[Archived] John Williams Leaves

[BuckyRover]

I notice that the hysterical posters are failing to point out that Tom Finn is still at the club.

I bet he hates it though....

[artemorethanlabore]

And yet things aren't seem so gloomy, are they? Good transfer window, great talent at the club and a positive spirit among the players. What base is there for doomsaying other than the ever repeated (and non-substantiated) rumors and hearsay? Do you not believe the sincerity of the statement by J Williams?

[Jim Royle]

And yet things aren't seem so gloomy, are they? Good transfer window, great talent at the club and a positive spirit among the players. What base is there for doomsaying other than the ever repeated (and non-substantiated) rumors and hearsay? Do you not believe the sincerity of the statement by J Williams?

To be honest, it was only a good transfer window if the extra money that has been spent is being funded from new monies put in by the new owners. If not then we could be seeing the club increasing its expenditure without any increase in income and thereby bringing the club closer to financial mismanagement - something that JW viewed as vital for the longevity of the club. Time will tell how these deals were financed.

Top and bottom of JW leaving is that new owners want their own people in decision making positions, so this is expected, although despite that rationale it must leave all supporters a little more nervous because we all "knew" John.

He is a top bloke and was a top man for BRFC - good luck to whatever him whatever his future plans are. If he doesn't want to retire the FA could (and will) do a lot worse than look his way.

[Manchester Blue]

Well there you have it, I (and others) have been sitting on this for a while now and it eventually happened yesterday, almost on cue eh? As promised here is my post on the subject.

My first reaction is one of anger, not only with the Venky clan who clearly had all this in their minds since day one, but also with the numptys who, if they weren't so consistently hostile and abrasive could have helped join a ground swell of supporter opinion that could have prevented this.

Everything posted on here by people 'in the know' is actually true then it seems. It's never possible to disclose chapter and verse without compromising sources but given that we all clearly have the best interests of the club at heart why the heck do others set themselves out to be appeasers and apologists dressed up as loyalty.

This is my biggest gripe with all these 'in the know' posters. This smug self satisfied told you so attitude is every bit as bad as people being in denial. How exactly have you helped the situation but stating things in the background are happening that are really bad...but i can't say? Surely if you and your kind are the huge fans you claim to be you'd disclose all you know and stuff the consequences, after all the future of the club is at stake as you state yourself.

All these people you slate for saying they'd only go on what they know, how else could they behave? How can anyone launch a protest based on heresay and rumour? At least the United fans that launched the anit-Glazer had the balls to launch proper campaigns and websites and stuff. Rather then the 'in the know' army we've got that have bombarded us with the odd rumour and if i could say i would stuff. Well as you say yourself I hope you are happy with yourself, if as you say you've been privvy to information that could have been a real driving force being a protest but instead just sat on it then you should be ashamed, never mind saying i told you so.

[PAFELL]

Well there you have it, I (and others) have been sitting on this for a while now and it eventually happened yesterday, almost on cue eh? As promised here is my post on the subject.

My first reaction is one of anger, not only with the Venky clan who clearly had all this in their minds since day one, but also with the numptys who, if they weren't so consistently hostile and abrasive could have helped join a ground swell of supporter opinion that could have prevented this.

Everything posted on here by people 'in the know' is actually true then it seems. It's never possible to disclose chapter and verse without compromising sources but given that we all clearly have the best interests of the club at heart why the heck do others set themselves out to be appeasers and apologists dressed up as loyalty.

Were players in open revolt and had to have their contracts 'renegotiated' to quieten things down? Were the agents encamped down at Brockhall? Were JW and others persuaded to stay on last time? etc, etc. Open your eyes, what more do people want, someone to tattoo it on their foreheads. Well 'show me the facts' Doubting Thomas here is the hole to poke your fingers in. Enjoy, you're now one of the 'in crowd'. Thanks for all the support.

The club that was once BRFC is now no more, pure and simple. The name survives but there are no standard bearers to carry forward what that name stands for. 'Family' has gone out of the window. It's now just a distant arm of some multinational that just happens to be situated in Blackburn (for the time being).

A number of us have been working b*lls out behind the scenes for a while now to try and rescue the situation and on one occasion we actually thought we were very very close but alas we now come to this. There's no rescuing this particular situation, the fat lady has sung.

As long as the positive results continue on the field then certain 'supporters' who care about nothing more than points will stay happy, when/if things start to go wrong they'll jump ship in their droves. For those that felt part of the soul of this club irrespective of points or position, well sorry guys and gals that club is now long gone IMO.

It's a sad and bitter day. The only person who truly knew what Jack wanted has now been heaved out of the window. I wonder who'll get the job?

Thanks John for all your work over the years. You made a difference and you will be missed.

Maybe those who 'were in the know' should have spoken out more. How could anybody know what was or is going on behind closed doors at Ewood Park, if it is kept from us. Yes I received PM's months ago about the Venky's wanting JW out. But could I or anybody else do anything about it. What can any of us do about how the club is run or nor run? Nothing.

[TimmyJimmy]

I think you're kind of stepping on your own point there...

Williams is old. He couldn't stay doing this job forever. Don't make him leaving, with everything he has done for the club, all about Venky's. It's not fair on him, it's not fair on the new owners and it's really disheartening to realise that I support a club with fans who are scared of the future.

There was a club before this man and there will be a club after.

If you're familiar with the term isotope then this is a good analogy of what's happened to the club, it appears to be the same thing but its not, and it certainly reacts differently to its environment.

PSV Eindhoven (loosely the Philips Sports Club) is a better analogy of what the Rovers has now become, the BRFC name survives but in reality it has now morphed into VSC Blackburn (Venkys Sporting Club).

If your view is that because Venkys have bought the shares of the club that they are the 'owners' and can therefore do what they want then your caustic rhetoric may be correct, I on the other hand consider the club to be part owned by the supporters. By supporters I mean the supporters across the ages - for my family that means my children, me, my parents and my grand parents (the others weren't alive to ask). Each generation left something of themselves in the history of our club so I do maintain that we are all part owners. From that point of view then you are wrong. Yes there will be 'a club after' but it won't be BRFC established 1875.

JW was not old. Having years on the clock doesn't make you old. His brain and aptitude for the job should not be questioned, neither should his willingness to carry on with the job. He would not have sought out this treatment/humiliation and he did not deserve it. You might reasonable conclude that he was very upset with his treatment, I couldn't possibly comment.

[BuckyRover]

Why did he tell Hughesy he was going to leave within a year back in May?

[TimmyJimmy]

This is unbelievable.

I have never known of a business takeover resulting in members of the original team of staff leaving the company.

Unprecedented. I know this because philipl has been involved in takeovers before and he is completely aghast at this development.

In all seriousness though it appears JW has been looking to step down for a while. He probably wanted to see the takeover complete, but couldn't resign at that juncture as it would have looked bad and would have been counterproductive. I credit him with waiting until things had calmed down. A consummate professional and I wish him all the best for the future.

I don't know if you haven't noticed but we being run by a family whereas previously it was a Trust. Hence we are now more of a family club than before.

Posting guidelines prevent me from posting my opinion on this - but thanks for your insight as to what he 'probably' wanted. Good to have such a cast iron explanation.

[Manchester Blue]

On a more important not I wanted to say a big thanks and all the very best to John Williams for presiding over some great years for us and doing some great things for the fans in particular. A true gent by all accounts and will be sorely missed.

[Exiled_Rover]

This is the same guy that gave Pedersen a £40k a week contract, right?

Yes he's been a steady hand for Rovers, but he's made some unbelievable mistakes. He's a big part of the reason why we have so many fringe players we can't shift.

[Exiled in Toronto]

If you're familiar with the term isotope then this is a good analogy of what's happened to the club, it appears to be the same thing but its not, and it certainly reacts differently to its environment.

PSV Eindhoven (loosely the Philips Sports Club) is a better analogy of what the Rovers has now become, the BRFC name survives but in reality it has now morphed into VSC Blackburn (Venkys Sporting Club).

If your view is that because Venkys have bought the shares of the club that they are the 'owners' and can therefore do what they want then your caustic rhetoric may be correct, I on the other hand consider the club to be part owned by the supporters. By supporters I mean the supporters across the ages - for my family that means my children, me, my parents and my grand parents (the others weren't alive to ask). Each generation left something of themselves in the history of our club so I do maintain that we are all part owners. From that point of view then you are wrong. Yes there will be 'a club after' but it won't be BRFC established 1875.

JW was not old. Having years on the clock doesn't make you old. His brain and aptitude for the job should not be questioned, neither should his willingness to carry on with the job. He would not have sought out this treatment/humiliation and he did not deserve it. You might reasonable conclude that he was very upset with his treatment, I couldn't possibly comment.

What kind of owner did you think was going to buy us? The Premier League changed football, not our new owners. If you want to grips about change, blame the people who sold not the people who bought.

Back to the matter in hand, long service senior employees in a takeover situation are always in a tricky situation. Your vast experience is only valued by the new owners if you go out of your way to demonstrate how that experience can be brought to bear on the achievement of their objectives. It has no value to them in isolation and can easily become a major irritant if expressed along the lines of, "That's not how we do things here", because the 'we' and the 'here' have changed and it seems that the old guard don't want to accept those facts. Many, usually most in my experience, do not want to 'get on board' and end up leaving one way or the other, many of them bitter about what has happened to 'their' company. Sad, but inevitable.

[TimmyJimmy]

This is my biggest gripe with all these 'in the know' posters. This smug self satisfied told you so attitude is every bit as bad as people being in denial. How exactly have you helped the situation but stating things in the background are happening that are really bad...but i can't say? Surely if you and your kind are the huge fans you claim to be you'd disclose all you know and stuff the consequences, after all the future of the club is at stake as you state yourself.

All these people you slate for saying they'd only go on what they know, how else could they behave? How can anyone launch a protest based on heresay and rumour? At least the United fans that launched the anit-Glazer had the balls to launch proper campaigns and websites and stuff. Rather then the 'in the know' army we've got that have bombarded us with the odd rumour and if i could say i would stuff. Well as you say yourself I hope you are happy with yourself, if as you say you've been privvy to information that could have been a real driving force being a protest but instead just sat on it then you should be ashamed, never mind saying i told you so.

Maybe those who 'were in the know' should have spoken out more. How could anybody know what was or is going on behind closed doors at Ewood Park, if it is kept from us. Yes I received PM's months ago about the Venky's wanting JW out. But could I or anybody else do anything about it. What can any of us do about how the club is run or nor run? Nothing.

You are constantly being told stuff but you just don't want to hear. Ever heard of PMs. Ever thought of reading between the lines and asking the next leading question. 'You and your kind' just flame everything that you don't want to hear.

Troll.

[BuckyRover]

Posting guidelines prevent me from posting my opinion on this - but thanks for your insight as to what he 'probably' wanted. Good to have such a cast iron explanation.

It seems you are making a habit of not posting what you are thinking.

A few questions:

If this is over the running of the club / future direction. Why did he not resign when Sam got sacked?

Why hasn't he come out to explain the "problems"?

Why was he stating his intention to leave before the takeover?

Why is Tom Finn still here and why was he the one to release the statement?

If this is a result if the Indian way of doing things. Why did Kraft (American) replace the managers at Cadbury's with Kraft employees?

What do you do for a living that makes you an expert in these matters?

[Manchester Blue]

You are constantly being told stuff but you just don't want to hear. Ever heard of PMs. Ever thought of reading between the lines and asking the next leading question. 'You and your kind' just flame everything that you don't want to hear.

Troll.

Sorry that's tripe and by throwing Troll about you show yourself up. I probably shouldn't rise to the bait but i've been fuming since i read your smug self satisfied rubbish this morning. Implying it's the fault of people who knew nothing about things is simply not on. I've asked many, many people who I consider to be knowlegable and nobody as ever provided me with a single example of something the Venky's are doing that is detrimental to the club, Pm or otherwise. It's simply been a case of i'm just hearing negative things etc but nothing concrete so what can people do?

I say again if you've got evidence you should be shouting it from the rooftops instead of fretting about posting guidelins, who cares about posting guidlelines if as you say the club is going down the pan?

[PAFELL]

Venkys should bow their heads in shame, John Williams and Sam Allardyce have both been treated shabbily by niaive owners and their advisors, we shall see what transpires but I can tell you this, Rovers will never be the same again,

I for one will carefully watch what is happening at our club and I wont be surprised one little bit to see the Premier League entering the fold quite soon, they are aware something is not right at the club and I just hope we are not involved in fines or worse still, points deductions.

Ok you be the first - this is not a dig by the way. Share with us all what is not right with the club.

As I see things at the moment, until I am told or hear otherwise.

New people bought Rovers from the trust who clearly wanted to sell.

Many on here told us to trust the trustees - so we did.

The Trust - who we were told to trust - sold to the Venky's.

The new owners, who were given the green light by the trustees - have come in and wanted their own people in.

As it is their money, their business, it is their choice.

They wanted a different style of football to what was being played under Sam. So they changed the manager.

Many moaned and groaned at first and ended up chanting "steve keans blue and white army" Sam had gone, people gutted for awhile, results and football style changed, Thanks Sam, but.As it is their business is it not also their choice who they have in the board room or who runs the club for them.

After the end of the transfer window many on here were happy with what the club did.

New owners spending in the transfer market, showing ambition etc, thank you new owners.

Yet less than 4 days latter, the mood towards the owners change.

I fully respect and eternally grateful for what JW has done for the club.

But new owners have come in and basically said we want to change things and do it in a new way, our way. Surely as it is their business and their money is it not up to them what they do or do not do?

Maybe it is a case of seeing again what the owners do now.

We all hate or take time to get used to change. But the club has changed, because the owners have changed, who have a different way of doing things.

The trustees put the club into the hands of the Venky's, They took the money and left and didn't even say anything to the supporters. They just sold up and left.

[XLM]

If you're familiar with the term isotope then this is a good analogy of what's happened to the club, it appears to be the same thing but its not, and it certainly reacts differently to its environment.

PSV Eindhoven (loosely the Philips Sports Club) is a better analogy of what the Rovers has now become, the BRFC name survives but in reality it has now morphed into VSC Blackburn (Venkys Sporting Club).

If your view is that because Venkys have bought the shares of the club that they are the 'owners' and can therefore do what they want then your caustic rhetoric may be correct, I on the other hand consider the club to be part owned by the supporters. By supporters I mean the supporters across the ages - for my family that means my children, me, my parents and my grand parents (the others weren't alive to ask). Each generation left something of themselves in the history of our club so I do maintain that we are all part owners. From that point of view then you are wrong. Yes there will be 'a club after' but it won't be BRFC established 1875.

JW was not old. Having years on the clock doesn't make you old. His brain and aptitude for the job should not be questioned, neither should his willingness to carry on with the job. He would not have sought out this treatment/humiliation and he did not deserve it. You might reasonable conclude that he was very upset with his treatment, I couldn't possibly comment.

You're missing the point. Times have changed. We may not like the direction that the football world has gone in but that doesn't change it.

Venky's are the owners and they can do whatever they want with the club. The fans are the escence of Blackburn Rovers. If you honestly think that because we are owned by non-supporters then the club no longer exists, I will point you to every other team that isn't owner by fans. Do those clubs still exist? What's the difference? It doesn't matter whether we are part of larger business entity, it doesn't affect us supporting the football team. Somebody has to own the club, footbll clubs can't function in this day and age on their income alone. So I can't understand what the problem is with us being owned by someone and them bringing in their own people.

John Williams had to retire at some point, that was what I was getting at with the old comment.

And I know what an isotope is in the atomic sense but I'm guessing that isn't what you're refering to.

[imy9]

+1 to Bucky.

I think Williams did a great job, but we have new owners and they want their own people and want their own structure, to call Venky's a "disgrace" is strange- were the press told before him? Was a new man appointed before he left, as Nicko pointed out Sam got an excellent compensation package and it was done very professionally and amicably- same with Williams, he has got an excellent severance package.

Also Kean is a yes man because he is here and Williams is not so he is not here? So what does that make Finn?

Thank you John for your professionalism and hard work. Now onwards and upwards for Blackburn Rovers FC.

[PAFELL]

You are constantly being told stuff but you just don't want to hear. Ever heard of PMs. Ever thought of reading between the lines and asking the next leading question. 'You and your kind' just flame everything that you don't want to hear.

Troll.

Ignoring your insults, which have no place on here.

Did you ever PM me? did you want people to be in the know? If so you could and so could others have PM'd others to get support. Fully understand that there are things that cannot be said on a public messageboard - rightly so.

Me and my kind posted various questions and got nothing back. If you and your kind, who are in the know. Instead of giving little snippets, hints on the board about things not being right - tell us plainly via PM.

[Mercer]

I notice that the hysterical posters are failing to point out that Tom Finn is still at the club.

I bet he hates it though....

Would you put money on Tom Finn being there in 3 months' time ?

[dubdubdub]

And I know what an isotope is in the atomic sense but I'm guessing that isn't what you're refering to.

The club's now radioactive?

[PAFELL]

Sorry that's tripe and by throwing Troll about you show yourself up. I probably shouldn't rise to the bait but i've been fuming since i read your smug self satisfied rubbish this morning. Implying it's the fault of people who knew nothing about things is simply not on. I've asked many, many people who I consider to be knowlegable and nobody as ever provided me with a single example of something the Venky's are doing that is detrimental to the club, Pm or otherwise. It's simply been a case of i'm just hearing negative things etc but nothing concrete so what can people do?

I say again if you've got evidence you should be shouting it from the rooftops instead of fretting about posting guidelins, who cares about posting guidlelines if as you say the club is going down the pan?

Sadly it appears that some on here are allowed to throw insults and abuse at other posters, without being concerned about bans or warnings. I can understand people being angry about JW. Did good for the club and a decent bloke as well.

Angry about things going on at the club, but there are ways of expressing that without insults etc. Sadly some don't seem to understand that.

[BuckyRover]

Would you put money on Tom Finn being there in 3 months' time ?

Probably not.

It still doesn't explain why he hasn't already resigned, nor why he is the one releasing statement about JW. You would think that if JW had been forced out he would have refused to take part in this charade.

Unless JW decided after 14 years of working under the trust, that leaving when new owners came in is as good a time as any?

Sorry for not reading between the lines. That just seems to make the most sense

[XLM]

The club's now radioactive?

That'd get us some global media coverage.

[chris]

This is the same guy that gave Pedersen a £40k a week contract, right?

Yes he's been a steady hand for Rovers, but he's made some unbelievable mistakes. He's a big part of the reason why we have so many fringe players we can't shift.

Wow I was really expecting you to take some serious abuse for that comment, I'll check back later

[rebelmswar]

Has anyone actually read, read, the official statement? Especially his very carefully chosen words. "New dawn for the club" "New order" "new way of doing things" "time was right to move on" That is not the statement of a man who's idea it was to leave. Stinks to high heaven to me.

Also I don't know about other posters but "just getting over it" is not an option, the man has been part of my life for over 13 years. I have had dialogue with the man, I have shared emails with the man, and I have listened to the man. There is no doubt, none whatsoever, that the club was foremost in his cares. He made mistakes like anyone but he was the rudder, or emergency steering gear if you will, of this club through so many times that it is impossible to list.

I don't give a flying copulation that it is a "new era" for the club and they splashed over five million in the transfer window. This treatment of servants of the club has to stop. Look at the "official" statement - the man deserves better than that alone! What makes it worse is that the owners stated categorically that there would not be any changes like this - we have had two, two of the biggest changes that one can make to the successful running and playing of a club. IN THE MIDDLE OF A SEASON!! Tact and timing are as well endowed here as John Bobbitt before hospitalization.

I thought that the sacking of Sam was very wrong, I think that this is worse. Why do such things at such a touchy time? It makes no sense whatsoever.