Spot on - my team exactly. Not a single person in midfield who can tackle. Don't start again, son - you're starting to really get on my nerves. I've kept a dignified silence up to yet following your calling me a clown a few weeks ago for what I considered valid comments about the lack of a decent crowd for the Sporting game. If you remember, you got personal. A bit like the other day when you shot down the lad who asked for the Blues opening time tomorrow and then tried to pass it off as sarcasm. Everyone is entitled to their comments and opinions without having to feel ridiculed by other members of this board. If you can find time to stop slagging off Graeme Souness as per your recent posts you could then devote more time to conducting yourself in a more appropriate and constructive manner.

Spot on - my team exactly.

..........nottehodene..........hmmmm

Much worse, unfortunately the limp bit comes after the stiff bit unless you have a large supply of viagra.......

Saw a blonde guy outside Ewood today, looked really tired, said he'd been signing stuff all day. Invited him to the local for one or two and he's feeling a bit more energetic now. Anyway, I'll put him on........ "Hei, Morten her fra Tromso......jeg elsker Rovers..." Seems a nice lad but he keeps asking where all the snow has gone. Got one hell of a limp also.

It's picking the bones from the article herb refers to earlier today.

Whilst season ticket sales are poor, if we can maintain average home support of say 20,000 be they season ticket holders or those that pay on the day, it will be a good ongoing achievement. I was looking in the Mike Jackman book the other day with regard to the early 60's. The 1963/64 season was a good one with Rovers finishing 7th in the top flight. The attendances left a lot to be desired. Some were good, Liverpool 35k, Man Utd 37k, Everton 35k, Stoke 30k, Burnley 27k. However there was an almighty drop to other home games, Ipswich 10k, West Brom 12k, Fulham 13k, Birmingham 14k and so on. The following season 64/65 was even worse, with the last home gate being 9k and even the Burnley Derby attracting only 15k. All this a far cry from promotion a few years earlier and the first season back in the First Division when we averaged 30k and had many gates in the 30/40k bracket. It can be seen that once the novelty of being back in the Top Flight wore off, many folk only turned out for the big games, although the 1960 Cup Final tickets fiasco won't have helped. Today's fans at least turn out week in, week out (more or less) so 20k home supporters irrespective of whether they're season ticket holders or not, is pretty darned good in my book.

- Ronnie Clayton - Brian Douglas - Tony Field

I am now totally P1ssed off with this 'Riverside go early' myth. I sit on the Riverside and contantly see the revered Blackburn End supporters streaming out way before the end when we are losing. The only difference is that the Riverside has a large area where early leavers can be seen easily. Get your own house in order before you criticise others! Al - I was a Darwen Ender/Riversider in the 60's. I was a Blackburn Ender in the 70's. I was a Riversider in the 80's and 90's. I am a Blackburn Ender again now. The 2 smiley thingies signified that it was a joke! PS - I always stay a full 90 mins like most folk in the ground.

Apparently the season tickets for the Riverside are only valid for 75 minutes. Some 15 mins before the end of the game they beep loudly before shouting, "get the f*** outta here!"

Whilst folk have, and are entitled to, their opinions, unfortunately no-one really knowns what went on behind closed doors, so no-one can say who is to blame. The bottom line is that GS is the manager and whilst in charge he should be backed by the supporters. A club the size of Blackburn Rovers is, in all honesty, out of its depth paying wages of £55k per week and it is for the benefit of the club that Andy has left. Best wishes to him but there is now a new regime at the club, one that basically wants, and will get, value for money. Get rid of Yorke the parasite and expect more of the same. After last season it's onward and upward and sod the stay away supporters - we're all in it together and it's their loss and our gain.

The latest figure seems to be 12,000 sold which is what we achieved for our first season in the PL in the summer of 1992. Pretty poor although it could jump to around 14,000 by the start of the season. True supporters take the rough with the smooth - I would still get mine if we were in the old 4th Division as would most folk on here. It's quite amusing reading some of the excuses on here though - can't remember too much complaining or excuses around 95/96.

Excellent post and I agree with every point you raise, without wishing to sound patronising. We will need a quality striker to stay in the PL - it seems like we will have Dickov and two young lads, as good as the lads are. We need a good replacement, and fast.

I don't have the answers Dr Rich , nor am I privy to any inside information - it's just something that's been in the Telegraph on the odd occasion.

I wish it was based on that - we do in fact receive £4m per year in what can loosely be termed hard cash - ie not taking into account any loans we may (or may not) negotiate with the Trustees.

Let's take the rough with the smooth shall we? Last year was not good, but over the last twelve years we have had more than our share of good times. Last night I was out with an Everton fan whose son is a season ticket holder there (at Ewood he would be a young adult but they don't do those at Goodison) and he still pays £20 more than my own ticket in the Blackburn End. Our ticket pricing is virtually the best in the PL if not the best. Last year was rough, this year will be smooth. Get down and buy one.

Apparently we lose to Italy in the semis. France to beat Italy in the final. Don't ask me how I know, it's just a talent.

Takk for informasjonen men vi alle snakker Norsk her. Jeg har vaert i Bodo en gang - deres "lokal derby" - ikke til fotball , jeg var pa vei til Lofoten. Et pent sted! Ha det bra!

Extracts taken from the local Tromso rag :- "TIL's price tag for MGP will run at 30m kroner. On Thursday afternoon Blackburn bid 18m plus a further 6-7m after a certain number of games." Figures taken seem to have been banded about by the media as the report continues..."No-one at either Blackburn or TIL will confirm the sums." The offer has been put to TIL's board but was too low. "I don't know what has been said, but I have known that they are interested and that a possible bid was on the way says a not too disappointed Pederson." "But under the loyal mask and behind the usual answers it shows that he wishes he could go to Blackburn." "And are Blackburn good enough then?" "Yes" replied MGP.

I see an Isle of Man based former Bolton man is now Bolton's major shareholder (94%). Alarmingly Bolton have debts of £38m but I understand this benefactor is wiping clean their current short term debt with the club wanting to sit down with their bankers to talk about restructuring the long term (mortgage style) borrowings. No money is available for team building.

I hope they go down - I just love it when so called "big" clubs go down. Leeds big?.......hmmm.......not formed until 1919 and didn't win a thing until winning the league cup in 1968. So for the first 93 years that Blackburn Rovers were in existance Leeds won sod all. Other than a good European record their other domestic honours are three championships and one FA Cup win. But people still call Leeds "big." They are currently pulling in around 34,000 home supporters when they are playing a mid table side from a population of 500,000 some five times the size of Blackburn. We manage on average say 21/22,000 home supporters. Pretty good in comparison. Pretty good?.....It's bloody brilliant. So Leeds a big club? Do me a favour, they're average, nothing more. Go down Leeds and don't come back.

Well done England - Rugby (both codes) really is a game for sporting hard men unlike some other game I could mention where bottle-blonde, hairband-wearing, overpaid, players spend all afternoon rolling over and over in feigned, cheating agony. Congratulations England.

Any Prog/Classic Rock fans out there try anything by Karnataka and Mostly Autumn. Two excellent bands.

I think the main problem was the amount of time Celtic fans had to get bladdered before the game and the almost extraordinary lengths the "authorities" went to to make sure they had a good time in Blackburn. I know some of you experienced problems or witnessed certain things but I found that in the majority of cases most Celtic fans were a reasonable bunch bearing in mind many had been drinking all day. In England on Official Travel, coaches arrive at the away ground a relatively short time before kick off with booze banned for obvious reasons. What happened on Thursday? The official Celtic Supporters coaches dropped them off at the Boulevard to enable them to go on the lash with the apparent blessing of all concerned. And this wasn't Rovers versus Charlton or someone, it was a sodding invasion of around 13,000. Trawling through the various topics in the last couple of days it seems Celtic fans were both loud and well oiled but there was no particular hooligan element intent on causing trouble. Contrast this with various reports of Rovers supporters :- - O'Neills and Postal Order attacked to get at visiting fans. - A mob of 100 attacking Celtic fans near the Aqueduct Pub. - Celtic fans being thumped in Bburn End and Riverside. Considering all the above and the fact that 800 genuine Celtic fans were locked out of the Darwen End I feel the Police would have been fairly pleased that a full scale riot didn't ensue. God only knows what would have happened if they had been playing Newcastle, West Ham or Chelsea to name but three.

Blue Phil has hit the nail on the head about a fair proportion of our support now being women and children. Nowt wrong with this, it's just a fact. The make up of the Blackburn supporter is far removed from that of a big city club like Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, even Nationwide clubs like Forest and Wolves. There it's wall to wall baseball caps and hooded tops, lads in the 20-35 age bracket, "up for it" both vocally and the "afters" after the game. Even though there is no real problem with hooligans at Celtic, I feel a fair few season ticket holders will have put off getting a ticket and will have opted for watching it on television. It's just the way it is at a town club. Mr Grey Slacks and Grey Slip Ons of Pleasington will always opt for the game on TV rather than face a potential hooligan element at the ground. In some ways who can blame him. This is the same reason why the atmosphere is sometimes lacking at Ewood. The place is just not intimidating enough. Away fans will not infiltrate home areas if they fear a good kicking. Would Chelsea fans infiltrate home areas at say West Ham or Leeds? No, because we're back to the make up thing and the intimidating atmosphere at certain (mainly city) grounds. I'm not suggesting away fans get a kicking at Ewood by the way. Or condoning violence, or implying we should do away with Mr Grey Slacks of Pleasington. After all, we need all the support we can get. I'm just telling it the way it is at a town club like Rovers. It's down to the make up of the town supporter. With in excess of 30k on the data base and for a once in a blue moon European game there can be no other reason.