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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 19:19:49 GMT
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 18:10:53 GMT
We've had 2 promotions in 3 years which as far as im aware is quicker than Both Burton and Bournemouth managed in their rises up the leagues. its been evolution since 1883 Devolution would be more accurate especially since 1959
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 17:47:39 GMT
Swissgas' analysis (if right) suggests it is a plaything for little Wael, which (imo) is corroborated by the interest in Gillingham. A cheap buy in on a club down on it's luck to add it to the portfolio and give Wael a leg up in football politics. Can I get this straight. Swiss Gas say's the AQ family combined wealth and annual income is a lot lower than most believed and yet they spent millions just to buy Wael something to play with? Hmmmm ok Can you telll us how many millions they have SPENT Eric? Is the money they have put in loans or equity? Is any of the money they have put in secured against the clubs assets?
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 17:42:32 GMT
Some perspective is also needed about the Al Qadi family situation and their capabilities. Jordan only just makes it into the list of top 100 countries ranked by GDP and is one place below the Democratic Republic of Congo. The AJIB is about the 8th largest bank in Jordan in terms of market capitalisation and it's current stock market valuation is £270 million making the Al Qadi family stake worth about £80 million. Their total family dividend income from AJIB is about £6 million per year with Wael's portion about £700 000 pa. If the Al Qadi family are not in a position to finance a £25 million redevelopment of the Mem themselves they will have to look for outside investors. If those investors are looking for a 5% return over 25 years the redeveloped Mem will have to be producing net revenues of £1.8 million per year just to pay the outside investors. So to "sell" those investors on the deal someone will have to convince them that the Bristol Rovers business will be able to perform an amazing turnaround from £2 million losses to at least £1.8pa million profits. And then cash has to be found to finance the football team ! An enlightening post Swiss. Far to good to be hidden in the middle of this thread though.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 17:33:47 GMT
Based on this, it really does beg the question - Why? I believed (wrongly) their net assets were significantly higher. IF UWE 'employed' SL (or any expert) in an advisory role he would have seen straight through this and IMO would have advised severe caution (a relatively minor overseas bank with little or no UK credibility) - hence as I've thought all along they were not able to come up with the necessary long term financial guarantees (bonds). Swissgas' analysis (if right) suggests it is a plaything for little Wael, which (imo) is corroborated by the interest in Gillingham. A cheap buy in on a club down on it's luck to add it to the portfolio and give Wael a leg up in football politics. Good job as Hamer says then that we are not in a two club city and have to worry about losing the next generation of supporters to a local rival! We are in the hands of bluffers and jokers but hey no problem let's get some perspective. We are 'lil ol' Bristol Rovers and it can't be reasonably expected that we should have the training facilities of Fleetwood Town, the status of Bournemouth or even Burton Dam Albion, or a ground as good as Tranmere Rovers! No siree we need perspective!
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 17:16:56 GMT
Which will be over 60 years since I first started supporting this club and we are STILL talking about new/better/improved stadium(s)..... That's perspective! Think I will give up in my lifetime of ever seeing anything remotely like AG or similar as a home to the quarters. Sad but true. But that's not the Al-Qadi's fault is it? Lets just throw all our toys out the pram and expect some Arab blokes just to wave a magic wand or rub a lamp and magically make the previous 200 odd years of our history disapear and miraculously make everything we've ever dreamed about come true in the space of 5 minutes? Is that honestly what you were expecting? Perspective indeed. It’s the ALQs fault that they raised expectations when they bought the club. If they’d instead come in Dunford style and the rhetoric was simply about rescuing the club from oblivion and made it clear they didn’t have the money to build a new stadium they’d be getting little or no grief now.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 17:07:58 GMT
Good post. Cutting through all the crap. Things take time for the ALQs for the simple and obvious reason. THEY DONT HAVE THE MONEY! Zero Dinero! More a case of being very wealthy but the man who controls the money doesn’t want to spend much of it. Surely you don’t really think they haven’t got the money ? Yes I do think they haven’t got the money. See Swissgas post above.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 22, 2017 9:44:09 GMT
Ashton Vale was panned 7 years ago. It took them 7 years to go from the Ashton Vale plan to the rebuild of Ashton Gate. It took time. The Al-Qadi's have been here 18 months compared to Lansdowns decade. The people who are expecting the Al-Qadi's to pull off in 18 months what its took Lansdown 10 years to do, are also living in some sort of make believe world. The AG redevelopment was announced in late 13 as soon as the AV project died. It was given planning sign off in March 14 enabling build to start at the end of that season. So it took around 6 months to go from no plans to planning sign off and get the diggers in. In fact they waited another 2 months to start to finish off the season. It 2 years to complete. The ALQs came in to a club with PP signed off on a brand new development which was given in 2014. According to Wael, the finances not being a problem. The whole club and project were on display for all the tentative new owners. After 18 months, we pull out. Another 6 months have past of complete silence, no plans and no future vision let alone any form of planning permission. All of the above gives you an idea of timescales. So if we are looking at a Mem redevelopment nothing is going to be built until at least 2020. That’s if we start in June. That is the realistic time frame and why we need to crack on now. In some ways how long the ALQs is kind of irrelevant. If you are looking at what the club actually needs right now, then a stadium is top of the list and number 1 priority. I’m sick of Wael banging on about how things take time. If you don’t have the finances then of course it will, you need to find investors or find a way to raise the cash. If so tell us. Conversely if the money is there, tell us what is taking the time as I’m sure there are some people who can help and advise in getting things done and sorted. The training ground is now 4 pitches and a clubhouse and offices and should take around 6 months to do. So all of this taking time is a complete nonsense as well. I don’t think anyone is unrealistic about build timescales but no one is stupid enough to believe it takes 6 months to get some plans drawn and ideas in place. You could do that inside a couple of weeks. Good post. Cutting through all the crap. Things take time for the ALQs for the simple and obvious reason. THEY DONT HAVE THE MONEY! Zero Dinero!
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 19:53:31 GMT
'Pompous posters deserve zero respect'? Duck me, comments like this are what is making this forum go downhill. Heaven forbid someone should have a different fecking opinion It’s not about opinions Weezord. It’s the way people speak to each other and in this case someone continually asking admin to move pointless threads / posts to general chat or the posters to move there instead. Very condescending and superior and pompous showing zero respect to the contributors in the thread. You do get that I hope?
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 10:46:34 GMT
Then what is the plan or is there no plan? You seem to have blind faith and want to back a board have not really done alot and fallen way short of what was being talked up when they took over. Myself and others are just extremely disappointed and getting bit fed up of being loyal supporters, that go home, away and then ultimately let down. I completely get the disapointment and massive frustration about the UWE plans which felt so promising. Their plan has always been about gradual progression, albeit questions clearly remain regarding the plan for the stadium. To be fair to them, they weren't the ones talking the investment up when taking over. Why the reinvention of history? They absolutely were talking the investment up when taking over. If I could be arsed I try and find some clips from the time but what was said was. The club needs a new stadium. We do not need the Sainsbury's money to build it. We have been speaking to UWE pre takeover. We will build a premier standard academy and training facility etc,etc
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 10:17:27 GMT
Thing is we had a better stadium to play in than we do now! One stand (paid for by the supporters Club) - the other was burnt to the ground - and a crowd of 3500 attendance which meant we couldn't afford the rent - yes that is right we didn't own it!- are you sure you remember it correctly? The South Stand didn't burn to the ground until AFTER the period you were talking about. When City were in the first division for those 4 years in the late 70s we had a 38,000 capacity stadium. We had loads.more seats than we had now, we had in that period at least 2 x 23,000 plus crowds v Southampton and Ipswich. We didn't have 3,500 home crowds and we had a better stadium to play in than we have to play in now. Are you sure you remember it correctly?
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 9:36:13 GMT
When I was a kid City were in the top division for 4 seasons, and we were sh1t. When they were playing Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, we were literally bottom of the second division for that entire period, narrowly avoiding relegation each year. For me and many others there was no better place to be than Eastville watching our team. Things change quickly in Football. Within 3 years they were bottom of the fourth division and 25,000 city fans simply disappeared. Happy days Thing is we had a better stadium to play in than we do now!
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 9:15:52 GMT
Another pointless post. There's a thread about the game on the general chat forum. Why not contribute to that? perhaps you are too young to remember the competition between us and them or maybe you don't have a passion a out Rovers like most of us. Either way, let the grown ups comment on this and refrain from your pointless comments Just had a thought, perhaps it's Hamer making his pointless comments? He said only a few weeks ago that he didn't consider us a two club city. Mind you the more I think about it I'm worried that he might have been hinting at the future consequences of the owners inaction plans rather than the reality of today.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 9:04:29 GMT
We don’t lose potential supporters to Oxford or Plymouth and we never will. We do and will lose potential support to Bristol City though unless we up our game. That is the relevance of this thread to our football club. That's the 5th or 6th time that you've elongated this pointless thread, in order to tell us that it is irrelevant. From the replies I would guess that enough people felt that it was a relevant place to comment at the time, and no doubt they mods will tidy the place up in the morning, when the tantrums have finished. "Pointless Thread" .. "Pointless Thread" ... "Pointless Thread" .... you're beginning to sound like Sean O'Driscoll. I haven't elongated the thread 5 or 6 times calling it pointless TT, I was replying to the person who did though, who seems to like your post!
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 1:40:30 GMT
Oxford and Plymouth are our local competition right now, not them. They've spunked millions in recent years and are light years ahead of us in terms of resources. With respect, I completely disagree with your comment about Oxford and Plymouth. The majority of our supporters and City's supporters are, surprise surprise, from the Bristol area. Not Oxford or Plymouth. And while that remains the case, if City's success and resources far outstrip ours, football fans from the Bristol area will be more inclined to watch City instead of us, which will reduce our ability to become a competitive force in future years. I do agree however that they're light years ahead, but that's my point. We are a club with great potential right now, but I don't want that potential to weaken, which in my opinion it will when City move further and further ahead of us. My opinion of course. Exactly. Agree with every word apart from the first two. Pompous posters deserve zero respect.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 1:25:25 GMT
Agreed we need to concentrate on us, but we have to be aware of our local competition as well in my opinion. Like it or not, their fortunes and ours are linked to an extent, as there will only ever be a finite number of football fans in the West country, and the way it's going, a larger and larger percentage will be reds. We have to be aware of that in order to battle our corner and rise to the challenge of sticking with them as best we can. Won't be possible unless the owners come up trumps, which the way they've carried on recently, looks unlikely. Oxford and Plymouth are our local competition right now, not them. They've spunked millions in recent years and are light years ahead of us in terms of resources. We don’t lose potential supporters to Oxford or Plymouth and we never will. We do and will lose potential support to Bristol City though unless we up our game. That is the relevance of this thread to our football club.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 21, 2017 0:57:16 GMT
So I will mention it. City vs Man U. I watched it. And I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was a cracker. All great goals and City absolutely deserved it. Joe Bryan is an absolutely fantastic full back and his goal was world class. Congrats to them. Have to say LJ has got them playing and they have great momentum carrying them forward. But the stadium is one of the key components in driving them forward. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing but it offers everything needed to push that club forward, and full up like it was tonight with a big team, that will only draw more Bristolians to them. You cannot underestimate what a new stadium would absolutely do for us and we need one within 3 years minimum or I don’t think we will ever come out of the shadow of City. We will become the Notts County of Bristol, always looking over the other side of town at their ground and accomplishments. I really hope our owners were watching at the gate tonight to see what we need, why we need it so badly and why we need it quickly. We will miss out a whole generation of football fans. They talk about evolution, but sometimes you also need to look at and focus on the present. Presently, City have a real shout of the prem and if they achieve that, I don’t think we will ever have the same share of the spoils again. Presently we have a ramshackle of a ground with no prospects of even building one and stagnating in L1. A real reality check. Bang on. If only we have owners that gave a f**k about any of that we might have a chance.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 20, 2017 20:54:14 GMT
Can you provide evidence that UWE are proceeding to build a stadium that they have never put in plans for, let alone have gained council approval? May I suggest that our owners and their investors were not prepared to wait for several years to get a return from the substantial outlay required to build the stadium as they were not prepared to accept substantial demands from UWE for the likes of gate receipts etc etc. It would seem to me that the chance of any large investment will never happen unless our club can get into the Championship, hence the evolution not revolution quotes from Wael and Co and the scaleback and delays with the training ground etc. If they have any serious intent on moving this club forward the relatively small cost of building a training ground would surely be well underway by now. As far as any redevelopment of the Mem is concerned, if anything was happening on that front surely someone would have seen surveys being carried out at the Mem. After all a redevelopment would require surveyors to be at the Mem for two weeks at least in order to produce plans and they would be unable.to hide what they were doing to passers by and club staff alike. You are preaching to the converted- I am probably the most critical person of our owners (on this forum at least) because I feel they have over promised and under delivered and have handled the disappointments in a less than transparent way. They are most likely solely responsible for the situation we are in. But I don't discount anything and Lansdown giving advice to the UWE has certainly raised an eyebrow. I am referring to the desire to build a stadium based on the alder king documents that were submitted suggesting that there is still an intent to build. Matey from UWE did also say in the aftermath of the collapse that as far as they were concerned they would carry on with their plans. Interesting comment about surveyors. I said in another thread I am surprised that, for all these talks with the council, local residents and 'project managers' none of it has even materialised into rumour let alone solid plans. One wonders if they even exist outside of Wael's fantasy world where we NEED a stadium and will have the best training facilities in the country along with a top academy. Agree with all of that except the Lansdown bit. Any spare cash he’s got will go on developing the sh**, he doesn’t need to destroy us, our owners past and present will do that for him. Not that he cares I’m sure.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 20, 2017 19:58:23 GMT
A very successful local businessman awarded an honoury degree by a local university in 2012 and you find it very concerning? Get a life I say and look for other reasons why the UWE plan failed rather than try and place the blame on the owner of our rivals across the city. I think you may find the reasons for the failure to get a deal across the line may well be a lot closer to home. It really is laughable eh bidefordgas that people will try and make something out of nothing. It’s tragic in reality & grasping at straws , to try and find blame anywhere other than where it is There are plenty that want to blame anyone and everyone except the people that made the decision. The penny is slowly dropping though.
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Post by Feeling The Blues on Dec 19, 2017 11:18:22 GMT
Do you not think they are capable of lying or should I say, telling us what we want to hear rather than the truth? Also do you not think that it's possible that they've changed their minds because they don't want to invest what is needed to make it work? Just as the things you've put, Antonio, as can be reasonably believed so can the counter stuff you've listed except possibly the bit about the Aliens 😊 No, of course that's all possible. But I'm just saying, if you have a sequence of events that are consistent and reasonable and that makes sense and we have evidence for and claims by those who should know, then there's no need to look outside of that in order to find an alternative interpretation that doesn't make sense. If you can find an alternative interpretation that does make sense, then fair enough, we should give it consideration. But we have people making stuff up or going by rumour and then saying 'that doesn't make sense'. If it doesn't make sense, then why are you making it up or believing that rumour? I know we’ve been here before but the sequence of events you say are the only ones that make sense relies on believing utterly and completely the ALQs version of events. It would also mean believing that they bought the club without undertaking due diligence and or parted with their money in the blind hope that they could do a different deal with UWE than the one that was agreed. I assume they haven’t got to where’s they are in life by not being professional and either of those positions is very unprofessional. I do not trust all they say is the truth which is why I’m not aligned to your way of thinking on this.
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