I think the likelihood of the club going under in the next year whilst being higher than normal of course is still very unlikely in regards to taking the precaution of not risking selling season ticket holders at all. But surely that argument would lead to never putting them on sale rather than not at this very moment anyway? Supporters of a football club do have a different relationship to most customers with a business. I dont doubt your clear hatred of the owners, its one I share. It just seems so unlikely that supporters will not receive any reimbursement at all for their money due to an imminent possibility of the club going under.

The thing is, people feel obliged to financially support their footbal club. Indeed, I have seen numerous supporters complain that they have the money, because ultimately they would normally budget to spend at this time, and cannot buy a season ticket. There would never be a situation in which they would never be reimbursed, whether As long as that flexibility and uncertainty was communicated, as if those buying season tickets wouldnt know that anyway. The ideal situation would be the vast majority of the season (October onwards is the current plan) they can attend, probably as a reduced capacity, with ifollow links home and away making up the shortfall. Say things get worse and the whole season is behind closed doors. Well then theyve paid for next seasons ticket. It is totally over the top to suggest that it is morally wrong. People will willingly pay for a service they always do which will be completed as best as is possible, they arent fools and indeed are happy to do so. Not only to support their main hobby and the club they love, but to watch them every week as best as they can. To take a different view point, without income the club cannot indefinitely continue. Surely it would be even more morally irresponsible to risk current employees jobs? The main factor will be if it is a 1m or 2m gap. As a club whose current season ticket base makes up less than 30% of its stadium capacity, once limited capacity kicks in there is still plenty of scope for social distancing.

I disagree with that. Say if a vaccine never comes, do you think that in 10 years time, we will still be forbidden from attending football games? (The clubs that still exist) Over time, the virus surely will become less and less potent. It is also going to be impossible logistically to limit people from doing the things they love for so long.

My point is well summed up. Last week, Downings future was up in the air, we didnt know. You when quizzed wouldnt commit to whether you wanted him to stay or go. Now since it was reported today that he hasnt joined for pre season and doubts were expressed about his future, you have now decided that you would be happy to see him go. I presume you also thought that Johnson would be a good signing, and I also remember you not particularly being happy with the Downing signing. When a player signs or indeed is linked, it is natural to look at how they have previously done in their career, especially at their current club. It doesnt mean that it will 100% follow the same path, nor does it mean that people are wrong to highlight it. There can be varying reasons, whether they be tactical, physical, age based, positional changes, sometimes a face fits somewhere and doesnt somewhere else. Johnson had just come off a season in which he played regularly for the play off finalists and they seemed fairly sorry to see him go. A proven Championship performer in his early 30s. On the face of it, a good signing surely? No, he has struggled with a different style of play, he is as bad as ive seen in terms of a midfielder taking the ball off the back 4 on the half turn. Throw in fitness issues not helped by a long commute. 2 big reasons we may not have anticipated. Conversely, Downing was 3 years older, struggling at Forest, his contribution statistically had really dried up. All valid doubts to have. The tactical change that hindered Johnson seemed to suit Downing, as did the positional change to play him central more often. Maybe being taken away from the glare of the demanding Boro fans who had seen him break through over 10 years ago as a pacy winger helped him. The manager seemed to trust him more than Pulis, and also there were no contractual issues. Take Adarabioyo as a third example. He had only ever had one season in professional football, and West Brom fans didnt rate him at all. The main change has been that he has played in his natural position. Again, he has also suited tactically playing for us. That doesnt mean that people were wrong to doubt whether loaning in a player who had only ever had one professional season, that he had struggled, to be the fix to our leaky defence. We had no proof to suggest that he would turn out how he would turn out. Take Lindsay, I would be concerned if we signed a player who has had such a poor solitary season in the Championship, who Stoke (finished below us) are happy to see go, and who was very much secondary to Pinnock in League 1. Does that mean that I would be 100% sure that he would be a failure here if he signed? Of course not. But on the contrary, why are you so sure that he would be a good signing, to the point that you regret us not signing him last season, even factoring in with hindsight the poor season that has followed? So I am guessing that you wouldnt want Muric on loan and would be disappointed if he was our number 1 next year? All I would encourage you to do is have faith in your own opinions. If we arent interested in a player ot a type of player but you are disappointed that we miss out on him, say so. If we sign someone that you do not agree with, say as such.

Would Muric fail your criteria (only here for one season) and thus be someone you no longer would like to see here?

Yeah its all about flexibility. I dont think that under Venkys we will ever have the proactivity and creativity to do anything but dither and wait in times like these. They have the advantage of not having a season ticket holder base that exceeds even a massively restricted capacity. Other clubs may have to be more creative as we have seen with supporter rotation and capping of sales. As you said, its about keeping the income going, keeping the fans in the loop and keeping people in the habit. Ultimately (and unfortunately) the notion of designated seats will be removed in the short term due to the restrictions, so of course when things are back to normal, whenever that is, fans should be able to then resume in the seats they had prior to all of this. It also will require transparency. Remove the option of refunds in advance, worst case scenario is people (who understand that this may happen) have a season ticket paid for covering in a years time. Ideally, they get ifollow links (home and away to provide value, the away games could be key in keeping value) until they can attend again in the restricted stadium. Based on your suggestions from a few months back the vaccine should be here/almost here already. We cant place our hopes on something that cannot ever be guaranteed and will take ages to test and mass produce, even presuming 100% uptake even if it does come. It should be a case of restrictions slowly eased as much and as quickly as is safely possible, accepting hiccups along the way and potentially backwards steps in the progress.

I was more pointing out your tendency to base your "opinions" around what actually happens, without committing to an opinion until then, or what you suspect that Mowbray will do. With Downing, only a week or two ago, you refused to commit either way on the future of Downing. Now there has been an article with an element of doubt, you are very much behind him not being here next season. Because you wouldn't re sign him? Or more likely, because you dont think he will be here. Your point on Marshall has an element of logic to it, you dont want a short term goalkeeper. The inconsistency lies when 2 players in Muric and Iversen who we were linked with, you repeatedly argued the toss over why they wouldnt necessarily be poor signings. Difference being, they would DEFINITELY be short term signings (Marshall would be unlikely to sign for one year but even if he did) but they havent proven themselves, Muric has had one very brief unsuccessful loan spell in a minuscule senior career, the other has only played in League 1. Surely if you are going to pick one out of them 3 as a "short term fix" youd pick the one who had an excellent season at this level last season, who has proven his competence and who also has experience? Or are you just basing your wants on who we are linked with/who you think we will sign? Surely if we can only get a short term fix, we should get one who was a very good Championship keeper this season just gone, rather than gambling on a young kid on loan? I said a few days ago that I think that it would be very difficult to sign a centre back of the standard we need on a limited budget needed to cover numerous positions who can also step out from the back. And stated that the most important thing is getting that goals against column down. You shot me down, said that the 2 arent mutually exclusive and said that we need someone who can play out from the back. Are you, on the back of the local journalist suggesting that this may not be possible, now compromising on that opinion a mere few days later? Regarding Lindsay individually, I thought he was fairly decent on the ball anyway? And based on his short and error riddled Stoke career, "solid" isnt a word you could use to describe him. And regarding Nixon, who you are a bit of a lone ranger desperate to defend, he said we are interested in Iversen and within 48 hours, he was being unveiled by a Belgian club. His information was at best, massively out of date. The other 2, Hart and McLaughlin, Mowbray laughed both off.

The goalkeeper, not so much.

Roughly translated into "I dont have a clue and my last 3 names (Hart, McLaughin and Iversen) were way off so I dont want to embarass myself again by naming anyone. "

But they may aswell sell tickets to a restricted stadium rather than not at all. So I suspect it is between rotation of current season ticket holders or first come first serve. Rovers wont have this problem because we have a ground far bigger than the demand. The approach should presumably take a more realistic viewpoint that a vaccine is certainly not imminent and open up with restrictions, and slowly relax those restrictions until if and when infections start rising. Ultimately with the aim of eventually being back to normal again. And quite probably with some backwards steps (re-introduction of stricter restrictions) within that process. A vaccine wont come soon if it ever does so we just have to hope that failing a miracle cure, that the impact of the virus starts to massively reduce organically. It wouldnt be logistically realistic for everyone to live like this forever.

You wouldnt have to if you were transparent from the start and stated that worst case scenario, that payment would secure a season ticket for the following season.

Out of interest as a fan from afar. How much is the experience of watching the games diluted without the fans? For example, for me the overall experience is massively impaired in terms of attending, but I even found the away games I hadnt planned to attend to be surreal, almost like training games. It just felt weird. But obviously part of that may have been subconsciously for example that even if we had made the play offs, I couldnt go to them either. But the individual games lost importance.

The situation is shit anyway hence my thread on a total lack of excitement about the season coming up. But what else can they possibly do within a sadly very restricted situation? As I said, Rovers shouldnt have that problem so no excuses.

Seems very definitive? Sounds like the offer is very much on the table. You seem to have now moved from "unsure" to very much of the opinion that you are happy to see him go, now it seems that he might well be off...? Not good enough is very harsh. Definitely on a reduced role with a reduced wage if at all but still technically very good. Had a very good season even if he was a little off the pace post lockdown.

So if Downing does sign, he will be already at a disadvantage fitness wise. Not ideal for a 36 year old.

The thing is though, surely Armstrong will play centrally considering that is where he was far more effective from there, and failing any ridiculous false 9 formations again, it will be him and Dack. We also have Gallagher and Brereton who are very much central players, and Holtby as a number 10. Therefore, Martin would be most likely a sub most of the time, and one who is very much the opposite (like Graham was, hence part of the reason as to why he became a bit part player) of the style that we seem to be moving towards. You mention the budget but I think he left Derby because they could not agree a contract with him, therefore he would probably swallow up a decent chunk of any limited resources on his wage demands. He is definitely past his best and had a really dry patch, but he would potentially be a useful player to have around, considering Graham has 2 years on him, probably an upgrade on him. Provides a focal point and had a decent goals per minute ratio last year. Just unsure that financially, and considering the players we already have there, if it is a deal we need to be doing. If he did join I dont think he would be a bad signing though.

They only flew out over the weekend didnt they? There is absolutely no credence to the theory that someone has picked up the virus solely because of Klopps decision to take the team to a training camp. You was right IMO to suggest that it possibly isnt a logistical necessity to take Rovers out for one in the circumstances but your point about Liverpool somewhat undermines your initial point.

I know that Portsmouth and one or two others have specifically stated that they will allow people in on a rotational system. So ultimately, demand is greater than supply, and they will probably initially have to take turns to give everyone a fair chance. Other teams such as Blackpool as I posted earlier have capped the number of sales to ensure that they would be able to fit them all in. Teams that have yet to finalise their packages such as Preston have come out with a press release stating that they are currently in the process of sorting it. We dont even have the problem whereby, unless the limit is much lower than has been mentioned, that season ticket holders from last year who will want to attend, will be able to fit in WITH social distancing. So we avoid that headache. Communication is totally absent at the moment. Nothing on the official site and our useless chief executive/CEO is seemingly proving elusive even to the journalist at the local paper. Not good enough really.

I think a pre season training camp is the least of our worries and possibly even unnecessary, but what on earth has the fact that a positive test go to do specifically with the fact that they have just gone to Austria? Would have been the case had they stayed too!

Did anyone appreciate the irony of the story posted on the official website this morning, that Lewis Holtby is looking forward to benefiting from a full pre season? We can use the same template of the story for this time next year.

How are people feeling ahead of the current season? Has anyone managed to maintain even a slither of excitement? Just personally totally disillusioned with the whole situation. Of course primarily regarding the pandemic which is out of anyones hands. Maybe part of the season will be watchable in stadiums. Maybe not. Ans if it is, all very sparse. All very diluted. No singing allowed, no atmosphere. No sitting with mates. No last minute winners followed by going mad. No drinks in a packed pub or the concourse. Sitting for hours with a mask on. No away days. No away fans at Ewood. There is a feeling of stagnation with the manager to chuck in for me too. The owners seem to have now totally forgotten about us, even more so than before. Not even a suggestion that we will strengthen. The incredibly high possibility of having a kid on loan in net again. Our assets will inevitably leave in the next 12 months. No communication from the club. No further idea on how we can watch the games. Just for example saw the cup draw. Usually id be hoping for specific games, maybe Harrogate away or similar. As it is, I didnt give a shit. Probably will be the same on fixture release day on Friday. Id usually eagerly anticipate the opening day fixture, weve had some horrible starts in recent years but it doesnt dampen excitement. Losing at Southend, going 3 down at home to Norwich in 25 minutes, last years frustration at home to Charlton. And then theres looking out for specific away days, Preston and the day out there. Im just interested to know if I am the exception and if people are out there desperately counting down the days until the new season.

Bailey Wright went to Sunderland a week or two ago. https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/10-free-agents-canaries-could-target-this-summer-1-6780794 3 of the players you mention are on this list. On a list of suggestions for Norwich. Plus one or two others that may be of interest. We shouldnt look at strikers until we have fixed the defence and goalkeeping area. With money no doubt tight and it not being a priority. No doubt we will end up with a kid on loan in net.

Why Vorm? He is soon to be 37 and has played 13 League games in 6 years.

Get the feeling that there is absolutely nothing happening at all the club. I know Rich Sharpe struggles for scoops at the best of time but Ive regularly seen him suggest that he "is hoping to hear from Mowbray and/or Waggott in the next few days" for a few weeks now.