if you can read then one wonders where you got the source for the £750k interest a year claim. your response regarding the interest charge is very interesting, maybe it would be better directed at paul, though? given that I didn't actually claim this??? and may I add, what is your your knowledge of those involved in the trust? if you have anything objective to say about them feel free opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one. However, I have attempted to base my observations on fact rather than opinion.

apart from..... dwindling attendances.. bottom five of the premiership.. yeah.. I mean apart from the possibility that the club will go down the tubes and never return he's done a great job, right? anyway.. that wasn't and isn't my point, some kind of cat fight about individuals. My point here is that the position of CE of the club is very likely to be a bloody hard job, to do it we need someone damn good

PhillipL I don't think all the time in the world would make it worth beginning with to deal your inability to read. please go and read page 3 where Paul tells us that the interest we were liable for was £750k then tell me more about my 'stabs'

off-topic, but Wigan used to get 3.5k attendance- but even with the Warriors playing in summer, and them ripping up the championship them only getting 7k must be a concern

All I know about this is what I saw in the Ruby Wax documentary on Whelan- at that point he was buying the floated shares back in order to minmise the inheritance costs. I assume this to have been within the last 12 months

yeah- probably right there paul. i had the idea that they would be giving us capital at the rate of inflation - which is 2.3% from memory

£750k interest / ann on a £15m debt = interest @ 5% - I thought BRFC got their capital off the Trust at very favourable rates- is 5% a favourable rate?

There are a few problems some new capital could address. As I see it- A) The trust- 1) apparently the calibre of some of those running it is in question – a potential reason for the details of who these people are being kept quiet? 2) they may be administering their role to the letter- but I don't feel they're doing it to the spirit of Jack's legacy. I still cannot stack up where the income from selling duff and dunn - estimated @ £24m – has been expended – has it entirely been reinvested in the club? Since the trust took over the financial side the amount of capital in the game in general has continued to increase at a dramatic level, and rovers need to invest wisely, but they need to do it over, say, a 5 year cycle, rather than balancing the books every year being the priority. As a medium term and uncertain investment Rovers are much less-attractive on paper compared to some of Jack's other interests – and therein lies the rub. Rovers were never a way for Jack to make money, and yes we need to be self sufficient – but we are in dire need of capital – and the Walker Trust can provide this without the club or the trust mortgaging their future akin to Leeds FC. The management of the club: When John Williams effectively took over the day to day management of the club from Bob Coar I expected things to improve greatly – no more statements in the press saying transfer rumours were “absolute crap” when they weren’t – (Batty, Shearer). However, I am yet to witness the shrewd commercial management I was expecting from Williams as one of Jacks chosen few. There’s definitely a case for headhunting someone with some real balls to manage BRFC’s relationship with the trust to a more effective outcome, and in turn this would dispel the suggestions of a narrow and somewhat backward approach to managing the club restricting BRFC’s true potential.

just like Wolves, Derby.... oh no, they spent the money and did bugger all

hardly.

agree with this. completely. a lot of people have jumped on the "free tickets" thing, and vented their spleen over this, but was this seriously an option? there's another thread where the costs of attending have been mentioned, now say you did have 6 sons (as an observant catholic or musllim might), would you be willing to shell out £210 to watch one game with them? it's a little extravagant isn't it?

only if it's 7k. the gate only varied depending on how many opposition fans came. ie vs bournemouth, 7k + 100.; vs. oldham 7K + 5K. another high risk strategy rovers have taken is dropping the 2-3 vouchers (sorry for talkin old paper season tickets here) in the season ticket you could redeem for the early cup games.. surely you'd make not much less from selling pies and pints to 14k with than £10 tickets to 6k

so many things have changed. pre-walker, i felt you could relate to the guys in the squad, all of them were grinding out a living, it was a working-class game, for both the players and fans. this was something which had existed for several generations, the guys you watched lived on the same road as you, shopped in blackburn market, ran the chippy / papershop, they were everyday people (albeit talented intelligent footballers more often than not). the club, for better of for worse, has taken the step of running in the big money leagues. the players can set themselves up for life with a few smart moves, and I don't begrudge them that, but one of the side-effects of this is squads dominated by (for want of a better word) journeymen, 2 years here 2 years there. i've set out my own case as an example of a lapsed blue for the purposes of the discussion of the dwindling attendance at ewood. not for discussion as to my status as a supporter or not, ironically coming from a bloody ex-pat! "POT?" "Yes?" "We've got kettle on line one"

that's absolute guff. keep your dogma to yourself!

i was a season ticket holder until the 94-95 season for about 8 years. speaking from experience, the main reason i gave up was because i was playing on saturday afternoons, but i don't play now, and i haven't come back. last season i was offered free tickets for a few games, went to a couple, but it was awful. rovers seemed hopelessly lost, able to fashion a few openings but take none, and terribly disorganised at the back. i was offered free tickets for the game against fulham, but turned them down, after putting in 50 hours working weeks my saturday afternoons are valuable free time which i wasn't prepared to spend at ewood in such circumstances. our home record was appauling, but hopefully that'll improve now, with even a moderate turnaround the attendances will improve, fingers crossed. as an afterthought i'd identify a couple of other things: 1) cost. when i came it was £2 rising to £10-£15 when i couldn't pass as an under 16 any longer. with the inflated wages it is clear why it now costs £25 - £30, but the wages of the supporters have not increased at such a level 2) the taylor report. this changed the face of football, giving us spanking new stadia. with nowhere to stand, and this was one of the things i enjoyed most about being in the riverside / blackburn end. i always hated it in the nuttall street stand. these two factors are partly responsible for what i would call the 'gentrification' of football. since hooliganism etc wasn't a problem at ewood, it's a shame that a club such as ourselves had to go along with these changes which were motivated by the need to clean up the support of the country. pz

i really really really hope he can do it.. losing him, dunny and duff seriously f****d us over, if it comes down to confidence i think hughesy's the ideal man to help him back. matty 4 england

sorry if this has been mentioned beforew, but i always had whelan down as a right back??

Correct as far as i'm concerned spending £ every two years on a sweaty plastic replica shirt is a mugs game. I have a classic shirt and a few others, but surely because i tend not to wear them shouldn't mean I 'm suddenly tarred with the same brush? and as for them joining the army cheshireblue, 1) is it ok to inflict these idiots on another country?

he really shone against romania in 98 i thought

i'd say it's a blot on society. if people want to fight i say put them in a ring with chainshaws and let them cancel each other out. desert rules.

ca$hback! ka-ching!

no ######, your not telling me one of gordon's mates has miraculously got a job at the union are ya? le saux was brilliant, would skin anyone. until he got called up.

i remember BNP literature being handed out outside the old blackburn end, 13-15 years ago. as far as i know Blackburn Youth were Mill Hill based gang that expired in the late 80's most proper hooligans don't tend to bother going to the games any more- they jsut meet up and scrap outside, so what good it'll do stopping them getting in i don't know.

sounds similar to ewood. friedel>>>stead

Eddie Niedzwiecki that is all