A REPORT in one of today's national papers brought home to me just how quickly football needs to come back to the real world.

The report stated that, for the first time in 20 years, the general trend was that football attendances were dropping.

And one of the worst performers were Rovers, who were just over 2000 people down on gates for home games as opposed to last season.

People will blame the credit crunch, and of course that's a factor, but I still feel football is vastly over-priced.

As opposed to other brands of entertainment in competition with the beautiful game, football is hideously expensive.

The tickets, food, programmes and other merchandise can make a matchday experience a costly one.

Whereas, you can take in a film and have a meal and still come out better off.

There is no satisfaction in seeing empty grounds at a football stadium but clubs have to get real.

Prices have escalated beyond the realms of affordability and now it is time to give something back to the fans.

There have beem some examples where clubs, like Rovers, have frozen season ticket prices or offered incentives like a free pie and a pint.

But I reckon this is just the tip of the iceberg and clubs will have to offer more to the fans than just the guarantee of a seat to get them back into grounds as the consumer makes every penny count.