Dwane Developments UK Ltd Dissolved

Was a full assessment of this and other potential sites made and a long term strategy taken into account before deciding to build what we have started to build at Almondsbury ?

If so then I’m afraid it is a bigger cock up than I first thought.

To rush into building a club house from twenty year old plans and converting an old barn into a gymnasium was a crazy way to go about trying to create a modern training complex. My suggestion last year was to take our time and use an interim solution of leasing a training facility for a few years while we explored the best way of utilising the land at Almondsbury.

As it stands today we have committed to spending about £3.5 million on phase 1 of this development which consists of two pitches, the club house and the gym/medical room. To move forward to phase 2, which would include rebuilding the club house and putting in another pitch and an all weather pitch, would probably add another £1.5 million to the cost making a total of £5 million.

If you look at what we are planning to create and then look at what other clubs have done it is enough to break any Gashead’s heart.

There is simply no comparison between what Fleetwood got for £8 million and what we might get for £5 million but other clubs show up our lack of forethought for what it is. Lincoln City built their modern complex for £1.3 million and Mansfield Town for £2.0 million so it may be advisable not to google photos of those places when you know what we expect to get for £3.5 – 5 million.

Somewhere along the line it looks as though the homework has not been done and so Rovers are going to be paying at least double, maybe triple, what other clubs have paid for facilities which are superior to ours. But apart from the terrible value for money we have also missed out on the wonderful opportunity which the site at Almondsbury presented. We could have worked with the local council to jointly design something which served greater community needs, perhaps along the lines of an eco park, and in doing so created a unique and inspiring development with much greater potential for revenue generation. But not only that, if we had not gone at this like a bull at a gate we could have applied for a grant from the Premier League and FA Facilities Fund from which Mansfield received £500 000 towards the cost of their development.

We talk about the mistakes Wael has made and we like to think that those advising him are the ones to blame but there is always a lingering doubt about whether he is being given sensible advice but ignoring it. It would be good to know whether Wael was made aware of the benefits of leasing a training facility in order to provide time to properly investigate how best to realise the full potential of the Almondsbury site and at optimum cost.

It’s about working conditions too right? Do you remember the comments that Adam Virgo said a few months back about his time here? Training in one place, gym in another, treatment here, there or never at all, no thought to nutrition or eating.

We have had others about having to clear animal mess from pitches before training, portakabins for treatment rooms and offices.

The quarters is about building an infrastructure so we keep it under one roof, it’s only used by us and if it’s utilised by the managers should build and enhance performance.

If we rented CRC at £80k pa we would have to spend £500k setting up that infrastructure very easily and that’s not even putting a grade 2 pitch in for the players to train on. I’m sure CRC would be delighted to rent us that space especially if they got use out of it, they are getting something for nothing.

Yes it’s cheaper than building the quarters but is it a wise long term strategy. For me it’s not. The quarters however is.

I suspect that the third party ownership of the training ground might cause an issue with any grants from the FA for an EFL training ground. Yes we know at the moment the same people own both companies but I think there might be complications.  

Ok, it's not owned by Bristol Rovers Football Club but another company under the same umbrella. Swiss explained that the FA would consider grants if a lease was in place so not too complicated.

Which is quite normal when a majority shareholder hsa different companies all serving the same industry.

I give you an example.  My old employers McLaren Group.  The group has 6 companies under the "Group" banner.

McLaren Racing - F1 Team.
McLaren Automotive - Road Car Constructors.
McLaren Electronics - Electronic Development
McLaren Applied Technologies - Advanced cross industry application of technology.
McLaren Marketing - Handled all group marketing activity
Absolute Taste - The catering for group and F1 world travel.

All those companies were stadn alone businesses inside the "Group".  The group had the same shareholders as each business and the finances from each business led to the success of the "group", some loss making, like Racing and some profitable like Applied Technologies.

BRFC is similar in governance and structure.  The "group" is Dwane Sports.  The companies in that group are the FC, the TG and The Mem.  The ownership structure is the same as the "group" as is the companies, so there is no "3rd party ownership". That term was a lie pedaled by the SC, which surprises me given that Knowall/Fanatical is such an expert in company accounts and structure, you would have thought that he wouldnt allow such misinformation to embarrass them.

Which is quite normal when a majority shareholder hsa different companies all serving the same industry.

I give you an example.  My old employers McLaren Group.  The group has 6 companies under the "Group" banner.

McLaren Racing - F1 Team.
McLaren Automotive - Road Car Constructors.
McLaren Electronics - Electronic Development
McLaren Applied Technologies - Advanced cross industry application of technology.
McLaren Marketing - Handled all group marketing activity
Absolute Taste - The catering for group and F1 world travel.

All those companies were stadn alone businesses inside the "Group".  The group had the same shareholders as each business and the finances from each business led to the success of the "group", some loss making, like Racing and some profitable like Applied Technologies.

BRFC is similar in governance and structure.  The "group" is Dwane Sports.  The companies in that group are the FC, the TG and The Mem.  The ownership structure is the same as the "group" as is the companies, so there is no "3rd party ownership". That term was a lie pedaled by the SC, which surprises me given that Knowall/Fanatical is such an expert in company accounts and structure, you would have thought that he wouldnt allow such misinformation to embarrass them.

Are you sure ? I thought the date for that has passed. As usual, i can always be wrong 

And if you look at the accounts of McLaren in the last year they have had to sell MTC to raise cashflow and accept a bailout from Mumtalakhat and bank of Bahrain.  People who I know that still work there had their contracts torn up and reissued on lower pay to try and balance the books, so that business hasnt been rosy either.  But thats another discussion.

My point wasnt the size of the company or its stature in the sporting or business world, but the structure and governance of having a "group" and a set of companies within that group.

Bristol Sport is another you could look at for something a bit closer to home.  City, Rugby, Failand, Ashton Gate, Basketball all under the BS (theres a pun there) umbrella.  It doesnt matter what company you want to pick that has a holding group of companies, its a common set up and one which is always advised to give as much security, especially when one company might always be loss making, as possible.