The Fans Forum

[Riverside under the drip]

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

When I was on the Forum strictly football related matters were off the agenda.

However if we're talking about how to shift the maximum number of season tickets which is a legitimate topic for the FF to discuss, I can't see how you can do that properly without referring to the managerial situation in passing.

The obvious answer to that is:

"Change the agenda!"

Off the record or not, there is no point having communication with the club if things like the current fiasco are not addressed and they get to waste time chatting about the tastiest pie or the music selection in the ground.

If such things are not answered adequately, the Fans Forum should explain that they will go straight to the Telegraph and ask for Rich Sharpe to do a back page detailing the contempt Rovers have for their fans. See what that might do to income. That seems a limp threat as it is unlikely to actually happen but I dare say the idea of more chickens on the pitch, stories on Granada tonight etc. might just wake some people up and result in a memo being passed up the food chain to Pasha.

Make them squirm!

[RevidgeBlue]

1 minute ago, Riverside under the drip said:

The obvious answer to that is:

"Change the agenda!"

Off the record or not, there is no point having communication with the club if things like the current fiasco are not addressed and they get to waste time chatting about the tastiest pie or the music selection in the ground.

If such things are not answered adequately, the Fans Forum should explain that they will go straight to the Telegraph and ask for Rich Sharpe to do a back page detailing the contempt Rovers have for their fans. See what that might do to income. That seems a limp threat as it is unlikely to actually happen but I dare say the idea of more chickens on the pitch, stories on Granada tonight etc. might just wake some people up and result in a memo being passed up the food chain to Pasha.

Make them squirm!

I agree in principle but I think we've seen with the Brockhall letter that asking the Telegraph to run anything that asks any actual questions of the Club is a somewhat futile exercise.

At the end of the day as well the FF is at the behest of the Club so the type of item that can be discussed is up to them. If the Club didn't like what was being suggested they could theoretically stop the meetings altogether.

All that said, there's absolutely no point just sitting there listening to what they have to say without expressing any alternative opinions. All that does is tick a box for the Club.

"Fan consultation - Check."

 

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

3 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Who is attending this meeting?

 

I thought @K-Hod  was BRFCS rep?

[Wovers]

The forum is a joke, has been for years, never get any real answers, never push the issues, lapdogs. What’s the point. 

[K-Hod]

13 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

I thought @K-Hod  was BRFCS rep?

Good catch. I shall be attending this one too.

[K-Hod]

2 minutes ago, Wovers said:

The forum is a joke, has been for years, never get any real answers, never push the issues, lapdogs. What’s the point. 

But apart from that, you think they’re alright ?

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, Riverside under the drip said:

It is vital that we have absolute clarity on who has authority for replacing the manager. What is Waggott's role if he can't do it? Why will he not if he can? What constitutes abject failure if not this?

 

Waggott's role is to run the admin side of the club and make sure we meet EFL rules. 

He wont be involved in selecting our new manager for sure judging by who is usually involved in selecting our new managers. 

27 minutes ago, Wovers said:

The forum is a joke, has been for years, never get any real answers, never push the issues, lapdogs. What’s the point. 

What do you want and expect from the fans forum now? 

Was you happy with the fans forum group before Venkys bought the club?

[Wovers]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Waggott's role is to run the admin side of the club and make sure we meet EFL rules. 

He wont be involved in selecting our new manager for sure judging by who is usually involved in selecting our new managers. 

What do you want and expect from the fans forum now? 

Was you happy with the fans forum group before Venkys bought the club?

No, they’ve always been namby pamby, they’re a joke.

[Wovers]

2 hours ago, K-Hod said:

But apart from that, you think they’re alright ?

Christ, you’re a comedian, if you’re the standard level of humour at these ‘meetings’ no wonder nobody talks about anything meaningful and you all feck off home early. Sorry if you are genuinely cracking some humour, however the forum is a joke, what does it ever achieve, apart from telling US pints have gone up by 10p? 
 

it’s a tick box exercise for wag, and just a ‘I did this’ for the majority of people who attend. Push the real issues for once and provide some feedback, otherwise, don’t bother posting the meaningless minutes of the meetings.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Wovers

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Waggott's role is to run the admin side of the club and make sure we meet EFL rules. 

Bloody hell Chaddy, if that's all he has to do I'll save the Club a quarter of a million quid a year and do it for £50k p.a.

I think the owners would probably feel they're entitled to rely on his advice and opinion a little more than that for £300k p.a.

[chaddyrovers]

12 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Bloody hell Chaddy, if that's all he has to do I'll save the Club a quarter of a million quid a year and do it for £50k p.a.

I think the owners would probably feel they're entitled to rely on his advice and opinion a little more than that for £300k p.a.

waste of money employing him. His Brockhall plan for all in one training ground for the club is embarrassment for the club and no thought of what fans would think or residents in Brockhall village. Deserved the sack for suggesting that idea

[chaddyrovers]

Could the fans forum asked why Mark Venus is involved in negotiations when he is assistant manager here? @only2garners@K-Hod

[Stuart]

12 hours ago, Wovers said:

Christ, you’re a comedian, if you’re the standard level of humour at these ‘meetings’ no wonder nobody talks about anything meaningful and you all feck off home early. Sorry if you are genuinely cracking some humour, however the forum is a joke, what does it ever achieve, apart from telling US pints have gone up by 10p? 
 

it’s a tick box exercise for wag, and just a ‘I did this’ for the majority of people who attend. Push the real issues for once and provide some feedback, otherwise, don’t bother posting the meaningless minutes of the meetings.

K-Hod’s comment was a pretty standard joke tbf.

However, it has been established for some time that the FF attendees “don’t represent the fans, they represent themselves”. Not a particularly helpful arrangement but that was a comment on here a few years ago from one of them.

To be fair, they have a point as none of them are elected by the fanbase to attend and are seemingly there at the request of their own unofficial groups.

Case in point, K-Hod attends on behalf of BRFCS admin but if he was nominated then this was not by the forum members but the site ownership. Fair enough but with the way the FF is organised, managed and operated it isn’t a surprise that it isn’t fit for purpose.

So what is the purpose? Seems to me that it is different for each party.

- For the club it ticks a box that they are engaging with fans.

- For the groups it gives them legitimacy with the club.

- For the individual it is a chance to hobnob, a cup of coffee and a bit of a nosey at what the club want to tell fans.

- For the rest of the fanbase the expectation is that this functions as a chance for “fellow fans” to hold the club to account and ensure that they don’t go off doing their own thing. If the Rovers Trust want a seat on the board then this really should be the place to start and to make the club (at least feel) more accountable.

Case in point, if the FF was working as it should then the news about Brockhall (all being done for the good of the academy and the club) should have been announced to the FF first and there should have been some discussion and debate and then a follow-up as part of a consultation process.

As it is either none of that was even shared with the FF or it was off-the-record and not to be shared with the wider fanbase or press. My guess is it wasn’t even mentioned. In either case, it’s either not fit for purpose or completely dysfunctional.

[K-Hod]

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Could the fans forum asked why Mark Venus is involved in negotiations when he is assistant manager here? @only2garners@K-Hod

There are certainly a few points I want to raise, but I’m sure I can raise this one too!

[47er]

4 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

There are certainly a few points I want to raise, but I’m sure I can raise this one too!

You'll be chucked out for being a cad and committing a faux pas K-Hod!

Just make sure you use the correct knife and fork.

[Riverside under the drip]

This is true and why nothing will happen. I can't help but think the readership might actually go up if he becomes a muckraking journalist trying to uncover stuff rather than reprinting club comments. I know I would find it a lot more interesting for one.

Too much of a risk for them as you say.

[Stuart]

2 hours ago, MCMC1875 said:

Difficult. Rich Sharpe has his hands tied. The LT's diminishing circulation and survival is dependent on it's coverage of football. If the LT upsets the club, the club can threaten to cancel the LT's press accreditation 

Press accreditation in football should be to the FA, UEFA and FIFA, working under clear guidelines. Individual clubs should not be able to hold the press to account (let alone be able to blackmail them) - in a free society the press should hold business to account!

Otherwise you end up with a Bezos owning a Washington Post!!

[LDRover]

6 hours ago, 47er said:

You'll be chucked out for being a cad and committing a faux pas K-Hod!

Just make sure you use the correct knife and fork.

The worry for me is that any legitimate (and awkward) questions posed will be shouted down by the 'super fans' in attendance. These idiots are as much the enemy as the gobshites running (ruining) the club.

[Stuart]

33 minutes ago, LDRover said:

The worry for me is that any legitimate (and awkward) questions posed will be shouted down by the 'super fans' in attendance. These idiots are as much the enemy as the gobshites running (ruining) the club.

Which is why those sorts of rows need to take place before going in front of the club.

Surely everyone must be concerned enough about the sale of parts of Brockhall to at least warrant a FF pre-meet?

[RevidgeBlue]

On 12/03/2021 at 14:48, only2garners said:

The minutes from last Monday’s Fans Forum are now up on the club website.

Apologies, I just had a quick look on the Club website and couldn't see an obvious link to them.

How can you view them?

[only2garners]

Rev - there is a tab called More. Follow that and the link to fans and the Fans Forum is under there.

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Apologies, I just had a quick look on the Club website and couldn't see an obvious link to them.

How can you view them?

https://www.rovers.co.uk/siteassets/fans/fans-forum/ff-zoom-minutes-8.3.21.pdf

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, only2garners said:

Rev - there is a tab called More. Follow that and the link to fans and the Fans Forum is under there.

Thanks for posting that John........but Im afraid it's put my blood pressure through the roof!

- So SW couldn't provide any evidence for his assertion that he "thought" a new facility on the one restricted site could meet Cat 1 status

- Seemingly according to MC we'd have to borrow money (and pay copious amounts of interest) to duplicate training facilities we already have in a different location. That also contradicts everything SW had said in the Telegraph up to that point.

- Any long standing plans to upgrade the indoor training centre are entirely dependent on a grant we have so far failed to obtain

- Any hopes of a state of the art new pitch costing £2m which I'm sure SW assured us in the LT the owners were going to provide seem to be disappearing into the distance "What happens next would depend on costs for the work"

- The Club and the owners still apparently have "every faith" in Mowbray despite results accepted by all as being "not good enough" 

But that's all ok, because one member apparently assured the Club he thought that reaction to the plans on social media was "over the top"  and also thought we should move into town as apparently it's the Club's job not the Council's to provide facilities for the disadvantaged areas of the town.

And another "urged caution" against making a change in manager at this point in time.

I might calm down by about Wednesday.

Hope the tea and biccies were good.

 

- 

Edited April 4, 2021 by RevidgeBlue

[Guest]

Q for next time, something I've noticed in recent weeks: Why is Ben Benson, the clubs goalkeeping coach, the man tasked with the responsibility of handing out touchline instructions to oncoming substitutes in Rovers 1st Team games with a tactical handbook when the likes of David Lowe, Mark Venus, Damien Johnson and Tony Mowbray himself are all on the bench?

[Mattyblue]

Far be it from me to suggest what folk do in their free time, but do any/a combination of Rev/Den/CLB not fancy attending the next FF?

No disrespect to anyone else attending, but I just can’t see the forensic picking apart this swindle needs taking place otherwise.

I’m sure O2G can accommodate?