A Rover all view with Jason Whalley

THOSE of us who watched Rovers pre-Jack Walker have witnessed what can only be described as an amazing transformation.

On the field, a team settled in one of the top leagues in Europe with the ability to beat anyone on it's day.

Off the field we now boast state of the art training facilities with a youth academy among the best in Europe and a fan-base that is three times more than what it once was.

Yes, the times they have changed and it's mostly for the good.

Unfortunately, that same support that has blossomed and grown over the past years has now started to dwindle.

There are many contributory factors to this, the spiralling costs of going to a game being the main one. To the credit of the club, the frozen season ticket prices along with the loyalty scheme were good initiatives that have helped to retain a good core of support.

However, part of that same core of support is in danger of being lost and it is a situation all of the club's own doing.

A couple of weeks ago I was made aware that fans in a certain section of the Blackburn End had received letters from the club. Letters that warned these fans against committing that most heinous of crimes - standing up during a game.

Although I did not receive one of these letters myself, the gist of it was that there was to be no standing up during the match due to health and safety concerns. Any person found guilty of this act was likely to be ejected from the ground with the possibility of having their season ticket confiscated.

Now I can understand that there are certain legislative issues that have to be tackled on the club's part here, but am I the only one to think they're using a giant-sized sledgehammer to crack a nut?

If there's a problem with fans standing up why not warn possible offenders on the big screen? Why not issue a public address announcement before every game or hand leaflets out on entering the turnstiles?

Receiving a letter through your front door is a personal thing and in my opinion the fans that got one had every right to feel angry.

At the away end there are regularly thousands of fans stood up but we are told that there's nothing that can be done about them because they are not known to the club!

Should that matter if it's a health and safety issue when the information can be conveyed in other ways? Why only target the home supporters?

Those same supporters that shell out their hard earned cash up front and whose only crime is to support the team they love.

The club cannot afford to alienate these fans, to them it's more than a business, it's part of their life and to lose them is to lose the lifeblood of Blackburn Rovers.