General Blackburn Questions

[SMUPlayer]

I wanted to set up a forum where people (like myself) can ask basic questions about this wonderful club. So, I'll start it off.

1) Our beloved club seemed to have a putrid off season with no real "top level" signings befitting a club that finished as high as we did. Is this due to a lack of leadership in the front office, a lack of seed money from ownership, a lack of a "party town," lack of urgency, etc.?

2) Can someone point me in the right direction of a history of Blackburn? I am a recent football fan, and I don't know much about the city Blackburn. I am sure that there is something in there about the flower that is on the crest.

3) I am traveling to your great land of England in 2007. I will be arriving in September, and I am wondering how far out the schedule gets released. Is there someway that i can get a jump on the schedule?

[HypoLuxa]

The answer to question #1 is a combination of things. The city is definitely not a party town, but it's close proximity to Manchester gives prospective players a place to look for when settling down.

The money Rovers are given every year is lower than most clubs in the Premier League but that is a combination of things as well. The attendance figures aren't usually very good, but for such a small town, it's fine. Relative to the London and Birmingham clubs and Newcastle, however, the attendance isn't as strong as the board would like. This can also be put down to the presence of so many upper league clubs in the Lancashire area.

The off-season that was just had did not fetch any "top name" signings but that's more because the club was under siege by different players' agents in trying to keep them at the club. The club had to fight off interest for Reid, Emerton, Neill, Nelsen, Bellamy, and Gamst. After all of that was settled Hughesy didn't have much time to settle the squad. I wouldn't call it putrid at all, though. There were a few areas that could have/should have been addressed (left back and central creative midfield) but with what we have now, we are as good as last year and maybe a bit better. There will never be a Ballack or Shevchenko signing with the club but that adds to the satisfaction us fans have when we finish above clubs who have spent countless millions on Luque's, Owen's, Baros's, Koldrup's etc. The club being run by the Jack Walker trust fund (another badge of honor) can only go so far. Souness' ill-advised signings, and the fate of Leeds and Coventry have probably made the Board quite gun-shy in handing out moneys they don't have as well.

Question #2 can be found at Wikipedia. That's a good site for just the basics.

Question #3 The schedules aren't released until relatively close to the season (about a month prior), but as a fellow Texan the distances you'd have to travel to an away match wouldn't be nearly as bad as what we have to endure getting around the state. What with Wigan, Bolton, Man City, ManU, and even the Liverpool teams being less than a few hours train/coach ride away.

[SMUPlayer]

The answer to question #1 is a combination of things. The city is definitely not a party town, but it's close proximity to Manchester gives prospective players a place to look for when settling down.

Thanks.

The money Rovers are given every year is lower than most clubs in the Premier League but that is a combination of things as well. The attendance figures aren't usually very good, but for such a small town, it's fine. Relative to the London and Birmingham clubs and Newcastle, however, the attendance isn't as strong as the board would like. This can also be put down to the presence of so many upper league clubs in the Lancashire area.

Are there not a lot of supporters in the area? I am just having a hard time figuring out why attendance is down. It seems like we had a great year last year, we've won the EPL once, and have an up and coming club. Are the funds not there for marketing?

The off-season that was just had did not fetch any "top name" signings but that's more because the club was under siege by different players' agents in trying to keep them at the club. The club had to fight off interest for Reid, Emerton, Neill, Nelsen, Bellamy, and Gamst. After all of that was settled Hughesy didn't have much time to settle the squad. I wouldn't call it putrid at all, though. There were a few areas that could have/should have been addressed (left back and central creative midfield) but with what we have now, we are as good as last year and maybe a bit better. There will never be a Ballack or Shevchenko signing with the club but that adds to the satisfaction us fans have when we finish above clubs who have spent countless millions on Luque's, Owen's, Baros's, Koldrup's etc. The club being run by the Jack Walker trust fund (another badge of honor) can only go so far. Souness' ill-advised signings, and the fate of Leeds and Coventry have probably made the Board quite gun-shy in handing out moneys they don't have as well.

I completely agree that it makes me proud that we nearly finished above Tottenham and Arsenal last year. For us baseball fans, it's like the Twins making the playoffs. Great stuff.

The reason I would call the off season putrid is that we did nothing to get the backline sound, and we did nothing for the midfield. It was nice to see us sign the forwards that we did (of course, I would love to have seen Bellamy stay).

I am a little new to the soccer world, so please allow me another question.

1) I guess that I am just fustrated with our start, and the lack of cohesiveness that we have shown. Does this fall on the shoulders of the coach, or is it up to the captain (Pederson) to get this thing back on the right track?

[blkbrnrvr]

Hypo hit on all of the main points already. I don't think we went after any backline targets because really, we didn't need to until the Nelsen injury came up.

And as Hypo said, there are enough teams in the Lancashire area that you can find a good away game that would be a matter of minutes away. When I went over last time, I saw a home game versus Newcastle and an away game at Bolton (what, 15 minutes down the road?) a couple of days later. The northwest works out well for the travelling fan.

[SMUPlayer]

Question #2 can be found at Wikipedia. That's a good site for just the basics.

I had never done any "research" on Wikipedia, but the section on there about Blackburn is outstanding. It's probably stuff that most fans know, but since I am new, it was all new to me. GREAT stuff. I would suggest anyone to read it.

[dring1]

I wanted to set up a forum where people (like myself) can ask basic questions about this wonderful club. So, I'll start it off.

1) Our beloved club seemed to have a putrid off season with no real "top level" signings befitting a club that finished as high as we did. Is this due to a lack of leadership in the front office, a lack of seed money from ownership, a lack of a "party town," lack of urgency, etc.?

2) Can someone point me in the right direction of a history of Blackburn? I am a recent football fan, and I don't know much about the city Blackburn. I am sure that there is something in there about the flower that is on the crest.

3) I am traveling to your great land of England in 2007. I will be arriving in September, and I am wondering how far out the schedule gets released. Is there someway that i can get a jump on the schedule?


number one with average gates of 18000 at home games we cannot compeet with the top level markets for players.10 years ago we were but those were the days of jack walker which he as set up funds but can only be used in emergancys

number two blackburn is a town and not a city and the flower that is on the crest is the red rose county of lancashire

number three football league and premiership fixtures get released at roundabout 16 june so you have plenty of time to plan your journeys.plus if you want home tickets let me no your address and i will be able to get them for you with me being a season ticket holder i get prioraty

[HypoLuxa]

dring1 - you going to the Salzburg game at Ewood? I heard that it is free for season ticket holders!!! How cool is that?? I guess it just underlines how desperate for attendance Rovers are. But with moves like these I can't help but think that this will only help for future fixtures.

[dring1]

dring1 - you going to the Salzburg game at Ewood? I heard that it is free for season ticket holders!!! How cool is that?? I guess it just underlines how desperate for attendance Rovers are. But with moves like these I can't help but think that this will only help for future fixtures.

yes i am going to salzburg home game and i dont even need to phone up for a ticket.my season ticket card is being up dated for the game (for those who dont no now we have electronic entry turnstiles at ewood) which is a brilliant idea but i think they sould include at least a couple more cup games with my season ticket.

[HypoLuxa]

Would you have gone to the game if it weren't free of charge? I saw williams said there were about 13,000 season ticket holders. Is that a fair number? Because if so the attendance against Man City only drew MAYBE 1000 walk-ups. That's just not gonna hack it, but what can you do as a paying fan, or in my case as a fan thousands of miles away...

Anyway, I agree that a season ticket should allow you access to at least the first few rounds of domestic Cup matches. If nothing else the concessions money would be worth it for Rovers...

[dring1]

Would you have gone to the game if it weren't free of charge? I saw williams said there were about 13,000 season ticket holders. Is that a fair number? Because if so the attendance against Man City only drew MAYBE 1000 walk-ups. That's just not gonna hack it, but what can you do as a paying fan, or in my case as a fan thousands of miles away...

Anyway, I agree that a season ticket should allow you access to at least the first few rounds of domestic Cup matches. If nothing else the concessions money would be worth it for Rovers...

i think 13000 season ticket holders is about right but i would have gone to the game even if i had to pay for it but dont forget against man city people might be on holiday and didnt come and city didnt bring that many fans with them which is suprising

[HypoLuxa]

Are there not a lot of supporters in the area? I am just having a hard time figuring out why attendance is down. It seems like we had a great year last year, we've won the EPL once, and have an up and coming club. Are the funds not there for marketing?

There are not a lot of people in Blackburn the town itself and with burnley, Bolton, Preston north End and even Wigan, the outlying areas do not carry as many Rovers fans as would be expected. I don't know when the attendances really took a sharp turn for the worse, but I do know the relegation years did not help. The marketing seems to be absent as well, at least as compared with the other clubs in England. But as I'm nowhere near England, I can't really comment on how the marketing does or does not help the attendance figures. I do know that a contributing factor to the attanedance dips all over the Premiership (besides the London clubs and Newcastle) is because of the rising ticket prices. It is approaching 40 pounds ($80) a ticket for some of the Category A games and for a lot of people that's just too much.


I completely agree that it makes me proud that we nearly finished above Tottenham and Arsenal last year. For us baseball fans, it's like the Twins making the playoffs. Great stuff.

I'm glad Minnesota made it, just because of the under-dog factor. And our Championship a lot of people claim we bought it, like the Marlins did their first time. This is not the case, but that was what the major mode of thinking was at the time. The media hasn't changed it's Big Club bias since then and I doubt it ever will...



I am a little new to the soccer world, so please allow me another question.

1) I guess that I am just fustrated with our start, and the lack of cohesiveness that we have shown. Does this fall on the shoulders of the coach, or is it up to the captain (Pederson) to get this thing back on the right track?

the lack of cohesiveness has to be down to the fact of a very turbulent off-season. Not only were there question marks surrounding Nelsen, Neill and even Emerton, Reid and Gamst, but the loss of Bellamy and the resultant complete turn-over at striker has to be disruptive. We're starting to get it back, but the cohesiveness should come from the player's themselves. Hughes has a big part in getting the team together and playing like a team, but at the end of the day, it's the players' responsibility. The Captain is the one that rallies the troops on the field and the fact that Lucas is the team Captain is a bit of a head-scratcher. But I'd rather it be Neill than Todd...I just cannot WAIT until Nelsen gets back...he's the clear-cut choice for Captain and with Ooijer improving every game, I'd rather see a Ooijer-Nelsen partnership than anything else....

Can't wait for the game tomorrow!!!

[dring1]

There are not a lot of people in Blackburn the town itself and with burnley, Bolton, Preston north End and even Wigan, the outlying areas do not carry as many Rovers fans as would be expected. I don't know when the attendances really took a sharp turn for the worse, but I do know the relegation years did not help. The marketing seems to be absent as well, at least as compared with the other clubs in England. But as I'm nowhere near England, I can't really comment on how the marketing does or does not help the attendance figures. I do know that a contributing factor to the attanedance dips all over the Premiership (besides the London clubs and Newcastle) is because of the rising ticket prices. It is approaching 40 pounds ($80) a ticket for some of the Category A games and for a lot of people that's just too much.



I'm glad Minnesota made it, just because of the under-dog factor. And our Championship a lot of people claim we bought it, like the Marlins did their first time. This is not the case, but that was what the major mode of thinking was at the time. The media hasn't changed it's Big Club bias since then and I doubt it ever will...




the lack of cohesiveness has to be down to the fact of a very turbulent off-season. Not only were there question marks surrounding Nelsen, Neill and even Emerton, Reid and Gamst, but the loss of Bellamy and the resultant complete turn-over at striker has to be disruptive. We're starting to get it back, but the cohesiveness should come from the player's themselves. Hughes has a big part in getting the team together and playing like a team, but at the end of the day, it's the players' responsibility. The Captain is the one that rallies the troops on the field and the fact that Lucas is the team Captain is a bit of a head-scratcher. But I'd rather it be Neill than Todd...I just cannot WAIT until Nelsen gets back...he's the clear-cut choice for Captain and with Ooijer improving every game, I'd rather see a Ooijer-Nelsen partnership than anything else....

Can't wait for the game tomorrow!!!

the blackburn end is now approching 40 pounds for a game at catagory a+ which i think is rediculas but my season ticket has not seen a price rise for the last five years 410 pounds in the blackburn end which is were i sit due to price freeze loyalty and early bird scheme so the advantage is to get a season ticket but some people cant afford it or the catagory a+ matches so some chose to come to catagory b matches.i remember when we won the title you could sit in the blackburn end for 15 pounds so it just goes to show how much as change.at bury fc which is not so far from me they charge 18 pounds for league 2 matches which is a rip off.

[Revelian]

There are not a lot of people in Blackburn the town itself and with burnley, Bolton, Preston north End and even Wigan, the outlying areas do not carry as many Rovers fans as would be expected. I don't know when the attendances really took a sharp turn for the worse, but I do know the relegation years did not help. The marketing seems to be absent as well, at least as compared with the other clubs in England. But as I'm nowhere near England, I can't really comment on how the marketing does or does not help the attendance figures. I do know that a contributing factor to the attanedance dips all over the Premiership (besides the London clubs and Newcastle) is because of the rising ticket prices. It is approaching 40 pounds ($80) a ticket for some of the Category A games and for a lot of people that's just too much.



I'm glad Minnesota made it, just because of the under-dog factor. And our Championship a lot of people claim we bought it, like the Marlins did their first time. This is not the case, but that was what the major mode of thinking was at the time. The media hasn't changed it's Big Club bias since then and I doubt it ever will...




the lack of cohesiveness has to be down to the fact of a very turbulent off-season. Not only were there question marks surrounding Nelsen, Neill and even Emerton, Reid and Gamst, but the loss of Bellamy and the resultant complete turn-over at striker has to be disruptive. We're starting to get it back, but the cohesiveness should come from the player's themselves. Hughes has a big part in getting the team together and playing like a team, but at the end of the day, it's the players' responsibility. The Captain is the one that rallies the troops on the field and the fact that Lucas is the team Captain is a bit of a head-scratcher. But I'd rather it be Neill than Todd...I just cannot WAIT until Nelsen gets back...he's the clear-cut choice for Captain and with Ooijer improving every game, I'd rather see a Ooijer-Nelsen partnership than anything else....

Can't wait for the game tomorrow!!!

Relegation definitely didn't help, but we're doing okay. There are still some hangers-on from when we won the league, but a lot of glory-supporters have gone on to other clubs (in 2000, there were a lot of Leeds fans, all of a sudden. Now, Chelsea fans have sprouted up).

We are not given any decent exposure. Look at the fact that no one actually televised Blackburn's first leg against Red Bull Salzburg.

Revelian