Tony Mowbray

[matt83]

7 minutes ago, booth said:

Why did they ever want to own a football club? And why do they still own a football club?

Has anyone ever worked it out?

I’ve pondered this a lot over the past 12 years I reckon initially it was purely a vanity project. Look at us we own a premier league side. Then when it all went tits up it’s been a very expensive face saving operation ever since.

But I’d love to hear from the horses mouth why they bought rovers, were they sold the club on false pretences and why do they still keep hanging around.

They’ve sunk over £200 million into the club without ever once trying to run it properly or employ competent people to run it properly. It’s mind boggling. 

Edited April 23, 2022 by matt83

[Bethnal]

11 minutes ago, booth said:

Why did they ever want to own a football club? And why do they still own a football club?

Has anyone ever worked it out?

100% Balaji’s vanity project. The man wanted attention and adulation. Look at all the celebs he paid to hang out with him.

From the outside, running a football club probably looks a piece of piss. I think they didn’t fully understand the scale of the job or the investment (financial and psychological) that you need to have to run a club like Rovers. It needs a constant and steady hand on the tiller. They tried to run it like their businesses, really, which have processes backed up by a century of modern business theory, which was the really fateful mistake.

To me, football business seems borderline psychotic. None of the finances make sense, nobody’s motivations are clear or logical, most fans hate their owners in some manner and if they don’t yet, they’re a bad transfer window away from doing so. General managers are fired after about 18 months on average as standard and the gulf in wages between playing staff and the rest is enormous, there’re few industries that have that. There’s absolutely no loyalty on your most valuable assets in either sense and the probability of ever turning a profit (save from selling the entity) is basically impossible, as you’ll get the aforementioned hammering from fans for not reinvesting.

Being completely unprepared for that, as well as based on the other side of the world and rich enough to throw money at it to make it go away for another year creates the state of apathy that they find themselves in now.

I do believe that they see an exit eventually. I think they believe that making us a Premier League club again and stabilising us will solicit offers that offset maybe half-to-two-thirds of their “investment” to date. Correctly, they’ve never alluded to that, as it would weaken a negotiation position. Delusional, probably, but that’s my take.

Now I’ve thought about him, does anybody know if Balaji found the time in his schedule to visit Ewood this season, as he alluded to on that headed stationery at the beginning of the season?

[Paul Mellelieu]

Our friend Alan Nixon has said that this has been chance of getting promoted for a decade, and maybe for another - or words to that effect.  

Unless V's pull something out of the hat this summer, there's very little cause for optimism.

 

[Gav]

19 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Our friend Alan Nixon has said that this has been chance of getting promoted for a decade, and maybe for another - or words to that effect.  

Unless V's pull something out of the hat this summer, there's very little cause for optimism.

 

You didn't need Nixon to tell you that Paul, its bleedin obvious.

[J*B]

55 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Our friend Alan Nixon has said that this has been chance of getting promoted for a decade, and maybe for another - or words to that effect.  

Unless V's pull something out of the hat this summer, there's very little cause for optimism.

 

I could have told you that Paul!

[Upside Down]

4 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

I think thats more to do with the amount that have walked away. I'm not sure age bracket %s of supporters now, but we do have a lot 15-20 year olds for example. The majority of these are not old enough to remember much pre-Venkys, so they dont have the same anger.

I see very few of those that protested for example on match days, the majority of these have walked away as their final protest.

 

Well the figures show that at least 10000 have walked away. Some due to just plain disinterest and others as a way of taking a stand.

That is the reason I have never been back. It's the only way I as an individual can have any power in the situation. Some people like to throw around insults to those of us who have walked away in protest but I can say that I have not financially contributed towards the desecration of something that we all hold sacred.

[glen9mullan]

1 hour ago, booth said:

Why did they ever want to own a football club? And why do they still own a football club?

Has anyone ever worked it out?

God knows, but the global marketing alone probably made it worth it no press is bad press?

[Crimpshrine]

4 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

I see very few of those that protested for example on match days, the majority of these have walked away as their final protest.

 

It's an ongoing protest, not a final one,  but needs to be brought back into focus.

If everybody stops going to Ewood and makes it clear that we won't come back until Venky's leave then we can have an impact.

One day we will return with renewed hope.

[Paul Mellelieu]

1 hour ago, Gav said:

You didn't need Nixon to tell you that Paul, its bleedin obvious.

it's....

Glad you and many others can agree with me.  I must be wrong......

[Paul Mellelieu]

51 minutes ago, J*B said:

I could have told you that Paul!

Keep up the boycott.

[J*B]

1 minute ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Keep up the boycott.

At it Paul, blame the fans!

[Armchair supporter supremo]

The problem most fans have is not "The venkys" themselves, the problem is with not really knowing who's pulling the strings and to what end! 

 

If the venks just came out and said 'look we're just going to help keep the books balanced and debts under control the best we can, but there's not much available for large transfer fees' then you'd accept that, it's not like there's anybody out there that would want to buy the club and pump 100s of millions into the club for transfers, etc...

 

But when false promises are being made and broken and the way the club is run looks crooked as hell from to to bottom it's just miserable and frustrating 

[Oldgregg86]

9 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

The problem most fans have is not "The venkys" themselves, the problem is with not really knowing who's pulling the strings and to what end! 

 

If the venks just came out and said 'look we're just going to help keep the books balanced and debts under control the best we can, but there's not much available for large transfer fees' then you'd accept that, it's not like there's anybody out there that would want to buy the club and pump 100s of millions into the club for transfers, etc...

 

But when false promises are being made and broken and the way the club is run looks crooked as hell from to to bottom it's just miserable and frustrating 

If they had said that from the start fair enough.

not now. Not ever

[tomphil]

They've collectively already blown it this season there'll be no repeat next season at all. Just a balancing act to keep competitive in midtable whilst getting the next crop ready to sell / let go for nothing before a pay rise.

The perfect set of people are already in place for that. people who between them are costing the club millions per year.

When you look at the clubs up there now challenging and the ones who'll finish above us it's sickening given where we were. Also look at the managers some have, not exactly a galaxy of names or 'stability' experts. Between them they've blown it and everybody knows it apart from probably the daft ownership. They'll be sold another truck load of bullshit about journeys this summer.

The worst thing to happen might well have been the Rothwell saga but would it really have changed anything ?

Would he have got the money, would he actually have brought anything decent in that would have made a difference, would he even have spent it if he'd got it ?  Or would it have been craftily stashed in the pot for some ex pals looking for contracts in summer ?

It's a collective thing and anyone sticking the blame on one or the other is deluded imo.  There's a reason the likes of Venkys, Mowbray, Waggot and the crew all go together.  They are a melting pot of reasons we'll never go anywhere.

[roverandout]

16 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

The problem most fans have is not "The venkys" themselves, the problem is with not really knowing who's pulling the strings and to what end! 

 

If the venks just came out and said 'look we're just going to help keep the books balanced and debts under control the best we can, but there's not much available for large transfer fees' then you'd accept that, it's not like there's anybody out there that would want to buy the club and pump 100s of millions into the club for transfers, etc...

 

But when false promises are being made and broken and the way the club is run looks crooked as hell from to to bottom it's just miserable and frustrating 

Plenty of people would want to buy the club. Venkys have rejected offers in the past.  With the right owners, rovers are an attractive proposition 

[Armchair supporter supremo]

21 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Plenty of people would want to buy the club. Venkys have rejected offers in the past.  With the right owners, rovers are an attractive proposition 

Which People? 

All i vaguely remember is a bunch of local chancers

[Gav]

3 hours ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

it's....

Glad you and many others can agree with me.  I must be wrong......

Is this really necessary? You're hardly Wordsworth or Hemingway yourself.....

Stick to football would be my advice, not every posters is out to get you.

[Paul Mellelieu]

49 minutes ago, Gav said:

Is this really necessary? You're hardly Wordsworth or Hemingway yourself.....

Stick to football would be my advice, not every posters is out to get you.

True, but I'm also lazy with keyboards.

[Mike E]

4 hours ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Which People? 

All i vaguely remember is a bunch of local chancers

Concrete offers: 2 (that we know of); the Ians and the Qataris.

Enquiries made: At least 5, some of which are just waiting for the sale sign to go up (putting pressure on Venkys to sell just raises the price) - and these were during the Senior era

I don't have more detail than that, but I'm certain there will have been more offers/enquiries in the 5 years since.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Concrete offers: 2 (that we know of); the Ians and the Qataris.

Enquiries made: At least 5, some of which are just waiting for the sale sign to go up (putting pressure on Venkys to sell just raises the price) - and these were during the Senior era

I don't have more detail than that, but I'm certain there will have been more offers/enquiries in the 5 years since.

Indeed. Plenty of basket case clubs have changed hands for good money in the time we've been mummified by the Venksters.

We have such a good brand, the trademark strip is iconic and surely ripe for development. The history and pedigree of the club is impeccable.

And we have arseholes for owners.

Mind you, loads of people voted the Fat Liar and his in to number 10, so perhaps we've got the owners we deserve...? ??

I bloody well don't think so!

The sooner this bunch scamper off back to their own back yard, the better. 

[Upside Down]

It's sickening what is happening throughout the whole of football. Just look down the road, another well run club sold off and decimated by a foreign private equity firm or whatever the fuck they are. 

I'm reaching the point whereby if the clubs are not at the very least half owned and controlled by the fans/members then I don’t think I would want to go back. 

We have no power as fans under the current system, we have been turned into a commodity when in reality we are the most important part of the game. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

33 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

It's sickening what is happening throughout the whole of football. Just look down the road, another well run club sold off and decimated by a foreign private equity firm or whatever the fuck they are. 

I'm reaching the point whereby if the clubs are not at the very least half owned and controlled by the fans/members then I don’t think I would want to go back. 

We have no power as fans under the current system, we have been turned into a commodity when in reality we are the most important part of the game. 

Yeah I’ve been to Boundary Park many times watching Rovers and my Rugby League team. Next to nearest ground for me. It’s not that long ago they beat Rovers, that’s the last time I was there I think.

[tomphil]

5 hours ago, Mike E said:

Concrete offers: 2 (that we know of); the Ians and the Qataris.

Enquiries made: At least 5, some of which are just waiting for the sale sign to go up (putting pressure on Venkys to sell just raises the price) - and these were during the Senior era

I don't have more detail than that, but I'm certain there will have been more offers/enquiries in the 5 years since.

Qataris ?

That never seemed based on anything more than assumption from Anderson being on the phone in one of the lounges.

Sorry but i don't believe that one at all i know of a few other pointers that made it a dud as well. A Qatari consortium was around in the UK at the time but it wasn't a football club they were coming over to buy. Somebody might well have tried to flog us to them though such is the world of the fixers and middlemen.

The Ians were legit i'm sure but not sure how serious they really were it smelt a bit of Holdsworth & co getting hold of Bolton. Sole intention to punt it on quickly but they got lumbered with it.

I think there were a few sniffing around expecting us to go bust though and waiting to pick up the pieces.

[JHRover]

Time to put the "but who would buy us" fear to bed.

In the last 3 years alone we've seen Bolton, Wigan and Blackpool all bought out and reborn from far worse positions than we are in now with far less to work with than Rovers have.

That line might have been a defence of Venkys 5 years ago but it isn't anymore. 

[Upside Down]

4 hours ago, JHRover said:

Time to put the "but who would buy us" fear to bed.

In the last 3 years alone we've seen Bolton, Wigan and Blackpool all bought out and reborn from far worse positions than we are in now with far less to work with than Rovers have.

That line might have been a defence of Venkys 5 years ago but it isn't anymore. 

It was never a line of defence, it was always total bollocks.