brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
No Buy . . . No Sell!
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 4,293
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Post by brizzle on Oct 20, 2014 17:26:38 GMT
Tbats all well and good but Geoff has hardly helped himself at times. The countless tosser smilies on the official forum is hardly the level headed or reasoned response of a custodian f the club. I have no time for someone who instructs a decent man to lie to someone either. You see GD on twitter and he is symptomatic of the "its someone elses fault" that has engulfes BRFC for years. Thanks for what he did 30 years ago, but you cant keep living off that Padstow, the fact remains that it was his father who had the business acumen, the ability and the drive to save the club and that is something I shall always thank the Dunford family for. GD may have been part of that, and full credit for whatever part he played at that time supporting his father (and others). However it was under GD's stewardship that the club started moving from being a club for the fans to a business and a poor performing business at that. The so called Twerton spirit has long disappeared. You can see that in the way fans react to defeats and the way some players are now roundly abused. It also has to be said GD laid the foundation for a lot of people turning against him by his own actions from the mid 2000s onwards which included threatening anyone who disagreed with him with legal action. His paranoia at any form of criticism and the many threats he made have been one of the primary (but not the only) reasons for the divide in supporters. That divide is easily identified on here. I am ambivalent towards the man as I have never had to do business with him nor have I ever been threatened with legal action by him as many others have. I have not had to endure expensive discussions with lawyers or responding to threatening letters as some have.
I do however find it strange that he is now taking a higher profile and openly supporting certain members of the BoD whatever he says about taking a "back seat". I am sure he has his reasons. Perhaps it is a sign that his health is better and having left the BoD he feels more able to take a more vocal role. Blimey that's firing from the hip, and no mistake . . . culminating in the highlighted paragraphs. No fence-sitting here then, eh?
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Cheshiregas
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Post by Cheshiregas on Oct 20, 2014 18:11:08 GMT
Padstow, the fact remains that it was his father who had the business acumen, the ability and the drive to save the club and that is something I shall always thank the Dunford family for. GD may have been part of that, and full credit for whatever part he played at that time supporting his father (and others). However it was under GD's stewardship that the club started moving from being a club for the fans to a business and a poor performing business at that. The so called Twerton spirit has long disappeared. You can see that in the way fans react to defeats and the way some players are now roundly abused. It also has to be said GD laid the foundation for a lot of people turning against him by his own actions from the mid 2000s onwards which included threatening anyone who disagreed with him with legal action. His paranoia at any form of criticism and the many threats he made have been one of the primary (but not the only) reasons for the divide in supporters. That divide is easily identified on here. I am ambivalent towards the man as I have never had to do business with him nor have I ever been threatened with legal action by him as many others have. I have not had to endure expensive discussions with lawyers or responding to threatening letters as some have.
I do however find it strange that he is now taking a higher profile and openly supporting certain members of the BoD whatever he says about taking a "back seat". I am sure he has his reasons. Perhaps it is a sign that his health is better and having left the BoD he feels more able to take a more vocal role. Blimey that's firing from the hip, and no mistake . . . culminating in the highlighted paragraphs. No fence-sitting here then, eh? Some people I know have had to go through that though Brizzle.... luckily I haven't Sadly I think a lot of his problems have in my opinion been of his own making. I would say he did irritate me when extolling the virtues of his being a Christian while at the same time his actions threatening people with legal action behind the scenes being totally the opposite. What I would say though is I am pleased that his health seems to have improved. I would certainly not wish the illness on anyone.
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
No Buy . . . No Sell!
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 4,293
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Post by brizzle on Oct 20, 2014 18:26:54 GMT
Blimey that's firing from the hip, and no mistake . . . culminating in the highlighted paragraphs. No fence-sitting here then, eh? Some people I know have had to go through that though Brizzle.... luckily I haven't Sadly I think a lot of his problems have in my opinion been of his own making. I would say he did irritate me when extolling the virtues of his being a Christian while at the same time his actions threatening people with legal action behind the scenes being totally the opposite. What I would say though is I am pleased that his health seems to have improved. I would certainly not wish the illness on anyone. Reminds me of the old line . . . ''You may think that, but I couldn't possibly comment.'' As for the rest, I haven't had any dealings with the man at all so there's no personal knowledge on my part. But like you I'm pleased that his health is apparently improving
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tuckbox
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 19
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Post by tuckbox on Oct 20, 2014 18:58:17 GMT
We attended a load of meetings with the FC after leaving Eastville and before moving to Twerton, all run by Geoff D, and only at the last one was Denis present. However that night he spoke with a passion and commitment that set the tone for the first 4 years at Twerton, all in it together and fighting for each other. Unfortunately slowly but surely the mood at that final pre season meeting has been chipped away. Started with the sacking of Rofe, spending hundreds and hundreds of thousands on 3 players from QPR and apart from an intitial blip under Holloway where fans and club were together again the club has gradually but slowly and surely moved away from its fan base, and the realism fans have about our predicament and finances. Fans have been saying for most of the last 20 years under GD and others we are not structured properly to live within our means and make the best of our opportunity afforded by very good crowd figures considering mainly failure over most of that period (eg 2007 and a cup run in 2008). Our non league status has been an accident waiting to happen and a few exceptional talents up front delayed that realisation. Some one said GD hasnt been involved for 3 years- I've been trying to tell people for over the 12 months I have directly observed the issue from behind the Exec boxes about his withdrawal from everything except funding failure but few listen (and even fewer actually know the people involved, a fact made clear by many of the comments above). Its with some relief that the finances have been reigned in, except if you cut to deep to quick, you end up with a lightweight squad, no quality in final third, and a lot of missed opportunities on and off the field.That is where we are, although judging by groups whispering in corridors on Saturday and Higgs saying funding is being made available to expand the squad there are changes afoot. Where are the issues 1. over reliance on UWE and under optomisation of present commercial opportunity - go to Mem on non match day and you will see little going on despite everyone telling me availability of meeting and conference spaces in Bristol is hard to come by.As I understand it we are probably doing as much as an over stressed back office staff can do so its the usual rag bag Rovers mentality (and I've seen nothing which tells me UWE will be any different, probably a build it and UWE will rent space mentality if anything) 2. running everything on the cheap rather than spending in areas which can become profit centres ie scouting systems - so many times fans have offered to scout, many do so for League and non League sides already, and would do it for free for Rovers if it helped, but not one has ever been contacted to my knowledge. 3. lack of focus on the important issues ie training facilities all levels of the club can use, initiatives to use fan data to maximise sales and revenue I could go on and on. GD stands accused on these issues, we needed to be rag bag 30 years ago, but with our support, customer potential and goodwill of devoted followers we should be doing far better if properly run and not with a 'Tony the Till' type management. I've said it before if I was on the Board I'd be having a whip round to recruit a proper CEO with experience running football and commercial side of things properly with a profit/reward by performance income structure in place and try doing things properly rather than on a shoe string. Who knows it may actually work........lord knows lots of the last 20 years or so certainly have not. Windfalls have kept us alive, and they are going to be few and far between. Knowing us luck and chemistry will lead to a cup run, Trophy and Play off final appearances and another mask to the underlying issues. ANd another nail will be added to the coffin Spot on analysis. After 20 years doing something you are usually where you deserve to be, and although there have been highs our club has sunk lower and lower. Higgs cannot stop the rot, but Dunford is the architect of the decay.
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zfc
Bobby Zamora
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 441
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Post by zfc on Oct 20, 2014 19:00:36 GMT
Shame that his manipulations saved the club, shame him and his family put money into the club to save it, they should have let it die then maybe YOU would be happy. I find your comments offensive and bang out of order. You should hang your head in shame. So Mr Polak just what have YOU done to help BRFC? Nothing, nothing but moan moan moan. The man did what he thought was best for the club at the time he did it, at least respect THAT!!!!!!!! Lets get it right it was his father who saved the club and made the decisions that allowed Rovers to flourish at Bath. I have met Geoff Dunford numerous times and he seemed a decent stand up bloke,his actions though suggest he is a smallminded,spiteful individual who never put the club first.His treatment of Colin Williams and his wife shows what a classless nasty vindictive person Geoff Dunford is and the way he controlled the original forum banning people willy nilly who spoke out shows he is a man of little tolerance. No time for him now he was also the puppet master during Ron Craigs reign while pretending to have taken a backseat the same as he was the puppet master during Higgs first few years. If Rovers fans really think that Geoff Dunford is a Rovers legend and a great bloke who saved the club then you have got the non league laughing stock shambles of a club you deserve.
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Post by a more piratey game on Oct 20, 2014 19:20:09 GMT
If it wasn't for the Dufords you would be a s***head, or a plastic Prem fan, and that is a fact its many things, but a fact is something that it is not I think
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Cheshiregas
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Post by Cheshiregas on Oct 20, 2014 21:39:52 GMT
If it wasn't for the Dufords you would be a s***head, or a plastic Prem fan, and that is a fact its many things, but a fact is something that it is not I think Agreed it's not a fact. I would certainly not be a City82er and would probably spend more time supporting my son's rugby team.
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Post by Nurse Ratched on Oct 20, 2014 21:43:49 GMT
Never let facts get in the way of a good rant.In 1986 Geoff met messrs Flook.Bradshaw and Parker who were going to close the club down,he agreed to take over the club from them together with the debts,it was a few weeks later that his father joined the board to bring his expertise to the saving of the club,on that day in 1986 if Geoff had not accepted the challenge there would be no Rovers to moan about.On a seperate note i always find if you approach a person in a calm manner you get a better response to that if you go at them telling them what you think etc,maybe that is why KP did not get a good response to his overtures Tbats all well and good but Geoff has hardly helped himself at times. The countless tosser smilies on the official forum is hardly the level headed or reasoned response of a custodian f the club.I have no time for someone who instructs a decent man to lie to someone either. You see GD on twitter and he is symptomatic of the "its someone elses fault" that has engulfes BRFC for years. Thanks for what he did 30 years ago, but you cant keep living off thatReally!? Come on then Simon, tell us who you think he was on the official forum? This should be interesting. And who is this decent man and what is the lie? Jeeez. There is a lot of people need to get over themselves on here regarding Geoff Dunford. It was his negotiating skills that brought Rovers back from Bath. It was his foresight of negotiating a clause to buy the whole ground for £10,000 from the Rugby Club in the event of bankruptcy when we were offered joint ownership for £2 million. The stadium is now our greatest asset which was handed to us on a plate from the position of having NOTHING.
We all are certainly living off that one!
Now, if people cannot appreciated the magnitude of this manoeuvre in the grand scheme of this club's history, then they really have lost their sense of perspective. I for one will be eternally thankful for this one act that gives us such a great chance to progress the club in the future. It really is shameful ridiculous the amount of rancor stirred up at the very mention of his name. He is a Bristol Rovers supporter. Give the bloke a break.
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Post by aldershotgas on Oct 20, 2014 21:55:59 GMT
"If it wasn't for the Dufords you would be a s***head, or a plastic Prem fan, and that is a fact"
Totally disagree LP - if Rovers Didn't exist I would support neither....so no it is NOT a fact. There is one FACT here, Geoff Dunford in the last 6 years has done nothing but Bad for this club....NOW THAT IS A FACT !
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Peter Parker
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Richard Walker
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Post by Peter Parker on Oct 21, 2014 5:34:30 GMT
Tbats all well and good but Geoff has hardly helped himself at times. The countless tosser smilies on the official forum is hardly the level headed or reasoned response of a custodian f the club.I have no time for someone who instructs a decent man to lie to someone either. You see GD on twitter and he is symptomatic of the "its someone elses fault" that has engulfes BRFC for years. Thanks for what he did 30 years ago, but you cant keep living off thatReally!? Come on then Simon, tell us who you think he was on the official forum? This should be interesting. And who is this decent man and what is the lie? Jeeez. There is a lot of people need to get over themselves on here regarding Geoff Dunford. It was his negotiating skills that brought Rovers back from Bath. It was his foresight of negotiating a clause to buy the whole ground for £10,000 from the Rugby Club in the event of bankruptcy when we were offered joint ownership for £2 million. The stadium is now our greatest asset which was handed to us on a plate from the position of having NOTHING.
We all are certainly living off that one!
Now, if people cannot appreciated the magnitude of this manoeuvre in the grand scheme of this club's history, then they really have lost their sense of perspective. I for one will be eternally thankful for this one act that gives us such a great chance to progress the club in the future. It really is shameful ridiculous the amount of rancor stirred up at the very mention of his name. He is a Bristol Rovers supporter. Give the bloke a break. Geoff used Geoff Dunford on the official forum many years ago, and he would often use the tosser smilie in reply. I am sure someone will back me up on that. I wont mention the name but sure you can work it out, but When myself and the others were told we were no longer wanted to write for the programme, said man refused to give us the official line that space was needed for stadium regeneration news. As for the Mem. You know it was all Geoffs idea do you? Hell even that is nearly twenty fecking years ago now. There are a lot of people involved in that and some that are still being paid back for it. I dont hate the man. He has done good for BRFC, but he has let the club and himself down on a number of occasions as well. Try and enjoy retirement Geoff
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2014 5:41:39 GMT
Shame that his manipulations saved the club, shame him and his family put money into the club to save it, they should have let it die then maybe YOU would be happy. I find your comments offensive and bang out of order. You should hang your head in shame. So Mr Polak just what have YOU done to help BRFC? Nothing, nothing but moan moan moan. The man did what he thought was best for the club at the time he did it, at least respect THAT!!!!!!!! Lets get it right it was his father who saved the club and made the decisions that allowed Rovers to flourish at Bath. I have met Geoff Dunford numerous times and he seemed a decent stand up bloke,his actions though suggest he is a smallminded,spiteful individual who never put the club first.His treatment of Colin Williams and his wife shows what a classless nasty vindictive person Geoff Dunford is and the way he controlled the original forum banning people willy nilly who spoke out shows he is a man of little tolerance. No time for him now he was also the puppet master during Ron Craigs reign while pretending to have taken a backseat the same as he was the puppet master during Higgs first few years. If Rovers fans really think that Geoff Dunford is a Rovers legend and a great bloke who saved the club then you have got the non league laughing stock shambles of a club you deserve. oh dear..... i think you are wrong but thats just my opinion, just like yours,worth nothing
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Post by DudeLebowski on Oct 21, 2014 6:31:53 GMT
Haven't ever met Dunford, never will meet Dunford. But if I choose to be royally f***ed off, that he and his band of boardroom chums dragged this club to the lowest point in it's history, a mere 5 years after being 3rd in league one.... It means I have an AGENDA against him?! Not entirely sure you could make this up. If it wasn't for the Dufords you would be a s***head, or a plastic Prem fan, and that is a fact Orrrrrr I'd probably have followed Cheltenham Town like my dear old uncle. Where was that in your dude facts??
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Post by fatherjackhackett on Oct 21, 2014 6:39:50 GMT
Geoff Dunford has tweeted that he will be writing a book
Thinking it should be called The GoD Delusion!!
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Peter Parker
Global Moderator
Richard Walker
You have been sentenced to DELETION!
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Post by Peter Parker on Oct 21, 2014 6:47:00 GMT
Geoff Dunford has tweeted that he will be writing a book Thinking it should be called The GoD Delusion!! As long as he includes the ugly
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2014 6:48:34 GMT
Geoff Dunford has tweeted that he will be writing a book Thinking it should be called The GoD Delusion!! Got to be a bestseller !
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dagnogo
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 872
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Post by dagnogo on Oct 21, 2014 6:59:12 GMT
Shame that his manipulations saved the club, shame him and his family put money into the club to save it, they should have let it die then maybe YOU would be happy. I find your comments offensive and bang out of order. You should hang your head in shame. So Mr Polak just what have YOU done to help BRFC? Nothing, nothing but moan moan moan. The man did what he thought was best for the club at the time he did it, at least respect THAT!!!!!!!! Lets get it right it was his father who saved the club and made the decisions that allowed Rovers to flourish at Bath. I have met Geoff Dunford numerous times and he seemed a decent stand up bloke,his actions though suggest he is a smallminded,spiteful individual who never put the club first.His treatment of Colin Williams and his wife shows what a classless nasty vindictive person Geoff Dunford is and the way he controlled the original forum banning people willy nilly who spoke out shows he is a man of little tolerance. No time for him now he was also the puppet master during Ron Craigs reign while pretending to have taken a backseat the same as he was the puppet master during Higgs first few years. If Rovers fans really think that Geoff Dunford is a Rovers legend and a great bloke who saved the club then you have got the non league laughing stock shambles of a club you deserve. Shane, You and I disagree on almost everything but that's the best post I've read on this or any other forum. People can point to the Mem if they like - thanks to him and his friends' incompetnce we now have to sell it just to pay off debts that Geoff and friends will get back with interest. This idea that he's heavily involved when times are good and not involved at all when times are bad shows that his supporters are as deluded as he is.
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Peter Parker
Global Moderator
Richard Walker
You have been sentenced to DELETION!
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Post by Peter Parker on Oct 21, 2014 7:11:40 GMT
Geoff Dunford has tweeted that he will be writing a book Thinking it should be called The GoD Delusion!! brilliant reply here
@geoffdunford How will you get round the confidentiality clauses other Directors have to abide by? @briseymoursmith
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Post by mancgas has left the building on Oct 21, 2014 12:01:52 GMT
Geoff Dunford has tweeted that he will be writing a book Thinking it should be called The GoD Delusion!! brilliant reply here
@geoffdunford How will you get round the confidentiality clauses other Directors have to abide by? @briseymoursmith
simple he wont be bound by a confidentiality clause as he is still a shareholder and free to say anything Those bound by confidentiality were employees or negotiated as part of a share purchase agreement presumably
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tuckbox
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 19
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Post by tuckbox on Oct 21, 2014 12:44:08 GMT
Geoff Dunford has tweeted that he will be writing a book Thinking it should be called The GoD Delusion!! brilliant reply here
@geoffdunford How will you get round the confidentiality clauses other Directors have to abide by? @briseymoursmith
His enigmatic answer was "You'll have to read the book to find out". I wonder how many times we will hear that over the next year.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2014 12:55:29 GMT
That'll answer the accusations of egotism, then!
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