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Post by Topper Gas on Oct 8, 2016 14:50:54 GMT
From today's B Post, not sure what DC means by us being 10-15 years behind, I assume Championship clubs, does that mean we have to wait another 10/15 years before we can compete on a level footing, or Wael now needs to spend big in order to close the gap quicker which is what Brighton most surely have done in the recent past?What Darrell Clarke and Wael Al-Qadi are planning to make Bristol Rovers Championship readyRead more at www.bristolpost.co.uk/what-darrell-clarke-and-wael-al-qadi-are-planning-to-make-bristol-rovers-championship-ready/story-29787184-detail/story.html#fIBq50cIA30Bsm8Y.99First-team manager Darrell Clarke has backed owner Wael Al-Qadi to deliver all of the infrastructure requirements to make Bristol Rovers a sustainable and competitive Championship club. Al-Qadi, who secured a deal to buy the club in February, is pressing ahead with plans to house the club in a new stadium and is also at an advanced stage in a project that would bring all of the club's teams under one roof at a new training facility in Almondsbury. Clarke, speaking at a Supporters Club forum at the Memorial Stadium on Thursday night, backed Al-Qadi to complete both projects when asked why he turned down the opportunity to take charge at Leeds United over the summer. He said: "I have sensed a bit of scepticism amongst supporters over the stadium. I can understand that because they have had to endure a lot of broken promises through the years. I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe that the new stadium and a modern training ground would not be delivered. Things are happening in the background and we have to let things run their course and take shape. We have to be patient. "I'm the sort of person who takes as I find. All I can say about the president is that he has never once turned me down whenever I have asked him for something. "He's allowed me to build a very professional backroom staff and has made money available for players. Read more: Bristol Rovers set out plans for when they want to relocate to proposed new training base "But money doesn't automatically buy you success and I'd rather that the money was put towards improving our infrastructure. Until the training ground and stadium are delivered we will be unable to compete over a sustained period of time at the level we want to be at. "Bristol Rovers is a well-supported club but it has never been a big club behind the scenes. In terms of infrastructure we are 10 or 15 years behind and until that is addressed we won't be able to become a sustainable and established Championship football club. Read more at www.bristolpost.co.uk/what-darrell-clarke-and-wael-al-qadi-are-planning-to-make-bristol-rovers-championship-ready/story-29787184-detail/story.html#fIBq50cIA30Bsm8Y.99
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Post by youmadethatup on Oct 8, 2016 15:09:25 GMT
I guess the failings of previous boards has been in not purchasing and building training facilities that could give a good long term chance of producing higher grade youngsters. Also may have helped in attracting players (?) .
The perpetual smokescreen of new stadium talk or new stands or new rebuild masked the boards actual status of not being wealthy enough to run a club of Bristol rovers size. They could only ever limp along papering the cracks and hope one manager got lucky.
Hindsight makes things seem obvious ,but all the wasted money over the years could have been combined with a fans scheme to buy and build a training set up.
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Post by chippenhamgas on Oct 8, 2016 15:30:09 GMT
Hate this sort of article which tells us nothing we didn't already know, it's just stating the obvious.
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Post by oldgas on Oct 8, 2016 15:54:15 GMT
Hate this sort of article which tells us nothing we didn't already know, it's just stating the obvious. Well, not really. I suspect we all felt the club was being run along pretty amateur lines. I think I read somewhere a claim that we were little better than a Sunday league side behind the scenes. I think it's all change from now on. Rovers are building the infrastructure for a sustainable, higher league team that we can all be proud of. The back room training/medical team being assembled is bearing fruit in my eyes, have you noticed how few long term injuries we've had since DC took over. I know luck plays its part, but under previous regimes we sometimes had 6 or more players out with long term injuries. I firmly believe DC would have gone in the summer if the previous regime had been in charge. As it is, he can see that the club matches his ambition, and he thinks he can build the club to what he wants it to be. He's not a flash big spender, preferring to build his squad in his image to provide long_term success and sustainability. We should thank our lucky stars for Wael and DC. We really have struck gold. |
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Post by Topper Gas on Oct 8, 2016 16:07:51 GMT
I guess the failings of previous boards has been in not purchasing and building training facilities that could give a good long term chance of producing higher grade youngsters. Also may have helped in attracting players (?) . The perpetual smokescreen of new stadium talk or new stands or new rebuild masked the boards actual status of not being wealthy enough to run a club of Bristol rovers size. They could only ever limp along papering the cracks and hope one manager got lucky. Hindsight makes things seem obvious ,but all the wasted money over the years could have been combined with a fans scheme to buy and build a training set up. I guess under the Dunfords and Higgs it was just a case of surviving? Or that's the impression they like to give fans anyway, once we had returned to Bristol/the Mem. |
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Post by lpgas on Oct 9, 2016 7:56:43 GMT
The last year that Dunford was in charge I had a long chat with him and he told me that to break even we needed to average crowds of 8,000. I think we were getting around 5500 at that time. So that's where the money goes.
Wael has been lucky that DC was in charge when he bought us, and we have been lucky in having Wael buy us and give us a future
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Post by oldgas on Oct 9, 2016 8:58:19 GMT
The last year that Dunford was in charge I had a long chat with him and he told me that to break even we needed to average crowds of 8,000. I think we were getting around 5500 at that time. So that's where the money goes. Wael has been lucky that DC was in charge when he bought us, and we have been lucky in having Wael buy us and give us a future I have often wondered why we appear to be such an expensive club to run. If we were losing money on crowds of 5500 in Dunfords last year, how were most clubs in leagues 1 and 2 able to survive on crowds considerably less than that? Do we pay far more than them, or have far larger staff numbers? This has always seemed strange to me. |
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Post by gaelgas on Oct 9, 2016 8:58:27 GMT
From today's B Post, not sure what DC means by us being 10-15 years behind, I assume Championship clubs, does that mean we have to wait another 10/15 years before we can compete on a level footing, or Wael now needs to spend big in order to close the gap quicker which is what Brighton most surely have done in the recent past?What Darrell Clarke and Wael Al-Qadi are planning to make Bristol Rovers Championship readyRead more at www.bristolpost.co.uk/what-darrell-clarke-and-wael-al-qadi-are-planning-to-make-bristol-rovers-championship-ready/story-29787184-detail/story.html#fIBq50cIA30Bsm8Y.99First-team manager Darrell Clarke has backed owner Wael Al-Qadi to deliver all of the infrastructure requirements to make Bristol Rovers a sustainable and competitive Championship club. Al-Qadi, who secured a deal to buy the club in February, is pressing ahead with plans to house the club in a new stadium and is also at an advanced stage in a project that would bring all of the club's teams under one roof at a new training facility in Almondsbury. Clarke, speaking at a Supporters Club forum at the Memorial Stadium on Thursday night, backed Al-Qadi to complete both projects when asked why he turned down the opportunity to take charge at Leeds United over the summer. He said: "I have sensed a bit of scepticism amongst supporters over the stadium. I can understand that because they have had to endure a lot of broken promises through the years. I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe that the new stadium and a modern training ground would not be delivered. Things are happening in the background and we have to let things run their course and take shape. We have to be patient. "I'm the sort of person who takes as I find. All I can say about the president is that he has never once turned me down whenever I have asked him for something. "He's allowed me to build a very professional backroom staff and has made money available for players. Read more: Bristol Rovers set out plans for when they want to relocate to proposed new training base "But money doesn't automatically buy you success and I'd rather that the money was put towards improving our infrastructure. Until the training ground and stadium are delivered we will be unable to compete over a sustained period of time at the level we want to be at. "Bristol Rovers is a well-supported club but it has never been a big club behind the scenes. In terms of infrastructure we are 10 or 15 years behind and until that is addressed we won't be able to become a sustainable and established Championship football club. Read more at www.bristolpost.co.uk/what-darrell-clarke-and-wael-al-qadi-are-planning-to-make-bristol-rovers-championship-ready/story-29787184-detail/story.html#fIBq50cIA30Bsm8Y.99The way I read it is that DC is saying the way we were being run was 15 years behind the times but that he is confident that the new regime will bring us up to date in the way we are run pretty quickly. Witness the new training facility project and new stadium. |
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Post by Topper Gas on Oct 9, 2016 9:10:55 GMT
The last year that Dunford was in charge I had a long chat with him and he told me that to break even we needed to average crowds of 8,000. I think we were getting around 5500 at that time. So that's where the money goes. Wael has been lucky that DC was in charge when he bought us, and we have been lucky in having Wael buy us and give us a future I have often wondered why we appear to be such an expensive club to run. If we were losing money on crowds of 5500 in Dunfords last year, how were most clubs in leagues 1 and 2 able to survive on crowds considerably less than that? Do we pay far more than them, or have far larger staff numbers? This has always seemed strange to me. Wasn't our wage budget under PT in his final season around £3m but under DC in the Conference it was around £1m, I guess that tells it's own story when our turnover was only ever around £3m itself. It'll be interesting to see what are profit/losses are under Wael during the next couple of seasons. |
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Post by peterhooper57 on Oct 9, 2016 10:16:08 GMT
Wael is a top bloke;I personally believe without his arrival we would still have been in division 2. Unfortunately, our lower league stadium and lack of decent training facilities is not going to attract quality championship players. From were we currently are, even if Wael does eventually finance a new ground, we are probably at least 10 years away from the facilities being built. Lets be honest, over the last 50 years we have generally been in and around what is today the first division, which is where we currently find ourselves. Utg
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Post by BishopstonBRFC on Oct 9, 2016 10:30:37 GMT
Wael is a top bloke;I personally believe without his arrival we would still have been in division 2. Unfortunately, our lower league stadium and lack of decent training facilities is not going to attract quality championship players. From were we currently are, even if Wael does eventually finance a new ground, we are probably at least 10 years away from the facilities being built. Lets be honest, over the last 50 years we have generally been in and around what is today the first division, which is where we currently find ourselves. Utg Don't you honestly think Wael would be here if it was going to take 10 years to build a new ground? |
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Post by gregsy on Oct 9, 2016 10:32:21 GMT
during the last 30 years I've kind of got used to the fact that every penny I spend at rovers is like throwing my money in to a bottomless pit of success lacking misery.... it's almost as if I'm conditioned to accept it....
so hearing this type of approach is quite frankly chuffcing weird....
UTG
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Post by peterhooper57 on Oct 9, 2016 10:50:08 GMT
Wael is a top bloke;I personally believe without his arrival we would still have been in division 2. Unfortunately, our lower league stadium and lack of decent training facilities is not going to attract quality championship players. From were we currently are, even if Wael does eventually finance a new ground, we are probably at least 10 years away from the facilities being built. Lets be honest, over the last 50 years we have generally been in and around what is today the first division, which is where we currently find ourselves. Utg Don't you honestly think Wael would be here if it was going to take 10 years to build a new ground? I think Wael is a brilliant fella, he did his research and found out BRFC has a big loyal fan-base, who can easily compete in the rivalry stakes with its noisy neighbours; what he probably underestimated, how ******* difficult it is to actually get anything done here in Bristol. Best of luck to him, but dealling with a bunch of left wing activists and tea and scone munching NIMBYS is not going to be easy; whether Wael hangs around for the long haul only time will tell, personally I hope it all comes together, but some how I don't think he will put up with all *******. |
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Post by chippenhamgas on Oct 9, 2016 11:10:10 GMT
If uwe doesn't happen then there is real question mark over how long wael sticks around, as he will then find out how difficult it is to get anything built on an alternative site from scratch. If uwe gets signed and sealed before xmas then we're off to the races. As far as i'm concerned uwe is the only game in town, location wise and in terms of the momentum it would give us at the present time.
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Post by Topper Gas on Oct 9, 2016 11:38:08 GMT
If uwe doesn't happen then there is real question mark over how long wael sticks around, as he will then find out how difficult it is to get anything built on an alternative site from scratch. If uwe gets signed and sealed before xmas then we're off to the races. As far as i'm concerned uwe is the only game in town, location wise and in terms of the momentum it would give us at the present time. I'd guess Wael's fairly content the UWE will happen or otherwise why press ahead with the training complex plans, I'd guess that's going to involve a £1m+ investment but there's little point in having top class training facilities if we're still stuck at the Mem. I suppose he can always pull out of the Almondsbury deal if the feasibility study suggests the UWE is a non starter but why waste time/money seeking pp etc if there's any concerns in that regard? We could well have a new stadium & training facilities inside 2 to 3 years and an established Championship club with 5 years, I guess that's Wael'/DC's hope, as far as PH57's comments about Bristol's Nimby's, Wael won't have to worry about them once Rovers are entirely based in S Glos! |
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Post by chippenhamgas on Oct 9, 2016 11:52:30 GMT
If uwe doesn't happen then there is real question mark over how long wael sticks around, as he will then find out how difficult it is to get anything built on an alternative site from scratch. If uwe gets signed and sealed before xmas then we're off to the races. As far as i'm concerned uwe is the only game in town, location wise and in terms of the momentum it would give us at the present time. I'd guess Wael's fairly content the UWE will happen or otherwise why press ahead with the training complex plans, I'd guess that's going to involve a £1m+ investment but there's little point in having top class training facilities if we're still stuck at the Mem. I suppose he can always pull out of the Almondsbury deal if the feasibility study suggests the UWE is a non starter but why waste time/money seeking pp etc if there's any concerns in that regard? We could well have a new stadium & training facilities inside 2 to 3 years and an established Championship club with 5 years, I guess that's Wael'/DC's hope, as far as PH57's comments about Bristol's Nimby's, Wael won't have to worry about them once Rovers are entirely based in S Glos! If uwe is built by 2018 i expect us to be in the championship by then as i believe wael will loosen the purse strings if dc feels he needs cash to spend. From what i've seen of league one so far that may not be necessary. Competing in the championship will be a different issue but with the momentum and impetus from uwe kicking in by then that shouldn't be a problem. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2016 12:43:21 GMT
The last year that Dunford was in charge I had a long chat with him and he told me that to break even we needed to average crowds of 8,000. I think we were getting around 5500 at that time. So that's where the money goes. Wael has been lucky that DC was in charge when he bought us, and we have been lucky in having Wael buy us and give us a future I have often wondered why we appear to be such an expensive club to run. If we were losing money on crowds of 5500 in Dunfords last year, how were most clubs in leagues 1 and 2 able to survive on crowds considerably less than that? Do we pay far more than them, or have far larger staff numbers? This has always seemed strange to me. Paying the mortgage meant we needed bigger gates to break even. Thats what we were told at the q+a before the conference season. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2016 12:57:54 GMT
during the last 30 years I've kind of got used to the fact that every penny I spend at rovers is like throwing my money in to a bottomless pit of success lacking misery.... it's almost as if I'm conditioned to accept it.... so hearing this type of approach is quite frankly chuffcing weird.... UTG I know the feeling, it's like giving money to charity only for them to come back with a refund. I pay good money and I expect it watered away, what's this good governance and stewardship, can't we find a washed up journeyman yo shovel champagne into whilst handing BRFC flags for him to blow his nose with? |
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Post by justin blue on Oct 9, 2016 16:32:07 GMT
Hate this sort of article which tells us nothing we didn't already know, it's just stating the obvious. Usual waffle from Bristol Post. It's all grand plans, but When are we going to see some timescales. |
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Post by chippenhamgas on Oct 9, 2016 17:05:11 GMT
Hate this sort of article which tells us nothing we didn't already know, it's just stating the obvious. Usual waffle from Bristol Post. It's all grand plans, but When are we going to see some timescales. You'd like to think that by xmas we'll have a start date for the stadium, either the two sides agree or they don't, if we are at a feasibility study stage i can't see it taking much longer. |
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