Blackburn End: Waggott Out

[ABBEY]

Reaps what they sow... 

[RevidgeBlue]

8 hours ago, Penwortham Blue said:

My email to Swag. I got the standard, cut and paste reply from Christine, on behalf of SWAG.

 

Dear Mr Waggott,

I am a season ticket holder of over 40 years. After sitting for many years in the Riverside, initially, then through my youth in the BBE, today I sit in the JW stand.

I previously ran a £120m EBITDA business unit and sat on the main Board of a large £6bn infrastructure business. I know that business is tough and as a result, difficult decisions need to be made, often unpopular but that is fine, as long as they are well thought through and consider all stakeholders and consequences.

I will not go into a myriad of detail, save to say, that I have very reluctantly decided not to attend the match as a result of your decision to close the BBE. We have suffered enough over this last 13 years, often in silence, and today we are left with a rump supporter base. Whenever it appears that we take a step forward, we quickly go back two and generally by way of horrendous own goals. The closure of the BBE sets a new low and will further alienate and erode what few fans remain and like the ST pricing, sees our club travelling in an entirely different direction from comparable local clubs. PNE, Bolton and even Stanley are making decisions based on retaining and growing their numbers during difficult economic times and even growing their supporter base. Sadly, we are now a league and country mile behind a historically much smaller club, that has been transformed by good stewardship. Ask yourself the question, despite small Carabao cup attendances, is there one other club in the country that is closing its iconic ‘kop’ end ?

It is obviously far too late in the day for you to see sense and reverse your decision. My one hope, is that you at least reflect and once the match has gone have the courage to apologise to Blackburn Rovers supporters. Only in this way, might the inevitable damage to the brand, business and morale of all connected to the club, be mitigated. 

What a great post, one of the best I've seen on here in a very long time. Erudite, well reasoned and bang on the money.

We really need to turn up the heat on Waggott with quality contributions such as this. Whether or not the penny will finally drop with those above him, who knows, but imo the Club is in severe jeopardy until the joyous day when he finally makes a long overdue exit.

God knows what we'll be left with if he is allowed to continue unchecked.

[tomphil]

So the JW not half full i presume that'll be closed for the next one next season ?

That's the thought process isn't it ?

Managed to shave off a thousand fans tonight, some going that Steve.

[JHRover]

Waggott cracking open a bottle or two tonight. Successful in his plot to shut down the BBE and boost his figures with the owners, barely a murmur of discontent, he now gets to cash in on JDT and the team overcoming his stunt by steering us to a lucrative tie at Chelsea. He's a parasite.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

What a great post, one of the best I've seen on here in a very long time. Erudite, well reasoned and bang on the money.

We really need to turn up the heat on Waggott with quality contributions such as this. Whether or not the penny will finally drop with those above him, who knows, but imo the Club is in severe jeopardy until the joyous day when he finally makes a long overdue exit.

God knows what we'll be left with if he is allowed to continue unchecked.

The club is in serious jeopardy whilst those people who employ him remain. Would you agree?

Targetting him is targetting a huge symptom and not the illness. What is the end game, how does targetting him lead to his departure, why would it cause the penny to drop for the owners? Even if we force him to leave due to the stress of the campaign, voluntarily from a highly paid job he is out of his depth with, then what? Do you think the overall club notably changes under the same owners? Do they suddenly appoint someone competent and who drives the club forward with them still in situ? 

And to clarify. I think he IS incompetent, I hate that he is here and I do wish he would go. But he is not the main problem, incredibly.

My main question. What is your current stance on the owners? Youve mentioned cryptic promises and talk of improvements etc. Do you still think they can run us effectively? Has the budget slashing changed your opinion on them?

[arbitro]

7 hours ago, JHRover said:

Waggott cracking open a bottle or two tonight. Successful in his plot to shut down the BBE and boost his figures with the owners, barely a murmur of discontent, he now gets to cash in on JDT and the team overcoming his stunt by steering us to a lucrative tie at Chelsea. He's a parasite.

And no doubt his PA will be booking his first class travel to London for the game at Chelsea and overnight accommodation in a plush hotel. And his cohorts will probably be afforded the same. He will also be lording it up in the Directors Box. If they wanted to set an example they should board a coach with the supporters at Ewood and bloody well pay for it themselves.

[JHRover]

34 minutes ago, arbitro said:

And no doubt his PA will be booking his first class travel to London for the game at Chelsea and overnight accommodation in a plush hotel. And his cohorts will probably be afforded the same. He will also be lording it up in the Directors Box. If they wanted to set an example they should board a coach with the supporters at Ewood and bloody well pay for it themselves.

And probably before / afterwards head off for a few days at home in Kent.

Suspect there will be gravy train requests galore going in for this one.

[Moptop1]

Hell act like the Lord of the manner at Chelsea. Billy Big Bollocks. He need bringing down and we can watch his fall from grace. Get him gone and the House of Cards will start to crumble.

It’s about picking the right ‘fights’. Waggot is causing little ripples with fanbase and nothing is being done to stop him. All the while he sits back and continues to drop these little ‘bombs’ on us.

 

 

 

[R0verb0y]

On 22/09/2023 at 11:11, Miller11 said:

We Are The Rovers met with Steve Waggott yesterday. Obviously the issue of closing the Blackburn End for the Cardiff game was high on the agenda.

Firstly we conveyed our disappointment with the decision and the strength of feeling within the fanbase.

The response was that uptake for the game was expected to be extremely low. At present it looks like a crowd of around 2,000 with less than 1,500 tickets sold. Whether this is a cause or a symptom of the closure of the Blackburn End is another question, but it’s pretty horrifying.

It’s a financial decision based on numbers. We asked if it would’ve been possible to house the visiting supporters in an area of the Jack Walker stand and open the Blackburn End instead of the Darwen End. This would’ve meant that a police presence would be required which would have had an additional cost higher than opening an extra stand.

There was an acknowledgement that the communication needed to be better around the whole decision.

 

Well, Amen to that acknowledgement!!

Although I must say I'm not holding my breath that any future decision emanating from the office of the club's CEO will be any better communicated.

More likely, I think, that sw4gg0tt - how puerile! - will think that he's got away with that one and look for other "balancing the books" ruses.

In fact, he's already trying one on.

Last season - even though my season ticket was for the comparatively plebean Riverside - I bought three seats for the Nottingham Forest League Cup game in the Premier Suite for myself, a very dear friend of the Forest persuasion - nobody's perfect! - whom I first met at church 60+ years ago, and her daughter.

During the close season, due to age and increasing infirmity - those of you on here who know me not just as a nickname will know I've had mobility difficulties all my life - I decided to upgrade my season ticket to the JWU, as much for the lift to get me and my walking sticks to the level of my seat as anything else.

If I'd thought properly about the consequences of what I'd done when I bought the Forest tickets, I would have realised that, in so doing, I'd probably had my name entered on a database in sw4gg0tt's office probably headed "Mug who could be milked."

Sure enough, at 3.01 pm yesterday afternoon, an email pinged into my Inbox invitation to purchase a seat - either in the Premier Suite (£150) or Jack's Kitchen (£80) - with a discount of 20% for the Leicester City game because I'm a season ticket holder.

You - I! - can't reply by email because the email one of sw4gg0tt's staff had sent was one of those from an unmonitored source. It was in fact the second similar email I've had in recent days.

I replied to the first one by contacting the ticket office, telling them that I haven't yet been able to use my current season because of my state of health and I wasn't sure when I'd be able to get to Ewood again.

I hoped they would be able to read between the lines, so I didn't actually add, "So there isn't actually any point in sending those emails to me". Got that one badly wrong, didn't I?!

[R0verb0y]

On 23/09/2023 at 21:43, J*B said:

He should be offering free tickets throughout the stadium, not closing stands if he’s only selling 1,500 tickets. Every school, church, mosque, sports club and youth zone within 10 miles should have the offer for unlimited free tickets. 

I dislike this man more and more as days go by. Lacking in ambition, lacking in awareness, a glorified credit controller that doesn’t dare rock the boat. Exactly the type of person I actively avoid hiring.

It's seedcorn work; even if only 10% of the recipients of such an offer kept coming back, we'd soon be at healthy attendance figures.

[R0verb0y]

On 26/09/2023 at 11:48, cesus said:

I honestly think the lapsed fans have gone. People can only take being humiliated so many times, I honestly believe this clubs decision tomorrow night will send some people away forever too.

The criminal thing that people like Waggott have failed to realise is you may have lost the vocal disgruntled fans which may please them, but they are doing absolutely nothing to bring on the next generation of fans.

The owners/Waggott are merely a custodian of the club yet they are seriously putting the future of the club in jeopardy.

The "lapsed fans" started bailing out soon after the Walker Trust sold us. We're down to the hard core of loyal fans now.

Another effect of that is on local industries. You may not think of The Manxman - and other pubs - as "industries"; but people earn their livings selling beer, as much as (say) building houses.

I remember, even in the glory days, the Landlord of The Manxman telling me and my mates that it was the Saturdays of home games that balanced his books.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

18 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

What a great post, one of the best I've seen on here in a very long time. Erudite, well reasoned and bang on the money.

We really need to turn up the heat on Waggott with quality contributions such as this. Whether or not the penny will finally drop with those above him, who knows, but imo the Club is in severe jeopardy until the joyous day when he finally makes a long overdue exit.

God knows what we'll be left with if he is allowed to continue unchecked.

“ What we’ll be left with  “ is the same wankers that have got us in this position, the same wankers that appointed him in the first place. The same wankers that would possibly appoint somebody worse if that’s possible. They’re like the cockroaches that would survive a nuclear war.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[RoversClitheroe]

Think what we need is an investigative journalist.

Get Elliott Jackson to actually put pressure on Waggot, and do some articles that give value to the fans as at the moment may as well just read the BBC sport articles which give the same depth of information as the LT currently.

[R0verb0y]

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

“ What we’ll be left with  “ is the same wankers that have got us in this position, the same wankers that appointed him in the first place. The same wankers that’s would possibly appoint somebody worse if that’s possible. They’re like the cockroaches that would survive a nuclear war.

Brilliant analogy, @Tyrone Shoelaces !!

[TugaysMarlboro]

I did send a tweet to Elliott Jackson a few days ago asking if he would contact Swag regarding the BBE closure.

Mercer summed it up well, I shouldn't have to contact him to ask questions of the club. Regardless, i've not heard back from him at all. 

Is he a Rovers fan?

[RoversClitheroe]

13 minutes ago, TugaysMarlboro said:

I did send a tweet to Elliott Jackson a few days ago asking if he would contact Swag regarding the BBE closure.

Mercer summed it up well, I shouldn't have to contact him to ask questions of the club. Regardless, i've not heard back from him at all. 

Is he a Rovers fan?

Yeah he doesn't seem to interact with fans at all, massive shame.

Rich always spoke to fans and then asked the question 

[MarkBRFC]

17 minutes ago, TugaysMarlboro said:

I did send a tweet to Elliott Jackson a few days ago asking if he would contact Swag regarding the BBE closure.

Mercer summed it up well, I shouldn't have to contact him to ask questions of the club. Regardless, i've not heard back from him at all. 

Is he a Rovers fan?

No.

I wouldn't be asking to prise any real info out of the club, and if you do he won't get back to you anyway.

Terrible journalist.

[RoversClitheroe]

7 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

No.

I wouldn't be asking to prise any real info out of the club, and if you do he won't get back to you anyway.

Terrible journalist.

Yup.

I've decided to stop reading LT. 

It's absolutely shite with no real news coming from them anymore.

[tomphil]

17 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

No.

I wouldn't be asking to prise any real info out of the club, and if you do he won't get back to you anyway.

Terrible journalist.

He's another of the easily offended generation who got upset when i questioned a headline.

He'll be here 5 mins before he gets his dream job back in Sheffield or somewhere similar but no point in being too harsh on him the job remit is simply to report what he's told and on the games he sees.

Next one will be just the same.

[RoversClitheroe]

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

He's another of the easily offended generation who got upset when i questioned a headline.

He'll be here 5 mins before he gets his dream job back in Sheffield or somewhere similar but no point in being too harsh on him the job remit is simply to report what he's told and on the games he sees.

Next one will be just the same.

Is that a full time job? 

Surely if you wanna go far in journalism you utilise all working hours e.g. investigative journalism 

[philipl]

Swag must have heaved a huge sigh of relief when we were drawn away.

The sad reality is the away tie at Chelsea will earn us  more than most home league games do.

[tomphil]

22 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Is that a full time job? 

Surely if you wanna go far in journalism you utilise all working hours e.g. investigative journalism 

There'll come a time they won't leave the house games will be watched via steam and interviews will be done on zoom, you know a bit like lockdown.

Then AI will write their reports for them.

[tomphil]

8 minutes ago, philipl said:

Swag must have heaved a huge sigh of relief when we were drawn away.

The sad reality is the away tie at Chelsea will earn us  more than most home league games do.

He would have killed the crowd at Ewood anyway.

[Andy]

8 minutes ago, tomphil said:

There'll come a time they won't leave the house games will be watched via steam and interviews will be done on zoom, you know a bit like lockdown.

Then AI will write their reports for them.

That bottom bit might not be a bad thing - the current incumbent writes like my 11 year old lad.

Lots of ‘could’ve, should’ve’ and repeated adjectives within the same paragraphs.

[Mattyblue]

‘The Venky’s’… say no more.