[Archived] Will Cheston Respond ?

[Stuart]

Thanks for sharing, arbitro. I can understand why you deliberated posting.

I genuinely don't buy his case for Coyle. He certainly does not have a strong track record in the Championship - aside from Burnley. But that's clearly his story and unsurprisingly he's sticking to it.

I also don't agree with his comments about 'trying very hard to get back to the top flight as soon as possible'. Teams like Derby, Sheff Weds et al are doing that. We are not. FFP remains the excuse for Rovers.

The Q&A he refers to was poor, frankly, and he has just reiterated most of that content in his email.

I wait with baited breath his only real message in his reply, that of a fan representative group. "Tea Party" anyone? There's an inference that the FF in isolation doesn't get close enough to the fans - and he'd be right. But which fan groups will be invited? FF, BRFCAG, RoversTrust, Ewood Blues, BRFCS and other online messageboards, the LT comments sectioneers? That will be a very interesting session. I wish him every success with that aim but I suspect it will end up abandoned when the different groups all offer different and opposing agendas. The individuals will need to be carefully chosen. You've got my vote to represent the posters, Tony. Good work on getting a response and thanks again.

[arbitro]

i think he's said as much as he can(and as much as he needed to imo) which is what you'd expect from somebody in his position,

also i think it would have only been fair to see copies of the emails that he was responding to.

Your wish is my command. There were subsequent emails to this original but they were just chasing a response. I know of another poster who also wrote an excellent email but I don't know as yet if he got a response (or if he did he wants to share it).

Hi Mike,

You will probably hit the delete button before you read this but here goes anyway.

Following the appointment of Owen Coyle as manager I have decided enough is enough and will not be spending another penny on anything Rovers related (conservatively I would spend around £2k per season on games, travel and merchandise). Over the last few seasons I have missed only a handful of games both home and away but the way the club is treating supporters is poor in the extreme. Since Venkys took over we have seen, season on season things deteriorating culminating with an ex Burnley manager being appointed as our manager. His recent record is poor also and is completely uninspiring to the Rovers fans I speak to. I attend games with my two brothers and several close friends and none will be renewing our season tickets. If you don't believe me I will give you their names to check. Between us three brothers we have nigh on 150 years supporting Rovers.

We have been lied to and taken for granted for too long and I think you will be alarmed at the reduction in numbers of season ticket holders.

I would love the chance to speak to you (or better still the owners) to air my grievances face to face.

Sad times for Blacburn Rovers and their supporters.

Yours sincerely,

[Mike Graham]

Your wish is my command. There were subsequent emails to this original but they were just chasing a response. I know of another poster who also wrote an excellent email but I don't know as yet if he got a response (or if he did he wants to share it).

Hi Mike,

You will probably hit the delete button before you read this but here goes anyway.

Following the appointment of Owen Coyle as manager I have decided enough is enough and will not be spending another penny on anything Rovers related (conservatively I would spend around £2k per season on games, travel and merchandise). Over the last few seasons I have missed only a handful of games both home and away but the way the club is treating supporters is poor in the extreme. Since Venkys took over we have seen, season on season things deteriorating culminating with an ex Burnley manager being appointed as our manager. His recent record is poor also and is completely uninspiring to the Rovers fans I speak to. I attend games with my two brothers and several close friends and none will be renewing our season tickets. If you don't believe me I will give you their names to check. Between us three brothers we have nigh on 150 years supporting Rovers.

We have been lied to and taken for granted for too long and I think you will be alarmed at the reduction in numbers of season ticket holders.

I would love the chance to speak to you (or better still the owners) to air my grievances face to face.

Sad times for Blacburn Rovers and their supporters.

Yours sincerely,

That was a good letter Tony. I feel similar but could not be bothered to write which says a lot as I would normally be one to put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard) without hesitation.

[Jock]

An official ' get behind them FFS '. letter.

[BlueMonday]

The "we need all real Rovers supporters to get behind the team" knife in the back move

Nice

[Amo]

The "we need all real Rovers supporters to get behind the team" knife in the back move

Nice

Quite Kean-esque. He would often imply that the protesters and boo-boys weren't proper fans.

[oldjamfan1]

I still haven't had a reply Tony but at the risk of being shot down I actually think Cheston deserves a lot of credit here for taking the time to send you what is a VERY comprehensive and thoughtful reply (whether you agree with him or not).

I would dispute his description of Coyle but other than that he has at least explained the recruitment process - whether you believe him or not is another matter. Although he is fairly obviously referring to Warnock as one of the four.

Thanks for sharing - I will do likewise if he replies to mine but I suspect even if he does it will be a copy and paste job.

[chaddyrovers]

thanks for posting the letter Arbitro.

He says alot of things in there but we need to see these potential actions to actually happen instead of the talk but not the walk

[Tom]

The title of the thread was will he respond - let's give him his due he did respond with some thought gone into the response.

Whether it's satisfactory or merely hollow platitudes is definitely up for debate but at least he did have he courtesy to reply!

[Mike E]

'an excellent track record for developing promising young players' ??

Who might they be then?

In fairness, Wilshere and Sturridge come to mind.

[Stuart]

The title of the thread was will he respond - let's give him his due he did respond with some thought gone into the response.

Whether it's satisfactory or merely hollow platitudes is definitely up for debate but at least he did have he courtesy to reply!

Do we need to create a new thread to discuss the response?

[arbitro]

In fairness, Wilshere and Sturridge come to mind.

Hardly Mike. Wilshere had 14 games for Bolton and Sturridge had 12. I wouldn't describe that as developing players. And they were loaned from other clubs.

[J*B]

Who's Will Cheston?

[MCMC1875]

He's a puppet.

[gumboots]

Well I'm still not tempted to renew. It's a lot of hot air. Fair do, he replied but it's clear that he has nothing to say and that a lot of what goes on at the club is not really under his remit. Coyles recruitment is still veiled in secrecy and cannot be explained other than cheap option brought in by someone other than Cheston. Today my son, who hasn't had a ST for 3 or 4 years, got an invitation to buy a ST so they are getting round to the data base. Since he lives in Gateshead and works Saturdays there's no chance he'll be getting one.

[LDRover]

He's a puppet.

We need Brian Conley in the pressers.

[JAL]

Cheston totally dismisses you arbitro on Owen Coyle's poor record as a manager. It's not good, but thanks for sharing this communication.

[Jock]

Who's Will Cheston?

Bean Counter

[JBiz]

In fairness, Wilshere and Sturridge come to mind.

I took the develop young players as have history of borrowing good ones for nowt!!

[Dunnfc]

Bean Counter

Not a fan of that saying but thank god someone is looking after the pennies these days.

[Mike E]

I took the develop young players as have history of borrowing good ones for nowt!!

Exactly

[Jock]

Not a fan of that saying but thank god someone is looking after the pennies these days.

Counting it doesn't mean saving it. Depends where the money ends up. Switzerland maybe?

[47er]

We should get away from the complaint that Coyle is an "ex-Dingle". It enables the media to portray us as small-minded. I couldn't care less about this so long as he can do the job. If Dyche came I would be delighted.

Well done for pushing him to a reply. Response as expected really.

[PAFELL]

I do not care his history. What matters is now.

[Blue blood]

Fair play for responding, that was an actual positive - a personal response.

Problem is, even with something that should be a winner and with any reasonable fan knowing he can't say too much - he messes it up.

For me there were a number of issues:

1 The interview process

Some couldn't agree terms, some decided not to, some didn't fulfill the criteria (paraphrasing here) - well what does that say for the strength of the managerial search that some got on the list despite not meeting the criteria. That's like shortlisting me for a medical job - why bother? Also it's pretty discouraging when you can't agree to get multiple candidates in - again that suggests there's something wrong with the club. His admission here - assuming there's no porkeys - is that the whole shortlist and interview process was a shambles.

2 Reasons for appointing Coyle

I've a number of problems here with the reply. Firstly if some candidates were not pursued because they didn't fulfill all the criteria - what makes this different for Coyle? This seems very contradictory that some who got to interview stage were ruled out because of this, yet for Coyle this somehow doesn't count. Strange business imo. On that, Chesterton never addresses your concern why the goalposts were massively moved for the Coyle appointment. Secondly, he said that OC is appointed based on his record of success. Again if this were the criteria with the scoreline firmly 3-1 against in his last 4 jobs, surely experience is a reason to not to appoint him.

3 No mention of the SEM links/concerns. Not even a rebuttal. Perhaps it's fingers in ears time?

4. Speaking up Coyle's contacts and successes in the transfer market. Given 2 of them were known to the club (Grhama and Feeney) that's not the outstanding work Chesterton says it is. Credit where it's due, well done for bringing in Graham but the rest? When you are using the likes of Feeney and a West Ham youth to praise a manager, you know you're scraping the bottom of the barrel.

5. All true fans get behind the club. I won't even go there but again it's either you comply or you don't support the club. Bad, bad business to ever even stray near this given fans hurt on this issue and the crap we've had to put up with it.

So well done Rovers, another positive into a negative, and you've helped reassure me - reassure me we're heading in the wrong direction.