JHRover

Some of this, I think, comes back to the strange obsession some people have with the period of say 1975-1989. A 15 -20 year block of our history (similar to the Venky era) yet for some reason, perhaps because it immediately preceded the Walker revolution, some people fixate on this spell as being representative of what Blackburn Rovers is and can expect to be as a club. You rarely, if ever, get people referring back to what the club was in the 40s,50s, 60s and often these people are keen to remind us that it isn't the 90s or 00s anymore, that we've no right to rely on that 20 year block as a benchmark or standard as it isn't 'normal'. But why is 1975-1989 'normal' but the 50s, 60s, 90s, 00s not normal? A lot of it of course is because people can clearly remember the 70s and 80s and consider what is happening now to be simply a return to that. But by the same token I could refer them to the decades before then. Sadly I think a few are still in this 'I was there before it was good' mentality - that because they followed Rovers before the Walker glory days that this gives them more perspective, knowledge, understanding of what BRFC really is than those who decided to or were of an age to start supporting the club when the times were good in the 90s and 00s. Well the same people ought to know that taking our history as a whole it is certainly more than being a struggling second division club with 4-figure crowds. Because aside from the Venky created sham we have now and a period when English football was on its knees in terms of crowds and stadia that just isn't accurate as a reflection. But with the willingness to accept it and convince themselves it is the best we can expect it is little wonder the club drifted in the wilderness for the best part of 30 years rarely getting anywhere. Whatever the truth of it nothing and nobody will tell me that I should accept something that clearly isn't good enough. The disgrace of a regime and ownership that occupies the club today certainly isn't good enough and need to be reminded of that on a regular basis.

There's probably quite a few in that boat. People who didn't want Venkys to take over to begin with or who were strongly opposed to them in the initial few years as they got to work wrecking the club, yet through a curious mix of time, silence, decay and mountain of debt have come to the conclusion they are necessary or even beneficial to us. Very strange but I think most of it comes from an uncertainty or fear about what comes next and this baseless belief that there is nobody else out there to replace them. There's no evidence in support of that belief. Quite the opposite. I think it is a shame people want to live their lives in fear and accept the current disgrace on a pessimistic assumption that it would be worse otherwise. Where is the confidence or optimism? Little wonder the place is in the state it is with such acceptance of the unacceptable.

Me too. My only source of optimism over the last few years has been their legal issues in India, hoping and praying that either a guilty finding or the restrictions placed on them would break them - that they would be unable to keep going and would have to sell it on or let it go. That hope is fading. It appears they have weathered the storm there. The only residual hope is that either the imminent relegation that they have created is enough of a blow (it wasn't the last two times they relegated us) or that a couple of years without any large player sales tips the balance. I'm not confident, but can hope.

I wonder how many of the 'signatories' to that counter-letter will be renewing when the club slides into League One. Not many I would bet. They like to portray themselves as true supporters but like most others will have a limit to what they can stomach. Some call it a boycott, others will come up with other names for it and reasons, end result will be the same, and the source of it is the same. I hope it helps them sleep at night telling themselves that they are the majority and that they are 'true supporters'. It certainly won't make a shred of difference to the future of BRFC as it is gutted and dismantled before our eyes.

Agreed, I'd even go so far as to say that most of that number wouldn't have any awareness of a planned boycott or this letter or indeed the strength of feeling among some parts of the fanbase. For one reason or another there is a large portion of people who go who simply have little to no interest or understanding in what goes on other than from 3pm - 5pm (or 12:30pm-2:30pm these days) every other Saturday at Ewood. It seems to be that they can switch off their Rovers interest for all but a couple of hours a fortnight and even then won't trouble themselves with matters around ownership, management, decisions. Just turn up, sit there, hope we win and shrug shoulders if it goes badly and see you in a fortnight. I'm not criticising that, I envy it, as I sometimes wish that was the extent of my interest in this club and I could put myself in such a bubble and carry on going and enjoying that routine. I can't do that though. But I know from the people I sit near that many of them would react with surprise, amazement, horror or bewilderment if I asked them about a plan to boycott the Watford game. Many wouldn't have heard about it, many wouldn't even entertain the idea as a serious suggestion. Some don't even understand that there's anything wrong with the club because, up to this point, their little routine of visiting Ewood hasn't been seriously affected.

The FA not even trying to hide that they've totally sold the soul of the competition off. It's hard to even keep track of how many different TV stations have bought rights to it scattered across the globe.

Has anyone checked the forecast for Saturday? Hopefully not raining so we can get a game in. I'd overlooked this was another one of those needless 12:30pm kick offs so that will put another dent in the attendance and atmosphere.

It's all so tiring isn't it? If I had a pound for every time a Rovers manager has talked about an upcoming transfer window and wanting bodies in the building early etc. only for that not to happen If I had a pound for every time I'd heard the word 'transition' and that things will be better in a few weeks, months, years. Ifs, buts, maybes, jam tomorrow not today. The never ending project and cycle. We've got a manager that is already beyond his career average for games in charge of a club who has got a 30% win record and delivered 1 home win in 10. We've got a regime in charge whose only interest is in cutting costs and moving players in and out quickly and hoping to turn a quick profit. There is no project or plan. It's just excuses from people now starting to feel the pressure as the enormity and severity of our situation becomes clear to even the more deluded bunch out there.

Mowbray was the perfect manager for Venkys. Not for Blackburn Rovers, but for Venkys. He was willing to work with their bonkers ways, traipse off to India and tell them how wonderful they are, handle more than a modern day manager should be handling, all the media, contracts, scouting, fans, even going as far as to appoint his assistant as director of football and Waggott as CEO to provide additional support. In return they got seemingly everything they've ever wanted in a manager - someone they trust who they could leave to get on with it, keep the fans quiet/content, perhaps most importantly plod for a few years whilst developing serious assets that would make a hefty profit in the transfer window and allow them to recoup cash from sales. I don't think we would ever have got promoted under him as he just isn't the sort of manager to go out and deliver that. But for a disgraceful operation like these owners want to preside over he was an ideal custodian for them to just sit there and do nothing and leave it to him. For reasons unknown they decided to cut him off. Whether that was them losing faith or middle men getting a hand on the controls again after a few years out of the limelight we will never know. My own suspicion is that dogsbody Pasha was annoyed at Mowbray usurping him in the chain of command as he did after relegation to League One and therefore set about ensuring Mowbray's access to the top table in Pune was severed. Ever since then it has been a gradual return back to the sort of skeletal joke of a structure that was in place from 2015-2017 when they removed good people from office (Bowyer, Myers, Biggar) and either didn't replace them or replaced them with dross. The parallels between then and now are startling. Whilst Ismael is undoubtedly a better manager than Coyle ever was he is working with a smaller and probably inferior squad. Either way the end / outcome of this is going to be the same. Last time around it took relegation being sealed for the idiots in India to summon people out there for a meeting, so I suspect the same this time around - they'll only even become aware of a change in league status after it happens. Unfortunately they've got even less interest and willingness to invest this time around so I'm not confident that anything will happen other than another radical round of cost cuts. Rudy will probably be the one sacrificed at that point.

If you're running a professional football club you don't take your holidays in December when it's the busiest time of the year for matches and we've a transfer window approaching, especially when we are floundering towards the bottom of the league. I know you want to excuse and justify every inexcusable thing this lot do but it just isn't acceptable.

How can he 'not be around' if he's being employed by the Club to be its' 'Chief Operating Officer'?. Surely such a role requires you be based at Ewood Park?

Who decided to appoint Gestede and why? What qualification or experience did that person(s) have to make that hugely important call? What qualification or experience did Gestede have to earn him a crack at running things? Decisions that are likely to cost the club its league status, thousands of fans and millions of pounds. I think it requires a bit more than a shrug and 'it is what it is'

It's still ridiculous to think we appointed him in the first place considering where we were when he got the job. Would anyone else have appointed this guy whilst sat in the top 6 of the Championship in February? Of course not. Even if we had been bottom 6 in February he was still lucky to get the job after his recent tenures. But then we should remember that promotion was never on the agenda here, so they weren't looking for someone to keep us up there or get us up. Eustace created a problem for them last season and everything they've done since then has been to ensure it doesn't happen again, forcing him out, dismantling his squad, selling key players to Derby, Wrexham, Middlesbrough etc.

And just think about what is going to happen come the summer if we do manage to avoid relegation. Gestede collects his bonus and then sets about offloading some more of our bigger earners and better players to make some money and reduce the wage bill further.

'Family reasons' all rather convenient at the club that won't extend the contract of anyone and cuts/reduces/offloads wherever possible. Proof will be in the pudding but I'd be surprised if he's playing in the Norwegian league come next year.