[Archived] Planned open supporters meeting

[Sparky Marky]

Anyone with an update as to how this meeting is going, what the attendance levels are?

See my friend..only 40 attending a meeting and you want how many to invest thousands? In theory you have an idea....possibly work when we're in the blue square league.

[SAS]

Went, nothing really got off the ground which was a disappointment.

Personally feel we need a unified group with all areas covered, web based, pub based, government and council officials involved...

[darrenrover]

See my friend..only 40 attending a meeting and you want how many to invest thousands? In theory you have an idea....possibly work when we're in the blue square league.

Don't know Daniel from Adam but fully endorse his efforts and optimism and he doesn't deserve knocks in any way. At least he's attempted to be both innovative with his solutions as opposed to the knockers with no solutions. (fully understand the frustrations and annoyance at the state of the club by the way, I'm distraught also)

I think his efforts will ultimately come to fruition in a scaled down version of what he originally intended which unfortunately in Blackburn was never going to succeed in it's original format despite best endeavours.

I don't wish to dampen Glenns spirits either but you would have expected more than 40 to turn up if Langho Juniors were in financial difficulty. Enough said, get behind the lads and hope for the best, you never know, miracles do sometimes happen.

[Hasta]

This is not my view and I know this may sound defeatist but:-

I think the problem is many people think that there is nothing we can do to influence things. I think there is now an attitude that because the protests have got no-where and the outcry against West Brom / Bolton got nowhere, nothing the fans can do will influence the running of Rovers at the moment. People have taken time to go to the organised protest but have no ideas themselves how we can change things. Why bother spending a Thursday night going to the Manxman to listen to people trying to solve a problem that may not be solvable.

[PAFELL]

Went, nothing really got off the ground which was a disappointment.

Personally feel we need a unified group with all areas covered, web based, pub based, government and council officials involved...

Whoever arranged this meeting did so very badly. People who knew about it, were folk who visit this site or other internet sites.

If you did not have a computer, how were others able to know about it.

Did everybody know how to get to the manxman?

Did everybody know the meeting was at the manxman.

Why hold it mid week, which excluded non local supporters. It could have been held on the weekend fa cup matches were on. Instead people went to chorley.

Was anybody asked did they want a particular question asked. At least the FANS FORUM have the good manners to tell supporters when a meeting is being held and if anybody had any issues.

Basically tonight meeting was only open to local supporters who had a computer and visited various websites. To everybody else it was shut.

[Tom]

Went, nothing really got off the ground which was a disappointment.

Personally feel we need a unified group with all areas covered, web based, pub based, government and council officials involved...

I thought you made some great points mate and agree fully about the unified group

For those not there the idea was to have 2 representives from different supporter groups and sites come together to form a committee, we also need to be careful to involve folk who don't use the internet.

There was a guy tonight who had never heard of any of the websites or BRST or the Ff and he may be a majority!

[SAS]

Was that agreed then?

Had to leave early.

[Stuart]

At least the FANS FORUM have the good manners to tell supporters when a meeting is being held and if anybody had any issues.

They didn't tell supporters they were going to India until the papers printed it.

Things have also gone pretty quiet on the FF front. I was hopeful of some sort of step forward when Glenn alluded to some FF news last week.

[Paul]

Approximately 40 people attended last night's meeting. If I had been asked to guess beforehand I would have gone for 200.

Representatives of BRAG, BRFCS, Vital Blackburn, BRST, Roversmad and the FF made short presentations of their views on the current situation at Rovers. With the exception of BRAG it was clear for me those speaking talked as individuals rather than representing a collective view.

The overall message was the need to unite behind a common goal (which wasn't later defined) to secure the club's future

After the presentations the chairman announced 15 minutes of discussion and comment from the floor. This lasted till 10.30 when I and the majority left. At this point perhaps 10-15 remained. The main points from the floor and general discussion where:

Many of the topics around Venkys, Kean, finance and Anderson which have been widely debated here.

The need for a committee and a way forward

How to communicate with the wider fan base

With regard to the "committee" it was suggested each "group" put up two people to stand on the "committee." I don't know if this developed further after I left. For me this raises a concern, one which I believe will continue to hinder progress in the drive to save the club. There was constant reference to the "groups" which implied some degree of organisation and a mandate to represent others - I must emphasise the initial speakers did not claim any sort of mandate - which grew through the evening. Forming a committee from these bodies could create further issues.

I did leave feeling for some a belief may have grown during the evening that the organisations present - constantly referred to as "groups" - were in some way official. I believe this unfortunate as none are in any way elected or formal bodies.

For me no single body has sort to gain a mandate from its members. At best any committee formed should only be seen as a steering group. I fear any attempt to represent fans, via such a committee, will result in the usual "nobody asked me" response from sections of the general suport.

With the exception of two people it appeared the audience comprised exclusively of web based fans. I have not seen any attempt to communicate this meeting with, or to include, the wider fan base. This lack of inclusion if coupled with a "committee" may lead to difficulties.

It's hard for me to see what will come from this meeting which regrettably lacked an agenda, structure, direction and leadership.

None of this is intended as criticism, I am merely trying to report openly the discussion as I perceived it.

[Neal]

I attended the meeting last night. To add to what Tom has posted, I feel that at the begining of any organisation there are always teething problems which I felt were there to see at last nights meeting as, at times, It became more an open conversation on our current plight. In many ways this should have been expected.

Initially there was some angry feelings put out at the situation at BRFC and some excellent ideas to raise funds for the way forward. As I said last night, It would be beneficial If regular meetings were to occur (perhaps one every 2 weeks) to discuss pressing issues and what we as fans intend to do about them.

The first pressing issue is... NOTHING can be decided until there is something of a "Committee" or "Board" present to organise agendas, plans and voting so that each meeting runs smoothly and therefore has an emphasis on "getting things done" rather than having an aimless open conversation.

I also stressed that this organisation must be planned with longevity in mind and that although these are dark times at Ewood, once they have passed, this organisation still remains active in directing the fans and the club in the correct direction... In some ways... Fans doing what they can to preserve Jack Walkers legacy.

If the way forward is to have a "COMMITTEE" or "BOARD" with 2 members from each BRFC related website and 2 general supporters then I urge those organistions to PUSH FORWARD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.