[Archived] The Gary Bowyer Thread

[Parsonblue]

Living in Bangkok, you have no idea what it's been like. Whilst even in good times, I'm not the most cheerful and optimistic of fans, this really is beyond the norm. The football played at ewood by rovers last season was the most sleep inducing turgid rubbish I have seen in nearly 50 years of watching football. What makes you or anyone think that things will be any different next year without a major change of some kind at rovers? That's not depression. It is sorry fact. Do I wish it were different? Of course I do, but it's not and it's almost certainly not going to be.

It's called following a town club gumboots. It's swings and roundabouts - good times and bad. I remember being beaten 7-1 at Gay Meadow by Shrewsbury and that was just a few short years after we had demolished Tottenham - the outstanding Spurs team of the early sixties - 7-2. Following the Rovers, like following most small town clubs, is a rollercoaster ride. In my time I've seen us top of the First Division then plummet to the bottom of the Third, become becalmed in the Second and then have twenty wonderful years in the Premier League travelling around Europe. Now we are back in the second tier for who knows how long? I suppose I was fortunate in that when I started watching the Rovers it was a different era when following your local club - no matter how good or bad they were - was what you did from one generation to the next. Fortunately - or unfortunately - following the Rovers, irrespective of their fortunes on the pitch, has stuck. There have been many summers like this one when one felt the following season would be a struggle for a variety of reasons. But at the end of the day the bad times made the successful seasons all the sweeter.

[K-Hod]

It's called following a town club gumboots. It's swings and roundabouts - good times and bad. I remember being beaten 7-1 at Gay Meadow by Shrewsbury and that was just a few short years after we had demolished Tottenham - the outstanding Spurs team of the early sixties - 7-2. Following the Rovers, like following most small town clubs, is a rollercoaster ride. In my time I've seen us top of the First Division then plummet to the bottom of the Third, become becalmed in the Second and then have twenty wonderful years in the Premier League travelling around Europe. Now we are back in the second tier for who knows how long? I suppose I was fortunate in that when I started watching the Rovers it was a different era when following your local club - no matter how good or bad they were - was what you did from one generation to the next. Fortunately - or unfortunately - following the Rovers, irrespective of their fortunes on the pitch, has stuck. There have been many summers like this one when one felt the following season would be a struggle for a variety of reasons. But at the end of the day the bad times made the successful seasons all the sweeter.

We've never had anything like the levels of debt we have now though, or be under a transfer embargo.....

[Parsonblue]

We've never had anything like the levels of debt we have now though, or be under a transfer embargo.....

We did have a transfer embargo for a short time in the seventies due to the dispute with Newcastle over Roger Jones but I take your point. However, at the end of the day I can't do anything about the debt so the only decision I can make is do I continue supporting the Rovers or not. No decision to make really for myself - season ticket bought and away travel season ticket will be bought when released. If it's all going to end with the Rovers disappearing off the face of the earth, which many on here seem to think, then I might as well enjoy it while I can.

[K-Hod]

We did have a transfer embargo for a short time in the seventies due to the dispute with Newcastle over Roger Jones but I take your point. However, at the end of the day I can't do anything about the debt so the only decision I can make is do I continue supporting the Rovers or not. No decision to make really for myself - season ticket bought and away travel season ticket will be bought when released. If it's all going to end with the Rovers disappearing off the face of the earth, which many on here seem to think, then I might as well enjoy it while I can.

The 70s is before my time, so I'll take you at your word, but regarding the rest, I'm largely the same!

I'm not questioning your decision to carry on going, fair play to you, I'd go to more away games myself if time/funds allowed! I'll be renewing also, whilst I still live in the area and things are fine financially, there's no reason for me not to.

[joey_big_nose]

The season. If nothing changes at the club next season is probably over in terms of a promotion push before it starts.

That the owners didn't even manage to meet Bowyer in Switzerland says it all.

Who makes multi million investments in a loss making enterprise and does not give a damn and lift a finger to change something - or even engage?

Everything indicates that Venkys feel they are not impacted by our situation.

Why that is baffles me. Either they are so minted it is a drop in the ocean or they feel they are insulated from liability. Neither seems to be true as far as I can tell.

Mental.

When you look at it every decision they have made has been on a "line of least resistance" model. Which suggests they don't even want to make decisions if they can avoid it.

Totally bizarre.

[MCMC1875]

That the owners didn't even manage to meet Bowyer in Switzerland says it all.

Who makes multi million investments in a loss making enterprise and does not give a damn and lift a finger to change something - or even engage?

Everything indicates that Venkys feel they are not impacted by our situation.

Why that is baffles me. Either they are so minted it is a drop in the ocean or they feel they are insulated from liability. Neither seems to be true as far as I can tell.

Mental.

When you look at it every decision they have made has been on a "line of least resistance" model. Which suggests they don't even want to make decisions if they can avoid it.

Totally bizarre.

It feels like a club adrift, neither going down nor up, just adrift.....

[K-Hod]

That the owners didn't even manage to meet Bowyer in Switzerland says it all.

Who makes multi million investments in a loss making enterprise and does not give a damn and lift a finger to change something - or even engage?

Everything indicates that Venkys feel they are not impacted by our situation.

Why that is baffles me. Either they are so minted it is a drop in the ocean or they feel they are insulated from liability. Neither seems to be true as far as I can tell.

Mental.

When you look at it every decision they have made has been on a "line of least resistance" model. Which suggests they don't even want to make decisions if they can avoid it.

Totally bizarre.

Pretty much nothing about them taking over the club, or anything that has happened subsequently makes even a semblance of sense.

[MCMC1875]

.

[J*B]

Anyone else get the impression that the money means so little to them that they don't make decisions because they don't know the answers - and the 2m a month is small change?

[unsall]

It's called following a town club gumboots. It's swings and roundabouts - good times and bad. I remember being beaten 7-1 at Gay Meadow by Shrewsbury and that was just a few short years after we had demolished Tottenham - the outstanding Spurs team of the early sixties - 7-2. Following the Rovers, like following most small town clubs, is a rollercoaster ride. In my time I've seen us top of the First Division then plummet to the bottom of the Third, become becalmed in the Second and then have twenty wonderful years in the Premier League travelling around Europe. Now we are back in the second tier for who knows how long? I suppose I was fortunate in that when I started watching the Rovers it was a different era when following your local club - no matter how good or bad they were - was what you did from one generation to the next. Fortunately - or unfortunately - following the Rovers, irrespective of their fortunes on the pitch, has stuck. There have been many summers like this one when one felt the following season would be a struggle for a variety of reasons. But at the end of the day the bad times made the successful seasons all the sweeter.

. Thank goodness for a fan like you,there's not many left like us,most of these so called fans are either too young or have bad memories,of course the Venkys did everything wrong,when they bought the club,but we can't look back,this is the time when you have to get behind the club,like you said,a proper Rovers fan supports the club through thick and thin,back in the day we couldn't even pay the wages in summer,and various people had to help out to stop the club going under,just wish a few more fans on here,had their cup half full instead of half empty,look at Bournmouth,Swansea,Southhampton a few short years ago and look at them now,like you said small town clubs like us are up one day and down another,get behind the club and who knows what's round the corner..

[Stuart]

It's called following a town club gumboots. It's swings and roundabouts - good times and bad. I remember being beaten 7-1 at Gay Meadow by Shrewsbury and that was just a few short years after we had demolished Tottenham - the outstanding Spurs team of the early sixties - 7-2. Following the Rovers, like following most small town clubs, is a rollercoaster ride. In my time I've seen us top of the First Division then plummet to the bottom of the Third, become becalmed in the Second and then have twenty wonderful years in the Premier League travelling around Europe. Now we are back in the second tier for who knows how long? I suppose I was fortunate in that when I started watching the Rovers it was a different era when following your local club - no matter how good or bad they were - was what you did from one generation to the next. Fortunately - or unfortunately - following the Rovers, irrespective of their fortunes on the pitch, has stuck. There have been many summers like this one when one felt the following season would be a struggle for a variety of reasons. But at the end of the day the bad times made the successful seasons all the sweeter.

This is not like any previous other 'low' though. There has always been a feeling that the owners and board have had the best interests of the club at heart and that winning football matches is the priority. If managers haven't performed or have lost the players or the majority of the fans then they have been replaced. Currently our managers are seemingly unsackable, and we appear to be a lowly item on a monthly agenda as far as the owners are concerned, despite being held to ransom by the unmanageable debt and likely liquidation if they leave. I struggle to see how we can simply put this one down to the normal ebb and flow of a football club.

[EgyptianPete]

It's called following a town club gumboots. It's swings and roundabouts - good times and bad. I remember being beaten 7-1 at Gay Meadow by Shrewsbury and that was just a few short years after we had demolished Tottenham - the outstanding Spurs team of the early sixties - 7-2. Following the Rovers, like following most small town clubs, is a rollercoaster ride. In my time I've seen us top of the First Division then plummet to the bottom of the Third, become becalmed in the Second and then have twenty wonderful years in the Premier League travelling around Europe. Now we are back in the second tier for who knows how long? I suppose I was fortunate in that when I started watching the Rovers it was a different era when following your local club - no matter how good or bad they were - was what you did from one generation to the next. Fortunately - or unfortunately - following the Rovers, irrespective of their fortunes on the pitch, has stuck. There have been many summers like this one when one felt the following season would be a struggle for a variety of reasons. But at the end of the day the bad times made the successful seasons all the sweeter.

All very well parson Blue, i also was around in the era you are talking about, but you answered to a statement about last seasons sheer crap hoofball Bowyer now plays, at least back in the day we gave it a go.

[MCMC1875]

It's called following a town club gumboots. It's swings and roundabouts - good times and bad. I remember being beaten 7-1 at Gay Meadow by Shrewsbury and that was just a few short years after we had demolished Tottenham - the outstanding Spurs team of the early sixties - 7-2. Following the Rovers, like following most small town clubs, is a rollercoaster ride. In my time I've seen us top of the First Division then plummet to the bottom of the Third, become becalmed in the Second and then have twenty wonderful years in the Premier League travelling around Europe. Now we are back in the second tier for who knows how long? I suppose I was fortunate in that when I started watching the Rovers it was a different era when following your local club - no matter how good or bad they were - was what you did from one generation to the next. Fortunately - or unfortunately - following the Rovers, irrespective of their fortunes on the pitch, has stuck. There have been many summers like this one when one felt the following season would be a struggle for a variety of reasons. But at the end of the day the bad times made the successful seasons all the sweeter.

Bloody hell, the blind leading the blind! You may as well go to watch football at Turf Moor because they play with a round ball!!

[Mike E]

. Thank goodness for a fan like you,there's not many left like us,most of these so called fans are either too young or have bad memories,of course the Venkys did everything wrong,when they bought the club,but we can't look back,this is the time when you have to get behind the club,like you said,a proper Rovers fan supports the club through thick and thin,back in the day we couldn't even pay the wages in summer,and various people had to help out to stop the club going under,just wish a few more fans on here,had their cup half full instead of half empty,look at Bournmouth,Swansea,Southhampton a few short years ago and look at them now,like you said small town clubs like us are up one day and down another,get behind the club and who knows what's round the corner..

I agree with the sentiment but aren't Bournemouth, Swansea and Southampton are cities?

[gumboots]

This is not like any previous other 'low' though. There has always been a feeling that the owners and board have had the best interests of the club at heart and that winning football matches is the priority. If managers haven't performed or have lost the players or the majority of the fans then they have been replaced. Currently our managers are seemingly unsackable, and we appear to be a lowly item on a monthly agenda as far as the owners are concerned, despite being held to ransom by the unmanageable debt and likely liquidation if they leave. I struggle to see how we can simply put this one down to the normal ebb and flow of a football club.

This is the problem. I've been miserable about results before but carried on supporting. I've seen boring games before but carried on going. I've watched incompetent clueless managers before but carried on going. I've watched long ball tactics played regardless of the players available or the opposition and I've carried on going. What I have never seen before is a season like last season. Even under Kean I didn't feel as dispirited as this because there was always the hope that the odious excuse for a human being would eventually go. Now I don't see the hope of anything ever improving. I don't want much. Just a glimmer but nothing last year gave me it, and without a change of some kind I don't see where were going to get it from.

[AllRoverAsia]

Living in Bangkok, you have no idea what it's been like. Whilst even in good times, I'm not the most cheerful and optimistic of fans, this really is beyond the norm. The football played at ewood by rovers last season was the most sleep inducing turgid rubbish I have seen in nearly 50 years of watching football. What makes you or anyone think that things will be any different next year without a major change of some kind at rovers? That's not depression. It is sorry fact. Do I wish it were different? Of course I do, but it's not and it's almost certainly not going to be.

Living in Bangkok or on Planet Z has got nothing to do with it.

For the record I have been in depressive mode about Rovers ever since the chicken sh i t turned up at ewood.

Did I say things would be different next year? - don't think so, if I was asked they my answer would be probably worse.

[unsall]

I agree with the sentiment but aren't Bournemouth, Swansea and Southampton are cities?

Bournmouth is town..

[unsall]

This is not like any previous other 'low' though. There has always been a feeling that the owners and board have had the best interests of the club at heart and that winning football matches is the priority. If managers haven't performed or have lost the players or the majority of the fans then they have been replaced. Currently our managers are seemingly unsackable, and we appear to be a lowly item on a monthly agenda as far as the owners are concerned, despite being held to ransom by the unmanageable debt and likely liquidation if they leave. I struggle to see how we can simply put this one down to the normal ebb and flow of a football club.

You say "currently our managers are unsackable " Kean,Black,Berg,Appleton all sacked,think what you mean is Bowyer,difficult call when we are under a transfer embargo,we all wanted stability and what he's done with having to get rid of all Shebbys/Kean signings is not a bad job,I know he has some faults,but what decent manager will come here under FFP,I say give him till Xmas and see where we are and hopefully out of the embargo,he has signed a few very good players for peanuts,odd bad ones but so has everyone else...

[DE.]

Kean resigned.

[Mike E]

Bournmouth is town..

Fair enough, I always assumed it was a city because of the German determination to bomb it. Just a port, then

[gumboots]

Living in Bangkok or on Planet Z has got nothing to do with it.

For the record I have been in depressive mode about Rovers ever since the chicken sh i t turned up at ewood.

Did I say things would be different next year? - don't think so, if I was asked they my answer would be probably worse.

But it does make a difference. Were you at ewood every home game this season? Did you sit through the torture longing to go home and watch the paint you put on earlier dry because it was more interesting than anything rovers were doing on the pitch? You didn't see it or experience it - the week in, week out mind numbing boredom and the feeling, even when we won, that it was more by good luck than anything else. There's feeling miserable and then there's what rovers have done to us this year. I can't call it depression. That's an actual illness, but it was pretty awful

[Parsonblue]

But it does make a difference. Were you at ewood every home game this season? Did you sit through the torture longing to go home and watch the paint you put on earlier dry because it was more interesting than anything rovers were doing on the pitch? You didn't see it or experience it - the week in, week out mind numbing boredom and the feeling, even when we won, that it was more by good luck than anything else. There's feeling miserable and then there's what rovers have done to us this year. I can't call it depression. That's an actual illness, but it was pretty awful

I suppose it just shows how we all see the game of football differently. I enjoyed any number of games last season home and away. Clearly if you don't enjoy it then it's silly to keep going. There were a number who thought the football under Big Sam was pretty awful but I must admit that I enjoyed it.

[RevidgeBlue]

I didn't enjoy any of the games last season apart from the first half against Bournemouth when buoyed by the news Rhodes was staying we roared into a 3-0 HT lead.

[Waggy76]

But it does make a difference. Were you at ewood every home game this season? Did you sit through the torture longing to go home and watch the paint you put on earlier dry because it was more interesting than anything rovers were doing on the pitch? You didn't see it or experience it - the week in, week out mind numbing boredom and the feeling, even when we won, that it was more by good luck than anything else. There's feeling miserable and then there's what rovers have done to us this year. I can't call it depression. That's an actual illness, but it was pretty awful

Pretty much how I saw it gumboots...

I didnt bother again after the Brentford game , it was hard work watching ...Even when we won it was uninspiring and the feel good factor in the crowd was very low...

[AllRoverAsia]

But it does make a difference. Were you at ewood every home game this season? Did you sit through the torture longing to go home and watch the paint you put on earlier dry because it was more interesting than anything rovers were doing on the pitch? You didn't see it or experience it - the week in, week out mind numbing boredom and the feeling, even when we won, that it was more by good luck than anything else. There's feeling miserable and then there's what rovers have done to us this year. I can't call it depression. That's an actual illness, but it was pretty awful

Obviously not. Not at the cost of a long haul flight ++. I'm depressed (and yes it is an illness) - not stupid.

Gumboots - you are getting very close to saying that if your arse is not on a seat at Ewood then I'm not aRovers fan. I suffer this period of our history too.

BTW - despite living O/S now for 30years I had a ST from 1974 until the end of Kean's first Season. Also through me at least a dozen family memebers are Rovers fans and 4 ST's.

I suppose it just shows how we all see the game of football differently. I enjoyed any number of games last season home and away. Clearly if you don't enjoy it then it's silly to keep going. There were a number who thought the football under Big Sam was pretty awful but I must admit that I enjoyed it.

Me too. Direct, physical and some good results and some bloody good players who bought into Big Sam's concepts.