[Archived] Possible Futures

[den]

What scares the hell out of me is how many fans we'll have when it happens - how many will come back? Thousands were supposed to return when Kean left after all. All found better things to do.

Doesn't matter much how many come back Bob. Fans like me for instance, aren't the future of the club. The task for the owners is to attract the youngsters out there who haven't yet become attached to anyone. When the owners decided to tighten the reins, - when Cheston gave us his vision of the future, was there any consideration given to how they would attract these kids? I'd bet next months pension that they didn't. The crying shame is that we're going down this route whilst we have owners who can comfortably cover £100m + losses so far, with more to come. They could change the direction that we're heading in overnight - if they would just listen to people who could give them good advice - and there must be plenty of them.

[perthblue02]

Just read ES long post and think he might be getting mixed up with one of his points on why they are good owners for the club. Point 3 - Was it not Shebby Singh who said that Ronnie Cayton's book was an inspiration, and not Balaji.

Edit Link added:

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9780397.Clayton_was_my_inspiration__says_Blackburn_Rovers_advisor/

[jw_]

Absolutely bloody awful. No arguments from me about the last five and a half years. Not least the division it has caused on this message-board. I remember when we all used to be one happy family. I know a lot of the guys and gals on here from way back ... hell I even used to celebrate goals with Abbey as part of the 'Pillar 5' crew at the back of the old Blackburn End!

Also no arguments from me that that our decline coincided with the takeover. I didn't rate the Trust, they clearly had no interest in the club at all, but luckily for them they had John Williams and Tom Finn in place and delegated the running of the club to them.

Unfortunately for us the agent responsible for finding new owners had plans of his own. Rooky owners combined with unscrupulous advisors set us on the path to where we find ourselves. Firing Allardyce, Williams and Finn in quick succession was not the advice of somebody with the clubs best intentions at heart. I think everybody agrees with this part of the story, the disagreements arise when trying to analyse the Rao's culpability.

So why is my perception of the Raos at odds with the majority on here, after all we are all after what is best for the club? I would be the first to defend the club from any perceived vindictive attack. The fact is I don't think the Raos are vindictive and I believe that they genuinely want the club to do well. So here are a some of the reasons I have come to this conclusion.

1. Family Oriented. I like this trait in people and having seen them at close quarters they are clearly a close knit group.

2. Philanthropic. In a country without any meaningful benefit system they literally feed poor people. Again this is a trait I admire, it shows their humanity, and caring nature. I have also heard from people at Ewood that they have donated money to several projects in Blackburn ... I tried to find out which, but they are very secretive about such things, they don't want to shout it from the rooftops. I like this trait ... it shows humility.

3. Balaji. He is clearly the football fan. Apparently he knew about Rovers in some detail before the takeover after reading Ronnie Clayton's biography "A Slave to Soccer". It's obviously good if an owner can become a fan.

4. They are very rich ... but are not an oligarch. No moral compromises about the source of their wealth.

If somebody asked me what type of owners a family club like Blackburn Rovers should aspire to, most of the traits I would look to are covered above. What they need now is a lucky break with an appointment of a quality manager and advisor.

Nice try ES but as you yourself stated the decline started with the takeover but what you don't say is that it has continued ever since and you still try to blame "agents" and "advisors" giving rooky owners bad advice the fact is that they appear to be too stupid or too incompetent to correct the situation.

Putting up a wall of silence for 5 years and barely attending a game or even showing the slightest interest in public in that 5 years is hardly the actions of caring owners, quite the opposite in fact.

You are of course entitled to your own opinion but it does seem like your judgement is clouded by your apparent admiration for the "Owners" and if what you say is true they appear to be performing well within their own society.

In all things football though and specifically as owners of Rovers they are an utter and abject failure, and the blame for the demise of this club is totally down to their incompetance.

[Ewood Spark]

Just read ES long post and think he might be getting mixed up with one of his points on why they are good owners for the club. Point 3 - Was it not Shebby Singh who said that Ronnie Cayton's book was an inspiration, and not Balaji.

Edit Link added:

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9780397.Clayton_was_my_inspiration__says_Blackburn_Rovers_advisor/

Very , very interesting ... My source for this was someone who spoke to Balaji at the 2011 Premier League Asia Trophy. Either someone has got their wires crossed or Shebby lent him a copy!

[perthblue02]

Very , very interesting ... My source for this was someone who spoke to Balaji at the 2011 Premier League Asia Trophy. Either someone has got their wires crossed or Shebby lent him a copy!

Quite possible the two met prior to the global advisor appointment, with him being in the media and on various sports channels in that part of the world

[BlueMonday]

Venkys aren't raising Academy younglings in order to bring success to the first team.

They are raising them to make money. Venkys see the Academy the same way they see Battery Hens!

Surely after 5 and a half years we can see through them?

BRFC IS JUST A SUBSIDIARY OF VENKATESHWARA HATCHERIES.

[AllRoverAsia]

Post removed - reason: Really really the best thing to do

[Stuart]

Doesn't matter much how many come back Bob. Fans like me for instance, aren't the future of the club. The task for the owners is to attract the youngsters out there who haven't yet become attached to anyone. When the owners decided to tighten the reins, - when Cheston gave us his vision of the future, was there any consideration given to how they would attract these kids? I'd bet next months pension that they didn't. The crying shame is that we're going down this route whilst we have owners who can comfortably cover £100m + losses so far, with more to come. They could change the direction that we're heading in overnight - if they would just listen to people who could give them good advice - and there must be plenty of them.

I really really don't want to do this but you've hit the nail on the head regarding attracting the next generation: who was it that youngsters looked up to (rhet.) The guy who scored all the goals. A lot of young kids were VERY upset in January.

We are now going to have to find somebody else to excite the young fans and get them interested. It's going to be hard enough just getting in warm bodies to fill the subs bench, without minimal cash, let alone a hero. I just hope we can keep hold of Connor - he may well be our talisman to see us through the dark days ahead.

The youngsters of Blackburn are going to go on a very steep learning curve about loyalty. Well those whose parents don't walk around in Man Utd or Liverpool shirts.

[Ewood Spark]

So for me its administration, point deductions, job losses and whatever else comes with it ....

Be sure to mention your little fantasy to the lads and lasses serving in the club shop next time you're up

Doesn't matter much how many come back Bob. Fans like me for instance, aren't the future of the club. The task for the owners is to attract the youngsters out there who haven't yet become attached to anyone. When the owners decided to tighten the reins, - when Cheston gave us his vision of the future, was there any consideration given to how they would attract these kids? I'd bet next months pension that they didn't. The crying shame is that we're going down this route whilst we have owners who can comfortably cover £100m + losses so far, with more to come. They could change the direction that we're heading in overnight - if they would just listen to people who could give them good advice - and there must be plenty of them.

Excellent ... another 4. Not many of us mind.

[Ewood Spark]

Nob!!!

Well a win is a win I guess .... I'd rather have won the argument with reasoned debate but I'll take the opposition resorting to personal insults if that's what it takes.

[gumboots]

We sit in the family stand. A group of half a dozen lads sits on the seats next to us with their dad's and grandads. My husband remarked at the last home match that none of them is old enough to remember watching us play well with half decent players in the premier league. None of them were alive when Dunn, Duff and Jansen were playing for us. Some weren't alive when Tugay played for us and we wondered what they've seen to make them fall in love with Rovers. What have they seen to inspire them to say to their mates whose dads and grandads don't take them " Come to Rovers with us. It'll be great" its not just the players who are lacking. It's the whole sparkle round the club. It's the togetherness, the anticipation, the crowds milling round before the match, the "match day experience" whatever that included for you. It's that feeling that you could just today see some magic. It'd the adrenalin rush when your team scores. It's that anger you carry till the next match if they lose. Nowadays I'm not even too bothered if we lose - I sort of feel the inevitable has happened, so low are my prematch expectations. You used to hope for at worst a narrow defeat against teams like United and Arsenal and who knows, if we all play to our best, we might stop Ronaldo or Henry scoring. We'd expect to beat most premiership teams at home. Now I turn up to watch Reading, which I remember as the old 4th division and feel we might be lucky and scrape a point. I grew up watching second division football but I had heroes as did many of you here. I had hope that somewhere just around the corner were possible better days. For today's young Rovers fans we can't even offer that.

[Ewood Spark]

Stuart ....you never did get back to me on this ... as one of the many who "liked" Kamy's post can you explain why you agree to push the 4, and 2 argument on that thread , but seem to have a problem with it on this thread?!! How do you square that circle?

[gumboots]

Well a win is a win I guess .... I'd rather have won the argument with reasoned debate but I'll take the opposition resorting to personal insults if that's what it takes.

was it a competition? Just shows what kind of person you are. What a strange and perverse way to get pleasure in your life. It must be a strange world you inhabit where you can watch the death of a football club that means so much to so many and only care whether you can provoke a fellow fan to insult you. Were I given to bad language, which I'm generally not, I'm sure I could find a few choice terms for you too. To accuse Stuart of being an enemy of the club is totally ridiculous. If it came literally to a fight for the club, I know who most of us would rather stand alongside, and it would not be you.

[Parsonblue]

Be sure to mention your little fantasy to the lads and lasses serving in the club shop next time you're up

Excellent ... another 4. Not many of us mind.

With all due respect Ewood Spark, I'm interested to know what evidence you have that leads you to think that the owners have opted for 4. Reading Cheston's interview I can only believe that option 5 is what they've gone for.

[gumboots]

I think somewhere between 3 and 5 will be most people's choice. They'll leave us ticking over fading slowly away with sales of our best players if we have any who will be in demand just to keep a bit of cash flow

[47er]

Well a win is a win I guess .... I'd rather have won the argument with reasoned debate but I'll take the opposition resorting to personal insults if that's what it takes.

If that's what it takes to do what exactly?

(Sorry Gumboots, just seen your post above. You have said exactly what I felt when I read that post.

Utterly incredible.)

[arbitro]

Well a win is a win I guess .... I'd rather have won the argument with reasoned debate but I'll take the opposition resorting to personal insults if that's what it takes.

Tremblers anyone? By your logic did you 'lose' when you resorted to name calling?

[Stuart]

We sit in the family stand. A group of half a dozen lads sits on the seats next to us with their dad's and grandads. My husband remarked at the last home match that none of them is old enough to remember watching us play well with half decent players in the premier league. None of them were alive when Dunn, Duff and Jansen were playing for us. Some weren't alive when Tugay played for us and we wondered what they've seen to make them fall in love with Rovers. What have they seen to inspire them to say to their mates whose dads and grandads don't take them " Come to Rovers with us. It'll be great" its not just the players who are lacking. It's the whole sparkle round the club. It's the togetherness, the anticipation, the crowds milling round before the match, the "match day experience" whatever that included for you. It's that feeling that you could just today see some magic. It'd the adrenalin rush when your team scores. It's that anger you carry till the next match if they lose. Nowadays I'm not even too bothered if we lose - I sort of feel the inevitable has happened, so low are my prematch expectations. You used to hope for at worst a narrow defeat against teams like United and Arsenal and who knows, if we all play to our best, we might stop Ronaldo or Henry scoring. We'd expect to beat most premiership teams at home. Now I turn up to watch Reading, which I remember as the old 4th division and feel we might be lucky and scrape a point. I grew up watching second division football but I had heroes as did many of you here. I had hope that somewhere just around the corner were possible better days. For today's young Rovers fans we can't even offer that.

Great post. Their curse is probably also their blessing though. They can watch the big screen highlights (the most recent of which was probably pre-2011) but they won't have any bitterness because they don't fully appreciate what was thrown away. And when I think about what Venkys have disposed of, it's not our title winning history, it's the memories of Hughes' and Allardyce's teams that spring to mind. That was real club stability, real fan togetherness. Not the (barely) pseudo-version from the Quiet Philanthropists.

It's become Club first; Football second. Let's face it, the football isn't a draw. The only thing left is the bonding between parent and child, or school mates. A local place where professional football is played and you have nice seats to sit in. Is it any wonder some folks are off to 'support' Stanley this afternoon. I don't agree with it - they are a local rival - but I don't blame people for looking over the fence.

Venkys Out.

[den]

Excellent ... another 4. Not many of us mind.

Yes, they could turn it around fairly quickly. "Could" doesn't mean "will" though E.S. - and we would be turning it around from a very low position.

I also think you're being incredibly naive when you say they just need to get lucky. Luck will play little part in any unlikely upturn in fortunes. Good management in place at Ewood, coupled with total backing and determination to move forwards from the owners - none of which we have - will be the minimum requirement.

You know all this though. Your tone suggests you just find it hard to agree with anything anyone says.

[ABBEY]

Stuart ....you never did get back to me on this ... as one of the many who "liked" Kamy's post can you explain why you agree to push the 4, and 2 argument on that thread , but seem to have a problem with it on this thread?!! How do you square that circle?

Spark ... You never did get back to me in this ...was you the one who bottled it in Pune when you met your heroes ?

And as for cracking on you stood with me at column Five , well I can hand on heart say I've never heard it referred to column five . Blimy back in them days I couldn't count the columns I was lucky to get in after hours of the bods . Please don't crack on like I'm a long lost friend I really have no idea who you are and if I did know you back then well I must of been seriously in a alcoholic stupor as I have no time for trolls and Venky lovers .

Did you bottle it?

Tremblers anyone? By your logic did you 'lose' when you resorted to name calling?

The tremblers were so wrong when we predicted that this was happening.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Yes, they could turn it around fairly quickly. "Could" doesn't mean "will" though E.S. - and we would be turning it around from a very low position.

I also think you're being incredibly naive when you say they just need to get lucky. Luck will play little part in any unlikely upturn in fortunes. Good management in place at Ewood, coupled with total backing and determination to move forwards from the owners - none of which we have - will be the minimum requirement.

You know all this though. Your tone suggests you just find it hard to agree with anything anyone says.

Don't worry folks, no need to panic or protest - Ewood Spark has crossed his fingers.

Why the hell didn't someone think of that on the protest thread? Would have saved pages of reading!

[Gav]

Be sure to mention your little fantasy to the lads and lasses serving in the club shop next time you're up

You keep calling it a little fantasy, its clearly a small town mentality, you should get out more, its a big old world out there my friend with clubs thriving after disastrous takeovers and years of mismanagement.

[ABBEY]

No more so than the best team in the country but hey hi the Venky apologist knows best

[Norbert Rassragr]

You keep calling it a little fantasy, its clearly a small town mentality, you should get out more, its a big old world out there my friend with clubs thriving after disastrous takeovers and years of mismanagement.

Swansea, Dortmund, Southampton, Bournemouth, Man City, Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace have all had financial issues and some fell down the leagues. All have come back and are doing OK.

[ABBEY]

Boro