[Archived] Boycott

[Al]

There's another reason Jimmy. In spite of everything, and I know we are not the same team under the Loons, I and some others still enjoy going to matches. You may find that hard to fathom but it's true.

[den]

Yeh people have always said this. I think for a normal club with strong managerial structure and a clear plan moving in to the season, then pre-season results shouldn't be too much of an indicator. For a basket-case like us, poor performances and a lack of cutting edge going forward is a big fat warning sign.

Yes Jimmy. Pre-season results aren't important, but the team displays and individual performances can be a big pointer.

[tomphil]

How long living in hope goes on for I've no idea, the last 6 years should have taught us all hope doesn't apply to this particular set of circumstances. What we are seeing now is the biggest step yet in the overall downgrade and again this stuff has been predicted year on year before it happens by a good few on here.

The only thing that separates us from Bolton then Blackpool is the fact a couple of million which appeared from somewhere was invested wisely a few years ago along with at least one academy guy who more than made the grade and that's it. Bolton couldn't pay off a few high earners because they didn't have a Gestede to sell, we did.

The biggest downgrade of the lot is likely to come at the end of this season. 3 sided ground, someone cheap stepping up to the managers chair because we can't afford a proper one. Half the side stepping up from youth to join the ones over promoted from this season. All this quite possibly in league 1.

That's it in a nutshell.

[JHRover]

The biggest concern I have with pre season is the standard of the opposition we've been up against. This has been a worry for the last few years. Our final pre-season senior game was at Ewood against Girona, a Spanish 2nd division side. With respect to them I don't think the Spanish 2nd division is anywhere near as strong as the Championship.

Then I look at some of the teams other clubs have faced in pre-season. Fulham have had games against Preston, Brighton, Real Betis and Crystal Palace. 2 will be in the same division next season, 2 will be competing in the top division next season.

Brighton have played Fulham and Lazio. Norwich have played Rubin Kazan and Hanover. Wednesday played Benfica. Cardiff played Bournemouth. QPR played PSV Eindhoven and Watford. Wigan hosted Man Utd and Liverpool (yet Derek Shaw claimed it was impossible/not viable to attract such clubs for pre-season games). Forest played Spurs, Braga and Hull.

On paper the strongest team we've played was SV Ried way back at the start of pre-season. Since then its been League One/Two teams. I think we should have had a match against a top division Premier League/European team to finish off pre-season. Last season the 'curtain raiser' was against Wigan of the 3rd division.

[Jimmy612]

There's another reason Jimmy. In spite of everything, and I know we are not the same team under the Loons, I and some others still enjoy going to matches. You may find that hard to fathom but it's true.

You're right Al, I do find that hard to fathom. This club is a disgrace at the moment and it kills me every time I go and sit in a drafty, 90% empty Ewood Park.

The worst thing about it is there are no steps being taken to improve the situation. I could live with it in Bowyer's first two seasons when I felt we were taking strides to develop a young, hard working squad with an ethos of taking pride in the shirt and in the club.

Now the club is back to being as hollow as it was under Kean, with an equally bad manager at the helm.

[bazza]

I'm not looking forward to Saturday at all. Our owners are an utter disgrace and the club is a shambles.

However, I have renewed my season ticket and shall be attending most home matches.

I'm not a "Rovers Fan". Indeed I expect the the worst ever season in Rovers history as we get relegated.

But my mate who I go with is 81. He says he has watched Rovers since the second world war and doesn't intend to pack up now.

So there it is; through thick, thin and, this season, thinnest.

[alexanders]

This is exactly the same ongoing discussion as my hometown team in Aalesund where I am a part of the Board ( who the supporters are unhappy With and want removed ).

What is one of the most important Incomes for Rovers? Gates

What are the main issue for FFP? Turnover

By staying away you hurt the Club. With less People in the stands, wages and transfers must og Down. With wages and transfers Down - less quality on the Pitch.

[K-Hod]

When you say 'by staying away, you hurt the club', has the club got any hurt left?

The fans aren't hurting the club at all, this is the fault of Venky's and Venky's alone.

[tomphil]

How many STs has the relocation of the cameras cost ?

[glen9mullan]

I have not even looked at this season's fixture list, which has to be a first for me,

I have renewed, as its my escape for a few hours from work etc. Whilst it's a time I catch up with mates and have a few beers.

I have also got my ticket for the Wigan game, as its a fixture I never miss away, as I meet up with the in-laws for a pint before the game as they are Wigan supporters.

I'm certainly not looking forward to the season, and i'm certain I will miss a number of games this season, especially mid-week as I have no intention of rushing around to visit Ewood on a damp Tuesday, when these owners continue to dismantle our club.

The Manager appointment was another kick in the teeth, although given no funds and this squad, I will cut him some slack as he is facing one hell of a task to keep this team out the bottom 3.

I will try and not sulk each saturday as the expectations from me, are relegation and anything above that will be like winning the world cup.

In short, Awful owners, Pathetic Board of Directors, Worse Squad in memory, Transfers in and outs as bad as last summers, and a near empty Ewood to look forward to, with the atmosphere of a morgue.

[matt83]

A full house would make no difference. Arguably a full house would make things worse because instead of 10,000 grumbling and moaning at the rubbish show they're putting on there'd be 30,000 grumbling and moaning which would be 3 times as loud.

In any case the owners would still hire crap managers who they refuse to properly back. So 5k, 10k, 30k fans it's irrelevant.

Plus a full house wouldn't make much of a difference financially either. Say 20,000 fans bought season tickets today at £300 that's only 6million extra a year. Don't get me wrong I'd love to see that in my savings account but for a football club it's peanuts barely loose change. Particularly when over £100 million in debt. To put 6 million into perspective it would just about have covered the combined yearly wage of etuhu and Murphy.

[DE.]

This is exactly the same ongoing discussion as my hometown team in Aalesund where I am a part of the Board ( who the supporters are unhappy With and want removed ).

What is one of the most important Incomes for Rovers? Gates

What are the main issue for FFP? Turnover

By staying away you hurt the Club. With less People in the stands, wages and transfers must og Down. With wages and transfers Down - less quality on the Pitch.

With our current debt levels this post is absolute nonsense. Moreso because it assumes Venky's would actually use any extra money to improve the squad. Some people never learn.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

This is exactly the same ongoing discussion as my hometown team in Aalesund where I am a part of the Board ( who the supporters are unhappy With and want removed ).

What is one of the most important Incomes for Rovers? Gates

What are the main issue for FFP? Turnover

By staying away you hurt the Club. With less People in the stands, wages and transfers must og Down. With wages and transfers Down - less quality on the Pitch.

Whilst that is true, let me make an analogy:

If I really enjoyed the process of investing money just for the activity itself, and gave a company £300 every year to invest for me and every year it just gave me £300 back, I'd be happy with that because I enjoyed the activity.

If it gave me £600 back (the John Williams/Walker Trust era) I'd be ecstatic. Even if it gave me £200-250 back I'd be dissappointed but would stick with it because I enjoyed it. With Venkys it's like getting £100 back at best, every single year.

What are they gonna do with my ST money? Hire a rubbish manager in Coyle and sell our best players like Hanley. What did they do with it last season? Hired a good manager in Lambert on no doubt high wages, lied to him about transfer/wage resources, and then he left. 2 years before? Let a reserve team manager pee away hefty parachute payments and a highly paid squad. Year before? Hired Berg and Appleton. Year before? Kept Kean and allowed Anderson to line his pockets offloading his agencies garbage players onto us. Year before? Sacked Big Sam.

I agree Rovers will be worse off without my ST money, but something we can all guarantee by now is Venkys decisions would waste two-thirds of it anyway.

[mustard]

This is exactly the same ongoing discussion as my hometown team in Aalesund where I am a part of the Board ( who the supporters are unhappy With and want removed ).

What is one of the most important Incomes for Rovers? Gates

What are the main issue for FFP? Turnover

By staying away you hurt the Club. With less People in the stands, wages and transfers must og Down. With wages and transfers Down - less quality on the Pitch.

With respect, there's a big difference between BRFC and a Norwegian league club. I imagine gates are a large % of turnover for your team over there, whilst for BRFC they are quite insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Realistically an extra few thousand isn't going to make a huge difference to us, considering everything else that goes on.

It's all well and good saying staying away hurts the club, but what sort of message would it send to Venky's if we packed Ewood out with let's say another 10,000? It would edge them closer to making us a self-sustainable Championship club and I honestly think they'd never leave, which is entirely the opposite of what we want.

Sometimes drastic measures are needed to remove such a poison.

[arbitro]

This is exactly the same ongoing discussion as my hometown team in Aalesund where I am a part of the Board ( who the supporters are unhappy With and want removed ).

What is one of the most important Incomes for Rovers? Gates

What are the main issue for FFP? Turnover

By staying away you hurt the Club. With less People in the stands, wages and transfers must og Down. With wages and transfers Down - less quality on the Pitch.

I take exception to this notion that we are hurting the club by not going. I (and others) believe that low crowds will hopefully attract bad press for them and embarrass them.

By the way do you contribute financially to Rovers?

[Parsonblue]

There's another reason Jimmy. In spite of everything, and I know we are not the same team under the Loons, I and some others still enjoy going to matches. You may find that hard to fathom but it's true.

Couldn't agree more Al. I'm fed up with this Super fan garbage that some on here spout. Following the Rovers is a leisure activity and if you are enjoying it and have enjoyed it for more years than you care to remember there is no reason to stop or justify why you are still going. The reason I go to every game is because I enjoy it. It's as simple as that.

[Jimmy612]

Couldn't agree more Al. I'm fed up with this Super fan garbage that some on here spout. Following the Rovers is a leisure activity and if you are enjoying it and have enjoyed it for more years than you care to remember there is no reason to stop or justify why you are still going. The reason I go to every game is because I enjoy it. It's as simple as that.

1. They love this idea of Super fan status.

2. They can't think of anything else to do with their Saturday afternoons.

You might fall in to category two then, Parson. Don't get me wrong, I like the social element of football day too. But the actual chore of going to support this empty shell of a club is a nonsense now. As i said above, it's not the level we have fallen to, it's the fact that no-one is interested in actually trying to improve it.

[BigBeard]

Will never happen properly because not all of the fans are interested in doing it..... not a good idea

[Parsonblue]

1. They love this idea of Super fan status.

2. They can't think of anything else to do with their Saturday afternoons.

You might fall in to category two then, Parson. Don't get me wrong, I like the social element of football day too. But the actual chore of going to support this empty shell of a club is a nonsense now. As i said above, it's not the level we have fallen to, it's the fact that no-one is interested in actually trying to improve it.

Wrong again Jimmy. There are any number of things I can do on Saturday afternoons which I enjoy doing in the Summer. I go to the Rovers because it's what I CHOOSE to do because I enjoy it. Following the Rovers has never been a chore. You may have fallen out of love with this "empty shell of a club" but many haven't. Many have seen grim times before and will no doubt see them again. A few of us were reminiscing about the old days in the Third Division when we were in Nottingham on Sunday and reflecting upon the fact that in those days we couldn't dream of having the Stadium and training facilities that we have today or having achieved what we achieved under Jack and then the Trust. Everything is relative in football. I fully respect the decision made by those who are boycotting because they feel the ownership issue is a major stumbling block for them to overcome. I have no problems with that at all. However, I see no reason why a minority of those should continually have a go at those who have a different view with this ridiculous Super fan nonsense.

[Mike Graham]

I just saw Jack Straw in London. He has renewed.

I'm not looking forward to Saturday at all. Our owners are an utter disgrace and the club is a shambles.

However, I have renewed my season ticket and shall be attending most home matches.

I'm not a "Rovers Fan". Indeed I expect the the worst ever season in Rovers history as we get relegated.

But my mate who I go with is 81. He says he has watched Rovers since the second world war and doesn't intend to pack up now.

So there it is; through thick, thin and, this season, thinnest.

You will get no criticism from me Barry.

I will have a pint off you ar 17:30 on Saturday please ;-))

[Al]

1. They love this idea of Super fan status.

2. They can't think of anything else to do with their Saturday afternoons.

You might fall in to category two then, Parson. Don't get me wrong, I like the social element of football day too. But the actual chore of going to support this empty shell of a club is a nonsense now. As i said above, it's not the level we have fallen to, it's the fact that no-one is interested in actually trying to improve it.

Don't classify supporters in YOUR 1 and 2 categories Jimmy. Parson, I believe, goes to matches, as I do, not because he has nothing else to do but because he wants to and enjoys it. Your opinion is that it is nonsense now. Ours is that it is still a source of pleasure. I don't expect you to agree but there it is.

[bazza]

I just saw Jack Straw in London. He has renewed.

You will get no criticism from me Barry.

I will have a pint off you ar 17:30 on Saturday please ;-)

What! At Bullsh*t Corner prices? You must be joking.

Some other time & place, Mike. My mate has to get straight home. )

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Wrong again Jimmy. There are any number of things I can do on Saturday afternoons which I enjoy doing in the Summer. I go to the Rovers because it's what I CHOOSE to do because I enjoy it. Following the Rovers has never been a chore. You may have fallen out of love with this "empty shell of a club" but many haven't. Many have seen grim times before and will no doubt see them again. A few of us were reminiscing about the old days in the Third Division when we were in Nottingham on Sunday and reflecting upon the fact that in those days we couldn't dream of having the Stadium and training facilities that we have today or having achieved what we achieved under Jack and then the Trust. Everything is relative in football. I fully respect the decision made by those who are boycotting because they feel the ownership issue is a major stumbling block for them to overcome. I have no problems with that at all. However, I see no reason why a minority of those should continually have a go at those who have a different view with this ridiculous Super fan nonsense.

That comment about everything is relative in football couldn't be more true. My ex was still going to watch Stockport County in the National League North last season, impressively with almost 3,000 other home fans too, about a third of what they used to get in the Championship.

Like us pathetically incompetent and corrupt parties have taken them to where they are and like us they have lost many fans for good because of it. But the old songs were still sung, they still had a pre-match pub with the walls adorned with photos of the glory years, and I've no doubt they still have an online board doing exactly what we do on here.

Unless Venkys literally bankrupt it, Rovers will go on regardless of the league and there's nothing wrong with fans who want to go with it. Both sides (protestors and non-protestors) should just respect the others viewpoint, on here and at games.

[LDRover]

The pre season results stuff is irrelevant, we both know that.

The club must think it's relevant because they keep plugging how we're unbeaten on the official site.

[Paul]

1. They love this idea of Super fan status.

2. They can't think of anything else to do with their Saturday afternoons.

What do you base this theory on?