[Archived] A United Statement By Blackburn Rovers Fans

[gumboots]

I was brought up watching the Boro in the old second division - getting all excited when we got a cup draw against a big team and managed to beat them - but mostly just watching my team play their best and sometimes win but occasionally draw. The most fun i remember having as a Rovers fan was the season we got promoted where every game mattered - none of this Oh, we've no chance because it's moneybags city/spurs/ any team with Crouch playing for them or whatever. I don't care about premier league status in many ways though I know we need it to sustain our club as it was the year before last. I just want to feel a connection with the club. I want to look at away fixtures and think I might like to go to them instead of thinking why bother it cost the earth and we'll end up getting beaten (I know recent results don't show that but it's a blip and normal service will soon be restored) I want to go to Ewood with a sense of anticipation, not thinking we will win but having some basis for hope and a feeling that the whole team, manager, players and all the rest are together for us and with us.

[daveoftherovers]

I was brought up watching the Boro in the old second division - getting all excited when we got a cup draw against a big team and managed to beat them - but mostly just watching my team play their best and sometimes win but occasionally draw. The most fun i remember having as a Rovers fan was the season we got promoted where every game mattered - none of this Oh, we've no chance because it's moneybags city/spurs/ any team with Crouch playing for them or whatever. I don't care about premier league status in many ways though I know we need it to sustain our club as it was the year before last. I just want to feel a connection with the club. I want to look at away fixtures and think I might like to go to them instead of thinking why bother it cost the earth and we'll end up getting beaten (I know recent results don't show that but it's a blip and normal service will soon be restored) I want to go to Ewood with a sense of anticipation, not thinking we will win but having some basis for hope and a feeling that the whole team, manager, players and all the rest are together for us and with us.

Great post Gumboots

[m1st]

Thanks Colin for finding that. Thanks to you as well m1st for your post on the Darlo board. Top stuff.

Lovely that theno. Very defeatist.

I'd be immensely happy to be playing Darlington today in the Conference, so long as we both had a club we could believe in, people in charge who we could trust, honesty, no bullshit, players trying their best for the shirt, (if only to be spotted by a bigger club).

Why can't any club just live to it's means? Oh to win at Old Trafford eh? Thats the ultimate dream surely? Well we've just done that and frankly I don't give a toss because of the people who are in charge at Rovers. That's quite something that Kean / Venkys, you should be very proud. But hey that's just me isn't it?

Sure it's not the Premier League but so bloody what? Oh to be patronised by Lineker or Hansen or 'Newcastle's Alan Shearer' every week. Stelling or Merson, utterly clueless as to what's happening at Ewood. Nicholas, SEM. Nixon and his questionable loyalties.

May the end come soon, don't kill us slowly. Get out of our club.

No, bob; it isn't just you. There are loads of us who are increasingly disillusioned at what our owners have done to us and the club we love.

I was down in Weybridge last weekend, seeing in the New Year with friends. We went for a drive on Saturday lunchtime and when we got out of the car, I lost touch with the score [1-0 at that stage]. In previous years, I'm sure my friends, who aren't that interested in football, would have indulged me and not gone out until full time at Old Trafford; as it was, I didn't find out the final score until about 4.30. It was a pleasant surprise; but surely meaningless in the great scheme of things.

As others on here reminded me when I clutched at the straw of the 4 points from Liverpool and United [away] narrowing the gap, those points mean little if we can't beat the teams around us. And we can't.

[Rover_Shaun]

I've not heard anything, but compared to the verbal abuse we'd (rightly in my opinion) given Kean, that footage is disgraceful behaviour by the fans.

I think you need to look harder. There are burly petty blokes in yellow and orange tops doing all the antogonising.

[Fife Rover]

Thanks Colin for finding that. Thanks to you as well m1st for your post on the Darlo board. Top stuff.

Lovely that theno. Very defeatist.

I'd be immensely happy to be playing Darlington today in the Conference, so long as we both had a club we could believe in, people in charge who we could trust, honesty, no bullshit, players trying their best for the shirt, (if only to be spotted by a bigger club).

Why can't any club just live to it's means? Oh to win at Old Trafford eh? Thats the ultimate dream surely? Well we've just done that and frankly I don't give a toss because of the people who are in charge at Rovers. That's quite something that Kean / Venkys, you should be very proud. But hey that's just me isn't it?

Sure it's not the Premier League but so bloody what? Oh to be patronised by Lineker or Hansen or 'Newcastle's Alan Shearer' every week. Stelling or Merson, utterly clueless as to what's happening at Ewood. Nicholas, SEM. Nixon and his questionable loyalties.

May the end come soon, don't kill us slowly. Get out of our club.

Fully agree with all that Bob, but especially your para about the visit to Old Trafford.

In normal circumstances if we came away from there with a win I would feel like cheering and rushing out into the street to high-five the first available passer-by, but this time when it happened I was mildly pleased but still almost disinterested. All I feel now on Rovers matters is just a vast feeling of emptiness and virging on disinterest. Neither I myself nor anyone that knows me can believe this of me, and I am sure that my relatives and friends all think I am going senile or some other kind of mental illness.

[John]

I get that empty feeling too, it just doesn't feel right. Heart and soul ripped out, it is just going to get worse too.

[john.leigh]

I've added two new words to my vocabulary - zeitgeist and doppleganger.

I've recently used them both in relation to Rovers, so the venkys reign at Ewood hasn't been all bad. :-(

[thenodrog]

Lovely that theno. Very defeatist.

I'd be immensely happy to be playing Darlington today in the Conference, so long as we both had a club we could believe in, people in charge who we could trust, honesty, no bullshit, players trying their best for the shirt, (if only to be spotted by a bigger club).

Why can't any club just live to it's means? Oh to win at Old Trafford eh? Thats the ultimate dream surely? Well we've just done that and frankly I don't give a toss because of the people who are in charge at Rovers. That's quite something that Kean / Venkys, you should be very proud. But hey that's just me isn't it?

Sure it's not the Premier League but so bloody what? Oh to be patronised by Lineker or Hansen or 'Newcastle's Alan Shearer' every week. Stelling or Merson, utterly clueless as to what's happening at Ewood. Nicholas, SEM. Nixon and his questionable loyalties.

May the end come soon, don't kill us slowly. Get out of our club.

Please don't confuse defeatism with pragmatism Bob. You might want to watch conference football but I dont..... and there are far far more like me than like you.

The way forward for BRFC is to be self financing and run by Directors who are supporters first and foremost. If that means joining with our neighbours to provide a vibrant new club then so be it. (btw I'd suggest the Directors would provide more of a hurdle than the supporters. We don't have ego's cluttering our thoughts and motivations.)

I've said many times that foreign owners all have financial agenda's other than the wellbeing of whatever club their laundering / tax avoidance has purchased. One thing is for sure none are true supporters. Not that the Venkeys necessarily come under this category... they were just buying a business which as an entirity amounted to much less than the value of it's component parts. BRFc was an asset strippers charter!

[thenodrog]

Fully agree with all that Bob, but especially your para about the visit to Old Trafford.

In normal circumstances if we came away from there with a win I would feel like cheering and rushing out into the street to high-five the first available passer-by, but this time when it happened I was mildly pleased but still almost disinterested. All I feel now on Rovers matters is just a vast feeling of emptiness and virging on disinterest. Neither I myself nor anyone that knows me can believe this of me, and I am sure that my relatives and friends all think I am going senile or some other kind of mental illness.

Disenchantment is the word from the minute the slumdogs first trapped up Fife (sorry applioes to M1st and John too)H. Dislocated has crept into my feelings now too.

[Waggy76]

Fully agree with all that Bob, but especially your para about the visit to Old Trafford.

In normal circumstances if we came away from there with a win I would feel like cheering and rushing out into the street to high-five the first available passer-by, but this time when it happened I was mildly pleased but still almost disinterested. All I feel now on Rovers matters is just a vast feeling of emptiness and virging on disinterest. Neither I myself nor anyone that knows me can believe this of me, and I am sure that my relatives and friends all think I am going senile or some other kind of mental illness.

Me thinks the same , first went on in 69 until these people I.E Kean ,Anderson and Venkys leave it will stay the same ..We will be relegated and finish bottom , no doubts about ...All I ask is just leave us a football club that we can recognise ...

[bob fleming]

Please don't confuse defeatism with pragmatism Bob. You might want to watch conference football but I dont..... and there are far far more like me than like you.

The way forward for BRFC is to be self financing and run by Directors who are supporters first and foremost. If that means joining with our neighbours to provide a vibrant new club then so be it. (btw I'd suggest the Directors would provide more of a hurdle than the supporters. We don't have ego's cluttering our thoughts and motivations.)

I've said many times that foreign owners all have financial agenda's other than the wellbeing of whatever club their laundering / tax avoidance has purchased. One thing is for sure none are true supporters. Not that the Venkeys necessarily come under this category... they were just buying a business which as an entirity amounted to much less than the value of it's component parts. BRFc was an asset strippers charter!

But theno, you've packed in going already. And as much as I like you, because you do know your stuff, you dont get involved. You talk a good game but the time for banging away on here about nothing is over, enough.

You are one of the most passionate and articulate Rovers fans on this board. I've never met you, I'd like to. Now is the time for you and people like you to come to the fore, the time for talk is over.

Actions my good man. Why don't you go and help Glen? Get involved, our club needs people like you.

[Sparky Marky]

What do you mean Bob? What difference can we make ?

I work in P.R and as much as I'd like to do something....it all seems futile. Too many aren't that bothered.

[bob fleming]

What do you mean Bob? What difference can we make ?

I work in P.R and as much as I'd like to do something....it all seems futile. Too many aren't that bothered.

I mean that it's time for articulate people like theno to come to the fore. Speak up for our club.

Years back we had Bill Fox and Terry Ibbotson on the Board of Directors, people who really gave a damn, knew their stuff and bled blue and white. We need people such as theno to get involved and others like them.

Come on, now is the time, this is it, we will slip away otherwise. Glen Mullen is doing a great job, but we need more. We need everyone to speak up and help Glen. It's all very well going to Chorley (a good day, I hope they get sorted) but it's time that the 100 Club et al get involved.

I don't understand or accept that this is it. I've had a few, again, but surely there must be more than this? Where are the two Ians? Where are the Trustees? Where is Coar? Stanners?.Lee?

Perhaps we and they are powerless, but please tell us. Speak up.

Having just reread your post, it's not futile, many are bothered, if you're in PR get involved with Glen.

Oh and read your PM please.

[colin]

A series of eloquent posts and I feel the 54it that you are going through. All of you. I'm one too.

I've become disenfranchised from the club that I have supported for 35 years.

All the best to you all.

My ST now lies unused. I hate what Rovers have become. Venkys; the "board of directors" and Steve Kean can go and ......fill in the gaps yourselves.

I'm finished with Rovers.

[Claytons Left Boot]

Where is Coar?

Exactly. This guy is one of the few links left between the early Jack Walker days and now. Why isn't he standing up and saying his piece. Telling Venky's what an absolute mess they've made. Getting involved? What is his role at the club? On the face of it doing sod all when we need people like him the most.

[yoda]

What do you mean Bob? What difference can we make ?

I work in P.R and as much as I'd like to do something....it all seems futile. Too many aren't that bothered.

I would hate myself if I had that attitude

[Exiled in Toronto]

Exactly. This guy is one of the few links left between the early Jack Walker days and now. Why isn't he standing up and saying his piece. Telling Venky's what an absolute mess they've made. Getting involved? What is his role at the club? On the face of it doing sod all when we need people like him the most.

I spoke to a mutual schoolfriend of ours recently who had recently bumped into Mr Coar. I got the impression that our ex-Chairman, being as you say the only remaining link with the old regime, must feel he can do more good by being seen by Venky's to be inside the tent peeing out. I think I agree with him. It would be easy to come out and denounce Venky's in the press; much harder to try and work with them and influence them day in day out.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

I spent New Years Eve with family and friends all of whom are Rovers/football fans. Some of them would have been certainties to be at the Utd game not too long ago. Not one (me included) wanted to watch the match. We kept getting updates and when the final score came through it was greeted with chuckles and shrugs. A short time back we would have been running around bumping into each other.

I have become a bit detached from the club but put that down to the tyranny of distance. It was sobering to see that good mates of mine, passionate Rovers fans, feel the same way living not 10 miles from Ewood. Coming away from the Stoke game there was no anger just resigned laughter at kean's ineptitude. Witnessing the atmosphere at Ewood reminded me of a dead marriage. Everyone going through the motions, the passion dead.

When Venkys took over I welcomed them. I was a bit worried but hoped that they would be the breath of fresh air that the club desperately needed. The subsequent 15 months beggars belief.

Still, hats off too them I suppose. They have made life long, passionate Rovers fans with a deep love of the club no longer give a ######. Quite some feat in such a short period of time.

[DE.]

I spent New Years Eve with family and friends all of whom are Rovers/football fans. Some of them would have been certainties to be at the Utd game not too long ago. Not one (me included) wanted to watch the match. We kept getting updates and when the final score came through it was greeted with chuckles and shrugs. A short time back we would have been running around bumping into each other.

I have become a bit detached from the club but put that down to the tyranny of distance. It was sobering to see that good mates of mine, passionate Rovers fans, feel the same way living not 10 miles from Ewood. Coming away from the Stoke game there was no anger just resigned laughter at kean's ineptitude. Witnessing the atmosphere at Ewood reminded me of a dead marriage. Everyone going through the motions, the passion dead.

When Venkys took over I welcomed them. I was a bit worried but hoped that they would be the breath of fresh air that the club desperately needed. The subsequent 15 months beggars belief.

Still, hats off too them I suppose. They have made life long, passionate Rovers fans with a deep love of the club no longer give a ######. Quite some feat in such a short period of time.

Same here. After the Bolton result I genuinely felt like I was done, in terms of enthusiasm. I still feel that way - didn't really care about the Liverpool or United result, just shook my head in disbelief. Found the Stoke and Newcastle losses mildly amusing.

I find it very difficult to support the club with any enthusiasm at the moment - I don't like the owners, I don't like the manager, I don't like most of the players. Even the fans are at each others throats. Does BRFC currently represent Blackburn in any way other than name? I'd say not. It represents Venky's perfectly though, and I have no desire to support them.

I'll always be interested in what is happening at the club because it is my club, and Venky's maiming of it will hopefully only be temporary. Hard to muster up any feeling one way or the other towards the club in terms of results - the only anger or hatred I feel is for what Venky's have done to the club itself. Results are practically irrelevant at this point.

Just hope Venky's bugger off ASAP so I can get back to supporting Rovers properly, no matter what division we're in.

[Al]

I spent New Years Eve with family and friends all of whom are Rovers/football fans. Some of them would have been certainties to be at the Utd game not too long ago. Not one (me included) wanted to watch the match. We kept getting updates and when the final score came through it was greeted with chuckles and shrugs. A short time back we would have been running around bumping into each other.

I have become a bit detached from the club but put that down to the tyranny of distance. It was sobering to see that good mates of mine, passionate Rovers fans, feel the same way living not 10 miles from Ewood. Coming away from the Stoke game there was no anger just resigned laughter at kean's ineptitude. Witnessing the atmosphere at Ewood reminded me of a dead marriage. Everyone going through the motions, the passion dead.

When Venkys took over I welcomed them. I was a bit worried but hoped that they would be the breath of fresh air that the club desperately needed. The subsequent 15 months beggars belief.

Still, hats off too them I suppose. They have made life long, passionate Rovers fans with a deep love of the club no longer give a ######. Quite some feat in such a short period of time.

It's surprising (or maybe not) that many long term fans, including me, now feel that way.

[Gav]

I spent New Years Eve with family and friends all of whom are Rovers/football fans. Some of them would have been certainties to be at the Utd game not too long ago. Not one (me included) wanted to watch the match. We kept getting updates and when the final score came through it was greeted with chuckles and shrugs. A short time back we would have been running around bumping into each other.

I have become a bit detached from the club but put that down to the tyranny of distance. It was sobering to see that good mates of mine, passionate Rovers fans, feel the same way living not 10 miles from Ewood. Coming away from the Stoke game there was no anger just resigned laughter at kean's ineptitude. Witnessing the atmosphere at Ewood reminded me of a dead marriage. Everyone going through the motions, the passion dead.

When Venkys took over I welcomed them. I was a bit worried but hoped that they would be the breath of fresh air that the club desperately needed. The subsequent 15 months beggars belief.

Still, hats off too them I suppose. They have made life long, passionate Rovers fans with a deep love of the club no longer give a ######. Quite some feat in such a short period of time.

Sums things up nicely DGS

I only live 15 mins from the ground and I feel detached from the club!

[Sparky Marky]

I would hate myself if I had that attitude

Would you? Do you have a superior attitude ? What difference have you made to all this Yoda? If Bob Coar can't do owt, what can we do? The protests seem pointless .....It's gonna just play itself out.

[yoda]

Would you? Do you have a superior attitude ? What difference have you made to all this Yoda? If Bob Coar can't do owt, what can we do? The protests seem pointless .....It's gonna just play itself out.

I didn't say I had a superior attitude, sounds like you have an inferiority complex though,

I don't know what difference I have made individually but its not for the want of trying and the more people that try, in the end make will a difference.

I know what difference you will be making and that is nought because you are sitting on your hands and bleating,

You say you are in PR, what as the tea boy?

Use your skills if you have any and try to make the tide turn against the Raos.

Every little helps

[Sparky Marky]

Yes the tea boy.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

I spent New Years Eve with family and friends all of whom are Rovers/football fans. Some of them would have been certainties to be at the Utd game not too long ago. Not one (me included) wanted to watch the match. We kept getting updates and when the final score came through it was greeted with chuckles and shrugs. A short time back we would have been running around bumping into each other.

I have become a bit detached from the club but put that down to the tyranny of distance. It was sobering to see that good mates of mine, passionate Rovers fans, feel the same way living not 10 miles from Ewood. Coming away from the Stoke game there was no anger just resigned laughter at kean's ineptitude. Witnessing the atmosphere at Ewood reminded me of a dead marriage. Everyone going through the motions, the passion dead.

When Venkys took over I welcomed them. I was a bit worried but hoped that they would be the breath of fresh air that the club desperately needed. The subsequent 15 months beggars belief.

Still, hats off too them I suppose. They have made life long, passionate Rovers fans with a deep love of the club no longer give a ######. Quite some feat in such a short period of time.

You are just one of many - where the enthusiasm is being slowly sucked away by the current regime.

Normally on match day - even just listening on the radio - I used to get nervous - the weekend being made or ruined by our performance. Now I greet each defeat with an air of resignation. I still cling to the hope that the owners will come riding in on white chargers with Mark Hughes and a reasonable transfer kitty in tow - but then again I do the lottery each week - the odds are probably the same.