I emailed SW on Thursday to advise D-Day , highlighting the 4000 adult season tickets , and that the organised element over land and sea IS returning. He acknowledged receipt, stating always happy to meet up. I asked him to do an interview with me via a podcast with zero media spin so the real questions can be asked and answered for all to hear , rather than a select few and the embarrassing minutes we've seen to date

There is zero case to be made for retaining the CEO. Yes we've signed some players (we couldn't exactly go into the season with none) However the facts remain Wharton, Gent, Raya, Wahlsedt, Gallagher, Telalovic, Ennis funds ain't been reinvested adequately We've signed 4 x free transfers (3 of which on one year deals and in their 30s) , a striker for 600k before any add ons , a striker for 150k both could easily turn out to be Telalovic as easy as they could be a Szmodics. Where the next 20m windfall from this lot is coming from I don't know, given we are constantly told we will buy young and cheap,polish and sell at big profit. We've got more heads of this and that to replace one Director of football. 4000 adult season tickets (let that sink in) had we not had £23 kids season tickets I dread to think the total sales . Another low value shirt sponsorship deal despite more tv coverage. I know quite a few people like Waggott who speak regularly with him. However this ain't about how nice someone can be or if they ring you with snippets of information or appear to listen to you. This is about the general performance of the club he heads up. He is 100% accountable. Of course there are others that need to go like Suhail and Venkys , but ultimately anyone who thinks his performance is acceptable should be nowhere near him, as this is not representative of the majority

That was quick , and there was me thinking David Dein and Arsene Wenger were coming to save us

Got involved in motorsports

My memory of the history of the trust. Duncan Miller tried extremely hard long before the hard days to get a trust off the ground, (a modern day visionary really, as if we knew then what we know now, the support he needed would of been forthcoming.) I recall a meeting where Mark Ashworth , James Fallon and Duncan were doing the paperwork to get the supporters direct on board and get that important piece of paper to form a trust after probably 2 years of effort. Then Venkys started the dismantling , which saw Dan Grabko propose a business plan to form an entity/trust unbeknown that only one trust can exists. Wayne brought the business plan to me, where I gave it an evaluation. The concept was good but the delivery was more if we was real madrid. Wayne and I both put a lot of time in rewriting this with Dan, to create an entity with the sole purpose of being there to take up the reigns if Venkys put the club into administration. We reached out to some significant investors but also allowed every fan an opportunity to own a stake in a new ownership model. We gained MP and influential local businesses buy in, but with another trust existing unless the two entities merge, with that piece of paper bring the key thing needed, neither trust could progress. The trust set up an elected board made up of the two entities. I opted to be a member but not at that time get involved in running the trust as the lack of traction had already sent me down the path to form the democratically elected Action Group , which was free and had 10 fold the membership. It also had some huge influential supporters from Mps to knights of the realm to businessman fir example Wayne Hemingway was a patron as was Lord Patel amongst others. The Action group always existed to hold those in charge accountable, whereas the trust was the back up plan. Interestingly the trust met up with Battersby ect but could not form an mutual agreement. There was frustration from the action group that publicly the trust was remaining quiet, though privately the trust did fund some of the protest movement from personal donations (not from trust funds). It was the action group who formed the picture of what had occurred at rovers releasing the smoking gun proving the club had broken the rules. The action group were the group who went to the FA, Premier League, Football league and importantly Parliament, which instigated the independent regulator and fan lead review. The trust were NOT involved in any of this, though have provided input into the fan lead review amongst other supporter organisations since. It was around this time I was elected onto the FSA national Council to drive further pressure into the heart of the national games authorities. Once the corruption was removed from the club I opted to stand down from the Action Group, I'd done my time and was asked to become the secretary of the Rovers trust. I took on this role, and the trust remit remained the same. On the pitch and around the club things were starting to improve though we had dropped to league one , anger was replaced with optimism on the back of the clubs promotion back to the championship. I stood down from the Trust, for personal reasons as my position had become untenable due to me leaving WEC where I was a company director, to become a company director elsewhere. It was important that personal relationship strains didn't affect the trusts path to succeeding. What happened after then I don't know bar a full change of guard and significant membership drop. What the trust aims are now, I'm still unsure as I don't recall a mandate change during my time . What I do know its a lot of effort for free, which at times has you thinking "why do I bother" I can also say a pressure group is something the trust has never been or claimed to be, which somewhat has always been a handicap. The trust is bound by governance and rules as set out by supporters direct and by its own mandate. JWs statement on the TV last year that its never as good at it currently was , will haunt many a supporter for years to come. Ad it was not representative of the majority of supporters, but because it was done in an official capacity as the Chairman of the trust , it was a positive move for a change of the guard once more. Like the fans forum, all who put their time in , do so because they ate passionate supporters. It's easy to criticse from afar, but believe me the effort it takes to drive these things is mammoth and they should be applauded for trying their best within the remits they have

The stupidity of keep hiking the price has killed any chance of this being successful. Many are watching and would of bought on the back of the club investing in the squad if they di actually do this. These hikes will have most of the undecided deciding the hike has made their decision for them

Keep plugging away, it's a very difficult job to be on a panel as opinions often differ. It's far easier to represent a group with a set remit, as the opinions tend to be far more uniformed. Minutes which must go through the club are always going to be contentious as its does not put meat on the bones , and to my best knowledge no one from the forum since its inception has ever broke ranks to elaborate on what was said. Its not a critism its an observation which supports the need for the on meetings to return in conjunction with the forum. Me personally, I don't like to be tied to these rules. Every meeting I've ever had I've reported nearly word for word what was said, and without the club censoring me. As things start to ramp in terms of a direct opposition to the regime, it would be my intention to remain transparent as I always have. My loyalty is to the badge, town and heritage , not some employees who profit from the very things we all want to see protected

Appears some good things were asked but the absence of some key points. 1. Poor communication continues as those on charge continually duck and dive from the media. 2. Nothing regarding supporter unrest and the likely possibility of protests 3. Open meetings again don't make the minutes and the FF cannot be deemed as an adequate replacement 4.Nothing mentioned that again we are waking into a season with players on last year of their contracts. 5. No mention of why abrupt departures of GB amongst others, do we have a new project again? I thank those giving their time attending, but clearly the answers given publicly are not acceptable

Has Ashley Ward signed yet

I asked a simple question on twitter a few days ago , of the 16 who were okay with current ownership , only 4 were rovers fans. The other 12 in their bios were either PNE or Burnley.

The options are limitless this time around as the anger is not the manager or the players. This means none match days and Ewood Park is a 24/7 option. Amazingly none match days gets far more coverage as the media have 92 football clubs to look after on a match day , whereas they are scratching for stories on other days . Suhail has never had anything thrown at him since he arrived (was part of takeover). The board offices at Ewood, its a critical time for them to try and get sponsorship, corporates. During thar last protest era they lost so much of their ability to generate commercial opportunities as companies did not want their brand associated with the club. To get the table to fall over , we have to take out the legs. We need clear objectives and a clear message of what, why and when? We need some people to put time in, co-ordinated press releases and the club on the Backfoot. There is no negotiation at this stage, as some crappy media communication ain't gonna fix the damage which has accelerated over the last 18 months . The club took away the fans open meetings , the owners are still missing and the club want us to celebrate 30 years ago , to cloud the present. The time for talking and reasoning with these charlatans has passed.

Talk of putting bums on seats need to be halted. Putting bums on seats won't aid getting rid of the board or the owners , It's all very much, how can we help you bring fans back, and all very one sided. Throwing a party at the funeral is rubbing the fans noses in it. A total vote of no confidence in both the board and ownership is where many are more leaning than the very low percentage who thinks this still works

Which ever way we look at it its a shambles. Can't be bothered to add up how many players less we have from last season with exits and loans returning, but with less than two weeks to go we are about to sell two more strikers to add to Ennis and Telavovic who have left since January. Backfilling with loans, freebies and never heard offs. I'm not surprised players want to leave, if I was a player I'd want out too. Worse thing about it, bar some social media discontent , these fuckers are being allowed to just get on with it. There is not a cat in halls chance this would of been allowed to just happen under the action group days. These bustards would of been all over the papers , with the foot soldiers being taken out. What more do they have to do before enough is enough?

Always felt we should be looking at Asia and the J league . From a marketing point of view the fruits can be huge. This lad 28 in a few days and 6 months into a j-league season so will be fit , worry would be can he last a full season with zero rest? January best time to buy players from Japan

Ultimately the clubs actions over the next few weeks will determine the supporter mood , The idea there won't be an organised element of opposition to the current board and owners is a pipe dream for those in charge and those who support what's clearly a f***ing joke. As I've warned Waggott before, the supporters have successfully removed far more infested rot before and if an organised element returns those numbers will outweigh any cordial call of support he thinks may exist. I watched with interest towards the end of the season if those vocal would actually be able to put something together in form of an opposition to the regime. Sadly no one wanted to take a public lead. I'm more than happy to now use my experience, contacts both nationally and internationally to blow a big hole in what's an extremely weak Arsenal

Wrong thread

He does divide opinion , but did raise quite quickly a lot of money to jet the Chile singer to Ewood. Twitter can be a strange place , a bit like marmite, you either like them or don't, but it can also be somewhat away from reality. It's also a powerful tool twitter, I've been asked many times to to not tweet certain things due to it influencing opinion, of course I will tweet what I want

The Trust anyone can pay and join , have equal voting rights and by the same token have an equal opportunity to join the board. All opinions differ (if we all thought the same nothing would ever change) . In a democratic organisation no one should be excluded because their opinions differ, and with the appointments the trust have stayed true to democracy which is a good thing.

Agree with much of this, though the event was sent to 3000 people and it was not how many were watching. AGMs can be a bit of washout going through formalities and many have low attendances. I think the Trust did well to get a Eustace and Gestede to attend , which you'd of hoped more than what appeared the 25 or so people included 70% of the trust board attended. These guys don't get paid for running the trust and have put lots of time and effort into organising this event, the attendance should of been much better given the headline guest alone, and reaching out to the masses has to be top of the agenda for the next 12 months to get at least a more visual impact of numbers that care. It would of been nice to see a slide of the make up of the board, who is who, their role and in particular the new elected board members. There was no bio, no pictures or statements of why they would be a good board member. Given the board didn't have a full electorate these were pretty much passed off, which shows anyone can join the board if they want to, though hopefully at some stage their will be more candidates than positions. I'd of liked to hear what the answers from the club actually were in regards to some of the questions posed. In particular why it was one pay day for the early bird? What was the exact response and why do they feel there is a need to raise the price after this? I didn't think there was any clear answers to questions like above, bar data not supporting many concerns. The crowd and revenue is an interesting debate, as the numbers were pooled with the away attendance, creating somewhat of a smokescreen given we have been playing the likes of Leeds. I'd like to see this numbers deciphered far more to what the actual home attendance is, which is data the club has at the touch of the button. Also they should also be able to share the category. If not WHY? The clubs narrative of improvement curves needs challenging, its why we still have incompetence at senior level, its why we get inexperienced Head of operations appointed etc. The club cannot thrive purely on away support. 24% not renewing was the most damning of all statistics, in any business this is a catastrophe. New season tickets (potentially many kids) again mask the steep decline under the current administration and owners. Keep plodding away guys, its a thankless task at times. I think the next event needs to be the club board at King George's Hall in an open meeting so that the fans can pose in an open forum the many questions which continue to go unanswered.

An interesting listen of a podcast Nick Harris did in 2020 https://audioboom.com/posts/7728459-blackburn-rovers-the-incredible-story-of-the-venky-s-turbulent-ownership

Yeh

Very poor statement, given its had more kick than the match ball I also saw the other day that the engagement guy , can't remember his name, now also has job title commercial manager , surely not?

I think it's in the rules that only the club secretary can formalise the paperwork , this is why they have club secretaries. I don't know how the system works , what it looks like or who uploads what, only that only 1 person under the FA rules has the authority to submit it

I imagine the secretary had a discussion with a number of people and would of been the first aware, who notified who and how it spread around the office is irrelevant. I wasn't there,

I think she was just the messenger tbh