When Preston come to Ewood and take 6000+ in the Darwen End you can bet your bottom dollar that a large chunk of that lot don't go on Deepdale very often and are just on the bandwagon for a derby day out on the lash with mates. Happens at a lot of clubs. Doubt a lot of the Leeds mob that came to Ewood are regulars at Elland Road. West Cumbria Whites and Carlisle Whites probably turning out in numbers because Rovers is easier to get to for them than most and it's one of the few where they can get away tickets. Some people would prefer to spend £500 quid a season cherry picking 7-8 attractive looking away games and going out for the day with mates when it suits them than they would on a season ticket and being 'tied' into going to all the home games to get their money's worth. The challenge is shifting that preference by making home games more attractive and enjoyable. The club can ill afford to do things that upset or antagonise existing supporters yet they seem to have established a knack at doing that over the last 4-5 years.

So he's definitely not going anywhere in January. But IF he goes for £25 million then Mowbray HOPES a SIGNIFICANT wedge of that will go on new players. Likewise Mowbray HOPES Dack doesn't come to him and tell him he wants to leave. Doesn't really get us much further does it? If an offer of £18 million comes in and Dack wants to go there's little chance of Rovers holding out for £25 million, and even less chance that most of that money would be reinvested straight back into the team. Anyhow, the frenzy is now in full swing as January approaches. Why do I get the impression it suits Mowbray and Waggott for this circus to be in town for the next 6-10 weeks?

Did Rob Coar have ANYTHING to say tonight?

It really is strange the way they're looking at it. Waggott seems to be tasked or at least has taken it upon himself to try and move the club in the direction of self-sustainability and reduced reliance on Venkys, which sounds great but is very difficult. The basis of this obsession is on the number of fans coming through the turnstiles, yet even the biggest supported clubs at this level - Villa, Forest, Derby, Wednesday - have only spent what they have due to massive investment from their owners. Prior to their takeovers they were hard up despite big gates. Norwich have sold numerous players for big money to fund their crop such as Murphy and Maddison. Yet we were told over the summer that Mowbray had to put the brakes on with Venkys as they were getting ahead of themselves after promotion, we saw them apparently spend £7 million on a teenager and we're told tonight that if we're in the pack come January they expect Venkys to pump more in. So none of that stacks up with sustainability or reduced reliance on Venkys. Infact, the Brereton deal, whilst welcome investment, probably outstripped all of Waggott's 'efforts' to increase receipts in one swoop.

The only way of ending the benefactor model is by getting to the Prem or by a massive player sale every couple of years. Isn't going to happen by a few thousand more fans 20x a year. That applies to ALL clubs in the Championship. Even those getting 20000 a week need owners to pump cash in.

Wigan won League One, until recently were neck and neck with us in the Championship, yet their crowds have stood still, and I don't think they hiked prices or booted home fans out of their seats. Point being we aren't alone in these challenges. The towns and the smaller catchment areas all face similar issues.

Hmmm. One or two bits I picked up on. I noticed Mowbray mentioned that the owners probably don't feel they've done much wrong as they chuck their £25 million a year into the club. Firstly, the reason they were chucking such amounts in was to cover their own mistakes and errors. Secondly, I sincerely hope that they aren't putting that amount in any more. If they are after all the cutbacks and wage reductions we've had there's something wrong somewhere in the financial management of the club and we're going to get screwed with FFP. I suspect Mowbray is, once again, exaggerating quite a lot, like he has on numerous occasions including when mentioning other club's support and what he thinks we can get. References to the 'old days' of Division 2 are about as relevant as references to the 1950's. Both ancient history in football terms. Crowds in the 80s were the nadir in English football and even the likes of United not getting that many on. Comparing what we got in 1985 to what we get now doesn't mean much. Football has a different audience and is a different 'product' to what it was then. It appears we're currently 'only' 1000 or so away from Waggott's 'break even' attendance. I don't see that distance as insurmountable but the progress and professionalism of the last 12 months needs to be sustained and worked on over a prolonged period. We've a lot of damage to repair and a lot of ground to make up when compared to rivals who haven't gone about insulting their own fanbase for 7 years. I believe with some hard work that figure should be achieveable. It is a slow, multi-year process. Waggott hasn't been here long, nor has Mowbray. It is ok isolating the success of the last 12 months and saying the fans should be doing more but you can't look at it that way. The fanbase have been burned numerous times before so it is baby steps. I'm not believing a corner has been turned as it will take more than 12 months of positivity, especially after what happened under Bowyer. So no use wailing at this stage. Knuckle down and work your socks off to grow it gradually year on year and keep people coming back. Closing stands and bumping prices up won't do that. Not sure precisely what he means by 'break even'. I'm assuming that means the cost of opening Ewood and hosting the fixture rather than covering all the salaries etc. for the club. No reference that I've seen to the nonsensical 12noon kick offs but then again we've heard it all before.

Yeah, I'm not suggesting that they are going to get that every week. Next game they'll probably be down to 14000 again with less than that actually turning up to watch. Point was that even when the football is dross and the club is struggling a bit of creativity with prices and publicity and the people will come, even to evening games live on TV, whereas maintain the same old £25+ pricing structure and they won't.

I agree that central midfield is an area we need to strengthen in coming seasons. At the moment we are well stocked, but that's with Reed who is only here until the summer, Evans who is out of contract in the summer, and Rodwell who is out of contract in the summer. Both Evans and Rodwell have long histories of injuries which thankfully haven't been an issue really this season. But it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that come June we'll have no Rodwell or Reed, and perhaps even Evans if his deal isn't sorted. For me question marks remain on Smallwood. Don't think there's any intention of playing Bennett there regularly. Rothwell still an unknown quantity certainly starting games at this level. Davenport, well who knows what's going on there and what that one's all about. Really you need at least 4 natural CMs who are up to it. At the moment we have that, just about, but that hinges upon Evans and Rodwell keeping themselves fit. Agree it isn't a priority at this moment in time, but it could be come the summer.

I'd be delighted if our home game v Preston was moved to Saturday tea time for TV. First because I'd prefer a kick off at that time to 12 noon. Second because it would crush all these excuses about safety and the like trotted out by Rovers and the police. The minute Sky come calling with their £100k or whatever it is safety suddenly isn't an insurmountable issue. Amazing isn't it.

Ipswich are now expecting 21-22,000 for their game v West Brom tomorrow night on Sky. Almost 10,000 more than they've been getting on home games recently. They're bottom of the league and are on a record run of home games without a win. So why are all these people suddenly turning up for a live TV game? Only one answer and it is very simple - £10 tickets and a good promotion of the offer.

Well North End are missing a few players for this one. Maguire out until next year and Johnson out too.

I remain suspicious that the blue used on our home shirts is the same blue used on Man City's shirts and the reason we've ended up with it is because it all comes from the same factory. In principle I've no problem with us using the sky blue from time to time to change things up, there's no rules as far as I'm aware on what shade of blue we use only that it is blue and white halves. We're quite limited with what else we can change other than the sleeves, and in an era where merchandise sales are pushed and pushed it probably makes some commercial sense to try and mix things up and offer something different every now and again rather than retaining exactly the same shade and template every season. If we look at our badge, or certainly the version currently used on Sky Sports, the blue used is pale, plus there's lots of yellow writing and lines. So strictly speaking the colour on our shirts probably isn't too far off the colour being used on our badge at present.

Highly unlikely Preston will require the full Darwen End this time unless they suddenly go on a fantastic run and end up pushing for the play-offs. Can't remember for definite but don't think they filled it last time they came, it was 6000 or so. Like with everything else the novelty wears off. First time round they'd just been promoted and it was their first visit to Ewood in about 15 years. It was a family day out for them and they got nearly as many turning up at Ewood as turn out at Deepdale for league games. It will still be THE day out for them this season but plenty will have been there and done that on the last couple of occasions. Anyhow, seems Rovers are expecting them to fill it as they've already decided it is to be a noon kick off. So yes, it will be on TV and probably Category A at £25+ a ticket. Seems a bit daft asking fans about 'commitment' when making it so unappealing to turn up.

Exactly. If they maintained some consistency with it they might convince me it is reasonable and necessary, but the fact that as soon as Sky/BT come calling the whole thing is dropped shows it up for what it is. No use bleating and wailing about numbers of home fans when two of your most attractive home games are being unnecessarily shunted to inconvenient kick off times and are being broadcast live on TV as a result. Less of the posters asking for 'total commitment' from supporters and more questions asked of the authorities and decision makers in these things, who are well paid to ensure games take place without trouble, of which there have been many over the years.

My view on it too. Simply inconceivable that the same police force could assess 5500+ Rovers fans drinking around Preston all afternoon to be perfectly acceptable yet a similar number of them going to Blackburn is a major risk that demands a noon kick off. Ludicrous.

Don't supporters help put the agenda together? So not really that surprising that attendances feature on it. 3 reasons attendances haven't gone up as much as they could/should/would have liked: 1) Not putting season tickets on sale until the last minute, missing out on potential sales during the success of last season 2) Putting prices up 3) Annoying people by closing home sections, then claiming it is done to make it more convenient for home fans when really it is all about making it easier to get more away fans in.

Their behaviour towards the end of Bowyers tenure is precisely the reason I refuse to be taken in by a 12 month improvement since last year. Things have unravelled very quickly from a position of relative stability and strength under their watch before and whilst we are almost all quite happy with how things are at the moment you must have selective memory to overlook what happened not long ago and blindly believe a corner has at long last been turned.

I've said for a long time that primary school children in BwD should be It seems Waggott, Cheston, Caley and co. take home the same salary if we've got 12,000 on or 20,000 on home games so they won't be awake at night worrying about it. Waggott and Cheston are tasked by Venkys with reducing losses and increasing revenues so as long as there's evidence of progress on that front in the books that they can produce at the annual summit meeting - losses down and income up - then they'll be happy. The quickest and easiest way to ensure that is to bump up prices for those who can be relied upon to attend whatever the weather and to roll out the red carpet to away fans as they will come with no effort required from Rovers. Caley is tasked to ensure matchday runs smoothly without any serious issues. 11000 turning up all on the database is easier to manage and much lower risk than 20000 turning up from all over the place, drinking to excess and not being on the all important database to be tracked down. The difference with Stanley is that it is Holt running the show and his back pocket money comes into and goes out of if less people turn up, so he might well lose sleep over it.

I can see where the aggrieved clubs are coming from. Given the atmospheres and entertainment value and even quality of football the product on offer in the Championship isn't far behind, in some cases is even ahead, of many fixtures and clubs in the Premier League, yet those clubs receive vastly greater incomes for ultimately putting on a poorer show. Recent televised games such as Cardiff v Burnley, Fulham v Huddersfield and Cardiff v Brighton were no better than anything you would see in the Championship, yet those clubs receive mega-cash just for being in the Premier League rather than the Championship. The problem I have with it is by bumping the Championship up closer to the Premier League, whilst improving the balance sheets for Championship clubs, is only going to see the gap between the haves and have nots grow, and the gap down to League One and League Two will become massive, which I don't think would be good. The Premier League won't want to know as they won't want to agree to anything that will see their pot diminish or anything that will take away any of the artificial 'mystique' of the Premier League by bringing another division closer to it in stature. It would dilute the prestige of the Premier League. I'm interested to see how this one works out, hope there's plenty of fireworks and the EFL and Sky are made to squeal.

BBC once again substituting 'biggest support' for 'best support' as though the two are the same. Just because Aston Villa and Leeds have the 'biggest support' doesn't mean they have the 'best support'. An Accy Stanley season ticket holder is every bit as good as a Leeds season ticket holder, just because there are more of them doesn't make them any better.

Ipswich are doing the same and are selling tickets for their game against WBA for £10 or £15 an adult (can't remember which).

Yes I read that yesterday, very good piece

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46282788 Part of me wants this to kick off big style to see how far it goes. The red button thing has set a dangerous precedent for me and if true that clubs are concerned about it but have been ignored whilst Harvey and his associates steam ahead and sign the deal it just confirms my long held suspicions about what has been going on.

Do Stanley put a surcharge on their tickets on matchday?