Blackburn are in trouble!

[llanitotaylor]

http://footballmsn.skysports.com/lis...=football_home

[davidmphill]

Well it'll help their disciplinary record if nothing else!

[Carl]

Bit of a blow for us that!

We need him fit and scoring if we are going to get a good start to the new season.

hopefully Kurq and dickov can start a partnership.

[Carl]

thats after dickov's 3 match ban of course.

FFS

[davidmphill]

Things aren't looking too good if you're relying on Shefki Kuqi for goals at this level!

[Valiant23]

Sorry Herp, but it looks better for England though.

[Carl]

yeah england should beat them anyway.

Rumour has it that we've(blackburn) been after Rob Earnshaw but they want 5 million for him.

Thats on top of asking michael owen for a loan deal

[PAULM03]

Read in the metro yesterday that Blackburn have been fined for their poor disciplinary record last year but £10k has being suspended pending an improvement this season. They might aswell just write the cheque now

[Carl]

yeah and give them another check and ask the FA "let us know when that runs out"

[punter66]

Population figures:


Blackburn 109, 000
Bolton 261, 037
Burnley 89, 542
Preston 129, 633
Birmingham 977, 087
Wolverhampton 236, 582
Norwich 121, 550
Ipswich 117, 069
Croydon (Charlton, Palace) 330, 587


> I think you'll see that Rovers fans compare quite well.
>
>
> Blackburn Rovers, Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 24,376 (Premier League)
> 2002-2003: 26,226 (Premier League)
> 2001-2002: 25,976 (Premier League)
>
> Birmingham CITY (CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 29,076 (Premier League)
> 2002-2003: 28,831 (Premier League)
> 2001-2002: 21,978 (Division One)
>
> Bolton Wanderers (Bigger population than Blackburn), Average
Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 26,795 (Premier League)
> 2002-2003: 25,017 (Premier League)
> 2001-2002: 25,097 (Premier League)
>
> Charltom Athletic (Capital CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 26,293 (Premier League)
> 2002-2003: 26,256 (Premier League)
> 2001-2002: 24,165 (Premier League)
>
> Crstal Palace, (Capital CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 17,344 (Division One)
> 2002-2003: 16,867 (Division One)
> 2001-2002: 18,101 (Division One)
>
> Fulham, (Capital CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 16,342 (Premier League)
> 2002-2003: 16,707 (Premier League)
> 2001-2002: 19,550 (Premier League)
>
> Norwhich CITY, (CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 18,987 (Division One)
> 2002-2003: 20,356 (Division One)
> 2001-2002: 18,644 (Division One)
>
> West Bromich Albion, (CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 24,765 (Division One)
> 2002-2003: 26,776 (Premier League)
> 2001-2002: 20,910 (Division One)
>
> Burnley, (comparable in size to Blackburn), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 12,541 (Division One)
> 2002-2003: 14,108 (Division One)
> 2001-2002: 15,948 (Division One)
>
> Preston North End, (CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 14,150 (Division One)
> 2002-2003: 13,853 (Division One)
> 2001-2002: 14,887 (Division One)
>
> Wolverhampton Wanderers, (CITY club), Average Attendance:
> 2003-2004: 28,874 (Premier League)
> 2002-2003: 25,745 (Division One)
> 2001-2002: 23,796 (Division One)

I simply cannot believe i am posting this again but hey ho, i'm bored a feck. As someone pointed out in another post, if you take into account the Asian population of Blackburn (who let's face it, don't watch footy at stadiums) and say the under 5's and over 70's, we do very well. Ewood Park holds just over 31,000 therefore it looks quite empty when there are 25-26,000 in - with 5-6,000 empty seats. Most of the clubs above have stadiums that only hold 25,-27,000 capacity so when they're getting our attendance figures their stadiums look more full. Rovers are not a propper little club. We're not "plucky little Blackburn" that they can patronise. We can still compete in the transfer market, we have a world class satdium, training facilities, medical facilities and one of the best youth acadamies in Britain. We occasionally win trophies too. The 'neutral' fans despise this, in other words, they are jelous. The hated Radio 5 despise this because they are proffesional snobs. I think the attendance figures of clubs like Bolton, Preston, Leicester, Birmingham etc are an absolute disgrace. If all they can do with pop's twice/three times that of Blackburn is avergae only a couple of thousand - 4 thousand more than us... i'd be ashamed if i was them. Also, i think we all klnow that there are more Season Ticket holders from within Blackburn than there are any other clubs town/city

Two superb goals and a great performance yesterday Herp but where were the fans, under 17,000

[Carl]

I know its a ****ing disgrace.

Mind you it is Blackburn holidays but still its fcuking poor.

[SecondSight]

There is usually debates with Boro fans and Newcastle and Sunderland about crowds. They say Boro crowds are crap, because New/Sun crowds are much higher. Boro reply back our catchment area is only half the size of yours so in fact our crowds are higher.

I do know Boro's catchment area is only a maximum 400,000 (the town's pop is 157,000). Catchment area includes the old Teesside region and some of North Yorkshire. To get an average of 30,000 over the last 10 years I always think is pretty good going in a catchment area of 400k. In the EPL fans survey 90% of Boro supporters lived with 7 miles of the ground. There are 2 other league teams on Boro's doorstep (within 10 miles) in Darlo and Hartlepool.

Newcastle is a major city and regional centre with a much wider catchment area - Gateshead alone is nearly as big as Middlesbrough. Sunderland is a city and has the whole of County Durham as a catchment area and much of the southern portion of Tyne & Wear.

I like the compare Boro's support with Bolton/Blackburn/Ipswich which I consider similar size places i.e. large towns, rather than regional cities. I think all the EPL clubs are in cities except Boro/Blackburn/Bolton and Wigan which is the way the game is going. Bolton have managed to be a force in the EPL without much financial backing which shows the quality of job that Sam Allydyce is doing there. If Bolton lost him they would surely head south.

I think you have to look at catchment area rather than town size. For eample when I went to Blackburn I noticed it was joined on to Darwen and Accrington is very close by and I am sure Blackburn draw fans from those areas.

[GotaFancy?]

Originally Posted by SecondSight

I think you have to look at catchment area rather than town size. For eample when I went to Blackburn I noticed it was joined on to Darwen and Accrington is very close by and I am sure Blackburn draw fans from those areas.

If my memory of visits to Ewood serves me right, the ground is actually in Darwen isn't it?

[Carl]

Originally Posted by GotaFancy?

If my memory of visits to Ewood serves me right, the ground is actually in Darwen isn't it?

no its in Blackburn but the main road going past Ewood takes you to Darwen,its only a couple of miles.

TBH I dont think many fans come from Accrington or Darwen.
Darwen is full of Italians and other nationalites and most Darweners dont like people from Blackburn.Bit like Burnley and Blackburn.

Accrington may send a few to ewood but not a lot,they have a few burnley fans and there own Accy Stanley fans.
The town is right next to Burnley and like Darwen dont really like people from Blackburn.



There is a massive Industrial site called whitebirk and although its in Blackburn its classed as Hyndburn which is Accrington council.
Before Ewood got rennovated in the earky 90's it was propsed that a new stadium would be built at whitebirk.
Just off the motorway and away from the town centre but Accrington didnt want it there for some reason.