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Post by knowall on Jan 25, 2018 11:04:42 GMT
I think Sevencider knocked the nail on the head when he said the feasibility study finished UWE. Wael was quite enthusiastic about UWE until the study results came out, then everything went quiet and the new gates went up at the entrances to the mem , a sign that we were not going anywhere fast. However from what I have been told when the old guard were in talks with the family they had feeling at the time that the family might not be going ahead with UWE. I also wrote to Hamer sometime afterwards and things appeared doubtful. Taking out the Wonga loan what really caused all our problems, it left the club on the edge and in a financial mess so the old guard had to sell the club. The moto of all this is never a borrower or lender be when you are unsure if you can pay back your loan!. My concern now is over proposals to build new toilets and shop. Surely such buildings would be built into any new stands, this suggests that we are unlikely to see any major building of stands any time soon. As far as evolution of the stadium is concerned it is going to be very slow I am afraid. Still there is one bright spot we still have DC and as he Says OUR SUPPORT IS SUPERB. Interesting, adds credence to my theory. Of course, it does ................ it was you who told wertongas
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Post by Captain Jayho on Jan 25, 2018 11:08:03 GMT
The Al-Qadis have been incredibly lucky and have had an easy ride so far. DC must have sore shoulders because he has carried them all the way to this point. He's spent virtually nothing and recouped almost everything he's spent whilst delivering two promotions and a top half finish.
When we lose him (and we will at some point) then the merde really will start hitting the fan and then they really are going to wonder what it is that they've done by buying this club.
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Post by Antonio Fargas on Jan 25, 2018 11:17:11 GMT
All the speculation as to why they bought us, when will the stadium be built, when will the training ground be ready and lack of transfer activity could all be put to bed if only Wael could communicate the grand plan, and then we would all know what to expect. Why doesn’t he do this? That's not true, though, is it? Whatever he says will be greeted with just a load of whining and doubt. He has already said we will be rebuilding at Horfield, and building a training ground. Loads of people doubted this. Then we bought the area for a training ground, and everyone doubted we would build on it. Then we announced the planning agents for the training ground, and everyone said it was to distract from BBB leaving. We announced a consultancy with local Mem residents, and everyone yawned. Yeah, we don't have a plan for the Mem, but we were negotiating with UWE until recently. Loads of people said we weren't really serious about UWE, and they're the same people saying we didn't have a plan for the Mem. The reason, istm, we didn't have a plan for the Mem, is that we were actually serious about UWE. That makes sense, unless you buy into the theory that Dwane have no desire for a training ground or a stadium and they're just lying to us at every turn. People will whine about everything, whatever the board says. They just can't accept that these things take time and announcing every bit of the plan at every stage is often actually counter-productive.
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Post by abbeygas on Jan 25, 2018 11:19:02 GMT
I think the reality happened upon receipt of the Feasibility Report from the Accountants.
The timing seems to suggest this. It went from all systems go to a grinding halt around this time.
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Post by Antonio Fargas on Jan 25, 2018 11:23:17 GMT
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Post by blueridge on Jan 25, 2018 11:29:01 GMT
I think the reality happened upon receipt of the Feasibility Report from the Accountants. I understood that the independent Feasibility Study came back positive. The alarm bells started to ring for me when the so called experts that were brought in to deliver the Stadium left the project fairly soon after being taken on. Didn't Wael announce that their were a dozen or so eminent Stadium Design companies that they were looking at to furnish plans for regenerating the mem Not a word since he made that statement some 6 months ago - would have been nice to have heard just a simple statement saying that we have engaged with a company who are producing outline plans to move the whole project forward - the silence is deafening!! One can only assume that they have nothing worthwhile to say. For a club that is heavily reliant on its extraordinary core fan base for its survival its a disappointing position IMO to adopt.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 11:29:03 GMT
At last! I've asked this before and nobody has come up with anything. Would have thought the club would have promoted it seeing as there is so much doubt around their intentions. At least something appears to be happening...
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Post by lpgas on Jan 25, 2018 11:42:46 GMT
Wael told his Dad he wanted a cowboy outfit.
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Post by lpgas on Jan 25, 2018 11:44:31 GMT
I think the reality happened upon receipt of the Feasibility Report from the Accountants. I understood that the independent Feasibility Study came back positive. The alarm bells started to ring for me when the so called experts that were brought in to deliver the Stadium left the project fairly soon after being taken on. Didn't Wael announce that their were a dozen or so eminent Stadium Design companies that they were looking at to furnish plans for regenerating the mem Not a word since he made that statement some 6 months ago - would have been nice to have heard just a simple statement saying that we have engaged with a company who are producing outline plans to move the whole project forward - the silence is deafening!! One can only assume that they have nothing worthwhile to say. For a club that is heavily reliant on its extraordinary core fan base for its survival its a disappointing position IMO to adopt. The last time he was asked about it he said "it was complicated and difficult. There were lots of problems"
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Post by readinggas on Jan 25, 2018 11:57:33 GMT
Don't underestimate the desire to push Jordan as a country and a brand to Western climes via football, in a similar (albeit reduced manner with our outfit!) that the Qataris and Chinese are doing. I am surprised we've only seen one Jordanian player turn up so far, but if work permits can be sorted, there may well be more in due course.
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Post by Jester on Jan 25, 2018 12:06:54 GMT
All the speculation as to why they bought us, when will the stadium be built, when will the training ground be ready and lack of transfer activity could all be put to bed if only Wael could communicate the grand plan, and then we would all know what to expect. Why doesn’t he do this? That's not true, though, is it? Whatever he says will be greeted with just a load of whining and doubt. He has already said we will be rebuilding at Horfield, and building a training ground. Loads of people doubted this. Then we bought the area for a training ground, and everyone doubted we would build on it. Then we announced the planning agents for the training ground, and everyone said it was to distract from BBB leaving. We announced a consultancy with local Mem residents, and everyone yawned. Yeah, we don't have a plan for the Mem, but we were negotiating with UWE until recently. Loads of people said we weren't really serious about UWE, and they're the same people saying we didn't have a plan for the Mem. The reason, istm, we didn't have a plan for the Mem, is that we were actually serious about UWE. That makes sense, unless you buy into the theory that Dwane have no desire for a training ground or a stadium and they're just lying to us at every turn. People will whine about everything, whatever the board says. They just can't accept that these things take time and announcing every bit of the plan at every stage is often actually counter-productive. Sorry Antonio. I'm a Mem resident and have heard absolutely sweet FA about any consultation! No letter through the door inviting me to a meeting, no invitation from the club. When the previous 'redevelopment' was planned we at least had the opportunity to meet and have our say. I've no idea who these mysterious Mem residents were, none of my neighbours were invited, despite living less than 100 yds from the ground! Then you wonder why people start disbelieving?
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Post by LJG on Jan 25, 2018 12:13:22 GMT
the club was bought because it was cheap and a leg up into English football politics/networks. And now when someone repeats this on the terrace on Saturday I can legitimately claim to have heard it from two independent sources.
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Post by Antonio Fargas on Jan 25, 2018 12:27:58 GMT
Sorry Antonio. I'm a Mem resident and have heard absolutely sweet FA about any consultation! No letter through the door inviting me to a meeting, no invitation from the club. When the previous 'redevelopment' was planned we at least had the opportunity to meet and have our say. I've no idea who these mysterious Mem residents were, none of my neighbours were invited, despite living less than 100 yds from the ground! Then you wonder why people start disbelieving? I am too, and nor have I. I think they went for the activists, Bishopston (self-important) Matters, TRASH, and Friends (ie Enemies) of Horfield Stadium. Istm there's less point consulting the non-activist residents at such an early stage. Istm Keeping the real annoying self-important ultra-NIMBYs on-side is the priority. It doesn't make it untrue, does it? It makes it practical. I'm sure everyone else will get a say in the normal course of planning applications, like always.
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Post by simon1883 on Jan 25, 2018 15:37:29 GMT
I think that the AQ's have have ways of doing business. They never thought that football fans would be so intrusive and knowledge hungry... However, their way of doing business is more closed and they don't seem to let anything be known if they can help it.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a fully "Pre approved" planning app for the MEM appear at some point where they have done all the hard work out of sight and know what they have proposed is all good bar the shouting and legal consultation blah blah....
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Post by dickiedamsell on Jan 25, 2018 16:41:06 GMT
Send all back to Jordan, maybe then their prayers will be answered.
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Post by beaver132 on Jan 25, 2018 16:51:18 GMT
A good question and I think you are right in that it's Wael who was the driving force. Hani must have bought into the 'project' at outset. Was there a trigger incident or a point at which he realised it was't a good idea and decided not to throw any large money at it? More importantly if Hani does not wish to finance significant infrastructure changes what are his future plans? Just sitting dormant is losing him money day by day. Would we have heard if the club was being touted around? Not stirring but... how do you know that Hani had a turning point, realised it wasn't a good idea etc? Certainly that's been said by others on various threads, but it's simply not factual. The only certainty is that we don't know who's doing what, if anything, or who is really up for it and who might not be. It's just supposition and gossip.
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Post by Topper Gas on Jan 25, 2018 16:58:03 GMT
All the speculation as to why they bought us, when will the stadium be built, when will the training ground be ready and lack of transfer activity could all be put to bed if only Wael could communicate the grand plan, and then we would all know what to expect. Why doesn’t he do this? That's not true, though, is it? Whatever he says will be greeted with just a load of whining and doubt. He has already said we will be rebuilding at Horfield, and building a training ground. Loads of people doubted this. Then we bought the area for a training ground, and everyone doubted we would build on it. Then we announced the planning agents for the training ground, and everyone said it was to distract from BBB leaving. We announced a consultancy with local Mem residents, and everyone yawned. Yeah, we don't have a plan for the Mem, but we were negotiating with UWE until recently. Loads of people said we weren't really serious about UWE, and they're the same people saying we didn't have a plan for the Mem. The reason, istm, we didn't have a plan for the Mem, is that we were actually serious about UWE. That makes sense, unless you buy into the theory that Dwane have no desire for a training ground or a stadium and they're just lying to us at every turn. People will whine about everything, whatever the board says. They just can't accept that these things take time and announcing every bit of the plan at every stage is often actually counter-productive. When did Wael last appear on either R Bristol or give an interview to the BP, all we have heard recently from him his via interviews carried out by club media man Keith Brookman, he's seemingly refused to appear on the 20man show this month, which only leads to suspicions he's got something to hide. The time regarding The COlony was shocking if it wasn't deliberate, as far announcing a consultation with local residents, I must have missed that so can you direct me a link to the announcement? We use to complain NH never kept us informed of developments but Wael has taken it to new. lower, level, fair play to DC for appearing for interviews each week as without him keeping us updated we'd here zilch from the club.
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Post by Topper Gas on Jan 25, 2018 17:03:29 GMT
A good question and I think you are right in that it's Wael who was the driving force. Hani must have bought into the 'project' at outset. Was there a trigger incident or a point at which he realised it was't a good idea and decided not to throw any large money at it? More importantly if Hani does not wish to finance significant infrastructure changes what are his future plans? Just sitting dormant is losing him money day by day. Would we have heard if the club was being touted around? Not stirring but... how do you know that Hani had a turning point, realised it wasn't a good idea etc? Certainly that's been said by others on various threads, but it's simply not factual. The only certainty is that we don't know who's doing what, if anything, or who is really up for it and who might not be. It's just supposition and gossip. Hani turned up shortly after Currah and co departed, it doesn't take rocket science to work out he took over negotiations at that point and was never able to push the deal though, subsequently SH has admitted Hani holds the purse strings so logic suggests whether we went ahead or not with the UWE must have been down to his final decision.
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Post by beaver132 on Jan 25, 2018 17:38:17 GMT
Not stirring but... how do you know that Hani had a turning point, realised it wasn't a good idea etc? Certainly that's been said by others on various threads, but it's simply not factual. The only certainty is that we don't know who's doing what, if anything, or who is really up for it and who might not be. It's just supposition and gossip. Hani turned up shortly after Currah and co departed, it doesn't take rocket science to work out he took over negotiations at that point and was never able to push the deal though, subsequently SH has admitted Hani holds the purse strings so logic suggests whether we went ahead or not with the UWE must have been down to his final decision. It doesn't take rocket science - but it does take a great deal of supposition. There is simply no evidence. Cause and effect, but not necessarily correct. You and others may be right, you may equally be wrong
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 17:47:34 GMT
From a money point of view . Buying a club in the lower divisions is cheap . Premier league football or even top end championship football brings in big money. If you can invest wisely you can take a lower league team to the top. Its not guaranteed though ,so you must not leave yourself open to losing a fortune. Therefore you invest the bare minimum to achieve this as you build the club up. You could do this with any club ...say Yate town. However you have a long way to go and it will take many years. You could look at Wigan Athletic as an example of how a small town club with small support can be taken to the top flight and have a new stadium. Wigans crowds these days in league one are far better than they were back at springfield park. However despite the success and facilities they have not become a hugely supported club. Gillingham is surrounded by many small towns and sits alone in Kent. So potentially could gain a lot of support over time with success . Gillingham have been looking to build a new stadium for some time. Bristol Rovers with its reasonable league one crowds and in a large city offer a better potential for long term growth. The UWE stadium in motion would also be a positive as it stepped the club forward a bit. The large crowds at the Wembley/millennium stadium games would have shown that big crowds for big home games is there. BRFC is/was a good investment potential. However everything at the club was still sat in 1987. In my belief if the UWE stadium was now in the building stage we would have seen an increase in the money available to D.C. However investing over the top currently wont see much return. The crowd sizes wont increase much being in the championship and the off field income would still be virtually non existent .The wages would be 5 times higher though. That's not sustainable long term. For the money involved in keeping a squad in the championship you need to be looking at average crowds of 18-20,000 and off field income streams. Rovers would last three seasons at championship and then once the original players had gone or wanted new contracts the club would drop to league one again. There is currently no financial sense in over investing in the team. BRFC could easily become an established midtable championship club with a stadium big enough to sustain that (18000) however there is no point in throwing millions and millions on players when that could be achieved for far less. As a ten year project Rovers could have a modern 18000 stadium and play in the championship at the Mem. That would in no way mean that the Mem would be the final outcome. Championship success or premiership football would make the building of a new stadium in the future of a larger size an investment that is not a risk. Its what Rovers should have done 15 years ago. Rebuilt the mem as purpose built seated stands with modern facilities and off field income. Even if that was just a 12,000 stadium. The club would have been better off.The club could then look to expand or relocate when needed.
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