[Archived] Protest March 17.09.11

[ElTwis]

I worry about this. There are plenty of idiots who go to football week in week out simply to get drunk, shout at people and generally feel like part of a gang.

They are going to love this and all it will take is a couple of arrests for the idea behind the march to be lost.

I hope this is my cynicism and general lack of faith in mankind speaking, but I'm not so sure.

[Mr Maureen]

Why is the march starting at 11-30,its a 10 minute walk to the ground from the Havelock.

All the protestors at the ground at 11-45 and then what ? The whole area even on match day at this time is pretty quiet.The players and management miles away.

Or have I missed something.

[chris]

very good, chris. parody of 1 of my favourite songs.

however, sadly, humour wont distract if the final number of protesters is low!

Zac, people will come Zac. They'll come to Blackburn for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your at the havelock not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look come along, you'll say. It's only £5 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the streets; walk shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. People will come Zac. The one constant through all the years, Zac, has been football. Great Britian has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But football has marked the time. This protest, this game: it's a part of our past, Zac. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Zac. People will most definitely come.

joking a side I think we got the right man organising it in Glen, he talks a lot of sense and walks the walks, I have faith.

[Mr Maureen]

Why is the march starting at 11-30,its a 10 minute walk to the ground from the Havelock.

All the protestors at the ground at 11-45 and then what ? The whole area even on match day at this time is pretty quiet.The players and management miles away.

Or have I missed something.

Because its a 1 pm kick off dummy.

11-30 perfect timing go for it boys.

[Clitherover]

Nice idea, hope it works for you fellas.

I'm going to leave my protesting to in the ground though I think.

[Ralfinho]

Zac Aley just Retweeted my link to this page, he must have then followed the link and has now deleted it!!!

[Tom]

Out of interest would everything change if we somehow beat arsenal?

Kean isn't good enough but it would make the march seem silly to outsiders

[Guest Rovers4Good]

Why is the march starting at 11-30,its a 10 minute walk to the ground from the Havelock.

All the protestors at the ground at 11-45 and then what ? The whole area even on match day at this time is pretty quiet.The players and management miles away.

Or have I missed something.

Yes by the looks of it "your birth"

[Mattyblue]

Out of interest would everything change if we somehow beat arsenal?

Kean isn't good enough but it would make the march seem silly to outsiders

Do we really care what 'outsiders' think?

[daverich]

Count me in Glen, me+1

Thanks for all your hard work organising it, lets hope it works.

[glen9mullan]

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 13th September 2011

Blackburn Rovers Supporters planned protest March 17/09/11

Enough is enough, Blackburn Rovers fans have had enough of the farce that the club has become under the ownership of Venky’s and manager Steve Kean.

Rovers fans have a history of being patient and giving managers a chance to prove themselves, however Steve Kean has exhausted that patience.

Rovers record under him has been abysmal, the club have gone from challenging for a top 10 place to relegation favourites. Steve Kean’s managerial record reads:

Played: 28

Won: 7

Drawn: 8

Lost: 13

With this kind of shocking record any other manager would have been sacked, yet Steve Kean still retains the support of the owners and claimed in the press that only a ‘minority’ of fans wanted him sacked, this march aims to show that the majority of fans want him out.

The single aim of this protest is purely to have Steve Kean removed as Manager. This demonstration will be peaceful and with one message “The fans of Blackburn Rovers want Steve Kean OUT”. Already there has been support from media outlets, including an interview which was carried out live on Sports Tonight TV with Alan Parry where this Protest March was exclusively revealed to the watching public. The Danish and Norwegian media are also covering this story due to our large fan base in Scandinavia, whilst fans from Australia, India, USA, Asia and the rest of Europe have added the words of support via various fans sites, by mass emails, and by signing the online petition.

Therefore, fans have decided to take action. On Saturday 17th September 2011, at 11.30am The Havelock Inn, Blackburn BB2 2QA.Rovers fans will stage a protest march, the purpose of the march will be to ask the club’s owners to sack Steve Kean as manager of Blackburn Rovers Football Club.

March organiser Glen Mullan said “this is a peaceful protest, we want the owners to know that the majority of fans do not want Steve Kean as manager, this is a chance for the owners to show that they listen to the fans and that they care about the future direction of the club”.

Ends.

Notes for Editors

This dossier has been put together to give the legal owners of Blackburn Rovers ‘Venkys’ an insight into the mood and thoughts of the supporters of this once proud club.

On the 19th November 2010 Venkys completed their takeover of the club and as part of the deal laid down these foundations for the future direction of the club

The Venky's Board has given assurances to BRFCI that Venky's:

(a) Will commit funds on a consistent and systematic basis to future transfer and/or loan activity;

( intends to continue to support the existing management team and staff, and that it is committed to the future development of, and investment in, the Club’s academy and youth infrastructure;

© Will continue to support, promote and extend the Club’s local community and CSR activities (VH and its subsidiaries have their own trust engaged in significant charitable work);

(d) Will seek to extend the Blackburn Rovers name and brand into India, the rest of south-east Asia and beyond;

(e) Will seek to develop and improve commercial performance across sponsorship, the Club's kit deal and general merchandising activity;

(f) Will seek to enhance the fan experience at Ewood Park itself on match days (and non-match days) and to maximise season ticket sales and any remaining match day ticket sales;

(g) Intends to improve the Club’s media platforms (for example the Club's TV channel) and to become more active in the social media space).

In line with this, pursuant to the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement, Venky's also has entered into the following contractual commitments with BRFCI and the Club:

• The principal activity of Blackburn Rovers will continue at all times to be that of a professional football club;

• The current President, Vice Presidents and Honorary Vice Presidents of Blackburn Rovers will not be removed from those positions before June 2011 without the prior written consent of those individuals;

• The statue of Jack Walker outside Ewood Park will be kept in a good state of repair and will not be moved to a different location, obscured or have its prominence diluted without BRFCI’s prior Written consent; and

• The name of the stand at Ewood Park currently known as the Jack Walker Stand will not be changed without BRFCI's prior written consent.

After reading these intentions time and time again, it is quite evident that none of these promises have been kept, or honoured:

• To date the club has received more in transfer fee’s than they have actually spent.

• Within a few weeks of completing the takeover the club removed the Manager who had 18 months earlier saved the club from relegation against the odds, and the previous season had secured a top 10 finish with very little investment into the squad. In addition other members of the back room team were also removed including the assistant Manager. Our experienced management team was then replaced by a Rookie Manager with no previous Managerial experience.

• Systematically each and every member of the old board which was the most successful in the clubs history has left the club, under a cloud of confusion. No explanations have been made by the club; whilst their replacements are inexperienced in the roles they have been given.

• The club has refused to communicate with fans, To date the owners have not done a press conference and given the fans answers to why our operations are being run from Pune with no daily presence at the club from the owners in person

• Public relations have been non-existent, the communication to the fans has been non existent

Steve Kean

• The club’s start to the season is the worst in over 60 years.

• Steve Kean’s record as Blackburn Rovers Manager is the worst the club has ever had in the history of the Premiership, and the club currently sits bottom of the league with just 1 point from the opening four games

• Attendance and season ticket sales have dropped significantly since the new owners bought the club.

• The Managers trips to Pune on a monthly basis appear non-productive as each statement he makes, has made the club look stupid.

• Last season Steve Kean took the club from a Europe place chasing team to on the verge of relegation where the clubs safety was only secured on the final day.

• Steve Kean publically abused a fan in front of his children at the clubs open day towards the end of last season

• The Manager is a convicted drink driver which is seriously frowned upon in the UK. Many innocent people are killed each year by the hands of individuals who chose to drive after consuming alcohol. The clubs silence on this charge is unprofessional and shows no internal discipline

• After pleading not guilty the Manager changed his plea to Guilty at Macclesfield Magistrate court and failed to produce one single witness. He blamed the fans for spiking his drink, whilst Sir Alex Ferguson was also blamed during his cross examination. On answering the charge of speeding at over 90 miles per hour, he deflected the blame onto Venkys, saying he was in the phone to the owners.

• His arrogance not to apologise for breaking the law has annoyed many fans, as he is supposed to set an example and be a role model for fans.

• The Manager claimed “We were excellent” Against Fulham and he promised the fans more performances like that game in the future. The performance was awful and we have no wish to see more of the same.

• The players are now training less hours on a weekly basis, which has seen player fitness to fall away.

• Steve Kean was promised the Blackburn Rovers Managers Job prior to the takeover of the club from the Walkers trust, and was appointed despite having no track record, or experience. The owners even said he was an excellent choice despite them not seeing his techniques or tactics in person.

• The Manager show’s no compassion towards the supporters and if he was to remain in charge of Blackburn Rovers the club will be relegated this season, and attendances will drop to their lowest since before Jack Walker purchased the club.

Supporter Grievances Against Steve Kean

Current polls which have been carried out on various fans sites and social sites have 89% of fans calling for Steve Kean to sacked as Manager of Blackburn Rovers with immediate effect. Below are a selection of grievances that supporters have:

(a) Kean has failed to produce the results on the pitch and has one of the worst records of points gained to games ratio in the history of the club.

( He seems tactically naïve.

© He makes multiple changes to the team each week.

(d) His substitutions indicate he does not have the natural ability to change the game for the better, as they are always strange and because of this Blackburn Rovers under his reign have the worst second half record of all 20 teams in the Premier league.

(e) We pick up more injuries under Kean, and many are strains which indicate poor match preparation.

(f) The Manager does not appear to be able to read the opposition’s tactics prior to setting the team up.

(g) He has failed to persuade our prize asset Phil Jones to remain at the club, whilst Junior Hoilett has yet to sign a new contract despite the Manager promising this would be signed months ago

(h) His handling of certain players has been unprofessional, I.e. Loaning E H Diouf out last season when he was one of our better players during the first half of last season. Our club captain Chris Samba had the captains are band removed for our last fixture, with no clear explanation or prior warning to the fans that this had occurred.

(i) The fans were willing to give him a chance when he was appointed, despite his appointment being unpopular with the supporters.

(j) He dismissed the Fans open letter which was sent to the club and was reported in the Daily Telegraph by Henry Winter as being a letter from a minority despite it being written and supported by the majority. The letter was made into a newspaper article and all the fans comments where left off the article, the letter is attached to this dossier.

(k) An online fans petition is currently on-going with numbers of signatures growing significantly on an hourly basis (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sackstevekeanpetition/ )

Contact details (NEED 2 PEOPLE)

Name: Glen Mullan Tel:?????????????????

Name: Joe Ainscough Tel:?????????????????

Blackburn Rovers Protest March

Address:

The Havelock Inn Pub

Havelock Street

Blackburn

BB2 2QA

[Tom]

Do we really care what 'outsiders' think?

Well it would be silly not to seeing as it's outsiders who are going to report it and probably give Venkys sight of it

[chris]

Excellent, good job

[Mattyblue]

Well it would be silly not to seeing as it's outsiders who are going to report it and probably give Venkys sight of it

It would probably seem silly if it was AFTER a win against Arsenal. Before the game, not really.

[snatchymcsnatch]

Out of interest would everything change if we somehow beat arsenal?

Kean isn't good enough but it would make the march seem silly to outsiders

It's an interesting question - wouldn't change a jot for me personally. I've seen enough to know Kean is not the right person to take our club forward. Not only do we desperately need someone with enough tactical nous to be able to read a game tactically and change the shape of it when the chips are down, we also need someone who can stand up to the owners - it's for their own good.

Found myself asking a question this morning - What would Jack do if he was still in charge? I'll tell you what I think he would do: Right about now he'd be out wining and dining potential canditates for the job right after he's told Kean that he he can see right through his BS and to get the hell out of his club. There's nothing we can do to change the past, but everything we can do to change the future and I know one thing for certain, if we do nothing then nothing will change.

Get on the next bus out of Blackburn Steve, you won't be driving anywhere soon after all - you're a joke, the fans deserve better, and so do the players and the owners - they just don't know it.

The fans now need to be the voice that Venkys listen to, not Kean.

[3rdpillar]

posted the following on the petition.

"Remove Steve Keane, as manager of our club. His lack of experience is causing damage that is increasingly difficult for you to repair. You are the owners, it is your duty to act. Now!

Thank you for reading.

"

[glen9mullan]

Norwegian TV will be covering the March, whilst The LET will tomorrow be doing a full article on it too

[Mc Love]

Cant wait to see the march on tv and wishing I could be there with you guys!

[Tom]

Ignore

[Mercer]

Norwegian TV will be covering the March, whilst The LET will tomorrow be doing a full article on it too

Fantastic - needless to say, the more 'noise' beforehand, the the more uncomfortable for Venkys and the more likely they are to act before Saturday !

[BiggusLaddus]

Don't want them 'acting' too quickly. Much better for them to do it properly and have a suitable replacement lined up first.

[Ralfinho]

from twitter

kate_lundy Kathryn Lundy

by glen9mullan@

@glen9mullan Hi Glen, I work for Sky Sports, we'd like to cover Sat's protest if possible. Do you have a press release you can email?

27 minutes ago

[snatchymcsnatch]

Hope springs eternal - would make my weekend. Frustrating I won't be there I'm doing the Great North Run - however, a chicken suit and a "Kean Out" placard might get some exposure

[ABBEY]

Don't want them 'acting' too quickly. Much better for them to do it properly and have a suitable replacement lined up first.

Col Gaddiffi would be an improvement

[BiggusLaddus]

You'll have no argument if Jensen gets the gig then Abbey?