Good money if you can get it?

It's four years to the day that Steve Kean, finally left as Manager of Blackburn Rovers. I have thought about putting a blog together to remember that day. However the last 24 hours has brought us #SAMGATE, After the Daily Telegraph's undercover sting. All of us will have a different opinion about the in's and out's of what we have read and seen regarding the Allardyce saga, however one thing the whole sting points to, is corruption is still very much rife in our National game and the F.A Continue to turn a blind eye to much of it.

It's not by accident, I have decided to write my memoirs via a blog, which covers the supporter’s investigation into Blackburn Rovers, whilst  sharing the findings which has been uncovered during the last 5 years. This is after the F.A Point blank refused to look into the goings on regarding our club. Many of the things mentioned over the last 24 hours, are mirror imaged into some of the goings on at Rovers, but its took a Newspaper to do an exclusive to get the FA to act, which ultimately saw Sam Allardyce leave his position as Manager of our National team. 

Another article came out today, however the names of those involved have been protected after lawyer intervention, which is very much what the press have faced with Rovers since the Rao Family took over the Helm at Ewood, when the Walker's Trust accepted their offer.

This particular part of my blog was not scheduled for at least 6 weeks, however I have fast forwarded 12 months, as I feel its relevant to what we have seen all over the World news over the last 24 hours. I will pick up where I left off in my previous blog post, in my next Blog post.

I will now take you back to the time, when Kean had long gone along with Shebby Singh. A witness came forward and wanted to discuss, what he had personally witnessed during his employment at Blackburn Rovers. Phil Thompson, who was part of the BRFC Action Group Committee, was approached by this individual. The individual in question had information he wanted to share with the Committee and a meeting was set up. I could not attend the first meeting as I had prior arrangements; however group secretary, Mark Fish and Phil Thompson agreed to meet with this witness.  I'm not too sure what was discussed at that meeting, as I was not there, however it did prompt a second meeting very quickly.

Mark Fish called me and said he had met up with Matt Hocking who was Blackburn Rovers former Players Liaison officer, who had shared some very interesting information, which he would like me to hear for myself, so I could make my mind up, if it was relevant to the investigation?

Mark, Phil and I arranged to meet with Mr Hocking at a public house, which was the first of two meetings I personally had with him, The second being at an out of town restaurant.

I had come across Mr Hocking before during the Training ground Protest, as he was the individual Steve Kean sent out, to try and coax us into leaving, as Kean refused to leave the Training ground, whilst the supporters were outside.

Matt was a nice guy, very open and very willing to answer any questions posed to him. Matt, had been brought to Rovers by Sam Allardyce and they had worked together before at Bolton Wanderers. I asked Matt, what was the purpose of coming forwards now and if he would speak on record? He stated that a few long standing friends at the club, had been treated poorly, lost their jobs and he felt very aggrieved by their treatment. He was adamant that should a full public investigation be called regarding Blackburn Rovers, that he would without hesitation stand as a witness. From the Action Group’s point of view, it was a case of “So far, so good”. I began to dig deeper into what Matt’s role was, as I was trying work out, if what he had to say, would have any relevance to the investigation. You need to remember, I don’t have enough fingers or toes left, to count the amount of employee;s past and present I have spoken to at Rovers, and many in the main have been as much in the dark as the supporters.

It became apparent very quickly Matt was different, he did have stories which were very relevant, and which started to answer some questions, which we had certain pieces but not all of them.

Matt’s first Claim was:

He shared a car journey with Steve Kean and Jerome Anderson, just days after Sam Allardyce’s departure with Matt doing the driving. They pulled up on a car park, and Jerome Anderson said to Matt. “I need to know are you with us?, I know you and Sam were close, but you need to understand, it’s just business, Sam will get another Job”. Matt made it clear, he was happy at Rovers and was happy to continue, and even happier if they wanted him to continue? During the time the car was parked, Steve Kean and Jerome Anderson, discussed Steve Kean’s contract and its contents for him to become full time Manager. Steve Kean then suggested to Matt, his position was safe and he would personally see he was alright.

Matts second Claim was:

Steve Kean called him into his office at the Training ground for a meeting. He asked Matt to shut the door, and put a proposal to him. He offered Matt £500 per week cash in hand, which Steve would give him weekly, to keep the players sweet, be the fly on the wall, and help plant stories into the press, by using the players. He was asked to use motives, for example racism to plant the seed in the players mind, that Kean had their backs. He also wanted Matt to be on call if he needed him, including during any meetings he may have. Matt stated although a Player Liaison officer gets an okay wage, it’s certainly not a footballers wage and £500.00 a week tax free, is not something to turn your nose up at, especially as you are trying to keep your job. Matt accepted to the proposal

Matt’s third claim :

Steve Kean, became very reliant on him, as he liked a drink. He would call him at all hours, especially in the early hours of the morning to pick him up, from wherever he had been drinking, as Matt was now becoming more of Kean’s PA, for this additional money, which was paid weekly as Steve Kean said it would be. This included late nights at Ewood after first team fixtures.

Matt’s fourth Claim:

Matt would always be present when Anderson, Huber and Indoo Sella da Monteluce were present for meetings at the Training ground and random, places around the North-West. Matt made it very clear, that is was beyond any reason able doubt, who was in charge at Ewood and it certainly was not the board of Directors. All transfers, third party ownerships, payments were discussed in these meetings, and he was privy to the lot, including current player negotiations, which were being managed by the before mentioned, despite them having their own agents. Hocking was very much the training ground Mr Fix-it as he was used as the go between to try and tie current players into contracts which had Anderson’s associates fingers all over them, whilst escorting players and agents of players who were very much part of third party ownership around the training ground and local houses, he used Formica as an example of this.

You may be reading the above and thinking, well, it was only £500 per week?

However the plot gets deeper than this.

Please see the letter below from Blackburn Rovers former Secretary to the F.A Regarding the investigative questions posed by the F.A

BY E-MAIL & POST

16^th March 2011.

David Newton Head of Football Integrity The Football Association Wembley Stadium Wembley London HA9 0WS

Dear David

 

SEM Group / Kentaro

I write further to your letter dated 2 March 2011 and to our subsequent correspondence in which you granted an extension of time until 16 March 2011 for the Club to file its response. I now set out the Club’s response below.

Please note that the contents of this letter have been prepared on the basis that The FA does not require disclosure of the representation contracts entered into by the Club, and/or the details of any payments made, in respect of Agency Activity for the Transactions listed in your letter. Also, for the purposes of this response, we have assumed that your references to the ‘Club’ in the letter are intended to be references to Blackburn Rovers Football & Athletic PLC.

As a preliminary clarification, we wish to confirm that no Authorised Agent holds an interest in the Club (as defined in The FA Football Agents Regulations).  We now respond to the specific questions contained in your letter:

1.       We confirm that the Club does not have any contractual or customary arrangements, whether formal or informal, with SEM Limited and/or Kentaro Limited and/or any other company in the Kentaro AG group.

In order that The FA has a complete understanding of the situation, we do however wish to confirm that the ultimate legal owner of the Club, Venkateshwara Hatcheries PVT Ltd (‘VHPL’), is party to a non-exclusive agreement with The Kentaro Group (‘Kentaro’) under which Kentaro provides consultancy services to VHPL in respect of football-related business (‘the VHPL – Kentaro Agreement’). The Club has been provided with an undated copy of the VHPL – Kentaro Agreement and we hereby enclose a copy of the same.  We have been advised that a long form contract was not completed.  We further understand that VHPL does not intend to renew the VHPL – Kentaro Agreement on the renewal date (which we are told is 1 July 2011).

2.       We confirm that no fees have been paid in the course of the 2010/11 season by the Club to either SEM Limited, Kentaro Limited and/or any other company in the Kentaro AG group, other than the following payment:

£2,080.00 (plus VAT) to Jeff Weston, of SEM Limited, on 1 July 2010 on behalf of Nick Blackman in respect of the work undertaken by Mr Weston on behalf of the Player in the negotiation of the Player’s previous Playing Contract dated 9 January 2009.  All documentation was lodged with The FA at the time of the transaction and the payment was made via The FA.

In accordance with clause 3 of the VHPL – Kentaro Agreement, we can confirm that VHPL has paid the first instalment for Year 1 of £100,000 to Kentaro in accordance with clause 3 of the VHPL – Kentaro Agreement. The second instalment of £100,000 for ‘Year 1’ has not been paid.

In addition to the above, please note that SEM Limited were recently involved in the Club’s employment of Steve Kean as Manager and John Jensen as Assistant Manager. The Club has agreed, on a subject to contract basis, to remunerate SEM Limited on behalf of the individuals concerned in relation to these deals and the fees proposed to be paid to SEM Limited are £20,000 in respect of Steve Kean and £5,000 in respect of John Jensen. As at the date of this letter, no agreements have been completed in respect of this work nor have any payments been made. As with previous payments to the Licensed Agents of our Managers, we shall provide The FA with copies of the contractual documentation once entered into and payment shall be made via The FA.

Finally, for the sake of completeness and whilst not falling within the scope of your enquiry as set out in your letter, please note that prior to its acquisition of the Club, VHPL entered into a non-exclusive agreement with a company called Crescendo Sports Limited (a company whose registered office we understand is at Suite 41, 4^th Floor, Britannia House, Cator Road, BS8811, Bandar Seri Begwan, Brunei) (‘Crescendo’) (‘the Crescendo – VHPL Agreement’).  We understand from VHPL that an officer of SEM Limited, Jerome Anderson, has a connection with Crescendo. Under the Crescendo – VHPL Agreement, Crescendo provided consultancy services to VHPL in respect of its acquisition of the Club – this agreement pre-dated VHPL’s ownership of the Club and expired upon its successful acquisition of the Club.  Please note that as the Crescendo – VHPL Agreement both contains a binding confidentiality clause and does not fall within the scope of your enquiry, whilst we can inform you of its existence we are not legally entitled to disclose its terms to The FA.

We trust the above information answers your queries but should you require any further clarifications, please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Pincher

Football Secretary

Enc.

The letter advised that SEM/Kentaro’s relationship with Rovers was non existent and it was actually with VHPL, furthermore, Rovers also claimed that their arrangement with Crescendo was purely in an advisory capacity when the Rao’s bought the club. They did not disclose this contract to the F.A But have always maintained the contract ended when the club was purchased. The fact that Indoo Sella Di Monteluce was at the Training ground organising Rovers transfers and contracts during Matt Hockings employment at the club, disproves the theory and answers Rovers presented to F.A. Furthermore, another member of the Crescendo band, is none other than Suhail Pascha who is also Ex Kentaro. Rovers are trying so desperately to get a work permit for Pascha, so he can continue to advise the owners, as he has over the last 18 months, regarding all accusations and footballing decisions at Ewood Park. Its common Knowledge that an open advert for the position was put out via the UK Job centre, with the sole aim of engineering Pascha into the role, whilst pulling the wool over the Home Office's eyes. The truth is Suhail still work's on a daily basis at Rovers and his position has never been in doubt, and its only a delay in the work permit which has prevented his position being publically announced. Crescendo who are the same people as Kentaro, have for 5 years continued to play a part in the running of Blackburn Rovers, which breaks a number of F.A Rules.

To summarise, when Sam Allardyce was caught by the Telegraph Sting, he was caught suggesting ways around third party ownership and agent involvement. He has been sacked because of this, Yet Blackburn Rovers, who have been subjected to the same for five years, is still not deemed a concern for the F.A ? Why is this? Why are the F.A Trying to bury the truth? What are the deeper implications?

Matt Hocking's allegations certainly tie up with other information which was gathered before our meetings, and subsequent information which has come to light since, as part of the leaked document package, which was distributed some weeks ago.

Don't read if you want a good start to the weekend?

Following on from the communication chain which was now open with Shebby Singh, Mark Fish arranged a meeting with the new Managing Director Derek Shaw and Communications Director Paul Agnew.

This was a meeting a few of us in the Action Group were particularly looking forwards to. I was very keen to pull Paul Agnew up on his revelations 12 months earlier, when he was highly critical of the Rao Family, whilst Graham Reid also could not wait to meet Paul Agnew, as Graham recalled during the early 80's that he had been ripped off over away travel by a Paul Agnew.

We attended the meeting at Ewood Park, and I was waiting for Graham to lay into Paul Agnew, only for Graham to realise, it was errrrr a different Paul Agnew!!! Graham had been gearing himself up for 12 months to get in a room with Mr Agnew and i'm not sure if he was relieved or embarrassed when it turned out to be a total different guy.

We got stitched up a little at this meeting, as unknown to us, Shaw and Agnew had invited Jack Straw to the meeting. Jack was sat at one side of the table, whilst Agnew was sat at the top of the table on his throne, purring like Cheshire cat. 

Never one to let an opportunity drop, as I'm well renowned for asking the difficult questions and getting straight to the point, I started my line of questioning with Paul Agnew firstly pointing out, how he found himself 12 months earlier having nothing good to say about the Rao family, and he had gone from a not the greatest of PR Guys to being now a Director of the club. Agnew's response was "BRFCS , Twitter and the pub won't sack me, I can now be part of changing the things which did not sit right with me" I remember it well, as I did think it would be silly of me, not to record this meeting, after all, We was busy carrying out an investigation into our club, and any glimmer of information, or shedding of light on the whole debacle was key, if we was going to rid our famous club, of the rot which had set in since the Rao's had arrived. 

Derek Shaw on the other hand, was very much in the mold of "All my Christmas's have come at once". He was openly honest, that he had landed a dream appointment, at one of the England's oldest clubs, which was rich in heritage. He was very critical of the Williams administration and claimed many of the sub-contractors used at the club prior to him taking over the helm, was very much job for the boys and no value for money, He made a big episode on how he had saved money on the coffee we was drinking and the chairs in the offices, by changing suppliers. How this was relevant I did not know. 

Mark Fish continued with the line of difficult and direct questions, including what Shebby Singh's role was at the club. Their answer was simple "We do not know". Yep these two certainly showed the traits of not only being out their depth, but they was actually swimming with concrete flippers.

We left the meeting under no illusions, that the club was now in a even worse shape, than it had been 12 months earlier, as we now had a board of Directors, who had taken up key roles, without a track record of being successful in their previous endeavors.

The full recording of the meeting was sent to Jagdish Rao, the Son of Balaji Rao some months later, who played the recording to his family, within a few weeks, Agnew was gone. Jagdish was the first member of the family I had direct contact with, but he would not be the last.

Next up, the group managed to persuade Shebby Singh to face the supporters in at an open floor meeting at King Georges Hall. Again in typical Singh fashion, he agreed without hesitation. I remember thinking how the Rao's had embarrassed the Pune 9 during their trip to India, whilst also thinking if we can get Singh on a table in front of the supporters, he would not be able to help himself in expressing far more than perhaps the Board, Manager or Owners would like.

The Open floor meeting came, and to a packed crowd of supporters, Shebby Singh delivered one liner after one liner, as he played to the crowd. Sitting next to him, I cringed at some of the comments, whilst booting him under the table, with some of the responses he put out there, regarding Pedersen amongst other things. Don't get me wrong, some of the things he said, RE "That position is filled", when someone made a joke about Kean, being a drunk, a liar amongst other things, I could not help but laugh. This was the owners representative, he was making back page news, Sky Sports News, with outlandish statements, which was showing the world how dysfunctional our club was.

What I did not know, until just a few weeks ago, was Steve Kean had a mole in the crowd and was being updated via Colin Hendry's mobile throughout the open floor meeting.They were over in Ireland as part of Rovers Pre-Season calendar. Text were flying both ways, as they was curious what was being said, whilst the supporters movement was certainly a great concern to Steve Kean. One Sky Sports reporter, approached me after the open floor meeting and thanked us for organising the event and said in all the years he has been reporting on Football, he could not remember a single time that he had ever witnessed anything like what had occurred in that room that day. Many supporters were angered by the words, Singh had used, the comments he had made, whilst the BRFC Action Group also came in for stick, for being sat next to him whilst this whole charade was played out. However to be fair to Singh, regardless of what came out of his mouth, it took real balls to sit up there in front of 500 angry supporters, which was something no-one previously had shown the desire or courage to do. You may call it stupidity, but no-one could of been completely sure what Singh would say that day.

The following Day, Singh called me to tell me, "Kean and the players were not happy with his actions" He said he had been advised to issue an apology to Kean, which was the turning point in terms of Singh and his relationship with Kean. I remember thinking, for those supporters who want Kean gone, this is a major breakthrough. Within three weeks of meeting Kean, we have now got him gunning for Kean, whilst also gunning for Shaw and Agnew.

The press ran with the meeting for 2 days solid, Kean was demanding an apology publicly and even did a TV Interview. The incompetence being shown daily at the club, was well and truly back in the public domain and the cross fire in the board-room, was a seed not only planted, but it was now growing and quickly.

In another call with Singh, I thought I'd push the line of questioning to the limits, Regarding Anderson, SHAGNEW (as they was now being universally called), including by Singh, plus the Rao family. What came next, even caught me by surprise as Singh opened up, on team selection. He claimed Steve Kean would pick the team, It would then be sent to Balaji Rao for approval. Balaji would often make changes to the team and then issue it back to Kean, who would have to go with the team Balaji chose. I could not believe me ears, I asked "Do you get involved too"? His reply, "I get asked my opinion but don't disagree with my bosses choices, it is their club". 

This got me thinking deeply, about the betting market, things which were discussed at Parliament, things which had been discussed to death on the message boards. It also later had me thinking about Steve Kean's contract.

For those of you who have not seen the leaked documents, or dissected them, One of the Documents leaked a few weeks ago is of course Steve Kean's contract. In this contract, For season 2011-2012 His basic salary was £1 Million Pounds, with bonuses triggered for all sorts of different permutations. The scary thing about this contract, was previsions were made for him to be Managing us in League one, which I like many others have deemed to be very strange, especially as Bonus payments were also in the contract even if we was in league 1. However the big part of the contract that stands out was something which is referred to as "AN ADDITIONAL SALARY" This is paid yearly regardless of results and was a whacking £1.611 Million, which in itself, was bigger than his basic and bonuses put together. 

So the question is, Was this additional payment because:

 He was never going to be in charge of picking the team or signing players, and was just the front man, for the owners to play Championship Manager with team selection, whilst Kentaro,who were in contract with the Venky's, (as per the other leaked document) would get to filter unknown players into the club, get them a few TV Appearances and sell them at Profit, but get nice commissions regardless if they was a success or not?

My thoughts, were now a little confused, what did the owners gain, by picking the team, when they barely knew a thing about the game, which again pointed to betting markets.

The Season started and in fairness although we were not playing well, we actually started the season under Kean getting results and we was nearer the top than the bottom.
I was invited to go corporate by Wayne Wild, for the home Fixture v Leicester City, which was a nice gesture. I Actually missed Rovers go 1-0 up through Gomes, as I had nipped to the toilet. Vardy equalised and the game was nicely poised, although not very exciting. I remember watching the dug-out, looking around who was in the Director's box ,seeing who was about from the owners, SEM and other protagonist which had cropped up during the investigation we was carrying out. I could see Formica getting stripped off to come on, when Wayne Wild turned to me and said "Text your mate Singh and tell him to get Rochina on". We had a bit of a banter between ourselves for a minute or two, before I said, "He would probably make that happen". Anyway I sent the text, "Forget Formica, get Rochina on". I was not expecting to get a reply within seconds saying "OK". To mine and Wayne's disbelief , Formica stopped getting ready to come on, and Rochina was now being stripped off to come on. The substitution was made, which was followed by a text from Singh saying "Are you happy now?" I was shocked and disgusted, in a matter of minutes, through a bit of banter, I Had now had a direct impact on the pitch, via influencing a substitution. Rochina actually had a hand in Rovers scoring the winner, however my worse fears were now being realised. Kean the unsackable Manager was not being sacked, as he was not even picking the team, and judging by the Text substitution, was also not choosing who was coming on and off. Our team was being run from the stands and  India by people who had little clue on how to Manage a football team. 

People say the Venky's were duped? Come on, those idiots were picking the team? Whilst Kean , SEM Kentaro and Crescendo were having a right good pay day, for passing poor players through the club, negotiating contracts of salable assets, and personal contracts for being front men.

Some of you reading this right now, are probably building up a picture of what has happened at our club, I have been give a little bit of grief in recent days other the content of this blog, some would rather I did not write it, whilst others are quick to jump on me, for the things I have personally had a direct impact on. Please everyone remember, when you are investigating things, you need to get in close, you need to test the waters, and you need to push the boundaries to the limits. No-one said this story would be nice, whilst I more than anyone, wish I never logged into Twitter the night after thew Fulham match. This whole situation is like a poison chalice, I have seen and witnessed things, which I wish I had not, as have many of the people who have been on this journey with me, in ridding our club, of those who wisntinuesh to do it harm

I could of taken the story to the grave with me, but I will continue to write what I have learnt as, its vital every single supporter of our club understands, what has happened, and what people have put themselves through to uncover the truth.

In my next Blog, The Singh saga continues

What country is that??

Following on from our meetings at the Premier League, F.A and Parliament, a swift meeting at the Football League in Preston Followed.

Of all the meetings we attended, this was by far the biggest waste of time. Eyes rolling, Yawns and a total disinterested panel faced us. They must all have learnt a default answer as part of the interviewing process at the football league, as they kept saying "We have inherited this problem, please see the Premier League". After hearing this for a good hour it was plain obvious we was wasting our time.

Mark Fish, Phil Thompson and I walked out of that meeting and stood outside the Football League headquarters for a good hour wondering, what our next step was? We was very deflated and I personally felt we had failed, all the authorities were blaming one another, whilst none wanted to take the case any further unless we produced the ultimate open and shut case.

I did try to force a mistake from the Rao's and SEM Kentaro, by speaking with the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, and saying on record we would publish our own findings, if the authorities did not step up to the plate. Looking back I regret that statement, I have received so much grief for it ever since. It's not that we wouldn't release information, it was more of a case of, we had released it to the press and none would run with the story, which is a slightly different angle. You need to remember, the only proper communication with those responsible for the down fall of Blackburn Rovers was via the Press. Whilst many things we were told, had zero paper trail and witnesses stated they would only speak at a public enquiry.

A couple of weeks after the meetings with the authorities, I received a telephone call from none other than "Jerome Anderson". The call lasted 1hr 9 Minutes, as he gave the finest Oscar performance. I recorded the call, which I later released via an overseas contact. Some have listened to it, but I'm sure many of you have not. At some point I will try and get it out again.

He harped on for ages, how his son, Myles, had been targeted by supporters, and how he was a father. He asked me to search my conscience as one father to another? I remember thinking "Err Most would not know Miles if they passed him in the street. Let alone give him the type of abuse which had him considering packing in playing football". Once thing which really stood out for me, during this call, was he kept referring to Rovers as "WE", Which is a strange way to put something across, which you are denying having any involvement with. He re-lived the SKY Sports interview, playing the same tune of how he had worked for free, how his life had been destroyed by us nasty Rover supporters, and how his life's work had only been positive for football. In fairness to him, he sounded close to tears. However this call was more about the pressure mounting, the fear of people finding out the truth, and him digging to see what I actually knew?

 What he managed to achieve, was to give me my second wind and suddenly the energy to carry on, which was a far cry from just two weeks earlier, when I thought all was lost. This guy was rattled, the net was closing and he knew it, he even asked if I could ask all the Rovers supporters, to show some compassion towards Miles, like I was the Pied Piper, and I could get on a soap box, make a statement and everyone would suddenly feel the need to think about "Rainbows and Unicorns". The call ended and I took a few days to take on board the content of the call.

Mark Fish called me, and said that he was trying to arrange a meeting with the newly appointed Global Adviser, Shebby Singh. This was a meeting which we all agreed needed to happen, given the news Paul Agnew and Derek Shaw were the new Director's at Rovers, That was like saying "Wallace and Gromit" Had taken over the reins.

I couldn't get it out of my head how a poor PR guy in Agnew, had suddenly wormed his way into a Director's position. He had totally undermined every Director previously under the Rao's reign and always seemed to be the most powerful man on the Ewood Pay roll, ahead of even Steve Kean. His appointment stunk, as did the arrival of his mate Derek Shaw. 

Mark got the meeting set up with Singh pretty promptly, which surprised me. Not because Mark got it set up, as he was great at getting meetings organised, but because Singh agreed to it, without much persuasion. The day of the meeting came and Andy Woods, Phil Thompson, Mark and I were all scheduled to meet with Singh. Mark got an email an hour before from Singh, who was under the impression he was only meeting Mark. At that point we thought the meeting would be pulled, but in fairness to Singh, he agreed to meet us all.

We went up to the board room, and there standing there was this guy, who was bouncing around like he had just found his Easter Eggs in his mums wardrobe. After introducing one another, although he knew all our names, we sat down and started to discuss the last 12 months and what his role was going to be. I remember asking him why we are signing the likes of “Murphy and Gomes" Who was nearly as old as me. He went on, about him being a student of the game and how his bosses (The Raos) had given him free reign to make all decisions, as he saw fit at Ewood Park. He stated it would take time for him to access, the current Manager etc. He claimed we needed to be patient.

After discussing the unexciting transfers in, I said to him

GM - Why don't you sign someone like Jordan Rhodes?

SS- Who is this Jordan Rhodes?

GM - He plays for Huddersfield and has been scoring goals for fun

SS - What country is Huddersfield?

GM - This country, he will get us 20 goals plus, is the right age and will excite supporters.

SS - Let me investigate.

We walked out of that meeting, Mark and I went over the McDonalds. Over a brew, we both decided this guy, was that open, he was key to whatever happens next. What we did not know at this time, was he would be key to putting together many of the missing pieces. It was decided, we would have to get in close, and probably alienate many of the people who supported us, but to find the truth, we were never going to find it, unless we understood more about what was going on with Kean, Agnew, Shaw and SEM. Looking back, we got major grief, but as this Blog unfolds, you may perhaps understand why we took the approach we did.

A few days after the Singh meeting Rovers played Fleetwood away in a pre-season friendly and Leon Best got injured. I was barely home from the game and my Phone went.

It was Shebby Singh, He said, "Glen I have asked Huddersfield for Rhodes but they not accept £1 Million". I was astounded, and replied "No they won't, they will want a lot more and will hold out as long as they can". Shebby said calmly "Ok I keep Trying".  He called me a number of times over the coming weeks, regarding Rhodes, telling me about bids, how they wanted more and more. I recall him phoning me one Sunday and saying "Glen who else? They won’t take £4.5 Million for Rhodes". I was actually quite tired and said jokingly "I don't know, try Marouane Chamakh”. You could obviously see the shock in my face when I picked up the Monday addition of the Lancashire Telegraph and saw, "Rovers Launch Bid for Chamakh". I called Singh and told him I was joking about Chamakh and he needed to keep trying for Rhodes, he said "Okay we will go back for Rhodes" (MAJOR FACEPALM MOMENT)

Then the day came, I received a call from Singh who said "Glen, We have agreed £8 Million for Rhodes, if he does not score, I come for your house, your car and your furniture". The rest is history, the deal was done.

Do I feel annoyed about this? Yes looking back, the club spending that type of money on a player on a supporters say so, just tells you how poorly run this club is. The saga, also now opened up more questions, who was actually pulling the strings now? Was this deal done, to try and get me to disappear quietly as I knew the BRFC Action Group was becoming a major issue, to those who were profiting from Rovers on a daily basis? Was Singh part of SEM? Was he carrying out the wishes of the owners? Was he carrying out the wishes of the Directors? Who was he actually working for?

There was only one way we was going to find out, and that was put it to the test. Mark and I discussed at Length, at ways to rock the boat, within the club to force errors. We decided the old cross-fire trick needed to come into play, we needed, Shaw, Agnew and Kean, to be at War with Singh, which in itself would create a monster dilemma for the Owners, if Singh was really their man? You are probably reading this and thinking, "This guy has read too many comics and watched too many movies?" 

I can assure you; this is really how this story started to unfold!

In my next Blog, I will cover more Singh revelations as the Battle of the Boardroom began

We will fight of our Rovers, over land and ............ The authorities.

With the investigation under full flow, it was time to try and get some meat behind our campaign by getting Town figure heads on board.

Paul Keogh made the first in roads, into opening up avenues to get the local council involved, when he made contact with Maureen Bateson, who was the Ward Councillor for Ewood. Maureen had been the town's Mayor when Rovers won the Premier League in 1995 and is a passionate Rovers supporter. Maureen proved to be instrumental in opening doors, which we had previously found closed. Which included getting us meetings with the Mayor and Kate Hollern who is now the current MP for Blackburn. However the biggest door door she opened was getting Jack Straw involved, who we had previously struggled to engage with. I remember meeting Jack with Mark Fish at his offices, as we discussed the up-coming meeting with Richard Scudamore of the Premier League. Jack stated he knew Richard very well, and during his time as Home secretary their paths had crossed many times. He said the Government had a good relationship with the Premier League (You can probably guess the rest). That being said, Jack said he would get a meeting set up with the Sports Minister to look see what government could do regarding the regulation of football. 

Other MP's throwing their weight behind the movement including MP Graham Jones. Graham has always been a big supporter of the BRFC Action Group after Simon Littler initially made contact with him, in the weeks leading up to the 24 hour protest and of all the MP's has been consistent with not only his support, but also bringing the story of Blackburn Rovers into the public domain, including addressing Parliament. 

Jack also made contact with Jake Berry to see if he would accompany both he and Graham Jones, along with the BRFC Action Group to Parliament to speak to the Sports Minister Hugh Robertson.

Meanwhile the BRFC Action Group committee, was now in full flow, with Andy Woods, Graham Reid and Rob Crabtree being instrumental in getting other town dignitaries involved, which included Councillor Mullah and Lord Patel. They knocked on every door as the group seeked help, to try and take the situation which was unfolding at Blackburn Rovers to the highest authorities. In addition to try and gather support, they also had market stands set up, to grow the membership of the group and try and reach out to the members of the supporter base which were perhaps not on social media, or did not have much of an idea about the group, its work and what it was trying to achieve and why. Those guys put in weeks of effort, giving their own time for free, Monday to Sunday , whatever the weather. The dedication they showed back then, they still show today in their quest to protect the long term future of Blackburn Rovers.

The aftermath of all there efforts in getting people to put their efforts behind the supporters, resulted in Maureen Bateson, Sir Bill Taylor, Lord Patel and Wayne Hemingway becoming group Patrons, of which everyone involved in the BRFC Action Group to this day is very proud of.

On the pitch Rovers continued the downward spiral and the BRFC Action Group returned to organising protest. With just a few games to go the following statement was issued.

Blackburn fans are to take to the streets again to stage another protest march ahead of this weekend's home match against Norwich.

Rovers have lost their last five games, conceding 13 goals, and are three points from safety with just four fixtures remaining.

Back-to-back wins over Wolves and Sunderland last month appeared to have lifted the club out of trouble but their current run has dropped them back in and angry fans are stepping up their campaign with more protests against owners Venky's and manager Steve Kean.

"To the people of Blackburn, this is no longer just about losing football matches, this is about the very future of the football club and the very fabric of Blackburn," said a statement from the BRFC Action Group.

"Our football club is a 137-year-old institution which has seen its traditions and values destroyed in less than 18 months.

"It takes only a few hands to bulldoze our club but it will take many hands to rebuild it and the whole community needs to come together to breathe life back into Blackburn Rovers.

"Venkys cannot make us feel inferior if we do not give them our consent.

"Words divide us, actions unite us and if we are unified there is nothing that we cannot achieve."

The BRFC's "community march" will leave Blackburn Town Hall at 1.30pm on Saturday and proceed to Ewood Park.

Saturday 21st April 2012 came and 1300 supporters marched that day from the Town hall at Blackburn, after a speech was given by Maureen Bateson. The game itself would be the last time Rovers won a Premier League Match as they beat Norwich 2-0 to end a five game losing run.

Rover actually lost 8 of their last 9 fixtures, during the 2011-2012 season, with our relegation being confirmed with a home loss to Wigan Athletic. I remember that night like it was yesterday. The numbness, the disbelief. I recall after the game leaving my seat in the Darwen End and moving across to the Blackburn End as supporters stayed behind and protested. The tears in the stands that night, I still picture and see. I recall one gentleman who I spoke to, who said in the last 7 days, he had lost his job, his home and long term partner, he stated this is all he had left and even the joy of his football club, has been torn from him. Some may think, its only football, but to so many its much much more than that.

How Rovers managed to get to the end of the season with Steve Kean still being the Manager was now a deep deep concern.

As a group we could not dwell, we needed to get all the information we had gathered, and get ready to meet the Premier League, and in particular Richard Scudamore. The meeting was held in Doncaster. Rob Crabtree, drove that day and Took Mark and I, whilst Phil Thompson made his own way there, and in true Phil fashion was lastminute,com. We met with Philip Lingard an hour before the meeting at a little cafe, and went through what we would discuss and the angle we would adopt. It was I agreed I would present the Action Groups findings, whilst Philip would present the things he had found out. All of the things mentioned in the previous parts of this blog were discussed, along with us wanting to understand the "fit and proper test". However one of the biggest revelations to come out of the meeting was the money trail, which got Scudamore in a deep sweat. He was physically uncomfortable as Philip played a blinder. Through contacts, which I have agreed to not to mention, Philip started to go back through the steps, of where the money which purchased Rovers actually came from. One by one , he named them, step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4, In amazement Scudamore as each step was read, was nodding his head saying "Yes that is correct" until Philip got to Step 5, at which point Scudamore stated "Hang on, we only track transactions for four steps under the fit and proper test and how we regulate payment transfers". He had already agreed step 1-4 was accurate, which you certainly couldn't guess, or find it lurking on the internet. Suddenly we had something which was looking like a break through. Philip then continued in the calmest of voices, Step 5 step 6 and finally step 7, which was the place the money which purchased Rovers has allegedly come from. A money trail which had been to India, Been to the Cayman Islands, Been to Brunei , had actually originated from a Western Union account out of Bradford.

The room fell silent, Scudamore the Chief of the Premier League was stunned, he was on the back foot and suddenly he was throwing out olive branches. He admitted that something was not right at Blackburn Rovers, however although he had sympathy, it was beyond his control and we needed to be speaking to the FA. Scuadamore, stated he had seen and heard enough that day, that he would personally recommend to the FA That they should meet with us. The meeting concluded.

We came out of that meeting, shocked, but at the same time proud, that we had gone eye to eye with one of the most powerful men in football and had run rings around him, so much so, he had not fast tracked the meeting we wanted with the FA. When I look back now, it was that day that I realised that, if enough people care about something, then its worth fighting for even if there is only 1% chance of success.

Next up Rob Crabtree, Mark Fish and I was on our travels down to London, for a meeting with the FA and a meeting at Parliament with the Sports Minister. This was quite a surreal experience, as we were not politicians and I don't think any of us even imagined we would end up taking the plight of our club to every governing body in the UK, 

Our visit to London would last 2 days, we had agreed to meet Rishi Sikka who was in the throws of putting together a documentary regarding the Fall of our club under the stewardship of the Rao Family. We also agreed to meet with Nick Harris, who I had been in constant contact with, regarding the goings on at the club. He was carrying out his own investigation, but many of his findings to date, he had struggled to put out in the public domain due to legal threats from SEM Kentaro's legal team. Philip Lingard was also part of the delegation.

We caught the tube down to Parliament, which was an experience in itself, we was certainly not use to getting from train to train, and then moving like a hoard of wild boars. If you stopped for a second or actually slowed the pace of your walk, you would  no doubt get knocked down and everyone would walk straight over you.

I saw Rishi, drive by with Camera's and things hanging out of his windows, it was like a scene out of National Lampoon's vacation, as he was obviously finding somewhere to park. Where he actually ended up, I have never asked him, as we was very pressed for time.

We met up with the MP'S Jack Straw, Jake Berry and Jack Straw, I remember Jack's words as he looked over to me and said "We will be your wing men, you deliver the presentation and we will be on hand to support you". I was quite nervous, as I walked through Parliament, seeing different people pass us in the corridors, like Nick Clegg who I'm use to seeing on News at 10. As we got close to chambers of the Sports Minister, Jack then stated that not all of us could actually go in. This was a really awkward moment. I knew, I needed Philip in there and I knew I needed Mark in there, but having to tell Nick Harris and Rob Crabtree, that they could'nt come in, was not my idea of fun. I know Rob was quite upset about it, but a swift decision needed to be made. So Mark, Philip and I accompanied the MP's into the Chambers with a representative from the Rovers Trust, who you must forgive me, I cannot for the life of me remember his name. 

Hugh Robertson was very well spoken and appeared to take on board what we had to say. The approach in this meeting was how the game was actually being regulated. We could actually say a lot more in this meeting under parliamentary privilege. There was a number of theories put forward by Philip Lingard, which were around betting markets, but they were no more than theories as there was nothing physical to back these claims up. After a good hour in the chambers, the sports minister agreed that a number of questions could be presented to Parliament, of which they would then present the case to the FA and Premier League to seek clarification, into who owned Blackburn Rovers, and if any rules were being broken. We agreed to draw up a list of questions and forward them to Jack Straw who would present them in the correct format.

After the meeting it was quite weird, Jack and Jake made for the exits, whilst Graham Jones took us up to the Bar in Parliament were the MP's go, we was then pretty much left to our own devices in the houses of Parliament, in which people must of been thinking who are these guys?

We hung around for a couple of hours and then made our way into town for some much needed food, and to gather our thoughts ahead of our meeting with the compliance team at the FA the following day.

The next day came and Rob, Mark and I made our way over the Wembley, We had agreed to meet Savio Matthias who was a Rovers supporters and regular poster on the BRFCS Website forums. We had never met Savio before, but as we approached the entrance to the stadium he was there waiting for us.

Of all the meetings we attended, this for me, was the most important one, whilst it was also the one where I felt we best delivered our case. I tore pieces out of the FA, they could not handle the line of questioning, the evidence we was presenting or indeed the bigger picture, of what was actually in Pandora's box. I found them arrogant, and very dismissive of anything being put forward. They claimed they had no budget to do anything with what we had given them, they claimed we would need to carry out the investigation ourselves and present an open and shut case. They blamed the Premier League, and said our beef should be with them. They attempted at every opportunity to deflect the blame to everyone but themselves. Eventually they conceded they had called Karen Silk (Rovers then Finance Director) in for meeting  just days earlier, who had also presented information which they planned on following up as it may open the doors to a full investigation. They was anything but consistent as it became very clear, there was a major cover up going on, as between the FA and Premier League, they had not only allowed the Raos' to buy the club, but their own rules had been broken, by Agent involvement at the Blackburn Rovers. This must of also been a national embarrassment to them, especially as Kentaro were a major sponsor of the National Team. The "Fit and Proper Test" Was now being publicly called out for what it actually is, "Not worth the paper it is written on". 

We left the meeting knowing we had delivered a polished performance in the manner, Most Rovers supporters would of hoped for. We did not beat about the bush and was clear and precise in our claims, whilst we backed these claims up with documented evidence. We certainly gave them food for thought, whilst also making it clear, we was a problem which was not just going to disappear.

During my next Blog, I will cover the Football league Meeting and the beginning of the Supporter comeback in terms of gathering the truth

But what about that Tackle????

After quite a few emails, messages and tweets, asking for me to continue with my blog, which is being written to give an insight of what I have seen and discovered during the last 5 years at Blackburn Rovers, I have decided to continue putting my side of the story out there.

 I may have been excluded from the new WAR (WE ARE ROVERS) for reasons to yet be explained by its self-elected panel, but that does not stop me writing the real story about our club and giving supporters the facts, warts and all.

Rovers went into the new year with a bit of momentum (arrgggghhhhh I sound like Kean now) Oh well. In the Background, things were now getting serious within the BRFC Action group, we was more organised and more determined to unearth the truth about what was really happening at the club. The fact Kean was still there, and we had been tipped off that he had a new contract, despite him publically denying it; we knew this was much bigger than just a manager situation.

 Players who were supposed to not be fit, Nelsen being one, suddenly transferred out and made the most miraculous recovery. What was more astonishing was Rovers picked up his wages for a further 3 years after he departed, as the cracks started to appear in Kean’s armoury.

 The experienced players at Ewood were having their contracts reviewed by Jerome Anderson, who had his own office at the training ground. However this was Anderson’s first big mistake as it brought his associates into play, as Philippe Huber and Indoo Sella Di Monteluce made Brockall their second home. Not even a £500 per week, every week backhander from Kean to another Rovers employee (who I will bring into play in another blog) could keep this story for secret forever. 

These 3 are part of a company called Crescendo. Crescendo are based in Brunei and were the vehicle used to bring Venkys into the discussions with the Walkers Trust. If you Google all three of the above mentioned, you will find Global Eleven, a company which went belly up, and what it was for (This will give you a clue for what Rovers was initially lined up for), you will also see Kentaro and SEM. Incidentally Kentaro is now bust too, after Huber’s involvement with the FIFA Scandal. Kentaro were also a partner of the English FA and National football team.

Their approach was, if you are not with us, you are against us as they were paying up 80% of contracts of players of the old rear guard, whilst giving new deals to players well past it, as they towed the Kean line.  Michel Salgado told me, he had heard the following:

Salgado word for word said:

That’s what I’ve heard, that Kean and some strange people from Glasgow having shares.

 Nelsen , Roberts, Keith, Emerton and me were offered up to 80% of contract to be released on free, they wanted to save money and make business by signing some crap player from Anderson inflating the commissions,

I asked him more on Kean and he replied

Very bad people behind Kean in Glasgow

Anderson is getting the money from moving players

In and out, all the players are coming through him; he is even asking for commissions to renew contracts, last time was around October

This conversation took place on the 6^th November 2012

As a group Mark and I were now taking real-hands on approach to the investigation and dedicating most of our spare time doing this? Problems we had in the early days, was we didn’t know what we looking for and was not too sure where and how to find a legitimate lead. Phil Thompson was tasked in getting us a Meeting with the Premier League.

We had one guy come forward called Muhammad Ibrar, who told some wild and wonderful tales, a few things he appeared to get right. He claimed he was talking to Venkys and in particular Balaji Rao’s Personal aid, Amit. Mark and I wasted weeks talking to Ibrar and it was a wild goose chase. We couldn’t work out if he was for real or just a fruitcake, sadly it was more of the latter, although I do think at some point he had spoke with Amit.

 He once claimed he had left some evidence near the Jack Walker Statue. We sent Rob Crabtree to go and investigate; it was more like a game of treasure hunt. Rob found a package and met the young Asian Character; however all the package contained was a letter, which is better described as some sort of love letter to a member of the Action Group Committee. These types of things were not helping and wasting much valuable time. However we had to chase every lead however stupid it appeared. When you are unsure what you are looking for, then it really is a needle in Haystack.

Jerome Anderson then did that famous half hour slot on SKY Sports, claiming how his life was awful, how his family had been targeted, including his son. He went on about a tackle his son made in a friendly, which was probably the highlight of his son Myles Anderson’s career at Rovers. He claimed he had worked for free to help the Owners. I was actually embarrassed for him as each word spurted out of his mouth. He made himself look a complete and utter dipstick.  I can clear this up now, the whole interview was a farce, not only did he have a right good innings in terms of cash received during that window, but he had his cronies in, nailing down our younger players to contracts too, which had nice clauses in to ensure whatever happened in the future, he would have a right good do out of it. 

In addition to this he brought players in like Formica, His transfer was vetoed 3 times by the Premier League due to third party ownership and passport issues. Not difficult to get an Italian Passport when your name is Indoo Sella. However despite the very nature of the transfer, the Premier League allowed it, suddenly from not qualifying, he qualified. Which showed another jink in the Premier Leagues testing, as after all the Venkys had been deemed fit and proper to own Rovers, but everything was pointing to something very untoward

Simon Conning another SEM Agent was tasked with dealing with the young player contracts. This was confirmed by a Key witness (Who I will bring into Play in a later blog, he was the guy receiving weekly payments from Kean of £500.00) as the money dries up, the Canaries Sing, You would do well to remember this Jerome.

With the old board of Directors letter, which was signed off by John Williams, Tom Finn and Martin Goodman, now surfacing suggesting third party interference at the club from SEM Against the boards wishes, suddenly a case was starting to form, as was the question, Who reallly owns Blackburn Rovers?

Away from the Action Group, a Rovers supporter from Sweden Daniel Grabko had put together a business proposal for a supporter buy out. I first saw this on the well know Blackburn Rovers supporters site BRFCS, But was presented it at Work by Wayne Wild, As I had now gained employment at WEC as a Supervisor. Wayne asked me my thoughts, I told him although the concept was there, the figures just didn’t stack up as the type of sums and figures within the business plan, was more catered for a Manchester City or Liverpool. He agreed, and said he thought the same, but he felt with some good number crunching and new figures it could be plausible. I offered my support of the idea and Wayne got the ball rolling to make it more attractive, which to his credit he did very quickly and got a number of people on board to support it, including MPS, Prominent community figure heads and local businesses.

However there was one stumbling block, the Rovers Trust another entity already existed, and for BRSIT to even have a chance, they needed that Supporters direct rubber stamp and government stamp that the Rovers trust had. Months later these two organisations merged together and a new marketing campaign started, which was a good thing as there was just no drive from those already holding the keys who were running the trust.

The investigation was now, bringing other supporters into the fold as Philip Lingard who was not only a very good source of information, but he had great contacts to get information we got, further investigated. It became obvious any meeting we got with the authorities, Philip needed to be one of the panel who went. We were also working hard with Journalist like Nick Harris and Andy Cryer, trying to gather information and see what help they could offer. This was getting really hard, as so many people were feeding stories, but had nothing like a piece of paper to back it up.

Stories on Social media for the previous 6 months had talked about Gangsters from Glasgow having a stake in the club, which sounded more like the Krays’s than Rovers. I initially dismissed such a claim until Salgado made reference to it, which was followed by me finding out that Balaji Rao’s Body guard, whose username on BRFCS Forums was formerly MG Road on. But is now Sergei the  Meerkat, is actually Scottish and goes by the name of Moe Thompson, if you look hard enough on Google images, he is the guy with gingery hair and beard who is often with Balaji.

For the rest of the season the investigation continued, whilst the media was used as vehicle to constantly make reference to the dossier. This was not because we had found much, but more to try and put pressure on the owners, SEM, Kentaro, Crescendo and the Premier League. They didn’t know what we had, so as Kean used to communicate via media to India, we decided to do the same. This may have given false hope at the time for supporters, as they wanted us to release all we knew, but at that stage, we didn’t know enough bar hear say, a few spoken conversations with some revelations from ex players and ex and current employees, some account details from Anderson and associates and press articles which were out there already in the public domain. 

A picture was growing, as was a story, but we needed more, especially as Phil Thompson had now secured a meeting with the Premier League to take part at the end of the season.

In my next blog, I will discuss the MPS Who got involved, the Premier league meeting, FA Meeting, Parliament Meeting, Football League Meeting and Rovers relegation

Thank you and Good Luck

Sorry in advance to those who have been following my memoirs of the last 5 years, for now I’m going to go underground for a while.

There has been much said on social media in recent days, about how and who will tackle the issue, of trying to persuade the owners to sell Blackburn Rovers Football club.

Firstly I would like to commend, the new WEAREROVERS Umbrella panel, made up of The Rovers Trust, The Blackburn Rovers Football Community Action Group, The Ewood Blues, and the supporter’s website BRFCS.

It’s been long overdue that supporter group’s work together and respect one another. This move can only galvanise efforts for a united message and I wish them all the success under this new movement.

How we act or react will always be used as a tool to find weakness and condense the message.

 In recent months the majority of supporters have to come to a way of thinking that a change in the ownership of our club, is the only real way forward.

Many people over the last 5 years have worked hard to try and make sense of the mess our club finds its self in. In the coming days, weeks, months and even years, new people, with new ideas will come forward and join the cause, whilst some of the ones who have been working on change for the last 5 years will continue to do so.

As a supporter of Blackburn Rovers, nothing more, nothing less, I urge everyone to remain as one, so the message is not diluted, so we can all have hope, and once again enjoy, just being football supporters, who watch those players in the famous Blue and White Halves on a Saturday.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank those, who have supported me during these last 5 years; it’s that support, why I continued to push for the truth.

However the time has come to completely take a back seat to prevent further division within a supporter base which has had its fair share.

 Its has and will always be about one thing for me, which is a well run club. 

I wish everyone the best on the continued fight to save our club, 

RTID

Victory Lap and Petty Squabbles

With the Christmas period often billed “a make or break” time of the season, it was no different for Rovers. An inspired Mark Bunn performance at Anfield bagged Rovers an unlikely point, but this was bettered on New Year’s Eve with a famous 3-2 away win at Manchester United.

Rovers went into the half time break 1-0 up after a Yakubu Penalty. 6 minutes into the second half Yakubu doubled Rovers lead, and a shock result was looking on the cards. However United kicked into gear and a quick fire double from Berbatov set up a grand stand finish. Grant Hanley bagged an 80^th minute winner as Rovers Christmas points tally was a very respectable four from six. Going into the New Year this looked like it could be the turning point of what had been a very disappointing season to date.

Jerome Anderson and Steve Kean could not let this moment slip them by, as Steve Kean was passed from media outlet to media outlet, like the Olympic torch, giving as many interviews as possible to show he was the victim and the supporters had it all wrong. With the press now firmly on Kean’s side and other Kentaro clients, in particular the SKY Soccer Saturday Panel, blasting the actions of the supporters, you would think this would of dampened the supporter’s spirits. Although it was a blow in terms of the message, and the supporters wish for Kean to be removed, you have to remember getting 3 points on a Saturday is what supporters live for. I must admit I had heard a few supporters hoping we would lose games, if it meant Kean was removed. However personally I always want my team to win, as there is no better kick and adrenalin rush than seeing those boys in blue and white grab the points.

Going into the New Year, another lifelong supporter Gareth Jones approached Simon and me, to gauge our opinion of boycotting the FA Cup third round game, in favour of getting as many supporters as possible to go and watch Chorley FC, Who were managed by former Rovers favourites Matt Jansen and Gary Flitcroft. Chorley was struggling financially and had recently been broken into, so needed extra revenue. Gareth thought this would get positive media coverage to combat the negative stuff which was now being planted by professional media gurus.  We put it out there to the protest movement and the idea appealed to many.

Gareth did most of the media work on this project, whilst Chorley FC was fantastic throughout. As predicted by Gareth come match day, it was picked up by the National media and it was great day out. A couple of hundred supporters made their way over to Victory Park, with their yellow and black, Kean out, Venkys out scarves and T-Shirts. It was great atmosphere in the ground and lots of extra revenue went through the turnstiles for Chorley FC, Which was a win win all around. Gary Flitcroft and Matt Jansen came into the club house after the game and spent a good hour with the Rovers supporters and were really grateful that not only had the supporters come to the game, but they had got behind Chorley too.

Meanwhile the attempt to form a democratic supporters group from the protest movement was now firmly underway. Supporters had to be put forward by other supporters to be able to stand for the BRFC Action Group’s first democratically elected committee, and around 17 names were put forward. A vote which all supporters were allowed to participate in was done online via the website, via email and in person. The results were counted up and verified by an independent adjudicator from the Brown Cow Public Inn at Livesey Branch, in a results evening which was very well attended by supporters.

The following supporters were voted in:

Glen Mullan – Chairman

Mark Fish – Secretary

Simon Littler – Treasurer

Rob Crabtree

Paul Keogh

Carl Hatch

Phil Thompson

Graham Reid

Michelle Green

Andy Woods

The group was now officially born, and after much deliberation the name the BRFC Action Group which was the name Simon and I had used since he came on board after the first protest was retained.

How this was going to work, we were un-sure, being part of the organising was becoming a full time job. I’m pretty sure, 95% did not have an inclination of how difficult it would be at the front end. It was agreed committee meetings needed to be weekly and via SKYPE due to peoples locations. These were usually held on a Sunday and I don’t think there was one meeting were everyone took part.

Although I was proud to see one of my Key aims come to fruition, and I’m proud that the group I formed from my Kitchen 5 months earlier is still going strong today, it was very difficult to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet, It was obvious there was major personality clashes and feuds going on, long before the election. Why people could just not get along I do not know, but this theme was a recurring theme, as members of the committee and also members of the group had issues with those who were not protesting, whilst they also had issues with other groups, in particular the Fans Forum, the Original Rovers Trust and the Ewood Blues. 

It was not one way traffic I must add, as all those groups did their fair share of mud-slinging, but at a time we needed to be united, it was never going to happen at that stage. I found this one of the most difficult things to manage, because personally I had no issues with any of the other groups.  I had always encouraged Duncan Miller of the Trust, whilst my knowledge of the Fans Forum and the Ewood Blues was limited. 

With committee members at each other’s throats too and members also having issues with committee members, it was not long before the numbers on the committee dwindled, for various reasons, some stated unless someone else quit, they would quit themselves, some left because they just couldn’t put any time in, whilst the biggest loss personally was losing Simon Littler. 

Mark Fish and Simon never really saw eye to eye and I would take calls from both of them, pretty much wanting the other to go. At times I felt I was being put in an impossible position, as the club was burning down around our ankles, and the supporters were more bothered having a p***ing contest. There was far too much going on, in terms of protest being organised, an investigation to carry out, meetings up and down the country, whilst having a personal life had now disappeared. Simon and Mark had words a number of times, before Simon resigned. The BRFC Action Group would never have been possible without Simon. I was on my own at the beginning of this journey, it was Simon who came to the rescue and we made a good team. However after his departure we needed to move on.

Following Simon's departure, Mark and I spent hours and hours every day, trying to pick the group up and hatch the next plan, whilst it’s fair to say others left us to do the thinking. There were many times the group was up against the ropes and appeared to have been backed into a corner, but after doing one of our weekly all nighters, we would come up with the way forward. Many times we would fall asleep on Skype as we talked, as this whole process was really taking its toll on us. Funds were also a constant issue, as it was free to become a member of the BRFC Action Group, however organising protest, paying for investigative information and marketing was not free. We were dipping into our own pockets to keep the whole thing afloat, with no external funding or help.

The investigation into the running of the club was mainly carried out by Mark and me , with me always giving Mark the information for him to put in a dossier we was building. We didn’t share what we found or what we had with any of the other committee members, as we did not want it leaking out, before we had all we needed. This meant the committee had to trust us, in fairness to them, they never questioned this approach. The first part of the dossier was put together by us scanning the internet for information. Believe it or not, so much is out there in the public domain via the internet if you search hard enough. For the investigation we needed to go back to around the time the club was being bought and who was involved. Much of the early work was centred on Jerome Anderson, Huber and SEM Kentaro. We researched all their director appointments, other people who were linked to them through business, their accounts and their full history. We was building profiles of these people to try and see what was the ultimate link was and why Blackburn Rovers appeared to be tied to these people and their associates. In the meantime we were being pressured from the members and other supporters to spill anything we had found and sink these people. I don’t think anyone understood the complexity of trying to put an investigation together; it was never going to be a 2 minute job, whilst it was also very expensive to get information. You have to know, where to look, keep your eyes out for people sending you on wild goose changes, but more importantly good at highlighting where each piece fits, which was one of my biggest strengths. We spoke to many investigative Journalists like Nick Harris, David Conn, who were very helpful in chasing up leads, or verifying information as factual or incorrect.

 People coming forwards giving information was always going to be difficult to record in a dossier, as these were spoken words, eye witness accounts, but always came without anything like a piece of paper to support their claims. Believe me, there was some really wild claims, which were difficult to ignore but appeared to be so far-fetched, but as I write this blog today, I promise I’m going to revisit some of those claims, as what I know 5 years later, makes me actually wonder if they were far-fetched at all, as subsequent things have come out that suggest the things claimed are more than possible to have occurred.

One of the main reasons I’m writing this blog is to remember back then and see if there is something crucial I have missed. There are plenty of people out there who take every opportunity possible to hear the sound of their own voice and try and give the impression they are important. They would have you believe they have worked very hard on the Rovers situation, but I know and they know, they have actually done very little and only appear on the scene when others have done the leg work.

Try doing 5 or 6 hours as a minimum every day for 5 years solid and dedicating all your spare time in trying to save a club you love. Many times I would go 5 days solid not going to bed, and then going to work, come home, no sleep and so on. It’s now 3.50 am and I’m here writing my blog, as the situation at Rovers is something I will not put down, until I know this club is once again in safe hands. However it’s not about who has done the most or who has done nothing, everyone can play their part as this battle is not yet won. This is about one thing which is bigger than any person, this is about Blackburn Rovers. 

If this upsets people, then I’m sorry, but I’m not about to let a 141 year institution disappear, and give up by calling a halt on my efforts and those efforts of others who have shared this journey with me. I won’t get the last 5 years back, but what I started I will finish as I promised those who I met at the Havelock on day one, I would.

Some of you readers may be asking and wondering? Why is he bringing up the past? Its important people understand how fragmented the supporter base was back then and how difficult it was to combat the issues at the club, when the biggest threat to actually coming out the other side was the supporter base being at logger heads. This dates back to four and half years ago and this is my view and eye witness account, it may upset some people but one thing I will always be, is honest and say things exactly how I see them. I know over the years I have had a lot of people put their faith and support in me, and continue to do so, without them, this journey would have ended for me a long time ago.  They want the same as everyone, a well run club!!

With me not being part of a group nowadays, this has not seen that support dry up, if anything the support has grown, as have the offers from people to help me continue this fight. I have also made much greater progress on finding the truth by not being tied to a group as I can act more on my instinct, rather than what is dictated by vote, Whatever the future holds, as long as people want me to continue this fight, I will continue, even if there are elements out there currently trying there hardest to keep me out of the loop.

I’m a firm believer, people will choose who they follow, hence why I formed the BRFC Action Group, so supporters had a democratic voice to fight their corner. Without democracy, there can never be progress.

At present the Unity being shown by the every-day supporter is off the scale, it’s my duty and the duty of like-minded supporters to embrace that unity and take this forward and not waste the opportunity, so our club can start to see the break in the clouds which we all seek. It’s been a privilege to fight the corner of supporters who have asked me to, this is something I have not and will not take for granted. We are very quickly running out of options, but there are options, there are ways of bringing this all together, there are a number of parties interested in purchasing Rovers, there are ways of getting the Rao’s to the table, there are many things going on in the background which have been on-going for the last 12 months.

Blackburn Rovers has a future and each and every one of us is part of that future, the badge is what brings us all together and although things look bleak at present, we will stabilise and come out the other side

In my next blog, I will cover the more of the investigation, Rovers slide towards relegation and the birth of BRSIT