A lot of the reservations seemed to be about what you consider to be the evils of the game, the foreign owners, the agents etc. Lets not pretend that they are exclusive to the Prem, indeed the Wolves example typifies that these sorts of things are also prevalent in the Championship. We arent or will not be self sustainable ourselves either until potentially we get promoted. I love to see Rovers play against the best. I loved when we got United in the cup, City in the cup, Liverpool in the cup, taking 2 to replays and the former right to the end. The pride of watching our team go toe to toe with some of the best players around, David Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Raheem Sterling, Phillipe Coutinho, Anthony Martial, and holding our own. Might get a hiding or two but then again, we got battered by Preston, by Brentford, by Sheffield United, and being battered by them is far more depressing in my opinion. It would also mean that we can sign better players. We wouldnt sign Peter Whittingham on a free transfer and jump for joy. You mention growing organically but theres no perfect time to be promoted, save for as soon as possible. I would prefer to be in the Premier League any day. Partially for the quality increase, the Championship is incredibly entertaining but equally the quality in it is overhyped. There is so much crap in the league too. But mainly to see Rovers doing as well as possible, to be the best that it can be. Wanting them to continue in the Championship can simply not go hand in hand with that. A more minor thing but its far more difficult to keep our best players if we stay in the second tier, Dack a prime example.

Your defensive nature of the clubs pricing policies has seemingly caused you to see every word that I have uttered as stinging criticism. I acknowledged that both offers deserve some credit because the club is trying to get some fans into the club. Something youve ignored. I just think that the uptake may be minimal as the club could be somewhat hamstrung by the teams league position. (And that is not having a go at where we are!) £100 is a lot of money for the vast majority of fans who hasnt budgeted for it, who wasnt otherwise going to attend so clearly isnt desperate to attend, whether you like it or not. Especially for 6 games that dont have the competitive edge of a promotion/play off push or a relegation battle. By that, I am not at all slagging off the pricing by the club for the price per game etc. Im saying to justify spending the sum of £100 promptly and unexpectedly on something you can clearly do without, is a lot. With the Boro game, or whatever game they selected, I would have recommended a simple tickets for a fiver or for a tenner policy, no strings attached, no terms and conditions, that would for me be much more likely to swell the attendance. Fair play to the club, bring a friend is better than nothing, it was just constructive criticism/advice. You mention protestors, I suspect some of them have got out of the habit of going now rather than continuing to stay away under protest, its no longer a priority for them to attend. Difference is, I see it as a reason, you see it as an excuse. My attitude is to wonder what the club can do to get them back, yours is to lambast them for not attending in the first place. I hope the club doesnt see the situation like you do with such bitterness and pin the blame onto those who dont go. Whatever the reason. However flimsy it may be perceived, no one is obliged to attend. Hopefully the club is of the opinion, unlike yourself, that those not attending for whatever reason would be welcomed back with open arms and encouraged to do so, not seen with the attitude that if you dont come now, you dont deserve to come at all. I dont understand your bitterness towards those not attending. Those who care the most that not attending may be to the detriment of the team already attend. Id love to be able to empathise as to why you hold so much resentment to people who quite simply dont see Blackburn Rovers as their number one priority. This is the same for every team, they have the hard core fans, then those that arent as interested, arent as passionate, arent as financially stable, whatever, that require additional coaxing to get through the turnstiles. Its a simple unwilingness in my opinion to empathise with anyone who isnt as dedicated as you clearly are to attend.

You've taken the quote out of context somewhat, the last part of it was the key bit. As far as I am concerned, there will be little scope to boost crowds during 6 games at the end of the season in which there will almost certainly be nothing to play for, by charging close to season ticket prices per game for 6 games in a mini season ticket. I am not saying that the price is too high per se, per game it works out pretty reasonably for such a deal, but youve commented before on success being a key variable in attendances, and having nothing to play for is a prime example of something that may take something off the gates. That is not me having a go at the price of these mini season tickets. I am saying that it is a lot of money to suddenly shell out for someone who clearly doesnt see Rovers as their number 1 priority at the moment, for whatever reason, for a clutch of games with no real significance to them. I do think that the club is limited in what initiatives it can that run between now and May simply down to our league position. Again, kudos to the club for trying something for the Boro game, but personally I would suggest not choosing a TV game, but more importantly, to not attach strings such as "bring a friend," that causes logistical problems, if I wanted to bring an extra friend for example I would have to move seats, presumably that is the case for a lot of fans and things like that may put people off. You dont want such a promotion to be in any way restrictive. Both the 6 game ticket and the Boro bring a friend policy deserve credit for the club trying something, I acknowledge that but am also being constructively critical of why I feel these policies may be limited in their effectiveness. Maybe do a one off game, tickets for a fiver (obviously things like that arent feasible over a 6 game period) to get fans back into the ground for a game, but otherwise I suppose we are limited until next season. Season tickets are the key, this season I suggest failure to hit season ticket sales targets this season meant that they perhaps set the prices slightly too high. I was always of the opinion at that point that they should have froze the prices (or even a modest decrease), with a mindset of getting the numbers up, get the regular fanbase up with the momentum of a promotion, get people into the habit, that way you can introduce incremental rises going forward which if done with enough strategy, will mean that not only have attendances gone up on a regular basis to improve the atmosphere etc, but also you can increase revenue if you play the long game. For me, like @chaddyrovers (and perhaps the club based on their half season ticket marketing campaign coupled with relentless calls from manager/players for crowds to go up) you have totally the wrong attitude towards those not attending, hence why we will never agree on the issue. No one should have to "justify" themselves for not attending, indeed the floating fans probably wouldnt even claim to be as committed as you or I. Every team has a section of fans who will go barring exceptional circumstances, even if they stuck £50 extra, £100 extra onto the price, I would get a season ticket next season, its my primary hobby and I would find the money. I suspect that a decent proportion of the current attendances would do likewise. You can either look down your nose at them and see them as inferior or hope they come back and boost attendances. I felt that the half season ticket push was telling in that saying "they are committed, are you?" is a passive aggressive marketing campaign that wont work on the type of fans that it was aimed at, floating fans. If you questioned the commitment of a diehard season ticket holder, that might push the right buttons, alas with those whose attendance is not of ultimate priority to them, stuff like that will just be water off a ducks back. And fans were only complaining because Mowbray said he had money but chose not to spend it. Or in the case of Brereton, spent foolishly and in the wrong area!

Fixed ?

The 2 are not mutually exclusive though. And when does it stop? Surely its better to be back in League 1 as we are not only competitive, but a big fish in a small pond and dominant. I see the irony of having something to play for baring in mind we almost certainly dont this season and we are barely into February. There is the objective of seeing my club be successful as possible play at as high a level as possible, against some of the worlds best players at some of the biggest stadiums, with bigger crowds. (Im not petty enough to turn my nose up and belittle those who arent diehard fans and for whom promotion would make it more likely for them to attend) And this isnt me only wanting to see Premier League, me glory hunting etc. Due to age and circumstance, ive seen Rovers play away at Southend, at Rochdale, at MK Dons, at Bristol Rovers, but not at the Emirates, at Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford. As far as im concerned, promotion would be solely a positive thing, I came away from Ewood today gutted as I suspect any flicker of a play off push has now been eliminated with a defeat. But if I saw the prize of promotion as a negative, then I dont see how I could be so emotionally attached and desperate for Rovers to win every week!

Absolutely crazy. If we got to the play off final I suspect you wouldnt have that view.

It was bad enough watching it once!

If the bottom paragraph is your way of judging whether this season has been a success, even finishing bottom with zero points would be deemed progress. I dont really recall much in the way of chances to be honest. Was a very limp display.

I thought he was better than Bell's general level of performance, I thought he did pretty well.

I suspect and predict that the uptake on these tickets will be fairly minimal because £99 is a lot of money for 6 matches with almost certainly absolutely no significance to them, with both play offs and the relegation places out of reach. As @Mattyblue has covered before, I would agree that a one off, no strings attached (no bring a friend nonsense) "tickets for a fiver/tenner" would be a better way of looking to improve attendances. I also would like to see a small cut in season ticket prices in the summer, with a strong (and less passive aggressive than that for half season tickets) advertising campaign about a genuine promotion push, with a mentality that floating fans are not ones we should be turning our nose up at or blaming for not seeing Rovers as number 1 priority in their life, instead empathising with them and realising that just because they are tougher nuts to crack to get them into the ground, but they are just as important when they are in. Some people have got out of the habit of going. It happens. Lets try and get them back in rather than berate them. Get the fans back, then you have scope to increase prices slightly in the future with the foundations of a bigger regular supporter base behind it. Alas, I suspect that even if season tickets were increased to £600 in the summer, you would be telling people to stop moaning, that £26 per game is very good value and readily available to everyone, that Waggott is doing is a smashing job and that it shouldnt matter what the prices are like because people should get behind and understand what Mowbray is trying to do. So that is my final word on it. Thats what id do anyway above.

And project signings, also known as players who have done absolutely nothing thus far to suggest they are going to justify their signing.

Not sure how we warranted a point in your eyes, dont really recall us creating anything substantial. Dack should have stayed on, he was not at his best but him and Graham are our primary goal threats, always most likely to take a chance. You would have brought on 2 players yet to score in a Rovers shirt. Thats the problem, the difference between Dack, Graham and Armstrong and the rest of our attackers (Rothwell, Nuttall and Brereton) is absolutely massive. Palmer was a nightmare for Rovers when he came on, kept the ball every time, you have backed yourself into a corner with your insistence that he is a "show pony" (the only description you ever use of him!) and it is blurring your view of him. His time here was undoubtedly an underwhelming spell, due to both Mowbray for how he used him and of course the player himself, but for me he had more of an impact on our season than Rothwell has. I am not convinced that the players are as fit as they could or should be. Mowbray is doing a good job yes but that line you constantly peddle about only expecting mid table may be fair enough to an extent, but you shouldnt allow it to seemingly eliminate any potential to criticise him when he does something wrong. I agree about the Travis situation, I felt it was a wise move to make. But why take off our top scorer and put a player whose yet to score this season in his position? Why did he make so many tactical changes during the game which seemingly confused the players more than they aided them? And matters not relating to todays game but more to our overall season. Why do we throw away so many leads? Why do we concede so many goals? Why have we spent the majority of our budget on a striker collecting dust on the sideline while Nuttall comes on ahead of him when we need a goal?

I think you are underplaying the situation, not only was Travis on a yellow card, he had just made a rash challenge that he was lucky to get away with and with a game becoming a little open, I thought it was a wise decision. Travis' was a couple of levels below his recent performances, that being said lets hope one poor game isnt an excuse to resume the Evans and Smallwood partnership again.

Bennetts inclusion seems to split people; some are of the opinion that he needs to be included as one of the first names on the team sheet, whereas many feel like he is one of Mowbrays favourites and is shoehorned in regardless. To be fair, whilst I thought Rodwell was ahead of him in the man of the match stakes, I felt that Bennett had a good game today, impressing me mostly when he was wide. I think Mowbray massively overestimates Bennett's versatility, to the point when it almost becomes a case of picking the other 10, with the mentality that Bennett will be able to do a job in the remaining position, wherever it is. Recently, Armstrong and Reed have been performing well in the wide roles, but rather than drop Bennett, he picks him in an unnatural position. He should only be picked on merit based on his performance levels in midfield. He should only ever be considered in other positions, right back, central midfield, when we are suffering from injuries and thus a lack of alternatives there. Bennett brings alot, his energy for me is harnessed far better in a wide role where he can run after lost causes safe in the knowledge that he has a a full back behind him. Hes a good player to have in the squad. That being said, is work rate enough and does he have enough ability for a team with ambitions of eventually getting promotion, to be one of the first names on the team sheet? Not for me.

I actually totally agreed with the sub of Nyambe for Travis, I called it myself as soon as Travis luckily evaded a second yellow. He had no direct replacements on the bench. The problem with that sub is that Nyambe should have started, therefore we would have been bringing on a midfielder. The Dack sub was not an insolated example of Mowbray trying to be clever and it backfiring, it made absolutely no sense to push Bennett into a 10 role, or to take an admittedly quiet Dack off as no matter how quiet he is, hes always our biggest goal threat. Bennett himself played almost in every position today, theres no need to constantly change so much.

Think thats an oversimplification, you dont have to be a particular type of manager to get promotion, you have to have a blend of everything, good players, good man management and be good tactically. One thing you do certainly need is a good solid defensive base. Only 3 teams have conceded more goals than us, that quite simply is nowhere near good enough, or if you are Mowbray, "not a major problem. We have an attacking trio suitable to give us a push for promotion, its just full of sticking plasters and flimsy foundations behind and around them. Spending 7m on a striker who never hardly plays and when he does, never scores, only rubs salt in the wounds when theres an underfunded defensive base supporting our season.

Rubbish, limp performance that essentially ends our season not far into February. We should never sub Dack off when we need a goal unless he is injured, to put Bennett into a 10 position (position 3 of the day) made no sense and added confusion. Found the response to the goal particularly frustrating and disappointing, wheres that spirit when you need it... Raya didnt have that much to do but managed to get in a fumbled cross, tipped a shot going wide back into danger and perhaps could have come for the goal, although I'd have to see it again. Controversial but I thought Williams was pretty good and a marked improvement on Bell, but needs to learn to control his headers at goal better. Bennett was at his best out wide, was totally ineffectual in his brief stint as a 10 (Mowbray takes sole blame for that) but overall had a good game and the most urgency out of anyone. Still insist he is never a right back. That being said, Rodwell was surely the man of the match, reads the game so well and so composed. Mulgrew had to shake off initial rustiness but grew into it and the 2 are for me better than Lenihan, but the only issue is a lack of pace perhaps. Reed was ok but Travis had his poorest game was lucky to stay on the pitch, Smallwood was better but I would like to see Travis continue in there, I think it is clear that it has to be Evans OR Smallwood, that being said Reed and Evans may be an option with Bennett moving wide. Our attacking trio were all subdued but starved of service, that being said the drop off in quality beyond them means that they have to stay on wherever possible. The signing of Brereton is highlighted as a poor one whether he comes on or not. The game is on a knife edge, we need a goal, our 7m striker gathers dust. If he is not rated higher than Nuttall then there is something wrong, as he is crap. Thought the best sub by far was Kasey Palmer, a talent mis-used here but one far better than Rothwell and co.

Platt has gone to Southport so seemingly nowhere near ready for our first team.

You continuously seem to miss the fact that not everyone is a diehard fan with Rovers as top priority, as @Mattyblue mentions. Those who the club matters most to have already got tickets so their attendance is irrelevant. You also seem to take this fact as an insult towards Mowbray and the team. The club can either do one of 2 things. Embrace the fact that there are different types of fans, some of whom dont consider Rovers to be a top priority, accept that it will be more difficult to get them through the turnstiles and do its best to go out of its way with clever deals and policies to get them in regardless. Or stick its nose up at those who arent "true fans" in their eyes, attach the blame onto them and settle for the diehards who will go regardless.

Such a mentality cannot come in before we are mathematically safe AND mathematically out of the play off hunt, if that happens. Many have mentioned planning for next season but that cannot come close to being the primary objective this season until the play offs is no longer possible, even though that would be considered over-achievement, there is no point capping your potential finish at where you expected to finish prior to the season starting. Take Platt for instance, possibly as a sub today purely due to lack of cover at centre back yes. But lets not forget that this is a player who could not get on Stanleys bench earlier in the season. Is he a player that is ready to come into our first team at this moment in time? I would suggest not. We have a team with plenty of younger players around it, Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis, Armstrong and Dack all regular starters, Nuttall, Rothwell and Brereton all regulars in the squad, and Chapman and Davenport will presumably be around the 18 when deemed fit enough. That being said, you can never have enough young, talented players and I would definitely be open to seeing one or two (5 seems a bit much all at once) but only if them individuals are deemed ready to be involved, regardless of their position. Take Travis, if we wanted to cherry pick a position for a player to come through, it wouldnt have been in central midfield. That being said, his individual quality and readiness forced his way into the team.

Obviously not. I was testing your "promotion was our aim" mentality which implies thats all that mattered was promotion. That had already been achieved but there was no reason to not give 100% and do our utmost to win the league, rather than play down its importance. You mention injuries which is very much clutching at straws, but if ever there was a time to get injuries that was less critical, it was surely 3 months before the new season starts. You also keep reiterating how close the game was at Charlton. For me that suggests that you think people were annoyed at not winning the league, when they were annoyed at Mowbray not being bothered about winning the league. Big difference.

Not the words of a man who has the opinion of the club that you suggest!

Neither would I. I am not unhappy that we didnt win League 1, it is that Mowbray didnt seem bothered about it. Promotion was the primary and most obvious goal yes, it had already been achieved therefore was irrelevant at that point. Taking it to the extreme, if we had reached the FA Cup final last season, promotion already secured, so Mowbray said to our best players, you go on holiday and played a weak team and said in the media that it wasnt that important. Would you still agree? Surely promotion was the goal, right?

I dont know what counts officially as a long pass, as @perthblue02 said they are from whoscored. I can see using my own eyes that we do tend to play plenty of long balls, we are a very direct side. And for such a defender of Mowbray, I find your obsession with style a bit strange when ours is hardly free flowing football. As well as your obsession of the opinions of other fans opinions, for example Ipswich fans biased views against McCarthy has shown that fans arent always right. Pulis isnt my favourite manager and he is overly defensive to the detriment of his own team at times IMO but his defensive record is excellent and chalk and cheese with ours under Mowbray. Not sure why you are using our Brentford stats. We lost 5-2!

You clearly are missing the point. Quotes pre game and the team selection are what riled me and many other fans. Not that we lost to Charlton. It doesnt in anyway take anything from the achievement or joy of getting promotion. You mention Souness. The reason people are annoyed is not because we didnt win the league. Its because our manager didnt see it as important once promotion was already secured, in a nothing to lose and everything to gain situation. I paid good money to go to Charlton as did many and whilst it was a promotion party it did take the shine off it that day, knowing Mowbray wasnt arsed about a potential league title. To surrender is defined as "to give up or hand over" which with Mowbray saying “The other one will also be in the same league next year and in a year’s time no-one will remember who finished first or second" accompanied with his team selection, I perceived him of doing. He also said "“Now this job has been done they probably won’t play which you will see tomorrow who’s not going to play" he said “I don’t want them to miss their whole summer of rest by having to come in for treatment." Not the words of someone who was desperate to win a league title.