[Archived] Ian Battersby Interview

[47er]

You didn't really think that was a possibility did you? Its clear now that the intention when they bought the Club was to sack Sam and promote Beelzebub as the permanent manager.

The reasons for that, I expect, are in BRAG'S dossier.

However it was clear at the time to all with a brain that something was really, really wrong and that dark times were on the way. To put Kean in charge for even a limited period was to play Russian Roulette with the Club.

However there were people on here hailing those early Kean games as "refreshing", a real beam of light after the trauma of watching us under Allardyce!! Remember the reaction on here from some after we beat Liverpool?

(Sorry, replying to FG's post above. Took too long. Bloody ipad!)

[FGS5635]

Of course I didn't think we would get jose, its was a means to proving a point.

TBH I think we are arguing different points slightly, but its bedtime, so I bow out

[John]

The club was bleeding financially as John Wiliams put it - to sack Big Sam, a very good PL manager, was just plain stupid.

Said it for the last few years, so many average managers and a lack of decent ones IMO.

[Rover_Shaun]

Remember the reaction on here from some after we beat Liverpool?

I remember the loud and clear chants of Keano Keano from the Blackburn End that night.....oh dear!

Do you honestly expect anyone to believe that anyone knew what Kean would end up being in those early days? Nobody knew who the bloody hell he was. Most didn't even know he was at the clbu................which was why the majority were sceptical for the teams future...........but nobody then knew he would turn out to be a totally cluless and unhinged madman. You are talking with hindsight again.

However it's all moot. It's all in the sorry past and other than people wanting a big pat on the back and a "hindsight champion 2010-2013" award we should concentrate on the future and ridding ourselves of the cancerous owners.

[Amo]

I remember the loud and clear chants of Keano Keano from the Blackburn End that night.....oh dear!

http://www.brfcs.com/mb/index.php/topic/23967-blackburn-rovers-v-liverpool/page-19

Pages of entertainment.

[Ewood Spark]

I'm sure everyone would swap that trip for a return to Pre Venkys days,

On a serious note I know Fernhurst was one of "Pune 9" and by the look of it so was Tom. Who were the other 7 and do they post on here?

I was one of the Pune 9.

Does the forum have enough space for that?

Kean was no doubt a distraction from the real issue.............the owners incompetence and arrogance

If anyone is still interested in old ground regarding the Pune trip it's all here (including some comments which in hindsight are pretty halarious) http://www.brfcs.com/mb/index.php/topic/25386-pune-trip/

Best to let sleeping dogs lie? It's the now that matters

Superb find ... and allows me to respond to this .....

I also seem to recall that one of the nine was supposed to make a pointed statement but bottled out as he didn't want to seem disrespectful to their hosts. At that moment, Venkys hospitality did exactly what it was designed to do. Shut the fans up.

which I presume was aimed at me .... in particular this response that I made at the time to someone who asked exactly what I had said to Balaji regarding the 'removal' of John Williams.

'Ewood Spark', on 14 Oct 2011 - 12:07 PM, said:

To be honest I was a little uncomfortable asking the question because I didn't want to embarrass certain staff members who were also sitting in on the meeting. I therefore couched the question in generic terms... something along the lines of .... "One of the reasons fans are upset is because certain well loved and respected members of staff have been got rid of in the last six months or so...". The response was that these members of staff had left of their own accord. The point was not pushed any further.

I can now put this into context because the bit that I have highlighted above is no longer applicable. The member of staff I was reffering to was Simon Williams, Johns son. I had a lot of time for Simon but felt he was in a very awkward position with what had happened to his father only months earlier. I got the impression he felt his own position was vulnerable. I was determined to bring up the subject of John's leaving but with the 'short' response I got from Bilaji ("HE WAS NOT SACKED ... HE RESIGNED') I felt that it may have further compromised Simon's position if I had pushed it. That is why the statement above is reasonably vaugue ... I couldn't clarify it any further at the time because Simon was still employed at Rovers.

[Rover_Shaun]

http://www.brfcs.com/mb/index.php/topic/23967-blackburn-rovers-v-liverpool/page-19

Pages of entertainment.

To be fair it was a good performance and proof that the sun does shine on a dogs arse a few times. The record then was P2 D1 L2 and did not allude to the sheer hell that was to come. It took me until the dismally wet Wigan 4-3 away defeat to come to terms that any hope that Kean wasn't a clueless nutter was pure folly. From there the nightmare had only just begun

[Tom]

In isolation that Liverpool performance did give reason for hope as we were superb, playing and counter attacking with pace and real menace. Best performance in years still somehow.

[47er]

Skimmed through it and came across one very balanced post amongst the triumphalism from Matty Blue. What a terrific poster he was. Sad to see so many familiar names who don't post anymore.

[Amo]

To be fair it was a good performance and proof that the sun does shine on a dogs arse a few times. The record then was P2 D1 L2 and did not allude to the sheer hell that was to come. It took me until the dismally wet Wigan 4-3 away defeat to come to terms that any hope that Kean wasn't a clueless nutter was pure folly. From there the nightmare had only just begun

Yeah, I think a lot of us got a little giddy after that performance. And tbf, with players like Hoilett & Olsson, we could play some decent counter-attacking stuff at times, in spite of Kean rather than because of him. It's just morbidly amusing to see him receiving the plaudits knowing how universally hated he would become a year or so later.

[DE.]

http://www.brfcs.com/mb/index.php/topic/23967-blackburn-rovers-v-liverpool/page-19

Pages of entertainment.

Wow, that's actually a little bit stomach-churning. Some embarrassing quotes there to say the least, though most of the worst offenders no longer post. It says it all when Hughesy was one of the calmer posters in that thread. You'd think we had just won an FA Cup final

[Rover_Shaun]

Again with hindsight. At the time the viewpoints on the match were valid. It had been a long while since we last battered Liverpool at home.

[thenodrog]

In isolation that Liverpool performance did give reason for hope as we were superb, playing and counter attacking with pace and real menace. Best performance in years still somehow.

Despite the underlying feeling that Liverpool players were trying to get rid of Hodgson.

[Baz]

Theres a corker of a post from Rev on that thread. I apologise Rev as you werent the only one, but...

As one of very few posters on here who was indifferent to the sacking of Sam I have to admit to feeling somewhat smug (and merrily drunk) following tonight's game.

Delighted if I was was right about the need for a new direction.

Delighted if I was wrong about Benjani to whom I have given all sorts of dogs abuse. That finish was like Shearer tonight.

Delighted for Steave Kean.

Delighted for the new owners.

Delighted that Jack's legacy and our great club may be marching on.

Although dismayed we all know potentially less about football than an Indian businesswoman who had probably never seen a game until about two months ago.............NOT!

I fell back in love with "the beautiful game" tonight.

[Tom]

Despite that yes Theno

It was a great night at the time though a solid 25,000 in the ground with no expectation but a great atmosphere and we battered them for 45 minutes at least

As an aside was that the same game that Mrs Desai addressed the fans via a video before Kick off?

[Jimmy612]

Skimmed through it and came across one very balanced post amongst the triumphalism from Matty Blue. What a terrific poster he was. Sad to see so many familiar names who don't post anymore.

One of the best. Wonder what happened to him.

Top poster. His views were always balanced and he understood the game very well.

Theres a corker of a post from Rev on that thread. I apologise Rev as you werent the only one, but...

As one of very few posters on here who was indifferent to the sacking of Sam I have to admit to feeling somewhat smug (and merrily drunk) following tonight's game.

Delighted if I was was right about the need for a new direction.

Delighted if I was wrong about Benjani to whom I have given all sorts of dogs abuse. That finish was like Shearer tonight.

Delighted for Steave Kean.

Delighted for the new owners.

Delighted that Jack's legacy and our great club may be marching on.

Although dismayed we all know potentially less about football than an Indian businesswoman who had probably never seen a game until about two months ago.............NOT!

I fell back in love with "the beautiful game" tonight.

Dear me. He's a class apart is Rev. Feeling smug. How long did that feeling last?

Need for a new direction... straight to the bottom half of the Championship with debts spiraling wildly out of control.

[AndyNeil]

btw Maybe you might like to say that he had a point.

The reason he allegedly didn't want us to go, was that he didn't want Venkys to hear what the fans really thought - are you saying he wasn't correct in allegedly trying to prevent us to tell Venkys the truth?

[Lancs Rover]

Dilbert says....

[DE.]

Again with hindsight. At the time the viewpoints on the match were valid. It had been a long while since we last battered Liverpool at home.

It was a good performance from us, but also one of the most insipid performances ever from a Liverpool team who wanted their manager out. Despite all that we nearly threw it away in the final twenty minutes, far too many simply got caught up in the euphoria. There was certainly no reason on the basis of that one result to proclaim Kean a "tactical genius" or any of the other nonsense that was posted on that thread. The problem I have was not so much that thread in isolation but the fact certain posters continued to back Kean and Venky's even when it was blindingly obvious they were obliterating the club from the inside out. Most of them can be found in that thread making ridiculous and outlandish statements of total victory.

Jeez, didn't realise how bitter I actually still am about that period

[Leonard Venkhater]

It was a good performance from us, but also one of the most insipid performances ever from a Liverpool team who wanted their manager out. Despite all that we nearly threw it away in the final twenty minutes, far too many simply got caught up in the euphoria. There was certainly no reason on the basis of that one result to proclaim Kean a "tactical genius" or any of the other nonsense that was posted on that thread. The problem I have was not so much that thread in isolation but the fact certain posters continued to back Kean and Venky's even when it was blindingly obvious they were obliterating the club from the inside out. Most of them can be found in that thread making ridiculous and outlandish statements of total victory.

Jeez, didn't realise how bitter I actually still am about that period

Interesting this. Not sure when it became "blindly obvious" to those like myself,not ITK. I am damned sure I didn't know by the time of tha Liverpool game. I think by then I was just worried and very uneasy.

I find it so hard to relate to those times, given all my anger and bitterness now.

I could do with a timeline of events, but I am sure the true enormity emerged only gradually. Before that I assumed ignorance and arrogance, as opposed to the rape and pillage of a football club. It would have had to be mine!!!

I had an interesting encounter after one home defeat..Spurs maybe.. I was busy trying to explain to my kids how protesting was fine but not during an actual game because that would rob us o fa key ingredient to grab what points we could.....It could give us 2 or 2 more points that could be crucial etc A bloke who I recognised as an ultra loyal Rovers fan from the 1970's Blackburn End days overheard, put his arm around my shoulder and said something like "We have ***got to..." I knew there were things I didn't know. It certainly made an impression, coming from him.

Later I realised I was applying normal, old fashioned supporter behaviour to what was a cruelly abusive, abnormal situation.

By the way..Gino, take a bow!

[DE.]

When they handed Kean a fulltime contract in January it became obvious we were in serious trouble with Venky's in charge. I probably gave up all hope that summer when Kean was not sacked. I didn't and still don't understand how anybody at the time could have wanted Kean to stay, but plenty did.

[Leonard Venkhater]

When they handed Kean a fulltime contract in January it became obvious we were in serious trouble with Venky's in charge. I probably gave up all hope that summer when Kean was not sacked. I didn't and still don't understand how anybody at the time could have wanted Kean to stay, but plenty did.

Yes. I can't remember the exact moment when I truly gave up all hope. Kean's new contract was a very bad moment all right...but there were so many along the way. John Williams' departure was a dark moment but many people were saying that he was employed via the Walker Trust etc and that he was never going to stay with the new regime etc

[DE.]

To be honest, for all the lamenting many of us (me included) do on here re: Allardyce, it's very unlikely he would have stayed on with Venky's in charge. At best he would have stayed until the summer and then gotten out IMO. Part of the reason he loved being here was JW, and once he went it would have been a matter of time I think.

At that point Venky's would probably have promoted Keano and everything would likely have been the same anyway. We were doomed as soon as the traitors sold us down the river.

[Leonard Venkhater]

To be honest, for all the lamenting many of us (me included) do on here re: Allardyce, it's very unlikely he would have stayed on with Venky's in charge. At best he would have stayed until the summer and then gotten out IMO. Part of the reason he loved being here was JW, and once he went it would have been a matter of time I think.

At that point Venky's would probably have promoted Keano and everything would likely have been the same anyway. We were doomed as soon as the traitors sold us down the river.

Yes I know now that Sam would have gone at the end of the season.

The thing that appalls me is that the plan was to install Kean before they even walked in the door. That was known in footy circles...from the Fulham end/ Andy Cole article etc. Kean had absolutely no management experience. How on earth did Anderson( and Agnew?) pull off such an unbelievable con trick!

[DE.]

Yes I know now that Sam would have gone at the end of the season.

The thing that appalls me is that the plan was to install Kean before they even walked in the door. That was known in footy circles...from the Fulham end/ Andy Cole article etc. Kean had absolutely no management experience. How on earth did Anderson( and Agnew?) pull off such an unbelievable con trick!

They found Venky's.