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Post by markczgas on Jun 7, 2014 19:31:52 GMT
Thanks Mike. I think we have had enough publicity for now. Time for us Rovers supporters to meet, chat, decide and try to take the next step forward in the name of BRFC "moderate" supporters.
Cheers,
Mark
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Post by lostinspace on Jun 7, 2014 19:45:04 GMT
Thanks Mike. I think we have had enough publicity for now. Time for us Rovers supporters to meet, chat, decide and try to take the next step forward in the name of BRFC "moderate" supporters. Cheers, Mark with all due respect friend, you can never have enough publicity....... and this meeting could very well be the one where those in Box 1 actually take note that the "minions" of BRFC have finally had enough of being taken for granted,
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Post by markczgas on Jun 7, 2014 19:48:13 GMT
I was talking about Tuesday's meeting - too late to sort sthg out with a paper before then
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on Jun 7, 2014 20:24:27 GMT
Thanks Mike. I think we have had enough publicity for now. Time for us Rovers supporters to meet, chat, decide and try to take the next step forward in the name of BRFC "moderate" supporters. Cheers, Mark Hi Mark, So is this for all Rovers supporters or not as it appears that in your words it's only for 'moderate' one's ? Shouldn't you be seeking the views of all types otherwise you cannot say you have sought the views from a cross section of fans i.e. apathetic, moderate, outspoken, when you present your views to the board, if that is what you intend doing ?
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jozer
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 365
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Post by jozer on Jun 7, 2014 20:34:48 GMT
That is not good to hear that the Club have failed to reply Seriously what would you expect? Any forum they can't control will be ignored. if they are forced to respond to it you can guarantee it will be negative "50 internet warriors, not real fans, should go through the SC etc..."
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Post by Jon the Stripe on Jun 8, 2014 18:48:52 GMT
Just a reminder everyone....
THIS TUESDAY 7.30pm THE WELLINGTON PUB MARQUEE, HORFIELD.
Come along and share your views with other genuinely concerned Gasheads.
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Post by pirate49 on Jun 13, 2014 22:14:08 GMT
Jon, Mark and I had a good and fruitful meeting this evening @ the Wellington; and...
- reviewed Tuesday's meeting - decided upon some actions based upon what was agreed at that meeting - made initial plans for our next meeting - discussed topics for the next meeting
* We thought Tuesday's meeting went really well. About 50 people there, all showing an undoubted commitment to the club and wanting steps to be taken to bring about improvement. Besides improvement on the pitch we want to see a far better relationship between the board and the fans and more transparency in the running of the club. Other areas covered were the possible appointment of a CEO (with a knowledge of football!), a Chief Scout; and far more reserve/Professional Development games...especially with local clubs. There were sometimes differing views and many spoke; but there was respect throughout. Almost all of the feedback we have received through various channels has been positive. * We intend writing to Nick Higgs to request details about the Q&A (date, time, structure); and clarification about the 'Review' ( who, what, when...reported to whom?) If no answers are forthcoming we will not let it rest there! * We have pencilled in TUESDAY 1st JULY for the next meeting * Topics could include: - review of what is said at the SC EGM - plan how to respond to the Q&A (if it happens!) - respond to developments over the next two weeks - agree actions should progress in the close season not be satisfactory - decide if we want to formalize these meetings under a named structure If you have anything to add please contact any one of us. Please watch this space. It may go quiet now and again but we're not going away!
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Post by Jon the Stripe on Jun 13, 2014 22:47:54 GMT
Well summarized my learned friend. Really pleased with our meeting tonight, I think we're looking at a busy few weeks at the club with the SC EGM and possible big news rumoured in recent days.
Let's hope things start changing for the better, if not, i think we're ready to voice supporters concerns.
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Post by phoenix1 on Jun 14, 2014 7:56:32 GMT
Jon, Mark and I had a good and fruitful meeting this evening @ the Wellington; and... - reviewed Tuesday's meeting - decided upon some actions based upon what was agreed at that meeting - made initial plans for our next meeting - discussed topics for the next meeting * We thought Tuesday's meeting went really well. About 50 people there, all showing an undoubted commitment to the club and wanting steps to be taken to bring about improvement. Besides improvement on the pitch we want to see a far better relationship between the board and the fans and more transparency in the running of the club. Other areas covered were the possible appointment of a CEO (with a knowledge of football!), a Chief Scout; and far more reserve/Professional Development games...especially with local clubs. There were sometimes differing views and many spoke; but there was respect throughout. Almost all of the feedback we have received through various channels has been positive. * We intend writing to Nick Higgs to request details about the Q&A (date, time, structure); and clarification about the 'Review' ( who, what, when...reported to whom?) If no answers are forthcoming we will not let it rest there! * We have pencilled in TUESDAY 1st JULY for the next meeting * Topics could include: - review of what is said at the SC EGM - plan how to respond to the Q&A (if it happens!) - respond to developments over the next two weeks - agree actions should progress in the close season not be satisfactory - decide if we want to formalize these meetings under a named structure If you have anything to add please contact any one of us. Please watch this space. It may go quiet now and again but we're not going away!
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Post by phoenix1 on Jun 14, 2014 8:00:57 GMT
Dear Mr Higgs, I have decided to write to you in the aftermath of what we would all agree has been nothing short of a disastrous season for all connected with the Club. Although I was pleased to learn that it is your intention to undertake a comprehensive review of the Club from top to bottom, I still have a number of very real concerns and would appreciate your proposals for dealing with them. They are:- 1. How does the Club intend winning back lost and/or disenchanted support as a result of its relegation from the football league?
I have been a season ticket holder for the best part of 40 years following Rovers at Eastville, Twerton Park and the Mem. For the last 9 years my 14 year old son has accompanied me and my father (who himself has supported the Club unbroken for over 68 years. We have watched Rovers from the Dri-Build stand but I am very sorry to say that I really cannot see myself renewing my season ticket for the new season as I cannot justify the expense of watching non-league football when I have competing demands for my time and money. I believe that without drastic action there will be a dramatic drop-off of support. For a start, I believe that the amount of money that I am asked to pay for my son of £205 is extortionate. Whilst I applaud the Club’s commitment to the fans of the future as far as under 11’s are concerned, I have never understood the logic of charging for those under 21 in full time education especially when compared to our near neighbours south of the river who charge a much more realistically priced £189 for under 21’s and £52 for under 19’s for a higher class of football and better facilities. In the past the Club have pointed out that many under 16’s do not attend evening matches but I believe this is a lame excuse when there are so many empty seats lying vacant during Saturday and Tuesday evening matches in any event throughout the season.
Teams like Bradford City have shown innovation in their price structures for season tickets since about 2008 with cheap season tickets. They aimed to attract 20,000 supporters through the turnstiles for the 2008-9 season by offering to ‘buy one get one free’ season ticket to anyone when accompanied with a child where there the minimum of 9,000 tickets were sold. Season on season that club has attracted well over 10,000 fans for every home match. Huddersfield adopt similar schemes to reflect their desire to make watching their club as affordable as possible. Whilst I appreciate that the Mem has a more limited capacity, I think it should be the stated aim of you and the Board of Directors to attract a minimum 5,000 season ticket holders and offer similar initiatives to those implemented by Bradford to try to fill the stadium week in week out. Any losses on tickets will be recouped in sales of programmes, food and drink. Bradford must have done something right they have consistently won awards for best fan marketing. Not everyone wants to watch the game from the Family Enclosure which offers only standing facilities for young children and only a good view of one end of the pitch. I felt strongly about this whilst we were still a football league club but think this becomes even more crucial now that we are facing the unpalatable prospect of non-league football . If we do not win back the young supporters of the future, the Club risks losing a generation of potential new supporters. Perhaps the Club could establish forge closer links with UWE and Bristol University offering cheaper tickets to those students. 2. The Club seems to be losing the battle for the hearts and minds of new young fans of the future. A few years ago Rovers had close links with Filton College and the Wise complex but recently SGS College's Bristol Academy of Sport and Bristol City Football Club announced the introduction of a new development squad, which will sit underneath the City’s existing Academy programme providing further opportunities and pathways within the game. This programme is to be run in partnership between the two organisations and aspiring footballers will train under the watchful eye of Coaches from both the club and the College, with also the possibility of representing the club in competitive fixtures.
It is one thing when City set up initiatives in the south of the city but when they do so right under the noses of Rovers within its own heartland then I think there is something seriously wrong. There are many schools in South Gloucestershire such as my own son’s school at Castle School, Thornbury and my daughter’s school in Lower Almondsbury that regularly offer training camps with Bristol City for interested students as part of its extra curricular programme, but nothing is offered involving Bristol Rovers. I appreciate that there is a lot of good work done by the Community Department but feel that more can be done to reach out to a wider community.
3. Club Marketing and Public Relations There is a perception amongst large swathes of the Rovers’ support that many on the Board of Directors are not doing much to raise the Club’s profile, they are too passive and that there is a need for fresh ideas and new faces on the board which carries too much baggage and the stigma of failure with the number of costly and damaging managerial appointments and lack of a clear strategy for driving the Club forward both on and off the pitch. This may be fair or unfair but the Club’s fanbase feels marginalised and detached from the Board. We are constantly reminded how important the fans are and of the need to continue to get behind the team but I ,like many other supporters find this quite patronising when the support has been unwavering and inspirational throughout the season and it has been the team that has failed to deliver. It is a two way process and there is has been precious little to get excited about from a Rover’s fan’s perspective for a number of years and there has been a complacent attitude from the Board towards their fans. The football has been dull and turgid and league 2 generally has been a very poor advert. Some clubs were organised and disciplined but in truth, Rochdale were the only team to come to the Mem this season who actually were a decent outfit. They displayed pace, excellent passing on the ground and movement way above anything else seen at the ground all season. For all Rovers’s huff and puff and emphasis on workrate and percentage football, Rochdale demonstrated that skill and a possession based game can succeed at any level of football. John Ward’s aimless kick and rush style of football and ultra defensive tactics (everyone back for corners and freekicks and still conceding goals) won few admirers and should be consigned to the dustbin. You often see players warm up before matches playing quick one touch passing only to completely abandon footballing principles throughout the game. All we see from Rovers is rugby style kickoffs where possession is immediately surrendered and players having to waste energy running round like headless chickens having to win it back. No wonder Rovers players were out on their feet trying to contain a Rochdale team who retained the ball and were frankly unlucky not to have taken Rovers to the cleaners. 4. Scouting
This has been an area of concern for several years now. It seems that John Ward’s scouting network extended only as far as one of his former clubs usually Colchester. We were told that we needed wingers and front players but then the Club bring in a forward (Chris Beardsley) who has scored no more than 40 goals in over ten years of football with a number of lower or non league clubs and bring in a player (Andy Bond) that has played most of his career as a central midfielder and play him on the right or left wing. We then put players like Tom Lockyer in an unfamiliar position on the right wing and David Clarkson who does possess a football brain also gets shafted out on the right and left wing at various times. The same with Elliot Richards throughout his time with the club.
Whilst I appreciate that it is the manager’s role to pick the team and tactics, surely the alarm bells must have been ringing when it was quite clearly a case of square pegs in round holes. We do not appear to use the loan market wisely especially when recruiting young players from premiership and championship clubs or from non-league. Clearly teams like Fleetwood have snapped up gems from teams like Manchester City such as Antonio Sarcevic (the best individual player to visit the Mem by a country mile this season and probably the most talented individual seen at the stadium since George Boyd when he played for Peterborough) and Rochdale picked up another midfielder in Hery). These clubs with far less resources and fanbase than Rovers. Where are the scouts looking for new young exciting talent? We see players like Charlie Austen and Ashley Barnes go on to carve out good careers but who started their careers at Poole Town and Paulton Rovers.
5. Footballing philosophy
I think the club need to have a footballing philosophy when it comes to interviewing and recruiting managers and players. Whilst the Club does not the resources of big clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, and European clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona, may be someone from the club should go on a fact finding mission to see how those clubs develop players from grassroots and junior levels to see how they train and prepare players and try to adopt some of the principles they have used. I admit that I favour a possession based game rather than the old fashioned kick and rush game employed by so many British managers and think clubs like Wigan and Brighton have been brave in seeking out young coaches with similar footballing principles such as Martinez, Rosler, Poyet,Garcia and they have grown from league 1 to Championship and Premiership. May be we need to be more innovative and take a leaf out of successful chairmen such as Dave Whelan and Huw Jenkins.
For all his faults , some of the football under Mark McGhee was some of the best possession based football the Club had produced for a number of years but with a bit better organisation, I am sure the team’s results would have picked up.
The lack of reserve team games has clearly hampered the Club’s progress for a number of years ever since the Club left the football combination. How players can stay motivated when they train when they know they do not have a reserve or development game for about two months at a time is beyond me. We only ever seem to arrange practice matches against the likes of Cheltenham. Reserve matches should be at least every fortnight if they are to have any meaningful purpose.
I appreciate that resources are tight and will be even tighter now that we have lost our football league status. However, if everyone connected with the club demonstrated smarter thinking and forward planning then I am quite sure that the Club could be run along more professional grounds than it has done for a number of years.
Finally, on a more positive note, I would like to thank you for your considerable efforts in trying to secure the new stadium at UWE. You do not need me to say that it is essential that the Club gets back into the football league straight away and that it is plying its trade at a more respectable level than it has done for the past few years. We need to see real dynamic leadership as we attempt to wrestle the initiative from the more illustrious neighbours and get the club back to Championship level.
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Post by pirate49 on Jun 14, 2014 8:14:12 GMT
Says it all! Excellent and fair letter. I hope you get a response and, if appropriate, you could then share all or part of it with us.
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Post by phoenix1 on Jun 14, 2014 8:26:50 GMT
Thanks. Just thought I would pass on my comments which were contained in a letter to Mr Higgs over a month ago and which I have not received the courtesy of a reply from the Chairman. Just thought I should put in my tuppence worth and you may like to raise some of these points which may have been discussed eleswhere in any meeting withthe Club. Good luck in your atempts to elicit a response from the Club, something i have failed to do from the Board.
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JeffNZ
Administrator
Jimmy Morgan
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,467
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Post by JeffNZ on Jun 14, 2014 8:32:38 GMT
A quality letter that deserves a quality response. It will be very interesting to see what Nick (or the new chairman) has to say.
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Post by pirate49 on Jun 14, 2014 9:12:18 GMT
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Post by Jon the Stripe on Jun 14, 2014 9:26:17 GMT
Thanks. Just thought I would pass on my comments which were contained in a letter to Mr Higgs over a month ago and which I have not received the courtesy of a reply from the Chairman. Just thought I should put in my tuppence worth and you may like to raise some of these points which may have been discussed eleswhere in any meeting withthe Club. Good luck in your atempts to elicit a response from the Club, something i have failed to do from the Board. Excellent letter Phoenix, very well articulated and written with passion and respect. Would love to see you at our next meeting if that's possible. What we need now is numbers, we've began well, but ultimately "People Power" will enhance our chances of success. The one thing that has come out of P49, Mark and my own meetings over the last few weeks is we are not going away. We will always remain respectful, tactful and with the love of the club at heart. But, we will seek the answers that the true custodians of the club (the supporters) deserve. The answers will hopefully come out in the open and we'll never know if we made a difference. But we will give Bristol Rovers Supporters their Forum to have a voice.
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Angas
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 2,068
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Post by Angas on Jun 14, 2014 19:30:40 GMT
I thought we had an Under 16 price bracket. Can't see any sign of it on the OS, so I guess I was wrong. Pretty shocking, when a look at City's prices shows an Under 19 price of £52 across the whole ground! BCFC
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Post by markczgas on Jun 14, 2014 21:45:48 GMT
Well done Pheonix - for writing the letter and for putting all your thoughts down in that much detail. I am also passionate for the club to adopt a "footballing philosophy" throughout the club particularly with no rugby at the Mem and the new stadium on the horizon. Clubs like Swansea, Brighton but also Exeter and Borunemouth demonstrate technical football on the deck right through their clubs from U8s upwards!!!! So it can be done. We play some good football too especially the younger ages but I have noticed that our U18s last season started to by-pass the midfield rather like our first team ( was that accidental or was that direction by our first team manager ?? The U16 price bracket ! As a father I found it upsetting as well as shocking - We are struggling to peersuade our youngsters anyway with the quality of football on show and of course with our decline down the leagues. I hope my 7 year old boy will support Rovers in the future, but for now I would be very surprised even though he says "we" when he talks about The Gas !
Best Wishes to you Pheonix and of course I hope your 14 year old boy will see a dramatic turnaround in how Rovers perform in the next few seasons.
Mark
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jozer
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 365
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Post by jozer on Jun 15, 2014 7:27:29 GMT
Sad to know that all your effort in writing that has been a waste. No reply, quelle suprise!
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Post by markczgas on Jun 15, 2014 10:12:03 GMT
Hi everyone,
There is a big article in today's Bristol Sunday independent (about 6/7 columns long) which addresses the protest meeting which was held at The Wellington Pub last Tuesday. The article is very positive and describes that over 50 Gasheads attended many of them who have supported the club loyally for 40/50 years. It goes on to state that the attendees took a massive part in discussing and debaing the supporters greatest concerns with the club(through the agenda used on the night) and also allowed for many indivduals to speak up about what they considered to be the big faults and issues which need addressing by the club asap in a constructive and respectful manner. The article concludes that a vote was taken by those attended to demand action from the club hierachy on those concerns agreed upon or otherwise there will be peaceful protests taking place at the first home league game of the season.
The paper costs £1 - hope many of you buy it to read it.
Cheers,
Mark
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jozer
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 365
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Post by jozer on Jun 15, 2014 13:08:48 GMT
Buy this paper! E-mail them and thank them for covering this issue, and also e-mail BEP etc and ask why they are not.
At the end of the day, papers want to sell copies. Let them know that this story shifts papers and they will cover it.
Edit- just bought it, read the (very good) story and e-mailed them thanking them and hoping I will be able to carry on following this story in their paper. Next I will e-mail the Post asking why they are not covering it.
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