the manager doesn't deem to be anywhere near ready to start games for us and yet I doubt it will become available to buy someone who over the last few months has become a very important and versatile player and regular starter.

Surely if that history goes back over more than 130 years then it ceases to be overachieving and becomes the clubs level? Overachieving relative to history is Bournemouth in the top 7 of the Premier League. Blackburn Rovers in 11th in the 2nd division is not overachieving. Overachieving for us on the basis of the last 80 years would be a top half position in the top division, in my opinion. Who is below us in the table at present who you would say we are overachieving in comparison to? Preston? Wigan? Rotherham? Brentford? Bolton? Bristol City? Ipswich? All clubs inferior to ours in the majority of measurements.

I find it very odd that any Rovers fan would consider mid-table in the 2nd division as overachieving when history suggests that simply isn't the case. In isolation most people would be quite happy with a mid-table finish this season given the events of the last 2 or 3 years and of course we shouldn't feel 'entitled' to any better but as above, it isn't reason to have a party and it doesn't mean we're overachieving or punching above our weight. Since Year Zero barring a few brief aberrations we've existed at this level or above.

Ive got a challenge for you. Please can you find me an example of any other player in any league that was signed in a summer window for more than a million pounds, has had absolutely no injury issues and by mid December still hasn't started a league game. I can't think of one, certainly not at the level we're operating at. I expect you'll say that you aren't interested in what other clubs and managers have or haven't done but I find it very odd indeed. The whole saga from the moment we suddenly went in with a huge bid at the 11th hour has been suspect and I'm afraid when we're talking these sort of sums of money the manager's explanation is perhaps not satisfactory.

We've no chance of the top six. We draw too many and concede too many. We're a competitive side built on usually being hard to beat, but we're far too inconsistent to entertain top six ideas. Nothing wrong with any of that given where we've come from over the last couple of years and nothing to fear in this league as we have seen but you need to be more clinical, more ruthless and more resolute defensively than we have been to push on. I also think we need better options from the bench who can change games in our favour. That doesn't happen often enough. For me we're still playing the same way away from home as we were last season. Last season we got away with it most of the time because we were up against Walsall and Oxford, this season expecting this team to see out 1 goal leads is asking a lot. Reality check is that whilst we're still in a decent league position points wise gaps are appearing above us and those just behind us are closing in. Quite conceivably we could drop significantly over Xmas IF we struggle against the top teams. IF we pull out a couple of surprise wins then we could equally rise but even draws whilst good results will see us drift off the required pace.

In isolation a decent point but i suspect if the next 4 games pan out without a win we'll end up looking at this one as a big two points missed. We won't get a better chance to win at one of the top 6, and regardless of the perceived standard of the opposition when you've a man advantage for 70 minutes and take the lead it is always points dropped if you don't end up winning. Really in the last 20 minutes or so you wouldn't have known which side had 10 and which had 11. I knew at half time that the only chance we had of winning was if we got a 2nd. There was no way we were going to see the game out and get a clean sheet. Similarities for me to the Ipswich game in August. Did the hard part in getting our noses in front and got ourselves into a position where we appeared quite comfortable, restricting the opposition to very little by way of chances, then bang, the goal inevitably comes, we can feel sorry for ourselves about it being a 'fluke' 'luck' or 'wonder strike' but anyone who has watched Rovers regularly this season or indeed last would have expected it to come sooner or later. It usually does away from home, particularly late on as we tire and teams apply more pressure. We've got away with it a few times this season - at Stoke because we uncharacteristically had a cushion to fall back on and nearly threw that away, at Bolton because they're an appalling side yet we nearly managed to let that slip and at Hull who are also very poor albeit improving. Bristol, Middlesbrough, Swansea, Ipswich - away games we've been in glorious positions and then let valuable points slip. Alarming how many times Middlesbrough sent long balls down the middle from their keeper and ended up breaking through on goal, and really should have taken one of those chances. We never get in behind like that. We are very frustrating and at times difficult to watch. Particularly away from home. I'm not really bothered about which position we currently occupy, I want to get to 50 points asap. Those clubs just behind us could very quickly overtake us over the next few weeks if our points return continues in 4 tough games, 3 of which are against the current top 3.

It's on Newcastle's website so it needs to be the same for us. Hats off to both clubs for agreeing this. Newcastle are usually sensible with their pricing. I suppose for Rovers if there's 40 odd thousand on at £10 a piece it's still a good money spinner rather than having a home game or a lower league club.