Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2015 13:03:18 GMT
Great post Dagnogo and well on the money with the history, i don't know what went on with treatment of the fans after the Mansfield game, just trundled home numb and angry that box 1 were and still are so out of touch with how to run an FC properly. The chairman assures us the 'the same mistakes will not be made again' we don't or probably won't ever know what those mistakes are that the chairman refers to in their own eyes as the detail is not there to read, suffice to say following the latest press release it still doesn't add up to how and where the mistakes were made and how the BoD plan to eradicate this in future, never a dull moment eh! |
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Post by falsenumber9 on May 26, 2015 18:58:10 GMT
What an appalling thing to say, can only assume you didn't realise his wife was diagnosed with cancer mid way through his time as manager. If you were aware and still hold the thought that the FC should have been more important than his wife then I'm speechless. IMO JW was one of the most dignified managers we ever had, he was treated badly the first time around and then the same by the other lot over the river. Then when it went wrong this time due with a life threatening illness looming it wasn't long before the BoD found a scapegoat again, disgraceful way to deal with facing up to their own continual ragbag failures, proper in the gutter reactions with absolutely no compassion for what really matters. I didn't know that, no. As someone else said though - why stay in the job especially since he commuted from Birmingham? And why take the DoF job? The man surely has money, he's been a football manager for a quarter of a century, if he thought he couldn't do it, why continue to do it? My post wasn't even referring to how we did on the pitch - if I disliked every bad manager we ever had I wouldn't do anything else - it was his total dismissal of the supporters after Mansfield that disgusted me. "Some people just want to have a grumble" - he's just caused the club to exit the football league after 94 years for goodness sakes! You don't know much by the sounds of it. Totally idiotic stance to take when you factor in the big picture. He was saved us from the drop once and, IMO, we wouldn't have gone down if he hadn't been brushed aside by the board with 8 games to go. Clearly his final year in charge wasn't great but for the service he's given the club over the years, he deserves a certain amount of respect. The mismanagement of the club from the very top was the reason we ended up in the Conference, look no further than the board. 'We took our eye off the ball with the new stadium', a club director told me. And he wasn't wrong. The way he was treated by the board, i.e. using the word 'sacked' in the official club statement, still leaves a sour taste as it was no way to go about business in a professional manner. He totally dismissed supporters? I think I'm right in thinking he was the only official that day who came out in the most hostile of atmospheres and tried to communicate with supporters. I wish him and his family all the best for the future. |
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kingswood Polak
Without music life would be a mistake
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,354 
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John Ward
May 26, 2015 19:09:41 GMT
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Post by kingswood Polak on May 26, 2015 19:09:41 GMT
Ward did so much damage to this club with his arrogance and personal situation overtaking the work place that I really can't believe this topic!, How would you feel if your chairman went over your head and bought in Gow and have Eliot Richards as part of it and Gow never did a thing. This " its John Wards fault" stuff really has been taken hook, line and sinker. Truly dumbfounded. |
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kingswood Polak
Without music life would be a mistake
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,354
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John Ward
May 26, 2015 19:13:32 GMT
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Post by kingswood Polak on May 26, 2015 19:13:32 GMT
Ward can go f himself. If only for his disgraceful reaction to relegation. "Oh some people just wanted to have a grumble". Yeah because you half killed our football club you disgrace. Unnecessary and very poor show |
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John Ward
May 26, 2015 19:18:40 GMT
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Post by DudeLebowski on May 26, 2015 19:18:40 GMT
I can't be the only one here who didn't ever see Alan Gow kick a football for Bristol Rovers??
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dagnogo
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 872
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Post by dagnogo on May 26, 2015 19:22:11 GMT
I didn't know that, no. As someone else said though - why stay in the job especially since he commuted from Birmingham? And why take the DoF job? The man surely has money, he's been a football manager for a quarter of a century, if he thought he couldn't do it, why continue to do it? My post wasn't even referring to how we did on the pitch - if I disliked every bad manager we ever had I wouldn't do anything else - it was his total dismissal of the supporters after Mansfield that disgusted me. "Some people just want to have a grumble" - he's just caused the club to exit the football league after 94 years for goodness sakes! You don't know much by the sounds of it. Totally idiotic stance to take when you factor in the big picture. He was saved us from the drop once and, IMO, we wouldn't have gone down if he hadn't been brushed aside by the board with 8 games to go. Clearly his final year in charge wasn't great but for the service he's given the club over the years, he deserves a certain amount of respect. The mismanagement of the club from the very top was the reason we ended up in the Conference, look no further than the board. 'We took our eye off the ball with the new stadium', a club director told me. And he wasn't wrong. The way he was treated by the board, i.e. using the word 'sacked' in the official club statement, still leaves a sour taste as it was no way to go about business in a professional manner. He totally dismissed supporters? I think I'm right in thinking he was the only official that day who came out in the most hostile of atmospheres and tried to communicate with supporters. I wish him and his family all the best for the future. Well thanks for throwing insults. Obviously we can't all be in the know and hang out with all the cool kids who know everything like you Oh Wise One. Maybe we wouldn't have gone down if he had been kept on as manager - maybe we'd have reached the dizzy heights of 22nd instead with his squad of kids, loanees and JJOT, the laziest, least committed player I may have ever seen in the quarters. You'll see in my other threads (and pretty much anywhere I've posted) that the board are to blame for the club's sorry demise. Sorry that that makes your "totally idiotic" jibe invalid but I've never kept a secret about it. Doesn't detract from the fact that JW had a budget and blew it on 1 or 2 big money signings and left the rest of the squad to be filled with kids and short term loanees. Not to mention DC's opinion about the complete lack of commitment in many of that side. Sure, I feel for him for what went on outside football, but if you can't manage a club well don't do it. JW indeed spoke to supporters - I guess DC was too busy being too upset to walk and let's be fair, Higgs would've been lynched so maybe he stayed away for his own safety. He then said, when asked by local media: "Some of them just wanted to have a grumble". Of course they bloody did - his team just sent us into oblivion. |
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on May 26, 2015 19:26:40 GMT
Does anyone know how John's wife is by the way ?
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2015 19:48:10 GMT
Does anyone know how John's wife is by the way ? Hopefully she is pain free and not suffering. I think we all wish that. |
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Post by Somerset Blue on May 26, 2015 20:06:50 GMT
Ward did so much damage to this club with his arrogance and personal situation overtaking the work place that I really can't believe this topic!, How would you feel if your chairman went over your head and bought in Gow and have Eliot Richards as part of it and Gow never did a thing. This " its John Wards fault" stuff really has been taken hook, line and sinker. Truly dumbfounded.
Jules,
I think it was JW who set up the deal.....was told that at the time from someone inside the club but nothings cast iron where BRFC are involved... if you are sure it was Higgs then my hatred for him has risen even more ( if that's possible)
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2015 20:50:19 GMT
Does anyone know how John's wife is by the way ? I really hope she is on the mend, it is after all far much more important than relegation, I guess some are too young to experience the pain of loss or the threat of it of loved ones to measure against dropping a division in the football spectrum. Despite the failure of his last tenure (with very good reason) he will always go down as a Rovers favourite for me from his first stint at Rovers with the dignity and professionalism he showed on both occasions. A mate no longer with us once said there were two managers that did the power of good at Rovers during their time in his opinion of following Rovers over 50 years. Malcolm Alison for regularly getting us in the national newspapers and getting us loads of publicity, and John Ward for bringing respect and grace to the club while surrounded by snakes. It came as no surprise to learn that JW visited my mate last year at his home in his final days prior to passing away, a touch of class fitting of the bloke that would never be overshadowed with a season in the conference. Somethings are much more important than football and life and death are two of them. |
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Post by OasisGas on May 26, 2015 21:46:43 GMT
Does anyone know how John's wife is by the way ? I really hope she is on the mend, it is after all far much more important than relegation, I guess some are too young to experience the pain of loss or the threat of it of loved ones to measure against dropping a division in the football spectrum. Despite the failure of his last tenure (with very good reason) he will always go down as a Rovers favourite for me from his first stint at Rovers with the dignity and professionalism he showed on both occasions. A mate no longer with us once said there were two managers that did the power of good at Rovers during their time in his opinion of following Rovers over 50 years. Malcolm Alison for regularly getting us in the national newspapers and getting us loads of publicity, and John Ward for bringing respect and grace to the club while surrounded by snakes. It came as no surprise to learn that JW visited my mate last year at his home in his final days prior to passing away, a touch of class fitting of the bloke that would never be overshadowed with a season in the conference. Somethings are much more important than football and life and death are two of them. Well said mate. When the final whistle went against Mansfield I thought "s*** we're down" then went upstairs to sit with Mum who was battling Cancer and that night went into Oncology and the only thing in my mind that time was Mum nothing else. Mum sadly lost her battle on the 1st April this year and if you gave me the choice of swapping Mum still being here healthy instead of us getting promoted I would have taken Mum everytime. Yes Wardy made mistakes but he was the only person with the balls to face the fans whilst others just wanted to hide. Some fans say that your personal life shouldn't effect or be brought into your work but those fans obviously have never had to see a loved one battle an illness and no matter how hard you try to block it out it or carry on as normal it will always be on your mind. Maybe Wardy should have been stronger when he wanted to step down but maybe the board begged him to stay on and he didn't wanna let them down instead of them granting his wishes at the start of the season. I will still be grateful for Wardy when he came back because he got the club united again after the disaster of Buckle and Mcghee. His final season was not great and I'm sure he will admit his has to take part of the blame for that but lets no kid ourselves, the club was in freefall long before Wardy came back and hopefully relegation was a case of 1 step back 2 steps forwards for the club. Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom before it open peoples eyes and lets hope that the lesson has be learnt. Hope John's wife is as comfortable as can be and that her suffering will ease soon. |
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markwind
Joined: September 2014
Posts: 92
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Post by markwind on May 27, 2015 0:36:07 GMT
It's interesting to see which managers have had success with us. When we were looking at other manager options post-MM and post-Buckle, there was often the call for someone who is experienced enough to get us out of the mess we were in.
My reply to that was that the last two managers to have success (promotion essentially) with us were young and inexperienced. Francis had barely any experience, Trollope was a transfer listed midfielder. If you include Olly in there as well.
Darrell Clarke very much fits that bill. 'too young' 'over his head' 'inexperienced' as opposed to the likes of Ray Graydon, John Ward, MM etc etc. Experience isn't always the solution, especially in a game that is changing by the day.
I really feel that we have in DC, someone who can again get into the top 10 longest serving managers in the FL as Trollope did. Funnily enough I do see some slight similarities with Buckle, who I think WAS a promising manager and did have a good eye for a signing at times. His downfall was that he was a complete c*ck! DC knows that the rapport with the fans is essential, something that PB royally failed at!
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kingswood Polak
Without music life would be a mistake
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,354
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John Ward
May 27, 2015 8:09:43 GMT
via mobile
Post by kingswood Polak on May 27, 2015 8:09:43 GMT
How would you feel if your chairman went over your head and bought in Gow and have Eliot Richards as part of it and Gow never did a thing. This " its John Wards fault" stuff really has been taken hook, line and sinker. Truly dumbfounded.
Jules,
I think it was JW who set up the deal.....was told that at the time from someone inside the club but nothings cast iron where BRFC are involved... if you are sure it was Higgs then my hatred for him has risen even more ( if that's possible)
Stone cold positive and if I meet you I will tel you as I have learned not to divulge such stuff on here |
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Post by Somerset Blue on May 27, 2015 18:35:01 GMT
Jules,
I think it was JW who set up the deal.....was told that at the time from someone inside the club but nothings cast iron where BRFC are involved... if you are sure it was Higgs then my hatred for him has risen even more ( if that's possible)
Stone cold positive and if I meet you I will tel you as I have learned not to divulge such stuff on here Let's have a beer next season mate .... Will be a pleasure to buy you one ! |
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The Gas
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 484
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Post by The Gas on May 27, 2015 18:50:33 GMT
All will be revealed in GD's forthcoming book.
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kingswood Polak
Without music life would be a mistake
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 10,354
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John Ward
May 29, 2015 13:09:47 GMT
via mobile
Post by kingswood Polak on May 29, 2015 13:09:47 GMT
Stone cold positive and if I meet you I will tel you as I have learned not to divulge such stuff on here Let's have a beer next season mate .... Will be a pleasure to buy you one ! That sound lovely to me right now. The last drink o had was at Wembley. Been in & out of bloody hospital since. I'll drop my details to you in a private message |
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