I understand the frustration and anger at the heirarchy, and I can get how this can affect your feeling for the club.

Presuming this isn't tongue in cheek, you obviously care about the club with the statements you make,but if you feel that strongly you can fight for the club in a more constructive manner, dont give your money to the machine, but dont stop 'following' the club.

Chasing a success that you dont have an affinity to will feel less satisfying that following a failure you are emotionally linked to.

"Rocket you can learn something from OOJW. How not to urinate on a great owner's legacy. City fans won't do that though that's the difference between good and evil."

Hi Vinjay, good afternoon, nice to hear from you today. Always a pleasure, best regards, OOJW.

I'm not going to insult City fans by claiming a title win will mean as much to me as it will to those who have been going for years and years. Its wrong to suggest it won't mean anything. An affinity does exist if there's one thing I'm incapable of doing its hiding my feelings.

I did begin to hate football and got to the point where I struggled to watch any games at all. People on here used to have a go at me for constantly talking about the Walkers and the need to get them out. Before you point out that led to venkys "forward with franny" did not work out did it? Yet generally those City fans who wanted Swales out stand by it.

Of course the same people now spend day after day moaning about venkys (and rightly so) the irony will be lost on them.

Since that 6-1 win at Old Trafford something has changed. It might seem ridiculous but I truly felt reborn as a football fan not just the start of what prompted me to go to the Etihad. I haven't enjoyed a match that much in years. Its not like I'm expecting a repeat of that scoreline or even close anytime soon either.

I'm not emotionally linked to Rovers except where anger is concerned. At one time I was and that's why it hurt so bad. I still have the same respect and admiration for Jack Walker and certainly that has impacted on my negative feelings towards Rovers fans and especially his family.

I'm not exaggerating when I said going to Ewood last few years made me feel dead and empty inside. Granted some days were more tolerable than others but nobody deserves to feel like that. I wouldn't even wish it on a Man United fan and that's saying something.

Not once have I denied that hatred for United was an initial motivation in going to City who's to say i wouldn't have done the same 6 or 7 years ago if I was asked? I've always liked City fans. Its always been a great club hence why Sheik Mansour bought City in the first place.

Remember when the home crowd applauded City off the pitch at the Etihad after that unfortunate exit against United? I was one of them is that what somebody who is a pure glory hunter would do? As every game passes there is a growing affinity. If anything that game proved to me that I wasn't just a United hater otherwise I would have criticised the team for losing.

Question me for joining City if you like but don't call me disloyal to Blackburn Rovers. I can't stand being around Rovers fans (I'm even planning on moving out of the town because of this) yet I still gave the club a chance. Does that not count for something? That's not being a wum. Its telling the truth.

(I'm even planning on moving out of the town because of this
=========================================

Like I said. Drama queen.

I do understand a lot of what you're saying, and appreciate the complimentary tone of how you refer to us, but I get the impression you wouldn't have stuck around in the darker times, when financial mismanagement and well intentioned cockups were rife.

Its easy to feel a connection with a club during a derby atmosphere, especially against a disliked club such as United, But to stay in the stands during the playoff final 2-0 down in extra time, knowing that the club was on its last legs, or being pumped by 5 goals by the likes of Grimsby at home would teach you a lot more about the club.

Honestly, I like your passion for it all, I do, but it is a tad hypocritical to say you aren't following Blackburn anymore due to poor management / ownership and everything that entails, but that you want to come and support us. Do you dig me homie?

Its not because of poor management or ownership. Its because of the fans. This all started because of the previous owners and my stance on getting them out of the club. All I got was hatred and abuse. Still believe the walkers give a toss about Rovers? They don't and they never did. You can't deny I'm right.

Did you dislike Swales? How would you have felt if you were the only one who protested against the damage he was doing and you got nothing but abuse for it?

What about the last time Rovers got relegated? I saw Rovers go from potential title challengers in 97 to midtable D1 (I still call it D1 when referring back to those years) in the space of 2 years. Yes I expected to get back up (though took a year longer than expected) but you could say the same about City in D2. Nobody expected that to last for ever.

In some ways that downfall was faster than what took City from the premier league to a season in D2. Yet I stayed and honestly did not have the slightest desire to walk away.

That did not mean I was going to sit back and watch the Walkers take this club down. Goodness knows where venkys might take it but ultimately this club was destined for the championship and lower league mediocrity. I will not shift from that stance just because the club had been secure in midtable does not mean one bad manager wouldn't change it. Ince was a warning and on that occasion the club got away with it.

Not for one moment do I regret supporting Blackburn Rovers from 97-04. I was proud to go to Ewood and call myself a fan of Blackburn Rovers. I referred to myself as a supporter rather than a fan in recent years. There's a reason for that.

Yawn.

If you're that bored OOJW why read it? Haven't you got other things to do like climb on Jack's statue or something?

'Not once do I regret supporting Rovers from 97-04'

sums it all up really.

Football fans dont have a choice. You start whenever it gets you and you stop when you die. To say that it was treatment from fellow fans that put you off is truly, truly pathetic. You screamed and shouted for a take-over, and I was one that warned about the consequences, if people don't agree with you, it doesn't mean that they don't share the same deep seated love for the club. you, clearly, never did.

I can't stand the venkys, but I can't give up on the club. it just can't happen.

Vinjay:

Rovers 'fan' 97 - 04
City Fan 2012 - ?

I'm happy to converse with football fans from all clubs, but you don't belong on a football chat forum let alone anywhere near a football stadium.

Swales had a different role. Walker was a typical sugardaddy (nothing wrong with that by the way). Swales wasn't seen in such a personal way.

If the masses pick on someone as vociferously as you say they did, then it must have been either how you presented your arguement, or the details of the argument itself. I cant comment because I havent seen it.

Methinks you get too caught up in the policies and games that inevitably happen in the higher echelons of any club. I'd rather have owners such as Steve Gibson or Dave Whelan who put their own capital into a club than those of Arsenal who fleece the fans for ridiculous sums or those of United who actively use the clubs accounts as a piggybank. Even Bates at Leeds is milking the fans for all they are worth, now that is a bad owner. Venkys are naff, everyone knows this.

Focus on the stuff you can control, life gets so much easier!

Oh and just wondering OOJW what do you think of Givet? Can't remember you condemning him with your moral stance on drink driving like you did with Kean...

The longest book in the world wouldn't be the yongle dadian if I decided to write one called "the lies and hypocrisy of blackburn rovers fans"

"Swales had a different role. Walker was a typical sugardaddy (nothing wrong with that by the way). Swales wasn't seen in such a personal way."

I wasn't comparing Swales to Jack Walker. Don't know how you made that conclusion.

It did get very personal with Swales in the end though I've been told stuff about fans breaking into his mother's nursing home is a myth.

Yes I did get caught up in the clubs business affairs to the expense of interest in the games themselves. However nobody can suggest that most discussion on rovers forums right now is aimed at venkys and not focusing on games so much.

As for Bates the fans at Leeds United should be thankful he stepped in when he did.

Vinjay

"Did you dislike Swales? How would you have felt if you were the only one who protested against the damage he was doing and you got nothing but abuse for it?"

I was explaining why Swales never invoked such passions, despite poor decisions. He did a lot for the club though. Walker did more for your lot. You forced me into the comparison....

I'd suggest some grassroots football. Real lower league stuff, no agendas there. If you chose that path you would be held in a lot more regard than saying your fellow fans have failed you.

As for the Leeds point, spare a few minutes to read some of their articles. Many imply that he is actively trying to drive away certain fan elements.

Rocket, you will shortly understand why Rovers fans find this guy very hard work. The history of rovers has been entirely re-written by Vinjay, only he knows what really happened, the rest of us were and continue to be liars.

He will know more about Leeds than the most ardent lifelong Leeds fans, and if he is disagreed with, he will take it personally.

Seriously, good luck.

"However nobody can suggest that most discussion on rovers forums right now is aimed at venkys and not focusing on games so much."

Obviously meant nobody can suggest most discussion on rovers forums isn't aimed at venkys at the moment.

I didn't force you into a comparison because I was clearly comparing Swales to the Walker family/trust.

I have nothing but the utmost admiration for Jack Walker he's the one thing about Blackburn Rovers I still like.

I have followed Rovers for almost half a Century!I used to walk over the Ossy tops because I only had enough entrance money and the remainder to buy the match programme.I have always followed my team through thick and thin,good or bad because I am a ROVERS FAN and always will be till I die.Ive never once thought of watching another team or jumping ship when things got bad because again I am a ROVERS FAN.Watch your team week in and week out home and away hoping one day we might get lucky and win something.It was the proudest day of my life when we won the 3d div championship and the full members cup final(first time ive been to Wembley to watch Rovers) then Jack Walker came along and at first I felt cheated with all the big money buys,later I accepted it and felt proud again when we won the Premiership.So all in all Vinjay can run off to watch City and if it dont work out then there,s always Arsenal and Chelsea.Real Rovers Fans dont do these kind of things,so good riddance .City welcome your new supporter.

"I'd suggest some grassroots football. Real lower league stuff, no agendas there."

I'm not interested in supporting someone like Stockport or Oldham won't deny that. That would be doing what brovers said about creating false feelings. There's something about City that motivated fans from those areas to support the club long before Sheik Mansour took over. Of course there's a reason the Sheik didn't buy either of them over City.

If I felt the same respect for Leeds fans as those at City that's a lower league club I may have looked at. Like I said hatred of Man Utd was a motivation.

Another big reason I went to the Etihad is because I know someone to go with. So even without the 6-1 win I probably would have visited the Etihad eventually. The fact I knew that day is because that's also when I discovered a longtime friend of mine (I hadn't seen him for a few months) had started supporting City. That does sound like a remarkable coincidence but it is actually true. Everything happened all at once.

Oh and yes my friend did support Rovers he was the one who went with me the last time club got relegated. He got offered some free tickets to the Etihad (he's paid since the first couple of visits) and that's how it started for him. I'm not the only one who was fed up with Rovers fans after supporting the club for years.

Here you go starrover...

http://readinglessons.com/

"Oh and just wondering OOJW what do you think of Givet? Can't remember you condemning him with your moral stance on drink driving like you did with Kean..."

The fact you cannot remember but still criticise anyway sums you up. Engage brain before posting for once pls.

I am tee-total. Have been for over 20 years. Do you honestly believe I would condone Givet drink driving from someone who nevers even drinks?

A total lack of class displayed by both of them with drink driving.

Got it now?

I didn't go to the 1-6, oh the irony!

comment by Unparochial Vinjay (U3176)

After reading your posts, I find you to be the typical modern football fan, abandoning your club because you got into a few problems with fellow fans? Ever heard of debating with them, maybe standing your ground instead of running off like a coward to another club and create a load of crap about how you felt a "connection" to them. Please, you felt a team that will most likely be winning trophies in the future and thought to yourself 'I will support them instead because they'll be winning big trophies". You're a disgrace to the proper Rovers fans, who are depressed at the situation with their club and what do you do? Run off when the going gets tough. Just log out of this football forum, the fact you're never on the City board too shows you just how much of a cowardly glory hunter you really are because you'd get shown up and then laughed at and what next? Probably go support Barcelona or something.

Don't waste your breath Arab. Genuine fans all understand you cannot change clubs. It's unheard of!!!!

It is not about winning things supporting Rovers and you will feel the same at City. For 50+ years you did not win anything but still had amazing support. Credit where it is due and I hope you win the league, not for your owners, Mancini, or the overpaid mercenaries you employ, but for all those fans that stuck with the club in lower divisions for the last umpteen years.

Swear we've had this convo before Arab?