[Archived] Mixed feelings about a positive start to the season

[Paul]

The more I think about this the stranger it seems in some respects. I was against the Venkys takeover from the very start - one of the very few who expressed serious concerns at the beginning. We were told not to be negative, investment was coming, the owners had money and we would sign players. It would be good.

It's been miserable and I freely admit I might have stopped if it wasn't for my lad. I also said no one would drive me out of Ewood but I came very close to wavering at the end of last season. This summer I ignored football totally, I still don't even know all the players we sold or signed. Just switched off completely

Today I know Arsenal beat Saints 6-1 and Utd won 4-0. I haven't a clue who is top or bottom of the PL and I don't care. I know Rovers are top of the league, possibly Blackpool second, I think Hull are close as well. I also know Peterborough are rock bottom as a friend is a Posh fan. That's it, nothing else occupying my football mind.

I listened on Saturday for the first time in years. I recorded the FL show!!!!! Fast forward to Rovers, watched twice and that was it. Didn't listen to any idiot commentators. I'm looking forward to Tuesday and Friday and know six points are crucial. Reading the paper on Sunday was good.

I miss the friends I don't see at Ewood anymore.

Now I ask myself who won this owners v fans battle? I'm still there enjoying watching the team in the knowledge I will never support Kean, Agnew, Venkys et al. I won because nothing they have done has diminished my pleasure at Rovers being top of the league. I won because NOTHING, absolutely nothing these people do will ever earn my support or gratitude, they have lost that for ever and were never worthy of it in the first place.

Did Venkys defeat all those who stay away? They took everything, even your pleasure. Have you let them win? I am being serious and not trying to point score. If people find it so difficult my serious suggestion would be switch off till Christmas, ignore it all, do nothing. It does then get better.

[Rover_Shaun]

IF Kean gets us up this team will just get bummed weekly again. it's not all that. eventually we were going to slide to such a level that even the handicap of Kean will make little difference

[ABBEY]

The more I think about this the stranger it seems in some respects. I was against the Venkys takeover from the very start - one of the very few who expressed serious concerns at the beginning. We were told not to be negative, investment was coming, the owners had money and we would sign players. It would be good.

It's been miserable and I freely admit I might have stopped if it wasn't for my lad. I also said no one would drive me out of Ewood but I came very close to wavering at the end of last season. This summer I ignored football totally, I still don't even know all the players we sold or signed. Just switched off completely

Today I know Arsenal beat Saints 6-1 and Utd won 4-0. I haven't a clue who is top or bottom of the PL and I don't care. I know Rovers are top of the league, possibly Blackpool second, I think Hull are close as well. I also know Peterborough are rock bottom as a friend is a Posh fan. That's it, nothing else occupying my football mind.

I listened on Saturday for the first time in years. I recorded the FL show!!!!! Fast forward to Rovers, watched twice and that was it. Didn't listen to any idiot commentators. I'm looking forward to Tuesday and Friday and know six points are crucial. Reading the paper on Sunday was good.

I miss the friends I don't see at Ewood anymore.

Now I ask myself who won this owners v fans battle? I'm still there enjoying watching the team in the knowledge I will never support Kean, Agnew, Venkys et al. I won because nothing they have done has diminished my pleasure at Rovers being top of the league. I won because NOTHING, absolutely nothing these people do will ever earn my support or gratitude, they have lost that for ever and were never worthy of it in the first place.

Did Venkys defeat all those who stay away? They took everything, even your pleasure. Have you let them win? I am being serious and not trying to point score. If people find it so difficult my serious suggestion would be switch off till Christmas, ignore it all, do nothing. It does then get better.

i renewed and so far have hated every minute of it,we score i go oh they score i go oh...Im going tommorow but friday i think its asda and kebabs ...im not having a friday night ruined.

[Paul]

Tell you what ABBEY if you feel that bad about it I think you should stay away, it's not healthy.

[PAFELL]

The more I think about this the stranger it seems in some respects. I was against the Venkys takeover from the very start - one of the very few who expressed serious concerns at the beginning. We were told not to be negative, investment was coming, the owners had money and we would sign players. It would be good.

It's been miserable and I freely admit I might have stopped if it wasn't for my lad. I also said no one would drive me out of Ewood but I came very close to wavering at the end of last season. This summer I ignored football totally, I still don't even know all the players we sold or signed. Just switched off completely

Today I know Arsenal beat Saints 6-1 and Utd won 4-0. I haven't a clue who is top or bottom of the PL and I don't care. I know Rovers are top of the league, possibly Blackpool second, I think Hull are close as well. I also know Peterborough are rock bottom as a friend is a Posh fan. That's it, nothing else occupying my football mind.

I listened on Saturday for the first time in years. I recorded the FL show!!!!! Fast forward to Rovers, watched twice and that was it. Didn't listen to any idiot commentators. I'm looking forward to Tuesday and Friday and know six points are crucial. Reading the paper on Sunday was good.

I miss the friends I don't see at Ewood anymore.

Now I ask myself who won this owners v fans battle? I'm still there enjoying watching the team in the knowledge I will never support Kean, Agnew, Venkys et al. I won because nothing they have done has diminished my pleasure at Rovers being top of the league. I won because NOTHING, absolutely nothing these people do will ever earn my support or gratitude, they have lost that for ever and were never worthy of it in the first place.

Did Venkys defeat all those who stay away? They took everything, even your pleasure. Have you let them win? I am being serious and not trying to point score. If people find it so difficult my serious suggestion would be switch off till Christmas, ignore it all, do nothing. It does then get better.

Very good post and good points raised.

[david_daft]

Can't really understand this 'top of the table' stuff mentioned in this thread, it's only been 5 games... Crazy.

[ABBEY]

Tell you what ABBEY if you feel that bad about it I think you should stay away, it's not healthy.

I know...my blood pressure soars every time i see numb nuts on the sidelines.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

We have to enjoy it. For the future of the club the best thing is that we go straight back up. We then have to hope that Kean is simply allowed to leave when his contract expires.

That would be THE perfect scenario Eddie but unlikely to happen.This really is a bad predicament.

[PAFELL]

IF Kean gets us up this team will just get bummed weekly again. it's not all that. eventually we were going to slide to such a level that even the handicap of Kean will make little difference

I think what comes first has to be the clubs existance. For that to continue Rovers need to go up this season. No matter who the owners are, that remains the same. The club comes first. Read comments that folk are staying away as they do not want to give venkys any of their money. But it is the club that gets the money, not venlys. By the time all the fees are paid for basic club operations, players wages, policing etc etc. There is not much else left.

Yet folk are quite happy to boost the income of other clubs by going to just the away games. If it was venkys getting the money and not the club, then I can understand why some want to boycott. But the more folk stay away, the more it will eventually affect the jobs of various staff at the club.

I want both Kean and venkys out of the club. But i also want rovers promoted, no matter who owns or is the manager. The club must always come first imo.

[Doug]

That would be THE perfect scenario Eddie but unlikely to happen.This really is a bad predicament.

Edit- I've realised I've just repeated Eddie's point. Ooops

[roverandout]

i so desperately want to go to a few games but everytime i think of going i remember kean is still there and it makes me change my mind as quickly as before, i miss my season ticket but i wont set foot inside again until he's gone

[Shabani]

Bit of perspective is that at this point last season, Brighton were top (finished 10th), Derby 3rd (fin. 12th), Middlesborough 4th (fin. 7th) and Palace 6th (fin. 17th)

Its early, early days yet

The Championship is a long, long slog

[roverandout]

the difference is that rovers are a cut above all those teams

[Shabani]

The squad might be, but our manager means that we're not a cut above anyone in this league

[roverandout]

true!!

[Scottyp]

I think it's been poor. Why haven't we won every single match? Because the PLAYERS can't perform. It's not the manager fault of our players are all Portuguese and can't speak English. And the rest, well.... I think they belong in nursing homes not on the green stuff

[Exiled in Toronto]

Gotta love this message board.... all summer since we May all we heard was how strong the championship was, how it was the toughest league in Europe and how we would be heading straight down to league 1..... now it’s the worst Championship for years because despite a crap manager we are unbeaten & top??? Ha ha ha pathetic....

In addition, at 10 past 2 on saturday when the team was announced, it was a rubbish line up with no pace and we were going to get tonked. At 10 to 5 we have by far the best squad in a rubbish league and but for Kean would be 20 points clear.

Also, can we agree in advance who the stronger teams are who we have yet to meet and will show us up for how rubbish we are. Apparently Leeds and Leicester didn't qualify as such.

No mixed feelings here: we need to get back up, period. I can compartmentalise that stark fact from the car crash of the last 18 months

[Salgado Is A Hero]

It's the Championship and it's impossible to predict......Leicester were some people's favourites but not others, me included......Leeds are far too unpredictable.

I'm waiting for Blackpool, Cardiff and the two who came down with us.

[colin]

I think the above blog post is exactly what most Rovers fans wanted to hear a long time ago, but sadly it is still not forthcoming. Is it time for a little bit of honesty from the fanbase, after watching the most exciting and enthralling afternoon of football for a long time I still believe there is no way back for Steve Kean. To be straight with people there is nothing that Kean can do to bring me back on side, he could win every match this season and I still would feel the same. His actions and destruction of the football club have gone without punishment, the insults towards the fans on numerous occasions have not been rectified. There has been no apology for Cardiff last season, instructing the players away from the fans at Wigan after a fantastic point was a sour note that showed disrespect to our loyalty.

As a supporter I want to feel part of the club, there are promising signs on that front compared to last season. The only stumbling block is the man on the touchline, yes I may be able to ignore him during matches (until he makes some bizarre tactical change or a crazy substitution) but he is the symbol of everything wrong with the football club. Even in thrilling matches, epic classics the immediate reaction of many fans to a goal from the opposition is "Kean Out" or Keans fault. In order to 100% enjoy being a fan of this club the manager has to leave, clever people say there is no club without fans while we have turned thousands away by backing the most divisive, offensive and incompetent man for way too long.

My feelings exactly. Well said.

[Steve Moss]

I have read the thread very carefully and the fact is that you are right - I can't divorce feelings about Kean from watching my team win. that's what makes me so angry - that this one man has made it impossible for me to really enjoy the good results. that's what mixed feelings means - I am on the one hand glad to see a rovers win, but I cannot totally enjoy it because the shadow of Kean casts a pall of gloom over the whole thing. I want to be able to go back to being a fan who supports Rovers wholeheartedly and can just relax and enjoy the football and the results, but i know that every good result makes it less likely that Kean will leave, and that, sorry to say, spoils everything.

+1, as usual.

Did Venkys defeat all those who stay away?

No?

It is Venkys that is on the road to ruin, not the fans who are staying away.

Personally speaking, I would love to buy some Rovers gear and plan my next trip to a Rovers game. Neither will happen with Kean in charge.

[BRFC95]

Also, can we agree in advance who the stronger teams are who we have yet to meet and will show us up for how rubbish we are. Apparently Leeds and Leicester didn't qualify as such.

Every game we have played this season could have been a loss, every game opponents have exposed glaring weaknesses in our team and tactics.

[ABBEY]

Every game we have played this season could have been a loss, every game opponents have exposed glaring weaknesses in our team and tactics.

And that my friend is the summing up quote and is spot on.

[john.leigh]

In every game it has been the fact that we have some better individual players that has seen us limp home.

Kean won't be sacked, not because he's a good manager but because in the majority of games we will simply have better players than the opposition.

The squad we have should be sitting in lower mid table in the premier league. And the same for last seasons squad. But when it comes to pitting like against like we are shown up by our ineffectual manager.

If we do manage to get promoted from this division all credit will go to the players for achieving it with effectively no manager in charge.

[DE.]

Posts above are spot on. But for some serious luck we would be 16th or 17th at the moment. I know the retort back from the optimists will be "should have, could have, would have doesn't mean anything, we have the points and that's what matters, we're top of the league" blah blah blah. But it's only been 5 games and over the course of the season playing at the level we've currently been playing at I cannot see us seriously challenging for promotion. Just because we've started off well in terms of results does not mean a fan has to put the blinkers on and become completely unaware of the glaring weaknesses in our team and in our style of play. Ignorance is bliss, but for most of us it isn't an option.

[Parsonblue]

Posts above are spot on. But for some serious luck we would be 16th or 17th at the moment. I know the retort back from the optimists will be "should have, could have, would have doesn't mean anything, we have the points and that's what matters, we're top of the league" blah blah blah. But it's only been 5 games and over the course of the season playing at the level we've currently been playing at I cannot see us seriously challenging for promotion. Just because we've started off well in terms of results does not mean a fan has to put the blinkers on and become completely unaware of the glaring weaknesses in our team and in our style of play. Ignorance is bliss, but for most of us it isn't an option.

Nobody has blinkers on but the last two matches have been excellent entertainment and the Rovers have picked up two decent results. As a supporter I can enjoy that for what it is. I have no problem with those who want to boycott. I accept that it is a difficult decision to make and was one that I seriously thought about at the end of last season. Ultimately, I decided I couldn't turn my back on the club after 50 + years, and I have to admit that the last two games have provided excellent entertainment. A lifetime of watching the Rovers means I fully expect us to get beat with Barnsley and Middlesbrough - it's always the way with the Rovers. However, whilst I can respect the views of those who want to stay away, I would hope that those who are so doing could respect the views of those who have opted to continue going and who have enjoyed seeing some favourable early season results.