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Ewood hero Jack Walker was one of a kind (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Ewood hero Jack Walker was one of a kind
11:00am Tuesday 19th June 2012 in News
By Andy Cryer, Blackburn Rovers reporter
AS Blackburn Rovers were getting relegated from the Premier League, the Ewood Park stands reverberated with chants of ‘there is only Jack Walker’.
As far as Tony Parkes is concerned they are right and is adamant no Premier League clubs will see another ‘Uncle Jack’.
Now, with Rovers preparing for the new Championship campaign, Parkes fears the club are ‘back to square one’ having watched Walker’s legacy be dismantled by the new Venky’s regime.
Parkes said: “You don’t get Jack Walker’s these days. Owners will go anywhere now. Jack was a Blackburn supporter, he was Blackburn through and through.
“I can’t see where there is a Jack Walker now. They are all in it not for the right reasons.
“He wanted the best for Blackburn Rovers. The fans still sing there is only Jack Walker and that will be remembered for a long time.
“Jack made all that happened happen. The legacy that he left was supposed to get Blackburn through the darker days, well I can’t see much of Jack’s money being spent.
“It was supposed to leave a legacy at the club but that has gone and we are back to square one and struggling as a football town.
“Jack was in it for the right reasons. He was a Blackburn lad, he earnt his living in Blackburn. He built nearly a new stadium, he built the academy, the senior training ground – all in three years.
“He knocked houses down to build car parks but people got top dollar. Now as owners we have the total opposite. You can’t deny that.
“Venky’s could not be any less like Jack Walker.”
Parkes grew to knew Walker well during their time together at Ewood Park and reveals the club’s benefactor actually grew quite frustrated by the ‘beautiful game’.
Parkes said: “The only think Jack couldn’t do was get on top of football. He had his fingers in a lot of pies but he couldn’t get on top of football.
“If he had a business and there was something wrong, he would have a board meeting and it would be settled. It doesn’t work like that in football. He can’t pull the strings in football.
“He found it very difficult at times and I think he stayed longer than he wanted to because we got relegated. He didn’t want to leave a sinking ship.
“The politics of football frustrated him.”
Comments are closed on this article.

Comments (39)
11:30am Tue 19 Jun 12
makaveli96 says...
Thanks for everything, you were MR BLACKBURN.
11:38am Tue 19 Jun 12
maltese blue n white says...
11:39am Tue 19 Jun 12
juanbbien says...
11:55am Tue 19 Jun 12
French Rover says...
“He found it very difficult at times and I think he stayed longer than he wanted to because we got relegated. He didn’t want to leave a sinking ship".
12:26pm Tue 19 Jun 12
UKdarran says...
12:42pm Tue 19 Jun 12
A Darener says...
From someone who put the club and its fans first.
To Someone whose main aim in life sems to be to destroy everything they touch.
12:52pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Forever-Blue says...
RIP
In some ways i am glad you are not here to see what has happened to your beloved Blackburn Rovers. You were and will always be Mr. Blackburn Rovers and all the fans Uncle Jack.
1:05pm Tue 19 Jun 12
mikeymoolondon says...
KUALA LUMPUR -- Former Malaysian international and football pundit Serbegeth Singh or better known as 'Shebby' has been appointed English Championship division, Blackburn Rovers football director next season.
According to reports from the Dailymail of United Kingdom today, Shebby’s appointment was confirmed by club owner, Venky's (India) Limited.
Venky's is the Indian-based company which specialized in chicken meat processing and pharmaceutical products for both poultry and human usage, owned by brothers Balaji Rao and Venkatesh Rao.
The report added that one of Shebby's tasks were to act as a go-between Venky's owner and the club manager, Steve Kean.
The 44-year-old Kean's future at the club remains uncertain after being relegated from the top flight - English Premier League (EPL) to Championship division next season - after finishing second from the bottom last season.
Shebby is expected to leave his current job as a pundit in the local private television cable news station to take up the job. - Bernama
Read more: Shebby appointed Blackburn Rover's football director - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.m
y/latest/shebby-appo
inted-blackburn-rove
r-s-football-directo
r-1.96051#ixzz1yEnRw
2Dr
1:37pm Tue 19 Jun 12
smellthecoffee says...
Just released by malaysian press. Keano is now a puppet! We have a new director of football. Who knows we might be at a turning point. Send him back to the training ground!!!
KUALA LUMPUR -- Former Malaysian international and football pundit Serbegeth Singh or better known as 'Shebby' has been appointed English Championship division, Blackburn Rovers football director next season.
According to reports from the Dailymail of United Kingdom today, Shebby’s appointment was confirmed by club owner, Venky's (India) Limited.
Venky's is the Indian-based company which specialized in chicken meat processing and pharmaceutical products for both poultry and human usage, owned by brothers Balaji Rao and Venkatesh Rao.
The report added that one of Shebby's tasks were to act as a go-between Venky's owner and the club manager, Steve Kean.
The 44-year-old Kean's future at the club remains uncertain after being relegated from the top flight - English Premier League (EPL) to Championship division next season - after finishing second from the bottom last season.
Shebby is expected to leave his current job as a pundit in the local private television cable news station to take up the job. - Bernama
Read more: Shebby appointed Blackburn Rover's football director - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.m
y/latest/shebby-appo
inted-blackburn-rove
r-s-football-directo
r-1.Rovers are effectively an Indian club which has been uprooted from Pune and dumped in the Ribble Valley. The management and owners are an utter, utter disgrace. If supporting the club means supporting Venky's/Kean/Anderso
n/Kentaro then I simply will not support the club till they've gone. Sounds drastic but I'm afraid that's the way I see it. I'm sick to the stomach of them all.
1:38pm Tue 19 Jun 12
smellthecoffee says...
n/Kentaro then I simply will not support the club till they've gone. Sounds drastic but I'm afraid that's the way I see it. I'm sick to the stomach of them all
2:04pm Tue 19 Jun 12
UKdarran says...
I can't, for the sake of my own sanity, attend games while Kean & Venky's remain.
I, for one, will never forgive Venky's - regardless of what they may or may not do in the future - for what they've done.
2:31pm Tue 19 Jun 12
A Darener says...
How about it Ray? Fancy being Kean's No 2 when his current one goes to Hull. After all you could finally move into your house in Wilpshire.
2:53pm Tue 19 Jun 12
maltese blue n white says...
2:54pm Tue 19 Jun 12
givet82 says...
2:55pm Tue 19 Jun 12
A Darener says...
3:33pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Keen O to Get Kean Out says...
3:37pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Angrlus says...
so it wouldn't be a surprising if things are afoot that are being kept under covers.
Venky's are going to sell and move on very soon.. hopefully.
3:41pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Keen O to Get Kean Out says...
4:38pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Ewood 82 says...
What will most Blackburn fans do when they win the Championship 2012/13?
ANSWER -
Switch the Playstation off!!!!
GOD SAVE THE KEAN
4:50pm Tue 19 Jun 12
juanbbien says...
5:44pm Tue 19 Jun 12
BashirShah says...
Answer: Wake up.
6:44pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Road Runner Road Runner says...
The business model that they are creating for BRFC is rotten to the core at this time in so far as taking the club forward. They are going to find just how difficult it is in reshaping this club in the world of football.
The whole structure of this well run club is now in tatters.
Reading and listening to these people relaying what their intentions were when they took over as been nothing short of treachery. They will never be forgiven in my eye's.
Made in India Destroyed in India
Go now.
6:45pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Road Runner Road Runner says...
Made in Blackburn Destroyed in India
6:56pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Bill Carson says...
8:11pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Chico! says...
A monkey shat on his head.
8:36pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Lancs - pensioner says...
10:16pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Keen O to Get Kean Out says...
10:49pm Tue 19 Jun 12
BlueSkies says...
The Circus with it's Ringmaster, TightRope Walkers and of course The Clowns will leave town.
It'll take time but we will be here to take back what is ours.
11:24pm Tue 19 Jun 12
whittaker0 says...
12:36am Wed 20 Jun 12
roverfor60years says...
And there have been lies ever since....
4:27am Wed 20 Jun 12
KYMER says...
4:37am Wed 20 Jun 12
philrog says...
4:52am Wed 20 Jun 12
craftandgraft says...
KEAN OUT
AGNEW OUT
KENTARO OUT
SHEBBY SINGH OUT BEFORE YOU'RE IN
NEW SECRETARY OUT
Arte et Labore
in out you shake it all about...............
..oh okey cokey cokey.
4:57am Wed 20 Jun 12
Roverthere says...
8:39am Wed 20 Jun 12
Coeur de Lion says...
8:56am Wed 20 Jun 12
spike t says...
9:40am Wed 20 Jun 12
French Rover says...
He was actually ousted at Liverpool by someone he employed (sounds familiar?) but Liverpool 'new' secretary's regime then went and handled the Suarez incident so messily that the club had to apologize to the world over the mess that was created.
Maybe having a well respected and very experienced (European and Prem experience with Liverpool) Club Secretary can make some difference to the running of the club.
Could it just be that Venkys are starting to put a proper structure back in place within the club so as to make it more saleable?
Are we actually seeing the first green shoots of hope emerging? Shoots that can grow quickly and sweep "Kean the weed" away.....? Not sure where our Shebby fits into that theory though? Unless he will be the 'asia known face' that will oversee the sale?
10:17am Wed 20 Jun 12
Angrlus says...
1:53pm Wed 20 Jun 12
rovertakenmb says...
www.rovertaken.co.uk