bare bones

[watto-drfc]

Fit players and attendance today. With racing on and to good PL games on TV, and taking current form i think we are looking at 6000 today

[donnygav93]

I think they will be more many will deem this as a game we can win today so hopefully people will wrap up warm and make there way down I'm 50/50 myself after having a serious case of man flu typing this I can barely talk never mind chant

[The Red Baron]

I'm still mystified as to why the games are being played on Sunday, where the attendances will be lower than they would be if the games were played 24 hours earlier.

If half the Premier League and all of non-League football can manage to play Boxing Day and then 48 hours later, I'm puzzled as to why the Football League can't manage it.

[Filo]

I'm mystified as to why we have teams like Ipswich and Millwall at home and QPR away during the Christmas period when travel for any of the away teams is difficult enough, when we have localish teams we could be playing like Leeds, Barnsley, Huddersfield, Sheff Wednesday, Forest etc. which would be conducive to creating bigger crowds over the festive period. Look at Leeds festive fixtures in comparison to ours to see how much of a raw deal we got this year

[Donnywolf]

I'm still mystified as to why the games are being played on Sunday, where the attendances will be lower than they would be if the games were played 24 hours earlier.

If half the Premier League and all of non-League football can manage to play Boxing Day and then 48 hours later, I'm puzzled as to why the Football League can't manage it.

Yes truly one to question...

After all its not THAT long that Teams may have played 3 games in 4 days INCLUDING Christmas Day

I know these days Players are feted as "athletes" though who need rest but as you rightly point out Prem lot played yesterday why not the rest of us ?

[mrfrostsdad]

Totally agree with you Filo.
Apparently the fixtures are now all done by computer. Well b*llocks to that I say. Ipswich, Millwall and QPR over Christmas and New Year? What a load of crap! Why aren't we playing The Dingles, Leeds and Sheffield Weds? We used to have local derby's at Christmas.
Sling the computer away says me.

Coincidentally, I hear the Dingles have sold 18000 for today's game?

[andysly]

In agreement with earlier posts. The Christmas/New Year period has always been busy, and it's the same for everybody, especially surprised to hear Steve Bruce moaning about it as he'd have played through it for 20 years.
But I find our fixtures very strange when there are so many clubs in this division within an hour or so of Donny.
Barnsley, Wednesday, Leeds, Bolton, Forest, Leicester, Wigan for starters.

[andysly]

The fixture computer could easily be set up to give local ish fixtures for everybody over a period, well maybe not Yeovil.

[mrfrostsdad]

See my above post Andy. Done by computer

[mrfrostsdad]

Maybe mate. I don't know

[andysly]

Any computer system will have an over ride function, and also the ability to input special requests. It would only take a FL employee half an hour to split a division into say 3 groups of differing locality and play within those groups over Christmas/New Year and Easter.

[Filo]

Look at Leeds fixtures since they played us on 14 th December until new years day

Rovers
Barnsley
Blackpool
Forest
Blackburn

And then compare our fixtures on the same dates

Leeds
Derby
Ipswich
Millwall
QPR

[mrfrostsdad]

It doesn't affect Leeds as much as us either. We NEED local derby"s.
Leeds get over 20000 whoever they're playing so it doesn't really matter to them who they play over Christmas.
I know we play all the local teams at home at some point in the season, but how many will Millwall bring today? And who wants to be going to QPR on New Years Day?

[bpoolrover]

See my above post Andy. Done by computer

they are not fully done by computer and are not totally random

[silent majority]

An explanation given here by the FSF;

http://www.fsf.org.uk/assets/Uploads/fsf-annual-2012-fixtures.pdf


Having said that there were some changes to the system for this season.

[mrfrostsdad]

So, they consult the fans as well?
Isn't it amazing that I've been a 'fan' (of football not just the Rovers) for 50 years and no-one has ever asked me anything. And I don't know anyone else who has been asked either. I've never even been asked about anything to do with Rovers (officially) despite being a supporter since I was a kid.

I wonder how many Rovers fans were asked if we'd like to play Ipswich, Millwall and QPR over Christmas?

[RobTheRover]

There is nothing that says "christmas" more to me than the pleasure of playing Millwall and QPR!

[PDX_Rover]

QPR away.... New Year's Eve in London. Trafalgar Square, dancing with friendly policemen in the fountains, seeing the friendly cockernee types welcome you into their bosom with a seasonal singalong around the old Joanna, cockles and whelks. What's not to love. Gawd bless King George.