[Archived] Is it just me?

[thenodrog]

Now this might not be to everyones agreement BUT am I alone in suspecting that our impending relegation is actually intentional? If it is then WHY??? WTF is going on? If this sounds like a massively fabricated conspiracy theory or a flight of fancy even then don't worry cos it does to me. It's a notion which I have had at the back of my mind for some time now but have continued to ignore. Maybe I need to trust my instincts more. Fact is that if the Walker Trust had bequeathed the club to a committee of Burnley Suicide quad led by Ranulf Westwood they could not have done better job of getting us out of the Prem. Every decision made at every turn whether financial, football or PR by the Venkeymob has been an unmitigated bloody big disaster. An imbecile making the self same decisions by simply tossing a coin would surely have got 50% right!

We held MU at home in a strange match when keepball by both teams was the order of the day given the freaky league situations of both teams, we finally stayed up on the last day of the season last year with 3 points at Wolves. We all naturally believed this to be a success but I'm coming to believe the surge in the last month could have actually been a failure by person(s) unknown? Has someone had to wait another season to achieve their ambition cos of Hoiletts wonder goal at WBA I now wonder?

Nothing since the Slumdogs trapped up makes any sense to me. At every turn every decision made appears to have been made to weaken and destabilise the club. There must be something behind it all but for the life of me I cannot think of what it might be.

Consider the negatives which we already know...

1. A succesful manager of significant experience was dispensed with as soon as was believably possible and replaced with an inexperienced 2nd rate coach. Despite an awful record, a drunk driving conviction and widespread unpopularity with the supporters no attempt has ever been made to replace him, not even when he is breaking records of the wrong kind for poor points totals, goals conceded, passes completed etc and not even with significantly reduced ST sales and attendances this season and with absolutely disastrous consequences for next year in prospect. I can only conclude that Keans abjectly poor performance has been satisfactory to someone.

2. Every safe pair of hands on the board and at senior management level has been moved on with no adequate replacements. Staff have been promoted to incompetence on what appears to me a loyalty basis rather than one based on ability.

3. Every safe pair of hands in the squad has been moved on too. It appears that any player who might stand up against the new regime have been booted out of the door.

In the defence four centre halves who would each get a game in most Premier League teams have been dispensed with. The 5th choice centre half, an inexperienced teenager is now our main man, the king pin of our defence. Now as fine a prospect as Handley is he aint no Samba by a country mile, nor is he a Phil Jones or a Givet. At best he might by now be keeping Ryan Nelsen on the bench and we all know that Ryan is turning our regularly for Spurs! Question... Which Premier league team could dispense with the services of their 4 1st choice centre halves and hope to finish in higher position than the season before?

In attack we have seen a terrific return from the Yak. A return not one of us expected but I'm coming around to believeing that it was a return that whoever is calling the shots didn't expect either?

Moving on last season our good spring form showed Jun Hoilett to be at his brilliant best when playing in the hole behind a centre forward. How many times have we seen him played there this season? Very few apart from during our best points run in the period after Christmas. Hoilett was worrying every defence he came up against so can anyone explain why the manager has stuck him back on the wings where he is nowhere near as effective?

As a final thought regarding the team selection to consider, how often in the autumn did we see in-form players dropped to the bench and poorer ones promoted in their place? A lot of that didn't make sense then and it makes even less sense now.

4. For what reason did the club deliberately set out to initially offend and subsequently ignore the clubs main sponsor? Not only ill mannered but absolutely incomprehensible business practice.

5. It was rumoured that some oil rich Arabs were sniffing around wanting to buy the club in the Autumn. Rumours were so strong that Aneurada Desai was forced to issue a firm statement that the club was not for sale under any circumstances to anybody. A bloody big WHY must be said at this point. The slumdogs tenure at BRFC had been a disaster, any bright ideas that they had when they came must surely have been dimmed by their experiences. They are business people with no loyalty or history with the club, the town, the country or even the bloody continent. By last Autumn they must have known the financial consequences of relegation. Surely the chance of turning the page with a nice clear profit after just 10-12 months must have been a mighty big temptation? It bloody well would have been to me or any other straight thinking businessman. So why was the chance to move out unharmed and unscathed with a nice tidy profit into the bargain turned down?

6. What was the Glasgow gangster link about? Could there be something in that? Could it be that the Venkeymob are not in control? Remember the betting scandal when Allardyce was sacked? (I bloody well do.... I got a weeks ban for providing the link to the story. A story btw which I saw reported in a betting magazine and the Daily Mirror.) A cluster of sizeable bets that Allardyce would be the next Premier League manager to be sacked were placed in a number of betting shops in a small area of central London and in Glasgow and just a couple of hours before his dismissal was actually announced. Now I'm no Sherlock Holmes but I can smell a dead rat so strongly there that I can almost taste it. There has to be a link.

7. Why has the club taken steps to alienate the supporters cos they bloody well have imo. All this banner ban / scarf ban / shirt ban / body searching / music to drown out protest / an orchestrated press/media campaign to discredit and silence the supporters (salt of the earth supporters btw who for 135 years have never said boo to a goose).

Every time pressure on the managers position has become irresistable they have awarded him a more lucrative contract.

All the lies and empty promises that we have been spoon fed in the past 18 months must be viewed with incredulity by those running other Prem clubs.

8. Yet another whiff of a putrifying rodent. BARCLAYS PLC! The suspicious way that Barclays are treating the Venkeymob and their intent on getting their money out of danger suggests to me that they 'know' more about the Venkeys than is in the public eye..... Anybody here work at Barclays? Maybe Ian Battersby might know more than most cos he started his career in banking I seem to rem.

I'm sure there are other instances of suicidal or I now prefer malevolent actions by the club and I'm sure others will come up with them. Feel free....

Now consider the positives

1. We freaked a win at OT..... now who would have bet on that?

[John]

I think the Dispatches programme, on channel 4, featuring Byran Robson showed the thinking of agents/middle men when it comes to buying football clubs - looking back at that programme, there are similarities between what was discussed there and what has happened at Rovers.

Some of the going ons since Venkys have taken over have been so baffling that it lends to the case that something untoward is going on.

[DE.]

Most of us with any common sense have been saying for over a year now that something is very wrong at the club. It goes beyond football and beyond simple incompetence. There is no way all of the decisions made have been done only out of ignorance - someone has a vested interest in either seeing us fail or pushing an agenda that is detrimental to the club.

We may never know who or why, but if it ever does come out I think a lot of people will be seriously shocked by what has happened here.

[Stuart]

A conspiracy thread. Some of thoughts (and my numbers don't tally with yours so don't get confused!):

1) The "plan" could have backfired last season because senior players took control, reverted to Allardyce tactics and hauled us over the line. Virtually every senior player has left this season or been frozen out - except Robbo who has (or had) links to SEM, I believe.

2) How long did Kean have to stay in post to qualify as a full term (rather than interim manager)? That might affect his position for the purposes of winning bets. But it would need to be a sizeable win to make that worthwhile.

3) Kean could have phoned some close mates before it was announced, enabling them to put bets on.

4) Venkys are too well established to be a front for someone else - it doesn't ring true. For me it's just rank bad management following rank bad advice. These people aren't necessarily savvy. They inherited a company from their much more business-minded father.

5) I think they just now want to slip away out of the spotlight and relegation will be a lot quieter an exit.

[thenodrog]

A conspiracy thread. Some of thoughts (and my numbers don't tally with yours so don't get confused!):

1) The "plan" could have backfired last season because senior players took control, reverted to Allardyce tactics and hauled us over the line. Virtually every senior player has left this season or been frozen out - except Robbo who has (or had) links to SEM, I believe.

GOOD POINT. ROBBO WAS 'DISCIPLINED' IN DEC REM AFTER HE EXPRESSED SOLIDARITY WITH THE PROTESTORS.

2) How long did Kean have to stay in post to qualify as a full term (rather than interim manager)? That might affect his position for the purposes of winning bets. But it would need to be a sizeable win to make that worthwhile.

3) Kean could have phoned some close mates before it was announced, enabling them to put bets on.

THATS POSSIBLE. IS IT LEGAL? IF SK DID IT THEN I'D EXPECT THE FAT CONTROLLER TO HAVE HAD A TASTE TOO.

4) Venkys are too well established to be a front for someone else - it doesn't ring true. For me it's just rank bad management following rank bad advice. These people aren't necessarily savvy. They inherited a company from their much more business-minded father.

THAT GOES AGAINST THE IMBECILE TOSSING A COIN THEORY. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT ANYBODY IN BUSINESS COULD BE SO DUMB.

5) I think they just now want to slip away out of the spotlight and relegation will be a lot quieter an exit.

THAT WOULD SURELY HAVE BEEN THE BEST OPTION BUT IT WAS FLATLY REJECTED WITH THE QATARI'S BID .

[Waggy76]

5) I think they just now want to slip away out of the spotlight and relegation will be a lot quieter an exit...

Hmmm , just maybe on the money that one !

[FourLaneBlue]

Now this might not be to everyones agreement BUT am I alone in suspecting that our impending relegation is actually intentional? If it is then WHY??? WTF is going on?

I have suspected this for quite a while. It was confirmed by Kean getting a bumper new contract with us in the relegation zone.

[DE.]

5) I think they just now want to slip away out of the spotlight and relegation will be a lot quieter an exit.

Hmm, an interesting thought. Full blown conspiracies aside - there would be far less attention on owners leaving a Championship club than a Premier League club. Get relegated and leave quietly whilst in the obscurity of the Championship, or abandon ship whilst under the full glare of the media in the Premier League...

[Kelbo]

Now this might not be to everyones agreement BUT am I alone in suspecting that our impending relegation is actually intentional? If it is then WHY??? WTF is going on? If this sounds like a massively fabricated conspiracy theory or a flight of fancy even then don't worry cos it does to me. It's a notion which I have had at the back of my mind for some time but have continued to ignore. Fact is that if the Walker Trust had bequeathed the club to a committee of Burnley Suicide quad led by Ranulf Westwood they could not have done better job of getting us out of the Prem. Every decision made at every turn whether financial, football or PR by the Venkeymob has been an unmitigated bloody big disaster. An imbecile making the self same decisions by simply tossing a coin would surely have got 50% right!

We held MU at home in a strange match when keepball by both teams was the order of the day given the freaky league situations of both teams, we finally stayed up on the last day of the season last year with 3 points at Wolves. We all naturally believed this to be a success but I'm coming to believe the surge in the last month could have actually been a failure by person(s) unknown? Has someone had to wait another season to achieve their ambition cos of Hoiletts wonder goal at WBA I now wonder?

Nothing since the Slumdogs trapped up makes any sense to me. At every turn every decision made appears to have been made to weaken and destabilise the club. There must be something behind it all but for the life of me I cannot think of what it might be.

Consider the negatives which we already know...

1. A succesful manager of significant experience was dispensed with as soon as was believably possible and replaced with an inexperienced 2nd rate coach. Despite an awful record, a drunk driving conviction and widespread unpopularity with the supporters no attempt has ever been made to replace him, not even when he is breaking records of the wrong kind for poor points totals, goals conceded, passes completed etc and not even with significantly reduced ST sales and attendances this season and with absolutely disastrous consequences for next year in prospect. I can only conclude that Keans abjectly poor performance has been satisfactory to someone.

2. Every safe pair of hands on the board and at senior management level has been moved on with no adequate replacements. Staff have been promoted to incompetence on what appears to me a loyalty basis rather than one based on ability.

3. Every safe pair of hands in the squad has been moved on too. It appears that any player who might stand up against the new regime have been booted out of the door.

In the defence four centre halves who would each get a game in most Premier League teams have been dispensed with. The 5th choice centre half, an inexperienced teenager is now our main man, the king pin of our defence. Now as fine a prospect as Handley is he aint no Samba by a country mile, nor is he a Phil Jones or a Givet. At best he might by now be keeping Ryan Nelsen on the bench and we all know that Ryan is turning our regularly for Spurs! Question... Which Premier league team could dispense with the services of their 4 1st choice centre halves and hope to finish in higher position than the season before?

In attack we have seen a terrific return from the Yak. A return not one of us expected but I'm coming around to believeing that it was a return that whoever is calling the shots didn't expect either?

Moving on last season our good spring form showed Jun Hoilett to be at his brilliant best when playing in the hole behind a centre forward. How many times have we seen him played there this season? Very few apart from during our best points run in the period after Christmas. Hoilett was worrying every defence he came up against so can anyone explain why the manager has stuck him back on the wings where he is nowhere near as effective?

As a final thought regarding the team selection to consider, how often in the autumn did we see in-form players dropped to the bench and poorer ones promoted in their place? A lot of that didn't make sense then and it makes even less sense now.

4. For what reason did the club deliberately set out to initially offend and subsequently ignore the clubs main sponsor? Not only ill mannered but absolutely incomprehensible business practice.

5. It was rumoured that some oil rich Arabs were sniffing around wanting to buy the club in the Autumn. Rumours were so strong that Aneurada Desai was forced to issue a firm statement that the club was not for sale under any circumstances to anybody. A bloody big WHY must be said at this point. The slumdogs tenure at BRFC had been a disaster, any bright ideas that they had when they came must surely have been dimmed by their experiences. They are business people with no loyalty or history with the club, the town, the country or even the bloody continent. By last Autumn they must have known the financial consequences of relegation. Surely the chance of turning the page with a nice clear profit after just 10-12 months must have been a mighty big temptation? It bloody well would have been to me or any other straight thinking businessman. So why was the chance to move out unharmed and unscathed with a nice tidy profit into the bargain turned down?

6. What was the Glasgow gangster link about? Could there be something in that? Could it be that the Venkeymob are not in control? Remember the betting scandal when Allardyce was sacked? (I bloody well do.... I got a weeks ban for providing the link to the story. A story btw which I saw reported in a betting magazine and the Daily Mirror.) A cluster of sizeable bets that Allardyce would be the next Premier League manager to be sacked were placed in a number of betting shops in a small area of central London and in Glasgow and just a couple of hours before his dismissal was actually announced. Now I'm no Sherlock Holmes but I can smell a dead rat so strongly there that I can almost taste it. There has to be a link.

7. Why has the club taken steps to alienate the supporters cos they bloody well have imo. All this banner ban / scarf ban / shirt ban / body searching / music to drown out protest / an orchestrated press/media campaign to discredit and silence the supporters (salt of the earth supporters btw who for 135 years have never said boo to a goose).

Every time pressure on the managers position has become irresistable they have awarded him a more lucrative contract.

All the lies and empty promises that we have been spoon fed in the past 18 months must be viewed with incredulity by those running other Prem clubs.

I'm sure there are other instances of suicidal or I now prefer malevolent actions by the club and I'm sure others will come up with them. Feel free....

Now consider the positives

1. We freaked a win at OT..... now who would have bet on that?

This could be closer to the mark than people believe, surely, Venkys cant be so stupid or can they? I thought they were very stupid but I have always believed that when rid all the probabilities, possibilities or even the unlikeliest of scenarios come into play and India has quite a record with regard to betting scams/irregularities.

So yes, maybe this is what kean describes but never qualified, part of 'What we are trying to do here'

People may think its a bit far fetched but, as Gordon has posted, it would all fit into place and from what I have heard, although it is only hearsay and an opinion voiced by a few people with good contacts, one of the brothers has indeed got quite a colourful past!

[Amo]

It does make you wonder, Drog. I was speaking to some family about the current goings on (players sidelined due to contractual issues etc.) and they simply asked 'Why are they (Venky's) doing that?' And I really didn't know what to tell them. They want to scrimp on a few grand in appearance fees etc when the club is going to lose out on MILLIONS when it plummets into The Championship? Why are they systematically ensuring that the club's in the most untenable position possible in the middle of a relegation battle? Even if they want to cut their losses and pull out, it would still be in their best interest to have a PL club to sell.

[thenodrog]

Plenty in agreement it seems but the 64000 dollar question is WHY? Is there oil under Ewood and the only way to get a licence to drill is by vacating the place first? Is it being mooted behind closed doors as a site for a second Manchester airport?

Is Trevor Hemmings about to announce plans for a Lancashire United venture with PNE and Blackpool?

There has to be a reason behind all this?

Hmm, an interesting thought. Full blown conspiracies aside - there would be far less attention on owners leaving a Championship club than a Premier League club. Get relegated and leave quietly whilst in the obscurity of the Championship, or abandon ship whilst under the full glare of the media in the Premier League...

Would ceratinly put an end to any charges of asset stripping but most have recognised that for some time. That is why some people fear freefall.

[ada2020]

I said a week or two back that I felt relegation was the aim, I even suggested that the walker trust sold on to this lot with the remit to get us relegated.

It's not so ludicrous as some may think.

I can't be arsed to delve to deep, it's all to depressing but I am a believer that venkys have us exactly where they want us in the league right now.

[FourLaneBlue]

4) Venkys are too well established to be a front for someone else - it doesn't ring true. For me it's just rank bad management following rank bad advice. These people aren't necessarily savvy. They inherited a company from their much more business-minded father.

You don't convince at all here Stuart. Handing a huge new contract to a pathetically underperforming manager while we are in the relegation zone and the customers were baying for his blood? While trying to hide it from the media?

You might be gullible enough to believe that is just rank bad management...but, no way, I can't believe it's just incompetence. Not over 18 months of it.

[yoda]

Maybe they are reducing the supporters expectations for some reason!

More wins in the fizzy pop league,

and Balaji has form in betting circles!

This is when Dunn and co should take the reins in the remaining games and (Please don't use that word again) coco off .

Is there a buy back clause if the venkys (Please don't use that word again) up in a certain time frame?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

You raise some very good points Theno.

Matters have not been right,not felt right from day one,even Dave Whelan more or less commented the same.

I have mentioned before about the ruthless removal of ANYONE who could appose their will at the club,Chairman,Manager,long standing players even the marginalisation of the supporters,it mattered not one iota who..Venky's very own night of the long knives indeed.

This has felt like a hostile takeover from day one and I am and will remain very worried for our future with these people in charge of our club.

[ABBEY]

Yesterday and no Givet , I posted on a thread , that this decision and tactics used proved in my my mind it was intentional... I'd charge kean with fraud .

[thenodrog]

Now this might not be to everyones agreement BUT am I alone in suspecting that our impending relegation is actually intentional? If it is then WHY??? WTF is going on? If this sounds like a massively fabricated conspiracy theory or a flight of fancy even then don't worry cos it does to me. It's a notion which I have had at the back of my mind for some time now but have continued to ignore. Maybe I need to trust my instincts more. Fact is that if the Walker Trust had bequeathed the club to a committee of Burnley Suicide quad led by Ranulf Westwood they could not have done better job of getting us out of the Prem. Every decision made at every turn whether financial, football or PR by the Venkeymob has been an unmitigated bloody big disaster. An imbecile making the self same decisions by simply tossing a coin would surely have got 50% right!

We held MU at home in a strange match when keepball by both teams was the order of the day given the freaky league situations of both teams, we finally stayed up on the last day of the season last year with 3 points at Wolves. We all naturally believed this to be a success but I'm coming to believe the surge in the last month could have actually been a failure by person(s) unknown? Has someone had to wait another season to achieve their ambition cos of Hoiletts wonder goal at WBA I now wonder?

Nothing since the Slumdogs trapped up makes any sense to me. At every turn every decision made appears to have been made to weaken and destabilise the club. There must be something behind it all but for the life of me I cannot think of what it might be.

Consider the negatives which we already know...

1. A succesful manager of significant experience was dispensed with as soon as was believably possible and replaced with an inexperienced 2nd rate coach. Despite an awful record, a drunk driving conviction and widespread unpopularity with the supporters no attempt has ever been made to replace him, not even when he is breaking records of the wrong kind for poor points totals, goals conceded, passes completed etc and not even with significantly reduced ST sales and attendances this season and with absolutely disastrous consequences for next year in prospect. I can only conclude that Keans abjectly poor performance has been satisfactory to someone.

2. Every safe pair of hands on the board and at senior management level has been moved on with no adequate replacements. Staff have been promoted to incompetence on what appears to me a loyalty basis rather than one based on ability.

3. Every safe pair of hands in the squad has been moved on too. It appears that any player who might stand up against the new regime have been booted out of the door.

In the defence four centre halves who would each get a game in most Premier League teams have been dispensed with. The 5th choice centre half, an inexperienced teenager is now our main man, the king pin of our defence. Now as fine a prospect as Handley is he aint no Samba by a country mile, nor is he a Phil Jones or a Givet. At best he might by now be keeping Ryan Nelsen on the bench and we all know that Ryan is turning our regularly for Spurs! Question... Which Premier league team could dispense with the services of their 4 1st choice centre halves and hope to finish in higher position than the season before?

In attack we have seen a terrific return from the Yak. A return not one of us expected but I'm coming around to believeing that it was a return that whoever is calling the shots didn't expect either?

Moving on last season our good spring form showed Jun Hoilett to be at his brilliant best when playing in the hole behind a centre forward. How many times have we seen him played there this season? Very few apart from during our best points run in the period after Christmas. Hoilett was worrying every defence he came up against so can anyone explain why the manager has stuck him back on the wings where he is nowhere near as effective?

As a final thought regarding the team selection to consider, how often in the autumn did we see in-form players dropped to the bench and poorer ones promoted in their place? A lot of that didn't make sense then and it makes even less sense now.

4. For what reason did the club deliberately set out to initially offend and subsequently ignore the clubs main sponsor? Not only ill mannered but absolutely incomprehensible business practice.

5. It was rumoured that some oil rich Arabs were sniffing around wanting to buy the club in the Autumn. Rumours were so strong that Aneurada Desai was forced to issue a firm statement that the club was not for sale under any circumstances to anybody. A bloody big WHY must be said at this point. The slumdogs tenure at BRFC had been a disaster, any bright ideas that they had when they came must surely have been dimmed by their experiences. They are business people with no loyalty or history with the club, the town, the country or even the bloody continent. By last Autumn they must have known the financial consequences of relegation. Surely the chance of turning the page with a nice clear profit after just 10-12 months must have been a mighty big temptation? It bloody well would have been to me or any other straight thinking businessman. So why was the chance to move out unharmed and unscathed with a nice tidy profit into the bargain turned down?

6. What was the Glasgow gangster link about? Could there be something in that? Could it be that the Venkeymob are not in control? Remember the betting scandal when Allardyce was sacked? (I bloody well do.... I got a weeks ban for providing the link to the story. A story btw which I saw reported in a betting magazine and the Daily Mirror.) A cluster of sizeable bets that Allardyce would be the next Premier League manager to be sacked were placed in a number of betting shops in a small area of central London and in Glasgow and just a couple of hours before his dismissal was actually announced. Now I'm no Sherlock Holmes but I can smell a dead rat so strongly there that I can almost taste it. There has to be a link.

7. Why has the club taken steps to alienate the supporters cos they bloody well have imo. All this banner ban / scarf ban / shirt ban / body searching / music to drown out protest / an orchestrated press/media campaign to discredit and silence the supporters (salt of the earth supporters btw who for 135 years have never said boo to a goose).

Every time pressure on the managers position has become irresistable they have awarded him a more lucrative contract.

All the lies and empty promises that we have been spoon fed in the past 18 months must be viewed with incredulity by those running other Prem clubs.

8. Sorry folks...Just rem one more! Yet another whiff of a putrifying rodent. BARCLAYS PLC! The suspicious way that Barclays are treating the Venkeymob and their intent on getting their money out of danger suggests to me that they 'know' more about the Venkeys than is in the public eye..... Anybody here work at Barclays? Maybe Ian Battersby might know more than most cos he started his career in banking I seem to rem.

I'm sure there are other instances of suicidal or I now prefer malevolent actions by the club and I'm sure others will come up with them. Feel free....

Now consider the positives

1. We freaked a win at OT..... now who would have bet on that?

[broadsword]

It's all very weird. And difficult to make sense of.

For the part of Venky's I suspect they are dupes in all of this. Arrogant, imbecilic, ignorant, gullible, stubborn, calamitous dupes. But dupes all the same.

As for Steve Kean, Anderson and Agnew, I think I'm better off keeping my thoughts to myself.

[Robbo]

Yesterday and no Givet , I posted on a thread , that this decision and tactics used proved in my my mind it was intentional... I'd charge kean with fraud .

He's been guilty of that charge for some time.....impersonating a football manager.

[Stuart]

You don't convince at all here Stuart. Handing a huge new contract to a pathetically underperforming manager while we are in the relegation zone and the customers were baying for his blood? While trying to hide it from the media?

You might be gullible enough to believe that is just rank bad management...but, no way, I can't believe it's just incompetence. Not over 18 months of it.

Not necessarily just incompetence. More like a complete loss of interest - in recent times at least.

I could well believe - much like JW did with Andrews' appearances - that there was a pre-existing agreement of an improved contract if Kean avoided relegation. Ironically, the players rallying last season to keep us up could have meant reward for Kean. What has compounded matters is their delay in sorting it but that could well have been a timing issue due to negotiations.

One word could sum up everything that has gone on:

Zemblanity.

[EwoodDawn]

You are definitely not alone, Gordon. Might I add my own personal frustrations to your comments?

“an awful record, a drunk driving conviction and widespread unpopularity with the supporters…” add to that the brazen attempt to besmirch the supporters with the accusation that we were to blame for his law breaking by spiking his drink, a lie so ludicrous even the judge felt moved to comment on it in his summing up.

“Every safe pair of hands on the board and at senior management level has been moved on with no adequate replacements.” Even the alleged ‘coup’ to oust Kean was reportedly quashed with supreme efficiency.

“Every safe pair of hands in the squad has been moved on too. It appears that any player who might stand up against the new regime have been booted out of the door.” - often with a slight on their characters that made Kean and Venkys seem like the wronged party.

“In attack we have seen a terrific return from the Yak. A return not one of us expected but I'm coming around to believeing that it was a return that whoever is calling the shots didn't expect either?” Wasn’t he signed on the very last day of the transfer window when realization hit home that the fans might actually be a bit cross that no striker had been brought on board. Complete fluke there.

“Hoilett was worrying every defence he came up against so can anyone explain why the manager has stuck him back on the wings where he is nowhere near as effective?” Might that perhaps make him disgruntled enough to want to leave and make him publicly say so, so the club can make money on his sale and look saintly in the process?

“As a final thought regarding the team selection to consider, how often in the autumn did we see in-form players dropped to the bench and poorer ones promoted in their place? A lot of that didn't make sense then and it makes even less sense now.” I also found his substitutions (until they started to be bizarrely scarce) often unfathomable.

“It was rumoured that some oil rich Arabs were sniffing around wanting to buy the club in the Autumn. Rumours were so strong that Aneurada Desai was forced to issue a firm statement that the club was not for sale under any circumstances to anybody. A bloody big WHY must be said at this point.” If they sold back then, the parachute payments wouldn’t have been theirs. I know that people have posted that the parachute payments come in installments over a long period of time, but wasn’t it reported on SSN a while ago that the apparently ‘dodgy’ owner of Pompey (the one who was proprietor when they initially went down) is still the beneficiary parachute payments relating to that relegation, even though the club has been sold on since? If that’s the case, what’s to stop Venkys selling in the summer but still getting the parachute payments in future years because they were the registered owners at the time of our relegation? And then Venkys could dish out the money between whichever parties they chose. Glasgow? Other agencies?

“Why has the club taken steps to alienate the supporters cos they bloody well have imo.” Not just alienate but blatantly insult and tarnish in an unforgiveable way. To me, it seems that most managers consider the fans of their football club to automatically be their own fans, too. However, I have never sensed from Kean or Agnew that they thought of me as their fan. Moreover, in their eyes, I seem to be not just a non-supporter of theirs but I’m not to be trusted. Why hold this view of “salt of the earth supporters btw who for 135 years have never said boo to a goose”?

“Every time pressure on the manager’s position has become irresistable they have awarded him a more lucrative contract.” - and been massively shifty re. the revelation of the details.

“All the lies and empty promises that we have been spoon fed in the past 18 months must be viewed with incredulity by those running other Prem clubs.” But many pros and commentators have and are still bigging up Kean (especially individuals with links to SEM/Kentaro). Why?

“We freaked a win at OT..... now who would have bet on that?” Didn’t this conveniently give Kean a break from the protests because the pros and commentators came out and said we couldn’t possibly criticize him when the team had done so well?

Like you, Gordon, I find it very hard to accept that the calamitous mistakes that have occurred under Venky’s tenure are simply down to incompetence. Henry / Martin / any other sports journalist with a bit of a conscience (oh dear), PLEASE get this looked into and reported on. If this is left unchecked it can and will happen again to other clubs. Or do we have to wait for it to hit a ‘media darling’ West Ham type club for anyone to pay any attention?

[PAFELL]

Just a thought, if there is a criminal element involving rovers, betting scandal, gangsters etc. How come those who have been forced out the club, left, if the knew about it. Not reported it by now to the Police etc. If they have taken payments to keep quiet - then they have aided and a betted.

I also believe there is an attempt to deliberatly relegate the club. Why is the question. The only think I can come up with, is it is to do with ewood park / brockhall. Especially if it is true they have to own the club for 20 years before they get their hands on them. a lower league club is cheaper to run than a prem.

[Stuart]

It was rumoured that some oil rich Arabs were sniffing around wanting to buy the club in the Autumn. Rumours were so strong that Aneurada Desai was forced to issue a firm statement that the club was not for sale under any circumstances to anybody. A bloody big WHY must be said at this point.” If they sold back then, the parachute payments wouldn’t have been theirs. I know that people have posted that the parachute payments come in installments over a long period of time, but wasn’t it reported on SSN a while ago that the apparently ‘dodgy’ owner of Pompey (the one who was proprietor when they initially went down) is still the beneficiary parachute payments relating to that relegation, even though the club has been sold on since? If that’s the case, what’s to stop Venkys selling in the summer but still getting the parachute payments in future years because they were the registered owners at the time of our relegation? And then Venkys could dish out the money between whichever parties they chose. Glasgow? Other agencies?

Some great points there Dawn. But this in particular sounds frighteningly plausible.

.

I also believe there is an attempt to deliberatly relegate the club. Why is the question. The only think I can come up with, is it is to do with ewood park / brockhall. Especially if it is true they have to own the club for 20 years before they get their hands on them. a lower league club is cheaper to run than a prem.

Interesting idea but they'd be playing an extremely long game there. A lot can happen in 20 years and I certainly couldn't imagine them being here for that long.

[thenodrog]

Some great points there Dawn. But this in particular sounds frighteningly plausible.

Interesting idea but they'd be playing an extremely long game there. A lot can happen in 20 years and I certainly couldn't imagine them being here for that long.

I don't really agree. It's a good point EwoodDawn makes but where the parachute payments are destined for would simply be taken care of in the overall valuation of the club.

[AggyBlue]

I also believe there is an attempt to deliberatly relegate the club. Why is the question. The only think I can come up with, is it is to do with ewood park / brockhall. Especially if it is true they have to own the club for 20 years before they get their hands on them. a lower league club is cheaper to run than a prem.

Just a wild theory, but

Think long term.

After they've driven the traditional support away.

After a couple of relegations.

When the Pune academy is churning out half decent players.

Someone posted on here a while ago - 'I'm sure the Venky's would rather see the ground filled with smiling Asian faces'