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Post by rememberhalifax on Mar 9, 2023 17:02:04 GMT
Think regardless of how you see the future for Rovers a decent ground is on everyone's shopping list, circa 15000 will do me ,I have no ambition for Rovers to get to the Premiership ( THE ODD CUP FINAL WILL DO!) When i look back over the years, how the heck we have survived goodness knows, but survive we have , life is certainly a roller coaster for Rovers fans, would we have it any other way? well perhaps a little less strife would be good! but hey ho it's been fun!!
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Post by gashead1981 on Mar 9, 2023 17:02:49 GMT
I see it slightly differently. You cannot blame Wael for the last 40 years and tarr him with the same brush. He took over a club in desperate need of more than a stadium, the whole place needed going over and infrastructure put in place. We had a false start when ultimately Hani was in charge, whilst Wael was President, he wasn’t fully in charge, so we must really judge him on his accomplishments. He’s been in charge technically for 4 years since he acquired his brothers and fathers shareholding giving him control. In those 4 years we’ve been relegated and promoted, built a training facility. Professionalised the playing side to a standard worthy of championship level staffing. Increased our commercial revenue, reduced our operating loses and done all of that through a pandemic where he bankrolled us for 2 years. I think he’s doing ok. It’s also why I’m grateful to him and everyone else should be too. Has he reduced our operating losses ? I thought we were on target for a £3m deficit again this season . We havent got the accounts for this year yet, but the latest accounts we have show it was £1.7m from £3m the previous season. |
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Post by baggins on Mar 9, 2023 17:34:42 GMT
Quite. Just because Wael hasnt gotten us a stadium yet, doesnt mean he wont or isnt going to and we should still show our gratitude for what he has done and is doing for us. I think you can be grateful for what he's done but also critical on the stadium. The attitude that we should be grateful to have a club is why we have stagnated for the last 40 years. Every club is on the brink and needs to be grateful to their owners. We are no different but this lack of ambition and unproven faith that Wael will sort something out will mean we will continue to stagnate. He has had seven years and we have no plan, no stadium in the pipeline. If we want the best for rovers us fans should be pushing Wael to come up with a strategy/plan. I'm sure if it is done in a constructive way then Wael would understand where fans are coming from If we stick with the mustn't grumble mentality then we really aren't pushing the club on My dream would be for Rovers to get to the prem but without serious ambition this won't happen. I dont want my footballing lot to be us moving between L1 and L2 with the odd gem of a footballer to watch. And I would expect the owner of the club to have at least my level of ambition. How much does your level of ambition cost you? |
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Post by warehamgas on Mar 9, 2023 17:44:18 GMT
What gets me is we have had since the Eastville days to try and sort a new stadium, so 40 years. We have never been as close as the UWE. What is surprising is there is no plan B. When we sold off half of the car park for houses why didn't we use that to help build a stand. We could build a new east stand with 8000 seats. If we would have done this 20 years ago it would have more than paid for itself by now, with the added bonus we'd actually have a nicer environment to watch the football. It could be another 20 years before we get another UWE situation. Even if it costs £10M then lets get a proper stand built. I think the long term future has to be a new stadium but that has to be at least 10 years away. At the moment it seems there is no plan or strategy. even with the south stand it feels it is something that was said as an off the cuff remark. There doesn't seem to be any strategy behind it. This post sums up my feelings exactly. I am 70 this year and don't think I will see a new South Stand let alone a new ground in my lifetime. But the days of rolling up to a delapitated Mem are getting shorter and shorter. I agree with both. Spot on.👏 UTG! |
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Post by gashead1981 on Mar 9, 2023 18:02:42 GMT
I think you can be grateful for what he's done but also critical on the stadium. The attitude that we should be grateful to have a club is why we have stagnated for the last 40 years. Every club is on the brink and needs to be grateful to their owners. We are no different but this lack of ambition and unproven faith that Wael will sort something out will mean we will continue to stagnate. He has had seven years and we have no plan, no stadium in the pipeline. If we want the best for rovers us fans should be pushing Wael to come up with a strategy/plan. I'm sure if it is done in a constructive way then Wael would understand where fans are coming from If we stick with the mustn't grumble mentality then we really aren't pushing the club on My dream would be for Rovers to get to the prem but without serious ambition this won't happen. I dont want my footballing lot to be us moving between L1 and L2 with the odd gem of a footballer to watch. And I would expect the owner of the club to have at least my level of ambition. How much does your level of ambition cost you? And that is the 64k dollar question for everyone and for the club. Most will answer new stadium, without actually appreciating the cost/investment/reality of the new stadium happening. Which is why I have tried to split apart the reality of what that ambition for most actually costs to see if it resonates that the level of ££ required is something that has to be something that will secure our future and not just own a white elephant. |
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Post by warehamgas on Mar 9, 2023 18:18:18 GMT
I think you can be grateful for what he's done but also critical on the stadium. The attitude that we should be grateful to have a club is why we have stagnated for the last 40 years. Every club is on the brink and needs to be grateful to their owners. We are no different but this lack of ambition and unproven faith that Wael will sort something out will mean we will continue to stagnate. He has had seven years and we have no plan, no stadium in the pipeline. If we want the best for rovers us fans should be pushing Wael to come up with a strategy/plan. I'm sure if it is done in a constructive way then Wael would understand where fans are coming from If we stick with the mustn't grumble mentality then we really aren't pushing the club on My dream would be for Rovers to get to the prem but without serious ambition this won't happen. I dont want my footballing lot to be us moving between L1 and L2 with the odd gem of a footballer to watch. And I would expect the owner of the club to have at least my level of ambition. I see it slightly differently. You cannot blame Wael for the last 40 years and tarr him with the same brush. He took over a club in desperate need of more than a stadium, the whole place needed going over and infrastructure put in place. We had a false start when ultimately Hani was in charge, whilst Wael was President, he wasn’t fully in charge, so we must really judge him on his accomplishments. He’s been in charge technically for 4 years since he acquired his brothers and fathers shareholding giving him control. In those 4 years we’ve been relegated and promoted, built a training facility. Professionalised the playing side to a standard worthy of championship level staffing. Increased our commercial revenue, reduced our operating loses and done all of that through a pandemic where he bankrolled us for 2 years. I think he’s doing ok. It’s also why I’m grateful to him and everyone else should be too. Yes, I can agree with much of that and clearly Wael can’t be blamed for any pre-2016 stuff but it’s a bit of a stretch to say he can’t be held responsible for anything post February 2016. I understand what you said about Hani but Wael was happy to be carried down the Gloucester Road so I’m presuming he was ‘in charge’. And presumably if he wasn’t in charge as you said then at least he could have been preparing or investigating possibilities in regards to our biggest priority. Perhaps he was but we’ve had no indication of success. But his approach to the issue of the ground has been poor imo. No real plan B and now, after 7 years, we’re possibly going to have a developed South Stand. Perhaps. I’m more optimistic because TG, a paid employee of the club said as much instead of the usual rumours. I hope it happens. The last 4 years seems to have been little different in regards to the ground than the previous 3. Little success, little communication and little happening. I hope that’s beginning to change. We need to be grown up about all of this. By that I mean that his stewardship of the club doesn’t have to be all good or all bad. Like most things there are shades of grey in between and everyone has an opinion which may be different from others. But Wael needs to treat us like adults and keep us informed. Perhaps he doesn’t because there’s little to communicate I don’t know. But if that is the case after 7 years then frankly, that is poor. He has had plenty of time to have constructed a plan of what could happen and what the intentions are. And 1981, please don’t tell me that I and everyone else should be grateful for him. I’ll decide what I should think and I’m sure others will do the same just as you do. Again, it’s not all black or white. There are nuanced views and I think Wael has achieved some good things but he’s the one who identified the real need of the club in his first interview in 2016 and since then, nothing positive. UTG! |
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Post by warehamgas on Mar 9, 2023 18:31:26 GMT
I think you can be grateful for what he's done but also critical on the stadium. The attitude that we should be grateful to have a club is why we have stagnated for the last 40 years. Every club is on the brink and needs to be grateful to their owners. We are no different but this lack of ambition and unproven faith that Wael will sort something out will mean we will continue to stagnate. He has had seven years and we have no plan, no stadium in the pipeline. If we want the best for rovers us fans should be pushing Wael to come up with a strategy/plan. I'm sure if it is done in a constructive way then Wael would understand where fans are coming from If we stick with the mustn't grumble mentality then we really aren't pushing the club on My dream would be for Rovers to get to the prem but without serious ambition this won't happen. I dont want my footballing lot to be us moving between L1 and L2 with the odd gem of a footballer to watch. And I would expect the owner of the club to have at least my level of ambition. How much does your level of ambition cost you? Baggins you’re right, I don’t know about you but I haven’t got the money to help our ambition and I don’t expect heartofgas has. (Apologies if he has and I’m wrong.) But that’s not really the point is it? Wael bought us and I would have expected him, or any owner, to have done their homework and only bought us if he could improve the club and meet the needs of the club. It’s no good buying something which needs maintaining and improving if then he turns round and says ‘I can’t do that because it’s too expensive.’ That would be stupid wouldn’t it? UTG! |
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Post by Colyton Gas on Mar 9, 2023 18:33:06 GMT
Well said Wareham.Recall a rare interview when I thought Mr Wael was going to give us the details of a new ground that I have waited nearly 70 years for,and when asked he said something like ,'I have provided new hand driers in the toilets'.
He was clearly ill at ease and I felt so sorry for him.After all the new Directors appointed and then soon departing the poor chap seemed out of his depth dealing with this interrogation.Don't recall the club saying much officially since so that is what is so frustrating.
Just tell us where we are at even if it's the same as 50 years ago.Hoping and longing for something better is painful and not attracting new fans.
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Post by Topper Gas on Mar 9, 2023 18:37:46 GMT
Has he reduced our operating losses ? I thought we were on target for a £3m deficit again this season . We havent got the accounts for this year yet, but the latest accounts we have show it was £1.7m from £3m the previous season. The losses were only reduced because of JCH's transfer fee, TG's suggested in his recent podcast annual losses are still £3m, nobody seems to be able to explain why they are so high compared to the likes of Shrewsbury and Exeter. |
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Post by heartofgas on Mar 9, 2023 18:57:08 GMT
How much does your level of ambition cost you? Baggins you’re right, I don’t know about you but I haven’t got the money to help our ambition and I don’t expect heartofgas has. (Apologies if he has and I’m wrong.) But that’s not really the point is it? Wael bought us and I would have expected him, or any owner, to have done their homework and only bought us if he could improve the club and meet the needs of the club. It’s no good buying something which needs maintaining and improving if then he turns round and says ‘I can’t do that because it’s too expensive.’ That would be stupid wouldn’t it? UTG! Trust me if I had the money I wouldn't be on here posting from an office with blooming miserable weather outside. and if i did have he money the stadium would be built. I'll keep playing the euromillions in hope. Even though we are not puting any money in (aside from in season tickets) us fan's are an asset of the club and what gives it any value. If we didn't go then it would only be worth the land it is on. Obviously you have to have finance in place for any developemnt and that's why he should be going out to get investors for any project. As it stands in 5 years time Wael would have spent more than £30M keeping the club afloat. he could have paid for a small stadium with that. He is the one that said finance wasn't an issue so it's not really uncalled for that we should have seen sometghing happen. It's not just finance that stands in our way though. I just think Wael has failed when it comes to the stadium aside from the financial side. Where is the planning? Has he contracted anyone to go and find sites? has he put a business case together for any stadium and what is planned in the stadium etc etc? Has he sought any investors? I see a whole lot of nothing going on. There will only be a certain amount of time Wael will be prepared to keep covering our losses so he needs to evaluate if he can deliver a stadium or if it is too much for him. And if he thinks it is too much for him then he should sell up. So yes, it's not my money but it is my club and i just see the usual limbo situation whilst other clubs are progressing imeasureably beyond us. some may be happy with the status quo but I'm not. |
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Post by gasandelectricity on Mar 9, 2023 19:21:33 GMT
I’m starting to think the new stadium / tin sheds / tents / concrete sleepers aren’t happening.
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Post by Topper Gas on Mar 9, 2023 19:23:59 GMT
How much does your level of ambition cost you? Baggins you’re right, I don’t know about you but I haven’t got the money to help our ambition and I don’t expect heartofgas has. (Apologies if he has and I’m wrong.) But that’s not really the point is it? Wael bought us and I would have expected him, or any owner, to have done their homework and only bought us if he could improve the club and meet the needs of the club. It’s no good buying something which needs maintaining and improving if then he turns round and says ‘I can’t do that because it’s too expensive.’ That would be stupid wouldn’t it? UTG! Wasn't the plan was to progress with the UWE stadium, it's not like Wael walked away from the talks as soon as he took over the club and had time to look at the figures, despite two attempts at agreeing a deal that clearly came to nothing. It seems he then moved on to trying to agree a deal with the FM's developers and it's really anybody's guess whether they are still continuing or not, the fact the club have now decided to to build a new S/SW stand makes you fear the worse. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2023 19:55:42 GMT
The Al Qadi family wouldn't spend the capital on a property/business they could not easily sell on, should Wael lose interest. The 'UWE Stadium not right for the club' was the excuse surprisingly still accepted by many supporters. Result is, we have a football club permanently embedded in the lower leagues with no likelihood of the investment required to build a modern stadium. What I also find surprising about it is they terminated the deal without having an alternative. When they knew it was looking like the UWE project wouldn't work for them you would have thought they would have started looking for an alternate option whilst still negotiating with the UWE and not ruled that out until we had another option. Unbelievable as it seems, I think there must have been some mis-understanding between the family and the old board. The stadium development must have been the cherry the family were after and as soon as the reality of that deal became apparent to them they wanted out. I guess that's where we have to be very grateful that Wael had taken the club to heart (no doubt helped by Lee Brown's promotion winner, how important that goal was). We were told that we had a beautiful piece of land that we were going to redevelop. |
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Post by Topper Gas on Mar 9, 2023 20:09:09 GMT
What gets me is we have had since the Eastville days to try and sort a new stadium, so 40 years. We have never been as close as the UWE. What is surprising is there is no plan B. When we sold off half of the car park for houses why didn't we use that to help build a stand. We could build a new east stand with 8000 seats. If we would have done this 20 years ago it would have more than paid for itself by now, with the added bonus we'd actually have a nicer environment to watch the football. It could be another 20 years before we get another UWE situation. Even if it costs £10M then lets get a proper stand built. I think the long term future has to be a new stadium but that has to be at least 10 years away. At the moment it seems there is no plan or strategy. even with the south stand it feels it is something that was said as an off the cuff remark. There doesn't seem to be any strategy behind it. You really need to do some investigation work before posting your ramblings as Bristol RFU sold off half of the car park Rovers had nothing to do with that deal and the S/SW stands development was originally discussed at a Board meeting, so not just an off the cuff remark made to the press. The strategy seems to be to replace the tents with an actual stand, whilst increasing the seating capacity. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2023 21:22:42 GMT
What gets me is we have had since the Eastville days to try and sort a new stadium, so 40 years. We have never been as close as the UWE. What is surprising is there is no plan B. When we sold off half of the car park for houses why didn't we use that to help build a stand. We could build a new east stand with 8000 seats. If we would have done this 20 years ago it would have more than paid for itself by now, with the added bonus we'd actually have a nicer environment to watch the football. It could be another 20 years before we get another UWE situation. Even if it costs £10M then let’s get a proper stand built. I think the long term future has to be a new stadium but that has to be at least 10 years away. At the moment it seems there is no plan or strategy. even with the south stand it feels it is something that was said as an off the cuff remark. There doesn't seem to be any strategy behind it. You really need to do some investigation work before posting your ramblings as Bristol RFU sold off half of the car park Rovers had nothing to do with that deal and the S/SW stands development was originally discussed at a Board meeting, so not just an off the cuff remark made to the press. The strategy seems to be to replace the tents with an actual stand, whilst increasing the seating capacity. Research before posting? It’s almost like a to do note you have left yourself Topper! |
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Post by aghast on Mar 9, 2023 21:51:03 GMT
Anyway who said it was to be a 4,000 seater? I've been digging back through old posts and can't find the reference. Tom G. didn't say that in his programme notes.
In fact re-reading his comments it sounds much more like a wishlist item than a definite plan.
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Post by eric on Mar 9, 2023 21:53:06 GMT
Anyway who said it was to be a 4,000 seater? I've been digging back through old posts and can't find the reference. Tom G. didn't say that in his programme notes. In fact re-reading his comments it sounds much more like a wishlist item than a definite plan. Wasn’t it David Bright at some sort of seminar? I think the Evening Post then used it in one of their reports? |
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Post by Windmill Hill Gas on Mar 9, 2023 22:05:13 GMT
What gets me is we have had since the Eastville days to try and sort a new stadium, so 40 years. We have never been as close as the UWE. What is surprising is there is no plan B. When we sold off half of the car park for houses why didn't we use that to help build a stand. We could build a new east stand with 8000 seats. If we would have done this 20 years ago it would have more than paid for itself by now, with the added bonus we'd actually have a nicer environment to watch the football. It could be another 20 years before we get another UWE situation. Even if it costs £10M then lets get a proper stand built. I think the long term future has to be a new stadium but that has to be at least 10 years away. At the moment it seems there is no plan or strategy. even with the south stand it feels it is something that was said as an off the cuff remark. There doesn't seem to be any strategy behind it. You really need to do some investigation work before posting your ramblings as Bristol RFU sold off half of the car park Rovers had nothing to do with that deal and the S/SW stands development was originally discussed at a Board meeting, so not just an off the cuff remark made to the press. The strategy seems to be to replace the tents with an actual stand, whilst increasing the seating capacity. Are you sure about the sold land? Rovers became sole owners of the Memorial Stadium in 1998. The first houses in Trubshaw Gardens weren't moved into until 2006 |
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Post by aghast on Mar 9, 2023 22:08:25 GMT
Anyway who said it was to be a 4,000 seater? I've been digging back through old posts and can't find the reference. Tom G. didn't say that in his programme notes. In fact re-reading his comments it sounds much more like a wishlist item than a definite plan. Wasn’t it David Bright at some sort of seminar? I think the Evening Post then used it in one of their reports? Oh yes found it now. Thanks very much. www.stadiumbusinesssummit.com/sbs23-guest-spotlight-bristol-rovers-fc/ |
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Post by womble on Mar 9, 2023 22:22:14 GMT
You really need to do some investigation work before posting your ramblings as Bristol RFU sold off half of the car park Rovers had nothing to do with that deal and the S/SW stands development was originally discussed at a Board meeting, so not just an off the cuff remark made to the press. The strategy seems to be to replace the tents with an actual stand, whilst increasing the seating capacity. Are you sure about the sold land? Rovers became sole owners of the Memorial Stadium in 1998. The first houses in Trubshaw Gardens weren't moved into until 2006 Topper is correct. The rugby club sold an option to buy the land to a development company as part of their increasingly desperate efforts to remain solvent. The developers didn’t exercise their right to buy until after Rovers had gained full control of the Mem. At that point there was nothing the football club could do about it. |
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