I'm pretty worried if I'm honest.
I don't for one minute doubt Wael's intentions and I genuinely believe he is a great bloke who's passionate about the club and wants to be here. BUT...
The problem is, it's clearly not him who is pulling the strings - financially at least. Therefore, good intentions don't exactly count for much if he doesn't have the funds available to him to take the club forward.
I genuinely believe WAQ wants to keep ownership of the club (be that a good thing or a bad thing). However, I think his "leash" (for want of a better word) has/will be tightened and his visions for the club will be cut significantly shorter as a result. Hence instead of getting a 30,000 brand new all-seater stadium, we'll now likely get a tarted up Mem - at best. And having had so many false dawns previously, I wouldn't even be surprised if that amounts to a lick of paint and maybe some new toilets etc. I'm certainly not convinced it would be a case of knocking down each stand and re-building it bigger and better a-la the 82ers.
Of course it may simply be that the deal wasn't right; the powers that be felt progress wasn't being made and it simply couldn't go on forever. If that truly is the case then - although it is sh*te to think the UWE is dead - it probably was for the best. If however it's that the sheer cost of the development gave the AQs cold feet, you do have to worry that the "operation" may now be scaled back - and rather significantly at that.
Let's face it - the most depressing thing about all this is that, without a new ground, our development is significantly stifled. Yes we might get a season in the Championship (perhaps many years from now) but, in reality, that may never happen and - even if it did - it's almost certain we'd be unable to sustain it.
When the AQs took over, it gave many older Gasheads hope once more - it made them dare to dream. If the best we can muster is a re-developed Mem then it's effectively accepting beyond pretty much any doubt that - right now - this is the best it will probably ever get for us Gasheads. That's a pretty bitter pill to swallow; not just in general, but especially given the hope about the place since the takeover. Mind the Gap will pretty much become mind the Gulf - it'll be an expanse so unfathomable that people really may not "talk of Rovers any more". For the first time in years it felt like we were making real progress. Tonight it feels like we've had our legs chopped off and our hands tied behind our backs.
Let's face it, without significant investment in the playing squad (and I can't believe I'm about to say this) I don't really know how much better off we were than when Higgs was in charge? Granted it might be a bit of an improvement, but the training ground hasn't exactly progressed, we have a £10m charge taken out against the Mem, a board who seem as ineffective when it comes to communicating as the old guard and no progress (just more wasted funds) in terms of chasing a pipe-dream new stadium.
Bloody hell.