Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 13:18:55 GMT
That Civil Services Sports Club and Muller Rd recreation ground is a massive site. Used to play for their Regional League team there on a sloping pitch. Do people still play land hockey there? Ed Ware once highlighted that site as an option.
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Peter Parker
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Richard Walker
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Post by Peter Parker on Feb 21, 2016 13:23:48 GMT
Listen to the Chairman talking to Twentypence on Friday night. It is clear that the new owners do want to build the stadium at UWE to be original spec, although he thought it was 23,000 initial capacity because he seemed to be guessing, However, he mentioned the commercial opportunities of being next to UWE, MoD, and HP and that ideally we would own it 100% but that if it had to be a partnership with UWE we would have to accept it. I took from this that they fully intend to build UWE but are going to try and buy the freehold. That's how I read it, they hope to get the freehold but will have to accept the leasehold if that's the only alternative? One thing I could never understand is why the UWE/NH was prepared to waive the naming rights of the staduim, imagine the sponsorship we could pull in per season if we ever got to the Championship or even Premiership. As far as the UWE not making a profit from the land, why don't they sell it at cost price on the basis that we'll build the car park, or some other facilitie(s), free of charge in exchange? You sense Wael probably sees the UWE site as a massive investment opportunity which attracted him to the club over any other in Europe, whilst we still give NH stick he found the the site for the club. If Wael can develop the site we could become a very wealthy self sufficient club, although hard to believe that's true after years of supporting rag bag Rovers! The rrason for the naming rights is because we didnt have the money for the land. To get it built we had to give somethings up
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Peter Parker
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Richard Walker
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Post by Peter Parker on Feb 21, 2016 13:27:43 GMT
Sorry if this sounds NH bashing but UWE were beginning to screw us, remember, there is no signed Contract between UWE and BRFC. I would hazard a guess that they do want to build at UWE but not at any price. They will tell UWE what they want, how much they are prepared to pay and say if you do not agree we will go elsewhere. S Glous would be unhappy if it was elsewhere, even if it's in S Glous and hopefully will apply max pressure on UWE. UWE could be left with a vacant site. People will soon realise that they are no longer dealing with a reasonably wealthy builder but with mega rich individuals who invariably get what they want. On a totally different aspect and nothing to do with the thread title, I bet Barclays Bank would now jump at the chance of providing credit facilities to "little old Bristol Rovers", that brings a very broad smile to my face. If there is no contract with UWae than, i thing that is justifiable criticism We have gone about the Sainsburys contract and cock ups and blame, but even if we had got the money UWE could ask for more and we could have been bent over a barrel again. The saving grace now is we have a real financial player who has a stronger hand than NH ever had
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 13:28:17 GMT
That's how I read it, they hope to get the freehold but will have to accept the leasehold if that's the only alternative? One thing I could never understand is why the UWE/NH was prepared to waive the naming rights of the staduim, imagine the sponsorship we could pull in per season if we ever got to the Championship or even Premiership. As far as the UWE not making a profit from the land, why don't they sell it at cost price on the basis that we'll build the car park, or some other facilitie(s), free of charge in exchange? You sense Wael probably sees the UWE site as a massive investment opportunity which attracted him to the club over any other in Europe, whilst we still give NH stick he found the the site for the club. If Wael can develop the site we could become a very wealthy self sufficient club, although hard to believe that's true after years of supporting rag bag Rovers! The rrason for the naming rights is because we didnt have the money for the land. To get it built we had to give somethings up Potentially those naming rights are worth far more than the value of the land and the new owner is aware of that. Higgs didn't have the money to even try to buy the land but these guys do. It will be interesting to see if Wael can secure the freehold.
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The Gas
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 484
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Post by The Gas on Feb 21, 2016 13:50:52 GMT
The rrason for the naming rights is because we didnt have the money for the land. To get it built we had to give somethings up Potentially those naming rights are worth far more than the value of the land and the new owner is aware of that. Higgs didn't have the money to even try to buy the land but these guys do. It will be interesting to see if Wael can secure the freehold. Buying the Freehold could be a big boost.
But, that would enable loans/debts to be secured on the Stadium which is not possible at the moment.
Everyone will have to take a view on that.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 13:51:05 GMT
Here we are two days into ownership and somebody comes out with this. Can we not just wait and see what happens? or is that too much to expect? That "somebody" sits on the board of directors and was talking about it publicly yesterday. I thought it was worth repeating, and waiting and seeing is exactly what I'm doing.
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The Gas
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Post by The Gas on Feb 21, 2016 13:54:20 GMT
Sorry if this sounds NH bashing but UWE were beginning to screw us, remember, there is no signed Contract between UWE and BRFC. I would hazard a guess that they do want to build at UWE but not at any price. They will tell UWE what they want, how much they are prepared to pay and say if you do not agree we will go elsewhere. S Glous would be unhappy if it was elsewhere, even if it's in S Glous and hopefully will apply max pressure on UWE. UWE could be left with a vacant site. People will soon realise that they are no longer dealing with a reasonably wealthy builder but with mega rich individuals who invariably get what they want. On a totally different aspect and nothing to do with the thread title, I bet Barclays Bank would now jump at the chance of providing credit facilities to "little old Bristol Rovers", that brings a very broad smile to my face. If there is no contract with UWae than, i thing that is justifiable criticism We have gone about the Sainsburys contract and cock ups and blame, but even if we had got the money UWE could ask for more and we could have been bent over a barrel again. The saving grace now is we have a real financial player who has a stronger hand than NH ever had Peter - if there was a Contract in force, the new owners would be tied to it. Clearly they are not as they would not even suggest any alternatives.
Again, these owners have the upper hand and could walk away from anything that is not in the best interest of BRFC.
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
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Post by brizzle on Feb 21, 2016 13:56:57 GMT
I'm quite happy to sit back and relax now, knowing full well that the club is in the hands of people with international business acumen, and who are also football supporters. Clearly they didn't buy BRFC for its assets, so we can all relax on that one, which leaves me with the view that they wish (for whatever reason) to ''build'' this club, and at the same time their investment as well. It's well-documented that they have had a ''good look'' at everything about BRFC prior to purchase, from the court case, the new stadium/UWE situation, the infrastructure and the playing staff . . . and probably a few more things beside, and still decided to go ahead with the purchase, which at a stroke made Rovers debt-free. And they're keeping the quarters of course. So I'm not overly concerned what a friend of a friend may (or may not) have heard, or what the dogs uncle thinks of the new owners of the club. Because for the first time in decades I have a feeling of confidence that the club is going to be run in an organised and proper way, and that I can concentrate on the teams efforts on the pitch. It's a nice feeling to have, almost relaxing in fact.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 15:21:14 GMT
My concern is that the new owners don't realise how scarce stadium-sized development land is in the Bristol area, and rather than taking the opportunity to build at UWE, are looking for less onerous conditions elsewhere. The only hold up in the uwe project is the new owners wish to buy the freehold,they are committed to the build
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 16:16:44 GMT
My concern is that the new owners don't realise how scarce stadium-sized development land is in the Bristol area, and rather than taking the opportunity to build at UWE, are looking for less onerous conditions elsewhere. The only hold up in the uwe project is the new owners wish to buy the freehold,they are committed to the build They should tell Brian then
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Post by Henbury Gas on Feb 21, 2016 16:17:10 GMT
If the new owners decide to not build at the UWE maybe we could buy a site of Sainsbury who want to close a few of their superstores around Bristol. Now that whould be justice !
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
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Post by Bridgeman on Feb 21, 2016 17:06:19 GMT
The only hold up in the uwe project is the new owners wish to buy the freehold,they are committed to the build They should tell Brian then Maybe Brian hasn't been listening to the clubs new owner's interviews then because that's quite clearly what he indicated in his interview.....may be it would be better to listen to what he says rather than speculating ?
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kingswood Polak
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Post by kingswood Polak on Feb 21, 2016 18:15:31 GMT
Higgs was a desperate man at the end and everyone knew it, we are now negotiating from a position of strength. Certainly holed below the waterline. The decisions that NH would have made woukd have been from a weakened position. Then there was the part about having no external debt. There was no way that, even if we won the court case, we would have been able to fund it and the rising costs of labour & debt being piled up. Nick got out of Dodge and before he woukd have had to deal with repayment of the loan and other creditors.
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vaughan
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Post by vaughan on Feb 21, 2016 21:00:03 GMT
Go to Radio Bristol and Twentyman's 6pm programme from 19th Feb. At 36 minutes in, I asked the question the new Chairman about ownership and had 2 answers
1. it is not dependent on Sainsbury's HC decision 2. the ground would "ideally" be 100% owned by BRFC (freehold), but may need some partners. This is clear to me that we are still in negotiation with UWE on the commercial basis for the UWE deal.
In short we have to be patient and let negotiations take their course. It will be UWE, but on what basis is unclear at this time.
Gasincider wrote this tonight
In answer to some issues on here, it was indeed a US/BRITISH consortium, headed by people with extensive experience in our football structure. I've not been told not to name them, but will do so only if I am told it's ok. Funding was never an issue.
Suffice to say, if anyone watched points west on Friday night, Ally Durden confirmed that as late as 10 days ago the other group seemed to be about to go public, but an hour before they were going out on Points West, The press release was pulled. Why? I don't know, but Higgs didn't help by refusing to talk to them, so they were going to appeal to the public so we would all know.
Details of their offer are now unimportant as we have new owners.
If you look on the other forum someone has raised the idea that UWE may not happen. That is indeed correct. As I understand it this plays a big part in NH's quick decision to stand aside. He was looking at a joint venture with our new owner and probably the UWE.
Basically, it seems but not certain that UWE had priced him out of the ability to provide the UWE, and our owners said they wouldn't do a joint venture, but would now only consider a full takeover of the club, the major condition of which was that all equity board members had to immediately stand down. NH therefore had no option but to sell up, and this forced the hand of the others. Apparently EW was not a happy bunny yesterday, so that probably means he didn't get as much out of it as he wanted. That has to be a good thing.
Our new owners, quite rightly don't want to be held to ransom by UWE, and that is why they want the freehold of the site. I understand but cannot confirm, that UWE wanted £8m for the site ( on a leasehold basis)and Rovers gave them the naming rights for the equivalent sum. Now however it seems that UWE have upped the price to about £11m. There is also the matter of car parking fees at UWE. We wanted the fees relating to matchday parking, but UWE wanted the lot. That is equivalent to approximately £400k per season.
Quite rightly, that money should be ours. So I don't blame our new owners for wanting to alter the terms. Christ, UWE are getting the use of a state of the art stadium with lots of student facilities free of charge. Talk about useless negotiating skills. We were being hung out to dry.
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Post by PessimistGas on Feb 21, 2016 21:20:06 GMT
Go to Radio Bristol and Twentyman's 6pm programme from 19th Feb. At 36 minutes in, I asked the question the new Chairman about ownership and had 2 answers 1. it is not dependent on Sainsbury's HC decision 2. the ground would "ideally" be 100% owned by BRFC (freehold), but may need some partners. This is clear to me that we are still in negotiation with UWE on the commercial basis for the UWE deal. In short we have to be patient and let negotiations take their course. It will be UWE, but on what basis is unclear at this time. Gasincider wrote this tonight In answer to some issues on here, it was indeed a US/BRITISH consortium, headed by people with extensive experience in our football structure. I've not been told not to name them, but will do so only if I am told it's ok. Funding was never an issue. Suffice to say, if anyone watched points west on Friday night, Ally Durden confirmed that as late as 10 days ago the other group seemed to be about to go public, but an hour before they were going out on Points West, The press release was pulled. Why? I don't know, but Higgs didn't help by refusing to talk to them, so they were going to appeal to the public so we would all know. Details of their offer are now unimportant as we have new owners. If you look on the other forum someone has raised the idea that UWE may not happen. That is indeed correct. As I understand it this plays a big part in NH's quick decision to stand aside. He was looking at a joint venture with our new owner and probably the UWE. Basically, it seems but not certain that UWE had priced him out of the ability to provide the UWE, and our owners said they wouldn't do a joint venture, but would now only consider a full takeover of the club, the major condition of which was that all equity board members had to immediately stand down. NH therefore had no option but to sell up, and this forced the hand of the others. Apparently EW was not a happy bunny yesterday, so that probably means he didn't get as much out of it as he wanted. That has to be a good thing. Our new owners, quite rightly don't want to be held to ransom by UWE, and that is why they want the freehold of the site. I understand but cannot confirm, that UWE wanted £8m for the site ( on a leasehold basis)and Rovers gave them the naming rights for the equivalent sum. Now however it seems that UWE have upped the price to about £11m. There is also the matter of car parking fees at UWE. We wanted the fees relating to matchday parking, but UWE wanted the lot. That is equivalent to approximately £400k per season. Quite rightly, that money should be ours. So I don't blame our new owners for wanting to alter the terms. Christ, UWE are getting the use of a state of the art stadium with lots of student facilities free of charge. Talk about useless negotiating skills. We were being hung out to dry. To be fair to Nick he was negotiating from a position of increasing desperation and it looks like UWE have been exploiting this fact to the full. Had he not managed to sell the club we could have been looking at oblivion come the Wonga loan deadline. Like a pissed up gambler, Higgs stuck it all on the UWE and pursuing a court case we never had any chance of winning. Looks like he got away with it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2016 21:20:15 GMT
wow, a lot to take in. So all I can say is it looks like NH was really on the last throw of the dice. Why the other consortium never went public is a thing only they can answer, we now are where we are, the more I dig into the new owners the happier I seem to be, also as a side issue I hope the Prince wins the FIFA vote.
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Post by PessimistGas on Feb 21, 2016 22:08:07 GMT
wow, a lot to take in. So all I can say is it looks like NH was really on the last throw of the dice. Why the other consortium never went public is a thing only they can answer, we now are where we are, the more I dig into the new owners the happier I seem to be, also as a side issue I hope the Prince wins the FIFA vote. There was never any contract in place with UWE, just Nick over a barrel with his pants down and a supposedly watertight contract to sell the Mem not worth the paper it is written on.
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vaughan
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Post by vaughan on Feb 21, 2016 22:08:10 GMT
Having read more info, then his experience in harsh world of banking and relevant qualification from Harvard will give him a strong hand when it comes to "hard-ball" negotiations with UWE. I think that UWE will happen (UK planning rules being the main constraint against an alternative), but the commercials may have to be reformed before agreement is reached. Henbury will be able to provide us insight into how those negotiations are progressing via S Glos ITKs Fun times ahead, but this guy versus Higgs in the negotiation chair? **** Wael was a core team member of HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein’s successful campaign to be elected as FIFA VP in 2011. Wael is the assistant general manager at Arab Jordan Investment Bank, with over 25 years of managerial experience in banking. He attended Westminster School in London before graduating from Boston University , USA in 1991 with a BA degree major in Computer Science and minor in Business Administration. Wael completed training in investment banking at Hambros Bank London in 1991, and completed the Credit Training Program from JP Morgan Chase NY in 1995. He completed the Senior Executive Program for the Middle East from Harvard University Business School in 1991 and the Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making Program also from Harvard University Business School in 1993. Wael is passionate about football, loves to play, watch and attend football matches and tournaments, and is heavily involved In little leagues and kids’ football academies in Jordan and is a board member in Amman FC academy. He is also a member of the marketing committee at the JFA.
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Post by chippenhamgas on Feb 21, 2016 22:41:06 GMT
Having read more info, then his experience in harsh world of banking and relevant qualification from Harvard will give him a strong hand when it comes to "hard-ball" negotiations with UWE. I think that UWE will happen (UK planning rules being the main constraint against an alternative), but the commercials may have to be reformed before agreement is reached. Henbury will be able to provide us insight into how those negotiations are progressing via S Glos ITKs Fun times ahead, but this guy versus Higgs in the negotiation chair? **** Wael was a core team member of HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein’s successful campaign to be elected as FIFA VP in 2011. Wael is the assistant general manager at Arab Jordan Investment Bank, with over 25 years of managerial experience in banking. He attended Westminster School in London before graduating from Boston University , USA in 1991 with a BA degree major in Computer Science and minor in Business Administration. Wael completed training in investment banking at Hambros Bank London in 1991, and completed the Credit Training Program from JP Morgan Chase NY in 1995. He completed the Senior Executive Program for the Middle East from Harvard University Business School in 1991 and the Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making Program also from Harvard University Business School in 1993. Wael is passionate about football, loves to play, watch and attend football matches and tournaments, and is heavily involved In little leagues and kids’ football academies in Jordan and is a board member in Amman FC academy. He is also a member of the marketing committee at the JFA. At last, a factual post about the guy's qualities rather than speculative posts about how much bloody money he's got!
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Post by Curly Wurly on Feb 22, 2016 0:14:51 GMT
.....Wael was a core team member of HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein’s successful campaign to be elected as FIFA VP in 2011. Wael is the assistant general manager at Arab Jordan Investment Bank, with over 25 years of managerial experience in banking. He attended Westminster School in London before graduating from Boston University , USA in 1991 with a BA degree major in Computer Science ...... So we got the person with IT skills on the board after all!
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