Biggsy
Reserve Team
Posts: 323
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Post by Biggsy on Sept 17, 2021 8:38:25 GMT
Just some info for balance about Eastville - We actually only owned Eastville for 19 years - 1921-1940. Played our first game there in 1897 and last game 1986. So a total of 70 years as tenants. We've owned the Memorial for longer. The club bought the 16 acres of land that included,formally the home of Bristol Harlequins Rugby club in 1897 from Sir Henry Greville-Smyth for £150 !! The ground was then known as the Stapleton Road Enclosure or less formally .the Black Swan Ground. It was in 1921,the club recently having joined Division Three of the football league, drew up plans to build the South Stand which was opened in 1923. the last stand to be built and paid for by the club.
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Post by bushlander on Sept 17, 2021 8:46:55 GMT
Sacking Lennie Lawrence
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2021 8:56:11 GMT
Not replacing Rickie, oh wait any Striker.................................
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Post by bushlander on Sept 17, 2021 8:59:07 GMT
Not replacing Rickie, oh wait any Striker................................. We replaced him with Will Hoskins didn't we? A year later mind!
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Post by gashead1981 on Sept 17, 2021 9:27:23 GMT
This for me too. This was the sliding doors moment for the club. Stewart scores and we return to the championship. Stewart stays. We return to Bristol at the Mem. The what ifs there are endless. Presumably John Ward stays as manager,too. Given he was the manager the season of 95/96 anyway I would assume so!
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Post by Okebournegas on Sept 17, 2021 9:30:50 GMT
Not let go of DC , I still think we’ve gone backwards since he and the double promotion winning squad got dismantled, I’ll always love that guy , my most enjoyable time being a gashead Whilst in principle I agree 1 million percent, I don't think it's as simple as that. Think it was a bit of both - DC had got fed up with the lack of ambition and progress off the field - he looked utterly drained when he left us: he genuinely looked unwell. As such, I think it was a marriage that had broken down beyond repair (at board level). So I think to keep DC, we would have needed a new ground and training facilities all in place before the end of his time with us to have stood any real chance of things continuing. God I miss him though You raise some very good points , 100% DC did look drained and unwell , I think you’re also right in regards to the lack of ambition. Like you , I still miss the bloke , I’m hoping when he manages the legends team someone can switch him with JB !!!!
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Post by cj on Sept 17, 2021 9:35:21 GMT
Suprised no one has mentioned GC staying with us, there’s a good chance we’d be in the Championship if he’d stayed. I doubt we would. You could see we were beginning to run on empty in that Plymouth away game in the FA cup. We had players injured and we were playing the same players game after game and they were really beginning to struggle to keep up. In order to have stood a chance, we would have needed another 4 or 5 players in the Jan window and each of them would have needed to spot on and hit the ground running. It was like GC knew it was the right time to go before it all went wrong.
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Post by cj on Sept 17, 2021 9:39:51 GMT
How about Sainsbury's not pulling the plug on us. Imagine if they actually held up their end of the deal, we could be in UWE by now. Wonder if it would of been great.
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Post by I Voted For Kodos on Sept 17, 2021 9:40:01 GMT
Remove the release clause from Matty Taylor's contract.
If we'd kept him that January, with Sweeney and Lumley already having come in to tighten up the defence, I think we'd have gone up.
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Post by LJG on Sept 17, 2021 9:40:53 GMT
How about Sainsbury's not pulling the plug on us. Imagine if they actually held up their end of the deal, we could be in UWE by now. Wonder if it would of been great. I never wanted UWE and was pleased it collapsed.
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Post by gashead1981 on Sept 17, 2021 9:43:34 GMT
Whilst in principle I agree 1 million percent, I don't think it's as simple as that. Think it was a bit of both - DC had got fed up with the lack of ambition and progress off the field - he looked utterly drained when he left us: he genuinely looked unwell. As such, I think it was a marriage that had broken down beyond repair (at board level). So I think to keep DC, we would have needed a new ground and training facilities all in place before the end of his time with us to have stood any real chance of things continuing. God I miss him though You raise some very good points , 100% DC did look drained and unwell , I think you’re also right in regards to the lack of ambition. Like you , I still miss the bloke , I’m hoping when he manages the legends team someone can switch him with JB !!!! People have short memories, we were bottom or just off the bottom, we were getting absolutely battered week in, week out. The squad had a playing budget value of £2.65m, 4th highest in the league and DC was still saying we were short, when in truth, he signed all of that squad to massive wages and some on long contracts and those players just werent performing and didnt perform for most of the season. DC was frustrated at the speed or lack of it of developments off the field, he was frustrated he was losing matches and he looked tired, beaten and out of ideas. 100% it was the right decision to move on at that point and GC was 100% the right person to take over. I would however, would have spoken to DC post Tisdale about coming back, even if it was a deal to the end of the season and then an option whether both sides wanted to continue or whether he wanted a fresh challenge. It would have given us some stability, calmed everything down, he could have taken another look at us with the training ground underway and perhaps we may have believed a few things about what Barton has said? I dont think it would have saved us from relegation, I think we were down once the Jan window slammed shut due to the utter inept display fromall parties in that, but it certainly would have united the fanbase and given us a better chance to bounce back up this year.
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Post by gashead1981 on Sept 17, 2021 9:44:05 GMT
How about Sainsbury's not pulling the plug on us. Imagine if they actually held up their end of the deal, we could be in UWE by now. Wonder if it would of been great. I never wanted UWE and was pleased it collapsed. Why?
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Post by LJG on Sept 17, 2021 9:46:34 GMT
I never wanted UWE and was pleased it collapsed. Why? I don't think we need to own a completely new ground in the middle of nowhere. The Mem is our home now. It has character and well situated in the heart of a community. I've always wanted to see a nice neat redevelopment to give us something like Craven Cottage.
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Post by cj on Sept 17, 2021 9:57:34 GMT
How about Sainsbury's not pulling the plug on us. Imagine if they actually held up their end of the deal, we could be in UWE by now. Wonder if it would of been great. I never wanted UWE and was pleased it collapsed. Some wanted it and some didn't. But regardless of our thoughts, it was out of our hands. If Sainsbury's didn't get out of that 'watertight' contract and UWE got built, just imagine sitting in a spanking new stadium that we could call our own. Being in a position to catch up with other clubs and it could have really pushed us forward like it done for other clubs like Bournemouth and Brighton. Knowing our luck the stadium probably would have collapsed before we got in it or half way through the building work we come across newts that meant we had to stop building. Would something have gone wrong or would we be happy with it?
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Post by titchthephot on Sept 17, 2021 10:11:23 GMT
I'd go back to when DC was manager and get Wael to offer him the same deal as he has given JB. If that couldn't happen then I'd go back (with a copy of our current results and a list of JB crimes etc) and show Wael them and tell him not to employ the worst manager in the history of Bristol Rovers!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2021 10:55:45 GMT
Make sainsburys proceed and never have wael.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2021 11:11:38 GMT
Roman, telling the Helicopter pilot to fly over Chelsea. Bristol's not that far by copter to Bristol. He could have flown over the Mem, who's knows where we would be now. Big Ears anyone!!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2021 11:12:51 GMT
Chelsea to Bristol Even...................
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Post by warehamgas on Sept 17, 2021 11:47:22 GMT
Never sell eastville,what a ground we could have had there. Yes, I completely agree. But, I wasn’t around at that time obviously but family, all gasheads, said we had to or go bankrupt and in those days there weren’t many white knights charging to save us. We could have been another New Brighton, Aberdare, etc. And it happened in 1939 and everyone had other things on their minds then. After 6 years of war we wouldn’t even have existed. So I can understand why they did it but you’re right what a position it was and just imagine what it could have been. Those night matches in the 60s and 70s were fantastic. Having Eastville as ours would have been wonderful and who knows what we could have achieved. Knowing that makes it even worse! 😭😭😭 UTG!
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Post by playtowin on Sept 17, 2021 13:23:25 GMT
I'd rush back to January 2001 and take the batteries out of Garry Thompson's alarm clock, thus ensuring he missed his interview for manager and we avoided our subsequent fall into L2 for the first time ever. Or perhaps should have sacked Ollie in the summer after the lack of leadership to even secure a playoff place . Bringing in a new manager to take the squad forward not backwards.
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