Painful Acceptance

[Rogerb]

Feel this to be a watershed season for many Rovers fans.

[RevidgeBlue]

17 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I think you can add Gregg Broughton to that list of good faith also.

Say what you would like about the success of his signings, you felt that during his time here the ambition was re-sale and re-invest and then promotion. Hence why Broughton did not last long, and the end of his time here coincided with JDT telling us that the project had changed

Broughton and JDT aspired too much for this lot. It panicked them and since then Suhail has crushed any and all opposition to him within the management structure of Rovers

I disagree - I thought Broughton was full "aligned" and on board with the plan to sell anything that wasn't nailed down. Thought he was more than happy to turn us into the Crewe Alexandra of the Championship right from his very first interview.

Weird we've had no "forget to press send" moments or missed deadlines since he left as well.

But as with one or two other well trodden subjects, I know not everyone agrees. 

🙂

[Mattyblue]

The apathy kind of sneaks up on you. It hit home to me the other day. We were planning some stuff and the Mrs said ‘but Rovers are at home?’

One, I hadn’t even checked the fixture list and two when I said ‘well, we’ll go that day anyway’, the fact we wouldn’t look to arrange it for other days had her shocked.

Anybody that knows me would be amazed by that, Blackburn Rovers is part of my identity, like part of my family, certainly it’s how my actual family have always seen the club. I’ve prioritised it (or had it prioritised for me) since I was about six/seven years old.

First it was knocking night games on the head, but I rationalised that in my head with ‘work, cold. Red button’. For 3pm’s? Well, I’d just rather be doing something else.

A football club and your relationship to it is precious, something you can’t really quantify, the sense of pride, of belonging, that link to generations passed… and they’ve destroyed it.

[...]

6 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

 

A football club and your relationship to it is precious, something you can’t really quantify, the sense of pride, of belonging, that link to generations passed… and they’ve destroyed it.

Well said. 

Trying to put 'that kind of feeling' into words is so difficult. 

There's actually no words to describe it fully but that was about right 👍🏻

Edited 6 hours ago by ...

[broadsword]

I'm fifty three and my dad started talking me in the early seventies. One there was a massive ruck on the Bolton road with Sunderland  fans. My dead had to stick me over a garden wall out of harm's way (I was still only little) before he smacked a few of them so we could both make a dash for it.

We're moved away from lancs in the seventies too. Rovers is my link to where I'm from. It's actually part of my identity. I don't get to see many games. But they're always the first result I look for. 

Genius are slowly killing the club and their reasons for obstinately refusing sell, I can only guess at. 

 

Someone said earlier, the fans are exhausted. I'll bloody bet they are. We're fighting reality on a weekly basis because we all went these shite hawk arseholes to get the hell out of our club, but they just refuse, against all sense. Of course that is going to be exhausting over a timeline such as we've seen. In fact, you could end up really making yourself unwell like this. 

 

I've just had to stop caring because it's just so toxic.

[lraC]

I think that every post on this thread, needs to be printed and put under the noses of the people destroying what was once our wonderful club.

Like many on here, I am no longer getting any enjoyment out of following it and feel totally alienated by what is going on.

No longer can we trust the decision makers and the owners and I am very close to bailing out too and not spending any more time or more following the hollow shell that was once one of the great pleasures in my life.

[speedies gonna get ya.]

Such a heartbreaking thread, thanks to all for sharing. 

This thread needs printing off and handing to Suhail. 

Nothing more I can add. I am working really hard right now trying to promote the boycott. Seeing fans infighting is also heartbreaking and so destructive and futile. 

I am exhausted of Rovers and my wife is amazed I, along with a small band of others, still have any fight left in us. Eventually I probably won't. What I do then is any ones guess. 

[Tim Southampton Rover]

2 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Another very good post.

Hope you can stick it out until better times return.

Unfortunately for me if I didn't support Blackburn, I would have ended up a Southampton fan and the similarities between the two throughout the last 30 odd years is uncanny. Crap owners, fans that have gone through plenty of high and many lows from the Premier League to League One, countless amount of players who have played for both Rovers and Saints, great academy, and an annoying neighbour down the road that hates your guts 😂

I'll be back at Ewood in March coincidently for the Portsmouth game.

[WacoRover]

As a relatively new Rovers fan, I enjoy reading all of the above posts. I hope it can become enjoyable, and not just winning again, but the club that so many on here of expressed that they knew since their youth.

Living in Texas, I only speak regularly to one person who is older than me, who grew up in Blackburn, and has been a Rovers fan all of his life, and he lives in California. There are Rovers fans all over the globe, and most of them are pretty dissatisfied at this point in time.

Rao’s/Venkys, Please sell the club to someone who loves it and cherishes the memories that they have enjoyed for all of their life. Even if they are only well intentioned and make mistakes, it would be better.

For all of you, I hope the old passion for the club comes back. 

[aletheia]

Such a sad thread and the feelings expressed are so true. I wish all those who have posted at least keep in touch on these boards.

Could I add a couple of things?

First, the exhaustion, despair, alienation is utterly understandable. But even more sadly maybe, will the Raos/agents/hierarchy care? What worries me is that they will simply think it is going to make their lives easier.

Second, the Raos and underlings are certainly responsible for feelings of despair amongst long-standing fans but it is coupled with a change in how fans perceive the game now. Long gone are the days when working class young men (mainly) and their elders would religiously go to the match and once a team had been chosen it would last for life. So many other things now: kids have other options than footy vying for their attention and money; other ways to consume- screens, streaming; gentrification pricing out certain groups etc etc. 

As said, it’s not easy to get an audience now (winning and team on the up with owners who are present and care helps) and a regime like the Raos and underlings makes it doubly hard: a lost generation indeed.

[Hullrover]

After 134 mins + shoot out yesterday for my home game & the ridicule I will get at running club in an hour it is still my club and I still look forward to meeting up with friends in the pub before the matches. Planning pub visits for away games. Train journey banter with other fans. It is more than just 90 mins for me. When Rovers score (OK I know ....) I am joyous, when we lose I am moody for a while, but I look forward to the next trip (obviously been a bit moody of late).

It might help that I have acceptance that the best days of the JW era are long gone and are unlikely to be repeated, but I also had best days back in the 70's and 80's and I don't see any reason why they will not make a limited return in the future, at whatever level we are playing.

And one day, Venky's will go, and I hope we get a better owner.

I also wonder how much this malaise also exists at other clubs. There is a litany of clubs who have had poor owners over the last 15-20 years. Fixture changes from the traditional Sat 3:00 pm, price rises, especially at the big clubs. How do Arsenal fans from lower income groups feel? Are they happy just to watch on tv? Or the Utd fans who used to sit behind the dugout and now find themselves relocated for high value tourists? The money in the game has changed everything. There is very limited connection with local players, as soon as they are proven to be any good they are sold on, and not just at Rovers. Clearly some clubs have a much better way than us of running things when this happens though. 

I will be soldiering on. I would usually go to Ipswich & Norwich as they are good days out but silly KO time has made it a bit pointless and I can watch on tv. But QPR is now Sat 3pm - I hope - and I love a trip to London. Maybe I could boycott Sky, but probably not.

Looking forward to the Watford match though (I know!) and a trip to my Blackburn local, and again the following week when I will be on the train with loads of Tigers fans.

It is your Rovers, and can only remain so if you stick with it. And that is not a dig at protesters. Good luck to you, I haven't really got the inclination to give up my day out though. And if your aim is achieved I will be more than happy, provided that the next owner does not turn out to be a charlatan.

[Penwortham Blue]

1 hour ago, speedies gonna get ya. said:

Such a heartbreaking thread, thanks to all for sharing. 

This thread needs printing off and handing to Suhail. 

Nothing more I can add. I am working really hard right now trying to promote the boycott. Seeing fans infighting is also heartbreaking and so destructive and futile. 

I am exhausted of Rovers and my wife is amazed I, along with a small band of others, still have any fight left in us. Eventually I probably won't. What I do then is any ones guess. 

I’m with you all the way on the Watford boycott, I’ll put the ST away and resist the urge to go down. I just wish that more of my fellow ST holders would do likewise, we need to make a stand and a point, it is just one game and the future of our club is at stake, please support the boycott.

[RevidgeBlue]

37 minutes ago, Hullrover said:

After 134 mins + shoot out yesterday for my home game & the ridicule I will get at running club in an hour it is still my club and I still look forward to meeting up with friends in the pub before the matches. Planning pub visits for away games. Train journey banter with other fans. It is more than just 90 mins for me. When Rovers score (OK I know ....) I am joyous, when we lose I am moody for a while, but I look forward to the next trip (obviously been a bit moody of late).

It might help that I have acceptance that the best days of the JW era are long gone and are unlikely to be repeated, but I also had best days back in the 70's and 80's and I don't see any reason why they will not make a limited return in the future, at whatever level we are playing.

And one day, Venky's will go, and I hope we get a better owner.

I also wonder how much this malaise also exists at other clubs. There is a litany of clubs who have had poor owners over the last 15-20 years. Fixture changes from the traditional Sat 3:00 pm, price rises, especially at the big clubs. How do Arsenal fans from lower income groups feel? Are they happy just to watch on tv? Or the Utd fans who used to sit behind the dugout and now find themselves relocated for high value tourists? The money in the game has changed everything. There is very limited connection with local players, as soon as they are proven to be any good they are sold on, and not just at Rovers. Clearly some clubs have a much better way than us of running things when this happens though. 

I will be soldiering on. I would usually go to Ipswich & Norwich as they are good days out but silly KO time has made it a bit pointless and I can watch on tv. But QPR is now Sat 3pm - I hope - and I love a trip to London. Maybe I could boycott Sky, but probably not.

Looking forward to the Watford match though (I know!) and a trip to my Blackburn local, and again the following week when I will be on the train with loads of Tigers fans.

It is your Rovers, and can only remain so if you stick with it. And that is not a dig at protesters. Good luck to you, I haven't really got the inclination to give up my day out though. And if your aim is achieved I will be more than happy, provided that the next owner does not turn out to be a charlatan.

I think we have more specific problems than the general issues affecting the game tbf.

[Leonard Venkhater]

This is one of the posts that should form a BRFCS testament of what they have done to this famous , old club.

Very sad to read and I have heard many similar stories.

I guess this is what Stan Collymore meant by the term club-killers.

[Mattyblue]

The difference is here is these owners have set themselves in for the duration. All those other clubs will see a change at the top at some point and the malaise has a possibility to dissipate, they have that thing, ‘hope’ - we do not.

[Proudtobeblue&white]

This thread should be published far and wide. I've made my views clear in the boycott thread. They don't seem to want to go until they have run us into the ground and destroyed the club. WHY??

A snowball, chickens on the pitch, banners....if their skins are so thin, what did they expect from a gritty Northern football club. Adoration and thanks. Fuck off.

I've got 47 years under my belt, but stopped going years ago. Writing on the wall and all that.

Heart breaking reading all these stories, passionate people with stories from the gut, real stories, stories that stay with you forever.

Yes I was there in the old third division, Wembley v Charlton, Wembley v Leicester, Anfield v Liverpool, Cardiff v Spurs, Preston against the Nobbers....the list goes on. 

They must be so proud of their achievement. Destroying people, destroying pride, destroying lives, destroying a proud town. I don't exaggerate. When you support a team, any team, it's part of you, your family, your friends, your DNA in some cases.

I find it hard to type their pitiful name - Venkys you are not welcome, never will be, just FUCK OFF!

(Oh, only after you have read all the above and see what you have done).

[RoverDom]

I'm in the same boat as many of the "away" rovers fans. I've no connection to Blackburn or the surrounding area, no family members support the club. It's something i started doing when I was a wee nipper. 

I was mid teens during the sparky area, with some quality players and Rovers punching above their weight. We were an exciting team and I was obsessed

I remember discovering the blackburn rovers forums on the official website and buzzing my tits off that I could speak to other Rovers fans because I never encountered others in my day to day life. 

I haven't been to Ewood since the end of our relegation to league 1 season. I don't think I've been to an away game since covid. I was tempted during the JDT era when I felt we'd actually turned a corner and were trying. 

When I was a youngster with only 4 channels and living too far from Blackburn to realistically attend games I used to be over the moon on the rare occasion I could watch us on the TV. Now I let out a sigh every time I realise we're on telly. I didn't realise the Hull game was on tnt yesterday and im a bit mad at my wife for telling me. That's 4 games over the Xmas period that we've been on telly - heaven for my younger self - painful now. 4 games and I've seen us score 0 goals.

With no connection to the town, with no link to the club, with no brighter future on the horizon, with zero enjoyment out of anything Rovers related, part of me thinks every now and then "I could just quietly give it up" just become a football fan. I love football and really enjoy watching other games. We're just a chore, everything about us. 

The second venkys go, I'm ordering from the club shop and getting myself down to Ewood but I feel like it's a long way off. 

 

 

[M_B]

56 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

The difference is here is these owners have set themselves in for the duration. All those other clubs will see a change at the top at some point and the malaise has a possibility to dissipate, they have that thing, ‘hope’ - we do not.

The difference is their wealth , they can afford to do whatever they want to do, the wealth of other owners who have had to get rid doesn't come near, Chansiri for a start. 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by M_B

[Brfcw]

The posts on this are both heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure.
 

Peoples feelings are completely understandable, and I have gone through periods of malaise to down right disinterest myself, and right now feel the negativity as well. I would never tell anybody how they should act and feel, but the one thing to bear in mind is this isnt forever. BRFC is more than the Venkys, its more than Ewood, its more than the town itself. It lives in every one of us like a member of our family. Remembering the early days of this forum - where members used to meet up, some of us played football together, and remembering these members both who no longer visit, or those who have passed (heres to you Wozaup) - we were united by one thing. That thing is still here, it always will be, and we owe it to both ourselves and them to keep the memory of BRFC alive. You dont have to support the regime, but hopefully brighter days will return and you will always be welcomed back.

[Mattyblue]

48 minutes ago, M_B said:

The difference is their wealth , they can afford to do whatever they want to do, the wealth of other owners who have had to get rid doesn't come near, Chansiri for a start. 

 

Whatever the reason, it’s the same outcome of hopelessness for us fans, they aren’t for going.

Edited 2 hours ago by Mattyblue

[DE.]

A depressing and heartbreaking thread, makes me consider how I view the club now compared to pre-Venky's.

I'm another non-local supporter, although I did have family in the area and my first match as a nipper was at Ewood in 1993. That was it for me, from that point onwards it was all about Rovers. It would have been easy for me at that age to shift my allegiance to Ipswich, especially as all of my friends were Town fans, but Rovers just became part of my identity and I never even considered switching.

I remember us winning the title in '95 and some scattered memories from the two years before that, but my most vivid memories are from the Souness/Hughes era in the 2000s. We weren't the powerhouse we had briefly been when I was a child, but there was enormous pride in seeing us punch above our weight repeatedly. Even when our budget was overtaken by other teams in the PL, we did our best to compete and brought in so many players who were genuine legends - from Duff to Dunn to Big Brad to Tugay to Nelsen to Samba, the list goes on and on. Lads who did us proud week after week, backed by a board who were doing their best to remain ambitious despite not having the budget we once had. 

It honestly seems like another lifetime, another club entirely. From ecstatically celebrating the 2001 League Cup win, to going mad over Steadinho's goal away at Everton towards the end of the 04/05 season (a rare Rovers game on telly during that era), to the 2-1 and 4-3 victories over United in 2005 and 2006, the league cup penalty win over Chelsea in 2009... and plenty more that are burned into my brain and always will be. I loved the club and every Rovers triumph felt like a personal triumph, and I suffered with every defeat as well. 

I have none of that now, and haven't done for almost as long as Venky's have owned us. The only memories I have from their tenure are misery, anger and resentment. Most of that comes from the earlier years of their tenure, though - nowadays I'm incredibly numb to it. I don't get excited when we do well, because I know a disaster is just around the corner. I don't get upset or angry when we lose because the resentment inside me makes it feel like Venky's and the people they employ to run the club deserve to fail. 

I hate that they've taken that passion from me, and so many others. I hate that they have owned this club for almost half as long as I've been a supporter. It's only now that I realise how young I still was when they took everything that I held dear about Rovers and utterly destroyed it. I wasn't even in my mid-20s when they darkened the doors of Ewood. There are some Rovers fans who have only ever really known Venky Rovers, which is even more horrible. At least I have a chunk of genuinely amazing memories from my childhood and teenage years. 

I'm just rambling at this point, but yeah, I'm basically just here holding out hope that one day they will finally be gone. This community has been the one place that has kept me sane during the entire period of their ownership, and even if I don't recognise the club, I recognise and appreciate those of us here who still know what Rovers can and should be. I'm not going to abandon BRFCS, no matter what Venky's do, and I desperately hope that in the future we'll all be posting here about a Blackburn Rovers that has owners who have actual respect for our club and its history. 

Edited 1 hour ago by DE.

[47er]

1 hour ago, M_B said:

they can afford to do whatever they want to do,

So why don't they want Rovers to be successful?l

[M_B]

6 minutes ago, 47er said:

So why don't they want Rovers to be successful?l

I've no idea. 

Could be as simple as one snowball. 

Edited 2 hours ago by M_B

[Leonard Venkhater]

9 minutes ago, M_B said:

I've no idea. 

Could be as simple as one snowball. 

Steady on!

They had put the club and its supporters through seven shades of shit before all that....

Indeed, you might argue that the snowball was merely a powerless response

[glen9mullan]

So many of these thoughts are exactly how I feel.

I stripped my Rovers room last week (moving house).

Memories going back nearly 50 years, all boxed and no intention of being dIsplayed again. Was going to sell/donate it all, but wife said NO.

Season tickets un-used since turn off the taps were announced.

I wont attend again this season, and wont be renewing either.

Wife may take kids for the rest of season (that will be her choice and it will purely be for the girls), they love their football, but the tradition of my family all being rovers fans, may break as my girls love Mbappe etc and will choose who they support as they get older uninfluenced by tradition.