[Archived] Shebby Singh

[Clitherover]

The rub of it is...... I'm not even bloody welsh!!!

I imagined you sounding like Rob Brydon when I read that.

[Amo]

What the hell's happened to this thread?

[Majiball]

What the hell's happened to this thread?

Obviously no one gives a rats about shabby singh.

[Clitherover]

Obviously no one gives a rats about shabby singh.

He sounds like a really crap rapper.

[EwoodDawn]

What the hell's happened to this thread?

The weird and wonderful tangents are just reflecting the farcical situation we find ourselves in - one where fans are so desperate to hear from our dear owners that they tolerate inanity from an alleged office worker in Pune. If anyone had told us this would be happening on BRFCS this time 18 months ago, we'd have all just laughed. Things are so preposterous it's stunning.

[Guest]

How can the supporters help Venkys to:

Remove Steve Kean?

Bring in an experienced, respected manager?

Invest in the playing squad?

Pay their bills?

Satisfy the bank?

Keep us in the PL?

Stop talking nonsense to the media?

Start talking sense to the fans?

No, seriously, I really want to know.

Ok. This thread has gone a bit astray so I'll just answer a few post then I think it's best just to either start a new one or let it go.

The best way to help achieve all those things is to talk to Venky's. I know it seems that they're not listening but believe me they are. Protests pushed them father away (you can see that now right?). The only remaining avenue is diplomacy. If everybody just takes a deep breath, steps back a little and then asks to have a pow-wow we'll all get things done faster.

As it is, from Pune it appears that everybody over there is out for blood and not thinking straight. Calm down (I know it's difficult due to what's happening on the field and off) and show them that you're normal, sensible, hard-working, intelligent people. They will talk to you then.

People have been talking to them / attempting to talk to them for months. They do not want to listen. They need to appoint a chief exec who knows how to run a football club and let them get on with it.

But they can't make out the trouble makers from the people who do genuinely want to help. Until they do, they won't talk to anybody. They've already spoken to the Pune9 - That's why I suggested meeting them again.

[Guest]

This is absolutely correct. I think a competent manager, a fighter, someone like Hughes, would keep us up. The talent exists in the squad, though we lack depth and need a few reinforcements to deal with injury prospects. Look at what MON has done for Sunderland.

It's hard to get all of that on a banner.

Despised London.

I'm led to believe by a Venky's/Rovers intermediary that Hughes has been asked already. Not interested.

I remember somebody made up a huge long banner ages ago with all kinds of stats regarding Steve Kean. Lots of win/loss/percentages etc... I think the owner wasn't taking into account that English is the Rao's 2nd language. Even numbers over here are different and it probably looked like complete gobbldeegook to them.

Its good to have MG's contributions as an 'insider' and I enjoy reading his posts but I've got to echo Bob's comments.

Some of the views MG appears to be attributing to Venkys (he does state its his opinion) and how he thinks fans should be responding to Venkys seem to me to ignore the huge raft of supporter and media comment about Venkys having made a total hash of their ownership ie the blame is with Venkys and not the supporters here so it is Venkys that should be changing their approach and to suggest the supporters are taking the wrong approach is, in my opinion, misguided and insulting.

I don't believe that Venkys havent worked out what to do or who to talk to. I firmly believe they think they can do the whole thing without cost to themselves. If they continue to think that Rovers will be relegated and they will have to admit failure when we are a Championship side haemorraging money. They need to change their whole approach and act decisively, but I don't expect that to happen.

Venky's know they've screwed up. To the best of my knowledge they've never blamed the fans for the position the team is in. The most they've said through people like Mr. Singh is that the protests should stop during the games as it's not helping the players.

Ypu answered mine-as best you could. I guess the problem for Venkys is that no-one here will believe a word they say after all the disappointment they've brought. They need to do something fast to bring the fans back on board. Sacking the manager and providing the new one with funding to save our Premiership hides is the least required.

I see no evidence that they are remotely aware of this. You say they are working to get rid of the manager and implying they can't yet find a new one-----is that right? The time to do this was months ago when it was obvious that Kean didn't have what it takes.

As for funding for transfers--they have consistently promised and failed to deliver. The family are loathed by Blackburn fans. we regard them as the worst blight to ever afflict the club in its history. From mid-table to virtually certain relegation in one year is a lot to live down.

Agreed

Agreed

Agreed

[Stuart]

So what you're saying MG is that they are struggling to find a manager who will work with them, with no transfer pot and having to sell the best players (because they can't shift the bad ones) so we are stuck with Kean?

Tell you what, next time you see them tell them not to worry to much about waiting for a replacement, and just to get on and remove Kean. Assuming the compensation means they can't bring anyone else in, ask Ryan Nelsen to take up the post til the end of the season, then apologise to and beg Tony Parkes to come back. If the apology is sincere, he may be prepared to work cheaply. Just this will get every single fan fully focussed behind the team. It will take a LOT more for people to warm further to Venkys.

And, by the way, the mega rich owners of an international company don't understand Western numbers? At least we now know why they bought the club and why are finances are so dire.

[perthblue02]

Ok. This thread has gone a bit astray so I'll just answer a few post then I think it's best just to either start a new one or let it go.

The best way to help achieve all those things is to talk to Venky's. I know it seems that they're not listening but believe me they are. Protests pushed them father away (you can see that now right?). The only remaining avenue is diplomacy. If everybody just takes a deep breath, steps back a little and then asks to have a pow-wow we'll all get things done faster.

As it is, from Pune it appears that everybody over there is out for blood and not thinking straight. Calm down (I know it's difficult due to what's happening on the field and off) and show them that you're normal, sensible, hard-working, intelligent people. They will talk to you then.

But they can't make out the trouble makers from the people who do genuinely want to help. Until they do, they won't talk to anybody. They've already spoken to the Pune9 - That's why I suggested meeting them again.

So when in your view people in the early days post takeover were acting and behaving like "normal, sensible, hard-working, intelligent" people basically letting the Roa's and their "just like a family member" Anderson and his partner in crime Kean dismantle everything that was good about the club, did they ever try to engage with supporters ? NO , apart from their brief visit to Ewood did they ever try to engage with supporters previous to the pune 9 trip? NO , Have they apologised for listening to Anderson or are they just annoyed at him because he sold them the idea of a club were supporters would go peacefully and not kick up a fuss?, All they have done since takeover is lie, lie, lie

So basically what your saying is to every Blackburn Rovers supporter is Shut Up , know your place, Let Venky's carry on destroying and fleecing the club, Let Venky's carry on making insane decisions not in the interests of Blackburn Rovers and when its completely destroyed they may talk to you ?. Perhaps you should relay to your boss's that Blackburn Rovers supporters are not Chicken's and will not be treated as scum waiting for their heads to be chopped off, the best thing they could do is sell up because in the UK and further afield the Venky's name is already tarnished beyond repair and will continue to be so long after they have finally destroyed the club. I was born and raised in Blackburn and can tell you that respect is earned and not bought, and Venky's are a very long way off earning any respect.

[ABBEY]

Mg , if they think protesters are trouble makers then that shows they know nowt!!!

Us fans have been here longer and will still be here when these idiots have left... They think we want blood !!! DAMN RIGHT we do ,they are hated and not welcome in our town!!

They are a bunch of lying , crazy , asset stripping bunch of clueless cretins!!!

[ABBEY]

Amd as for the stats looking gobbledygook then if they don't do numbers and english is not understood then wtf were they talking on Granada reports!!!! Stop trying to brainwash fans you pillock!!!

Stat .... 100% rovers

0% venkys

[dave birch]

Ok. This thread has gone a bit astray so I'll just answer a few post then I think it's best just to either start a new one or let it go.

The best way to help achieve all those things is to talk to Venky's. I know it seems that they're not listening but believe me they are. Protests pushed them father away (you can see that now right?). The only remaining avenue is diplomacy. If everybody just takes a deep breath, steps back a little and then asks to have a pow-wow we'll all get things done faster.

As it is, from Pune it appears that everybody over there is out for blood and not thinking straight. Calm down (I know it's difficult due to what's happening on the field and off) and show them that you're normal, sensible, hard-working, intelligent people. They will talk to you then.

But they can't make out the trouble makers from the people who do genuinely want to help. Until they do, they won't talk to anybody. They've already spoken to the Pune9 - That's why I suggested meeting them again.

OK MG, I'm hardly a troublemaker, I'm on the other side of the world, but still a Rovers supporter.

If they want to talk to me, I'm up for it. Glen or Steb have access to my email address, I'm willing for them to give it to Venkys to enable a conversation to take place.

As a precursor, I'm 65, run my own business (as small as it is) I stay up very late to watch/listen to the Rovers games. I might add, despite being out of England for over 40 years, I've still attended more games at Ewood than all of our owners, their hangers on and security guards, put together. I'll be as diplomatic as I can, given the circumstances.

The only downside is that I live in Australia, where the much vaunted Indian Cricket team have just been tubbed for the second time in as many tests.

I'm available during normal business hours.

The only times I'm not available are:

10am-4pm Monday (golf)

5pm-6:30pm Wednesday (teleconference)

10am-5:30pm Thursday (golf)

3:30pm-6pm Friday (drinks with mates)

All times are AEDT.

MG,pm me if you like.

[glen9mullan]

Been reading this thread with interest and what is seems to me is MG Road is asking everyone to accept things as they are, don't kick a fuss up and sit and wait for Venkys to decide when they feel like being respoinsible people.

To date Venkys have shown NO honour and their integrity is far more than questionable.

Yes its a clear culture shock to them, but that sadly is no excuse,

I know this is an exstreme example but lets look at the Suarez/Evra case... This has been dealt with by the league here and Suarez has got an 8 match ban for making what was deemed racist remarks to Evra. It has been widely accepted that Suarez'z comments had they been said in his home country would not have been deemed a racist remark. However over here and in other european countries his words are classed as unaccepetable

Lets go back to Venkys, They chose to buy a football club in the English Premier League, they chose to accept the challenge, and they as owners accept our cash each week. Its not the supporters job to make allowances and play by their cultures rules. We are just simply football supporters who are proud of our town's and clubs heritage.

We are concerned supporters, not trouble makers, not extremist, in fact none of these things. For over 12 months the supporters have shown sheer patience towards venkys even though all evidence to date suggest they are not really interested in the supporters feelings. People have been calling for ALL protest and anger to be put at Venkys door, people have called for extreme measures, there has been lots of things put forward which could have turned protests ugly.

Its only now that supporters have finally snapped regarding Venkys, Their silence, lack of communication from them, or people appointed by them has just inflamed the situation. If Venkys think things will calm down, sadly they are mistaken. The only way things will calm down is by them or the board addressing the concerns the supporters have.

Rovers supporters do not want to protest, but as our club slips quickly into the abyss we have been given little choice. Lets not kid ourselves, before protest there was letters, emails, telephone calls, petitions, open letters to newspapers the works. Not one of these attempts to get answers or have our fears eased worked. There was the trip to Pune for the Pune 9, were Venkys gave false hope to the nine and have not followed through with their words.

Since then there has been the Currie Battersby trip, Wayne Wilds attempts to get answers about his companies sponsorship (He waited for over 2 months before going public. There has been Jack Straw and other leading coucillors trying to make contact and they too have been ignored. Supporters have also tried to engage with the board, put the concerns across but no door seems to be opening for the clubs stakeholders concerns to be aired or listened to.

What other options do we have???

There is only Venkys to blame for this mess, because every single thing to date has their signature on, The longer they fail to engage the more likely it becomes that the acceptance of them by the supporters disappears.

Most of us want Venkys to be honourable owners who act with the upmost integrity and make a success of our club, Its in everyones best interest that they do, however after 12 months of hurt only Venkys can repair the damage, They have to date chose not to, Those actions by them came BEFORE any unrest or protest by supporters, and therefore its their job to repair the damage, the longer they wait, the worse things will get in the stands, and ultimately more damage will be inflicted on Venkys image.

Protest at best have been luke-warm to date, however like anything the intensity will only become more apparent the longer this NO SHOW from Venkys continue. Only Venkys can stop protest and they can do this very quickly by engaging and understanding the reasons for protest. All supporters would rather enjoy going to the match on a saturday afternoon and not have a need to protest, if Venkys take those reasons away by addressing concerns and showing their good intentions which MG Road claims they have then this whole nightmare can be brought to a swift end.

[Kelbo]

Been reading this thread with interest and what is seems to me is MG Road is asking everyone to accept things as they are, don't kick a fuss up and sit and wait for Venkys to decide when they feel like being respoinsible people.

To date Venkys have shown NO honour and their integrity is far more than questionable.

Yes its a clear culture shock to them, but that sadly is no excuse,

I know this is an exstreme example but lets look at the Suarez/Evra case... This has been dealt with by the league here and Suarez has got an 8 match ban for making what was deemed racist remarks to Evra. It has been widely accepted that Suarez'z comments had they been said in his home country would not have been deemed a racist remark. However over here and in other european countries his words are classed as unaccepetable

Lets go back to Venkys, They chose to buy a football club in the English Premier League, they chose to accept the challenge, and they as owners accept our cash each week. Its not the supporters job to make allowances and play by their cultures rules. We are just simply football supporters who are proud of our town's and clubs heritage.

We are concerned supporters, not trouble makers, not extremist, in fact none of these things. For over 12 months the supporters have shown sheer patience towards venkys even though all evidence to date suggest they are not really interested in the supporters feelings. People have been calling for ALL protest and anger to be put at Venkys door, people have called for extreme measures, there has been lots of things put forward which could have turned protests ugly.

Its only now that supporters have finally snapped regarding Venkys, Their silence, lack of communication from them, or people appointed by them has just inflamed the situation. If Venkys think things will calm down, sadly they are mistaken. The only way things will calm down is by them or the board addressing the concerns the supporters have.

Rovers supporters do not want to protest, but as our club slips quickly into the abyss we have been given little choice. Lets not kid ourselves, before protest there was letters, emails, telephone calls, petitions, open letters to newspapers the works. Not one of these attempts to get answers or have our fears eased worked. There was the trip to Pune for the Pune 9, were Venkys gave false hope to the nine and have not followed through with their words.

Since then there has been the Currie Battersby trip, Wayne Wilds attempts to get answers about his companies sponsorship (He waited for over 2 months before going public. There has been Jack Straw and other leading coucillors trying to make contact and they too have been ignored. Supporters have also tried to engage with the board, put the concerns across but no door seems to be opening for the clubs stakeholders concerns to be aired or listened to.

What other options do we have???

There is only Venkys to blame for this mess, because every single thing to date has their signature on, The longer they fail to engage the more likely it becomes that the acceptance of them by the supporters disappears.

Most of us want Venkys to be honourable owners who act with the upmost integrity and make a success of our club, Its in everyones best interest that they do, however after 12 months of hurt only Venkys can repair the damage, They have to date chose not to, Those actions by them came BEFORE any unrest or protest by supporters, and therefore its their job to repair the damage, the longer they wait, the worse things will get in the stands, and ultimately more damage will be inflicted on Venkys image.

Protest at best have been luke-warm to date, however like anything the intensity will only become more apparent the longer this NO SHOW from Venkys continue. Only Venkys can stop protest and they can do this very quickly by engaging and understanding the reasons for protest. All supporters would rather enjoy going to the match on a saturday afternoon and not have a need to protest, if Venkys take those reasons away by addressing concerns and showing their good intentions which MG Road claims they have then this whole nightmare can be brought to a swift end.

Again Glen, ever so well put and along with the managers comments during his tenure, illustrate quite clearly action has to be taken, will it be? I wont hold my breath!!

[ABBEY]

Don't hold your breath pal you will defiantly die!!

They are pig ignorant .

[Doug]

Ok. This thread has gone a bit astray so I'll just answer a few post then I think it's best just to either start a new one or let it go.

The best way to help achieve all those things is to talk to Venky's. I know it seems that they're not listening but believe me they are. Protests pushed them father away (you can see that now right?). The only remaining avenue is diplomacy. If everybody just takes a deep breath, steps back a little and then asks to have a pow-wow we'll all get things done faster.

As it is, from Pune it appears that everybody over there is out for blood and not thinking straight. Calm down (I know it's difficult due to what's happening on the field and off) and show them that you're normal, sensible, hard-working, intelligent people. They will talk to you then.

But they can't make out the trouble makers from the people who do genuinely want to help. Until they do, they won't talk to anybody. They've already spoken to the Pune9 - That's why I suggested meeting them again.

That would be an good start. IMO, there are a number of posters on here, who appear calm and methodical in their approach to the situation. They haven't followed the 'extreme' posters and have looked and stated their balanced opinion, not the supposition.

We need a 'moderate' approach to any meeting, people who are calm under pressure, polite and able to deal with people from all backgrounds.

I would welcome most of the people who met them last time, plus the FF to meet them again.

They have taken ludicrous levels of 'abuse' as have the 'FF', and I for one have been impressed how they have conducted themselves on this forum. They normally post balanced, considered views. There are a number of other posters I rate and would PM them to put themselves forward if there is ever an invite for a group to meet them.

I'd be confident that they would be able to take the legitimate concerns to our owners and get some answers.

[gumboots]

glen's comments were exactly what I had just been saying to my husband - if the Raos had acted when it was first obvious they had made a mistake in appointing Kean or even in the summer, much of the ire about to be directed towards them would have been defused for a while at least and they could have carried out a proper review of what was required and begun to build bridges. they have instead shown no desire at all to find out how it works here, what you need to run a football club successfully, and what it means to those who go and watch matches and follow THEIR team. They don't get this shared ownership idea that means that we really are as important to the club as anyone else, even mega rich owners. You can't successfully run a club without fans - that's why being forced to play behind closed doors is such a punishment for clubs. Our club did not need big names, big projects etc - it needed TLC and a modest but regular injection of cash in footballing terms. It needed and deserved to be well run by those who had for years been trusted to run it until they had been able to bring in and train up new execs who had grown into the club and understood the family nature of it, the feeling most fans had built up over years of following. Read this message board and see how many members have been going to matches for 50 years or more. Read how many have been taken by dads, grandads, uncles, big brothers, how many still take their kids or grandchildren and friends. We are not a rabble but could become one if we are pushed hard enough. We don't want to constantly complain about off field things - we can find enough to disagree about even when we like the manager, the owners and the team because that's the nature of football fans - they don't all have to agree about everything, but they do agree about their support and in many cases love for the club. I am fed up with going to Ewood and knowing that even a win will be soured by Kean's stupid grinning face as though he's somehow done something clever by getting his team to win a game which statistics tell us he should definitely win - that's why playing at home against teams around you is supposed to be an advantage.

I personally don't care if it hurts the owners feelings at all. I am an educated professional and have more self respect than to worry what the Rao family think of me. I don't like protesting but until this poisonous group get out of BRFC and let us get on with rebuilding I will continue to protest when and where possible.

[Devon Rover]

OK MG, I'm hardly a troublemaker, I'm on the other side of the world, but still a Rovers supporter.

If they want to talk to me, I'm up for it. Glen or Steb have access to my email address, I'm willing for them to give it to Venkys to enable a conversation to take place.

As a precursor, I'm 65, run my own business (as small as it is) I stay up very late to watch/listen to the Rovers games. I might add, despite being out of England for over 40 years, I've still attended more games at Ewood than all of our owners, their hangers on and security guards, put together. I'll be as diplomatic as I can, given the circumstances.

The only downside is that I live in Australia, where the much vaunted Indian Cricket team have just been tubbed for the second time in as many tests.

I'm available during normal business hours.

The only times I'm not available are:

10am-4pm Monday (golf)

5pm-6:30pm Wednesday (teleconference)

10am-5:30pm Thursday (golf)

3:30pm-6pm Friday (drinks with mates)

All times are AEDT.

MG,pm me if you like.

Dave, I'm sure you would be very diplomatic as well as passionate about the club- just as I thought the 'Pune9' were from their reports of their discussions with Balaji. But where did that get them and us? Reading Tom's posts in particular shows the massive difference between the positive discussions with Balaji and the lack of action that followed.

This would seem to reflect some of what has been said by Ian Battersby, Wayne Wild etc- that attempts at reasoned communication with Venkys have either fallen on deaf ears or been heard but apparantly ignored. For my own part, as unimportant as it is, I have sent emails to the Raos at a few different times with what I consider to be balanced and reasonable suggestions/questions. They haven't been answered- I'm not sure what more I can do personally to open lines of communication so surely it should be for Venkys to make some attempt next?

All in all I would usually agree with MG's suggestion of taking a reasonable and calm approach to trying to instigate a reasonable conversation with the owners but, in this case, I have no faith in that working and so I disagree with him. Everything points to attempts to communicate with the Raos reasonably and calmly either being ignored or 'tolerated' before being ignored again (in the case of the Pune9).

That is why the initiative rests with Venkys here and not us as Rovers fans. THEY need to build bridges with us or they need to get out of the club at the earliest oppotunity as things will only get worse for them and us.

glen's comments were exactly what I had just been saying to my husband - if the Raos had acted when it was first obvious they had made a mistake in appointing Kean or even in the summer, much of the ire about to be directed towards them would have been defused for a while at least and they could have carried out a proper review of what was required and begun to build bridges. they have instead shown no desire at all to find out how it works here, what you need to run a football club successfully, and what it means to those who go and watch matches and follow THEIR team. They don't get this shared ownership idea that means that we really are as important to the club as anyone else, even mega rich owners. You can't successfully run a club without fans - that's why being forced to play behind closed doors is such a punishment for clubs. Our club did not need big names, big projects etc - it needed TLC and a modest but regular injection of cash in footballing terms. It needed and deserved to be well run by those who had for years been trusted to run it until they had been able to bring in and train up new execs who had grown into the club and understood the family nature of it, the feeling most fans had built up over years of following. Read this message board and see how many members have been going to matches for 50 years or more. Read how many have been taken by dads, grandads, uncles, big brothers, how many still take their kids or grandchildren and friends. We are not a rabble but could become one if we are pushed hard enough. We don't want to constantly complain about off field things - we can find enough to disagree about even when we like the manager, the owners and the team because that's the nature of football fans - they don't all have to agree about everything, but they do agree about their support and in many cases love for the club. I am fed up with going to Ewood and knowing that even a win will be soured by Kean's stupid grinning face as though he's somehow done something clever by getting his team to win a game which statistics tell us he should definitely win - that's why playing at home against teams around you is supposed to be an advantage.

I personally don't care if it hurts the owners feelings at all. I am an educated professional and have more self respect than to worry what the Rao family think of me. I don't like protesting but until this poisonous group get out of BRFC and let us get on with rebuilding I will continue to protest when and where possible.

Brilliant post, Gumboots. I don't get to matches due to my location & cost issues but I absolutely share the feelings you describe here.

[aletheia]

I find this call for more talk tiresome.

Are the Rao family hard-nosed business people who know how to manage organisations, money and people or are they, as I suspect, simply a family with inherited wealth and little control of their whims? The call for more calm sit down talks to find out what exactly the fans are concerned about is ludicrous: the level of incompetence almost unbelievable; any half competent person with a few management skills can see the issues; any reasonably intelligent organisation would have found out a few basics upon taking over the club. Presumably the familiy are still smarting from their own naive choices and gullibility and while they lick their wounds in isolation, the club is in free fall.

The Raos need to get off their high horse and realise that the fans are in no mood to doff their caps; stop behaving like rich spoilt brats, swallow their ridiculous pride and begin to manage like responsible and intelligent owners. As has been pointed out, some simple smart appointments, some simple genuine overtures to fans via the press rather than stupid stunts/gimmicks could easily turn things around.

The Raos need to act not talk.

[John]

I find this call for more talk tiresome.

Are the Rao family hard-nosed business people who know how to manage organisations, money and people or are they, as I suspect, simply a family with inherited wealth and little control of their whims? The call for more calm sit down talks to find out what exactly the fans are concerned about is ludicrous: the level of incompetence almost unbelievable; any half competent person with a few management skills can see the issues; any reasonably intelligent organisation would have found out a few basics upon taking over the club. Presumably the familiy are still smarting from their own naive choices and gullibility and while they lick their wounds in isolation, the club is in free fall.

The Raos need to get off their high horse and realise that the fans are in no mood to doff their caps; stop behaving like rich spoilt brats, swallow their ridiculous pride and begin to manage like responsible and intelligent owners. As has been pointed out, some simple smart appointments, some simple genuine overtures to fans via the press rather than stupid stunts/gimmicks could easily turn things around.

The Raos need to act not talk.

Bang on.

No need to talk about anything, its effin obvious what needs sorted however it may already be too late.

[Stuart]

glen's comments were exactly what I had just been saying to my husband - if the Raos had acted when it was first obvious they had made a mistake in appointing Kean or even in the summer, much of the ire about to be directed towards them would have been defused for a while at least and they could have carried out a proper review of what was required and begun to build bridges. they have instead shown no desire at all to find out how it works here, what you need to run a football club successfully, and what it means to those who go and watch matches and follow THEIR team. They don't get this shared ownership idea that means that we really are as important to the club as anyone else, even mega rich owners. You can't successfully run a club without fans - that's why being forced to play behind closed doors is such a punishment for clubs. Our club did not need big names, big projects etc - it needed TLC and a modest but regular injection of cash in footballing terms. It needed and deserved to be well run by those who had for years been trusted to run it until they had been able to bring in and train up new execs who had grown into the club and understood the family nature of it, the feeling most fans had built up over years of following. Read this message board and see how many members have been going to matches for 50 years or more. Read how many have been taken by dads, grandads, uncles, big brothers, how many still take their kids or grandchildren and friends. We are not a rabble but could become one if we are pushed hard enough. We don't want to constantly complain about off field things - we can find enough to disagree about even when we like the manager, the owners and the team because that's the nature of football fans - they don't all have to agree about everything, but they do agree about their support and in many cases love for the club. I am fed up with going to Ewood and knowing that even a win will be soured by Kean's stupid grinning face as though he's somehow done something clever by getting his team to win a game which statistics tell us he should definitely win - that's why playing at home against teams around you is supposed to be an advantage.

I personally don't care if it hurts the owners feelings at all. I am an educated professional and have more self respect than to worry what the Rao family think of me. I don't like protesting but until this poisonous group get out of BRFC and let us get on with rebuilding I will continue to protest when and where possible.

Excellent post.

[47er]

That would be an good start. IMO, there are a number of posters on here, who appear calm and methodical in their approach to the situation. They haven't followed the 'extreme' posters and have looked and stated their balanced opinion, not the supposition.

We need a 'moderate' approach to any meeting, people who are calm under pressure, polite and able to deal with people from all backgrounds.

I would welcome most of the people who met them last time, plus the FF to meet them again.

They have taken ludicrous levels of 'abuse' as have the 'FF', and I for one have been impressed how they have conducted themselves on this forum. They normally post balanced, considered views. There are a number of other posters I rate and would PM them to put themselves forward if there is ever an invite for a group to meet them.

I'd be confident that they would be able to take the legitimate concerns to our owners and get some answers.

if you're a typical Rovers fan we are truly stuffed.

[ABBEY]

if you're a typical Rovers fan we are truly stuffed.

Rovers Fans need to humoured .

[Doug]

No surprise with the last two posts! Well thought out, balanced and considered criticism as usual.

[Kendalrover]

The best way to help achieve all those things is to talk to Venky's. I know it seems that they're not listening but believe me they are. Protests pushed them father away (you can see that now right?). The only remaining avenue is diplomacy. If everybody just takes a deep breath, steps back a little and then asks to have a pow-wow we'll all get things done faster.

As it is, from Pune it appears that everybody over there is out for blood and not thinking straight. Calm down (I know it's difficult due to what's happening on the field and off) and show them that you're normal, sensible, hard-working, intelligent people. They will talk to you then.

Venkys have already met Currie/Battersby and the FF and apparently agreed they where talking sense. They said we know what to do, lets meet again.

Since those meetings respected members of the community Wilde, leader of Blackburn council, Jack Straw etc have offered to mediate with them.

Venkys response to all of this (please don't mention that word again) All.

We are normal, sensible, hard-working, intelligent people. What we are seeing is a major part of our life being destroyed in front of our eyes and it appears we can't do a thing about it. How do they expect us to react?