Or perhaps to realise the Premiership wage bill is simply too high and to reduce costs accordingly. The PL clubs all know their wage bills are too high, approximately 80% of Sky money goes to the players and before Chelsea came along where beginning to address the issue. If clubs are concerned by falling attendances and want to reduce prices accordingly they will have to address their costs. The problem is players will go to the highest paying league, if the PL becomes unattractive to Sky through players leaving the income level will reduce etc.etc.

cletus is being very open about his position, I don't think anyone can call him for that. I have STs in the family stand and I think they represent very good value. I still maintain if one can attend most games an ST is the answer to rising prices, the club have got this right. I'm with cletus, on a walk-on basis I would have stopped this season purely for economic reasosn. Without STs our little group would not have gone yesterday. I have to pay for three tickets, which would have been £70 in the Riverside or £88 in the FS. This simply does not represent value for money. On Saturday the same group went to Lords for £90 (£62 on tickets, £28 on the train!) which represents far better value for money than 90 minutes at ANY football ground. I don't blame the club for the position, the PL in general is responsible for this ridiculous position. Football has been marketed as a family event, which is fine by me except it does not charge family-friendly prices. I can list probably 30 things we can do for the same or less money, the big difference being as a one-off comparison the football stands up, as a regular event it is ridiculously over-priced. The problem is footie is 25 times a year, not once a year. I'll pay £70-100 for a family day out on a one-off event, something special, but not for something that's on my doorstep 25 times a year and television every night. Sunday I wanted to see the Stones in Sheffield, in fact I turned down a ticket because I wasn't sure I could leave Ewood at 5.45, get the kids home and still get to Don Valley in time. Something had to give and I chose Rovers over the Stones, it was probably my last chance to see them live. If I was a walk-on fan I'd have gone to watch the Rolling Stones.

No you're quite right. Apart from McCarthy's chance we didn't give Cech anything to do apart from take his usual long, slow walks to collect the ball. We had plenty of good performances yesterday, Emerton (MOTM) - why has it taken three years to discover he's a right back? - Bentley, Neil, Zurab realy deserve mention. We certainly played better than against Everton but created only one chance, however I really enjoyed the game. What worries me is our lack of creativity. It's been said by the manager, and on here, if we continue to perform like this we will win more than we lose. So it's going to be a fantastic strike rate for McCarthy/Roberts, lots of 1-0s and 0-0s? I don't think so, if we don't make more chances we will not score enough goals to win games. I can't decide if Chelsea were poor, we stopped them playing or Mourinho knew we'd go at them and decided to just frustrate Rovers and wait for the chance which was always bound to come? I'm leaning towards Mourinho knowing exactly what was required to stop us playing. Am I the only one getting tired of Savage running round like a lunatic until he finally catches up with the ball and makes a challenge? He desn't have a defined role in the team, and needs to be given one. At 19338 the attendance looks very poor on paper but I think we can be encouraged to say around an extra 2000 turned up. Against Everton I think we had around 15,500 for the home support, yesterday it was probably 17,500, meaning 2000 people thought Chelsea worth £36 but not Everton?

Yeah it was really hilarious......pretty much what we've come to expect

Even better than that ... 1 in 4

I think the games are played on the 14th and 28th September............personally I shall drive to Edinburgh

Rovers are in Group 3 for today's UEFA cup draw at 12.00. Seeded: FC Schalke 04 (GER) AC Sparta Praha (CZE) FC Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS) Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) Blackburn Rovers FC (ENG) Unseeded: Heart of Midlothian FC (SCO) AS Nancy-Lorraine (FRA) SV Sulte Waregem (BEL) FC Salzburg (AUT) Randers FC (DEN) All the groups can be viewed at http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/n...sId=448958.html Message Board discussion is here

Give us a chance, my C&P isn't that quick!!!!!!!!!!

Rovers are in Group 3 Seeded: FC Schalke 04 (GER) AC Sparta Praha (CZE) FC Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS) Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) Blackburn Rovers FC (ENG) Unseeded: Heart of Midlothian FC (SCO) AS Nancy-Lorraine (FRA) SV Sulte Waregem (BEL) FC Salzburg (AUT) Randers FC (DEN) We'll get Hearts

I think that is glass half full Hughesy. Everton had the darwen End, capacity 8000, and I think it's 5000 in the lower and 3000 in the upper. The lower was full as was half the upper = 6500 or thereabouts.

By the time I'm strolling down Livesey Branch Road I'll be expecting a cracking performance from the Rovers. Attacking Chelsea with aggressive yet fai football. 2-1 ROVERS I fear for the crowd, I'd suggest London team, on Sky, poor Everton performance, £36 - less than 20,000

I never have, and never will but on some occassions you want to because these yobs were behaving so badly. Bumping into older folk, looking to wind up the younger element, trying to catch the eye of fans walking home quite peacably etc. etc. As I said bunch of wasters

...........and I missed 2 Stones tickets by £2 on ebay

Before I get started.......Emerton had one of his best games for us. There I've said it, and it didn't hurt much I wouldn't. Last season we could stroll down to Ewood with a real sense of anticipation, good football and a real chance of winning. Which is exactly how I set out last night. In the first half we had periods of excitement, entertainment and good chances for Rovers. We played too much long ball, so we clearly don't have a midfield maestro available without Tugay, but it was creating opportunities. This lasted for around 20 minutes and by half time the game was going nowhere. Five minutes or so in to the second I was feeling very bored and dreading another 40 minutes or so. Everton are absolute rubbish, have been ever since Moyes arrived ( I really don't understand why he is lauded by the media), and Rovers were struggling to bring any real quality to the game. Then up pops McCarthy with a really excellent finish to sweep away the boredom and spark some enthusiasm. Sadly we failed to build on that goal and paid the price late in the game. Everton deserved nothing and we sent them away with a gift-wrapped point when they should have been easily beaten. I do hope last night's long ball was an aberation, I can't deal with a season of this style. I was very disappointed in the team performance, and feel Hughes got the subs wrong. There was no need to make a change at 1-0, the substitutions, IMV, cost us the game. Jeffers came on because we were playing Everton and Gally because he's been promised a game or two. Bright spots in a sea of mediocrity were Bentley, Roberts, Emerton and McCarthy. We don't look anywhere close to as fit as last season, there is no excuse for that, the players should be fit. We can do better, we must do much better. There were only 15,500 home fans at Ewood and if we want a few more to turn up the football is going to have to be a damn sight better than last night. We had 17000 for Fulham last year, presumably only a few hundred from London, so it looks like we've lost another 1000 home fans already. £36 for last night's level of entertainment was ridiculous, the fans voted with their feet. Will they return? Overall very disappointed with what I observed last night, on and off the pitch.

Not in the ground but on the walk back to the Water's Edge car park we enjoyed the company of five Everton fans. Clearly spoliing for a fight they looked to wind up, irritate, bump into or get a response from anyone they could. It's not often I feel like responding but last night I was close. Bunch of wasters

te average is £370

I get this from time to time if I've been busy. I ring up and ask for the charge to be removed. If they refuse I ask them to review my record (which is very good, full payment every month). if they still refuse I point out I'm an exemplary customer and do they want to close the account? Works every time. My experience is that if you have a good or reasonable record both banks and credit card companies will respond to this sort of call. Both mine have a policy of allowing one free late payment per year, but you have to ring up and ask. The one that really makes my blood boil is NOT showing bank charges online. I manage all my bills, banking, credit card, phone, etc on line. I never receive a bill these days it all comes by e-mail and works really well. Except the friggin bank. I do all banking online and don't read the bank statements as that can be checked online. One month we exceeded our overdraft and got hit for £120 in charges, which the bank took the following month BUT gave notice of on the paper statement for the previous month. As I was banking on line it was therefore a month before I noticed these. I phoned to complain only to be told because I hadn't complained within seven days I couldn't get a refund. After a very heated conversation around the point that if I am encouraged to bank online all the information must come that way I eventually got a refund but it was hard work.

I'd agree. I bank with Abbey and if I transfer money between my own accounts the transaction is instant. If I make a payment, to say my credit card, provided the online details are provided by 5.30pm the payment is made the following day. This is very good by comparison with other banks but still slow by comparison with paying with a CC online.

Money and cooperation. It's not as though Spurs or Villa will pinch our fan base, Bolton would be another matter.

Pompey 1 Rovers 3 McCarthy 2, Roberts 1

Team: Friedel, Mokoena, Neill, Todd, Gary, Reid, Bentley, Savage, Gamst, McCarthy, Roberts. SUBS: Emerton, Kugi, Jeffers, Gallagher, Brown

No, none at all. Pure speculation on my part, though I have been told other PL clubs do look closely at Rovers, hence my theorising.

Pure speculation from me on this particular point. It's generally regarded within the PL that events at Blackburn Rovers will be reflected at other clubs in one or two years. Equally Rovers are well regarded for their forward thinking in many areas. Rovers have been feeling the cold reality of attendances for a couple of seasons and there is now evidence this is happening for the majority of established PL clubs. Average attendances will probably increase this season or at least stand still because of increased capacity at OT and Arsenal. I predict now that come the end of the season, if one could adjust crowd figures to refelct increased capacity, the overall trend will be downward. I hear nothing but complaints from fans, I never hear anyone saying "Great we're going to start watching the PL live." Adding extra thousands at two grounds will merely skew the figures and allow the PL media machine to continue to churn out the usual tripe. Whatever the public stance the PL have a very serious issue to address on attendance, the person who can solve this will be worth a lot of money. The relevance of the above is this; I would not be surprised to learn the FA, PL and Sky view Blackburn Rovers as a test case on this issue. All parties have serious interest in preventing illegal broadcasts, breach of copyright, etc. The reasons will differ but the interest remains mutual. I don't think Rovers and John Williams are standing alone on this, I'm positive the PL and FA are right behind the club and we will see action against local pubs.

Well first off is it necessary to spend £20 on beer & food just to watch a football match? Second it's £27 in the Riverside. Which cuts the cost by half. I know people want to go in the BBE for atmosphere, on the other hand I'm getting ready to move our lot into the Riverside because the view is substantially better.

I applaud John Williams for finally speaking out and grasping the nettle on this one. On seeing the headline I bought the LET immediately and I can't argue with any part of the story. In particular I like the last sentence in the LET Opinion column: By the same token, those 'fans' who 'drink in the action' outside Ewood on the cheap need to weigh up whether they are doing the right thing by the team they presumably purport to support. Rovers: pub screenings are hammering us