[Archived] Rovers vs NEC Nijmegen

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Bit unusual for the club to come out and blame the fans.

Been on numerous euro trips with rovers, been chased out of polish nightclubs, had target stickers stuck on us in Poland, bloody hell in Lithuania one lad got kidnapped and dumped in a park having everything including his shoes stolen.

But never seen rovers fans create 'real' trouble...

Where do they (the club) blame the fans ?

as always with slimeballs like Agnew/Kean you have to read between the lines.

You mean spin it to meet your own ends ? That makes some supporters as bad as Kean and Agnew,

[Tom10K]

In all seriousness Holland still has a lot of problems with hooligans Feyenoord and Ajax couldn't even play a cup final against each other in 2010, ended up being played over two legs bizarrely. Feyenoord were thrown out of the UEFA Cup after we visited and events in France. The NEC v Vitesse derby looks interesting when you look it up online, even training in the preceding days looked like it was met with flares and incidents. Fits in with the insanity surrounding the club at the moment that even Pre-Season ends in farce.

[sam_rovers]

this makes no sense- we didnt even riot last season when we were getting relegated and having the heart pulled out of the club. Rovers fans would not bother going all the way to holland to riot...

[Ricky]

I can't imagine we even had 80 fans out there!

I went to Lithuania in a competitive game and there were probably not many more than that over there!

[philipl]

What a massive failure and total waste of space that idiot Agnew is.

[donnermeat]

In all seriousness Holland still has a lot of problems with hooligans Feyenoord and Ajax couldn't even play a cup final against each other in 2010, ended up being played over two legs bizarrely. Feyenoord were thrown out of the UEFA Cup after we visited and events in France. The NEC v Vitesse derby looks interesting when you look it up online, even training in the preceding days looked like it was met with flares and incidents. Fits in with the insanity surrounding the club at the moment that even Pre-Season ends in farce.

Ado Den Haag are a bunch of nutters as well.

[T.J.Newton]

You mean spin it to meet your own ends ? That makes some supporters as bad as Kean and Agnew,

eeer no pal, no spin, just an opinion based on how they have treat fans and manipulated the media over the last year and as others have said when its kean thats in the wrong all you get is no comment(in fact not even that much,just silence) but when the fans are being accused he cant get a statement out fast enough.

[Mercer]

Cryer is out there for the LT.

If he can't put the record straight then he shouldn't be a journalist.

This episode stinks and time the LT took up the fight once more.

[thenodrog]

Local police made the decision on 'public order' grounds.

Grief! Dutch plod must be as inept as the Preston lot.

[Glenn]

Waiting for Ste and co to get back and give us a first hand report, until then I'll keep an open mind. But from what they've put on twitter it sounds a long way from what's reported in the press.

We know people (or person) claiming to be "Blackburn Youth" and/or "Accy Youth" indulged in some minor felt tip graffiti.

We know (according to the dutch press) 2 lads got in a bit of a scrap with 2 locals over some currency exchange

We know on a couple of occasions "not up for it" Rovers fans got attacked/run by locals. (Classy Holland, classy)

We know the Dutch old bill knew the locals were looking to turn over an English club (and probably expected fighters not drinkers)

That's all from people I know and trust, the rest I'm classing as conjecture at this point.

One question though. Everything from some sightings of Steve Kean to various protest groups "super secret private hidden facebook pages" get distributed around concerned parties within minutes, but some how a handful of English fans can get hold of the dutch and organise a ruck using social media and the old bill knew about it, but nobody else? Hell fire, we spotted the Man United "70s fun day" easily enough a few years back, I really can't believe this was actually genuinely "organised". Much more likely the local went out looking for anyone English that didn't run.

[jim mk2]

We have our fair share of neanderthal supporters so it wouldn't surprise me if Rovers fans were involved in trouble. The clubs need to identify them quickly and ban them for life.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

eeer no pal, no spin, just an opinion based on how they have treat fans and manipulated the media over the last year and as others have said when its kean thats in the wrong all you get is no comment(in fact not even that much,just silence) but when the fans are being accused he cant get a statement out fast enough.

What saying this wasnt like Rovers fans and he didnt have all.the facts. Yes all terrible things to say.

[Jock]

We have our fair share of neanderthal supporters so it wouldn't surprise me if Rovers fans were involved in trouble. The clubs need to identify them quickly and ban them for life.

Innocent until proven guilty.

[perthblue02]

What saying this wasnt like Rovers fans and he didnt have all.the facts. Yes all terrible things to say.

No it is not what was said, it was the fact that Agnew chose to comment on this and other things in the past were there is a chance to blacken the name of Rovers supporters. Funny there was no comment from PNEAgnew when his golden ticket mate got ###### up and brought the club into disrepute in a foreign bar and before that no comment on his best buddy being legally convicted of breaking the law and trying to spread the blame to drinkers (Rovers supporters) who were in a pub that it apparently turns out Kean was not even in after spending tea time sharing a bottle of red with Sir Alex celebrating Rovers handing the title to United .

But that's the way it goes divert the attention onto the supporters and away from the "plan"

[Mattyblue]

We have our fair share of neanderthal supporters so it wouldn't surprise me if Rovers fans were involved in trouble. The clubs need to identify them quickly and ban them for life.

jim's in trolling mode, I see.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

No it is not what was said, it was the fact that Agnew chose to comment on this and other things in the past were there is a chance to blacken the name of Rovers supporters. Funny there was no comment from PNEAgnew when his golden ticket mate got ###### up and brought the club into disrepute in a foreign bar and before that no comment on his best buddy being legally convicted of breaking the law and trying to spread the blame to drinkers (Rovers supporters) who were in a pub that it apparently turns out Kean was not even in after spending tea time sharing a bottle of red with Sir Alex celebrating Rovers handing the title to United .

But that's the way it goes divert the attention onto the supporters and away from the "plan"

So when he is questioned by the media about this specific incident (because this is what I am referring to - not things that have gone on in the past) he is supposed to say nothing. Personally I could see nothing wrong with the comments he made - and people who can are just looking to create trouble - but that is just my opinion.

[alexanders]

I agree with you DMTP. I can't see nothing wrong with his comments in this incident isolated.

[Gav]

We couldn't even muster 80 lads for the games against Burnley, let alone travel to Holland for a battle, the story is complete and utter nonsense. I'm not blaming Agnew for this one, but if the idiot doesn't even attempt to clear the name of the club/fans he'll once again be accountable.

These sorts of stories often hit the press during the 80’s and 90’s, journalists with over active imaginations and local officials looking to blame outside influences for the trouble. The full story probably won’t come out, but you can guarantee that this trouble had nothing to do with a firm of 80 Blackburn fans.

[thenodrog]

jim's in trolling mode, I see.

As always...... but he is not telling lies this time. Like all clubs we do have a number of real low life dollopers following the club.

[Roost]

Bit unusual for the club to come out and blame the fans.

Been on numerous euro trips with rovers, been chased out of polish nightclubs, had target stickers stuck on us in Poland, bloody hell in Lithuania one lad got kidnapped and dumped in a park having everything including his shoes stolen.

But never seen rovers fans create 'real' trouble...

Not the Arena Bar by any chance?

the only time abroad I have seen Rovers fans creating trouble was inside the ground at Bayer Leverkusen......... with themselves.

[Ste B]

The statement on the official site from Paul Agnew is more than reasonable.

The way the papers have put the other quotes seems to have implied that Rovers fans have been blamed. I've no problem at all with Paul Agnew saying that IF rovers fans are found to have caused this, then action will be taken.

Where i'm less impressed that is that if there was information in advance that there could be trouble, then under John Newshams stewardship we would have been issued with some travel advice, and certainly ourselves wouldnt have worn colours to the Deventer match.

[Mattyblue]

As always...... but he is not telling lies this time. Like all clubs we do have a number of real low life dollopers following the club.

We do, but a pre season game in Holland with a few dozen fans? No chance.

[SAS]

Not the Arena Bar by any chance?

the only time abroad I have seen Rovers fans creating trouble was inside the ground at Bayer Leverkusen......... with themselves.

Can't remember. It was all friendly then suddenly we were told... 'you must leave now'

The LT has painted a picture of it being one way traffic that the Dutch have been waiting to attack at several locations.

[Guest]

Just back from Hoenderloo (via Nijmegen), to be honest it's not that far from where I live so much less of a waste for me than the other Rovers fans who have travelled from the UK.

Hoenderloo is an isolated forest area in the middle of the Veluwe national park, between Arnhem and Apeldoorn, it is one of the main training complexes for the Dutch National team so it is completely screened off from the public.

However, we thought if we turned up they would take pity on us and let us in. No Chance !! The gates were locked with a number of police vehicles strategically positioned behind them. There were about four or five cars parked along the roadside, NEC fans ? Journalists ? And a mini van with Belgian plates carrying about five Die hard Blackburnians, one of whom had managed to climb up a tree. We could hear the game progressing and the shouts of the players behind the screens, we even saw the ball as it went up into the air and back down again.

Eventually the (armed) police got tired of us blocking the road and moved us on, and so the Rovers pre season tour of Holland came to an (aptly chaotic) close. It seems that these days Rovers never do anything easily.

Living on the continent we have followed the Rovers on pre season tours in Austria, Germany and also here in Holland in the past without any incidents or even the whiff of trouble.

Who was to blame for this fiasco ? Certainly it sounds like Rovers fans were attacked in both Deventer and Nijmegen, how the fights developed I don't know as I wasn't there. In Arnhem on Saturday night it sounds like the problem was non football related and erupted over a dispute regarding money changing ? The Dutch involved in that fight were from the town of Breda nowhere near either Deventer or Nijmegen, it is reported that the Rovers fans were a 19 year old from Accrington and a 25 year old from Blackburn.

All in all a very sad end to the tour, it was something my two sons and myself were really looking forward to ever since it was announced, I have no idea when we will get to watch the Rovers again, what a pity.

The police were asked to at least let any Rovers kids into the ground but they gave a flat "No". They said that the game was closed to the public and that meant everybody, without exception. So we arranged for tea, coffee and biscuits to be brought out to any fans waiting outside but by then the police had moved you all on.

Ricky - Not sure if he was playing. I only saw bits and pieces of the game. Too many new faces to pick one out... The only player who did stand out to me was our #8 as he looked like he really couldn't be bothered and would much rather go back to bed.

[Ricky]

That'll be our Dunny