Pune trip

[den]

Where there's a will, there's a way Tom.

[Al]

After reading the smug remarks from Kean in the 'Message from Steve Kean' thread, I think it is essential that somebody tells the Venkys about the strength of feeling about the weasel at Ewood. Several fans have already said that they will not attend again until he is sacked. Kean in the meantime seems to be going out of his way to antagonise the fans.

I met a couple of the Pune 9 after the match on Saturday and they struck me as people who will not be afraid to speak their minds.

Please tell it to them how it is guys.

[Gav]

I do imagine safety is the main concern here, the people managing the trip need to know every aspect of the whole thing and exactly who they are dealing with.

Any fluctuations could cause hell for them.

It would have been a nice touch if it could have been properly arranged though.

They could have met the Indian supporters seperate to your trip Tom, they've made several requests.

[Tom]

They could have met the Indian supporters seperate to your trip Tom, they've made several requests.

And hopefully they will do, if they had done that before meeting our local fans then there would have been people moaning about that no doubt

[Roost]

I do imagine safety is the main concern here, the people managing the trip need to know every aspect of the whole thing and exactly who they are dealing with.

Any fluctuations could cause hell for them.

It would have been a nice touch if it could have been properly arranged though.

Sorry Tom, I can't accept that as an excuse - it's a matter of 3 people not 300, and they had already been invited then refused, so any 'checks' would have been carried out well in advance.

[unclejack28]

Well to be fair, they don't know you and they are very conscious of the safety of the traveling party, all of whom they do know or are known to the club personally.

I suggest you contact them and say you are sorry that you will be unable to be at the meeting but nonetheless you will still be at the match together with other supporters from Mumbai. etc. In your own words of course.

See you there!

Hey rovermum,

The thing is the football community in india is not that large especially the blackburn community. We know people at venkys directly and have spoken to them in the past about things unrelated to this match.(Arvind chauhan whom you will meet knows me directly) Basically at the pune ground there is one corporate box which venkys have booked for friends and family and then there is the vip area which is booked by the pfc owners which happens to be my brother in law, so I will be sitting with him.

The reason we wanted to attend the meeting has nothing to do with sk or the way blackburn is run, but as I mentioned earlier we are interested in football development in india, this is an area that they claim to be working towards, however to my knowledge this is another publicity stunt in india.I feel this is the reason they don't want indian fans to attend.

Anyways I'm gonna dm u my number, send me a text or call when your down and maybe we can meet other fans to chat about the "family" club we all love.

[cn174]

I do imagine safety is the main concern here, the people managing the trip need to know every aspect of the whole thing and exactly who they are dealing with.

Any fluctuations could cause hell for them.

It would have been a nice touch if it could have been properly arranged though.

There's three of them! They've seemingly arranged thier own way to Pune and are already stopping somewhere, so what else is there to arrange other than a meeting.

[Ste B]

There's three of them! They've seemingly arranged thier own way to Pune and are already stopping somewhere, so what else is there to arrange other than a meeting.

At this moment there isn't actually a sit down meeting, so I dont think you've been specifically excluded from anything. Obviously you are going to the game as we are so we will hopefully be able to meet up there.

[47er]

Well to be fair, they don't know you and they are very conscious of the safety of the traveling party, all of whom they do know or are known to the club personally.

I suggest you contact them and say you are sorry that you will be unable to be at the meeting but nonetheless you will still be at the match together with other supporters from Mumbai. etc. In your own words of course.

See you there!

Roversmum----there's fair and there's making excuses. I've had a lot of respect for you over the years and no-one is a bigger supporter than you but you're letting yourself down.

After the Newcastle debacle you said "it can't go on".

It is going on. Its lies,deception,spin and evasion wherever you look. And the Club is sinking lower and lower into the abyss.

[ABBEY]

After reading the quote I'd go drink the kingfisher and then as a form of protest refuse to go in the meeting!

[cn174]

At this moment there isn't actually a sit down meeting, so I dont think you've been specifically excluded from anything. Obviously you are going to the game as we are so we will hopefully be able to meet up there.

I'm not going anywhere

[Mercer]

At this moment there isn't actually a sit down meeting, so I dont think you've been specifically excluded from anything. Obviously you are going to the game as we are so we will hopefully be able to meet up there.

Sorry, but what on earth is the purpose of the trip then ?

IMO, just an attempt at a massive PR jamboree for Venky's.

With the greatest respect to Tom, Roversmum and yourself, posts from the three of you today, already sound as though you are now part of team Venky's !!!

I think the writing is on the wall and the worst fears of many supporters will be realised.

Collectively, you should have told then where to shove the trip along with Kean.

[Tom]

Did you listen to the Podcast Mercer? Ste and John discuss the details in there.

As for Team Venkys, well effectively that team is Rovers, they own the club and aren't going anywhere.

You have repeated about 983 times that we should have rejected the trip but not once given a plausible reason why.

[Gav]

Sorry, but what on earth is the purpose of the trip then ?

IMO, just an attempt at a massive PR jamboree for Venky's.

With the greatest respect to Tom, Roversmum and yourself, posts from the three of you today, already sound as though you are now part of team Venky's !!!

I think the writing is on the wall and the worst fears of many supporters will be realised.

Collectively, you should have told then where to shove the trip along with Kean.

Whilst I agree with most of what you're saying mercerman, its not been easy for the people going having to defend themselves over the past few weeks. I would imagine they're sick to death of defending the trip, and thats coming across in the replies.

[Mercer]

Did you listen to the Podcast Mercer? Ste and John discuss the details in there.

As for Team Venkys, well effectively that team is Rovers, they own the club and aren't going anywhere.

You have repeated about 983 times that we should have rejected the trip but not once given a plausible reason why.

Not yet Tom, usually do, but struggling to keep up with day job at the mo.

[Tom]

Hopefully if you get chance it will answer some questions you have about th trip

[Ste B]

Sorry, but what on earth is the purpose of the trip then ?

IMO, just an attempt at a massive PR jamboree for Venky's.

With the greatest respect to Tom, Roversmum and yourself, posts from the three of you today, already sound as though you are now part of team Venky's !!!

I think the writing is on the wall and the worst fears of many supporters will be realised.

Collectively, you should have told then where to shove the trip along with Kean.

Listen to the podcast, read the press release. Nowhere has it been said that there was going to be a meeting. Making the trip into a single issue Kean out trip would not work.

[Mercer]

Whilst I agree with most of what you're saying mercerman, its not been easy for the people going having to defend themselves over the past few weeks. I would imagine they're sick to death of defending the trip, and thats coming across in the replies.

Gav, to an extent I agree, however, they were not forced to go and I believe that the best interests of Rovers would have been served by them not going. The reasons, as Tom asks why below, which I've tried to articulate on many occasions before, are I believe the PR will be spun and twisted placing the Pune 9 in an invidious position as guests, they need to realise that unlike Kean etc, we are not at the beck and call of the 'masters' but perhaps more importantly, they should have been meeting and listening to fans since they completed the takeover by organising a number of forums that ALL interested supporters could attend at Ewood and by doing this, they would have earned far more respect and, probably, learnt more about our heritage and the game.

However, it is the Pune 9's decision and they now how to live with that and any repercussions.

Genuinely hope they enjoy - though personal experiences of Delhi & Jaipur not good!!!

[Gav]

You have repeated about 983 times that we should have rejected the trip but not once given a plausible reason why.

Tom - I have sympathy with your position, but plenty of people, mercerman included, have raised concerns about this trip. They may not meet the fans forum 'plausible measure' but concerns have been raised.

Just as a side issue, I was asked at the weekend if forum members partners/spouses/friends/dogs and cats have been invited also, can you confirm or deny that please? Sorry if its been discussed previously, and are you flying economy class?

Podcast? - No not yet

[yoda]

Did you listen to the Podcast Mercer? Ste and John discuss the details in there.

As for Team Venkys, well effectively that team is Rovers, they own the club and aren't going anywhere.

You have repeated about 983 times that we should have rejected the trip but not once given a plausible reason why.

I'll give you plausible reason, you are going to be stitched up good and proper.

The Venky's will claim a big PR victory and think they have divided and conquered the fan base and Kean will stay in charge

END OF BLACKBURN ROVERS AS WE KNOW IT

[Ste B]

Tom - I have sympathy with your position, but plenty of people, mercerman included, have raised concerns about this trip. They may not meet the fans forum 'plausible measure' but concerns have been raised.

Just as a side issue, I was asked at the weekend if forum members partners/spouses/friends/dogs and cats have been invited also, can you confirm or deny that please? Sorry if its been discussed previously, and are you flying economy class?

Podcast? - No not yet

Seriously. Listen to the podcast, we explained all of that in there !

Only the elected forum members going, and we are flying business class and (I believe) in the same hotel as the team.

As I think you said earlier, we've gone over this a lot over the last couple of weeks, so we're not going into long winded replies to basically the same repeated posts

[Gav]

Seriously. Listen to the podcast, we explained all of that in there !

Only the elected forum members going, and we are flying business class and (I believe) in the same hotel as the team.

As I think you said earlier, we've gone over this a lot over the last couple of weeks, so we're not going into long winded replies to basically the same repeated posts

I will have a listen

[Mattyblue]

The Acadremy is a load of baloney?

Well I never...

[RibbleValleyRover]

At the end of the day it's up to Venky's whether this trip will be deemed a success or not. The number one issue by far is the manager, will that be on the discussion table? If not then the only thing that might be achieved is establishing the first tentative steps of building a relationship and not much else.

[Paul]

After listening to the podcast I feel even more reassured than I was previously those travelling will represent Rovers fans very well. It's hard to imagine a better bunch to send.

I retain my scepticism about the trip and still believe there is a great danger this will become a widely publicised PR vehicle for the Raos. There is little the individuals can do to prevent this and I still think it wrong the Fans Forum could become a part of the PR circus. It's not clear to me what the Raos motivations were in iniating the visit and as no formal meeting is scheduled it does seem this could be a wasted opportunity on both sides. I hope it isn't.

I am very, very interested in the remarks in the podcast regarding confrontation and the Indian culture not allowing / accepting this. Clearly the FF have to avoid confrontation and I now begin to despair as to where this leaves us. I wanted to begin a thread titled "Confrontation" but felt it would simply deteriorate into another Kean / Venky's bashing routine with all the same things being said.

This idea of confrontation is a new one to me. As I mentioned elsewhere I guess the Raos simply don't know how to handle what they may view as a lack of respect from the fans for Kean and their ownership. It may well be this is viewed as confrontation. In fact it's difficult to see hundreds or thousands of supporters chanting "Kean Out" can be viewed as anything other than a challenge or "confrontation" with / to the owners and management.

If it is correct that such confrontation is taken badly by the Indian culture then I feel we have an even bigger problem on our hands - the more the fans protest the more the Raos may dig in their heels and support Kean regardless.

Hopefully those who go to Pune can explore and report back on this.

Meanwhile good luck to you all. I hope by the time you return those who criticise will have had time to reflect and appreciate the effort you are making.