Just after the 7.ooam news on Five Live it was announced Randy Lerner has made a £62m bid for Villa. Interested parties now have 21 days to come up with formal counter bids. Stock Market opened at 7.00am today. Lerner Bids for Villa So that's the Birmingham franchise in place

What's it like in the Riverside? I'm thinking of moving there for the season.

I don't have, or want, Sky

Enjoyed the game which Rovers controlled throughout although Brad did have three decent saves to make. Very impressed with the Mccarthy/Robers partnership, to state the obvious, they must be the first choice up front. After this game I'm in the lost one, gained three camp. Last season if Bellamy was out we were looking around for a striker, if Jeffers proves OK, and there was nothing in his play to suggest which way he'll go, we now have three. NZ were poor opposition, not bad, just a lower standard and we'd have been disappointed if Rovers had not won comfortably. Lucas looked comfortable enough at centre-back, Gray was fine but I'd reserve judgement on Mokoena at RB. Reid was up and down the right doing a lot of work, and would have been my MOTM. Savage ran around as usual and put in 2 or 3 crunching tackles which upset the NZ boys. Overall the team looked fit, passed well, moved for each other. Looking forward to Everton to see if this can be carried through to the PL. Sat in the Riverside this afternoon and really enjoyed it. Any regulars got remarks about this stand as I'm now considering moving there for the season. Does it get a lot of wind and rain? We're very well protected in the Family Stand.

I don't see it as I'm alright Jack. I'm saying the club have priced an area of the ground at a level which allows fans to pay roughly £5/week to watch PL football. Just what else are the management to do? I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion we have a section of support that would not turn up if it was free.

I'm probably wrong as I don't fully understand, or for that matter care, how the Sky packages work but I reckon the Sky Sports footie package is £34 this year, Still can't afford a season ticket at Ewood Park? Chuck out the Sky dish. Easy isn't it?

Excuses, excuses, excuses all I hear about the attendance is friggin' excuses. You can get an ST in the Riverside or JW Lower for £270 (and we all know in the Riverside you can move anywhere you want), that is: £28.89/month on direct debit or roughly £7.20/week Over 12 months it's just over £5/week I save for my STs, am i the only supporter who has a financial budget? It's my guess 99% of those who do NOT attend Ewood simply use the price as the excuse. I'm told every time Rovers are at home (and on Sky) Blackburn pubs with Sky are rammed with fans. It's pretty bloody clear to me what the issue is. Beer, pure and simple beer. I really find it very, very difficult to believe the vast majority of stay-aways can't save £5/week to fund watching the Rovers. That's THREE pints of beer, big, big sacrifice. There are lots of comparisons one can make, and I agree £36 is a ridiculous price for 90 minutes footie, daft, plain daft, but that is the going rate. Don't blame Rovers for this situation, it is the PL as a whole that has created the current climate and it is the PL as a whole which will feel the cold wind of reality soon. We simply see it in Blackburn first, mark my words. You can watch Blackburn Rovers play football for £5 per week. If you support Blackburn Rovers you should be there, plain and simple. The club have provided every possible incentive and the majority still whinge and moan. If you can afford to booze, you can afford an ST.

We have four STs at this address and they arrived 1, 2, 1 so I don't think alphabet comes into it.

ABBEY if you are registered with the official site and/or registered to buy tickets online all the usual details can be changed online. I've just checked both my accounts before posting this and it can be done in a matter of moments. As far as I can recall all ST holders where sent account details sometime ago, possible repeated in April, and this gave us all the chance to set up our accounts. If you haven't done this I'd have to say it's down to you, not the club. For the official site just click My Account on the left hand side of the front page. For Online tickets go to Tickets/Book Onlne/Log In and then Update Account. If you are not talking about either of these, what is it you want to change?

I've personally offered to meet the drummers to discuss the situation. My thought was to find a compromise that suited those who like and those who hate them. it's unfair to post the ideas I had on the matter. I didn't get a response.

Thank you. I’m not sure you’re right though. For me there are two truths connected to pricing, not just at Rovers but every club. The game changed forever with the advent of Sky (it could have been anyone), when that happened our game was taken from us and secondly, I feel Rovers have thrown in the towel on attendance. The issue is now how to maximise revenue A few short years ago we had heroes, now there are no heroes in our house. I'm not blaming Shearer, but I'll never forget the heartbreak he caused. I knew he was going, with every goal in the Euros it became more obvious. On reflection that was the day the game began to die for me, I couldn't trust the players anymore. For decades the clubs needed income from the support, now it is important but far less so. When Sky came along not a single PL chairman had the vision or courage to recognise what would happen in the future (isn't hindsight wonderful?). Fabulous (now obscene) money was given to players. Lets not forget approximately 80%, yes that's right £80 in every £100 or £28.80 of the £36 you paid to get in, is paid in salaries at most clubs. This money has created an enormous divide between fans and their team. It’s a gulf too great to be bridged. The relationship between fan and player has been severed. We are fed insulting pap in the media every day and expected to believe. Pull the other one, I’m not daft. I switched off years ago, I haven't a clue who plays for who these days. I can't name another PL first choice 11. The game is dead. Can we get it back? Unlikely, a generation has been lost, football is now entertainment, so entertain me (and why not, £28.80 of my hard earned has just been given to that bunch on the field), it's a business that takes commercial decisions to maximise income. That is where we are today and why I feel Rovers have thrown in the towel on ticket prices. Commercially it makes sense to charge your highest prices to those willing to pay, while retaining the core customers. So how to do this? In April offer an Early Bird scheme, reward those who commit to a full season. Publicly the club demonstrate how competitive Rovers are. I have no complaint about the total cost of my season tickets. Maximise match day income by categorising games on the basis of travelling support. Clubs with a large travelling support will become A+, add a couple of big name London clubs and state it’s based on “entertainment” value. Reducing the Everton price by £10 would not make one jot of difference to the attendance; therefore the price is £36. The fans we need are in the pub. Why? I don't know, it's beyond my comprehension. A Rovers fan should be at Ewood. If you are making a genuine protest, as cletus is doing, fair enough, but if you're in the pub downing a gallon of beer, twenty fags and a carry out please don't tell me you're a fan or bleat about prices. Thenodrog is right, Lancashire United will happen. I will not watch it, but it will happen. Glazer has a franchise in Manchester, Abramovich has London, some American wants Birmingham, and another foreign owner has Portsmouth. It isn't far away, but unless it’s called Blackburn Rovers, plays in blue and white at Ewood Park wild horses wouldn't drag me. Look at Chelsea it's not a foorball club anymore. The only answer is for fans to boycott games. It may be starting to happen, I'm not sure I could do it, well not until we are supporting a bus company. Tired of it? Yes. Sick of the money in the game? Yes. Got your tickets for New Zealand? YES

As this topic has started to become a ticket prices discusion and there is the Everton Price thread running I've merged the two. I have some thoughts which I shall add after Corrie!

......this may upset the good people of Wales...........Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham

That's my whole point ABBEY. Going to Rovers happens at least once a fortnight, or it should, whereas these other things are one-off treats. Football clubs, not just Rovers, are found of comparing themselves with rock concerts, theatre tickets, meals out, Alton Towers etc. The comparison doesn't stand up as these are things we do occassionally, football is a regular event and as such is too expensive.

BTW, discovered over the weekend Rovers are offering a Young Adult Disabled ST. The TO tell me this isn't new, though I wasn't aware of it. To cut a long story short Young Adults in receipt of Disability Living Allowance are entitled to an ST at £143 instead of £205 in FS, a bigger discount elsewhere in the ground. If you weren't aware of this the club will refund this season's price difference. Just take proof of DLA to the ground and talk to the TO.

Worked it out now, after junior spent sometime soaking it before applying to arm. Suspect it won't work in the car now

This is a recurring thread, why don't the contributors actively do something about it? The drummers do their bit to support the Rovers week in, week out. The only folk who express an opinion are those who are against the drummers, we rarely hear of any support for them. If there are fans who feel so strongly about this issue and who think it is harming the club's support why not get up a petition to have the drummers moved/removed? Of course this would mean standing outside Ewood before every game collecting signatures, perhaps collecting signatures during the game, on the concourse at half-time. Obviously this requires some committment I'm not keen on the drumming but I'm full of respect for the drummers. What they do week in, week out is demonstrate real committment to the cause. Don't think for one moment they aren't aware of the comments directed at them on here.

The Young Rovers pack arrived this morning.....nice to know I still qualify Contains the same two posters, a tatto transfer, ST wallet, badge and a Mark Hughes face mask!! I wonder how many of those we'll see round Ewood on Saturday.

Agree with much of what Glenn says, although the charges are too high considering it is all system generated. The first thing that passes through my mind when I read of people reclaiming £000s is just how on earth did they get charged that much? Charges are what £20 on average? So a £1000 bill means the bank was ignored on 50 odd occassions. If this results in the end of free banking for those who play by the rules, I hope those who continue to break the rules pay even higher charges, In our house we work on a budget; total income less out monthly goings, divide result by 4 to give the weekly spendies. It's simplistic and works, I'd guess we get a bank charge about once a year and a CC charge much the same, usually for late payment, which is an oversight on my part

A passing thought. This game is A+, to price, because the club are hoping for 5000 scousers to cough up an extra £11 over a Cat B game. Fair enough, I understand the policy. Two points on this, Everton are rubbish so no Rovers are going to view this as a must see game. Second, and of real importance, the word will be out in the pubs that it is now £36 to watch Rovers. Casual fans won't say "yes but it's only £25 for Reading", the word will simply be £36 to watch Rovers. First game of the season? Bad timing.

I don't disagree with you SG194, merely pointing out the vale of the ST, even greater if you take a junior/child. I've posted many times on here regarding ticket prices. I feel £36 to watch any game, in any ground is a ridiculous amount of money, it simply doesn't represent value. OK I will stump up £50 a ticket for a semi or final, not because I feel it's value but I have no choice. To date it's been possible, generally, to defend the club's ticketing policy, personally I feel it is now impossible to defend. ST packages represent fantastic value for a family, match by match pricing is now unaffordable for most people. This season I'm just paying for two kids as the eldest is earning enough to buy his own, if I was paying on a walk-up basis it would be £88 against Everton - we would not go at that price. We've decided, not sure why as we've never been before, to watch Stanley when Rovers are away. Not every game but when we fancy it, the main stand walk-up price will be £35 for our little group. I appreciate all the arguements about quality etc but a local family wanting to watch live footie are more likely to take the kids to Accy than Ewood. The cost of watching football on a walk-on basis at Ewood cannot be defended and personally I can no longer be bothered to try. I expect gates to collapse this season, whatever Hughes achieves on the pitch. Not going abroad on holiday this year as we have too much expense around the house. Things the family will be doing this summer include, (2 x adults, one x 17 years, one x 14 years), each of these lasts a lot longer than 90 minutes: C&G final ~ entry and train travel ~ £88.50 (only 3 for this) Chester Zoo ~ £43.18 Alton Towers ~ £92 (less if we include the disabled discount) Trentham Gardens ~ £39 Edinburg Festival ~ don't know but it wont be £36 each!! Alnwick Castle ~ £29 Football is too expensive, gates will fall, hearts will bleed, fans will whinge about Sky etc. There is nothing left to say or do on the subject.

Loyalty Plan ST = £435 = £22.90 per game Full Price ST on D/D = £492.20 = £25.90 per game. I appreciate it's difficult for some folk but an ST is now looking like very good value for regular supporters. If you don't have one, try to sign up asap.

No, though I have the usual healthy respect for them! The eldest delights in picking them up, mainly to show up his father. The middle one is scared of them and the youngest says he doesn't like them. Now my wife is terrified, more so than I of spiders as I am capable of dealing with a spider (glass and post card job), of moths and daddy-long-legs. I have to catch them and throw them out the window. None of the kids are frightened by these, though they don't pull the legs off as I used to.

On the odd occassion we get charged a fee, which is usually £20 per item for exceeding the overdraft limit, I find a swift phone call to the bank results in the fees being refunded. It's the people who don't speak to the bank who get hit hard. Equally I'd agree the charges are ridiculously high, it's just a computer system, doing what's it's programmed to do. Long gone are the days when my bank manager wrote to me and called me in for an interview to discuss my student overdraft. He gave me £100 loan and then offered me a job to work on his garden to pay off the loan!!! Great guy Mr.Thompson

Given the situation I'd have been out of that car faster than you can imagine. JHC that's horrific. You can't imagine how that makes me feel from 12,000 miles away. When I was very young my dad was clearing out the shed, I was helping. Dad runs screaming out the shed, only to be sent back in by my mother with orders to tackle the huge rat he'd left me to play with!!