[Archived] Fans Forum Statement

[Silittl]

Surprise surprise when it's put in front of them all goes quiet!

[Ste B]

Your getting your spark marky and your Ewood spark confused.

[Seedstral]

Link been posted obviously not looking properly! Blinkered vision.

BRAG offer olive branch and those who oppose us try derail us by not even looking. In fact probably didn't even visit website

Simon i do believe that you have been voted onto the committee of BRAG well for me i think you should resign as of now as your not doing the group any good imo as all you seem to be doing is undermining people who disagree with your views and thus undermining the group you represent. To me there is only 1 blinkered vision and its yours and your all out aggression will get you nowhere (yet again imo)!!

[SouthAussieRover]

http://www.brfcactiongroup.org.uk/index.php/protest/39-openfloor

My apologies Mark.I didn't spot the link on the home page.

As for Simon Littler....you would do well to work on your PR.

[sentient]

I think you're both on record as big supporters of John Williams and his methods, but maybe you have both forgotten how the Fans Forum came to be.

John Williams made it happen 13 years ago, by taking on board the passion some fans had for the club, displayed by their letters / calls / rants / personal visits - mainly negative as you'd expect - and he put that together, added in representation from regional groups (eg South Lancs, North Lancs, Disabled, Asian), and created the Fans Forum.

Those initial selection criteria set down by John Williams have been respected ever since. Nobody can really argue that there is any better way of selecting a panel of fans who represent a true cross section of the support, and nobody can say that John Williams got

the initial idea wrong either. Until Pune, nobody ever did.

Do you have a better idea lined up which you will share with us?

lol That sounds so much like stalin or hitler it is crazy! congratulations. NO BETTER WAY OF SELECTION! YOU SUPERIOR FASCIST! UNBELIEVABLE. and you're surprised that people start to question when you go on pune junket?

apparently i'm a conspiracy nut!?

[sentient]

This kind of attitude may be the problem he alluded to.

He doesn't feel comfortable so should 'man up'? If he takes a small child should they 'man up' as well?

The guy makes a reasonable observation and is attacked for it, he has no reason to lie as he said he was present at earlier protests

The only time I felt unconfortable was when I couldn't get into the ff exclusive meeting.

Oh wait they are having a pre-meeting next! lol wtf is the pre-meeting? discussion about pie flavours? worthless organisation

[sentient]

Having now read the last few pages, I think that PAUL and other members of the fans forum need to explain what "lies" have been told. Why has Paul suddenly stopped posting? Why is he potentially resigning from the fans forum? What is going on? ????

Tom, Tris, Glen, o2g, tremblerboy, missesT, bungboy, forumpatsy, etc ... WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT LIES HAVE BEEN TOLD? WHO HAS TAKEN A BUNG? WHY DON'T YOU TELL THE TRUTH? LET THE FANS KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW!

If you don'y reveal the truth you will be villified in your own communities. This is OUR club not yours!

[SouthAussieRover]

Paul isn't on the FF.

[Miker]

sentient has gone crackers. All of this is so melodramatic.

[Paul]

Having now read the last few pages, I think that PAUL and other members of the fans forum need to explain what "lies" have been told. Why has Paul suddenly stopped posting? Why is he potentially resigning from the fans forum? What is going on? ????

Tom, Tris, Glen, o2g, tremblerboy, missesT, bungboy, forumpatsy, etc ... WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT LIES HAVE BEEN TOLD? WHO HAS TAKEN A BUNG? WHY DON'T YOU TELL THE TRUTH? LET THE FANS KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW!

If you don'y reveal the truth you will be villified in your own communities. This is OUR club not yours!

Sentient I am not in anyway connected to the FF other than I know people who are members. I have not suggested "lies" have been told nor have I questioned the integrity of the FF.

I have been rather badly let down in a way which raises questions for me. It does NOT involve the FF and I would ask you and everyone else to be extremely careful about posts such as the one I've quoted. I am not criticising you however the people you mention are not involved at all and as I'm friendly with some of them I have to make this post to avoid confusion or people being unjustifiably smeared.

I have stopped posting because I only wish to discuss football. I do not want to be involved in anything else. It's a football message board but sadly events at OUR club mean the beautiful game gets forgotten. Next game I'm going to is Villa, I might have somefhing to say about that.

[Majiball]

May I recommend a diplomacy course for those involved in BRAG?

[Ozz]

May I recommend a diplomacy course for those involved in BRAG?

When and where is it, and what time does it start?

[St_Jimmy_77]

I think it's clear to see that all groups of fans whether that's the Fans Forum, BRAG, BRST et al need to unite together. What is stopping this, is ego's and a desire to get one over on the other. The different groups cannot come even contemplate uniting as one whilst these denominators exist.

The way I see things; the Fans Forum did what they could when they went to Pune. They warned the Rao brothers what would happen. It really isn't their fault that things that were said to them, haven't been followed through. They have been as patient as possible, however releasing this statement shows they are as equally as frustrated as the next fan with the current situation. I also feel some people miss the jurisdiction and role the Fans Forum plays.

As for BRAG, as Glen Mullan knows I have been against protesting. As more time has elapsed I can honestly say they haven't made any difference to Venkys. If they had I dont think we would be sat here debating what the right thing to do is. By the same token; the same that can be said for Fans Forum.

I don't believe it is right to overly criticise either group for what they are trying to achieve. The fans I know (mainly the ones that attended the open meeting at the Manxman) want the same thing. I've often wondered what the best thing to do is. I had The Economic Times of India contact me asking me questions about Rovers and particularly Venkys. I thought the best thing to do was answer each question as fairly and as balanced as I possibly could. I believed at the time that this would make Venkys shake off the sand and start communicating to us what their intentions are.

I have seen many elements to the protests which I find very uncomfortable. But I all along hold all the respect in the world for what Glen and Simon have been trying to achieve.

Regardless of opinion, NO fan should be vilified for doing as they wish. The constant sniping at one another has to stop. I understand it's such a divisive subject at the moment, as it has been for the last 5 months. We have to stop all this fighting. The amount of fans I've had to try and split up at games is unbelievable.

I purposefully keep myself off here, because I know my opinion differs majorly from most people and all I see is "he who shouts loudest" being very loud in "talking" to anyone else that might hold a different opinion. This is why I've been immersing myself in helping get the BRST off the ground. A lot of my spare time is spent doing that. They are the only "group" I will get behind as they too have spent a vast majority of their time into trying to make it work. With the finishing line almost in sight, I believe this should be the only group to get behind.

I want the nice happy Ewood back again, so please no more arguing / fighting. Let's all get behind the team and make Ewood a proud place to visit once again - and hopefully help the team pick up important points to see us safe at the end of the season. I'm sure we all want the same , but all have different methods / ideas on how to do it.

[SouthAussieRover]

When and where is it, and what time does it start?

You're not being too helpful there.

[Stuart]

Jimmy. The two main groups (most active) seem to be FF and BRAG, and I agree these two need to work together to avoid splitting the fan base further.

Your intentions are obviously good but how do you see dismissing both groups in favour of promoting a third, BRST, as unifying?

From what I can see the last update (following a fund raising event) was May last year - with an LT piece in October. It therefore doesn't appear very active currently.

Do you envisage a kind of umbrella organisation, bringing together other groups? And is this trust in any way related to Wayne Wild's Supporters' Trust?

[bob fleming]

Surprise surprise when it's put in front of them all goes quiet!

So 13.00 at the Manxman. You know with the protests, there were posts on here from Glen saying what time people should meet and where. Generally these were up 3 or 4 days in advance. Why wasn't this meeting advertised in a similar fashion?

You know, "we've got a meeting, we want everyone on board, we need to get the message out there and get as many there as possible. I'll post the details on all Rovers websites, like we did with the protest details" "nah, just put it on our own website"

Anyway, good luck with it all. Aplogies for not getting back to you last night when the link and details were posted. I was asleep.

[Roost]

Link been posted obviously not looking properly! Blinkered vision.

BRAG offer olive branch and those who oppose us try derail us by not even looking. In fact probably didn't even visit website

You really need to take a breath before you post sometimes. Do you not realise how childish a good number of your posts actually are? And this from a BRAG committee member....

[Ricky]

So for a protest we have a seperate thread on here, posters, Facebook messages, tweets, press releases, etc.

For a meeting we have.... A public message locked in a filing cabinet, in a damp cellar, of a disused council office!

You can see why people have concerns surely!!

[Roost]

A couple of questions, having looked at the first paragraph of the website link, which states:

The BRFC Action Group intends to hold an open floor meeting for all members to discuss their issues, concerns and idea's on how to move the group forward on a united front.

When you say 'members' do you mean BRAG members? If not, what do you mean?

If you mean BRAG members, are you then saying that there isnt an unity within its membership at present, amd that you are holding this meeting to decide the BRAG way forwards?

[K-Hod]

As much as I appreciate the efforts of people to make a difference, the exclusivity of some of these groups is a cause for concern.

If there is scope for anyone to join, or to get involved then it needs to be promoted better, with some better PR, the lack of promotion of the meeting is quite a concern, especially if you want strength in numbers.

[Beta Ray Bill]

So for a protest we have a seperate thread on here, posters, Facebook messages, tweets, press releases, etc.

For a meeting we have.... A public message locked in a filing cabinet, in a damp cellar, of a disused council office!

You can see why people have concerns surely!!

It was the "Beware of the leopard" sign that put me off.

[ABBEY]

C'MON. FFS !!!!!!!!

LET'S GET FKG UNITED !!! WE ARE ALL ROVERS FANS !!!!!! NOTHING TO BE GAINED BY BEING SPLIT!!!

I'm mates with people on both sides of all this arguing !!!

ABS calling for calm clear heads against the venkyscum who would have thought eh!!!!

COYB

[AggyBlue]

This thread Is like a soap opera, utterly pathetic.

Is it any wonder the Rao's don't want to speak to the fans.

[Silittl]

To all those saying I should either resign or consider the diplomacy of my posts at times. I refer you back to some of posts earlier in the thread. I have been calling for unity and this has accepted by sum in FF.

Some people are quick enough to criticise us and accuse us for not being transparent. Even when the information has been in front of there eyes.

I agree the post could have been worded a little better.

However when the group is getting slated for not being open by individuals who obviously have a agenda. I will say what I think and defend the group. That's who I am and why I was voted on to Committee.

[SouthAussieRover]

Who has the agenda Simon?