Venky’s and Mr Shaikh - the supporter protest thread

[OllieNO]

Sticking my neck out here, perhaps naively, but I’m just so beyond fed up:

It is time. We need to wake up. We need a supporter uprising.

The past 13 yrs have been a mess, obviously, but this year represents the mother of all missed opportunities for the club (and the owners).

The owners (and the club’s CEO) have no plan but to tread water forever, and do not care to invest the little extra needed for a serious promotion push (although they’re ok wasting 10-20 m a yr).

There is no rationality, there is no communication from the owners (and hasn’t been for years…), the communication from the club to the outside world is in part dishonest and in part self-contradictory. The list of bad stuff goes on and on…

The level of the performances on the pitch are starting to dip. The squad is getting thinner each transfer window. And our excellent coach (the one without wheels) will likely leave by the end of the season. The club will not be able to recruit a new manager with anything close to the same quality.

SO - can we please apply some pressure to the Venky gang?

How? a letter? Protests in the stands? Empty stadium? Other suggestions?

Does one start with Pasha? Or Waggott?

Do we know any potential buyers of the club?

Or have we all accepted Rovers’ faith and decided there’s nothing the fans can do about it; we are doomed to watch mediocre (at best) second level (at best) football under faceless chicken farmers/gangsters for the rest of our lives?

 

[Oldgregg86]

5 minutes ago, OllieNO said:

Sticking my neck out here, perhaps naively, but I’m just so beyond fed up:

It is time. We need to wake up. We need a supporter uprising.

The past 13 yrs have been a mess, obviously, but this year represents the mother of all missed opportunities for the club (and the owners).

The owners (and the club’s CEO) have no plan but to tread water forever, and do not care to invest the little extra needed for a serious promotion push (although they’re ok wasting 10-20 m a yr).

There is no rationality, there is no communication from the owners (and hasn’t been for years…), the communication from the club to the outside world is in part dishonest and in part self-contradictory. The list of bad stuff goes on and on…

The level of the performances on the pitch are starting to dip. The squad is getting thinner each transfer window. And our excellent coach (the one without wheels) will likely leave by the end of the season. The club will not be able to recruit a new manager with anything close to the same quality.

SO - can we please apply some pressure to the Venky gang?

How? a letter? Protests in the stands? Empty stadium? Other suggestions?

Does one start with Pasha? Or Waggott?

Do we know any potential buyers of the club?

Or have we all accepted Rovers’ faith and decided there’s nothing the fans can do about it; we are doomed to watch mediocre (at best) second level (at best) football under faceless chicken farmers/gangsters for the rest of our lives?

 

The last bit 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

19 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

The last bit 

Feels like it too...apathy reigns supreme,the protestors scorned and made to look fools sadly long gone.Ewood a soulless place.

Edited September 23, 2023 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Mattyblue]

These threads appear every now and then, but it’s what Oldgregg said.

Those in Ewood put up with it, everyone else has stopped/will stop going. The era of protests has long gone.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

We're losing the battle aren't we?😟

[Upside Down]

20 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Feels like it too...apathy reigns supreme,the protestors scorned and made to look fools sadly long gone.Ewood a soulless place.

It was the other way around. 

As per usual, the ones with blind faith and utter devotion are the fools. 

[Waggy76]

13 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

We're losing the battle aren't we?😟

I think , we have lost ! The club is being dismantled bit by bit , with every year that passes...

The bit that intrigues me , is why they still want it ?

 

[RevidgeBlue]

23 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

I think , we have lost ! The club is being dismantled bit by bit , with every year that passes...

The bit that intrigues me , is why they still want it ?

 

Given the background of the Company that brought him into Coventry I do often  wonder if Waggott is playing the  long game and plans to somehow try and personally benefit from his systematic dismantling of the Club once he's reduced us to next to nothing.

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, OllieNO said:

Sticking my neck out here, perhaps naively, but I’m just so beyond fed up:

It is time. We need to wake up. We need a supporter uprising.

The past 13 yrs have been a mess, obviously, but this year represents the mother of all missed opportunities for the club (and the owners).

The owners (and the club’s CEO) have no plan but to tread water forever, and do not care to invest the little extra needed for a serious promotion push (although they’re ok wasting 10-20 m a yr).

There is no rationality, there is no communication from the owners (and hasn’t been for years…), the communication from the club to the outside world is in part dishonest and in part self-contradictory. The list of bad stuff goes on and on…

The level of the performances on the pitch are starting to dip. The squad is getting thinner each transfer window. And our excellent coach (the one without wheels) will likely leave by the end of the season. The club will not be able to recruit a new manager with anything close to the same quality.

SO - can we please apply some pressure to the Venky gang?

How? a letter? Protests in the stands? Empty stadium? Other suggestions?

Does one start with Pasha? Or Waggott?

Do we know any potential buyers of the club?

Or have we all accepted Rovers’ faith and decided there’s nothing the fans can do about it; we are doomed to watch mediocre (at best) second level (at best) football under faceless chicken farmers/gangsters for the rest of our lives?

 

Don't be put off. At least one other group approached the Club a couple of years ago offering all manner of advice and support. The world and his oyster were promised and as far as I can see, nothing whatsoever came of it other than a change in structure to Head Coach and DOF.

To the best of my knowledge Waggott has now more or less cut off any communications with external fan groups bur that doesn't mean people should give up.

It might be even more necessary and relevant than ever if the owners are now genuinely unable (or unwilling) to pump as much money into the Club.

[broadsword]

Applying pressure to venkys, that's just not possible. They don't give a shit mate. They're safely ensconced in India, they're bomb proof.

Never mind promotion, I think relegation is inevitable in five years. It's a soul destroying experience, we're slowly having the tape turned off

[Cherry Blue]

3 hours ago, OllieNO said:

Sticking my neck out here, perhaps naively, but I’m just so beyond fed up:

It is time. We need to wake up. We need a supporter uprising.

The past 13 yrs have been a mess, obviously, but this year represents the mother of all missed opportunities for the club (and the owners).

The owners (and the club’s CEO) have no plan but to tread water forever, and do not care to invest the little extra needed for a serious promotion push (although they’re ok wasting 10-20 m a yr).

There is no rationality, there is no communication from the owners (and hasn’t been for years…), the communication from the club to the outside world is in part dishonest and in part self-contradictory. The list of bad stuff goes on and on…

The level of the performances on the pitch are starting to dip. The squad is getting thinner each transfer window. And our excellent coach (the one without wheels) will likely leave by the end of the season. The club will not be able to recruit a new manager with anything close to the same quality.

SO - can we please apply some pressure to the Venky gang?

How? a letter? Protests in the stands? Empty stadium? Other suggestions?

Does one start with Pasha? Or Waggott?

Do we know any potential buyers of the club?

Or have we all accepted Rovers’ faith and decided there’s nothing the fans can do about it; we are doomed to watch mediocre (at best) second level (at best) football under faceless chicken farmers/gangsters for the rest of our lives?

 

Venkys gave zero interest in Rovers, they've been to ewood only once. Swag enjoys his pay and position but he couldn't give a #### about club or fans as evidenced for example with the pathetic mismanagement of the 5,000 game presentation and closing Blackburn End for next Wednesdays game.

[Bethnal]

5 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

We're losing the battle aren't we?😟

It can feel like it’s insurmountable, it really does, most of the time.

Personally, I silently hope for a series of unfortunate events to befall the family and any number of co-conspirators, such that we end up quickly being handed off to a better custodian by whoever’s handling their estate. It’s in vain, but I also irrationally play the lottery, so that probably provides some insight.

It can feel a bit like Venkys won the battle when the Action Group waned. They corporate-bullshat their way into some respite, with no real intention of change and it shows the contempt they have for the club, really. They’ve just waited the grief out, grinding down any resistance. We used to tie Rovers flags to chickens and put them on the pitch (bit divisive, but an undeniably effective mode of protest). No longer.

It’s not sustainable, something has to give eventually, their personal economic realities will become impossible to ignore. But we could’ve said all that at any point in the last 13 years and meant it.

I hope something does give, but I am unfortunately very confident that this asset is being strung along to be passed on to a second generation of Venkys sprogs, as their father’s business was to them. He built that from scratch, he had a right to it.

Some spoilt brat coming in to play FIFA Ultimate Team with this club might even be a final straw for me. Quite whether I stop watching or go postal, even I’m not sure.

[Upside Down]

3 hours ago, Cherry Blue said:

Venkys gave zero interest in Rovers, they've been to ewood only once. Swag enjoys his pay and position but he couldn't give a #### about club or fans as evidenced for example with the pathetic mismanagement of the 5,000 game presentation and closing Blackburn End for next Wednesdays game.

The theory that they have zero interest doesn't really stack up. The have meddled numerous times in the club's transfers. The whole transfer policy is supposedly set out by them.

I think that they have an interest in this place but their interests do not align with those of the fans or anyone else in the world of football who has any shred of self respect.

[Waggy76]

8 hours ago, broadsword said:

Applying pressure to venkys, that's just not possible. They don't give a shit mate. They're safely ensconced in India, they're bomb proof.

Never mind promotion, I think relegation is inevitable in five years. It's a soul destroying experience, we're slowly having the tape turned off

5 years ?, got a feeling it will be this season or definitely next .....

[Herbie6590]

11 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Given the background of the Company that brought him into Coventry I do often  wonder if Waggott is playing the  long game and plans to somehow try and personally benefit from his systematic dismantling of the Club once he's reduced us to next to nothing.

He’s personally benefitting from his substantial salary & pension contributions. The rest is rampant speculation. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

6 hours ago, Upside Down said:

The theory that they have zero interest doesn't really stack up. The have meddled numerous times in the club's transfers. The whole transfer policy is supposedly set out by them.

I think that they have an interest in this place but their interests do not align with those of the fans or anyone else in the world of football who has any shred of self respect.

Every time they’ve meddled they’ve got it wrong. How you can do that is a bit of a mystery to me. Even if they’d have tossed a coin they’d have got some of the decisions right. 
 

My view - their plan is to gradually wear the fan base down to the point that when they finally pull the plug nothing will happen.

[JHRover]

Its a losing battle. Unlike most other clubs that have been run into the ground by negligent / dodgy owners, where the fanbases of those clubs were united in wanting rid of the orchestrators of their misery (Blackpool, Portsmouth, Coventry, Birmingham, Newcastle etc. etc.) here we have the opposite effect. What we have at Rovers is an extreme case of stockholm syndrome / indifference. It seems to me judging by the people I sit near and the comments online that the fanbase is predominantly made up either of people who think Venkys are either good or at the very least indispensable and then a large number who simply don't know or care about what happens at ownership or board level.

It is a fascinating situation in many ways, it seems purely through the passage of time and payment of bills they have attained respect / gratitude / appreciation from the majority. That's the losing battle part because if that is all it takes to overcome and make up for everything they have done and continue to do as owners then there is no hope. 

It is almost beyond belief that we are now roughly 8 years on from when the shadow man started effectively running the club on behalf of the owners in which time there has been no interview, no forum, no investigation of him or his background by media, a couple of photographs and minor references on official media. This might be of no importance to some but it is important to me.

I long since concluded there is no hope on this front with such a large number of people signed up to the Venky appreciation society. So the only way of dealing with this is to reduce my financial and emotional investment in this because ultimately it is doing me no good at all to carry on.

Every week I find myself getting very angry at fellow supporters. Reading comments after the game blaming JDT for the state we are in yet not a single mention of the real problem at the club and the second the subject moves to the owners they are 'off limits' as far as criticism goes.  People quite happy to spend their days lambasting JDT and the players for in game failings but completely unwilling to discuss or criticise the architects upstairs.

[Upside Down]

31 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Its a losing battle. Unlike most other clubs that have been run into the ground by negligent / dodgy owners, where the fanbases of those clubs were united in wanting rid of the orchestrators of their misery (Blackpool, Portsmouth, Coventry, Birmingham, Newcastle etc. etc.) here we have the opposite effect. What we have at Rovers is an extreme case of stockholm syndrome / indifference. It seems to me judging by the people I sit near and the comments online that the fanbase is predominantly made up either of people who think Venkys are either good or at the very least indispensable and then a large number who simply don't know or care about what happens at ownership or board level.

It is a fascinating situation in many ways, it seems purely through the passage of time and payment of bills they have attained respect / gratitude / appreciation from the majority. That's the losing battle part because if that is all it takes to overcome and make up for everything they have done and continue to do as owners then there is no hope. 

It is almost beyond belief that we are now roughly 8 years on from when the shadow man started effectively running the club on behalf of the owners in which time there has been no interview, no forum, no investigation of him or his background by media, a couple of photographs and minor references on official media. This might be of no importance to some but it is important to me.

I long since concluded there is no hope on this front with such a large number of people signed up to the Venky appreciation society. So the only way of dealing with this is to reduce my financial and emotional investment in this because ultimately it is doing me no good at all to carry on.

Every week I find myself getting very angry at fellow supporters. Reading comments after the game blaming JDT for the state we are in yet not a single mention of the real problem at the club and the second the subject moves to the owners they are 'off limits' as far as criticism goes.  People quite happy to spend their days lambasting JDT and the players for in game failings but completely unwilling to discuss or criticise the architects upstairs.

When people say we have shit fans they are right. A lot of them regularly attend games.

If you are pro venkys in any way you are not a supporter of BRFC.

[Mattyblue]

It became clear to me in the 2011, 2012 protest period that most folk just want to watch a team in blue and white they have an connection to play a game of football once a fortnight. They aren’t particularly arsed about all the rest of it like us tragics on here.

There are loads of empty seats at Ewood compared to most of our Championship peers, ergo we must have ‘shit support’ and be a ‘small club’, so these owners keeping the bills paid is good enough for them and we should be bloody well grateful for it too. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by Mattyblue

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

53 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Its a losing battle. Unlike most other clubs that have been run into the ground by negligent / dodgy owners, where the fanbases of those clubs were united in wanting rid of the orchestrators of their misery (Blackpool, Portsmouth, Coventry, Birmingham, Newcastle etc. etc.) here we have the opposite effect. What we have at Rovers is an extreme case of stockholm syndrome / indifference. It seems to me judging by the people I sit near and the comments online that the fanbase is predominantly made up either of people who think Venkys are either good or at the very least indispensable and then a large number who simply don't know or care about what happens at ownership or board level.

It is a fascinating situation in many ways, it seems purely through the passage of time and payment of bills they have attained respect / gratitude / appreciation from the majority. That's the losing battle part because if that is all it takes to overcome and make up for everything they have done and continue to do as owners then there is no hope. 

It is almost beyond belief that we are now roughly 8 years on from when the shadow man started effectively running the club on behalf of the owners in which time there has been no interview, no forum, no investigation of him or his background by media, a couple of photographs and minor references on official media. This might be of no importance to some but it is important to me.

I long since concluded there is no hope on this front with such a large number of people signed up to the Venky appreciation society. So the only way of dealing with this is to reduce my financial and emotional investment in this because ultimately it is doing me no good at all to carry on.

Every week I find myself getting very angry at fellow supporters. Reading comments after the game blaming JDT for the state we are in yet not a single mention of the real problem at the club and the second the subject moves to the owners they are 'off limits' as far as criticism goes.  People quite happy to spend their days lambasting JDT and the players for in game failings but completely unwilling to discuss or criticise the architects upstairs.

An excellent summation and my feelings exactly.I feel so frustrated with matters behind the scenes its hard to put into words...the future does not look bright under the tenure of these shysters.

We are a club slowly having the life strangled out of us as the fans look on and ask what have we done to deserve this?

[Gav]

16 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

We're losing the battle aren't we?😟

We lost the battle under king rat when the traditional hardcore decide it was more important to support the team, than to try and change the regime. 

It was left to a small band of warriors to fight the battle, whilst the rest sat and did nothing.

Sadly it was only going to end one way, £200m+ in debt and heading one way.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

I was part of those early protests Gav and one thing that sticks in my mind was the gormless,nay,clueless expressions of some of our fans as the protestors vented their spleens.

To those who chose to mock..you reap what you sow.

[alcd]

16 hours ago, broadsword said:

Applying pressure to venkys, that's just not possible. They don't give a shit mate. They're safely ensconced in India, they're bomb proof.

Never mind promotion, I think relegation is inevitable in five years. It's a soul destroying experience, we're slowly having the tape turned off

Relegation next season if not this. Venkys won't be bothered as a much lower wage bill means reduced losses and lots of players will be sold to enable the financial can to be kicked down the road. 

[broadsword]

Well I was giving myself some wiggle room with five years. But I believe it could quickly unravels and the catalyst for that would be JDT walking.

Not that I advocate for violence , but there's so many characters I would like to KTFO. Fat Barry better pack his dinner along with his iron bar cos he'll need it by the time I'm done.

[Mhead2]

Great input from JH Rover.

As a protester I was mocked and shouted at, as if the Venkys were the 'golden cow'.

After 5 1/2 years as Chair of the Trust, I came to the conclusion that the only solution to the managed decline was for things to get worse and, at last, Venkys to sell. I am now no longer active in trying to be a 'critical friend'.  Willingly or unwillingly, We are the Rovers is now in new hands.

Have been shouting in the wilderness re the Riverside and now they decide to start shutting the BBE. (Players have been commenting on lack of supporters in the Riverside, reach your own conclusions)

If they would only attend matches, we could run them out of town!!