Post by heartofgas on Apr 20, 2021 10:45:46 GMT
I haven’t been on here in a while because I couldn’t face all the doom and gloom but further to the two open letters from Wael I thought I would share some thoughts.
The last year and a half has been pretty awful for the club. I guess that’s nothing new for Rovers and is kind of expected. I guess what makes it hard to stomach is I really thought we had turned a corner in the summer of 2016. We had new owners with resources beyond anything we had known before. We had just won promotion in probably the best possible way and in a way that never happens to rovers. We were about to start the UWE project, the landing lights were on. We had a great manager. Our star striker had just agreed a new contract. Things felt like they had never been so good for us. There was such a buzz and momentum behind us. I remember thinking we’re not going to be back down at this level again and we were on our way to the championship. We could start dreaming.
Now five years later on I feel really foolish for ever believing that. Things have panned out how they always pan out for rovers. We’re now at the start of another ten year cycle of false hope.
Rovers are in my heart but I’m afraid what hope was left in me has pretty much gone. I’m fed up of false dawns. I will always support the gas but I’m not going to go out of my way to go to games anymore. Even if we win league two next year I’m not sure I’d be that excited about it as we all know where it ends.
So how do I get hope back, not sure
Wael seems a thoroughly decent and honourable person and I’m sure he’s doing his best for the club but he seems to forget us older fans can remember previous owners saying what he said a number of times and nothing ever happened. I’m tired of going through this time and time again. I appreciate all that Wael has done for the club but in effect he’s achieved nothing more than any previous owners. The pattern continues.
The one thing that is different at the moment is there is no news of any progress on the Stadium. Our facilities look like a crap national league club. How can we sell a dream to any decent player with ambition to come and join us. I know that this has been done to death but I just don’t understand why the UWE deal was pulled. Whatever the deal and financial arrangements were I don’t see how we’d be worse off now or for the foreseeable future. The only conclusion I can draw is the owners just couldn’t afford it.
My other concern is not that clubs have had a bad financial situation for the past 12 months but the long term financial impact on clubs. The worst might not be behind us. Sponsorship will be lost and I have a concern the gate numbers will be down across the board when stadiums reopen (even more so for rovers given relegation). People have got used to doing other things with their time. Maybe not the core support but a good percentage of the other supporters/families. This coming season will see restricted numbers and the following year the season will be interrupted by the World Cup. I do wonder how long Wael will finance a loss. Particularly if, and I mention this quietly, if we end up in the national league again.
These are dark days for our club and the only silver lining is Wael is willing to finance us for the moment, for which I am very grateful.
The gas is in my heart and I will always support them but I feel really f’ing miserable as a result.
The last year and a half has been pretty awful for the club. I guess that’s nothing new for Rovers and is kind of expected. I guess what makes it hard to stomach is I really thought we had turned a corner in the summer of 2016. We had new owners with resources beyond anything we had known before. We had just won promotion in probably the best possible way and in a way that never happens to rovers. We were about to start the UWE project, the landing lights were on. We had a great manager. Our star striker had just agreed a new contract. Things felt like they had never been so good for us. There was such a buzz and momentum behind us. I remember thinking we’re not going to be back down at this level again and we were on our way to the championship. We could start dreaming.
Now five years later on I feel really foolish for ever believing that. Things have panned out how they always pan out for rovers. We’re now at the start of another ten year cycle of false hope.
Rovers are in my heart but I’m afraid what hope was left in me has pretty much gone. I’m fed up of false dawns. I will always support the gas but I’m not going to go out of my way to go to games anymore. Even if we win league two next year I’m not sure I’d be that excited about it as we all know where it ends.
So how do I get hope back, not sure
Wael seems a thoroughly decent and honourable person and I’m sure he’s doing his best for the club but he seems to forget us older fans can remember previous owners saying what he said a number of times and nothing ever happened. I’m tired of going through this time and time again. I appreciate all that Wael has done for the club but in effect he’s achieved nothing more than any previous owners. The pattern continues.
The one thing that is different at the moment is there is no news of any progress on the Stadium. Our facilities look like a crap national league club. How can we sell a dream to any decent player with ambition to come and join us. I know that this has been done to death but I just don’t understand why the UWE deal was pulled. Whatever the deal and financial arrangements were I don’t see how we’d be worse off now or for the foreseeable future. The only conclusion I can draw is the owners just couldn’t afford it.
My other concern is not that clubs have had a bad financial situation for the past 12 months but the long term financial impact on clubs. The worst might not be behind us. Sponsorship will be lost and I have a concern the gate numbers will be down across the board when stadiums reopen (even more so for rovers given relegation). People have got used to doing other things with their time. Maybe not the core support but a good percentage of the other supporters/families. This coming season will see restricted numbers and the following year the season will be interrupted by the World Cup. I do wonder how long Wael will finance a loss. Particularly if, and I mention this quietly, if we end up in the national league again.
These are dark days for our club and the only silver lining is Wael is willing to finance us for the moment, for which I am very grateful.
The gas is in my heart and I will always support them but I feel really f’ing miserable as a result.
