Boycott Or Not?

[...]

1 hour ago, Goozburger said:

The boycott being "decent enough" for you is no good. No good. If it was to truly work, it had to be "decent enough" to those that will give it traction. The media. The owners (recognising it as a sign). Or whoever else it's supposed to bring attention to. You are already in support of it. So what good is it if it's just good enough for you? It's not swaying anybody's opinion to alter the course of history.

Who would be willing to take on the burden of our losses? Even with a bumped number of ST holders (let's say that would happen with new owners), you're still staring annual losses of several million or more a season just by standing still, as well as keeping onside with FFP rules and avoiding points deductions and fines. So who is going to take that on? I keep hearing "Venky's won't sell". I don't know who is close enough to them over in India to know that first-hand, but forget that for a moment... Where is the queue of buyers? I really doubt any business-minded person with "ambitious" intentions would think we're a profit-making project to have at.

If the owners weren't paying players and bills, I'd feel differently. Scoff. Call it a low bar. But the ingredients particular to Sheff Wed, for example, aren't there. At least they had absolute full validity and full support to put on a full boycott. Their owners were not keeping to their financial obligations. 15 years on, despite our downfall being of the Venky's own making, they are still, at the very least, standing up to their financial obligations. Nobody can deny that unless they were not paying the bills.

There is simply no validity or wider acceptance for a boycott in our case. It was never in a million years going to get external support because the elements are simply not their for wider sympathy, recognition, and so on. You can feel sorry for yourselves about it, but until you have an Oyston or a Chansiri TRULY witholding the dosh from people that are owed it, a boycott that results in a few thousand less than a normal attendance is going to do absolutely nothing.

Go on then, how do we get them out? What are your forward thinking ideas would love to hear them. 

Today was a success because everyone is talking about it. 

[AvRover]

I am boycotting and would encourage others to do so. I'm not funding the destruction of the football club.

My second reason: is it actually fun going? No, it's depressing and toxic. Enjoyment is the reason we all should be going.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Goozburger said:

This is quite hilarious.

I'm happy.

I want administration.

(Although sole credit to Rev for those silly interpretations).

As for evidence of who wants to buy us, why are you looking at other clubs? Where's the evidence of who wants to buy us and, more importantly, what would make them more suitable than the current bunch? I'm not being funny - seriously - I would love to know! But I have seen zero evidence to date, and the numbers seem self explanatory about that to me.

How can anyone possibly have evidence of people who want to buy us? The owners wont put us up for sale and even if they did, we wouldn't be privy to such details.

Why are you putting us down by suggesting that we couldnt find owners that at the very least would also pay the bills? 23 other Championship owners all pay the bills. Clubs at this level and below are bought. What makes us such an undesirable proposition and unique case? 

Paying the bills isnt this big plus you seem so keen to credit them for. Its the only way they would be able to keep the club. At every other club whose owners also cover the losses as its par for the course owning a Championship club. I bet you dont have fans crediting them for it in the absence of absolutely anything aside from that.

[blue_and_white]

Wages £25m, Operating costs £10m, Income £20m.

That's our average season, £15m per year for Venkys to make up. So who in their right minds would buy a business to lose a quarter of a BILLION every 20 years. Nobody. And I've heard fans say:
1. "New owners can grow the club to raise income" - No they can't. Blackburn will be the first majority-Muslim town, its one of the lowest wage areas in the country, its surrounded by a dozen other clubs and its got 3 super clubs nearby. It's practically the worst club in English football to grow.
2. "The owners can get us back in the PL" - There are 13 billionaire-owned clubs in the Championship, so why don't all the others suddenly spend £150m to do that? One FFP, two it's an insane gamble. If you don't go up, you're in Administration.

Fans don't like the idea of us going nowhere fast for the next decade, well its time to get real. Rovers 1990-2010 was not our natural position in the football pyramid, its not what we deserved, its what we were gifted. Fanbase entitlement whining about "hoofball" helped convince Venkys to sack Allardyce, which destroyed our PL status forever. And fan entitlement is at it again, trying to force out owners that have spent into the hundreds of millions by now because they don't, what, turn up to matches enough and wave their poms poms? In exchange for at best some chancer with 1% of Venkys wealth, who can't cover our massive annual losses, and downsizes us to League 1 for good.

[RTM08]

8 minutes ago, AvRover said:

I am boycotting and would encourage others to do so. I'm not funding the destruction of the football club.

My second reason: is it actually fun going? No, it's depressing and toxic. Enjoyment is the reason we all should be going.

My better half agreed to come to the Rovers (not a massive football fan but wants to spend time together) and we've been to a few games in the last year, mostly away from home. Across those games we have scored 0 goals and to boot probably had less than 5 shots on target. 

The fact she is still willing to go is a miracle because good lord we suck the life out of the games we're in. I want to go to Rovers games because I have a deep connection and I want to see us do well but boycotting is an easy because there is the entertainment level is non-existent and the manager is a charisma vacuum, so there isn't even a sense of togetherness from that. 

It's just depressing - could be worse under different owners, but it's worth the roll of the dice to me.

[Mattyblue]

The reason Venky’s sacked Sam was because some fans called his style hoofball.

Good one.
 

[roversfan99]

4 minutes ago, blue_and_white said:

Wages £25m, Operating costs £10m, Income £20m.

That's our average season, £15m per year for Venkys to make up. So who in their right minds would buy a business to lose a quarter of a BILLION every 20 years. Nobody. And I've heard fans say:
1. "New owners can grow the club to raise income" - No they can't. Blackburn will be the first majority-Muslim town, its one of the lowest wage areas in the country, its surrounded by a dozen other clubs and its got 3 super clubs nearby. It's practically the worst club in English football to grow.
2. "The owners can get us back in the PL" - There are 13 billionaire-owned clubs in the Championship, so why don't all the others suddenly spend £150m to do that? One FFP, two it's an insane gamble. If you don't go up, you're in Administration.

Fans don't like the idea of us going nowhere fast for the next decade, well its time to get real. Rovers 1990-2010 was not our natural position in the football pyramid, its not what we deserved, its what we were gifted. Fanbase entitlement whining about "hoofball" helped convince Venkys to sack Allardyce, which destroyed our PL status forever. And fan entitlement is at it again, trying to force out owners that have spent into the hundreds of millions by now because they don't, what, turn up to matches enough and wave their poms poms? In exchange for at best some chancer with 1% of Venkys wealth, who can't cover our massive annual losses, and downsizes us to League 1 for good.

Why do all the other Championship owners cover losses? Championship clubs spend more than they bring in, its just how it is.

Also, if you think that Venkys sacked Allardyce because of the fans then you are the one that needs to get real.

But yes, people are just annoyed that Venkys dont turn up "enough" (one way of putting it) waving pom poms.

Have some standards.

[Mattyblue]

He posts once a year to slag off the fanbase (so of course, it’s today he makes his annual contribution) take no notice.

Edited 1 hour ago by Mattyblue

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

I cant believe how much this Club has regressed on and off the Pitch this awful Season.

Its just one fuck up after another,no light at the end of the Tunnel,I feel overwhelmed by it all...not going to end well all this is it,I think most of us know what is coming.

A Club in utter Chaos.

Entitled?..no doubt you'll be telling us our natural level is Div1 next eh Blue and White.

Edited 1 hour ago by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Ossydave]

Absolutely stinks of that Thomas cunt whatever he’s called who’s always ranting on in similar vein on facebook……

[47er]

5 hours ago, roverandout said:

Attendance 11 thousand. Doesn't look like a boycott 

It never does!

[B16Rover]

How many of today's boycotters thought/intended to boycot Val rather than the owners?  200? 500?  Just keen to see opinions 

[AvRover]

25 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

My better half agreed to come to the Rovers (not a massive football fan but wants to spend time together) and we've been to a few games in the last year, mostly away from home. Across those games we have scored 0 goals and to boot probably had less than 5 shots on target. 

The fact she is still willing to go is a miracle because good lord we suck the life out of the games we're in. I want to go to Rovers games because I have a deep connection and I want to see us do well but boycotting is an easy because there is the entertainment level is non-existent and the manager is a charisma vacuum, so there isn't even a sense of togetherness from that. 

It's just depressing - could be worse under different owners, but it's worth the roll of the dice to me.

I'm the fourth generation of my family to support the club. From the stories I've heard, even going in the "dark days of the Third Division"  with 3,000 on at Ewood had more fun than this monotony.

It was a community and you laughed at Ken Beamish booting it into the Blackburn End again. Your expectations were low, but it was a good day out.

This modern iteration is just a hollowed out husk with no sense of anything but what was. How is going to a ground with no atmosphere that's not even 30% full 'fun'!?

Edited 1 hour ago by AvRover

[47er]

2 hours ago, Tricky said:

What has a season ticket holder gained from not going?

Apart from anything else, the pride they get from knowing they did the right thing.

[Hasta]

I’d take a league one club if the people running it treated the fans, the employees and the club with respect. But the current club treats the fans with no respect, they treat the fans forum and the trust with no respect. The treatment of the women’s team was a national outrage, not so much becausd they didn’t want to spend the money but the lack of information and support the players were given.
How many long standing employees have left under the recent ‘management’? There too many rumours around for some of it not to stick. We used to have our heritage on the walls of the ground, both inside and outside. It was removed and discarded as trash. 
Brockhall land sale, payday loans, transfer deadline mess ups, 150th anniversary mess ups. You cant look at the club as it’s been in the last few years and be proud of it. It’s embarrassing. That’s the bigger picture. Not sucking up to the Venky coin in desperation to keep floundering in the championship under arrogant fools.

Edited 1 hour ago by Hasta

[NJRover]

5 hours ago, roverandout said:

Attendance 11 thousand. Doesn't look like a boycott 

First time? They claim 11k every single time even if it’s a cold, wet Tuesday night vs Oxford and the stands are clearly empty. I know that you know it’s BS

[...]

2 hours ago, Guy N. Cognito said:

There is a certain air of self-satisfaction that boycotting will not have the intended outcome. Shouldn't the protestors be applauded for at least trying something to effect a change? At the very least, one might be neutral about it. But it would appear that a contingent of fans are rejoicing at the thought of it not changing anything? There's something awfully sinister about that.

 

It's a bizarre angle in something you ought to think people would be unified in but no, just purely bizarre

[Dreams of 1995]

56 minutes ago, blue_and_white said:

Wages £25m, Operating costs £10m, Income £20m.

That's our average season, £15m per year for Venkys to make up. So who in their right minds would buy a business to lose a quarter of a BILLION every 20 years. Nobody. And I've heard fans say:
1. "New owners can grow the club to raise income" - No they can't. Blackburn will be the first majority-Muslim town, its one of the lowest wage areas in the country, its surrounded by a dozen other clubs and its got 3 super clubs nearby. It's practically the worst club in English football to grow.
2. "The owners can get us back in the PL" - There are 13 billionaire-owned clubs in the Championship, so why don't all the others suddenly spend £150m to do that? One FFP, two it's an insane gamble. If you don't go up, you're in Administration.

Fans don't like the idea of us going nowhere fast for the next decade, well its time to get real. Rovers 1990-2010 was not our natural position in the football pyramid, its not what we deserved, its what we were gifted. Fanbase entitlement whining about "hoofball" helped convince Venkys to sack Allardyce, which destroyed our PL status forever. And fan entitlement is at it again, trying to force out owners that have spent into the hundreds of millions by now because they don't, what, turn up to matches enough and wave their poms poms? In exchange for at best some chancer with 1% of Venkys wealth, who can't cover our massive annual losses, and downsizes us to League 1 for good.

There’s a lot wrong with this post.

I’m unsure how Blackburn Rovers is the worst club in English football club to grow. I’d need to see some compelling evidence behind that one. There’s clubs in far worse positions than us, even after 15 years of chronic negligence

If wanting better than the dross Venkys produce is entitled then that is a badge I will gladly wear

In the 23/24 season Championship clubs ran losses of £411m which is around £17m on average. I’m fairly certain last year we were one of the only clubs to avoid a loss

Your arguments don’t stack up to any sort of scrutiny to be honest. Fairly poor post

 

Edited 52 minutes ago by Dreams of 1995

[London blue]

1 hour ago, Goozburger said:

It's those that are boycotting and who want new owners who are saying that they have a solution.

Let's put it in this way... And, for some context, my gripe with the Venky's is, let's say, operational chaos, rather than anything financial. And that's historical as well as current.

So, people want the Venky's gone. OK. Let's say that fan pressure somehow achieves that. For them to be gone, and for the Venky's to give up, it either means they send us into administration, or they sell us. So the other half of the solution is who then comes in to run Rovers That has to be thought about, surely.

In both cases, I really say it's pot luck. I don't know what sort of owner some are imagining coming in... An owner like the ones at Wrexham or Birmingham? While they certainly have a positive vibe about them, I still have to wonder how long before they themselves get into financial doodoo. And even those owners are about as good as you could hope for. It's far more likely we'd end up with an absolute weasel.

So, perhaps I am the negative bugger, Rev! I don't have an optimistic view of what could be next, largely driven by our dreadful revenue which, even with better season ticket sales, would still give us problems, I think.

That's basically all I'm posing, or all I'm suggesting. I have never claimed to have a solution, or that "I'm just waiting for administration", and that "I'm happy". Please stop with that crap, because that's what kills discussion.

As for today's issue, I'm really unconvinced that this is "step one". Has that just been decided today given that there were still a reasonable proportion of supporters there? Are they going to increase in number? For what reason? Do they know what new owner can come in to do things better? You may think there could be nobody worse than the Venky's, but I really think supporters like me, or anybody else, cannot bank their money on a better solution. That's not because "we must be happy with the Venky's", but rather that we're totally out of our depth to believe that we would be better off. We might not be, and that is a highly likely scenario that I wish some would just accept that people truly believe, rather than getting all petulant about it. That's what drives supporters apart.

Urgh. Anyway. That's enough for one night. Enjoy the Saturday evening, folks!

The combination of smug self satisfaction and hand wringing over potential outcomes makes your posts difficult in the extreme to stomach.

I don't know why you're here other than to attempt to shit on the efforts of people who care about the club.

Keep going to Ewood, please. Just save us from whatever point you're trying to make.

Edited 52 minutes ago by London blue

[StHelensRover]

57 minutes ago, blue_and_white said:

Wages £25m, Operating costs £10m, Income £20m.

That's our average season, £15m per year for Venkys to make up. So who in their right minds would buy a business to lose a quarter of a BILLION every 20 years. Nobody. And I've heard fans say:
1. "New owners can grow the club to raise income" - No they can't. Blackburn will be the first majority-Muslim town, its one of the lowest wage areas in the country, its surrounded by a dozen other clubs and its got 3 super clubs nearby. It's practically the worst club in English football to grow.
2. "The owners can get us back in the PL" - There are 13 billionaire-owned clubs in the Championship, so why don't all the others suddenly spend £150m to do that? One FFP, two it's an insane gamble. If you don't go up, you're in Administration.

Fans don't like the idea of us going nowhere fast for the next decade, well its time to get real. Rovers 1990-2010 was not our natural position in the football pyramid, its not what we deserved, its what we were gifted. Fanbase entitlement whining about "hoofball" helped convince Venkys to sack Allardyce, which destroyed our PL status forever. And fan entitlement is at it again, trying to force out owners that have spent into the hundreds of millions by now because they don't, what, turn up to matches enough and wave their poms poms? In exchange for at best some chancer with 1% of Venkys wealth, who can't cover our massive annual losses, and downsizes us to League 1 for good.

Most of these claims have been debunked hundreds of times on these threads in the last twelve months. Not going there again.

"Rovers 1990-2010 was not our natural position in the football pyramid, its not what we deserved, its what we were gifted."

The football league has been going for 137 years and for 72 of those we've been in the top flight. I think we've got the 16th most top flight points in league history. We've won trophies in three different centuries, we were the first club to do so. We were one of the best teams in the world in the 19th century, pioneers of the sport. One of the best teams in the country during in the 1910s, the 1950s and 60s, one of the best teams around in the 1990s.  But that's not our natural position, we should be accepting mediocrity? We should be grateful to be scrapping round the bottom of the second division, that's our natural level? No thanks. Small unfashionable town maybe but a football club that has some incredible history and records that 90% of other clubs would kill for. I won't be settling for League One shite, just coz we were also shite for a bit on the 70s.

Edited 51 minutes ago by StHelensRover

[London blue]

58 minutes ago, blue_and_white said:

Fans don't like the idea of us going nowhere fast for the next decade, well its time to get real. Rovers 1990-2010 was not our natural position in the football pyramid, its not what we deserved, its what we were gifted. 

Dear boy we're not going nowhere fast, we're going downwards fast.

You're making the mistake of assuming the goal is Premier League football; "where we belong".

I defy you to find one poster who has claimed such. I have seen many who have said they would rather we were lower in the pyramid with engaged, passionate owners.

Your lack of comprehension of the ultimate goal of the coalition is the problem here, not the ambition of the coalition.

[StHelensRover]

2 minutes ago, London blue said:

Dear boy we're not going nowhere fast, we're going downwards fast.

You're making the mistake of assuming the goal is Premier League football; "where we belong".

I defy you to find one poster who has claimed such. I have seen many who have said they would rather we were lower in the pyramid with engaged, passionate owners.

Your lack of comprehension of the ultimate goal of the coalition is the problem here, not the ambition of the coalition.

Fans also aren't demanding instant success, we're demanding owners who care about the club as much as we do, owners who come to games, owners who employ the best possible people they can afford and find to run the club, people with the right experience.

I've never been able to think of one single thing about the football club that is in any way better than it was in 2010 when they took over. They haven't improved a single thing by any measure. Everything is either the same or worse, most things are worse. How can people be happy with that approach and attitude? Cheap, cheerful, bargain basement, horrible approach which has humiliated us and taken the pride out of supporting the club.

[wilsdenrover]

7 minutes ago, StHelensRover said:

Most of these claims have been debunked hundreds of times on these threads in the last twelve months. Not going there again.

"Rovers 1990-2010 was not our natural position in the football pyramid, its not what we deserved, its what we were gifted."

The football league has been going for 137 years and for 72 of those we've been in the top flight. I think we've got the 16th most top flight points in league history. We've won trophies in three different centuries, we were the first club to do so. We were one of the best teams in the world in the 19th century, pioneers of the sport. One of the best teams in the country during in the 1910s, the 1950s and 60s, one of the best teams around in the 1990s.  But that's not our natural position, we should be accepting mediocrity? We should be grateful to be scrapping round the bottom of the second division, that's our natural level? No thanks. Small unfashionable town maybe but a football club that has some incredible history and records that 90% of other clubs would kill for. I won't be settling for League One shite, just coz we were also shite for a bit on the 70s.

13th most points, 14th most matches. 
 

Suggests our ‘natural position’ is mid-table PL - roughly where we were when Venkys appeared. 🤔🤔

 

 

[London blue]

The club is quite simply on its knees and I'm supposed to be grateful that they're providing just enough money to not see their investment taken away from them by administrators?

Fuck them.

[wilsdenrover]

3 minutes ago, London blue said:

The club is quite simply on its knees and I'm supposed to be grateful that they're providing just enough money to not see their investment taken away from them by administrators?

Fuck them.

They bought a club that had lost a few million pounds over the previous 5 years.

Every penny they’ve had to put in is as a result of their own incompetence.

I echo your final sentence.

Edited 34 minutes ago by wilsdenrover