Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
Jack Walker 23 years today since he passed away. He let us live the dream.
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NEXT GAME:Leicester City FC
Saturday 4th May 2024
Kick off 12.30 pm
Kingpower Stadium
Championship
Jack Walker RIP
- Thread starter Barmitzvah Boy
- Start date
blueandwhitehalves
Senior Member
Great tribute video. Love that they briefly showed that poem at the end too, I remember that being read out on the big screen before the next home game against Norwich, whoever wrote it did a brilliant job:
"I have never written a poem before; I don't see any point in rhyme.
It never appeals to us working class; It's just a waste of time.
Well now is a bit different, I need to tell you how I feel.
And in some small way pay tribute to the Blackburn man of steel.
It's vital not to miss the point; football is not a bit of fun.
It's pride and passion, skill and strength all rolled into one.
It's not about Man Utd, Chelsea and some foreign fancy Dan.
It's Blackburn, Preston, Burnley, that's where it all began.
Where what you see is what you get, but don't show how you feel.
But I'm making my exception for the Blackburn man of steel.
I really need to thank him for the pride he gave us back.
Just for a while we were the best, thanks to Uncle Jack.
Few people have the vision to make a dream come true.
For the beauty of Jack Walker's was - we got an invite too.
Some saw him as a rich old man who bought a winning team
But for me they miss the point; he bought us all our dream.
I think it's maybe true to say it could not last forever
But then again I'm certain that it's better once than never
And even if those winning ways never do come back
They can't take away the memories, thanks to Uncle Jack.
Hendry, Sutton, Batty, Shearer, the names roll of the tongue
But "There's only one Jack Walker" is still the Rovers' song."
"I have never written a poem before; I don't see any point in rhyme.
It never appeals to us working class; It's just a waste of time.
Well now is a bit different, I need to tell you how I feel.
And in some small way pay tribute to the Blackburn man of steel.
It's vital not to miss the point; football is not a bit of fun.
It's pride and passion, skill and strength all rolled into one.
It's not about Man Utd, Chelsea and some foreign fancy Dan.
It's Blackburn, Preston, Burnley, that's where it all began.
Where what you see is what you get, but don't show how you feel.
But I'm making my exception for the Blackburn man of steel.
I really need to thank him for the pride he gave us back.
Just for a while we were the best, thanks to Uncle Jack.
Few people have the vision to make a dream come true.
For the beauty of Jack Walker's was - we got an invite too.
Some saw him as a rich old man who bought a winning team
But for me they miss the point; he bought us all our dream.
I think it's maybe true to say it could not last forever
But then again I'm certain that it's better once than never
And even if those winning ways never do come back
They can't take away the memories, thanks to Uncle Jack.
Hendry, Sutton, Batty, Shearer, the names roll of the tongue
But "There's only one Jack Walker" is still the Rovers' song."
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Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
Corrected thanks B&WH 
. This is a photo I took in Jersey. I was walking around St Brelade bay and decided to have a wander in the graveyard and almost immediately noticed Jack’s grave stone.
Very understated, just like Jack.
. This is a photo I took in Jersey. I was walking around St Brelade bay and decided to have a wander in the graveyard and almost immediately noticed Jack’s grave stone.Very understated, just like Jack.
blueandwhitehalves
Senior Member
Don't know if anyone has seen this, but also a good tribute to Jack:
tonygreenbank
Senior Member
Wonderful memories for a wonderful man. I still feel sad at Jacks passing and how he would be feeling right now at the state of our club. He single-handedly put Rovers and Blackburn on the map. I am so grateful that I and so many on here got to live that dream.
blueandwhitehalves
Senior Member
To be fair I think there were a few things Jack just didn't envision back then. I remember him saying he'd make Man Utd look small, but I bet it would have blown his mind to think that 30 years later, the Premier League TV deal could be worth £10 billion (2022-25 including overseas rights), with every club getting almost a third of Jack's fortune per season! Unfortunately the top level of the game has reached a point where its made him look small.
And then I doubt back in the early 90s that he anticipated the accelerating demographic change in Blackburn, and the gloryhunter effect that a saturation of televised games would create. For me those are the 2 things that have constantly eroded our fanbase, to the point where the 31,000 capacity stadium Jack built has become a hindrance to our atmosphere as its too big for us.
And then lastly, Jack did always say he wanted the club to be self-sufficient. I think thats what drove his decision not to sign Zidane and Dugarry in the summer of '95, and his instructions to the Walker Trust that they were to put in a few million per season at most if needed. For Rovers to be self-sufficient, we either need to be on the PL TV gravy train, or we need to be in League 1. There's just no getting away from the fact that our revenue of £16m isn't enough to fund the wage bill we need in the Championship. So I think Jack would be impressed at the losses Venkys are willing to absorb to keep us where we are.
But yeah for me Jack's dream died when we got relegated. There was nowhere near enough recognition from owners and many fans, that staying there was almost life or death for a club like Rovers. Sod the moaning about "hoofball" or Allardyce sacrificing certain games like the 7-1 at Old Trafford, the almost £1 billion TV money we've lost in the 11 years since was everything for the club to continue to resemble something Jack built.
And then I doubt back in the early 90s that he anticipated the accelerating demographic change in Blackburn, and the gloryhunter effect that a saturation of televised games would create. For me those are the 2 things that have constantly eroded our fanbase, to the point where the 31,000 capacity stadium Jack built has become a hindrance to our atmosphere as its too big for us.
And then lastly, Jack did always say he wanted the club to be self-sufficient. I think thats what drove his decision not to sign Zidane and Dugarry in the summer of '95, and his instructions to the Walker Trust that they were to put in a few million per season at most if needed. For Rovers to be self-sufficient, we either need to be on the PL TV gravy train, or we need to be in League 1. There's just no getting away from the fact that our revenue of £16m isn't enough to fund the wage bill we need in the Championship. So I think Jack would be impressed at the losses Venkys are willing to absorb to keep us where we are.
But yeah for me Jack's dream died when we got relegated. There was nowhere near enough recognition from owners and many fans, that staying there was almost life or death for a club like Rovers. Sod the moaning about "hoofball" or Allardyce sacrificing certain games like the 7-1 at Old Trafford, the almost £1 billion TV money we've lost in the 11 years since was everything for the club to continue to resemble something Jack built.
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It's open to debate whether the smaller clubs in the premier league even need to even open their turnstiles nowadays. Their attendance take is a mere fraction of the premier hand out.
We could even make st's free (and survive with astute management) and hopefully go some way to filling the ground except for the 'biggie' that once relegated we'd have to charge the going rate and the drop off would be astronomical and probably fatal.
We could even make st's free (and survive with astute management) and hopefully go some way to filling the ground except for the 'biggie' that once relegated we'd have to charge the going rate and the drop off would be astronomical and probably fatal.
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1SimonGarner
Senior Member
Just seen on Sky news that Chelsea have spent just under 1 BILLION pounds on just transfer fees in the last 12 months alone, Jacks money nowadays would be a drop in the ocean. His timing, just like the man, was brilliant. People say we bought the league, the truth is every club that's won the Premiership since it's inception have bought it barring Leicester, we just had a brilliant man with a passion and forethought to do it in a different way and give a small town club a chance to compete with the big city monsters.
BAWH's brilliant post highlights how some of this is a hindrance to the club today but I think any fellow Rovers fans that lived through those years wouldn't change it for anything. As the poem says, no one will ever be able to take those successes away.
RIP Jack, you're missed.
BAWH's brilliant post highlights how some of this is a hindrance to the club today but I think any fellow Rovers fans that lived through those years wouldn't change it for anything. As the poem says, no one will ever be able to take those successes away.
RIP Jack, you're missed.
blueandwhitehalves
Senior Member
Yeah I think we saw exactly that with Rovers' ST pricing in the late 00s. Peak ST price of around £460 in 2006/07 had coincided with our home average sliding from 26,000 to 21,000 over the previous 5 years.
I've speculated on what I think caused, and is still causing this, Blackburn becoming an Asian town, and kids gloryhunting the big 6 (or big 4 as it was back then).
But either way I think it alarmed the Rovers top brass and, seeing as they were lead by the awesome John Williams back, I think we then did something that was unique (or at least a first), in realising that our gate receipts were a paltry fraction of our TV income, so why not slash prices and fill the ground up. So it went to £300 in 2007/08 (which got us to 24,000), and then £200 in 2009/10 (which got us to 25,000).
When they were £200 it was mind-blowing to be honest, they were cheaper than Accy Stanley's STs at the time.
We were soooo lucky when Jack Walker turned up weren't we? I rem going to t'turf moor to watch Burnley v Reading in the 4th div (I think) in 92. Rovers were away to sheff wed so I nipped 5 miles down the road to pay a fiver and stand with the reading supporters. Once chatting to them they realised I was local and were full of questions once I told them that I was a Rovers supporter. "Whats it like being a rovers fan now"? Best way I could describe it was that 'it's just like living on Fantasy Island! 
blueandwhitehalves
Senior Member
It was weird for me in that I didn't know any different. My first game was in the 90/91 season but as I was only 6 at the time, it took until the 91/92 season for me to really start figuring out what was going on and by then we were constantly on the up.
I grew up on one of those new build estates where all the houses were semis and there were kids everywhere. About 10-15 of us would be playing football constantly (and I mean constantly!), on the street, a bit of spare land nearby, the local school pitch. And every single kid had a Rovers shirt (some of the poorer ones had fake ones) with a name/number on the back.
Even the slightly more obscure players like Warhurst, Slater, Mimms etc were on someone's shirt. Really were amazing times, it didn't occur to any of us that we'd be anything other than one of the best teams forever.
I grew up on one of those new build estates where all the houses were semis and there were kids everywhere. About 10-15 of us would be playing football constantly (and I mean constantly!), on the street, a bit of spare land nearby, the local school pitch. And every single kid had a Rovers shirt (some of the poorer ones had fake ones) with a name/number on the back.
Even the slightly more obscure players like Warhurst, Slater, Mimms etc were on someone's shirt. Really were amazing times, it didn't occur to any of us that we'd be anything other than one of the best teams forever.
Lytham Rover
Member
3-1 Rovers