[Archived] The Walker Trust

[Mr. E]

So has it been collectively decided that all that we kept hearing about how the Walker Trust had to follow some list of requirements from Jack Walker's will about who they could sell us too was complete nonsense?

It's just that Kean may be endlessly incompetent, and Venkys may be the clueless chicken-heads we feared they might be, but it was the Walker Trust who all those years invested next to nothing in the club, and at the end handed us over to the wolves. I can not imagine how any of this would be ok by Jack or any such will.

[dazmaz]

How could the trust, or anyone else for that matter, possibly of predicted the shambles that has taken place?

Hindsight teaches us many things. Sadly untill such days people are able travel back in time, hindsight is actually pretty useless.

The existence of any requirements Jack may or may not of left in his will is completely unknown and one would imagine such clauses, if they do exist, would remain unknown to the public by a non disclosure agreement.

This is a very tough time for the club and its fans however all this silly speculation and finger pointing is not going to help us in the slightest. What all fans need to do is put everything that has happened over the last 8 months, to one side and do all they can to get behind the team and help roar us to safety. After all we haven't gone down yet!

[broadsword]

How could the trust, or anyone else for that matter, possibly of predicted the shambles that has taken place?

By meeting them and asking what their plans were?

[Athlete]

By meeting them and asking what their plans were?

They sold the fans down the river

[Mattyblue]

This sale has left a terrible taste, we all know that Jack's Trust/family didn't give a monkey's about Rovers and wanted shut.

However, I am assuming they did care about Jack Walker and their negligence to his pride and joy by selling us out to this shambles is shameful.

[ABBEY]

Do a lot of the stipulations actually run out this june? seem to remeber reading about uncle jacks statue and stuff being safe til june only,may be wrong tho knowing my goldfish memory.?

[Gav]

This sale has left a terrible taste, we all know that Jack's Trust/family didn't give a monkey's about Rovers and wanted shut.

However, I am assuming they did care about Jack Walker and their negligence to his pride and joy by selling us out to this shambles is shameful.

Not sure how you can say that, once the club has been sold they have no control, it’s like selling a house, you can't tell the new owners to keep the color scheme as part of the deal.

They clearly met all the criteria it’s as simple as that, the other chap didn't, and was told to go away.

[Amo]

This sale has left a terrible taste, we all know that Jack's Trust/family didn't give a monkey's about Rovers and wanted shut.

However, I am assuming they did care about Jack Walker and their negligence to his pride and joy by selling us out to this shambles is shameful.

Surely you're not blaming our woes on the Walker Trust?

[yoda]

Not sure how you can say that, once the club has been sold they have no control, it's like selling a house, you can't tell the new owners to keep the color scheme as part of the deal.

They clearly met all the criteria it's as simple as that, the other chap didn't, and was told to go away.

Yes you can, lots of Church properties are sold with caveats that cannot be changed.

It is obvious that the safeguards had been removed or changed at some point to get the sale.

So some serious questions need putting to the former trust managers.

[Gav]

Yes you can, lots of Church properties are sold with caveats that cannot be changed.

It is obvious that the safeguards had been removed or changed at some point to get the sale.

So some serious questions need putting to the former trust managers.

We’re talking about a football club that was millions of pounds in debt, how much leverage do you think the trust had when negotiating a sale.

Its my opinion they sold with all the safeguards laid down, or they’d not have been allowed to sell.

[vintageadidas]

Some information is clearly wrong. The trust did and do still care about Blackburn Rovers, they just couldn't take us past the level of being self-sufficient. I have not heard anything since Christmas from my contact but they were fuming about the way SA was sacked and how the club was being managed. It resulted in the refusal of gifts and offers to attend the match. All in protest.

Trust me when i say that certain members wanted to take us that step further. However, it has to be a collective decision.

NOBODY could have known this would happen to our great club. It is a real shame.

In some cases you could argue it was inevitable, we punched above our weight for so long.

Im looking forward to seeing more wins and the emergence of some decent youth players.

Yes, i have pretty much given up that we will stay up. Why? Because the players have!

[deryck guyler's spoon]

The real villains in the piece.

Not just in selling to Venkys but their wanton neglect over recent years.

At least Venkys havn't sold a hero's legacy down the river.

[Mattyblue]

Surely you're not blaming our woes on the Walker Trust?

My blame is split between Venky's, Walkers and SEM.

[Amo]

My blame is split between Venky's, Walkers and SEM.

Oh. So long as it's okay for you to do it.

[yeti-dog]

Some information is clearly wrong. The trust did and do still care about Blackburn Rovers, they just couldn't take us past the level of being self-sufficient. I have not heard anything since Christmas from my contact but they were fuming about the way SA was sacked and how the club was being managed. It resulted in the refusal of gifts and offers to attend the match. All in protest.

Trust me when i say that certain members wanted to take us that step further. However, it has to be a collective decision.

NOBODY could have known this would happen to our great club. It is a real shame.

In some cases you could argue it was inevitable, we punched above our weight for so long.

Im looking forward to seeing more wins and the emergence of some decent youth players.

Yes, i have pretty much given up that we will stay up. Why? Because the players have!

Without wishing to sound too defeatist as I certainly haven't given up on staying up,I've been having some of these thoughts myself.

We have no divine right to stay in this league,particularly with our long-term lack of investment.Many far-better teams than ours have gone down over the years.

I do believe there are some potential positives if we do go down. Really focus on getting rid of as much of the deadwood as possible and try to pin down as much of our young talent as possible..give 'em a pay rise on the deadwood savings and say 'give us a season,let's give it a real go to get straight back up again,if it doesn't happen you can leave when with no hard feelings...'

Also,as you say,it'd be nice to start winning some matches again rather than starting the season with nothing more aspirational than a desire to finish 17th and survive.

[Mattyblue]

Oh. So long as it's okay for you to do it.

I don't blame the Trust for not putting more money into Rovers aquad the last few years, yes, it frustrated the hell out of me, but the caveat was that they were hands off and let JW run the club as he saw fit.

Selling us out to Venky's is a different matter.

Without wishing to sound too defeatist as I certainly haven't given up on staying up,I've been having some of these thoughts myself.

We have no divine right to stay in this league,particularly with our long-term lack of investment.Many far-better teams than ours have gone down over the years.

I do believe there are some potential positives if we do go down. Really focus on getting rid of as much of the deadwood as possible and try to pin down as much of our young talent as possible..give 'em a pay rise on the deadwood savings and say 'give us a season,let's give it a real go to get straight back up again,if it doesn't happen you can leave when with no hard feelings...'

Also,as you say,it'd be nice to start winning some matches again rather than starting the season with nothing more aspirational than a desire to finish 17th and survive.

If only it worked out like that.

Unfortunately, with our wage bill and the talent that will depart, we would have to be extremely lucky to bounce back, we do not have Jack's largesse to fall back on.

I would take a struggle to finish 17th every year (though we have NEVER been in a relegation fight to the last few weeks of a season since re-promotion and have finished in the top half more times than the bottom half), than go through what Charlton, Middlesbrough, Sheff Wed, Southampton etc etc etc have gone through.

[dazmaz]

By meeting them and asking what their plans were?

So by the trust meeting Venky's they could have found out exactly what would happen? One would thing that meeting would go like so;

Trust - "So what are your plans for the club"

Venky's - "Well first up is sacking Sam, then we are going to put a coach in charge. Then we are going to leak stories to the papers about a big name signing. Next on the list is driving John Williams out of the club and eventually getting the club relegated"

Somehow I don't think that would happen.

[onlyonejackwalker]

Without wishing to sound too defeatist as I certainly haven't given up on staying up,I've been having some of these thoughts myself.

We have no divine right to stay in this league,particularly with our long-term lack of investment.Many far-better teams than ours have gone down over the years.

I do believe there are some potential positives if we do go down. Really focus on getting rid of as much of the deadwood as possible and try to pin down as much of our young talent as possible..give 'em a pay rise on the deadwood savings and say 'give us a season,let's give it a real go to get straight back up again,if it doesn't happen you can leave when with no hard feelings...'

Also,as you say,it'd be nice to start winning some matches again rather than starting the season with nothing more aspirational than a desire to finish 17th and survive.

Before you get too misty eyed about the prospect of playing in the Division below, remember that the likes of Scunthorpe and Doncaster reside down there.

On the subject of easy wins, please note that Boro have the largest wage bill in the division and currently sit in 18th place.

There is only one place to play and it is the reason everyone is so desperate to get promoted.

[Gav]

So just playing devil’s advocate here for a minute:

We survive, and Venkys put Benitez, or similar in charge next season, buy a top European striker for 15m, and also provide the manager with another 10m for players, are Venkys and Walker Trust still hate figures?

A little farfetched maybe, but the majority of this site will need to resign and join up under aliases, after the barrage of abuse and misinformation floating around.

It’s still very much a wait and see isn’t it?

[onlyonejackwalker]

So just playing devil’s advocate here for a minute:

We survive, and Venkys put Benitez, or similar in charge next season, buy a top European striker for 15m, and also provide the manager with another 10m for players, are Venkys and Walker Trust still hate figures?

A little farfetched maybe, but the majority of this site will need to resign and join up under aliases, after the barrage of abuse and misinformation floating around.

It’s still very much a wait and see isn’t it?

It is still very much wait and see, but the waiting and seeing relates to staying up and nothing else. I can't imagine any top European manager wishing to prepare the team for Coventry away.

[koi]

Just think, come next season just one league could be separating us and Stanley

[broadsword]

So by the trust meeting Venky's they could have found out exactly what would happen? One would thing that meeting would go like so;

Trust - "So what are your plans for the club"

Venky's - "Well first up is sacking Sam, then we are going to put a coach in charge. Then we are going to leak stories to the papers about a big name signing. Next on the list is driving John Williams out of the club and eventually getting the club relegated"

Somehow I don't think that would happen.

Sarcasm, not a great tactic.

If the Trust had any nous about them, they'd have been able to pick up on whether they were pig-ignorant of what they'd be taking on.

It seems like they were in a hurry to dispose of us, and couldn't wait to hand us over to the first ostensibly reasonable candidates.

So just playing devil’s advocate here for a minute:

We survive, and Venkys put Benitez, or similar in charge next season, buy a top European striker for 15m, and also provide the manager with another 10m for players, are Venkys and Walker Trust still hate figures?

A little farfetched maybe ...

Yes, and Lord Lucan will be riding Red Rum to victory in the next Grand National.

[Mattyblue]

So just playing devil’s advocate here for a minute:

We survive, and Venkys put Benitez, or similar in charge next season, buy a top European striker for 15m, and also provide the manager with another 10m for players, are Venkys and Walker Trust still hate figures?

A little farfetched maybe, but the majority of this site will need to resign and join up under aliases, after the barrage of abuse and misinformation floating around.

It’s still very much a wait and see isn’t it?

If we stay up and those permatations you listed came to pass, I will be thanking my lucky stars that they got away with some absolute shambolic decison making this season.

[RevidgeBlue]

I posted on here until I was blue in the face that JW had repeatedly told the Fans Forum hen questioned about lack of progress over a sale that there were no mysterious covenants in Jack's will or artificial barriers that any prospective purchaser had to get over.

Nothing wrong with that necessarily, if there were they'd never be able to sell.

It now seems apparent that the only real stipulation was "Give us our asking price" with lip service being paid to conditions by way of welcome but relatively trivial stipulations about Jack's statue not being moved, the Jack Walker stand not being renamed and Jack's son in law Richard Matthewman not being removed until a certain date etc etc.

Nothing wrong with that either necessarily. You can't sell a business to someone and tell them how to run it. What you can do though is run adequate checks and discussions to ensure as far as possible you're selling to the right sort of people.

As Venky's had no previous sporting links or background, in the absence of specific evidence to the contrary, an English Football Club, and Indian poultry producers was always going to prove an odd marriage. They are still learning and hopefully can prove everyone wrong in time.

It is sad thiough that many people have been bitterly opposed to them from the outset and are not and have not been prepared to even give them a chance.

[Mattyblue]

It is sad thiough that many people have been bitterly opposed to them from the outset and are not and have not been prepared to even give them a chance.

Who?