ANDY CRYER COLUMN: Time for Rovers to start showing some respect (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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ANDY CRYER COLUMN: Time for Rovers to start showing some respect
9:00am Thursday 10th January 2013 in Football
By Andy Cryer, Blackburn Rovers reporter
THIS weekly column has not exactly made for the happiest reading over the past two years with the Ewood Park faithful deserving no punches being pulled as their club has been systematically taken apart.
As Steve Kean once said ‘you’re very negative Andy’, and I guess – for once – he was right. I have been very negative and will continue to be until I see real progress being made behind the scenes.
But, while there remain some real problems in East Lancashire, the last few weeks have reminded us all that there are still some great things about this football club.
A lot of very good footballing people have been seen off by this chaotic regime but a lot still remain. Gary Bowyer and Terry McPhillips are the perfect example of that.
Both have been involved in the club’s youth set up for years now, quietly going about their business and getting results without ever hitting any of the headlines.
Now they have been thrown into the public glare, having been handed the temporary reins in what seemed impossible circumstances, and have responded admirably.
Who knows if the duo have any chance of landing the job full time – in fact that looks unlikely after last night's events – but their efforts deserve to be recognised and appreciated by a club who has all too often in recent times treated employees with disdain.
Last night's statement out of the blue was hardly a good sign that they are about to treated properly though.
The way former coaches Eric Black, Bobby Mimms and Iain Brunskill were told of their dismissals recently was nothing short of scandalous. To read it on Sky Sports before being told by the club is unforgivable. We should not be surprised as we have seen countless people behind the scenes at Ewood hounded out of the club, only to find how hard it is to get adequate replacements.
Bowyer and McPhillips will know nothing is certain. They have already seen Black do the caretaker manager’s job pretty well earlier this season before being booted out unceremoniously.
That can’t happen again. The duo may not be the men for the task long term – although I am of the mind if it is not broke don’t fix it – but they need to remain a part of the club’s future.
They have already contributed massively to some of the young players we are seeing emerge in the first team and, whoever comes in needs to be told they remain part of the furniture.
Bowyer and McPhillips aren’t the only people at the club who deserve better, they are just the obvious example after their achievements. There are a number of coaches, players, and plenty of others behind the scenes, who deserve their bosses to finally start showing some loyalty.
They say ‘You don’t know what you have got until you have lost it’, and how many times have we said that about Rovers under Venky’s control.
Comments are closed on this article.

Comments (31)
9:09am Thu 10 Jan 13
moh says...
9:13am Thu 10 Jan 13
brown cow warrior says...
9:14am Thu 10 Jan 13
cboyer says...
VENKYS OUT!
9:19am Thu 10 Jan 13
Abruzzorover says...
Puzzled by the lack of comment regarding the public apology and financial settlement to Big Sam. Is A.C. suffering from Asian " loss of face" for not reporting this?
9:26am Thu 10 Jan 13
roverfor60years says...
9:43am Thu 10 Jan 13
thommovat says...
9:54am Thu 10 Jan 13
R.I.P. Rovers says...
the only experience Appleton has is running a club in administration and using players that don't get paid
is this the message the board are trying to tell us?
10:16am Thu 10 Jan 13
AndyW says...
Unfortunately you're calling on deaf/stupid/ignorant ears.
10:36am Thu 10 Jan 13
lusorover says...
We all wish that were not the case but it is and we fans need to manage our expectations.
Given the current owners it is a miracle that anyone even considers the job.
I don´t know enough about Appleton to be able to say whether he would be right for the Club in the long term.
I do know that GB has done a fine job and the performances under his management have been the only bright thing to come out of Ewood / Pune in two years.
10:56am Thu 10 Jan 13
Harwoodstblue says...
l probably get rid of them then !!!
It wouldn't do for Venkys to keep someone who was doing a good job.
11:12am Thu 10 Jan 13
bluerob says...
Bowyer and McPhilips have done a tremendous job and deserve their rewards.
Andy, one good thing about your job is you will never be short of things to write about.
11:20am Thu 10 Jan 13
fishcake 75 says...
11:23am Thu 10 Jan 13
tugay please !! says...
because they dont have to or want too.
11:37am Thu 10 Jan 13
roverfor60years says...
Have you had a response, Glen? If so, tell us. If not, when are you going to blow Venky’s out of the water?
11:41am Thu 10 Jan 13
A Rover 45 years and over says...
11:58am Thu 10 Jan 13
BlueSkies says...
Andy Cryer and LT have been against this regime for a long time and have declared their stance on several occasions.
12:04pm Thu 10 Jan 13
BRFC0808 says...
ITS TIME HE QUITS LT AND WE HAVE SOMEONE WHO'S SAME AT THE EVENINIG AS IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OUT U CRYER
12:37pm Thu 10 Jan 13
stefjam says...
/2013/01/10/blackbur
n-rovers-keen-to-app
oint-new-manager-aft
er-disappointing-run
-of-victories/
1:17pm Thu 10 Jan 13
owd nick says...
Why Appleton? Seems an absolutely pointless move to me, he hasn't done anything anywhere, so not a lot of "experience" is there?
The only good thing about this is that Rovers appear to have silenced Shebby which was needed, but the constant infighting isn't helping.
The general reaction to Appleton I am getting from fans I know is negative, that doesn't augur well if we do sign him because they will be on his back immediately.
Rovers need to listen to the fans, pure and simple. either stick with what we have in place and see what happens or get someone in who knows this league, O''Driscoll would suit me, his teams play good football and he has a win ratio of around 36% and a win draw ratio of around 73%.
In a very short time at Forest he had them playing really well, unless something went on behind the scenes we don't know about they were idiots for getting rid of him.
1:19pm Thu 10 Jan 13
makaveli96 says...
1:53pm Thu 10 Jan 13
waggyonthewing says...
1:59pm Thu 10 Jan 13
Dublin rover says...
2:04pm Thu 10 Jan 13
buzzinfly says...
After throwing his toys about and stamping his feet and crying, Venkys, agreed that it was his turn next to find a manager, because Shebbys had his.
Agnew didnt mind as he was playing in the sand pit with his old pal Kean.(Yep, thats where he is)!
Club Shop to start selling 'Where's Agnew' book. It should have been out for Christmas, but nobody could find a picture of him for the illustrations. In the end they just used a blank face because no-one knows what he looks like so it would be impossible to find him.
Singh, now scratching his head as decisions are being made over it. He's returned to colouring in articles for the mtchday programme.
Just a bunch of kids, well thats what they come across as.
For F**ks sake, sort it out!! Its not rocket science. Working together would be a start.
2:07pm Thu 10 Jan 13
waggyonthewing says...
3:32pm Thu 10 Jan 13
glp says...
5:08pm Thu 10 Jan 13
say something positive says...
nothing good happening at rovers, whatver happes we only report thr negative.
we need new sportwriter and a paper thatt supports the local club.
time for a change
cryer out
7:50pm Thu 10 Jan 13
riversidefan says...
9:28pm Thu 10 Jan 13
jackmetickler says...
9:47pm Thu 10 Jan 13
steve18gls says...
9:47pm Thu 10 Jan 13
steve18gls says...
10:50pm Thu 10 Jan 13
100%RoverVenkysOut says...
From the disgusting and disrespectful treatment of long serving players and even longer serving (and on the whole first class) backroom/boardroom staff, to the employing and promoting of the odious, back stabbing, lying, tactically vacant K***, not forgetting the endless stream of lies and ridiculous, deeply embarrassing statements (on the rare occurrence one was made) from the V...V...V...VENKYS (sorry, difficult to even write that name). Our club was once one of the most respected and well run in the country, fact. The Jack Walker Trust and Premier League should hang their head in shame at the betrayal of Uncle Jack's legacy. John Williams, no matter how much I want him back, should also take some responsibility. A few simple questions to the Venky's during the takeover surely would have set off enough alarm bells to prevent this tragedy taking place, eg "Rao, can a team be relegated from the premier league?"
I knew we were in SERIOUS trouble within approx. 4 months of Venkys takeover when I heard Her Ladyshi* (you choose final letter) responding to criticism of them in an interview on the radio: "people have been critical saying that I've never been to a live game. While that is true, I am a good listener"!!!! WHAT!!??!!
Andy, I think you're articles have never been overly negative. You seem to be the one voice in the media that's nearly realistic and aware enough of the whole situation. I don't mean that as a slight, I just think we, the fans, need someone in the media to really rip the lid of this festering pot of cockroaches and expose them for the scumbags they are. I think it would make an incredible Panorama episode, but of course the southern based media couldn't actually give 2 hoots and will only generally write to be critical of the people who matter the most, the fans (and I say that as someone who's born and raised in Oxfordshire).
The action group and the media really need to get a proper strategy together to oust Venkys once and for all, not suck up to Shebby because he actually speaks to the fans (90% utter nonsense, but still the only one to apologise for ANYTHING that they've done). He seems to only have the job of Global-Utter-Meaning
less-Title because he's apparently been a fan for a number of years...well so has my uncle Graham, and he would be a million times better at ANY job on the board than Venkys/Singh.
The manager situation for instance, how hard is it to understand...GET A MANAGER WITH PROPER EXPERIENCE, LEARN FROM AT LEAST ONE OF YOUR MISTAKES. But, no, there will be no lessons learnt. We'll **** money up the wall on Scumbag K***, but we won't shell out 2mill for Gus Poyet. We won't approach Alan Curbishley, O'Driscoll, managers who've got experiance and ARE OUT OF WORK! No, we'll go after yet another unproven manager...Literally nothing surprises me at MY/OUR club anymore.
I wish I could see an end to it, but while these "people" "run" our club, I can only see a Portsmouth or even Rangers situation on the horizon...and the worst part is that by that point their behavior and treatment of human beings will have **** off so many people that no one, outside of the fans, will care.
Andy, is there something we can do to get someone to truly look into what's going on behind the scenes? Raise media/public awareness to the fact that this isn't the fans fault, that one of the historically important clubs in England is being decimated, and that no one is doing anything to help us.
Thank you for your articles, don't back away from the good fight, attack!
DS