[Archived] The Gary Bowyer Thread

[Athlete]

I thought Warburton wouldn't be interested in moving up north?

Our resident golfer said he wouldn't

[RevidgeBlue]

The Weir link probably sealed it. Another good manager scored out. If only Venkys actually had a list.

The bloke who got Watford up must be worth a look as well.

[RevidgeBlue]

Paul Taylor made perfect sense to me. Potentially free in a month or two, cost nothing or any risk, if he shows something and you get him cheap - if not he goes, hardly a questionable signing!

Ludicrous signing to me when you had Dunn still on the books who can't get a start and more pertinently O Sullivan who is desperate to play but can't get a game either. Like I say signing bodies purely for the sake of it, it's not like he was needed.

[unsall]

You don't get a season ticket for away games or cup games though. To put bums on seats you have to be decent in home league games and we are not.

You get a season ticket,because your a Rovers supporter,end of..,Thick and thin,good and bad Premier league,championship,div 1 div2..

[Parsonblue]

You get a season ticket,because your a Rovers supporter,end of..,Thick and thin,good and bad Premier league,championship,div 1 div2..

I think, like me, you're old school unsall. Doesn't seem to work like that anymore. Now being a Rovers supporter seems to come with various caveats ranging from who the owners are to who the tea lady is and everything in between. Not to mention the style of football, the pricing structure for specific matches and a hundred and one other reasons!

[gumboots]

Why is it that because I say I don't want a season ticket, I'm not a fan. I didn't have a season ticket for years. I couldn't afford one for everyone in the family. Didn't mean I wasn't a fan. Now I choose, because of other circumstances, to choose whether to buy a season ticket and suddenly I'm not a fan. Rubbish. I still want to watch rovers. I just want to do things differently, spend my money differently. My money, not yours or anyone else's. You're perfectly free to spend yours on what you want, and so am I.

[Amo]

I think, like me, you're old school unsall. Doesn't seem to work like that anymore. Now being a Rovers supporter seems to come with various caveats ranging from who the owners are to who the tea lady is and everything in between. Not to mention the style of football, the pricing structure for specific matches and a hundred and one other reasons!

[Parsonblue]

You really can't help yourself knocking fans who actually go to games can you? Still, if knocking the folk who actually go to games makes you happy fair enough.

[Amo]

You really can't help yourself knocking fans who actually go to games can you?

Nope, only the supercilious ones.

[Parsonblue]

Nope, only the supercilious ones.

So those who support the club through thick and thin you think are supercilious - I always knew you were a glory hunter!

[Amo]

So those who support the club through thick and thin you think are supercilious - I always knew you were a glory hunter!

You're right, inasmuch that there's a number of reasons people no longer attend, be it out of principle, out of apathy, or simply for financial reasons. What exactly gives you the right to dictate what does or does not constitute a real Rovers fan just because you choose to blindly follow the club?

[Mike E]

So those who support the club through thick and thin you think are supercilious - I always knew you were a glory hunter!

Frankly, Parson, I think you're being incredibly rude to gumboots. If you're determined to spend on a ST every season good on you. But don't accuse people of being gloryhunters because they'd rather spend their hard-earned (and knowing gb's career is bloody well hard-earned) on other things.

As she quite rightly said, she'll spend her money how she wants and you'll spend yours how you want.

[gumboots]

This is what happens when your club is a mess though. I've no reason to want to fall out with parson or even to argue with him. Everyone has a breaking point and for a number of reasons, this season has brought me to the point of saying I don't want to buy a season ticket unless there is something that gives me a glimmer of hope for improvement. It hasn't brought me to the point of saying I don't ever want to watch them again or even of saying I don't want to watch them. However, life is too short to spend it doing chores that you can't see any point in. That's how I feel about rovers at the moment. I have no problem with anyone carrying on buying season tickets because I appreciate that, for a whole raft of reasons, that might be what you want/need/find pleasure in, but for me it's no longer a real pleasure, my husband feels the same and has done for the last 3 or 4 seasons, we have a reduction in income when I retire this year and intend, while we can, to travel a bit more. It won't always be so but at the moment it is. Buy season tickets. Enjoy watching rovers. Enjoy time spent with friends and family. Enjoy the whole match day routine that you've enjoyed for years. That's all great. To each his/her own

[mhead]

Recently Gumboots has 'almost' been a proponent of "don't buy a Season Ticket"

That is what PB is reacting to......

[Paul]

You get a season ticket,because your a Rovers supporter,end of..,Thick and thin,good and bad Premier league,championship,div 1 div2..

I think, like me, you're old school unsall. Doesn't seem to work like that anymore. Now being a Rovers supporter seems to come with various caveats ranging from who the owners are to who the tea lady is and everything in between. Not to mention the style of football, the pricing structure for specific matches and a hundred and one other reasons!

Buying an ST has absolutely nothing to do with how good or poor a fan one is. It's a decision based around finances, ticket priority, regular seat and, once upon a time, putting money in the club's pocket in the summer when income was at its lowest.

All this criticism of people who chose not to renew is unwarranted and unfair. It does the critics no favours.

[yoda]

Buying an ST has absolutely nothing to do with how good or poor a fan one is. It's a decision based around finances, ticket priority, regular seat and, once upon a time, putting money in the club's pocket in the summer when income was at its lowest.

All this criticism of people who chose not to renew is unwarranted and unfair. It does the critics no favours.

Also if you don't buy a season ticket and pay for each game you give more to the club

[Paul]

Also if you don't buy a season ticket and pay for each game you give more to the club

Which it's why part of the decision is financial. As we go to every game the discount over match day prices makes an ST a no brainier.

[Parsonblue]

Frankly, Parson, I think you're being incredibly rude to gumboots. If you're determined to spend on a ST every season good on you. But don't accuse people of being gloryhunters because they'd rather spend their hard-earned (and knowing gb's career is bloody well hard-earned) on other things.

As she quite rightly said, she'll spend her money how she wants and you'll spend yours how you want.

I'm not falling out with gumboots or anyone but simply saying that those of us of a certain generation who, for the past 50 odd years - and some much longer - have supported the club through good times and bad struggle to understand some of the reasoning that is being given for not following the club. As I said, I'm old school, no doubt old fashioned, out of date and the rest of it. The Rovers are my local club - and I've followed them from childhood and simply followed a long family tradition. If people think the price of a season ticket is too high then fair enough. However, I struggle to accept not following the club because of the manager, the players, the owners and the rest. Clubs like the Rovers go through lean periods and there is no doubt that this is a lean patch and likely to be so for some time to come. What I do object to is the fact that anyone who seems to post anything that is supportive of the club seems to incur the displeasure of a certain clique on here who seem to take great pleasure in knocking everything to do with Blackburn Rovers. If making snide remarks about the manager, certain players, officials and certain supporters is deemed acceptable then don't be surprised when some of us put the opposite viewpoint. Please feel free to put me on ignore if you find my views unacceptable.

[Mike E]

I'm not falling out with gumboots or anyone but simply saying that those of us of a certain generation who, for the past 50 odd years - and some much longer - have supported the club through good times and bad struggle to understand some of the reasoning that is being given for not following the club. As I said, I'm old school, no doubt old fashioned, out of date and the rest of it. The Rovers are my local club - and I've followed them from childhood and simply followed a long family tradition. If people think the price of a season ticket is too high then fair enough. However, I struggle to accept not following the club because of the manager, the players, the owners and the rest. Clubs like the Rovers go through lean periods and there is no doubt that this is a lean patch and likely to be so for some time to come. What I do object to is the fact that anyone who seems to post anything that is supportive of the club seems to incur the displeasure of a certain clique on here who seem to take great pleasure in knocking everything to do with Blackburn Rovers. If making snide remarks about the manager, certain players, officials and certain supporters is deemed acceptable then don't be surprised when some of us put the opposite viewpoint. Please feel free to put me on ignore if you find my views unacceptable.

I won't put you on ignore because you're an articulate and valuable poster on here. I enjoy most of your posts, which is what disappointed me about your reaction to a fellow supporter.

[gumboots]

I don't find it at all unacceptable that you want to buy a season ticket and continue to go to all home matches. I know you also watch the younger teams and find that quite admirable. As for mhead suggesting I advocate anyone else not buying a season ticket, no I don't. I maintain as I always have, that the choice is yours and whilst I may not understand the choice you make and if may be different from mine, it is your choice, yours and nobody else's. However, whatever your choice or anyone else's choice is, it gives nobody the right to take the moral high ground and suggest that others are not fans because they don't make the same choice as you. There are many reasons why I almost certainly won't get one. I've mentioned a few on here, but by no means all. None of you know me personally so you don't know about much that is going on in my life at the moment. Buy a season ticket if that's your choice, and I sincerely hope that you and anyone else who does buy one thoroughly enjoys next season. I'll be there sometimes and you might spot me at some away games although you won't know it's me and I won't know it's you. I'll still be supporting rovers, just not putting in my money up front

[Rover_Shaun]

You made a mistake Gumboots by wearing your heart on your sleeve and declaring your intentions. I did that and have been beaten with the stick since. I suggest to anyone else to hide behind their internet anonimity as it doesn't pay to be honest.

[47er]

You really can't help yourself knocking fans who actually go to games can you? Still, if knocking the folk who actually go to games makes you happy fair enough.

Rovers actually have to offer something though, something that makes fans think they are worth taking up.

You think that so you buy one, others do not apparently. There's a bit of smugness creeping in there PB, you will need that comfort in the coming months.

[Mattyblue]

I've renewed, like Parson I'm a Blackburn lad from a long line of avid Blues etc etc, for me it was a no-brainer, however, where me and Parson do differ is that he doesn't seem to comprehend that things ARE different this time to other fallow periods.

We are losing 'proper' fans this time on top of the fans that only trapped for the Jack Walker years, for the PL glory. People can cope with a poor team, changes in circumstances etc, but when a great club was wilfully and unnecessarily ruined, it leaves a bitter taste and it has cost us thousands of long standing fans.

Now saying all that, I plead with any waverer, please do renew, because we all know once out of the habit, it is fiendishly difficult to entice fans back (one off cup ties aside), the club needs a decent base of season ticket holders, or we will hurtle down the divisions and any chance of a recovery will be gone.

[Colt Seavers]

I think it would be fair to say that everyone here is a 'fan'. A 'supporter' however is a different matter. By the literal meaning of the word, one could not class oneself as a supporter of the club unless they are doing something to support it financially; ie, buying match tickets or spending money in the club shop etc.

If you are doing neither of these things then you no longer 'support' the club but you may still be a massive 'fan'.

[tomphil]

I've renewed, like Parson I'm a Blackburn lad from a long line of avid Blues etc etc, for me it was a no-brainer, however, where me and Parson do differ is that he doesn't seem to comprehend that things ARE different this time to other fallow periods.

We are losing 'proper' fans this time on top of the fans that only trapped for the Jack Walker years, for the PL glory. People can cope with a poor team, changes in circumstances etc, but when a great club was wilfully and unnecessarily ruined, it leaves a bitter taste and it has cost us thousands of long standing fans.

Now saying all that, I plead with any waverer, please do renew, because we all know once out of the habit, it is fiendishly difficult to entice fans back (one off cup ties aside), the club needs a decent base of season ticket holders, or we will hurtle down the divisions and any chance of a recovery will be gone.

Good post.

I don't see how anyone can criticised now because the people who are left are the ones who've stuck with the club through the absolute farce of Venkys reign so they are obviously true supporters. Of course helped by the ST prices but we've all seen the club that took 20 years and tens of millions to build be dismantled almost overnight yet a decent core has stuck with it.

Now those true supporters are seeing phase 2 of the regression kicking in and it's obvious those up top don't give a @#/?. Whilst a lot of people within the club will have it at heart and will do their best an awful lot don't. Also those mentioned, well their best isn't even touching the sides of previous better qualified minds and bodies. The whole set up is taking the shape of a league one club with only the owners somehow funding it to keep it at the level it's at.

Positive actions are what's needed to try and stop the hardcore fanbase from shrinking even more. Those on the gravy train who can see it happening won't do anything about it though for fear of their train stopping at the next station and them being turfed off. We are in complete limbo, there's nothing on the horizon so no wonder fans are fed up with it. It isn't really a result of just last season but the past 4 and a half years that a lot are just going to give up it seems.