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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.

Youve gone down rabbit holes you cant now climb out of. If you genuinely think that Mowbray was the protagonist to our lack of ambition, based on an out of context, petulant throw away comment under pressure. Or any individual who has been and gone during the last 15 years. Then you havent been paying attention. Before Mowbray we didnt have ambition. After him, no ambition. Also, Waggott never invested into the company. Not his job. Venkys barely have invested, theyve covered standard losses, huge difference. We havent had any ambition across the last 15 years.

Buy them something else

There's no denying the owners overall record is atrocious, there's no getting round that. However for me any ambition to succeed within the Club seemed to perish once Mowbray got us back into the Championship and that sense came mainly from the manager himself. Wasn't it he who coined the infamous phrase, "It's not 1995 anymore". After that things looked briefly promising under JDT but then the Court case gave the owners and Waggott a convenient sounding excuse not to invest, same again under Eustace but they drove him away by refusing to support him. Now the situation seems completely hopeless, not only do they not try to pretend there's any ambition they're completely brazen and boast about the lack of it. "Play offs weren't the priority/the days of big money signings are over" ( Gestede) "Spending money doesn't guarantee success" (Pasha) Against this sort of backdrop I've said for a couple of seasons at least that we're only one bad manager away from oblivion. Well, now we've got him.

Sorry. I was being lazy and took that as a presumption off one post I’d just read.

14 years ago this rhetoric was used when Kean was in charge to "back the boys" during the 2011 Christmas period. The crowd did their part. The team lost every match. Crowd size won't make a difference when we have a shit manager and average players (being kind). The owners showing actual ambition in their running of the club is how things turn around. We'll never see that though, so we're going nowhere whether 300 or 30,000 are at the ground.

Luckily for the Sheffield Wednesday fans their journey has been wretched but thankfully, very short in duration. Contrast that with the much more painful and enduring death by a thousand cuts that Blackburn Rovers fans have had to experience. There is no comparison, save that one club will soon be bouncing back and the other continues on the path to oblivion !

I definitely also get the superfan undercurrent but perhaps it is purely subconscious or inadvertent. Also agree with a number of other points. I dont get why the owners arent the trigger point for your disillusionment, but each to their own. Mowbray seemed to be one of a few rabbit holes you went down which have taken you away from the owners. After that season when we fell away, it had happened once under Mowbray, it has also happened since twice since. Different managers, different staff, 15 years of constant embarassment.

Totally agree. Sheff Wed fans did a lot of grumbling in earlier seasons, but it was only when wages stopped being paid that the whole house of cards came down and fans properly mobilised. Here, a ‘small club’ with ‘crap crowds’ is still in the Championship and the wages are paid. ‘What you all moaning about, who else will pay them?’

This is definitely an issue and something I have mentioned before. With clubs like Sheff W, Bury, Reading, Coventry and so on, the disaster happened over the space of a couple of years and accelerated very quickly to the point the club goes bust. So it (rightly) looks and sounds very serious to outsiders. Almost uniquely, our managed decline has happened at such a snails pace comparatively, that everyone else lost interest once we dropped out of the Premier League. We've never been seen as a big city or fashionable club, it looks like we are just "moaning coz it isn't 1995". It doesn't help that we have portions of our own fanbase massively talking down the stature of the club and saying "well we were shit with small support in the 70s so we should accept that in 2025". For all but a small section of the club's history, we have either been in the top flight, or in the second tier but trying to get into the top flight. There were some periods where we struggled and dipped into the third tier, but taken across 150 years, or 137 of league football, we have almost always been in the elite or on the cusp of the elite. People now saying we should be grateful the venkys are keeping us swirling round the plughole infuriate me.

Just for truths sake, and as you named me. I have not walked away, I just have not renewed my season ticket. This is mainly due to the fact that I cannot get to mid-week, Sunday or later kick-off games, so I pick and choose which games I attend, both home and away.

I think it's important to acknowledge the contrast of 'perceived immediate peril' between Rovers' and Sheff Wednesday's situations. When they boycotted the Boro game, drawing national attention and widespread unity, the following had happened in the previous 6 months alone (source is Wikipedia, so may not be 100% accurate). On 3 June, the club and owner Dejphon Chansiri were charged with multiple breaches of EFL Regulations relating to payment obligations by the EFL. On 5 June, the club were placed under a registration embargo. On 18 June, the EFL placed the club under a three-window fee restriction ban after exceeding 30 days of late payments, with the club confirming they would be appealing. On 27 June, the club were placed under a further embargo by the EFL, over amounts owed to HM Revenue and Customs. On 1 July, several players handed in their 15-day notice, following the June wages being delayed. On 3 July, the club were placed in a triple embargo due to money Wednesday owed to Southampton and Norwich City for fees towards players Shea Charles and Akin Famewo. On 14 July, it was revealed money was still owed to Hull City for the transfer of Mallik Wilks. On 30 July, it was revealed that players hadn't been paid for the third month in a row and for the fourth time in five months. On 8 August, had their transfer embargos lifted after paying outstanding debts for players and transfer fees, but remained under a transfer-fee ban and are still bound by a business plan set out by the Club Financial Reporting Unit. On 17 September, Wednesday were placed under two more embargoes for future financial information and secure funding linked to an inability to prove that the club can be funded going forward. On 25 September, the club were placed under a further embargo by the EFL, over amounts owed to HM Revenue and Customs again. On 26 September, the club were placed under a further two emargoes, so five in total, this time for football creditors and amounts due to another club. On 29 September, senior players and staff were told not to expect wages on payday, the fifth time that calendar year. On 4 October, the match against Coventry City was delayed due to a fan protest on the pitch against the owner. On 6 October, the club were hit with their sixth embargo after failure to pay players on time. On 9 October, new chair of the Independent Football Regulator, David Kogan said Sheffield Wednesday's struggles are a "significant problem" and the new football regulator is seeking powers to investigate clubs in such situations. On 9 October, Unite the Union issued a statement against owner Dejphon Chansiri, for his continuous failure to pay non-football staff. On 14 October, it was confirmed that the players and non-playing staff received the rest of their September wages removing one of their six embargoes. On 16 October, it was reported that HMRC are close to issuing a winding-up order due to an unpaid tax bill of around £1m. On 22 October, the fans boycotted the fixture against Middlesbrough. Also worth noting the following happened during Chansiri's reign: 6 Point Deduction and relegation to league one (July 2020) Players salaries capped (attributed to revenue losses during COVID) - November 2020 Delayed Wage Payments (April and May 2021) Chansiri issued a 1,500-word statement on September 29, 2023, vowing to stop funding the club due to “selfish” fans’ criticism and “insults” to his family. HMRC Payment Delay, Wage Risk, and Asking Fans to contribute £2m to cover HMRC bill (October 2023) HMRC Payment Delay (November 2023) HMRC Payment Delay and Embargo (November 2024) Whilst a lot of Rovers fans (Myself included) are extremely angry about the last 15 years, and extremely worried about the short, medium and long term future of the club under the Rao's, our current situation is (on the surface) not really comparable with that of Sheff Wed. Very little of the above has happened at Rovers, save for a transfer embargo in.... 2015? What I'm saying is, whilst wages are paid, whilst there's 11 players in blue and white on the swamp, whilst we maintain Championship status and whilst there is no imminent (or at least publicised) threat to the club, many fans (and importantly the media and powers that be ((FA, EFL)) will turn a blind eye, and as we have witnessed, become quite angry at the prospect of protests, boycotts or otherwise, citing, "where would we be without them". In my opinion, protests won't gather a huge amount of traction until there's a tanginble threat to the future of the club. At the moment, the Rao's, and the board are managing to keep the good ship Rovers out of totally treacherous seas.

One person doesn’t, he’s been very clear that he has zero other social/life events/holiday commitments between August and May.

I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Some of these people will be continuing their own personal boycott whilst others will just be missing another game. It all depends on why those people no longer attend.

I can't accept that it would be a massive wrench for anyone to not attend just one regular league fixture in January versus Watford in a season where the very best we could hope for is midtable. They're not asking people to boycott a huge cup game or a local derby. Almost everyone with a ST or who regularly goes misses a home game every season, they go on holiday, they get poorly, they have to work, a wedding, anything. Even diehards sometimes miss a game. No one suddenly says they have let the club down or they're a fairweather fan. No one individual is going to be considered a rubbish fan if they boycott once as an experiment, to see how the owners react.

Farkas was good last night but his appearances seem to be sporadic and I haven't seen enough to of him to make a proper judgement. He coped with the intensity and physicality well last night and possibly needs a good run of games. As I have said before some loans don't work out and are of no benefit to either the player or Rovers. Khan did well last night and I was surprised to see him starting after his shocker against Derby. I expected Honour to start but as Khan was the third goalkeeper at Portsmouth perhaps he is injured. I would let him go as soon as possible personally as Wolstencroft will be looking to kick on next season. He has too many mistakes in him and he is 20 now.

I am doing.

If someone wants to boycott thinking it will make a difference, I obviously accept their opinion. What I would say though, is that if that someone was definitely going to attend a game and doesn't, then they would be boycotting. If they wouldn't have gone anyway, then that isn't boycotting, it's just missing another game. It's disingenuous for those that don't have a decision to make, to call out those for whom it would be a massive wrench.

I love going as much as anyone, whether its home, away or whatever. My lad has also picked up the obsession too which makes it even better. I have never understood how folk can be so precious that they wouldn't miss one single game though, that is hopefully for the greater good. That just baffles me. The sort of people who would turn down being there best mates best man at there wedding because we're at home to Charlton or something.

I would go as far to say Derrick Keighley was the best chairman I can recall. A man fired with desire and ambition and a passionate Roverite. Think he was only 50 when he passed, a sad loss for all.

There's also always this undercurrent with Chaddy that he's a better and more loyal fan than everyone else because he'll always support the team no matter what blah blah blah and that is coming out again with his absolute refusal to countenance a boycott for even a single game. Personally I stopped going at the end of the Mowbray era because I was completely fed up with repeated failures to make the play offs etc even when it seemed impossible not to do so. I felt there was something very off about the Club even then. So I'm not boycotting because of the owners as such, if I felt there was suddenly a genuine desire to try and succeed within the Club Id hopefully be back. Unfortunately despite thinking there might be green shoots of recovery under both JDT and Eustace, overall since the time I last attended regularly things have got even worse, it seems we have a new disaster on more or less a weekly basis these days so there's absolutely no incentive for me to return at present. I fully accept that my long term absence makes me not as committed or as good of a supporter as say a mate of mine who has continued to go and who retained his season ticket. For present purposes though there should be no suggestion that anyone who boycotts for either a single game or longer is any less of a supporter than someone who refuses to do that. Nor should there be any criticism of anyone who refuses to boycott, even for a single game. I don't personally agree with that stance as I think if absolutely nothing is done the Club will die. It is however a matter of personal choice and anyone who doesn't want to boycott is perfectly entitled to that point of view.

For those wavering, reach out to some of the Bury fans, who got on board with the protests when it was too late. There are plenty about who will tell you their story. Act now to ensure we do not become another Bury, as it can happen, despite what some may believe. Bury FC: Anger and tears at League One club before EFL decision - BBC Sport Missing one match or even a few, is more important than just attending due to some sort of duty, or feeling that you are a super fan. These are extraordinary times and your club needs you to do the right thing, for the greater good.

Fully agree with you but these fans aren’t coming back until Venkys are gone. Boycott is the club’s only hope.

This game is a triple boycott for me. 1) Support the coalition 2) Personal choice opposition to Sky 12.30 Saturday kick offs 3) Personal choice after Sheffield Wednesday game no longer attend match where rain is forecast due to high probability of wasting your money

Great post. Is there anyone out there that doesn’t know that Chaddy gets his grub from the Burger Van behind the club shop 😊