[Archived] Open Floor Meeting To Unite The Fans

[TBTF]

I'm not having that. £23m for BRFC - who were bringing in over £35m p/a through Sky alone, plus potential player sales, plus Brockhall?!? Any thoughts on the rumour that Brockhall (the training ground areas) can't be built upon?

No but a local guy in the estate agency world reckoned Venkys had asked for it to valued earlier this year. I hasten to add that he thought it was for the annual accounts rather than some attempt to flog it. I don't know whether he's right or not but he didn't think it was quite the large number everybody thought it might be as a value

Nah you need a rag that people read. Readership is poor

I know but it's the best we ha e locally and I thought it was our own fans we needed to educate first ?

[Neal]

This said person bollards is getting silly..some people do think they are on some sort of ego trip.

Agreed. Last night was supposed to be about coming together and leaving ego's at the door, the guy made a scene and had a go at people who had put themselves out there and organised something. It was embarrassing and he was still acting up afterwards too, we're all supposed to be on the same side. If this person can't get involved then fine, there's no need to have an essay about it...

This is supposed to be about what people can do not what they can't.

[glen9mullan]

Said person has also said to post this

"Why has my response to the hypocrite comment not been mentioned? 'I will be the power behind the throne but I will not sit in it' I am more than willing to be part of the group but i will not lead it"

I know the reason and why and it is perfectly valid

I have also thrown my hat in the ring a few weeks back, last week, yesterday and today and been totally ignored.

Its for reasons like this , that I wanted an elected board, as for people who know me, know I will carry on regardless , i just look at our club and thats my motivation.

Having done this for 5 years , I find it strange that my knowledge and experience and more importantly contacts are deemed not useful?

When it comes to putting the hours in, I only know one other who does the same

Would add, thanks to those who came over last night , had a chat , swapped numbers and have emailed me today, I will get back to you in next few hours after I have finished writing my blog

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

This is all a bit weird. Why cant 'said person' post themselves as usual?

Who is "said person"? Has the spiritual essence of the fabled dossier achieved spontaneous animation and taken on human form?

[Roverall]

Who is "said person"? Has the spiritual essence of the fabled dossier achieved spontaneous animation and taken on human form?

It was Colonel Anderson, in the kitchen, with the candlestick.

[darrenrover]

I'm not having that. £23m for BRFC - who were bringing in over £35m p/a through Sky alone, plus potential player sales, plus Brockhall?!? Any thoughts on the rumour that Brockhall (the training ground areas) can't be built upon?

I'm not having that. £23m for BRFC - who were bringing in over £35m p/a through Sky alone, plus potential player sales, plus Brockhall?!? Any thoughts on the rumour that Brockhall (the training ground areas) can't be built upon?

I'm pretty sure it is owned and that it can't be used for residential development due to covenants when Gerald Hitman originally bought and developed the site.

[Baz]

I'm pretty sure it is owned and that it can't be used for residential development due to covenants when Gerald Hitman originally bought and developed the site.

You must apply for and be granted planning permission to build on any land. To change the designated use of land from commercial to residential would also require permission.

IF anyone was to apply - then Im pretty sure 20,000 people petitioning against the council granting the permission would be difficult to ignore for elected officials.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

It was Colonel Anderson, in the kitchen, with the candlestick.

Shouldn't that have a Matrix 4 spoiler alert? Not only did he not die, he's been promoted to a Colonel.

[mark1875]

OK, here goes. Sorry that this goes on a bit! Its taken me two hours so give it five mins to read please! (Ive even had one of my people read it through!)

I was galvanised last night, inspired even; there were too many people there that I hadnt seen for ages. It should be repeated, we need to keep things moving. These are just my ideas and thoughts, Ill help where I can, Im no figurehead, nor can I devote massive amounts of time.

I wish everyone all the success in the world. There are some extremely passionate people out there and they / we deserve to succeed and get our club back.

Where do we start? Is the obvious question and it was answered

The Venkys / The Rao Family

As Stuart (I think his name was) alluded to, thats the starting place, thats where we aim for first. I dont believe they own the club, but its their name above the door. They must have some say in the charade as to what happens next?

This

is almost perfect IMO (Im not fond of the word united, I didnt like them when we didnt play them the first time round). It just needs to explain enter the ground on 18 mins and exit on 75 mins.

Next, those of us who use Social Media like to think we know whats really happening, we certainly see beyond the LT and their bland reporting/ club propaganda, anyway. Thats not a criticism of anyone who doesnt use the tinterweb! But it is surely our duty, if we are doing this thing, to get the message out there, to share the info with as many people as possible before we go asking fans to protest.

It is paramount IMO that we raise awareness of the headline issues to our own fan base.

At the risk of repeating myself on here, we do need to consider that, incredible as it may sound, some people dont know whats going on / what has happened over the last few years. We need to give ourselves as much chance as possible for this to succeed. As things stand I believe were preaching to the converted and not covering all the bases.

Headline bullet points on the back of the above flyer handed out at the next 4 home games (yes there are 4, two Saturdays and two Tuesdays) before the Wolves match should include

• £ xxxxx worth of players sold since 2010
• £ 100m debt
• £ 2.1m = the value of the current squad
• Xxx the number of full time contracted platers at BRFC
• Zero is how much Mike Cheston knows about the short, medium and long term plans of Venkys.
• Zero - the words uttered by Robert Coar since they bought the club, and coincidentally...
• Zero (you guessed it) - the number of sightings of Gandhi Babu (who?) by the fans over the last six years.

Thats Rovers UK Board that is.

• Zero Oh yes, the number of times our illustrious "owners" have been to Ewood Park in the last 3 years

Why are we tolerating this?!? If this isnt asset stripping then what is it?

Maybe even a web link to those drop box leaked docs as well? I dont know the legalities of such a move but its worth considering and surely between us we can find good advice.

The above bullets need tuning up (clearly). Im sure between us we could list a hundred (and thats just Kean quotes). Seven or eight should do it.

The headline, shocking figures, are the first four for me. These are FACTS. Not conjecture. (As shocking as Keans contract was, it wasnt illegal, and from what I read, it wasnt signed. It was bloody criminal mind you, if you know what I mean).

If we do this properly, if people see the flyer, not just on Social Media, but physically at Ewood, then how can there be any complaints at a protest?

But, again, it is imperative that we do all we can to get the word out there before the 29^th October. We owe it to our fellow fans, and ourselves, to do this right. We wont get a second chance.

Thirdly (I think its thirdly!) someone needs to take the reins.

We need someone why not The Rovers Trust? Why not the Action Group? Why dont they merge? And we need to open a bank account so we can start contributing to a fighting fund.

There were two great ideas last night.

1.

A trip to Pune or is it multiple trips? The more trips the merrier as far as Im concerned. Massive thanks to those who are prepared to not only go there and do it but to also fund it out iof their own pockets by the way. It cant be right that they have to finance it themselves.

We need to chip in. For those trips, for flyers; in readiness for the next idea, the next thing that may well prove to be the tipping point. Cause there will be a point in time, no one knows when, it could be years, when they turn round to one another (if they can bear to be in the same room as each other that is) and say, You know what; that Blackburn things a right pain these days isnt it? Who are they playing tomorrow? Whats that Balaji? Mill Hill in the Champions League again? But you want to buy Burnlee now instead? OK, lets sell Blackthingy Ravers and buy Burnlee. Agreed. Ill ring Jerome, such a nice man.

2.

18 in and 75 out. A brilliant idea. Not sure about the whistles thing but what can you do?

And finally, there is no harm in stating the obvious. What do we want them to do?

Please, just put the club up for sale. Name your price

Gate receipts - £2m max. Squad value £2m. £10m will cover it.

And you can take your debt with you cause you sure as hell aint getting your money back in Division 1. And you can tell the Bank of India that as well.

We are the Rovers.

Excellent post Bob.

We've been in contact with the Ewood Blues all day today and this is exactly what we're looking at. Getting leaflets designed and printed...and handing them out at home games. The designs should be complete tomorrow and I've proposed we go with the format you're suggesting...hard hitting and factual.

The guy who was doing the discs with the documents on...we want to buy and hand them out too.

There are thousands of people out there who don't have the knowledge that users of this website have.

It is crucial now that we target these people and spread the word and grow the support for the campaign.

Excellent suggestion too that it will be provided in PDF format for people to print out if they want to do so.

In terms of a fighting fund we are currently in the process of setting this up so that it is dual controlled by two groups and not one. Easy enough to sort, gives people peace of mind and protects us from accusations too. This will be spent on what those contributing want it to be spent on.

I spoke this morning of the need to build on last night's proposals and ideas and to do so fast, so please be assured that the wheels are turning and things are moving.

[bob fleming]

Well played Mark. Good stuff.

[Craigman]

If you want 30000 A5 posters printed and delivered to someone's house up in Lancashire. Let me know, send me the details and I will pay for them to be printed and delivered. Thedonoffrome@hotmail.com.

[mark1875]

If you want 30000 A5 posters printed and delivered to someone's house up in Lancashire. Let me know, send me the details and I will pay for them to be printed and delivered. Thedonoffrome@hotmail.com.

Wow, what a generous offer! Excellent! I have sent you an email!!!

[G Somerset Rover]

Who is "said person"? Has the spiritual essence of the fabled dossier achieved spontaneous animation and taken on human form?

Agreed. I've had a few beers and am trying to play catch up.

[AggyBlue]

How about the free alternative match programs idea?

To be given away as supporters approach the turnstiles.

Sections could include - Serialised Glens blog, one part per game

One released document per game

Bob's bullet points expanded

Reports from any previous actions undertaken

Protest plans (if any) for the day

Comments section (taken from message board posts)

I'm sure there are many other ideas that can be included.

It would be an excellent way of communicating to the wider fan base that are unaware of the Venky demolition job.

[mark1875]

How about the free alternative match programs idea?

To be given away as supporters approach the turnstiles.

Sections could include - Serialised Glens blog, one part per game

One released document per game

Bob's bullet points expanded

Reports from any previous actions undertaken

Protest plans (if any) for the day

Comments section (taken from message board posts)

I'm sure there are many other ideas that can be included.

It would be an excellent way of communicating to the wider fan base that are unaware of the Venky demolition job.

We've been in contact with CARD in recent weeks (the Charlton protest group) and they do similar to this. Paul mentioned this briefly at the meeting on Thursday.

I have since been passed the details of someone who I'm hoping may just be able to help with this.

They're on my 'people to contact' list over the weekend.

So fingers crossed this is something we can move forward with too.

[AggyBlue]

We've been in contact with CARD in recent weeks (the Charlton protest group) and they do similar to this. Paul mentioned this briefly at the meeting on Thursday.

I have since been passed the details of someone who I'm hoping may just be able to help with this.

They're on my 'people to contact' list over the weekend.

So fingers crossed this is something we can move forward with too.

The people handing them out can have collection buckets with them for donations to help with costs.

[Mike Graham]

Brilliant article in The Times today.

Thank you Oliver Kay.

[Stuart]

There have been many excellent posts and points raised in this thread. Great to see everyone aligned.

There was some talk at the meeting about understanding who the common enemy is in reality. The assumption is Venkys but there are some suspicions.

What I would add is that whilst Venkys Out has become a catchy, simple strap line. That's not all we want. If Venkys do sell to people like themselves then we would still not be happy and would have to start again.

Yes, we need Venkys gone. We have lost hope that they will (or even can) provide what we need - and they have the baggage of taking us into this mess and then hiding behind FFP despite having the means to change it. Therefore, learning lessons from the Kean situation, we must ensure that the protest movement continues to have a mission in the event that Venkys sell to equally poor owners.

Our mission and purpose has to be clearly stated. If I was to offer a few pointers for a manifesto I would say that we...

Must have...

- A club which is run as an entity whose express purpose is as a successful football club

- A club whose revenue streams are generated for the purpose of fielding the best and most competitive team we can

- A club with a board which is fit for purpose and can operate effectively and take decisions from the UK

- A club who views its supporters as valued assets and not as a necessary evil

Intend to have...

- A club which communicates with its fans in an honest and meaningful way

- A club with a robust plan for the future that it shares with fans

Like to have...

- A class leading club for fan involvement

- The Rovers Trust (i.e. the entity - don't get bogged down with individuals) as a part of the fan engagement

- An elected Rovers fan on the UK board at Ewood Park

Feel free to steal, enhance or ignore.

[oldjamfan1]

Brilliant article in The Times today.

Thank you Oliver Kay.

Oldjamfan makes an appearance on the photo of the Darwen End crowd. Bald suntanned bloke with blue bomber jacket on laughing at his own joke but not impressing the lassie next to him lol.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/venkys-and-other-corporate-vandals-must-be-stopped-from-owning-clubs-9ktw7pvhf

Good article right enough

[Al]

Wasn't particularly thinking of the occupy movement more of, for the want of better words, a hostile takeover. Like, Raos, you're making a pigs ear of this, we will sort it out, sling your hook & don't come back.

You need to have shares available on the market for a hostile takeover and as the Raos aren't selling that is a non-starter.

[yoda]

You need to have shares available on the market for a hostile takeover and as the Raos aren't selling that is a non-starter.

They need an offer they can't refuse

[Neal]

Warming to see Oliver Kay backing my thoughts... Good to know some people in the media are onside. Good man.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Brilliant work all. So proud we are fighting back.

[Al]

Brilliant article in The Times today.

Thank you Oliver Kay.

Do you have a link?

EDIT Oldjam has posted a link but I can only read a bit of the article. Any chance of reading the rest?

[Cherry Blue]

One thing that came across at Blakey's was the passion of true Rovers Fans. Good to see, although we all wish under different circumstances.

A controlled and legal support at Ewood whether inside or outside the ground at all games will go a long way not only to show a strong opposition to what Venky's are doing but also to bring on board those fans still sat on the fence. No offence to anyone but lets face it, we all want our club back.