B***** OUT

Iirc it’s on the thread “if not Neil then who?” where they discuss the managerial candidates. It’s a long thread so you would have to look for the date when B***** appeared as favourite in the bookies odds.

I see you don't like anyone who disagrees with you, and you complain about people like JB and people who are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Pot and kettle comes to mind.

Absolutely right warehamgas.

When B***** was accused of assaulting the Barnsley manager many Gasheads were calling for him to be banned from football. Now he is associated with us they have changed their tune because there is a strong but unhealthy attitude at Rovers of supporting and agreeing with everything the club does no matter what. Fans think this is looking after self interest but my view is that it is one of the main causes of our constant under performance and the ingrained culture of mediocrity. "They are our tents so criticise them at your peril".

In a healthy organisation criticism will spur the leaders on to make improvement but at Rovers, instead of that, we always find the wagons being formed into a circle and the arrows starting to fly. 

You can see it Wareham but so many others either can’t or know they are guilty of going against their own morals and thus fail to acknowledge their change in viewpoint.

I like to think of myself as as less of a hypocrite as I can be. My morals are the core of who I am, they are not for sale by the football team I support and I find it really totally odd that people think that supporting a football team means putting aside your values in order to support it. I notice one poster on Gaschat criticising that new poster for masturbating over their moral compass instead of supporting the club! I mean, I can’t even....it’s unreal.

You’re right about causing division but surprisingly the overwhelming majority seem to be behind B***** so if crowds were allowed back I doubt the numbers would be too much off what they usually are. That’s fine each has to take their own path on it but the way that that opposed to B***** are being pilloried is really something else and a new low for this fanbase. As I said it’s not like we’re talking about someone with objectionable views, B*****’s previous is well known and it should be completely understandable that there are those who have been made to feel “homeless” in a football sense by the club they want to succeed hiring someone that really, no other football fan wants to see at their club and I think most Rovers fans, really, did not want to see him at Rovers but now he is they are forced to rationalise it by taking it upon themselves to help launder his image for him.

For the record, some might be won over by wins, but not me. Even if B***** wins the premier league with Rovers I honestly couldn’t care because the football world will look at me and say “yeah but Joey B*****’s your manager!” And there is no possible come back to that because the sub-text is that any success Rovers have under him will be because we sold out any Corinthian values we might have had in order to succeed. It’s a frank admission that we couldn’t do it any other way than by hiring damages goods with an awful reputation.

Nice post we thought out. Totally understandable.
But...
It's a Garner's fault!

And yes, you’re spot on. B***** himself even admitted that if the club wasn’t in a mess he wouldn’t be here and that mess is all because of Garner.

Although that’s not to say that Widdrington would not cause problems in the long run in and of himself but it’s all been set in motion by the absolutely ridiculous decision to hand over a winning team mid-season to a complete footballing nobody. And that is totally on Wael.

I suspect that one will get lost in the long grass. Nothing will happen, it will all be laughed off/ no witnesses / “these things happen...” I suspect if anything was going to happen it would have done by now. B*****’s name was all over the news within an hour of the alleged incident two years ago and we knew something was up. Seems different this time.
UTG!

Catching up from page five.

Hello, holmesgas1 .  Good to hear from you.  Don't let it get you down.  If anti B***** rhethoric is depressing, then I think it's quite easily avoided reviewing the thread titles.  If this 'B***** OUT' poll is clear to the point of banality, then surely 'Joey B***** is unfit to manage Bristol Rovers' is too perfectly self-explanatory.  I think the volume written against B*****'s appointment is a measure of the strength of feeling.  Defend him if that's your position.  Not an easy task, I may say, but you have every right, of course.

This is true, but it's an increasing feature of wider society.  Rather than argue the opposite view, people either get aggressive (i.e. f... off to Ashton) or require that the view expressed not be published or spoken.  It's babyish, but it's la mode right now.

No no no.  Gas Guzzler is perfectly capable of intelligent argument without aggression or silencing dissent, as has been proven repeatedly.  I can't speak for Gaschat, as I believe moderators there have acted to the contrary, but here we can absolutely disagree and argue in the spirit of of fellow gasheads.  That doesn't mean one should be 'balanced' or 'moderate' either, just that one should defend one's position with argument and rationale, as so many are still doing.

It's getting closer, isn't it?  Ah well, there's no harm in recruiting new members to the Guzzler!  I really think that any 50% vote for the removal for a manager only nine games into his contract is a terrible indictment of said manager though?

I totally appreciate where you're coming from, but this isn't politics: schisms or factions seem wholly pointless, and I would rather change minds than lose BRFC supporters.  I think it is being underestimated how the B***** appointment has roused some of the more aggressive elements of football support who now feel greater licence to reveal true colours.  But who can tell, when nobody's attending matches?  Recent history does show that the ascent of aggressive populist despotic leaders has a deleterious effect on the conduct of populations.

Very true, I'm sorry to say.

Gasheads have always been heterogeneous.  The racists were never 'my people', nor those who shout the homophobic abuse I've heard, or even those who just attend to shout hate at certain of our own players.  It's probably not helpful to divide gasheads into 'my people' or otherwise.  The tribal concept that the BRFC badge trumps all moral principles is weird, but it was always thus.

Monday's win means B*****'s here until June. So perhaps his supporters can be happy about that, rather than so unhappy about us opposing his appointment.

EDIT: sorry, One F in Dunford, I missed yours out.

It's okay, Sir, you can name me. You've written of your dislike before without being so coy! As far as I remember, I am the only one to express this wish, although others may have said something veiled like 'anything that hastens B*****'s departure' or suchlike. For B*****'s first two games, I attempted (with decreasing conviction) to support Rovers' opponents in the hope of Rovers' defeat ending B*****'s managerial tenure so all gasheads could return to supporting Rovers. Two of the most thoughtful and respected members of this forum want nothing to do with the club until he's gone, and I care about that more. Many more won't take their children to watch B*****'s Rovers next season, when I assume the turnstiles open. I quickly saw that I could not sustain wanting Rovers to lose football games, so gave it up as a lost cause, but I remain of the view that lost football games are a price worth paying for the restoration of BRFC's dignity and Gasheads relative unity. I fear relegation so much, that I would always want Rovers to get the bare necessary results to survive in the third division.

So hang me, and me alone, for the crime of temporarily (and with dubious sincerity) claiming to want Rovers to lose a football match or two. Why you feel this is a greater crime than standing astride an unconscious man on the ground held close by the shirt and continuing to punch him further purely to cause further brain injury... well this is your position to defend. Good luck with that.

There are people on this site that seem to be online 24/7 and drone on and on with their perpetual negativity. That too puts people off.