[Archived] Season Tickets 2012/13

[Fife Rover]

I just wish that some of you that are knocking the stance that I and many otthers are making could somehow "tune in" to the many conversations that are going on at present between my wife and I. She sees up close and personal the very real anguish and distress that I am going through at the moment, and worsening every day as we get closer and closer to Aug 1st and the last day that I can still claim my precious and dearly loved seat right there on the front row of the JW Upper and looking straight along the line of the penalty box at the Blacburn End. I know that I will never again get the opportunity to enjoy a view as good as I have there, even if and when the Venkys and Kean are gone and new and proper owners take over I will never again get that seat, or probably not even close to one as good. Added to that is the fact that this season coming (assuming Kean and/or Venkys are still in charge) will actually be the very first one since football re-commenced in 1946 that I will not have been present at Ewood Park for at least some part of the season.

I read all the news that I can get from any sources to keep up with the events presently ongoing at Ewood Park and am sorley tempted to give in and make "just one visit" to see the new players etc, but I have made my decision after the Everton match at Ewood last season that I will never again attend until the whole lot of them are gone for good, and however hard it gets that is how it has been and will continue to be. But let no-one be under any sort of delusion that this decision is costing me dearly in terms of health and mental stress. I do not know how long I can reasonably expect to remain fit enough to be able to make the 15 hr round trip that each Saturday match takes for me, but leaving that aside the mental anguish of sitting at home every Saturday and trying to keep tabs on what is happening to my team by listening to the pathetic coverage given to us by SSN is agony in itself. Do you not think how much better and easier it would be for me just to give in and tell myself all the things that the people who have renewed are saying to justify their continued support for Venkys Rovers; Of course it would and believe me I am SORELY tempted right now to do so, but I am still determined that I will not weaken and give in to these temptations and that God will give me the strength to see it through.

There is so much more that I could say but not right now so I will leave it at that.

[gumboots]

Sorry Gumboots but had to laugh. To start with the phrase 'wouldn't care' followed by 'I'd be pleased' is a little bit like an oxymoron. Can't believe your first statement as clearly you do care.

Yes I care about the club. Bit of deliberate misunderstanding going on here I think. You know I meant that the club getting promoted would not affect my decision not to attend. As fife says, in many ways not attending is a hard choice and one which I infinitely regret taking. However in many other ways it's an easy choice as I know it will be more of the same from kean and whoever is still here at the start of the season and I refuse to put myself through it.

[Proudtobeblue&white]

I too have fantastic seats and feel the angst that you express in your post, but I feel that attending is an endorsement of Venkys and their inexcusable decision to keep Kean in a job. I just cannot watch the imposter on the sidelines anymore. It hurts, but I will go back when he/they are gone.

I just wish that some of you that are knocking the stance that I and many otthers are making could somehow "tune in" to the many conversations that are going on at present between my wife and I. She sees up close and personal the very real anguish and distress that I am going through at the moment, and worsening every day as we get closer and closer to Aug 1st and the last day that I can still claim my precious and dearly loved seat right there on the front row of the JW Upper and looking straight along the line of the penalty box at the Blacburn End. I know that I will never again get the opportunity to enjoy a view as good as I have there, even if and when the Venkys and Kean are gone and new and proper owners take over I will never again get that seat, or probably not even close to one as good. Added to that is the fact that this season coming (assuming Kean and/or Venkys are still in charge) will actually be the very first one since football re-commenced in 1946 that I have will not have been present at Ewood Park for at least some part of the season.

I read all the news that I can get from any sources to keep up with the events presently ongoing at Ewood Park and am sorley tempted to give in and make "just one visit" to see the new players etc, but I have made my decision after the Everton match at Ewood last season that I will never again attend until the whole lot of them are gone for good, and however hard it gets that is how it has been and will continue to be. But let no-one be under any sort of delusion that this decision is costing me dearly in terms of health and mental stress. I do not know how long I can reasonably expect to remain fit enough to be able to make the 15 hr round trip that each Saturday match takes for me, but leaving that aside the mental anguish of sitting at home every Saturday and trying to keep tabs on what is happening to my team by listening to the pathetic coverage given to us by SSN is agony in itself. Do you not think how much better and easier it would be for me just to give in and tell myself all the things that the people who have renewed are saying to justify their continued support for Venkys Rovers; Of course it would and believe me I am SORELY tempted right now to do so, but I am still determined that I will not weaken and give in to these temptations and that God will give me the strength to see it through.

There is so much more that I could say but not right now so I will leave it at that.

[47er]

Fantastic post Fife. Those Scumbags have a lot to answer for. Do they have any idea of how lifelong supporters feel about their club?

I think not. No idea about our culture, no idea about football, clueless even about public relations. Just abject failures and arrogant with it.

[John]

Wonder if Kean will be boasting again when he gets an improved contract?

It amazes me some fans getting excited over a few signings - don' t you realise that Kean, his agent and Agnew are taking the ###### out of you??

These are really vile individuals.

[Neil Weaver]

Terrific and heartfelt post Fife, and one I wholeheartedly agree with. My support and travel don't compare to yours - only about 40 years and a 100 mile round trip - but I feel much the same. If it's the slightest of consolations to you, who's going to take 'your' seat? From what I've seen on here I'd guess that the JW Upper will see an even lower proportion of ST renewals than anywhere else in the ground : I think you'll have a good choice of seats for your triumphant return!

[mhead]

And then there is the other approach....to grit your teeth,forget about Keen and Venkys, keep supporting the team but cut out unnecessary or logistically difficult games. Protest at Home Games,engage in guerilla tactics but not to quit.

Thought that was not in the British character.

So Fife -1

[vwcr]

Its getting very difficult now knowing me and my dad wont be attending ewood park. But we wont return untill kean has gone.

Gives me and my dad time together on a saturday, since we live in Blackpool we are going to watch fleetwood untill keans no more.

Is there going to be any sort of statment released from the all the supportors groups?

[OJRovers]

A statement needs doing because otherwise the reasons behind people not renewing is clearly going to be spun by our PNE management as being relegation-related.

It needs to be sent to shebby to take directly to the owners too.

[Glenn]

An empty stadium , would speak volumes ...

The bloke stood in the town centre quoting bible scripture speak volumes, but that doesn't mean anybody listens and those that do listen snigger because they think he's deluded. He too very much feels he has to do something to make a difference, to do his bit, to fight the good fight at any cost. But even the people who he may be able to win over avoid eye contact and quickly move on.

It seems that despite dreadful publicity (home and abroad), interested buyers, plummeting share prices, the loss of prestige and becoming a joke in footballing circles, the Raos either won't or can't (depending on which conspiracy theories you subscribe to) sell the club or run it in a way most people deem sensible. Either a full or empty stadium is going to make any difference to that. I fully understand people not wanting to support them (and in turn Rovers) but don't kid yourselves that even a 100% boycott would make the slightest difference. The factors that got them (and by definition us) into this situation would be unchanged,

[den]

The bloke stood in the town centre quoting bible scripture speak volumes, but that doesn't mean anybody listens and those that do listen snigger because they think he's deluded. He too very much feels he has to do something to make a difference, to do his bit, to fight the good fight at any cost. But even the people who he may be able to win over avoid eye contact and quickly move on.

It seems that despite dreadful publicity (home and abroad), interested buyers, plummeting share prices, the loss of prestige and becoming a joke in footballing circles, the Raos either won't or can't (depending on which conspiracy theories you subscribe to) sell the club or run it in a way most people deem sensible. Either a full or empty stadium is going to make any difference to that. I fully understand people not wanting to support them (and in turn Rovers) but don't kid yourselves that even a 100% boycott would make the slightest difference. The factors that got them (and by definition us) into this situation would be unchanged,

That's stated as fact Glenn, which it isn't. It's only an opinion.

My opinion goes along the lines of the bigger the gaps on the terraces, the more chance there is of selling on.An empty ground would only serve to put more pressure on them - and that's something that hasn't happened yet [empty ground].

One thing is for certain, decent gates will only serve to support the Raos, Kean and the whole set up. That's how they will see it - and that's how they will push it.

[broadsword]

The bloke stood in the town centre quoting bible scripture speak volumes, but that doesn't mean anybody listens and those that do listen snigger because they think he's deluded. He too very much feels he has to do something to make a difference, to do his bit, to fight the good fight at any cost. But even the people who he may be able to win over avoid eye contact and quickly move on.

It seems that despite dreadful publicity (home and abroad), interested buyers, plummeting share prices, the loss of prestige and becoming a joke in footballing circles, the Raos either won't or can't (depending on which conspiracy theories you subscribe to) sell the club or run it in a way most people deem sensible. Either a full or empty stadium is going to make any difference to that. I fully understand people not wanting to support them (and in turn Rovers) but don't kid yourselves that even a 100% boycott would make the slightest difference. The factors that got them (and by definition us) into this situation would be unchanged,

So what do we do then, Glen?

It's an impossible situation.

If we went down again, would that persuade them? Quite possibly not. They'll just run the club into the ground. I think the last remaining hope is that the club goes bankrupt and there is no club for them to stuff up any more.

Remember, they can't borrow in India against a UK asset and they no longer bank in England. So, they'll either have to keep on flogging assets to feed the profit and loss account, or they'll have to put their own money in.

Perhaps we have another 3 or 4 years of this before the club goes bust. at which point, the dung eater will walk away, smugly cashed-up.

Boycotts, protests, buy-out proposals, publicity drives, campaigns, it's all a wasted effort.

So get down to Ewood and cheer on the team and the useless manager as we continue to tumble.

[John]

If you are looking purely at the protests, for example, I think they did have an impact.

It added (and could argue created) to the very negative press reaction the Rao family received in the UK and in India.

Sometimes it takes a long period of time before they can achieve the end result and obviously there can be no guarantee that will happen – sustained pressure can be key.

[Glenn]

That's stated as fact Glenn, which it isn't. It's only an opinion.

My opinion goes along the lines of the bigger the gaps on the terraces, the more chance there is of selling on.An empty ground would only serve to put more pressure on them - and that's something that hasn't happened yet [empty ground].

One thing is for certain, decent gates will only serve to support the Raos, Kean and the whole set up. That's how they will see it - and that's how they will push it.

Sorry, yes and I've been picked up for doing that before. But I'm a convinced, personally, that it is accurate.

If they had even the slightest interest in selling up (or ability, if the third party ownership theory holds water) they'd have at least talked to the three interested party (if only to see how much they were offering). The fact they haven't speaks volumes.

So, assuming they can sell and choose not to. It's obviously not about money (or they'd listen to offers) so it must be pride or plain stubbornness and if it's either of those then they've already withstood a level of protests and scrutiny not managed by another club. They've withstood questions in the houses of parliament, the Indian Trade Commission, their own peer group, the British Press, the Indian Press and now seemingly the EPL/FA; a massive boycott is easy to ignore in comparison.I genuinely don't know what the next step is, but it needs to be seriously big, these guys are bullet proof (in so much as nothing seems to get through to them).

[Glenn]

So what do we do then, Glen?

It's an impossible situation.

If we went down again, would that persuade them? Quite possibly not. They'll just run the club into the ground. I think the last remaining hope is that the club goes bankrupt and there is no club for them to stuff up any more.

Remember, they can't borrow in India against a UK asset and they no longer bank in England. So, they'll either have to keep on flogging assets to feed the profit and loss account, or they'll have to put their own money in.

Perhaps we have another 3 or 4 years of this before the club goes bust. at which point, the dung eater will walk away, smugly cashed-up.

Boycotts, protests, buy-out proposals, publicity drives, campaigns, it's all a wasted effort.

So get down to Ewood and cheer on the team and the useless manager as we continue to tumble.

Sadly that's the impossible situation and inevitable ending that I see. My big hope is that the people doing the digging into the irregularities find something that forces their hand. If that doesn't happen and assuming the Raos are in full control, I only see two paths to resolution, either they quickly work out whose advice to trust (more and more are working that out, but enough influence isn't yet gained) or somebody has a maasive change of heart and decides to sell (and I just can't see that happening). But frankly, I see "doing a bradford" as much more likely.

[Glenn]

If you are looking purely at the protests, for example, I think they did have an impact.

It added (and could argue created) to the very negative press reaction the Rao family received in the UK and in India.

Sometimes it takes a long period of time before they can achieve the end result and obviously there can be no guarantee that will happen – sustained pressure can be key.

Don't get me wrong, the protests did serve a purpose. I wasn't making an anti-protest point (before I start getting nasty emails again). Just that now we've gone from being a mostly-unnewsworthy premiership side to an entirely-unnewsworthy championship side, the job of making them take notice just got 1000 times harder.

I think the action group's current tactic is much more likely to have a lasting impact that the protests did (not that any of us knew that at the time).

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

I don't understand the theory that if they don't care about insults, they won't care about non-attendance. Insults are just insults, anyone with a big enough ego and enough stubborn ignorance can dismiss them out of hand. Non-attendance however costs money, which if the stripping of our wage bill since they took over is anything to go by, Venkys do care about.

Obviously our fans don't generate a huge amount because our tickets are so cheap. But the amount we do generate has just risen from about 10% to about 40% thanks to the massive reduction in TV money we're getting. And if you include commercial and sponsorship revenue which we indirectly effect, we now control over half of the revenue Venkys get from the club. So why wouldn't a large scale fan boycott matter to them?

The only shield they've got against it at the moment are parachute payments. Well in 2 years they'll have halved and in 4 years they'll vanish, and any half-prudent businessman should be planning on 4-5 year timescales. If support-based revenue dwindled to almost nothing this season, I can't see plans to sell being too far behind.

[broadsword]

Well, I see no great harm in a boycott insomuchas (is that a word) the positive effect of good attendances and crowd support would by heavily out-weighed by the negative impact of asset-stripping, and managerial ineptitude.

You could all turn up and cry yourself but it won't make any bloody difference when we go down again.

Although certain media allies (who might be scottish) could well paint this as Rovers' fans being fickle and deserting poor wee Stevie Kean the brave battler from Glasgae's tough back streets.

But we've been smeared enough already, so who cares, right?

[Gav]

The bloke stood in the town centre quoting bible scripture speak volumes, but that doesn't mean anybody listens and those that do listen snigger because they think he's deluded. He too very much feels he has to do something to make a difference, to do his bit, to fight the good fight at any cost. But even the people who he may be able to win over avoid eye contact and quickly move on.

It seems that despite dreadful publicity (home and abroad), interested buyers, plummeting share prices, the loss of prestige and becoming a joke in footballing circles, the Raos either won't or can't (depending on which conspiracy theories you subscribe to) sell the club or run it in a way most people deem sensible. Either a full or empty stadium is going to make any difference to that. I fully understand people not wanting to support them (and in turn Rovers) but don't kid yourselves that even a 100% boycott would make the slightest difference. The factors that got them (and by definition us) into this situation would be unchanged,

I'm firmly in the camp that believes the Roas are not fully aware of the feelings amongst the supporters. I think Agnew and Kean tell them what they want to hear on a regular basis, and they’re sheltered from the truth, this despite the very vocal majority at the Wigan game. This coupled with the fans trip to Pune, they’ll think everything is the garden is rosy and the fans can see they’re trying to do a good job.

People voting with their feet not only has a visual impact, it has a financial impact, and it will be picked up by the media. I’ve heard all the arguments that money doesn’t matter and the press will say its because we’ve gone down, but I still believe it’s a way forward and keeps the interest in the clubs demise current.

Its also about having some pride in yourself for me, to be lied to week in week out and pay for the privilege to be treated in such a way, is madness, and that’s another reason why I’ll not be buying.

[Earlydoors]

At times like this I am reminded of the words of Richie Benaud

"Do what your opposition would least like you to do"

[TBTF]

I don't understand the theory that if they don't care about insults, they won't care about non-attendance. Insults are just insults, anyone with a big enough ego and enough stubborn ignorance can dismiss them out of hand. Non-attendance however costs money, which if the stripping of our wage bill since they took over is anything to go by, Venkys do care about.

Obviously our fans don't generate a huge amount because our tickets are so cheap. But the amount we do generate has just risen from about 10% to about 40% thanks to the massive reduction in TV money we're getting. And if you include commercial and sponsorship revenue which we indirectly effect, we now control over half of the revenue Venkys get from the club. So why wouldn't a large scale fan boycott matter to them?

The only shield they've got against it at the moment are parachute payments. Well in 2 years they'll have halved and in 4 years they'll vanish, and any half-prudent businessman should be planning on 4-5 year timescales. If support-based revenue dwindled to almost nothing this season, I can't see plans to sell being too far behind.

Don't disagree with any of the views posted today all of which in their various ways tell the story.I think this attempt at making some cash available for signings and last chance for Kean from the owners basically has to be seen as one last gamble to get back to the land of milk and honey.Why they didn't spend in Jan who knows.

Maybe they have now realised some of the repercussions of relegation .Of course committing a few quid is one thing depending on who leaves this summer and there is still time for them to sell a few and recover their cash quite quickly.

So its an attempt of sorts to try to get back up and they have been sweet talked into one last go by ''it wasn't my fault- Kean''.Once the harsh realities set in that next season will be a struggle in any event and the playground for trading players at big sums (and thus big agents fees) they will lose interest quickly and seek the exit door.If no interest is shown in this busted flush at that point it will become ''operation cash out'' and we will head towards admin at the speed of light.

There is nobody on this MB or anywhere in the Town that can make head nor tail of any of this never mind any of the reasons why.

We have gone off the cliff and now its pure lottery whether we land on the rocks or whether some miracle happens and we land on a mattress.Such is the helplessness.

[broadsword]

At times like this I am reminded of the words of Richie Benaud

"Do what your opposition would least like you to do"

Ruin them forever?

[ABBEY]

I'm firmly in the camp that believes the Roas are not fully aware of the feelings amongst the supporters. I think Agnew and Kean tell them what they want to hear on a regular basis, and they’re sheltered from the truth, this despite the very vocal majority at the Wigan game. This coupled with the fans trip to Pune, they’ll think everything is the garden is rosy and the fans can see they’re trying to do a good job.

People voting with their feet not only has a visual impact, it has a financial impact, and it will be picked up by the media. I’ve heard all the arguments that money doesn’t matter and the press will say its because we’ve gone down, but I still believe it’s a way forward and keeps the interest in the clubs demise current.

Its also about having some pride in yourself for me, to be lied to week in week out and pay for the privilege to be treated in such a way, is madness, and that’s another reason why I’ll not be buying.

they must be aware gav ,if they saw/heard anything from the wigan game they are aware.The venky i told at wigan away is definitly aware.Why did they sneak in or not show ifthey are not aware.

[den]

Specifically on the point of the effectiveness of people not attending games, well to go to the absolute extreme - and yes I know it wont ever happen - if no-one turned up for the home games the Raos position, IMO, would be completely untenable. Now if you accept that point then the point isn't that non attendance doesn't work, it's "how low do gates have to drop to, to make their position untenable?" I don't accept for one minute that attendances will have no effect on the Roas existence here. The truth to me, is more along the lines that not enough people are prepared to make a stand.

[broadsword]

8,000?