EWOOD officials are now confident that season-ticket sales will break through the 12,000 barrier before the big kick-off on August 7.

And they are delighted by the response from supporters who have stood by the club despite relegation to the First Division and the lack of activity in the transfer market.

Rovers have so far sold 11,200 season tickets - compared to a fraction under 15,000 for last season's Premiership campaign.

They expected a significant drop in the wake of relegation but are bang on course to exceed their budgeted figures.

Business development manager Alan McColgan also revealed that the sales so far included 577 new season-ticket holders - a surprisingly large number in the circumstances.

Almost half of them are full paying adults, with most of the rest being juniors and he believes that the substantial amount of new business could well reflect the success of the club's various marketing schemes and their new categories.

"I have to say we are very pleased by the response and applications are still coming in," he said.

"From this stage to the start of the season last year we still did quite a lot of business. Hopefully it will be the same this year."

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