[Archived] Your Final Straw?

[Mattyblue]

I've no issue with people boycotting, if that is what it is, couple of my mates did come back as soon as Kean was potted, many, many others obviously did not, what was once a 'boycott' ends up with just an empty seat and the boycotting fan finding new hobbies. Boycotting has achieved nothing thus far.

Crowds dwindle to 5/6000 and what chance do we have for a sale to a decent owner or ever getting back to being a competitive club, even at Championship level?

Venky's do write off the debt and sell for a £1, or we are put into administration and a rescuer comes to the fore, is the League 1/2 BRFC going to see thousands of lapsed fans flooding through the gates and a charge back to the PL? Of course not, so for me we MUST keep a decent base of matchgoing fans if we are ever to survive this reign of terror.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I said ages ago that 50% of the fans we've lost will never come back no matter what. They are gone permanently from the club. They have found more interesting, less stressful and less expensive things to do with their Saturday afternoons. The other 50% will come back if the circumstances are right.

Will the circumstances ever be right under the chicken chokers ? - I suspect not.

When you find yourself honestly wishing for the season to be over it tells you all you need to know.

[Mr. E]

1. Because I am a mug although I detest our absent owners. I support my Club but hate the f***wits.

So you will pay good and decent money to watch people urinate on the club....because you support the club. You support the club so much, you want to give money directly toward its destruction.

Fantastic logic mate.

It's like vegetarians donating money to slaughterhouses because "they like the animals."

[Athlete]

. This is me

Same as it's a social thing.. What else you going to do on a Saturday

[jim mk2]

So you will pay good and decent money to watch people urinate on the club....because you support the club. You support the club so much, you want to give money directly toward its destruction.

Fantastic logic mate.

It's like vegetarians donating money to slaughterhouses because "they like the animals."

Fans were supporting the club long before Venky's came and fans were will be supporting the club long after they've gone. Players, managers and owners come and go (hopefully) but the fans and the club endure. There's no logic in staying away because the money fans hand over doesn't even scratch at the surface of the debts Venky's have built up, and in any case staying away won't cause Venky's to leave and in the long run will do the club more harm than good.

[tomphil]

So you will pay good and decent money to watch people urinate on the club....because you support the club. You support the club so much, you want to give money directly toward its destruction.

Fantastic logic mate.

It's like vegetarians donating money to slaughterhouses because "they like the animals."

I think a better angle on this might be for those who are still saying they'll renew what will it take for you to actually turn up at every home game you can make ?

Because thousands don't so all this i'll renew whatever is a bit hollow in some cases. The team needs people in the stadium to support it but paying for an ST anyway then staying away half the time is actually playing into the owners hands. The point we are trying to get at is they don't seem to give a toss what happens in the stadium or on the field on actual matchdays and that's the problem.

[Stuart]

I've no issue with people boycotting, if that is what it is, couple of my mates did come back as soon as Kean was potted, many, many others obviously did not, what was once a 'boycott' ends up with just an empty seat and the boycotting fan finding new hobbies. Boycotting has achieved nothing thus far.

Crowds dwindle to 5/6000 and what chance do we have for a sale to a decent owner or ever getting back to being a competitive club, even at Championship level?

Venky's do write off the debt and sell for a £1, or we are put into administration and a rescuer comes to the fore, is the League 1/2 BRFC going to see thousands of lapsed fans flooding through the gates and a charge back to the PL? Of course not, so for me we MUST keep a decent base of matchgoing fans if we are ever to survive this reign of terror.

The trouble is that there is now NOTHING that fans can do, let alone are willing to do, to change what is happening.

What was once 'the Kean problem' has now been fully exposed, if it wasn't already, as 'the Rao problem'.

The helplessness of sitting and watching Kean in the dugout was at least partially offset by the fans having the right of reply. We could all sing Kean Out songs or get a plane to fly over and know that he had heard/seen. Now there is no right of reply. We just turn up and watch the football and hope for the best, and the Raos aren't even around to witness what they have done. Do they even recognise what they have done? Or accept responsibility?

Tomphil was spot on with his assessment of this thread. This was exactly the question. This isn't about superfans, or hardcore, or my scarf's bigger than your scarf. Everyone posting on this board - except Vinjay - has stuck around through this nightmare period. We all deserve bloody medals. But our benchmark for ambition has been raised beyond what is reasonable by winning the Premier League and being a top flight team for 20 years. If aliens landed in the centre circle at Ewood Park and spoke to any of the locals about football they would probably say "what do you expect given the area, demographic, local economy, proximity to other similar or better football teams? Oh, and sorry about the pitch." But we had a local guy change all that and give us a pair of stilts so we could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best. Instead of treating the wood they took out a great big axe to them. Like a Facebook meme, you could well picture the Raos all huddled on a clichéd branch with the confused one sawing it off at the trunk.

Part of our problem is that we had the dream football club; local bragging rights; punching above our weight against the best in England; cheap tickets; great players, managers and board; the most successful town team in the land, and this box of chicken nuggets picked it up and turned it upside down like a gang of spoiled brats, out of sheer ignorant arrogance. Typical rich kids who think that everything is easy and 'just works' without any effort or understanding. Everyone of us could put together a list of imbecilic, idiotic, mind-blending acts of stupidity that we have had to endure under their watch. But take it away they did and we are now a League One football team playing in the Championship. Yet we have a Premier League manager on board, in a decision which now looks to be nothing more that another example of how Venkys have no clue what it takes to run a football club. You could well imagine the last board meeting, with faces etches with confusion all around the room: "but the fans said they wanted an experienced manager and he would know what to do. What do they want now? A transfer kitty? A CEO? There's just no pleasing these peasants. Ok. We'll go away and have a think. See you at the next board meeting. How does the last week in August suit everyone? Good."

There are plenty of teams with fewer supporters and higher season ticket prices, with inferior players and certainly inferior managers, who are under significant financial pressure. Just look at Northampton who were promoted yesterday. Last October they were nearly shutting the doors. Are all those fans quite as miserable as Rovers fans? They don't seem to be. I guess they don't have the same yardstick. If we won League 2 it'd be "a sign of how far we had fallen". It's not the hope that kills you, it's the expectation.

I guess the answer to the thread question given that we are down to the core supporters is that, funds permitting, we are most of us likely to be there next season. Either out of blind support or morbid curiosity.

It could well be our last season in the Championship next season, however, so if we are likely to see our fanbase halve again then that may well be the final straw for another 4/5000.

[den]

Fans were supporting the club long before Venky's came and fans were will be supporting the club long after they've gone. Players, managers and owners come and go (hopefully) but the fans and the club endure. There's no logic in staying away because the money fans hand over doesn't even scratch at the surface of the debts Venky's have built up, and in any case staying away won't cause Venky's to leave and in the long run will do the club more harm than good.

Thus there's no point in complaining about anything they do?

[jim mk2]

Thus there's no point in complaining about anything they do?

Of course, but you know the answer to that one.

[Paul]

Bless you ....get a room with chaddy

When did you last go?

[JAL]

When did you last go?

It shouldn't matter when.

[Martin]

1.

But to be honest it's mad. The product is so poor.

[Gav]

I'll tell you what threatens the club more than most things gumboots, other than the obvious crass idiocy / ignorance of our owners; it's no beggar going.

Which prospective new owners in their right might would ever give us a second glance with gates below 10k and our debts?

Yet we have "fans" on here patting themselves on the back for not going just in case Chris Brown is sat on the bench. Lets all hope the magic money pixie turns up and makes everything all better again for everyone. Failing that, another Jack Walker. Otherwise we're just back to the mid 80s and most Blackburn folk falling over each other in their zest to tell you how sh1t it all is and what a mug you are for turning up.

But equally how do you take a stand without withdrawing your finances and support bob?

Do we just carry on going because "Its what we do as fans, its what proper fans do"?

I guess it all boils down to whether or not you can separate the owners shenanigans from the traditional Saturday afternoon.

Whilst I certainly don't go as much as did, I was struggling to do that before I moved, but thats just me.

[JBiz]

I said ages ago that 50% of the fans we've lost will never come back no matter what. They are gone permanently from the club. They have found more interesting, less stressful and less expensive things to do with their Saturday afternoons. The other 50% will come back if the circumstances are right.

I'm sure some Leicester fans said the same when they where relegated to the third tier!

I know it is very unlikely that we will do the same but I think old fans and more will come if we are winning games. Obviously this would take time, we'd need a similar turnaround like Leicester to get back to a near full stadium. To have a chance, the easiest way to win games is wise investment - which is impossible with low turnover due to debt and FFP!

It's a vicious circle. We need the fans to have a chance if Venkys can't or won't invest more, yet we will struggle to get those fans in without improving performances rapidly.

[Gav]

The fans will come back from the products worth supporting, it's always been the same here and in my opinion always will be.

We could have sold many more home seats for Liverpool last season, that tells its own story.

[JBiz]

I can see the price doubling unless something changes rapidly. That will lose many more. The outlook is grim but at least we now (currently) have a manager, which is a distinct improvement on the previous 5 years.

[Athlete]

I'm sure some Leicester fans said the same when they where relegated to the third tier!

I know it is very unlikely that we will do the same but I think old fans and more will come if we are winning games. Obviously this would take time, we'd need a similar turnaround like Leicester to get back to a near full stadium. To have a chance, the easiest way to win games is wise investment - which is impossible with low turnover due to debt and FFP!

It's a vicious circle. We need the fans to have a chance if Venkys can't or won't invest more, yet we will struggle to get those fans in without improving performances rapidly.

Leicester third tier...? When did that happen

[JBiz]

Leicester third tier...? When did that happen

2008

[bob fleming]

But equally how do you take a stand without withdrawing your finances and support bob?

Do we just carry on going because "Its what we do as fans, its what proper fans do"?

I guess it all boils down to whether or not you can separate the owners shenanigans from the traditional Saturday afternoon.

Whilst I certainly don't go as much as did, I was struggling to do that before I moved, but thats just me.

Each to their own Gav, it's hardly riveting fayre after all. As things stand it's a tough sell! But if every single fan stopped going for the last 5 years it would still only equate to approx £20m in revenue. What's that? 20% of the debt? So withdrawing support, in my opinion of course, in order to take a stand would be the equivalent of weeing in the sea.

It doesn't / wouldn't hurt them, nothing seems to hurt them, the protests, the bad publicity, I don't recall them ever moaning about being hit by a snow ball, let alone them having to guarantee the majority of the debt in their name for the Bank of India (let's be honest, which bank in the UK would allow BRFC to build up that debt with our "assets"?). You'd think being taken for a ride by Team Anderson would see them bail at the first opportunity, but no. Not when you have the phone number of Shebby Singh up your sleeve. Thankfully Terry Feckwit was just a character in Viz, maybe they've tried to make that call anyway...

So God knows what their plan is. Lambert would like to know, we'd all like to know - and that's five years in. Fact is nobody has a clue. I'm sure we'll appear on Venkys radar again soon - just one of 60+ company's - it must be a right chore.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Yep,2008/9 Liecester were a league 1 club....mind boggling isn't it!!

[Gav]

Each to their own Gav, it's hardly riveting fayre after all. As things stand it's a tough sell! But if every single fan stopped going for the last 5 years it would still only equate to approx £20m in revenue. What's that? 20% of the debt? So withdrawing support, in my opinion of course, in order to take a stand would be the equivalent of weeing in the sea.

It doesn't / wouldn't hurt them, nothing seems to hurt them, the protests, the bad publicity, I don't recall them ever moaning about being hit by a snow ball, let alone them having to guarantee the majority of the debt in their name for the Bank of India (let's be honest, which bank in the UK would allow BRFC to build up that debt with our "assets"?). You'd think being taken for a ride by Team Anderson would see them bail at the first opportunity, but no. Not when you have the phone number of Shebby Singh up your sleeve. Thankfully Terry Feckwit was just a character in Viz, maybe they've tried to make that call anyway...

So God knows what their plan is. Lambert would like to know, we'd all like to know - and that's five years in. Fact is nobody has a clue. I'm sure we'll appear on Venkys radar again soon - just one of 60+ company's - it must be a right chore.

Aye, can't argue with any of that really, nor would I as you're bigger than me

What I would say though is in this case stopping going would be for each fans own individual sanity, taking a bit of control back, not to hurt Venkys really.

Protests via mass boycotts are a different proposition.

[Athlete]

2008

Bloody hell had to look back then

[Athlete]

Each to their own Gav, it's hardly riveting fayre after all. As things stand it's a tough sell! But if every single fan stopped going for the last 5 years it would still only equate to approx £20m in revenue. What's that? 20% of the debt? So withdrawing support, in my opinion of course, in order to take a stand would be the equivalent of weeing in the sea.

It doesn't / wouldn't hurt them, nothing seems to hurt them, the protests, the bad publicity, I don't recall them ever moaning about being hit by a snow ball, let alone them having to guarantee the majority of the debt in their name for the Bank of India (let's be honest, which bank in the UK would allow BRFC to build up that debt with our "assets"?). You'd think being taken for a ride by Team Anderson would see them bail at the first opportunity, but no. Not when you have the phone number of Shebby Singh up your sleeve. Thankfully Terry Feckwit was just a character in Viz, maybe they've tried to make that call anyway...

So God knows what their plan is. Lambert would like to know, we'd all like to know - and that's five years in. Fact is nobody has a clue. I'm sure we'll appear on Venkys radar again soon - just one of 60+ company's - it must be a right chore.

Top post nobody has a clue what these charlatans are up to and probably never will understand them until they actually exit or the external debt does us

[Norbert Rassragr]

I've reached my final straw. Venky's have killed the club, and I barely bother to check the results nowadays. The absolute shambles over the last 5 years has made me decide to look for other sports to watch in order to save my sanity. And all this uncertainty about the summer might push me into depression.

Until those verminous, arrogant, idiotic, bumbling, scum sucking c--ts leave I cannot see this as my club, but a football version of Chernobyl. An avoidable mess that leaks poison and makes everyone ill.

[VinjayV4]

I've reached my final straw. Venky's have killed the club, and I barely bother to check the results nowadays. The absolute shambles over the last 5 years has made me decide to look for other sports to watch in order to save my sanity. And all this uncertainty about the summer might push me into depression.

Until those verminous, arrogant, idiotic, bumbling, scum sucking c--ts leave I cannot see this as my club, but a football version of Chernobyl. An avoidable mess that leaks poison and makes everyone ill.

Better not mention depression on here (something likes of Stuart knew nothing about while he was abusing me for years) you will just be accused of seeking sympathy, making excuses, outright lying etc.