I think what you don't get is that in Lancashire, local identity is very important because the area is made up of separate
towns with fields and that in between them (and as JTG says, their own football teams with long histories.)
I ask again, what would you do? - They
have cut prices in response to local need:
Grauniad Article here. They have used
'quid a kid' schemes (as a 10 second google would have told you.)
Would you think that Morton Gamst Pederson in a sparkly thong lisping 'come to Ewood Park', girating to kids in a Burnley playground would be a good idea? How about sending David Dunn over deepdale in a Zeppelin with a loudhailor, shouting 'Don't watch Preston, go and watch some mid table Premiership football instead, we even have a player who occaisionaly gets on the fringes of the England squad oooooh yeah.' What about getting Brad Friedal to do a centrefold in Lancashire life? How about Stephen Warnock doing a novelty dance on Blackpool promendade involving chickens and lemonade? Maybe Brett Emerton could actually kidnap some people at gunpoint, and force them to watch the next game in a sound proof exucitive box, in the hope that on their release they'll come back volunterily.
I find the whole 'they get crap crowds, they are a disgrace' argument symptomatic of the modern disease - It's the same argument that suggests 'something is wrong' if Ipswich or someone qualifies for Europe, it's a tacit, if unconcious affirmation of what we all now is the real business of football - getting the clubs with the biggest global market share into the position to qualify for the big competitions - ergo, Blackburn's face don't fit.
