[Archived] Next protest

[he6rt6gr6m]

I posted the post below earlier in another thread, but it obviously sits more comfortably here. Kamy & Tom (and others that have advocated no protest during the game), please confirm when you would advocate such action? Never, or when we were a certain number of points adrift of safety? (By the way, I respect the work and support Kamy n Tom constantly provide on behalf of the fans):

Not doing anything during the game is a mutual way to show that the fans are behind the players. Protests, demonstrations and chanting before and after those precious 90 minutes are known by all to be directed at the manager, and now the owners.

The players do not deserve to have those sorts of chants going on while they play. They need OUR support, even if they do defend the manager (he picks the team and they want to play) in the media.

It will only be at a time where Kean says he will never pick a player again that we will hear the truth of what is happening at our club. Like Keith Andrews has done. Roberts wasn't happy with Allardyce either, but I think the difference there was that Roberts could fault what Allardyce was doing anywhere. Just that the football wasn't "attractive" and that he wasn't being picked.

[ebenrocks]

I'm sorry but the club is in dire dire straights. We NEED to protest during the match simply because we need to protest every second we can in order to pick up as much media coverage as possible. We are all well aware that news of fan dissatisfaction is being carefully edited by Kean/Anderson/Agnew and as such not getting through to India. The louder we make ourselves known, the harder it is for those rats to filter us and the more likely it is the owners MAY take notice.

If we chant pre kick off then those with the power are still tucking into their prawn sandwiches and champagne, if we chant after the match they have make a quick exit back to the executive suites. Kean is back down the tunnel and escapes the brunt of our anger.

People are saying we may lose matches and drop points because of chanting during the match.... LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE CLUB!!! WE'RE ALREADY LOSING MATCHES AND DROPPING POINTS!! WE'VE WON ONE GAME THIS SEASON!! Chanting during the matches is not going to lose us games or points.. we have Kean for that and he's doing a bloody good job of it.

We need to be vocal at all times or this club is well and truly f**ked. Even more so than it is now. I really feel like this might be our last chance to force the issue. With every game Kean loses we need to increase the protesting ten fold, it's the only way we may be able to force Venky's hand.

[Neil Weaver]

I’ve been pondering for a couple of days and as things move on perhaps now is the time to do something like this.

There was talk a couple of weeks ago about placing some ‘publicity’ in the Indian press but for whatever reason this hasn’t happened. Now this is NOT addressing the immediate issue of Mr Kean but IS AIMED FIRMLY at the longer term issue of Venky’s presence at the club, and the audience is Joe Public rather than football fans.

I’ve mentioned this to Glen and am sure we’re not covering the same ground (which was a major concern). With all that in mind, I’d welcome any thoughts around this – content, style….. My thoughts were to discuss with the likes of Andy Cryer and get this published in the main body of the LT, probably as an ‘advert’ rather than a conventional article. And I realise this is going to cost. So here are a few thoughts on content :

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What would Blackburn not having a Premiership club mean for the town?

Crowds, and by definition the flow of people into Blackburn, would fall markedly.

Obviously, some areas of town and businesses will suffer more than others.

The national media are now starting to express some of the concerns many Rovers fans have had (and been expressing) for months.

There are some VERY ODD things happening at the club. An example – if YOU were running a business where your main sales manager left half way through the year with sales looking on target to just about surpass the year’s expectation, but the target was not met that year THEN after 4 months of the following year sales had fallen off a cliff, would you reward the sales manager with an enhanced contract? In football terms that has just happened at Rovers.

What can you do about this? If you have relatives in the sub-continent are they aware of the mess Rovers’ Indian owners are making of the club? EVERYONE can make their local MP aware of their concerns : Blackburn’s MP Jack Straw is a notable Rovers fan.

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I think it’s important to keep points short and snappy so if anyone has suggestions on the contract analogy especially, let’s hear them. The aim was to get this into Thursday's paper but given publishing deadlines I think that might be optimistic so Friday is the target. Thoughts and contributions welcome.

[glen9mullan]

I've been pondering for a couple of days and as things move on perhaps now is the time to do something like this.

There was talk a couple of weeks ago about placing some 'publicity' in the Indian press but for whatever reason this hasn't happened. Now this is NOT addressing the immediate issue of Mr Kean but IS AIMED FIRMLY at the longer term issue of Venky's presence at the club, and the audience is Joe Public rather than football fans.

I've mentioned this to Glen and am sure we're not covering the same ground (which was a major concern). With all that in mind, I'd welcome any thoughts around this – content, style….. My thoughts were to discuss with the likes of Andy Cryer and get this published in the main body of the LT, probably as an 'advert' rather than a conventional article. And I realise this is going to cost. So here are a few thoughts on content :

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What would Blackburn not having a Premiership club mean for the town?

Crowds, and by definition the flow of people into Blackburn, would fall markedly.

Obviously, some areas of town and businesses will suffer more than others.

The national media are now starting to express some of the concerns many Rovers fans have had (and been expressing) for months.

There are some VERY ODD things happening at the club. An example – if YOU were running a business where your main sales manager left half way through the year with sales looking on target to just about surpass the year's expectation, but the target was not met that year THEN after 4 months of the following year sales had fallen off a cliff, would you reward the sales manager with an enhanced contract? In football terms that has just happened at Rovers.

What can you do about this? If you have relatives in the sub-continent are they aware of the mess Rovers' Indian owners are making of the club? EVERYONE can make their local MP aware of their concerns : Blackburn's MP Jack Straw is a notable Rovers fan.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think it's important to keep points short and snappy so if anyone has suggestions on the contract analogy especially, let's hear them. The aim was to get this into Thursday's paper but given publishing deadlines I think that might be optimistic so Friday is the target. Thoughts and contributions welcome.

Neil has given this a lot of thought and is very serious about this idea becoming a reality, I ask all to give him as much feedback as possible and offer any support you can, this is a fantastic idea and one he has thought through for a couple of weeks. This is exactly the tyep of thing needed for community awareness. Well done Neil

[ribblevalleyblue]

IMO the protest needs to be loud and visual this week, because if the rumours are true that the unwashed inbreds from up the road are planning to send up a plane on Saturday, then there is a danger that will get the publicity

[RovertheHill]

Just posted in the Cardiff thread. The last few matches suggest to me that Kean has lost the team. And the atmosphere at Ewood has been terrible for ages now anyway, so frankly we may as well give it both barrels to Kean throughout the match. The players are not daft, they know it's not aimed at them. Okay, some of them are daft, but they still know it's not about them

[matt83]

Tune of american pie

A long long time ago,

I can still remember how the Rovers used to make me smile,

And, once I’d heard Steve Kean’s lies that he wasn’t the kit man in disguise,

I knew that I wouldn’t be happy for a while,

But his new contract made me shiver,

With every lie he’ll deliver,

Bad news to be rover,

The good old days surely over,

I know the Venky’s must be blind,

When I read about Kean’s new contract signed,

Something tells me we’ll always go behind,

The day that Steve Kean signed.

 

So, why why, 

Anuradha Desai,

Drove the club to extinction,

But we’ll never say die,

And them good old boys drinking whiskey and rye, singing

Can’t wait 'til the day you die

Can’t wait 'til the day you die.

[Mercer]

Not doing anything during the game is a mutual way to show that the fans are behind the players. Protests, demonstrations and chanting before and after those precious 90 minutes are known by all to be directed at the manager, and now the owners.

The players do not deserve to have those sorts of chants going on while they play. They need OUR support, even if they do defend the manager (he picks the team and they want to play) in the media.

It will only be at a time where Kean says he will never pick a player again that we will hear the truth of what is happening at our club. Like Keith Andrews has done. Roberts wasn't happy with Allardyce either, but I think the difference there was that Roberts could fault what Allardyce was doing anywhere. Just that the football wasn't "attractive" and that he wasn't being picked.

Really ? Try telling those supporters who went to Wigan, Stoke & Cardiff and barely, with the odd exception, got an acknowledgement at the end of the game out of the players.

These players are paid huge amounts of money whilst many supporters scrimp, save and make sacrifices to follow their team.

In my opinion, our club is rotten to the core and sacking the manager with immediate effect would be a start in addressing horrible, horrible problems.

[Myles Anderson]

Tune of american pie

So, why why,

Anuradha Desai,

Drove the club to extinction,

But we’ll never say die,

And them good old boys drinking whiskey and rye, singing

Can’t wait 'til the day you die

Can’t wait 'til the day you die.

That has a lovely ring to it.

[beerwins]

Andy Cryer tweeted last night that although he has been told he is going nowhere that he feels a loss on Sat could spell the end for Kean.

[Ralfinho]

Andy Cryer tweeted last night that although he has been told he is going nowhere that he feels a loss on Sat could spell the end for Kean.

I hope that is true

[LeChuck]

Andy Cryer tweeted last night that although he has been told he is going nowhere that he feels a loss on Sat could spell the end for Kean.

Meh. A loss on Saturday and we'll be pretty much down anyway. We need a win to stand any chance of pulling ourselves out of this mess.

It's a no win situation really, but if it's true that Kean will leave if we are defeated then that's the best long term option. The very worst thing that could happen is Kean gets a win and stay of execution, then goes on to be winless for the next 7-8 games again.

[Seggie]

Glen,

The media pressure needs to be kept up especially with what's going on a Pompey, I suspect that the press will be more interested in them than us given the chance.

[beerwins]

Meh. A loss on Saturday and we'll be pretty much down anyway. We need a win to stand any chance of pulling ourselves out of this mess.

It's a no win situation really, but if it's true that Kean will leave if we are defeated then that's the best long term option. The very worst thing that could happen is Kean gets a win and stay of execution, then goes on to be winless for the next 7-8 games again.

I still think there are plenty of points to play for yet, if we make the right decisions NOW we could well get out of this quite easy.

All the clubs that got promoted will have an after Christmas slide as per usual add that to the fact that Wigan, Wolves, Bolton and West Brom will all be in the mix.

Get Rid right now, we have a winnable game on Sat and three points would be a good start to the fightback.

[Jimmy612]

Don't get me wrong I have nothing against venting during the game but I will personally wait until I feel it's right, ie my

Full focus at kick off will be getting behind the team, if things go awry then it's fair game and I will be giving it both barrels.

I appreciate not everyone agrees with this sentiment and no doubt some will even call me fickle for that but so be it.

It's gone way past that now TomM. This whole regime is like a malignant cancer that no amount of hope and crossed fingers will cure. Treatment is painful and unpleasant but it's necessary to kill the root cause.

Just a thought but how about leafletting the entire home crowd to stay in the concourse for 10 mins after HT? If the concourses aren't big enough then go right to the back of the stands. The match is on the monitors but the effect on TV and Radio will be mega. It's what the prawn sarny brigade do every match at Wembley and it's hugely noticeable so magine the effect if everyone in the ground did it!

[arbitro]

Not doing anything during the game is a mutual way to show that the fans are behind the players. Protests, demonstrations and chanting before and after those precious 90 minutes are known by all to be directed at the manager, and now the owners.

The players do not deserve to have those sorts of chants going on while they play. They need OUR support, even if they do defend the manager (he picks the team and they want to play) in the media.

It will only be at a time where Kean says he will never pick a player again that we will hear the truth of what is happening at our club. Like Keith Andrews has done. Roberts wasn't happy with Allardyce either, but I think the difference there was that Roberts could fault what Allardyce was doing anywhere. Just that the football wasn't "attractive" and that he wasn't being picked.

Sorry mate but having been to all three of the recent away games the players coming over to the fans would have made me feel better about my club and given us the impression that some of them DO care. I DO take being shunned by them personally and when the time is right I will be delighted when some of them move on, hopefully to Accrington Stanley and Macclesfield (no disrespect to them btw).

[koi]

The choice is stark; a dramatic turn-around over the next few games and we have a chance. Fail to do that and the only way we'll get out of this is to produce title-challenging form for the second half of the season, we've managed that three times in reality - 93/94, 94/95 and the first half of 97/98. Non of these will happen under Kean, an immediate change for a quality manager might give us the kick-start we need but it's debatable. The fact is Kean will leave a squad of players that are way off the standard needed, in fact they look like they need a dam thorough pre-season to get somewhere near. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the level of fitness of the players is nothing short of criminal, it's undermining anything that is trying to be achieved on the pitch.

I'm now at the stage that I think it's becoming academic, we will be playing second tier football next season. Kean wont go, we have owners who wont leave their Pune cocoon and a management structure that makes the Walmington-On-Sea Home Guard look the epitome of organisational brilliance.

Glen,

The media pressure needs to be kept up especially with what's going on a Pompey, I suspect that the press will be more interested in them than us given the chance.

I've noted a definite change in tone from the press this week. Slowly but surely they are realising there's a story to get their teeth in. However, we still have the problem that certain hacks who are close to the club still seem to be Kean on peddling SEM spin b0ll0xs

[Jimmy612]

Just as an aside is anybody in advertising? If so what would be the approximate cost of large billboard between the M65 and the ground or close by? A large poster of the 3 Rao's with VENKEYS OUT OR VENKEYS GO HOME emplazoned across or similar to the ghostbusters image and in tyhe colours of the protest shirts would be iconic and surely capture the attention of the media and press. And there's little the Club's owners could do about it. I'm sure members of this mboard could easily be organised to fund one.

[pg]

I live thousands of kilometres away from Blackburn at the moment and have only watched them live a handful of times over the past few years. Maybe it's this distance that enables a colder, more rational assessment of the situation.

The problem is that the club is Venky's. It is only 'Blackburn Rovers' in name only. It is Venky's Rovers now.

While the supporters do (justifiably) carry on like angry shareholders raging at incompetent management at an annual meeting, they have no equity in the club whatsover. The contribution of ticket revenue is small % of overall revenue (how much exactly?).

I wonder if a mass boycott on match day would help draw more attention to the plight of the club, and help bring external pressure into an inquiry into the Venky's management. In a dream world the FA would force them to sell, as they are clearly acting against the interests of the supporters, the town, and I'd argue the Premier League itself.

I think Rovers supporters on this forum are in denial. It would be wonderful if we could just turn up on a Saturday, sing nice songs, cheer on the team..and suddenly they'll turn into a Premiership-quality squad, Steve Keen becomes management material and the Venky's become passionate and respectful owners who use the club to further their own branding by ensuring the club remains a popular and competitive league team.

But that is never going to happen.

A definition of insanity is often paraphrased as continuing the same behaviour yet expecting a different outcomes. In that respect many of Rovers supporters here are completely batty. Predicting the future based upon past events suggests that Venky's Rovers will fold at some point in the future after they've bled the various revenue streams of the club dry to boost their own business interests.

The question is who will buy the club and what assets will be left.

Venky's are rotten to the core and personally I regard the only worthwhile protests are

1) Mass boycott when the TV cameras show empty stands

2) Occupy Ewood

Maybe you could combine the two. Turn up on the day but don't enter the stadium. Just sit outside the ground with as many "Venky's out" placards and T-shirts that you can handle.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and for those of you who have grown up with the Blackburn Rovers..your club is being destroyed.

[Mattyblue]

The fans on here arent 'batty', we know the score. There are many in the wider fanbase that still have their heads in the sand, though that might now have changed- we'll see on Saturday.

[RoyRover]

If we chant pre kick off then those with the power are still tucking into their prawn sandwiches and champagne, if we chant after the match they have make a quick exit back to the executive suites. Kean is back down the tunnel and escapes the brunt of our anger.

People are saying we may lose matches and drop points because of chanting during the match.... LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE CLUB!!! WE'RE ALREADY LOSING MATCHES AND DROPPING POINTS!! WE'VE WON ONE GAME THIS SEASON!! Chanting during the matches is not going to lose us games or points.. we have Kean for that and he's doing a bloody good job of it.

I totally agree. We were losing match after match long before the protests started, so it's not like it's the cause of the problem.

I also agree with people who say that it doesn't help the players, as it no doubt puts them under pressure.

But what are the fans supposed to do? If they protest before and after the game, TV camers, the manager, the owners and board won't be around to take the full brunt of the fans anger. They need to know what they are doing to the club and that getting rid of Steve Kean is the only chance of the club surviving. If that means putting the players under more pressure well that's just the way it is.

[DE.]

I also agree with people who say that it doesn't help the players, as it no doubt puts them under pressure.

At this point, it really doesn't matter. The players aren't good enough to win the matches with Kean in charge, confidence or not. As others have said, our form was shocking BEFORE the protests, and as long as Kean is manager we go down whether people cheer, boo, hiss, laugh or cry. The players being "confident" or "happy" isn't enough.

[sharpysharps]

Just ordered myself a yellow and black scarf off ebay. Hopefully this will attract the biggest numbers for any kind of protest so far.

[Myles Anderson]

Advertising blimps?...

When you want to distinctly make it evident; You Mean Business! or maybe announce a happy event such as a wedding reception, party, or other venue.

Be seen for miles and miles and miles in fact a large size Balloon, floated at 200 feet can be seen for up to 7 miles! In normal conditions.

Balloons and Blimps, do not require planning permission, when floated at up to 200 feet and for up to ten promotions a year. Neither require permission from the Civil Aviation Authority, when at 200 feet (60mts).

[whatdial]

Just ordered myself a yellow and black scarf off ebay. Hopefully this will attract the biggest numbers for any kind of protest so far.

Those green and gold scarves really got the glazers pooing their pants, can't wait to see the yellow brigade scaring the venkys away!

Only two colours should be worn and they are blue and white, we need to get behind the team!