Has the person inside Airlie Bird changed this season. He's noticeably lacklustre and seems to be going AWOL on an increasing basis.

Only reason I've taken an interest is that the club rang my company up to see if we were interested in sponsoring Airlie Bird's shirt now that Ideal have withdrawn their cash for this season.

We politely turned the club down (most of our ad budget is ploughed into KCFM) but since then I've watched our mascot to see what he'd offer us (or any other sponsor) in terms of a visible presence on matchday.

KR game - plodded about pre-match but was completely outshone by Rovers' lively robin mascot. Rufus Robin ran over to the Dobbins fans, pumching the air and just generally geeing up the crowd. All good stuff and what a mascot should be all about.

Wakey game - again, a lacklustre effort. Never seemed to be visible for a lot of the time.

I'm sure in previous years airlie Bird has been much more graphic. Hugging kids; running around the perimeter of the pitch; waving to fans.

I know there are far more pressing issues at the club but his demeanour strikes me as being indicative of this club and the need for someone to give it a damn good shake. Put it this way, I'd have been hacked off to have shelled out £2,500 for the sponsorship only to find the company got limited exposure due to Airlie Bird's 'invisible man' act.

he got engaged

Why can't we have a mascot who can do backflips?

Have you seen the size of that suit?

Who care's ? The pre match entertainment including a man in a suit hiding behind the goalposts is completely crap.

you mean theres a person inside? and its a suit? yeah yeah... dream on

May well be under the (any kind of) weather , possibly bird flu.

hope my 2 kids dont read this they will be heartbroken .........what next ? No father christmas ?

The airlie bird being out of form is the least of our worries.

To be fair, Kath has a lot of other duties to attend to on match day so you can't blame her for not being overly enthusiastic once she's got the outfit on.

Out-enthused by Hudgell as Rufus on derby day.

I took my 2 year old son to his first game against salford in the Cup I expected him to get bored but took him cos it was free with season pass so didnt matter if he wanted to leave early.

We sat in West stand and he kept saying where has that Bird gone, airlie just sat down in East Stand and my boy was so bored we left at half time if he had ventured over to the west for the second half or even moved i could have stayed for the full match.

Then the next game the little Tweet sat in front of west stand all game, he needs some energy from somehwere the growns may not be bothered but kids do watch him

Maybe the mood of the supporters is getting to him.

You've hit the nail on the head there. Yes, in the scheme of things it's not a big deal but why market the game for families only to have a half hearted effort from the character that is the focal point for the kids. It's like going Disneyland and not seeing Mickey Mouse.

I know from hearing from Rovers fans that they love their mascot because he's always trying out new stuff. He came onto the pitch in a hovercraft for one match for crying out loud! Can't fault Rufus for originality!

Likewise I happen to know the guy who does the Grimsby Town mascot and he has a right laugh doing it and the crowd (what little crowd that they get there at Blundell Park) get into the spirit of it.

Our mascot is the very least of our issues!!