Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2018 20:13:07 GMT
I blame every single board member since 1996, when we moved back to Bristol. Successive custodians of our club have let us down badly. As far as the Al-Qadi's are concerned, I respect what they have done as they have had a go at improving things. They've certainly done a hell of a lot more than previous regimes. The impetus needed to move us on however appears to beyond them, despite Wael's best intentions. The posts about what previous governors and directors did try to do have been forgotten by some. In fact, we had more plans to do things that were stymied by outside influences such as global recessions and nimbys than we ever had since we moved out of Eastville in 86. It’s an absolute insult to the memory of the Dunfords (I was one of their biggest critics through the years) to suggest Geoff, Ron Craig and then Higgs and co did not try to do something positive. Remember that those people did it all off their own back, sometimes injected money into the club when there wasn’t any to pay wages, didn’t charge interest on money lent to the club and didn’t put a charge against the Mem to secure any monies given either. For all Higgs’ fault, what he gave the ALQ’s was a cost neutral stadium project which just had to be either funded by them (Hani ensures them he would sign off on it) which would’ve been repaid by redeveloping the Mem for housing together with a stadium rebuilding grant by the FA. That whole project was going to cost £25m less the fit out of the executive boxes. The estimated return on the Mem site was £28m plus £6m from the FA. It was Higgs and co’s stewardship that really got us back to L1. The ALQs has nothing to do with it, but took all the credit as proven by Wael being carried down Glos Rd like some sort of messiah. We are in far worse a position now than we have ever been. There again, perhaps you enjoy sitting in a tent with a refurbished bar (that the was mainly paid for by the tradesman of the 1883 club) with babestation on. The ALQs are a friggin joke IMO. You make some good points. I agree that there have been good intentions from all and acknowledge that the likes of Dunford, Craig, Higgs etc gave masses to the club. It is certainly not my intention to insult them or their motivation. And no, I'm far from happy about the crappy 'stadium' we play in. For what it's worth, I think the Al Qadi's should move aside if they are incapable or unwilling to progress the club.
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Post by pucklegas on Dec 9, 2018 20:25:53 GMT
The posts about what previous governors and directors did try to do have been forgotten by some. In fact, we had more plans to do things that were stymied by outside influences such as global recessions and nimbys than we ever had since we moved out of Eastville in 86. It’s an absolute insult to the memory of the Dunfords (I was one of their biggest critics through the years) to suggest Geoff, Ron Craig and then Higgs and co did not try to do something positive. Remember that those people did it all off their own back, sometimes injected money into the club when there wasn’t any to pay wages, didn’t charge interest on money lent to the club and didn’t put a charge against the Mem to secure any monies given either. For all Higgs’ fault, what he gave the ALQ’s was a cost neutral stadium project which just had to be either funded by them (Hani ensures them he would sign off on it) which would’ve been repaid by redeveloping the Mem for housing together with a stadium rebuilding grant by the FA. That whole project was going to cost £25m less the fit out of the executive boxes. The estimated return on the Mem site was £28m plus £6m from the FA. It was Higgs and co’s stewardship that really got us back to L1. The ALQs has nothing to do with it, but took all the credit as proven by Wael being carried down Glos Rd like some sort of messiah. We are in far worse a position now than we have ever been. There again, perhaps you enjoy sitting in a tent with a refurbished bar (that the was mainly paid for by the tradesman of the 1883 club) with babestation on. The ALQs are a friggin joke IMO. You make some good points. I agree that there have been good intentions from all and acknowledge that the likes of Dunford, Craig, Higgs etc gave masses to the club. It is certainly not my intention to insult them or their motivation. And no, I'm far from happy about the crappy 'stadium' we play in. For what it's worth, I think the Al Qadi's should move aside if they are incapable or unwilling to progress the club. Geoff D was a very astute businessman and he said prior to passing away that leasing the UWE might not be a bad deal, he was probably a lot more informed that us jokers who speculate. Certainly without Denis and him we would all be bored on a Saturday afternoon doing DIY or shopping. 😄
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Post by Centenary Gas on Dec 9, 2018 20:28:28 GMT
And for next season, seven figure cut on its way..
Hopefully that’s just their way of trying to force D.C. out, but given the family’s reluctance to do anything, I doubt it.
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Post by Topper Gas on Dec 9, 2018 20:49:23 GMT
I blame every single board member since 1996, when we moved back to Bristol. Successive custodians of our club have let us down badly. As far as the Al-Qadi's are concerned, I respect what they have done as they have had a go at improving things. They've certainly done a hell of a lot more than previous regimes. The impetus needed to move us on however appears to beyond them, despite Wael's best intentions. The posts about what previous governors and directors did try to do have been forgotten by some. In fact, we had more plans to do things that were stymied by outside influences such as global recessions and nimbys than we ever had since we moved out of Eastville in 86. It’s an absolute insult to the memory of the Dunfords (I was one of their biggest critics through the years) to suggest Geoff, Ron Craig and then Higgs and co did not try to do something positive. Remember that those people did it all off their own back, sometimes injected money into the club when there wasn’t any to pay wages, didn’t charge interest on money lent to the club and didn’t put a charge against the Mem to secure any monies given either. For all Higgs’ fault, what he gave the ALQ’s was a cost neutral stadium project which just had to be either funded by them (Hani ensures them he would sign off on it) which would’ve been repaid by redeveloping the Mem for housing together with a stadium rebuilding grant by the FA. That whole project was going to cost £25m less the fit out of the executive boxes. The estimated return on the Mem site was £28m plus £6m from the FA. It was Higgs and co’s stewardship that really got us back to L1. The ALQs has nothing to do with it, but took all the credit as proven by Wael being carried down Glos Rd like some sort of messiah. We are in far worse a position now than we have ever been. There again, perhaps you enjoy sitting in a tent with a refurbished bar (that the was mainly paid for by the tradesman of the 1883 club) with babestation on. The ALQs are a friggin joke IMO. There's no way we were going up before the ALQ's took over, we were 10th going nowhere nearing a points deduction for going into Admin, the ALQ's funded the Gaffney deal and the feel good factor they brought then got us promoted. If the UWE was cost neutral why didn't NH & EW arrange to finance it themselves rather than take us to the brink of Admin chasing Sainsbury's needlessly through the courts? As far as being in a far worse position are we really hours from Admin like we were under NH & EW, no our future is secure until the ALQ's decide they've had enough. We're in a depressing position but re-writing history to make out the previous board did a fantastic is just nonsense.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2018 20:59:09 GMT
You make some good points. I agree that there have been good intentions from all and acknowledge that the likes of Dunford, Craig, Higgs etc gave masses to the club. It is certainly not my intention to insult them or their motivation. And no, I'm far from happy about the crappy 'stadium' we play in. For what it's worth, I think the Al Qadi's should move aside if they are incapable or unwilling to progress the club. Geoff D was a very astute businessman and he said prior to passing away that leasing the UWE might not be a bad deal, he was probably a lot more informed that us jokers who speculate. Certainly without Denis and him we would all be bored on a Saturday afternoon doing DIY or shopping. 😄 Absolutely 100% agree, particularly with your last sentence. Without the Dunfords involvement, there would be no club for us to support and I am forever grateful for that. I was (clumsily) trying to express a view that since we returned to Bristol the club has largely stagnated. Accepting the absolute best intentions of all involved, the custodians throughout that time surely have to take some responsibility for that, even if events conspired against them for different reasons. I think the Al Qadis have achieved some things that perhaps should have been done previously, however I suspect that they are either unwilling or unable to take us further forward. I hope I am wrong but if not feel they should look to move on rather than let us stagnate further. My apologies if any offence has been taken...that was not my intention.
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Post by gashead1981 on Dec 9, 2018 21:42:46 GMT
The posts about what previous governors and directors did try to do have been forgotten by some. In fact, we had more plans to do things that were stymied by outside influences such as global recessions and nimbys than we ever had since we moved out of Eastville in 86. It’s an absolute insult to the memory of the Dunfords (I was one of their biggest critics through the years) to suggest Geoff, Ron Craig and then Higgs and co did not try to do something positive. Remember that those people did it all off their own back, sometimes injected money into the club when there wasn’t any to pay wages, didn’t charge interest on money lent to the club and didn’t put a charge against the Mem to secure any monies given either. For all Higgs’ fault, what he gave the ALQ’s was a cost neutral stadium project which just had to be either funded by them (Hani ensures them he would sign off on it) which would’ve been repaid by redeveloping the Mem for housing together with a stadium rebuilding grant by the FA. That whole project was going to cost £25m less the fit out of the executive boxes. The estimated return on the Mem site was £28m plus £6m from the FA. It was Higgs and co’s stewardship that really got us back to L1. The ALQs has nothing to do with it, but took all the credit as proven by Wael being carried down Glos Rd like some sort of messiah. We are in far worse a position now than we have ever been. There again, perhaps you enjoy sitting in a tent with a refurbished bar (that the was mainly paid for by the tradesman of the 1883 club) with babestation on. The ALQs are a friggin joke IMO. There's no way we were going up before the ALQ's took over, we were 10th going nowhere nearing a points deduction for going into Admin, the ALQ's funded the Gaffney deal and the feel good factor they brought then got us promoted. If the UWE was cost neutral why didn't NH & EW arrange to finance it themselves rather than take us to the brink of Admin chasing Sainsbury's needlessly through the courts? As far as being in a far worse position are we really hours from Admin like we were under NH & EW, no our future is secure until the ALQ's decide they've had enough. We're in a depressing position but re-writing history to make out the previous board did a fantastic is just nonsense. Because it meant an initial investment beyond the personal fortunes of all our directors. When Sainsbury’s collapsed we lost the upfront cheque. So the plan b was to build the UWE, redevelop the mem with housing and community stuctiure. The return would have been less but it would have given a return nonetheless and still made it cost neutral. Especially with the grant from the FA. And then once we move we would be taking more income from the new stadium as well. But you need someone with bigger purstrings than Higgs and co to do it. Remember too that Barry Bradshaw is retirement age, is he really want to get involved? Chris Jeff wasn’t interested. Micheal Connah and Colin Sexton were the ones who met with Hamer originally. Hammer knew the ALQs and it was Hani who signed off the project. Nick and Ed were due to stay on the board to see the project through but last minute Geoff Dunford said it was all out or he wasn’t selling. As regards Gaffney, we had him on loan long before ALQ involvement and he signed permanently in Mid Jan. the take over completed in Feb. So it was nothing to do with them. If you’re gonna claim something at least make it factual.
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Post by tomylil on Dec 10, 2018 16:27:49 GMT
We do. For a club who brought over 40,000 fans to Wembley for a 5th tier play of final shows the amount of potential there is being a big city club, 22,000 for the 5th tier final and 40,000 for the 4th tier final.The Shrewsbury match in 2007 I presume Pirate ?
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