[Archived] Dialogue With The Owners

[Gav]

Mature? Stop being a ****.

You're asking what 'We're' going up do about the slumdogs when you've not been to Ewood for years, not since the Premiership days, do you not see the irony of what you're saying?

You spend most days slagging everything about the club off on topics you can't possibly know about, Bowyers body language was the problem a few weeks back, You don't see that on the radio Shaun.

[Rover_Shaun]

I've been in the championship since we went down. 2 more managers later and them still taking the p.iss out of us was my end. Yes I maon but rather than ranting and slagging others off be the bigger man you think you are and come up with some ideas to match your (repeated) calls. What's your idea that fans can get behind?

[Gav]

I don't think I'm a bigger man? you talked about being mature, you're failing miserably.

You can't ask what 'we're' going to do about Venkys when you go nowhere near the club. Boycottings just a token gesture in isolation, means nothing, you'd be better getting down to Ewood and venting your spleen instead of sitting on here telling fans that go to do something.

Me, I'm going to get to as many games as I can to support the side.

[Rover_Shaun]

Take me out of the equation. What's your solution for those who go? You call for them to be targeted all the time on the Bowyer topic so how should it be done? We tried it in the ground, they laughed.

[Gav]

They'd be better posting drivel on here day in day out, that'll show em!

I've said my bit, it's boring now.

[Amo]

Take me out of the equation. What's your solution for those who go? You call for them to be targeted all the time on the Bowyer topic so how should it be done? We tried it in the ground, they laughed.

He's just hoping his meaningless tub thumping will somehow inspire other people to do something.

[Gav]

He's just hoping his meaningless tub thumping will somehow inspire other people to do something.

Another poster that never steps foot in the ground.

I'll leave you two alone to chat about the meaning of irony, answers on a post card.

[Amo]

Another poster that never steps foot in the ground.

I'll leave you two alone to chat about the meaning of irony, answers on a post card.

Ah, the non-attendance card. The refuge of the desperate.

[Rover_Shaun]

He's just hoping his meaningless tub thumping will somehow inspire other people to do something.

It isn't the topic for insults. Well it shouldn't be. We all want the same thing and that is the Rao's gone.

I marched. They ignored us. I shouted until my veins popped. They ignored us. We cheered the team to the rafters. They, and the team, ignored us. We protested on the pitch. They ignored us. 14000 no longer go because of them. They ignore it. Maybe another relegation might do it

We need something all those who have an affection for Blackburn Rovers can stand behind. If thats a game where we can ALL protest then so be it. Imagine 25k souls calling for the owners to go for the whole 90 minutes.

That will never happen so I have no idea, like Gav, what else there is. I wish I knew.

[Amo]

It isn't the topic for insults. Well it shouldn't be. We all want the same thing and thay is the Roa's gone.

That wasn't an insult. That is genuinely the impression I get from GAV's posts on the subject. I told him before that if he wants people to take drastic action then he should lead by example, but because I don't attend home games I'm not allowed an opinion on the matter (apparently).

[Rover_Shaun]

I never meant you were insulting. Just that surely the one topic we can agree on is this?

[chris_h]

Ah, the non-attendance card. The refuge of the desperate.

You're on the Transfer thread slagging Bowyer off for picking Hanley this season. Based on what?

[broadsword]

They'd be better posting drivel on here day in day out, that'll show em!

I've said my bit, it's boring now.

If you're criticising then surely you have some better ideas?

In any case, if this forum provides a way for people to let off steam, then really, is it that much of a problem?

[yoda]

If you're criticising then surely you have some better ideas?

In any case, if this forum provides a way for people to let off steam, then really, is it that much of a problem?

Depends on the Mods

[Mike E]

Next time guys, how about debating Rover_Shaun's original question about what to do?

Try and do it without trading personal digs about attendance or not. It's petty and pathetic for grown men.

I apologise for the collateral post damage.

[Amo]

You're on the Transfer thread slagging Bowyer off for picking Hanley this season. Based on what?

He'll pick Hanley no matter what, chris. That's the problem.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Next time guys, how about debating Rover_Shaun's original question about what to do?

Try and do it without trading personal digs about attendance or not. It's petty and pathetic for grown men.

I apologise for the collateral post damage.

Divide and rule appears to have worked.

While even the most passionate BRFC fans are diverted into arguing among themselves, what can be done?

I guess that has worried me, ever since I discovered this site 3 years ago

[Gav]

When someone who doesn't EVER go to games asks:

"What are we going to do about slumdogs"

Surely it's not only me that gets wound up, you can't do a bleedin thing if you don't go.

I've nothing against Shaun at all but his constant anti Rovers rhetoric on every thread is frankly getting on my ***s.

[TBTF]

Different culture: Arabs, Russians, Americans, Thais, Chinese...There are many different cultures to ours that own football clubs. It's irrelevant to suggest a different culture should disqualify people from owning a football club.

No experience of running a sports business: Nor had most owners in football before they bought (nor had Jack).

No personal affinity: Nor had most owners in football before they bought.

Marketing tool: 'Walkersteel' Riverside Stand? 'Etihad' Stadium? (Although I admit this one is nit-picky).

If we were supposed to be bothered by Anderson's involvement with Venkys, why was no-one bothered by his involvement in the buying process with Rothschilds from the start?

Venkys WERE suitable owners by every standard applied at the time of takeover. They just turned out to be horrendously advi

and/or morons.

Well you could make a case for them ticking all the boxes with the Walker Trust if you were being generous .However , they can never have passed any meaningful fit and proper test with the football authorities in the UK and that is certainly the point where it should have been blocked.

Who was going to run it in the complete absence of any Venkys experience??? Any reasonable testing out of their plans and capability would have exposed them as unsuitable and that's where the authorities have badly let us down as fans. Worse then that they have seen what happened since and completely refuse to comment or look into it.

A criminal dereliction of duty. The game stinks of free loading self preserving tossers and sad to say we might have one on our Board who has remained silent for a very long time.Now hang on , he couldn't possibly have helped the Walker Trust achieve their sale by greasing palms at the FA from the inside could he ??? No , surely not.

I feel a stomach churning desire to puke even thinking what's gone here.

[Mike E]

When someone who doesn't EVER go to games asks:

"What are we going to do about slumdogs"

Surely it's not only me that gets wound up, you can't do a bleedin thing if you don't go.

I've nothing against Shaun at all but his constant anti Rovers rhetoric on every thread is frankly getting on my ***s.

GAV, he's a fan and looking for a solution. The only thing that suits him at the moment is refusing to give money to Venkys. By association, that's Rovers too.

While I disagree and would rather see something happen in the ground, I understand his POV too as it's the view of several mates of mine.

The solution is to debate it sensibly if you wish to find a way to sort it out.

Personally I feel there is no way to manufacture a solution. Only true, organic protest has a chance of getting Venkys to listen but I don't believe they ever will. As such I'm resolved to watching my team every week and hoping for the best.

[Rover_Shaun]

When someone who doesn't EVER go to games asks:,

"What are we going to do about slumdogs"

Surely it's not only me that gets wound up, you can't do a bleedin thing if you don't go.

I've nothing against Shaun at all but his constant anti Rovers rhetoric on every thread is frankly getting on my ***s.

I saw a big flaw on my 25k in attendance protesting for 90 minutes idea. Venkys won't hear it.

So with that in mind....

Do you think the appetite is there for another anti venky stab? As Mike said organically it could resonate. But I fear poor Gary will get the brunt alone, if results generate the ill feeling, as he's the only tangible target on the ground. And I do agree he is not the clubs biggest problem by a long chalk. He is meerly the sum of his employers.

Thanks for being so reasoned so late Mike.

[JHRover]

1. Would Jack have had sold to the Venkys?

Nope he did not need the money.

2. Would Jack be happy we sold to Indians?

What's Indians got to do with it? Maybe, maybe not, as I am not familiar with his personal preferences.

Would Jack be happy with how the club has been run by the new owners....certainly not.

Would Jack be happy the Trust protected his business interests in the way they saw fit? Yes. That's why he appointed them because he trusted their judgement and gave them responsibility.

Could the Trust have known the Venkys were stark raving mad? Nope.

Would the Trust presume the billionaire new owners to be suitable? Why not? The clue is in the word billionaires.

Should sentiment play a part in business decisions? Nope.

Should the Trust have known the Venkys would do everything possible to destroy everything Jack had worked for? How could they? Where is this crystal ball some of you are using?

Do I blame the Trust? Not in the slightest. If you were losing cash each week on an investment you never wanted you would get rid. If you had any sense that is.

Jack Walker wouldn't have sold the club to Venkys because he cared for the club and its future, and would spot their flaws a mile off. The fact they are billionaires wouldn't have made any difference, Jack Walker knew the right sort and the wrong sort and we all know that Venkys wouldn't have got within a mile of Ewood Park if he had been alive.

Jack Walker would be disgusted to see the state of his club in 2015, and I would bet he wouldn't be best pleased about how his Trust Fund went about selling his club to Venkys. The fact they are Indian holds no particular racial aspect, I referred to them as 'the' Indians rather than Indians in general, but the fact that they are from the other side of the world, from a country with little/no footballing tradition, with no link to Blackburn, and with no expertise in the sport, would set alarm bells ringing with anyone interested enough to care about the club's future.

You're right. Jack trusted their Judgment and look what has happened. He must have got it wrong with trusting them, because I don't believe for one second that when making his plans in 1999-2000 before he died that he would ever have envisaged his club ending up in the hands of people with no interest in the town or football.

Ask yourself would Venkys have ever managed to buy any other Premier League club? I don't think they would have been able to, because almost every other club would have put them and their friends through the mill when it came to testing their future plans and intentions for the club. Rovers were an easy club for them and their friends to pick up because the defences were down because the Trust couldn't care less who bought it or what they had planned, as long as the chequer for £20 million didn't bounce.

If Venkys had wanted to buy an Everton, Aston Villa or West Bram for example, all available on the market today, they wouldn't have got close. Because their owners want cast iron assurances in place rather than just a few token verbal promises with no mechanism for ensuring they stuck to it. But then again those clubs are owned by people who want the best for their clubs, even if it means turning people away and suffering a hit financially in the meantime. Someone like Bill Kenwright would be ashamed of himself if he offloaded Everton to people not fit to own a football club. The Trust just disappear into the sunset without a care in the world.

I also wish people would stop treating Rovers as though they were some huge albatross for the Trust, draining millions from their funds every year.

Whatever money they did put in was minimal. Lest we forget the £20 million+ commercial bank loan with Barclays that built up over a relatively short period of time, and their regular selling of our best players to bring additional funds in. They weren't pumping tens of millions a year in. They were putting very little in from a business empire worth hundreds of millions if not billions.

When you consider what has happened in TV revenues since they sold then it seems even more ridiculous they sold the club for £20 million when you consider the money trough we'd be feeding at right now if they had held on to it. As Swansea have shown, the smaller and more unfashionable clubs can thrive and succeed today with little external investment, there's no reason we couldn't have been doing the same right now, reinvesting the TV millions.

The crystal ball is very simple. If my job was to ensure the long term success of BRFC was ensured and chicken farmers from the Indian subcontinent wanted to buy it with no previous experience in the sport or industry then alarm bells would be ringing straight away, and I for one would need a lot of persuading to agree to the deal.

[K-Hod]

There's been some talk of the 'fit and proper person' test. But I believe that goes something like this 'Have you got the funds?'. (Interested party shows proof).

'OK thankyou'.

The FA/PL/Football League don't care as long as they get their piece of the pie.

[tomphil]

Well you could make a case for them ticking all the boxes with the Walker Trust if you were being generous .However , they can never have passed any meaningful fit and proper test with the football authorities in the UK and that is certainly the point where it should have been blocked.

Who was going to run it in the complete absence of any Venkys experience??? Any reasonable testing out of their plans and capability would have exposed them as unsuitable and that's where the authorities have badly let us down as fans. Worse then that they have seen what happened since and completely refuse to comment or look into it.

A criminal dereliction of duty. The game stinks of free loading self preserving tossers and sad to say we might have one on our Board who has remained silent for a very long time.Now hang on , he couldn't possibly have helped the Walker Trust achieve their sale by greasing palms at the FA from the inside could he ??? No , surely not.

I feel a stomach churning desire to puke even thinking what's gone here.

Everybody in football knew that agent and agency were running the club, even Ferguson mentioned it in public just before his palm was greased and he decided to back Kean. Where the hell were the authorities ? Oh that's right sweeping it under the carpet. I hope the FBI bring the whole of football to it's knees but even they've gone quiet now !

[Mani]

This is so so poor...surely they know