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Post by oldtoteender on Jul 17, 2015 21:34:38 GMT
The heading says it all really, Still no new Stadium, we should not be surprised how many plans/schemes have we been promised over the years regarding potential sites funding etc. Now i really really hope i am wrong but i do not think we will ever build at the UWE or anywhere else for that matter unless we get really lucky and somebody very very wealthy takes us on, but i also blame Bristol council for our predicament as they gave us no help or backing whatsoever in the years after we left Eastville, Also what i cannot understand is why our board at the time of th last days of Eastville never had the foresight to see what a wonderful business prospect Eastville could have been, should have tried to get money to buy Eastville we could have been a very wealthy club by now so much potential there regarding the land/greyhound racing/speedway.
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Post by RD on Jul 17, 2015 21:57:19 GMT
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Post by long john silver on Jul 17, 2015 22:00:57 GMT
The heading says it all really, Still no new Stadium, we should not be surprised how many plans/schemes have we been promised over the years regarding potential sites funding etc. Now i really really hope i am wrong but i do not think we will ever build at the UWE or anywhere else for that matter unless we get really lucky and somebody very very wealthy takes us on, but i also blame Bristol council for our predicament as they gave us no help or backing whatsoever in the years after we left Eastville, Also what i cannot understand is why our board at the time of th last days of Eastville never had the foresight to see what a wonderful business prospect Eastville could have been, should have tried to get money to buy Eastville we could have been a very wealthy club by now so much potential there regarding the land/greyhound racing/speedway. yes but we will continue plodding along like we allways have . cant wait for the new season UTG
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Post by oldtoteender on Jul 17, 2015 22:09:00 GMT
Same ere!
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socrates
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Post by socrates on Jul 17, 2015 22:11:18 GMT
socrates Avatar socrates Fans' Favourite ***** Jul 15, 2015 at 10:43pm Quote likePost Options socrates Avatar socrates Fans' Favourite ***** Jul 15, 2015 at 10:43pm Quote likePost Options We were all over the moon to get away from twerton and back to Bristol in 1996 and the mem at the time was a lot worse than it is now. We now have a 12000 capacity stadium which is old fashioned but creates a good atmosphere when the team is doing well and playing good football.
The board in recent years have managed the finances of the club so badly whilst chasing the dream of a new stadium that they've put us in a situation where most of our support think it's get out or go bust and have been brain washed into thinking the mem is not fit for purpose.
Our stadium is fit for purpose and by that I mean we are a league 2 club trying to push in to keague 1. When we were in keague 1 last our attendances were around the 7000 mark , only just over half of our capacity.
Nick Higgs is obsessed with his dream building project and its slowly destroying our club. We could achieve league 1 football easily at the stadium we have if we keep progressing on the field the way we have in the last year. If we start well in the new season the momentum that would give our club and the feel good factor could see our attendances stay up around the 8000 mark which would give us a decent budget for the division we are in and not even a bad one for league 1. I can appreciate Higgs is a gashead and I don't hate the bloke but he's taken his eye off the ball these last few years in the chase for his stadium and he's Brainwashed a lot of people in the process.
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Post by oldtoteender on Jul 17, 2015 22:37:29 GMT
Well said totally agree. UTG
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Post by womble on Jul 17, 2015 23:13:34 GMT
The heading says it all really, Still no new Stadium, we should not be surprised how many plans/schemes have we been promised over the years regarding potential sites funding etc. Now i really really hope i am wrong but i do not think we will ever build at the UWE or anywhere else for that matter unless we get really lucky and somebody very very wealthy takes us on, but i also blame Bristol council for our predicament as they gave us no help or backing whatsoever in the years after we left Eastville, Also what i cannot understand is why our board at the time of th last days of Eastville never had the foresight to see what a wonderful business prospect Eastville could have been, should have tried to get money to buy Eastville we could have been a very wealthy club by now so much potential there regarding the land/greyhound racing/speedway. The council did conduct a survey for potential sites within the city boundary. Answer - none practically or economically developable. (Which seems to be quite correct), I imagine our board was well aware of what a great site Eastville was for business, once the M32 was built. So were the Stadium Company, which is why they had no intention of selling and wanted us out.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2015 23:17:23 GMT
The aim has always been to have a stadium capable of hosting premiership football otherwise what is the point.The problem this club has is it has never been able to finance such a stadium we just don't seem to have the appeal to attract the funds. At Eastville We had a Stadium capable of hosting top flight football, but we messed up. The Mem can only ever be a stepping stone even if developed it will always hold us back from fulfilling our potential. I started watching Rovers nearly 50 years ago believing that they were capable one day of competing at the highest level. We have to make future supporters believe that we can compete at the highest level in order to gain their support and we cannot do that while we remain at the Mem.
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Post by gasincider on Jul 17, 2015 23:31:57 GMT
Royalblue states a good case. The only thing I'd disagree on is that we didn't mess up at Eastville, we didn't own it. The owners were never going to sell it to us because they received a hell of a good retainer for greyhound racing, and when it finally went we couldn't afford to buy it because as usual we had no wealthy backer.
As for Socrates, the limit of his ambition is obviously league 1. You might as well support Forest Green if that's the case. This club needs a ground capable of top flight football for many reasons, but the one that haunts me the most is the gentlemen t'other side of the river. I don't suppose their ambition is the championship. They will over the next few years really go for the big one, while we are enjoying the weather in league 1 if we are lucky Socs.
You stick to your ambition, and I'll keep my sights aimed a little higher. You never know.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2015 23:57:03 GMT
Royalblue states a good case. The only thing I'd disagree on is that we didn't mess up at Eastville, we didn't own it. The owners were never going to sell it to us because they received a hell of a good retainer for greyhound racing, and when it finally went we couldn't afford to buy it because as usual we had no wealthy backer. As for Socrates, the limit of his ambition is obviously league 1. You might as well support Forest Green if that's the case. This club needs a ground capable of top flight football for many reasons, but the one that haunts me the most is the gentlemen t'other side of the river. I don't suppose their ambition is the championship. They will over the next few years really go for the big one, while we are enjoying the weather in league 1 if we are lucky Socs. You stick to your ambition, and I'll keep my sights aimed a little higher. You never know. We did own Eastville originally, but we sold it to the greyhound racing company that is where we messed up.
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Post by Congas on Jul 18, 2015 6:06:08 GMT
As I recall the council offered the two clubs the chance to share a new stadium on the old Temple Meads site but they turned it down in favour of going it alone. City seems to have come out of that one better. Sainsbury's did their U-turn at about the same time as they changed their CEO. We can only guess as to what might have been if the old one had remained. Pity that Eastville was screwed by money grabbers. With a bit of vision it could have become the perfect site for a combined retail, housing and stadium development to regenerate the area, similar to the one Wimbledon are planning. What's really needed is for the public and private sectors to work in unison like in Hull and Swansea, but that's not going to happen in a city like Bristol with a proud tradition of go-it-alone merchants and land-grabbers. No land available? What about the Filton Airport site, or was that already parcelled for the highest bidders years ago?
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Post by Russgas on Jul 18, 2015 8:29:49 GMT
As for Socrates, the limit of his ambition is obviously league 1. You might as well support Forest Green if that's the case. This club needs a ground capable of top flight football for many reasons, but the one that haunts me the most is the gentlemen t'other side of the river. I don't suppose their ambition is the championship. They will over the next few years really go for the big one, while we are enjoying the weather in league 1 if we are lucky Socs. You stick to your ambition, and I'll keep my sights aimed a little higher. You never know. Socrates has said nothing wrong,he is just being realistic. Whether the sh1t go up to the prem or not, is nothing to do with the size of their ground ,more the never ending funding from their sugar daddy. Bournemouth could be another example, and they have a smaller capacity than us but will be playing in the prem.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2015 8:44:37 GMT
Why are people looking to top flight football? We are absolutely nowhere near making a dash for that even with UWE. Just compare us to the teds for example. They look like they are slowly heading in the right direction to make a go of it but they have been in good shape financially for a long time. Had expensive players, large attendances, community programs, academy, big companies associated 10k sts and they won lg1 at a canter. We are years behind even them so we have a lot to get in order prior to fantasizing about top flight football.
The UWE would be great however does anybody truly trust these guys to have the ability to manage it properly? We don't make the best from what we've got so I can't see the proof. It's like buying your kid a new bike after he's trashed the last one.
Personally, if they aren't going anywhere, I'd like a realistic statement from NH describing what the intentions are for the short/med term. I can't take top flight talk on here seriously sorry. I need him to say we are pushing for x by x so that we have something to measure.
In terms of the stadium, there are different opinions flying around as usual which is great. Why there was no fallback option on the Mem Il never know. He should have kept the pp open for improvements because this appeal doesn't give me much hope atm.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2015 9:31:45 GMT
Surely the top flight has to be the ultimate ambition and whether we ever make it or not we need to be ready. Say what you like about the other mob the fact is we are competing for support and league two football in a ramshackle stadium as opposed to a brand new premiership standard stadium and championship football, which do you think is going to attract the next generation of supporters. We can't compare ourselfs to town and cities with one team they do not have a choice of local teams so they do not have to share the local support. For some of us our dreams for rovers are all we have and I for one am not giving up on them.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2015 9:46:53 GMT
Well I want realistic ambitions not pie in the sky dreams. "Say what you like about the other mob" I have. We are nowhere near competing with them! Even with uwe we wouldn't be because the rest of it is miles behind aswell. Our BoD and factions of our support need to get real. Next stop is to have a go at lg2. Small steps. Top flight football is pure blah!
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Post by EssoBlue on Jul 18, 2015 9:56:06 GMT
It might surprise some gasheads but we only owned Eastville for 19 years (1921 to 1940)!
We have been owners/part owners of the Memorial Stadium for 19 years (part owners from 1996 to 1998).
Look on the bright side, at least we now own a stadium.
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Post by womble on Jul 18, 2015 9:56:16 GMT
As I recall the council offered the two clubs the chance to share a new stadium on the old Temple Meads site but they turned it down in favour of going it alone. City seems to have come out of that one better. Sainsbury's did their U-turn at about the same time as they changed their CEO. We can only guess as to what might have been if the old one had remained. Pity that Eastville was screwed by money grabbers. With a bit of vision it could have become the perfect site for a combined retail, housing and stadium development to regenerate the area, similar to the one Wimbledon are planning. What's really needed is for the public and private sectors to work in unison like in Hull and Swansea, but that's not going to happen in a city like Bristol with a proud tradition of go-it-alone merchants and land-grabbers. No land available? What about the Filton Airport site, or was that already parcelled for the highest bidders years ago? At the risk of sounding pedantic, Filton Airport is in South Glos, not Bristol. BAe sold it to house builders as they offered the best price. We have the added problem of being in a two club city, so the Hull and Swansea set up is a bit of a non starter for us.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2015 10:07:30 GMT
Well I want realistic ambitions not pie in the sky dreams. "Say what you like about the other mob" I have. We are nowhere near competing with them! Even with uwe we wouldn't be because the rest of it is miles behind aswell. Our BoD and factions of our support need to get real. Next stop is to have a go at lg2. Small steps. Top flight football is pure blah! Not sure who needs to get real here. How long do you think we will survive on league two football with no ambition in a dump of a stadium. Staying still is going backwards.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2015 10:24:51 GMT
Well I want realistic ambitions not pie in the sky dreams. "Say what you like about the other mob" I have. We are nowhere near competing with them! Even with uwe we wouldn't be because the rest of it is miles behind aswell. Our BoD and factions of our support need to get real. Next stop is to have a go at lg2. Small steps. Top flight football is pure blah! Not sure who needs to get real here. How long do you think we will survive on league two football with no ambition in a dump of a stadium. Staying still is going backwards. So you go to the other extreme! Small steps I said. Have a go at lg2 I said. Have pp for the Men as a fall back I said. Not remain in lg2 in a dump of a stadium like you said. I just think we need to be realistic for a while. These crazy ideas have got us where exactly over the past 20 years? I agree with your last sentence and that is what we've done.
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Post by Topper Gas on Jul 18, 2015 10:43:12 GMT
I agree with G79 why do we need to build a ground for Premiership football now when we've spent virtually all our history in the lower leagues?
What we need now is a ground fit for Div 1 & 2 football with pp to expand if we reach the Championship but even that could be a minimum off 5 years away.
Will the UWE/S Glos allow us to build say a 12,000/15,000 seat stadium at a cost of £20m? If not we really need to reconsider redeveloping the Mem, otherwise we could spend decades more searching for a ground & then getting pp.
We also need clarification from NH if he's appealing, I so, how long the process is going to take? Years?
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