Realistic thoughts on the future

[Bbrovers2288]

Just wondering what other supporters thoughts were on the future. Do we have any light at the end of the tunnel or have we regressed so much that we will never be that solid premier team again that we all crave. Not saying miracles but a Brighton/bournemouth type. 
 

im really worried as not only have the taps been turned off player recruitment wise but with the contract situation with all squad and a gamble of a manager appointment it seems like they are dousing the house in petrol just ready to set alight. 
I think unless we get more transfer backing than I am imagining right now then we are certain for relegation next year. It’s really really hard being a fan of this club just now, everything is so frustrating and bleak , I have heard a good few that have had enough and won’t renew season tickets, I can’t blame them but just where does it turn for us or does it? 

[Upside Down]

No future as long as venkys are around.

[Ghost7]

It doesn't turn sadly, don't renew until they go, or if they make a genuine "significant investment" in players.

There was a very deceitful early bird offer last season, engineered by Waggott to trap fans because they knew Eustace wasn't getting the budget he'd been promised.

It worked because many trusted them to spend the Raya sell-on and some of the Wharton fee on players, however, we sleepwalked through the summer spending pennies and positioned ourselves as favourites in the media to go down because of it...

There's no reason it'll be any different this time. Bridges have been burned between the club and likely thousands more season ticket holders, with the non-existent transfer budgets and an inability to keep hold of decent managers.

The CEO, Directors and Owners have been given chance after chance to be honest and communicate with the fan base but they are incapable...

They need starving out.

[Bbrovers2288]

We all want venkys to sell up more than anything else but then my fear is- are we worth buying? We aren’t in a particularly desirable area like a London club, we don’t have a large catchment area for a fan base , loads of other options around unlike say a Newcastle. Jack walkers are one in a million to the likes of us, it’s just not great. Do genuinely wonder when it will be fun to support this team again if ever 

[Upside Down]

59 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

We all want venkys to sell up more than anything else but then my fear is- are we worth buying? We aren’t in a particularly desirable area like a London club, we don’t have a large catchment area for a fan base , loads of other options around unlike say a Newcastle. Jack walkers are one in a million to the likes of us, it’s just not great. Do genuinely wonder when it will be fun to support this team again if ever 

Oh for fucks sake not this again.

We're one of only SEVEN clubs to have won the league since 1993.

There have been countless offers from serious people to buy the club that have all been rebuffed.

I'll let others carry on with listing the massive number of clubs, far less fashionable than this one that have changed ownership in the last 10 years.

 

[Ferrit]

Grim. The club is rotten to the core.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, Upside Down said:

Oh for fucks sake not this again.

We're one of only SEVEN clubs to have won the league since 1993.

There have been countless offers from serious people to buy the club that have all been rebuffed.

I'll let others carry on with listing the massive number of clubs, far less fashionable than this one that have changed ownership in the last 10 years.

 

Serious people? So who are these people? 

So where were all these people when we were in the PL and doing well? 

[Mattyblue]

The PL is a totally different beast in 2025 (as is the Championship with the PL loot on offer) than it was in the 2000s. Potential owners are falling over themselves to get involved.

Of course there will be suitors for a club with our infrastructure that has spent a hell of a lot of time around the PL play off places in recent years.

[chaddyrovers]

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

The PL is a totally different beast in 2025 (as is the Championship with the PL loot on offer) than it was in the 2000s. Potential owners are falling over themselves to get involved.

Of course there will be suitors for a club with our infrastructure that has spent a hell of a lot of time around the PL play off places in recent years.

Granted but I think we should be very cautious about the next owner, etc etc

[...]

We've excellent training facilities, a decent ground, we've got history as founding members, we've won the Premier league which for a small town is historic and never to be repeated anytime soon. We have alot going for us in terms of who we are for potential buyers. 

[martonrover]

The costliest snowball in history.

[...]

I just really really hope that those that have chosen to stay away return to Ewood Park once they have left and aren't past it

[Mattyblue]

These owners aren’t going anywhere at least this decade, so a few would return, but most have long gone (and why wouldn’t they after at least twenty years  away, many will have found many different things to do with their time and money, and alas plenty will have popped their clogs if nothing else)

[toogs]

55 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Granted but I think we should be very cautious about the next owner, etc etc

Fence sitter

[Bbrovers2288]

3 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Oh for fucks sake not this again.

We're one of only SEVEN clubs to have won the league since 1993.

There have been countless offers from serious people to buy the club that have all been rebuffed.

I'll let others carry on with listing the massive number of clubs, far less fashionable than this one that have changed ownership in the last 10 years.

 

Not seen any credible offers to buy the club tbf, history counts for very little when it’s about money and a business decision. Think your maybe overestimating our appeal 

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Granted but I think we should be very cautious about the next owner, etc etc

Why? How could they be worse than the current lot?

I feel a need to remind you of a few facts as it seems that you are now reverting to the old 'but who would buy us' routine, of course potential buyers are not going to waste their time and play their hands going public about their ability/willingness to buy Rovers when they are up against a stubborn refusal to even speak about a sale. 

Would you go around putting offers on houses that weren't for sale or would you move when the 'For Sale' signs went up?

Here's a quick list of clubs in England that have changed ownership/control in the last 10-15 years of Venky destruction of Rovers:

Everton, Man Utd, Aston Villa (twice), Wolves, Newcastle, Leicester, Southampton (twice), Forest (twice), Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Fulham

Non-PL clubs:

Burnley, Blackpool, Bolton (twice), Wigan (twice), Stockport, Salford, Wrexham, Port Vale, Burton, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Notts County, Sheffield Utd (twice), Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley, Huddersfield (twice), Leeds (twice), Hull, Sunderland (twice), Norwich, Ipswich, MK Dons, Coventry, Birmingham (twice), West Brom, Swansea, Newport, Bristol Rovers, Swindon, Reading (soon to be twice), Wycombe (twice), QPR, Portsmouth, Gillingham, Carlisle, Morecambe, Accrington, Charlton (twice), Leyton Orient, Lincoln, Cambridge, Oxford (twice)

I'm sure there are others I can't think of. 

Why do you, and others, think that new owners would avoid a Championship Blackburn Rovers, one promotion away from the PL, yet would get involved with all those other clubs?

[Mattyblue]

How do you know there’s been no credible offers, 2288?

Nobody would be interested in taking over Blackburn Rovers? When we’ve spent three out of the four seasons in and around the play offs for the Premier League? 

You need two parties at the table, that’s the issue.

[chaddyrovers]

48 minutes ago, ... said:

I just really really hope that those that have chosen to stay away return to Ewood Park once they have left and aren't past it

Very few return after Kean left. 

When you aren't attending games, you find other things to do then you don't come back regular. Sad but truth. 

I know people who have walked away from Rovers and they aren't coming back at all. Falling out of love with Rovers, gone supporting another team or just got moved on with life started a family, etc

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

52 minutes ago, ... said:

I just really really hope that those that have chosen to stay away return to Ewood Park once they have left and aren't past it

I’ll probably be dead.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Very few return after Kean left. 

When you aren't attending games, you find other things to do then you don't come back regular. Sad but truth. 

I know people who have walked away from Rovers and they aren't coming back at all. Falling out of love with Rovers, gone supporting another team or just got moved on with life started a family, etc

Quite a few are falling out of love with football. I remember thinking during that Norwich game recently - “ If football had have been like this when I was a kid would I have got interested in watching and then playing ? “ Possibly not.

The boring possession based tactics, play acting and diving, the crazy wages, games on at stupid times, the death of the FA Cup etc etc. 

I speak to guys at the Rugby League that I played with and against who were football daft back then. They haven’t been to a football match in years.

Edited Monday at 10:02 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Mattyblue]

Yet crowds are at their highest level across the country for league games since the 1950s, so something is obviously making it hot property despite the product being bloody crap half the time…

[J*B]

The future is — and will always be — administration. Venkys will not sell the club. There’s only two ways to get rid of them, effect their personal life or make the club lose so much money they finally quit or more realistically, have the club taken away from them.

Nobody is willing to protest in a way that will affect them. Staying behind after games, negative chants, mass walk outs, holding up red cards, they’re not bothered at all about any of that. Either every match, every week is postponed due to protest or the only thing they do care about (family) is targeted. Nothing else will work. Don’t waste your time planning it.

That leaves a waiting game til administration. How many fans love Rovers so much that no matter how bad things get, they’ll continue to “support the boys” and buy season tickets and shirts? 4,000 based on this seasons ticket sales this year. Nobody should be forced to give up something they love, but unless 3,000 of those 4,000 stop it’ll simply keep treading water away as it is. They’re doing it for the right reasons (love the club, support the players, enjoy time with their friends) but they’re essentially keeping a dying dog alive with short term medication. Might go down, might come back up, might finish 9th, but won’t actually make any progress. 

[...]

I get that people move on with their lives. At one point its all people talked about at work or meeting friends in town. Football was always on everyone's lips but this town seems to be silent about everything not just the winning. 

It's just fuckin sad to see. 

And this season was introductory for my kids and they love going. 

Used to be the hub and heart of the town this club and its slowly dying. 

[Mattyblue]

If we sold 0 STs it would make no odds to them, they’d just instruct Swaghail to cut elsewhere to make up the shortfall.

We’ve gone from c20,000 ST holders to the nadir (so far) in 2021/22 of 6,995 - they didn’t bat an eyelid. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

24 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Yet crowds are at their highest level across the country for league games since the 1950s, so something is obviously making it hot property despite the product being bloody crap half the time…

Boiling frog syndrome.