Man in the Mirror

'We fight each other during the tough times instead of fight the tough times together'

A vision that will sit with me for a long time, happened on the 7th December 2012. The venue was Ewood Park. Rovers had just conceded the fourth goal, it was the final straw on the night for me, and emotions got the better of me. I left the Darwen End and proceeded towards the Bolton Road. As I left, I looked to my right hand side, a young Rovers fan was leaning against a pole, visibly upset at what has become of his beloved Blackburn Rovers. His face told a story of a deep sadness, a face that should not be carried by a lad so young. I went over and shook his hand, we embraced and went our separate ways. I will see him again in a couple of weeks.

Most people who read this blog will know I am a member of the BRFC Action Group, and very proudly so. The only benefit from the Venkys era personally is that I have met so many great people. People who have treated me like one of the family. I would count them as friends. Friends I will stand beside. Any person who interacts on social networking sites knows what I mean when I say the Rovers fan base is toxic. I have risen to the bait recently. Do I regret it? I regret that this is the situation we find ourselves in. I think a lot of Rovers fans can relate to this. I don’t necessarily have a problem with you, but if I see you attack my friend, I will proceed to defend them. Its human nature. Some of the abuse aimed at the committee is absolutely disgusting and cowardly. As I said, my actions have not always been first class, but I wont get personal, there is a line that should not be crossed. That line has been bypassed and personal threats of violence, against any person, from any group, are not acceptable.

 It’s the common perception that Venkys are the root of all evil. OK I can accept that. But a time will come, when Rovers fans will have to take responsibility for their actions. Rovers fans relationship with each other is septic, much like the boardroom.  The time for bitchy Facebook messages, cryptic tweets and name bashing is over. It’s getting pathetic and this time we can’t just blame the media for our reputation. This is our doing. Why are we fighting each other? It’s of no benefit to anybody. Rovers fans need to look in the mirror, take responsibility and change.

The alternative for Rovers fans is the Rovers Trust. I don’t see a problem with the idea. I have personally talked to members of the trust, lads who want what’s best for the club, and they believe the trust is the best option. At this moment I do not believe the Trust are equipped to bring the club forward. Financially I believe it would be a step back. If the trust ran the club I don’t believe it would be any more beneficial than Venkys. Obviously I am not comparing the trust and Venkys, but the lack of experience would be an issue in running a top club. I am in no doubt that they are very capable people who are behind the trust, I just don’t believe it’s a viable option for now. This is not an us versus you comment, as I said in previous paragraph that crap has to stop.

Finally to Venkys. The video of the snowball emerged after the Charlton match. I absolutely see the reasoning behind it. Absolute tortures’ frustration. Split second action that normally is not a big deal. I seen the video on twitter soon after the match. I didn’t sit well with me. It was almost we stooped to their level. Also, if they walked into the boardroom and Mrs D says, pull all funding? Like a game of Russian Roulette. We need them to pay the bills. Strange feeling. I do not understand the appointment of Michael Appleton. I will support him as I want my club to improve and be successful . I just cant fathom how a statement I released that Gary Bowyer will stay in charge until the end of January, the next day Appletons odds drop quicker than Jordans lingerie. Soon after Appleton is appointed.  Is Shebby a conman? No. Does Shebby want the club to be successful? I believe so. Is Shebby out of his depth? Probably. Is he the danger man? Absolutely not, that title goes to the PR guy who led the club through the worst PR era in any football clubs history. He got a promotion and not the sack.

Venkys are finished. I don’t see a way back for them. To move forward its down to the fans. This is not an attention seeking status to gain ‘Likes’. This is an SOS. Rovers fans need to change, otherwise forget about blaming Venkys, blame yourself!

It is your responsibility now!

Finally a new era in Blackburn Rovers glorious history has opened a new chapter. And boy, does it feel great. Many emotion has run through my body in two years of Venkys tenure. Pain, anguish, anger, hurt, bewildered etc. Relief is the overwhelming winner at the moment. At 3pm tomorrow when Rovers kick off against Crystal Palace, a new dawn will emerge and also a new mindset. Focus!

The managerial search has been talked about long enough, its easy to see it was as well organized as John Terry organizing a church group. Many managers were linked with the post and I was happy with many of the interested candidates. I didn't have a preference off who would fill the void in the dug out. Was Henning Berg my first choice? Absolutely not. Is he the right manager for the job? Who knows. I for one, am fully behind his management. I loved him as a player and will embrace him as a manager and his accomplishments with Blackburn Rovers means he deserves respect from all the Rovers family. For the first time in a long time, I am genuinely excited about what comes next. Not because I know their is success is on the horizon, but because i am sick of been pissed off. I want my club back.

The next six months or some of the most important in the clubs history. Rovers fans are now at a cross roads. We have spoken and ultimately we got what we wanted, the removal of the manager. Their will be no sympathy coming our way if we don't 'FOCUS' on what is important. Backing Henning Berg, his staff and the players. If we don't we are playing russian roulette with the clubs future and all credibility we had for defending our club will be lost. Fortress Ewood needs to return. The booing of Danny Murphy shows their is enough idiots in the stands. The rest need to be strong and roar the boys to the Championship tilte. If we don't, we no longer have Venkys to blame for everything. It is the fans responsibility now. We can help shape our future, to help build for future generations to enjoy the best club in the world. Blackburn Rovers!!!

Anyone Else Really Tired?

I took a break from blogging recently as I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to say. Any Blackburn Rovers fans reading this will know their mood changes on an hourly basis at the moment. More often than not its negative. I have realized that the reason I didn’t write was because I am frustrated, angry and very tired of this mental torture. People may think that’s a little over the top, but that’s how we feel feel when something you hold so close to your heart is hurting, or dying. To use a metaphor. It feels like Blackburn Rovers has been kidnapped, Steve Kean is torturing them and Venkys has a gun to its head.

Rovers fans are at each others throats, myself included, ironically because we feel the same. Some fans don’t want any chanting in the ground as its perceived as negative. Personally I believe it’s the only way to up the pressure and media spotlight as nobody cared when we were in the championship. They will care less now we are in the Championship. Our timelines on social networking sites are full of fans taking shots at each other. This isn’t a competition. No one fan is better than the other. Using taglines like ‘Rovers Till I die” and Get Promotion or Die Tryin” are just words.  Words mean nothing without action. 

This isn’t just another season for a club like every other club and their fans. At this moment we are writing history. This moment will go down in folklore as been the most important and devastating time in Blackburn History. There is no easier way off putting this but what happens now is going to shape the future of the club for us and the next generation. The “ Best Fan Competition” is over. Realise that the people you have friction with want are just desperate to claim back their first love. We can get the club back, but only is we are together.

Picture this;

It's 2030, a father and son are walking down the Bolton Road when the child turns to his dad and says

'Dad I really wish the Rovers were still good, what did you do when those Venkys people destroyed the club?"

Daddy nervously admits " Well son. I bitched on Facebook then it was to late"

"Whats Facebook" sighs the son

 The clock is ticking! 

It Doesn't Matter

Six minutes of injury time at Old Trafford. Manchester United need to beat Sheffield Wednesday to win the first Premier League. Steve Bruce makes history. Roman Abramovich walks in the door at Stamford Bridge. The nobody from Japan who took over at Highbury. These are certain events that sculpted history and set their team on the road to success. A time in history when everything changed.

Summer of 2012. Blackburn Rovers fans pray that this is our time in history. Were a picture of future intentions are outlined. Just maybe a club to be proud of can be reborn. The administration at Ewood has been reshaped, into more of the same. Shebby Singh is the global advisor and I am willing to give him a chance, purely based on the opinions of others I respect. Paul Agnew is one i would rather leave of this blog or it will have to be certified 18. The other new guys are completely on trial as far as Im concerned. I do not trust any one of them. It may sound harsh, but nothing has changed for me.

Venkys would have you think that the mist has cleared and they have a clear agenda. They want to invest lots of their money and bring the good times back to Ewood Park. The money they are investing would have nothing to do with selling players, valuable players, cutting wages, stop playing players to stop them getting paid and so on. The thought of Michel Salgado and Ryan Nelson and their treatment will live long in the memory. For me I will never forgive them for what they have put the fans through since that day they took over. They had one shot to turn the tide slightly in their favour. Sacking Steve Kean. Its gone beyond the fact he is out of his depth, a lier, smug, arrogant and a 'Yes' man. Its personal, I will not be content until the day he walks out of the gates at Ewood and drive up the Bolton road and egg him as he goes by the Butty Box. When it comes to Steve Kean its now personal, I just dont like him as a person. Going forward Venkys can say all the right things but they have done that from day one. I don't trust them, and as far as Steve Kean it doesn't matter. He must go.

It still hurts. More than Agnew, Venkys or Shebby can ever imagine. The anger still runs through me everyday. Over to you Venkys. Lets see what you got.

@BRFCActionGID
@BRFCActionGroup

We Are The Cure

Many thoughts have came to mind since my last blog. Problem is were can I start. If the current situation was a movie it would be ridiculed by the critics and described as far fetched. Lets not beat around the bush. This is an absolute nightmare with no end or hope in sight. I can guarantee it will only get worse.

It was my view that relegation was inevitable after the pounding at the Liberty Stadium. So I desperately tried to brace myself and try to come to terms with the inevitable. It didn’t work. It doesn’t really sink it until Jim “I say Sky Sports ten times in one sentence” White says it. When the goal came there was no emotion, purely numbness. When it comes to supporting a team who go through ups and downs, it can strain your emotions. Something that the vast majorities don’t understand. For instance most of my mates support Man Utd. It’s a crisis if they draw. Its that lack of realism, for me that detaches them from an emotional connection with their club. They don’t understand the value of 3 points. I have seen the good and the bad but when it comes to relegation it can only be described as death of a loved one. It wont happen to me is your thought process. When the seconds count down, nothing seems real, and it feels like the world has stopped. You get the little quake behind your eyes as your emotions get the best of you. Take a deep breath and let your mind go crazy. Everything flashes before your eyes. Selling of top players, everything Mark Hughes built is gone, Preston, Matt Jansen, Marcus Bent, Alan Mahon, Eyal Berkovic, Sheffield, Barry Fry, Jack Walker, reading the Sunday newspaper looking for transfer gossip but realize its not there because no one cares if your in the Championship, job losses, what if we go down again, what if we are there for 10 years. What if Steve Kean and Venkys have ruined my dream. My dream of bringing my, lord willing, future son to Ewood Park to watch the Rovers at Ewood Park.

Half seven and the alarm goes off, that sickening feeling after relegation, you hope it didn’t happen. Sorry Rory, it did.

The last time it happened, their was a future. Right now, nothing seems over. Our outlook has completely changed. This has absolutely nothing to do with Premier League Football. I will gladly watch Championship football for years if the disgusting virus leaves. A true test of karma. If it is not a myth, then in 10 years Venkys will be bankrupt, Rovers will be Premier League and as harsh as it sounds, Steve Kean can rot in hell. If there is any justice in the world, it will be a slippery slope for them and I personally hope to trip them on the way down.

This week a light has been focused on Ewood Park. Can anyone believe it, the media is on the fans side. Well its about bloody time. We have begged and pleaded for help. Nobody was interested. We will ignore this because Harry Redknapp is having a cuppa in the car outside the training ground. In my first blog I mentioned the football family. It has let us down, newspapers, pundits, media, tv and experts. They could have helped and after Sunday we will be an after thought to them. My message is that for Kean and Venkys its only getting started. End of the season means nothing. We will not stop untill your poison is gone from Ewood history. Rovers fans must stop bickering with each other. Bottom line is all we have is each other.

Good luck to Blackpool in the play off. They showed at St Andrews by chanting “Kean Out” that sometimes rivals can support you when your in need.

Call me when it's over!

Watching the funeral at White Hart Pain a few things came to mind.

Firstly as I thought of the quote “We will not get relegated. Absolutely no chance.” Steve Kean, 18/11/2011, I thought how did we manage to keep our chins above water last year. Blackburn Rovers have always been destined to get relegated this season. The club stayed up last season because of some men. Including club captain Ryan Nelson, team captain Christopher Samba, Michel Salgado, Phil Jones and Jermaine Jones. These guys kept the club up and nobody else. They took over the dressing room and dragged the club out of the mess Steve Kean got them in. 

Secondly the sentence “We take the positives” will forever haunt me and after the display against Spurs I desperately tried to find one so I came up with this and yes I am severely clutching at straws. This is the starting team for Rovers against Manchester United when we got relegated previously. Filan, Croft, Henchoz, Peacock, Davidson, Gillespie, Dunn, Carsley, Wilcox, Ward, Jansen, Broomes (Johnson 81). Arguable I know, but on paper I would think our squad is much stronger than when we went down the last time.

Thirdly, have I ever been so embarrassed by the club I love as I was against the most over rated team in the Premier League. Spurs didn’t play well, they didn’t have to. I wont discuss Steve Keans performance for the reason that I like my laptop and if I talk about him there’s a good chance the computer will end up in the River Liffey. The players have an excuse, the formation and system deployed was absolutely woeful. My frustrations lay with a few players. Junior Hoilett pranced around like he is the next big thing, news flash David putting the ball in the top corner once every so often will only get you so far. He is the new David Bentley, all hype and flash and top teams will run a mile. Mauro Formica is a unbelievable talent, unbelievable that he’s an Argentine international who cant keep or pass the round thing to a team mate. Morten Gamst Pedersen, he has lived off a reputation he gained six years ago and a brace at Old Trafford. He was shocking. Yak did his best when he got the ball but most of the time he was busy playing spin the bottle with Willy and Brad. David Dunn tried until the very end, although I do wish he took control of the situation and changed things himself. Anthony Modeste will be a punchline in Rovers history. The defense and wing backs did OK considering they kept the margin of defeat respectable. No body can deny the tactics were woeful, but I fail to comprehend how professional players are unable to muster any sort of effort on goal. This team is fast becoming a knock knock joke.

People who know me know Im not short of words, but I am struggling to think why I would continue subjecting myself to this. Never in my memory has a club and its fans become separate identities. A manager that actually makes my skin crawl and cringe when he opens his mouth. Its conceivable that this is only the start. How on earth does the club get out of this mess. Who will rescue the club and buy a small town club, in debt, saleable assests have been sold of, overturn a PR nightmare, championship football and pay enough that the bandits make a profit. Exactly, the answer is probably nobody.

Michel Salgado tweets to a fan.

@sophieanncarter what a beautiful club dumped

Think that says it all. Rover and out!

Is he Kean on his Conscience?

Conscience by definition: The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.

Sometimes in life, you will encounter times you need to be ruthless. Protecting family and loved ones is the obvious but that will also apply to the business world. You make as much money to support your family and screw everything that gets in your way. Taken literally in Imogen Thomas’s case. That’s a thought process that most people can appreciate and relate to. You gotta do what you gotta do. If your behavior is not ethical then your conscience can riddle you with guilt, unless you’re a politician, Kerry Katona or the current Blackburn Rovers manager.

Steve Kean doesn’t have it too bad. A Premier League manager, no worries with cash flow, bosses that back him to the hilt and the back up plan that if a career in management doesn’t work out he can be a body and personality double of Karl Pilkington.

 With all that in mind, the question is, how does the bald wonder sleep at night. Judging by the fact he has subjected Blackburn Rovers fans to his ridiculous tenure for sixteen months not to bad, but he is human and he must know he that he has upset thousands of people. Personally I love setting foot into Blackburn. Anticipation of the trip, the train station, the taxi to the Fernhurst hotel, Ewood Butty Box to get my yearly intake of carbohydrates, the absolutely freezing nights. Everything for me is better when I'm in Blackburn. Meeting other fans and developed so many relationships because of one thing, love for the club. Blackburn and Ewood Park are my happy place. Multiply my thoughts by thousands of fans feelings who’s week can hinge on the scoreline of a match. Fans who are disgusted that one man and a group of bandits can completely destroy something so close to their heart. Hurting a part of the family. Blackburn will always be my happy place but my feelings towards Kean and the Indian Mafia are of utter heartbreak and disgust, a sentiment shared by thousands. Personally I couldn’t carry that type of weight on my shoulders.

So Steve. How are you sleeping?