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Post by markczgas on Jul 15, 2015 9:34:41 GMT
DO we supporters just now sit back and accept another failure at our club ? What is the future going to be like if we carry on under the stewardship of Nick Higgs and Co ?
At best a yo-yo club between L2 and The Conference I suspect. It's not good enough for me and I hope for you - PLEASE READ ON !
A group of fans (as big or as small as necessary) get together to form a BRFC Supporters Trust (like at Newport County now and Pompey a year ago) and start raising money from supporters like you and me and also HOPEFULLY the wealthier ones to pledge substantial money in order to buy out Higgs and Co.
For me, relegation into Conference was the straw that broke the footballing Camel's back and now the stadium disaster is the straw that broke the management of the club's back !!
I'm prepared to give a lot of my time to get something going ( I did so by forming and running The Wellie Group - so you know I put my effort where my mouth is). I have ears that will help publicise this in the media. I will also contribute some money (don't have much sadly - I will pledge 1000 - 2000 quid) but every hundreds/thousands of pounds COULD count.
So Gasheads, let's get into action, let's save our club and claim it back and RUN IT PROPERLY !! Spread the word if you think it could possibly work. Let's consider getting people together to discuss how it could all be possible.
We continue to support the team, but in the meantime we can try to help make a better future for our club.
So
1.) Do you support exploring this project ?
2.) Would you pledge money if it was 100 % organised and transparent ?
3.) Would you give up some of your time to attend meetings / research ideas/ collate information etc ?
There's NOTHING to fear, probably hardly anything to lose and at least you'll know YOU HAVE DONE YOUR BIT to help potentially change our club for the better
P.S. Those who are anti this idea - PLEASE don't have a go at me I DON'T CARE !
Mark Czekalski a Gashead for 40 plus years ( my Dad a Gashead, brothers Gasheads, Nephews Gasheads and my little son A Gashead !!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 9:40:12 GMT
How much would need to be raised to buy a majority share in the club?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 9:40:43 GMT
How much will it cost to buy them out?
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Post by RD on Jul 15, 2015 10:00:02 GMT
Personally I cannot see that this is viable. I would hazard a guess we'd need to raise several million to buy the club. Then there's the small matter of covering the debt (unless Nick and co paid it all off - unlikely IMO).
Even then, would we really have the resources available to then plough even further money in to progress the club on (and indeed off) the playing field? Highly unlikely.
Whilst I don't doubt your intentions Mark, I honestly don't think it's a realistic goal - only my opinion of course.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 10:06:12 GMT
Its not just buying them out is it.
Its also the creation of working capital, the establishment of an administration of the club that is professional and competent, and developing a sustainable model going forward.
The Supporters Direct Model failed on almost all of those issues which is why most Trusts fail over
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Post by gasincider on Jul 15, 2015 10:13:18 GMT
A complete waste of time in my view.
This clubs biggest asset is its permission to build at the UWE. That is what needs to be promoted and as it said on Talksport, is what makes us one of the most attractive propositions to investors.
This club has so much going for it, but is being led by people who refuse to listen and learn. There are plenty of potential investors out there, we just need one or two to look in our direction.
The Wembley match may just have been the catalyst to alert people to our potential. We just need to hold our nerve.
As for the fans running it, no. Once the prospect of building at the UWE is gone completely, that will be the end of any prospect of building a ground we deserve.
Who will raise the £15-20m to buy the ground off NH? Then it would need redeveloping. And once all that is done we will continue to lose money as it cannot sustain modern football.
Our only hope is to draw in investors who must be out there. Our best short term hope is to turn up in numbers at the matches and continue to show any potential suitors why we would be a good prospect for investment. There is nothing else we can as fans have any prospect of achieving. And don't say turning up for games is lining NH's pockets. We have to turn up to keep our club alive.
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Post by RD on Jul 15, 2015 10:14:00 GMT
Its not just buying them out is it. Its also the creation of working capital, the establishment of an administration of the club that is professional and competent, and developing a sustainable model going forward. The Supporters Direct Model failed on almost all of those issues which is why most Trusts fail over Thank you for trying to make the point I was trying to make but in a far clearer way  |
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Post by markczgas on Jul 15, 2015 10:15:35 GMT
How much will it cost to buy them out? Good question ! and this has to be investigated. I would suspect they might be willing to listen a bit more now after the stadium news ?? |
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Post by curlywurly on Jul 15, 2015 10:16:50 GMT
Mark.
Whilst I have some support for the idea of fan ownership in principle, I fear that in practice the general level of apathy amongst Rovers supporters would not support your cause.
BRISA and the Welly group were established about this time last year with the club at its lowest ebb. The thought of our club dropping to the Conference was pretty difficult for thousands of us to stomach. Combined with the uncertainty about the Mem sale at the time, you would have thought that there would be hordes in blue and white marching to the Mem in protest and in a spirit of revolution.
Actually, and with all due respect, I don't think a great deal was achieved and despite a small band of posters on both fora complaining, too few are actually motivated enough to get off their backsides and make the difference that you are proposing. Perhaps a successful season on the field has dampened the demand for change, but it comes down to cash and I don't believe that enough could be raised to make a difference.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 10:16:56 GMT
Bath City supporters are trying to do something similar at the moment - I think they've raised over £65k so far. Obviously that would be small change for our predicament, but maybe it's worth looking at their model? curlywurly makes a good point though, I think that the majority of supporters will only be stirred into action when the ship has already sailed.
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Post by markczgas on Jul 15, 2015 10:18:35 GMT
A complete waste of time in my view. This clubs biggest asset is its permission to build at the UWE. That is what needs to be promoted and as it said on Talksport, is what makes us one of the most attractive propositions to investors. This club has so much going for it, but is being led by people who refuse to listen and learn. There are plenty of potential investors out there, we just need one or two to look in our direction. The Wembley match may just have been the catalyst to alert people to our potential. We just need to hold our nerve. As for the fans running it, no. Once the prospect of building at the UWE is gone completely, that will be the end of any prospect of building a ground we deserve. Who will raise the £15-20m to buy the ground off NH? Then it would need redeveloping. And once all that is done we will continue to lose money as it cannot sustain modern football. Our only hope is to draw in investors who must be out there. Our best short term hope is to turn up in numbers at the matches and continue to show any potential suitors why we would be a good prospect for investment. There is nothing else we can as fans have any prospect of achieving. And don't say turning up for games is lining NH's pockets. We have to turn up to keep our club alive. Good points but why are other clubs like Pompey, Blackpool and little Newport going down this route ? Who is now going to give BRFC 40 million PLUS (costs will have risen) for the stadium ? Do investors invest in clubs like Rovers a struggling league club which is what we now are ? |
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Post by Topper Gas on Jul 15, 2015 10:32:30 GMT
But is Pompey a geniune fans trust as they seem to be already spending beyond there means/income, even so they only become a fans trust when the original Pompey went inot Admin? I'm not really sure Blackpool are a good example as their last two games have been abandoned after pitch protests! Also not sure what route Newport are heading as their wealthy Chairman has only recently decided to step down, having, I assume cleared all thier debts.
What we need is for NH to forget pursuing Sainsbury's and sit down with any potential investors and thrash out a deal for the club, which can take it forward.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 10:34:49 GMT
I see Blackpool fans are trying to buy the club for £16M, not sure Rovers will be that high, half maybe?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 10:55:53 GMT
Bath City supporters are trying to do something similar at the moment - I think they've raised over £65k so far. Obviously that would be small change for our predicament, but maybe it's worth looking at their model? curlywurly makes a good point though, I think that the majority of supporters will only be stirred into action when the ship has already sailed. Or sunk. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 11:01:28 GMT
Blackpool, Newport, Pompey. One team towns.
The apathy comment is the one though. We are largely full of hot air.
The work that certain people have put in to initiate and maintain interest in things far outweighs commitment imo.
Said it before and il say it again... our fanbase is lazy!
That being said there are some brilliant little groups attached to the club.
FFS, Tote End reunion team, St Pauli/Sabadell guys etc. So people can be motivated.
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Post by Severncider on Jul 15, 2015 11:02:58 GMT
A complete waste of time in my view. This clubs biggest asset is its permission to build at the UWE. That is what needs to be promoted and as it said on Talksport, is what makes us one of the most attractive propositions to investors. This club has so much going for it, but is being led by people who refuse to listen and learn. There are plenty of potential investors out there, we just need one or two to look in our direction.
The Wembley match may just have been the catalyst to alert people to our potential. We just need to hold our nerve. As for the fans running it, no. Once the prospect of building at the UWE is gone completely, that will be the end of any prospect of building a ground we deserve. Who will raise the £15-20m to buy the ground off NH? Then it would need redeveloping. And once all that is done we will continue to lose money as it cannot sustain modern football. Our only hope is to draw in investors who must be out there. Our best short term hope is to turn up in numbers at the matches and continue to show any potential suitors why we would be a good prospect for investment. There is nothing else we can as fans have any prospect of achieving. And don't say turning up for games is lining NH's pockets. We have to turn up to keep our club alive. Let's just hope NH genuinely sits down with any investor(s) to discuss what they can bring to BRFC.
I'm sure they know the amount of investment they will have to make, even taking into account that they will not have seen the "up to date" books detailing all our liabilities.
Mark, you have a laudable idea, but I fear it will fail, much like the two recent independent groups which appear to have withered on the vine.
Our only way forward is for NH to sell BRFC, recover his and other Directors loans and forget the value of his/their shares as they are to all intent and purpose, worthless. That includes my £100 in shares!!!!
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Post by parsonstgas on Jul 15, 2015 11:22:18 GMT
Mark, I take my hat off to you and also fully support you.
I would put in £1000 to start with and would attend meetings etc.
The club is run by idiots who after the latest failure, cannot be left unchallenged.
Sadly, apathy does rule, I've been genuinely disturbed this week reading comments such as 'NH is not to blame', 'we don't need a new ground', 'doesn't matter' etc etc that I really do question whether there is enough will to make a stand.
Fully behind it though.
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Post by CrispPusher on Jul 15, 2015 11:40:00 GMT
As much as I'd like Rovers to be a supporter owned club, the idea would only become viable if Rovers became asset-less and the club's income fell below the level to service the interest on the loans and went into administration.
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Post by philbemmygas on Jul 15, 2015 11:41:32 GMT
Mark, you are an honourable man but like others I sense this is doomed to fail. Even if a loyal band of supporters could raise the capital to buy out the current directors. How would this supporters trust afford the day to day costs of running a football club?
We need to fill the ground every game to actually make any money, history shows that will be difficult in itself.
I am prepared to hold my nerve and see what happens, I will support the team as I have always done.
Phil
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Post by Topper Gas on Jul 15, 2015 12:19:45 GMT
"We need to fill the ground every game to actually make any money, history shows that will be difficult in itself"
Surely we only need to do that if we follow the NH way, I guess we might have broken even last season but still put together a team good enough to get promoted. Why can't we have a wage budget based on real average attendances not 2,000+ plus we actually get though the turnstiles?
Could we also do more to attract higher attendnces than the present BoD?
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