Feeling of deja vu here, Paul but you are not the demographic I’m talking about. I don’t imagine that is expensive to you

I just don’t think that Bury have any options, while Bolton are still managing to string things along by trying to tie down a buyer. Can you imagine if the hotel is bought by another company who don’t want (or can’t afford) to buy the club and that’s the reason they fold. Even worse is that they buyer they do have lined up only really wants the hotel. Talk about a rock and a hard place! Then there’s Bassini!

Our matchday attendance is made up of ST holders. Even more so with our walk-on prices and the surcharge (actually designed to put people off buying late because of some BS about being able to manage the numbers!?!?). We shift season tickets on affordability grounds certainly the Blackburners I know are price-sensitive. Doesn’t help that we put them on sale at the worst possible time. On Facebook there are people reacting to the LT story about this and talking about “small minded people who can’t forgive Venkys for early mistakes” (I kid you not!). But at this stage I’d argue there are very few staying away for that reason. I know people do vote with their feet but protests didn’t get up much above 300 people. The sweet spot age group that we should be attracting 18-24 were barely at secondary school when all of this kicked off anyway. Parents with kids - we really don’t market the free STs for Under 8s very much but that is how you grow the next generation. As much as I sympathise with @AAK he is now very much in the minority I’m afraid. Reaching out to those who still feel betrayed by Venkys would, one, be a small group and, two, probably still wouldn’t work. These people want a personal apology chance to tell them to eff off in person. Even success on the pitch will not fill Ewood with Blackburners unless the price was right. Yes, there are a lot of plastic football fans who are now at Burnley (and we’re at Wigan) now we are a second tier side but there still would have been 7-8000 who were Rovers fans who still came even in the Championship but have been put off by the significant price increases that we have seen since. 8-9000 hardcore (not bad at all) 8000 stayaways (protesters and price-sensitive and other reasons*) 7-8000 plastics Takes us to around 24-25,000 that we had around the Allardyce cheap as chips era. *What other reasons? Death and leaving the area? That’s a lot of people.

We weren’t successful in the traditional sense during the Allardyce era - avoiding relegation was our only aim - but he convinced Williams to offer rock bottom pricing and we launched the Take Back Ewood campaign*. As much as it pains me, unless we find a way back to that pricing structure and approach, Ewood won’t be packed, and Waggott and Mowbray are simply kidding themselves. We couldn’t even leverage the Oxford newbies/returnees! Bear in mind that, like @chaddyrovers and @Mattyblue amongst others, I’m one of those still going despite the price increases. As a football club we are competing with the likes of Preston and Burnley, and dare I say Stanley, but for a fanbase we are competing with Manchester City et al and the BT/Sky Sports subscriptions - let’s say £30 a month for 15-20 matches. Meanwhile we offer 2 games a month (walk on) for £40-£50 per month. It’s not happening. Not on value for money anyway. But it isn’t about value, it’s about passion which doesn’t happen overnight. People need to get the bug and be nurtured as a fanbase. The opposite happened here - Kean (and Venkys) treated fans with utter contempt, and now Waggott appears to treat fans as a hardcore cash cow to be milked instead of a rising star to be curated, loved and grown. That’s certainly how I feel treated anyway. For example, if we beat City at home in the cup this season, it would pique people's interest but would Waggott look to put in a special offer price at the next home match to capture the imagination? Personally I’d expect him to do the opposite. *If Gordon we’re still on the board, I’d be getting a lecture now about how that was part of the problem. But it happened, it worked, and we are a generation away from that no longer being the requirement - if ever again.

Both Waggott and Mowbray are out of touch with the locals I’m afraid. The only thing bringing back the crowds is keen pricing and this is where Waggott needs to do something differently. Instead he just blames fans. Meanwhile Mowbray is doing nothing with recruitment to excite fans and hasn’t done since he came here. (Did someone say Dack? Absolute wildcard who has come good but is certainly patchy in form - which is why he is still here). Even today he is talking about wanting fans to get down to Ewood and turn it into a fortress. Such a shame that he hasn’t got to understand yet how the town and football club interact and he seems to be using his North East experience of automatically passionate fans. We would all love for Ewood to be a football crazy town who will pay top football prices to be entertained by their local heroes. It doesn’t work like that but they keep flogging that horse. If they really want numbers make them dirt cheap and find a way to bring the financial gap through commercial avenues. If they don’t then they need to stop banging on about it. Blaming the fans (as the “Corry Evans is committed - why aren’t you?” Campaign showed) and holding them in contempt (“where are they?”) will have the opposite effect.

Surely NO club would register a player by 5pm with any whimsical notions of playing them tomorrow?! That makes no sense. They’ll need a couple of weeks’ training, orientation, and at least a couple of games of table tennis with each of their teammates. Not to mention making sure the WAGs get on with The Group’s WAGs.

You’ve just proven my point imy. I would absolutely have replaced Mulgrew this Summer. Has Mowbray? There only being a few days from signing until the first game is Mowbray’s fault, not mine, but it can be done.

That’s some praise indeed. Matthews won an FA Cup Final on his own. Not to disrespect your dad but blue-and-white goggles on the Dougie part?

Who was beating down the door for Chapman?

You wouldn’t really be grateful. Footballers with any sense never badmouth their old club and you know this so you are just trying to set me up. But that’s ok, I’m used to you now imy. You only have to look at how the old guard have continued to be a mainstays in the side while the likes of Rothwell and Reed and Palmer have made way. The latter two leaving. He dropped Smallwood and Mulgrew at the end of last season - or did he? They’ve both featured in pre-season. I’ll personally be delighted if Mowbray brought in players to the starting XI on Saturday to prove me wrong but by his own comments they are likely to have to fight their way into the side. We need upgrades and we buy makeweights. That’s because he doesn’t want to upset the senior players. Bloke thinks he’s Shankly or Paisley or something but without the players. Mulgrew should be dropped for Tosin tomorrow. If not then our recruitment strategy and/or man-management approach does not work.

Dude. Don’t listen to the eejits. I’m actually affronted on your behalf. Take it easy and come back soon mate.

Ah the good old school holidays. Roll on September.

Surely... Proper Lancashire = Cristiano Ronaldo Pretend Lancashire = Sir Stanley Matthews ? Or are we just talking about favourite players?

Gutted that Joe has had to go. Fully blame Mowbray for holding him back and not helping him to develop. I can’t help think that when Nuttall was dumped out of the side for Samuel (Mowbray’s own man) last season and unfairly - at that time - dropped back to the U23s that it upset Joe and their relationship didn’t recover. Mowbray then went an brought in a more Mowbray-like signing in Brereton and that was the beginning of the end. Even last season, Nuttall showed that he had more about him that Brereton and yet Mowbray again has persevered with ‘his own man’. Mowbray is a very poor man-manager IMO. In my view he leaves all of that to the senior players (“the group”) and just looks at trying to keep them happy while rotating the fringe players around. He’s a soft touch and he may talk big at times but he doesn’t follow through with his actions - we’ve gone from “defenders are coming” to it appearing that was all the keepers fault. At least the group are happy again now.

K-hod is very even handed in moderating the content that people post. Show me one example where he has banned someone simply for having an opinion - whether he agrees or disagrees with that opinion. You must be really bored if you need to start picking an argument like this one.

Think I’ve missed something here. I thought Bolton’s first game of the season was on.

What would be your new position if Mowbray did play Lenihan and Tosin for the Charlton game? Maverick move or something more... positive? It’s good that we have finally brought in an out and out defender but Mowbray’s comments about him having to work his way into the side over several weeks are so typical that he is becoming a bit of a cliché. On that basis, one would expect that none of the new signings will start on Saturday and the likes of Johnson and Downing will be introduced to replace of Evans and Bell. Shame for our younger lads who broke into the side at the end of last season then. Let’s see if Buckley and/or Butterworth get any game time this season then. Sadly, the only way they will get in will be cup games or dead rubbers if/when we end up safe and not in the play-off mix. It also begs the question though, why isn’t Mowbray bringing in players who can start for Rovers rather than players who he doesn’t know whether they will actually be good enough or not. Having identified a need to upgrade he is then saying to his current League One crop: go on lads, you’ve got another chance. The new lads then have to play Tony’s Rotation Game.

Hard to disagree with any of that. Although some of your examples are a little dated. Keegan? Mowbray’s approach is a very very slow build which is at complete odds with our financial situation. Despite a huge downgrade in talent on the field our debt continues to grow. It’s interesting and terrifying that one of the things a Bolton mate used to say all the time was that the club’s debt was almost all owed to Eddie Hall so not to worry (not that I was worried). That is eerily similar to us and Venkys. People say trust Mowbray, slowly-slowly, etc but if they lose patience or anything goes wrong, he won’t be out of pocket, he will just move on - or even retire. We need to reduce that debt which means promotion - minimum.

Who then proceeded to ruin him by playing him anywhere but as a centre back. Shame what happened to the lad. Unless you are his bank manager.

I thought the loaded fries were the most reassuring bit. Engagements like this are a good idea... after the issues on the field are sorted.

VAR isn’t itself the problem. It is the competence of this using it. It takes too long and decisions are being made using slow motion which removes context. A hand on a shoulder and a “felt the touch” dive would be a penalty every time under VAR slow motion. We will actually have players cheating more, not less. Then there is the time this all takes.

Think I’ll give the PL a complete miss this time round. I’ve been watching it less and less and VAR is just going to kill it as a spectacle.

They can’t sign anyone, even on loan, while there is nobody in charge to sanction moves. Are they even selling tickets to home games yet? Can’t believe that the league bigwigs have let this pantomime go on for so long.

You can judge at any point. Have we made enough of the right kind of signings yet? I judge that we haven’t. Do we have any assurance that we will? No, not really.