Tony Parkes Testimonial

[roversWASmylife]

I got my own seat on Saturday after the game against Fulham, if there are empty seats towards the middle of the BBE Lower I'll move.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Around 5,000 sold to date I hear.....'KIN HELL what a let down!!!

[Ninjathunder]

Can we get tickets on the day? I haven't got mine yet....

[Tris]

Around 5,000 sold to date I hear.....'KIN HELL what a let down!!!

If that figure is accurate then it's very, very disappointing.

Since Rovers fans created history by deserting the club in droves when we qualified for Europe via the league just a couple of years back, a few of us on here have regularly copped heaps of abuse for daring to question the general motivation of our fellow fans.

The excuses have poured in - cost of tickets, games on TV, kick off times moved, poor football (under two managers who have employed completely contrasting tactics), selling the crown jewels, bad atmosphere, not being able to "bond" with the players, giving the Darwen End to away fans, crap beer, etc, etc, etc

So with a few days to go before we can salute a true Rovers hero, a man who links the dim distant past to the amazing recent past, on a night when there is no relevant TV game, 3 months before we can watch our team at Ewood again, for a tenner a ticket ...

And TP has attracted the biggest Rovers heroes of recent times, as if TP on his own was not enough of a box office draw ....

.... but ticket sales are still sh!te.

Lost for words.

The apologists who've blamed TV, seat prices, the FA, the PL, Souness, Williams, Pele (lack of equivalent) et al ... to cover up the apathy which has blighted our support need to find some new excuses though.

How can there be an almighty scramble to get a seat to watch Burnley be that away or at home, but Tony Parkes doesn't even merit two thirds of Ewood being offered for sale???????

[Lee]

Can we get tickets on the day? I haven't got mine yet....

Yes, yes you can

[den]

I shall probably do that then, Lee.

[Mike Graham]

i'll be there for TP...and to welcome Shearer back.

Will there be any seats left in the Darwen End Upper?

[Flopsy]

my excuse is that I have to work that day and the day after so I cant afford the time off.

gutted

absolutely gutted

[Tris]

my excuse is that I have to work that day and the day after so I cant afford the time off.

gutted

absolutely gutted

You can join me on the National Express get you back to work in London (or Birmingham) for Wednesday morning bus - leaves Darwen Bus Station at 10.55pm. You'd be back in Brum for 3am.

Marvellous.

[Flopsy]

shush - also my Missus wont let me

and I have a note from my Mum

Ive splintered my Pancreas

I would have bothered if it was a weekend - honest

[Will]

I'm gutted the figure is so low.

We are rapidly becoming one of the worst support clubs in the country.

[Tony Diamond Inc]

I find it laughable that people are amazed at the (lack of) ticket sales.

This is a pocket liner for a man who I dare say is extremely comfortable (financially).

Why should I give ?10 to Tony Parkes?

And please don't call me disloyal, becauase you would be so wrong!

PS If you want to show Tony your appreciation of his services, why not write a letter. It's alot more personal, and cheaper!

[arrodblue]

At the risk of being berated I am also unable to attend the match on Tuesday - and, like Flopsy, I am absolutely gutted.

I was all set, no problems, had the tickets etc and was looking forward to showing my appreciation for all that TP has done for Rovers, as well as one last opportunity to see some Rovers legends in the blue and white shirt.

And then what happens ? Work commitments, Tuesday and Wednesday next week, in Newcastle !! How ironic that I have to be in the hometown of, arguably, Rovers' greatest ever striker when he's here paying his own homage to TP.

I don't know why I'm telling you all this, maybe I'm looking for repentence.

Maybe I will feel a little better having shared my angst with others. Suffice to say that, until you have been in a position where you desperately wanted to be present at something and then you have the possibility taken away from you, you won't comprehend how it feels.

If you're going enjoy yourselves and do what you can to ensure that TP remembers the night for all the right reasons.

Why oh why couldn't it have been arranged for the weekend?

[Ewood Spark]

Why are some of you surprised at ticket sales so far? This game was never going to sell out...I hadn't even considered getting our six tickets until the weekend....besides, in all the testimonials that have been played at Ewood since the mid-seventies (I go back as far as Andy Burgen/Mike Heaton!) I only recall one attendance above 10,000.

[Will]

Why are some of you surprised at ticket sales so far? This game was never going to sell out...I hadn't even considered getting our six tickets until the weekend....besides, in all the testimonials that have been played at Ewood since the mid-seventies (I go back as far as Andy Burgen/Mike Heaton!) I only recall one attendance above 10,000.

Maybe because it's 10 years since we won the Premier League and most of the team will be retuning.

I'm going not for Tony, but to see the players who graced the Rovers shirt in years gone by.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

I find it laughable that people are amazed at the (lack of) ticket sales.

This is a pocket liner for a man who I dare say is extremely comfortable (financially).

Why should I give ?10 to Tony Parkes?

And please don't call me disloyal, becauase you would be so wrong!

PS If you want to show Tony your appreciation of his services, why not write a letter. It's alot more personal, and cheaper!

Back to the top.

Fantastic piece by Shearer in tonights LET,also Garn's tells how he is set to fullfill a dream of playing alongside Shearer!!!

Get your tickets all you miserable gets!!!

[blue phil]

We should be eternally grateful for the service he gave to us, even turning his back on Manchester United which in its self is a commendable decision these days.

This old chestnut again. I don't want to get into a slanging match regarding Shearer's exit from Ewood again...but I also can't stand to see history being rewritten. As I understand it Shearer WANTED to appear on stage at the 'Theatre of Screams' but Jack Walker would not sanction it. The Barcodes where Shearers 2nd choice.

Shearer quoted in tonight's Telegraph ;

"I got the offer to go back to Newcastle and it was just too big to turn down. It was a decision I had to make for myself and my family, but it wasn't one that I made easily.

"I could have gone to Man Utd but I didn't. I chose to go to my home town team. I turned United down to come back home.

"That's how big a decision it was for me. I had numerous offers in the four years I was at Blackburn to leave, but I never did.

"It was always a dream of mine to play at Newcastle, that's why I left, and I am sure a lot of people would have done the same thing in my position if they had the opportunity to go back to their home town club. "

[Jan]

Absolutely sickening response from the so-called "fans" again.

I've taken 2 days off, paid the hospitality price and booked a hotel to be there. And a lot of you can't be bothered walking down the road. PATHETIC.

And I'm the one who most of you say isn't a "real" supporter

[Flopsy]

no we say you support rovers, not madrid

[tonygreenbank]

Blackburn fans dont like buying tickets before a game . There will be a lot turning up on the night.

[92er]

I've bought my 2 tickets.

In advance.

[T4E]

Absolutely sickening response from the so-called "fans" again.

I've taken 2 days off, paid the hospitality price and booked a hotel to be there. And a lot of you can't be bothered walking down the road. PATHETIC.

And I'm the one who most of you say isn't a "real" supporter

Here here Jan. Those of us that regularly make an effort to get to games from far away are the ones that find the apathy from people within the town even more frustrating.

[bob fleming]

Can't wait - it's going to be a brilliant night. Those of you who aren't going -just what the hell are you going to be doing that night?

Wifey type person "Aren't you going to the Rovers tonight? Isn't it Tony Parkes testimonial, that fella who got them out of the ###### on numerous occasions and was at the club for 35 years, and isn't the Championship winning team turning up? Alan Shearer, you used to worship him, and "King" Kenny Dalglish, and Mike Newell and Colin Hendry, they'll all be there, I thought you'd have liked all that, only a tenner as well. I can't believe you're not going. Or are you stopping in to watch Eastenders and play with those razor blades? Fair enough, there's a cracking sit-com on later on BBC3...."

I'd have thought that if you were a Blackburn Rovers supporter then there can only really be one place to be on Tuesday night.

[PABBY]

The Dingles excepted, for me this is the most attractive game of the season at Ewood Park. Compared to some of the crap that we've had to put up with for almost 2 YEARS, this is a chance to really enjoy ourselves (remember that?), no matter what the result.

We get a final chance this season to cheer the players after the damp squib that was last week's post-match lap of dishonour.

We get another chance to appreciate what we really had in our midst 10 years ago. Will this moment ever happen again? Probably not, as the Championship winning team are not getting any younger and many will soon be past the stage where they can make guest appearances in showpiece games. The logistics of getting them all together must have been a real headache, a nearly impossible task. But they are ALL turning out again in tribute to one man. A man we are unlikely to see emulated again in our life times at Ewood Park.

Finally, but most important of all, we the fans get to say a very big THANK YOU to Tony Parkes, a man who gave 35 of the best years of his life to our cause. For you and me. For Blackburn Rovers. A man who pulled us out of the sh1t with almost monotonous regularity. A man who I can honestly say I've never heard a bad word about, be that from fellow fans or via our blood-hungry press. A man who handled the debacle of his sacking from our club with the utmost dignity.

And the ground's only going to be around a third full? I really do despair over our "fans" sometimes.

[roversWASmylife]

It doesn't surprise me.

Garner's testimonial last year got just around 9k.

Fans will go if they want, I'm not having a go at anyone because we generally go round in circles on topics like this.

It's dissapointing, I'll be there to give a big thank you to the brilliant work Tony Parkes has done for Blackburn Rovers Football Club.