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Post by swissgas on Nov 12, 2020 22:51:43 GMT
At a time of crisis and uncertainty every sensible business owner knows that you preserve your cash. The last thing you do is throw it at a completely unplanned capital investment which will actually increase your day to day running costs. To do that is foolhardy in the extreme and I was hoping, even though we disagree on many things, that you would back me up when I made that point. Now the open letter tells us that the financial situation is £ 2 million worse than expected, which is ironically about the amount spent on the training ground, and that we need someone to bail us out. In what sense are you using the term ‘unplanned’ Swiss? We know that costings had been obtained previously (Hani balked at them) and that more competitive tenders were received this time. Or do you mean that this seems to have been out of the blue, rather than part of an existing plan? There is the possibility that increased public usage (rather like the Fleetwood model), could generate an income stream to ameliorate the costs of running the training ground. However that will take more investment and a new planning permission. In 2018, when Evans Jones Surveyors were commissioned to produce a plan for the training ground I thought it was an excellent sign. A job worth doing is worth doing well and by looking at what other clubs had done and using professionals to come up with a plan to meet our requirements and make maximum use of the site I thought we were going about things the right way. Such a scheme would have been carried out in close co-operation with South Gloucestershire Council and therefore we would have been sure of gaining permission for the maximum amount of revenue generating activities as they felt were justifiable. But nothing more was ever heard of Evans Jones and by early 2020 the lease at Cribbs had been allowed to run down without an alternative being secured. Then Wael came into some money and without thinking things through properly decided to resurrect twenty year old plans which the rugby club had drawn up. By going ahead with this, "out of the blue" as you say, I am doubtful whether there has been much co-operation with the planners and the best we are going to end up with will be two or three pitches, a 4000 sq ft club house and a remotely situated gymnasium. There is no possibility of generating any income from this in the short term and by rushing into an ad hoc development rather than waiting and planning it out carefully the cost of turning it into something more commercial in the future will be extremely high even if permission is granted and we have the money. Being a bit of a thinker I've pondered over this and genuinely feel it is a wasted opportunity. If we had held the majority of the cash in reserve and instead invested a small amount in a longer term development plan for the site, which would involve commercial partnerships, then things could look far rosier now. The club would be in a much stronger financial position to weather this crisis, our players would now be training at a better interim facility, Gasheads would be looking at artists impressions of our future "AXA? sponsored training ground and sports centre", we would be the blue eyed boys as far as South Gloucestershire were concerned and potential new investors would be impressed by our business acumen. Maybe I'm dreaming
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Post by bangkokgas on Nov 14, 2020 13:01:07 GMT
We also have to take into consideration the effect that Covid-19 has had (and will continue to have) on the financial situation. The Covid-19 aspect is not within Wael's control, and will have to be figured into the analysis going forward. Just as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK, Wael paid off all the club debts. We must be very grateful for that. We must also be very grateful that Wael is willing to do the following: 1. Continue to cover the losses due to Covid-19. 2. Invest in the playing squad and infrastructure. The impact of Covid-19 will probably be with our club for a long time, so just bashing Wael because the debt is growing again is not fair in my opinion. I do agree that costs not attributed to Covid-19 are fair game for analysis and scrutiny. Like the rest of the country (and world), we have to endure this period and ensure we do our part to ensure that our football club survives. If we can also move forward then this is a bonus. We are very lucky to be in the situation we are in. It could be a lot, lot worse...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2020 22:03:12 GMT
I can only reiterate the experience we’ve seen over here with the two formally basket case clubs in Cardiff and Swansea that now occupy solid championship status. They formed a solid plan to move forward centred on getting 20,000 plus stadiums built and stuck to it. Both clubs totally involved their support bases and moved forward with a clear vision nothing cloak and dagger, a unified project. We just bounce from one bulls**t non project to another, Stoke Gifford to Mangotsfield to Severnside to a rebuilt Mem to some suggestion that we may be heading to where the fruit market currently resides, all nebulous and so far nothing more than sops to quell a disgruntled fan base. I don’t include the UWE in that number because if that had been acted on correctly and swiftly that was the one project that in principal held water, but as usual we fart arsed about rather than driving the project to fruition. We drift through a cycle of crisis and limited success buffeted by storms created by debt and the consequences of no credibility either with fans or prospective partners. Losses are the result of bad business practices, the failure to plan within your means, the failure to plan at all and just wing it hoping for the best. Wael has in fact done more than many previous owners albeit the crisis the Dunfords, Vernon Stokes, Roy Redman and others fought off has never really been fully appreciated by most fans the lessons learned then were all too quickly forgotten. Swiss went through it, was proactive in both personal and financial terms. The club was brought back from beyond the brink, the trouble is we are back on the edge again due to the same abject amateur business behaviours that could wipe the club out overnight.
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womble
Arthur Cartlidge
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Post by womble on Nov 21, 2020 10:44:00 GMT
In what sense are you using the term ‘unplanned’ Swiss? We know that costings had been obtained previously (Hani balked at them) and that more competitive tenders were received this time. Or do you mean that this seems to have been out of the blue, rather than part of an existing plan? There is the possibility that increased public usage (rather like the Fleetwood model), could generate an income stream to ameliorate the costs of running the training ground. However that will take more investment and a new planning permission. In 2018, when Evans Jones Surveyors were commissioned to produce a plan for the training ground I thought it was an excellent sign. A job worth doing is worth doing well and by looking at what other clubs had done and using professionals to come up with a plan to meet our requirements and make maximum use of the site I thought we were going about things the right way. Such a scheme would have been carried out in close co-operation with South Gloucestershire Council and therefore we would have been sure of gaining permission for the maximum amount of revenue generating activities as they felt were justifiable. But nothing more was ever heard of Evans Jones and by early 2020 the lease at Cribbs had been allowed to run down without an alternative being secured. Then Wael came into some money and without thinking things through properly decided to resurrect twenty year old plans which the rugby club had drawn up. By going ahead with this, "out of the blue" as you say, I am doubtful whether there has been much co-operation with the planners and the best we are going to end up with will be two or three pitches, a 4000 sq ft club house and a remotely situated gymnasium. There is no possibility of generating any income from this in the short term and by rushing into an ad hoc development rather than waiting and planning it out carefully the cost of turning it into something more commercial in the future will be extremely high even if permission is granted and we have the money. Being a bit of a thinker I've pondered over this and genuinely feel it is a wasted opportunity. If we had held the majority of the cash in reserve and instead invested a small amount in a longer term development plan for the site, which would involve commercial partnerships, then things could look far rosier now. The club would be in a much stronger financial position to weather this crisis, our players would now be training at a better interim facility, Gasheads would be looking at artists impressions of our future "AXA? sponsored training ground and sports centre", we would be the blue eyed boys as far as South Gloucestershire were concerned and potential new investors would be impressed by our business acumen. Maybe I'm dreaming Thanks Swiss, for a thoughtful and considered response. I’m not sure I would necessarily regard this as a wasted opportunity for a number of reasons. Since the withdrawal of UWE from the second round of talks about a new stadium, we appear to have been kept in tick over mode, until Wael acquired effective control of the club from his family. There is clearly a plan for future phases (no idea how much, if anything, is based upon any Evans Jones work), with a 3G pitch and another grass pitch intended to follow as the next step. While there may be other local facilities available to rent, there are none with the high quality fibre sand pitches now in use at The Quarters. I don’t think I would describe the gym as remote, it’s the same distance from the pitches as the future clubhouse. While the distance between the two buildings might be regarded as an inconvenience (around 70m), it’s a relatively minor one. There is a lot to commend in your longer term view of developing the training ground, however by making use of existing permissions and permitted development rights, we are constructing the first club/owner funded building since probably the south stand at Eastville in the 1920s. The psychological impact of that, after decades of attractive artist’s impressions and absolutely zero outcome, is considerable. I entirely agree that we need a long term plan, and that the training ground should provide an income stream - but there is evidence that that is what is intended, but perhaps not in quite as neatly organised a way as you suggest.
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knowall
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Post by knowall on Nov 21, 2020 11:58:44 GMT
Yes radical, as previously put forward, like stopping the training ground, conserving the cash saved to run the business, relocating at a facility which will be equally good if not better than the proposed one at Almondsbury and with much lower running costs, seeking outside equity investment and being willing to relinquish a controlling stake, and more ! That's not radical at all. That's mainstream, a bookkeeping alternative, to the single (albeit wealthy) ownership ambition. Splitting the share capital into a group of wealthy individuals is not exactly a radical solution to sell to the fan base is it. There are multiple ownership models you could quote, but I have not heard or read one, from you or anybody else, that delivers sustainability when aligned to fan ambition. That's the magic formula. In football terms what Swissgas proposes is radical. As Sir Tom Cowie (Chairman of Sunderland and multi business owner) once said 'when you become involved with football ownership sound business principles go out the window' It is hard to argue against that.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2020 14:36:03 GMT
That's not radical at all. That's mainstream, a bookkeeping alternative, to the single (albeit wealthy) ownership ambition. Splitting the share capital into a group of wealthy individuals is not exactly a radical solution to sell to the fan base is it. There are multiple ownership models you could quote, but I have not heard or read one, from you or anybody else, that delivers sustainability when aligned to fan ambition. That's the magic formula. In football terms what Swissgas proposes is radical. As Sir Tom Cowie (Chairman of Sunderland and multi business owner) once said 'when you become involved with football ownership sound business principles go out the window' It is hard to argue against that. How is a balanced cash flow radical? Nah. What would be radical is enforcing that and fans accepting the resulting league position. That acceptance would indeed be radical. Would you accept it Knowall?
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eppinggas
Administrator
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Post by eppinggas on Nov 21, 2020 14:51:25 GMT
In football terms what Swissgas proposes is radical. As Sir Tom Cowie (Chairman of Sunderland and multi business owner) once said 'when you become involved with football ownership sound business principles go out the window' It is hard to argue against that. How is a balanced cash flow radical? Nah. What would be radical is enforcing that and fans accepting the resulting league position. That acceptance would indeed be radical. Would you accept it Knowall? I think I'm in a minority. But yes, balanced cash-flow to ensure a truly sustainable future - even if that means League 2 in the short term... yup. Ask a Bury supporter. Or a Macclesfield supporter.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2020 15:17:37 GMT
How is a balanced cash flow radical? Nah. What would be radical is enforcing that and fans accepting the resulting league position. That acceptance would indeed be radical. Would you accept it Knowall? I think I'm in a minority. But yes, balanced cash-flow to ensure a truly sustainable future - even if that means League 2 in the short term... yup. Ask a Bury supporter. Or a Macclesfield supporter. Precisely
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Nov 21, 2020 16:00:53 GMT
I think I'm in a minority. But yes, balanced cash-flow to ensure a truly sustainable future - even if that means League 2 in the short term... yup. Ask a Bury supporter. Or a Macclesfield supporter. Precisely It's not quite as pie in the sky as it seems. Some clubs have done it. Something like FC United would be the extreme example of a situation where a fanbase has opted to pursue sustainability and affordability over 'living the dream'. If they'd wanted to they could have done it a different way and probably have made it to the league at some point but the sense of club identity was based around 'doing things differently'. You don't have to be as dogmatic as FC are about it but I think that model is reliant on fans having some kind of buy in other than being treated as mere consumers. You can hardly complain if you treat fans purely as consumers that their expectations then become almost exclusively based on the 'product' being as high quality as possible. So it needs a shift in structure and mindset but it can happen. The Bury fans I know up here are currently happier now with their parred back, but fan involved, existance than they have been in years. The question that's never been answered though is whether it's possible to get to that point with a UK football club without first facing some kind of acute existential crisis - the jury is very much out on that one but maybe Covid might create a small window of opportunity in some places doubtful as that seems now.
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eppinggas
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Post by eppinggas on Nov 21, 2020 17:43:48 GMT
It's not quite as pie in the sky as it seems. Some clubs have done it. Something like FC United would be the extreme example of a situation where a fanbase has opted to pursue sustainability and affordability over 'living the dream'. If they'd wanted to they could have done it a different way and probably have made it to the league at some point but the sense of club identity was based around 'doing things differently'. You don't have to be as dogmatic as FC are about it but I think that model is reliant on fans having some kind of buy in other than being treated as mere consumers. You can hardly complain if you treat fans purely as consumers that their expectations then become almost exclusively based on the 'product' being as high quality as possible. So it needs a shift in structure and mindset but it can happen. The Bury fans I know up here are currently happier now with their parred back, but fan involved, existance than they have been in years. The question that's never been answered though is whether it's possible to get to that point with a UK football club without first facing some kind of acute existential crisis - the jury is very much out on that one but maybe Covid might create a small window of opportunity in some places doubtful as that seems now. I think it's a large window, and that the post-Covid 19 footballing world will look very different. Yes, it is an existential crisis for football below the championship. Possibly 10 to 20 EFL Clubs are running at unsustainable losses and could be pushed over the edge. The EFL are praying that the PL will bail out these Clubs. The PL won't. Why should they? You mean they don't understand the importance of the integrity of the football pyramid and the part Football Clubs in terms of community? You mean they don't want to write out cheques to competitors in their industry? Crikey. What a shocker. Do the PL care about the EFL? Nope, they don't. They are there to make money. Give me Bristol Rovers any day, not reliant on TV money or hand-outs. Formed in 1883 and playing in any division. Never knocked a creditor. Never "reformed". Never became part of a "franchise". Proud to be a Gashead. You want a business model in the new paradigm? Union Berlin. Up The Gas (unt Eisern Union, naturlich).
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Post by swissgas on Nov 21, 2020 18:34:43 GMT
In 2018, when Evans Jones Surveyors were commissioned to produce a plan for the training ground I thought it was an excellent sign. A job worth doing is worth doing well and by looking at what other clubs had done and using professionals to come up with a plan to meet our requirements and make maximum use of the site I thought we were going about things the right way. Such a scheme would have been carried out in close co-operation with South Gloucestershire Council and therefore we would have been sure of gaining permission for the maximum amount of revenue generating activities as they felt were justifiable. But nothing more was ever heard of Evans Jones and by early 2020 the lease at Cribbs had been allowed to run down without an alternative being secured. Then Wael came into some money and without thinking things through properly decided to resurrect twenty year old plans which the rugby club had drawn up. By going ahead with this, "out of the blue" as you say, I am doubtful whether there has been much co-operation with the planners and the best we are going to end up with will be two or three pitches, a 4000 sq ft club house and a remotely situated gymnasium. There is no possibility of generating any income from this in the short term and by rushing into an ad hoc development rather than waiting and planning it out carefully the cost of turning it into something more commercial in the future will be extremely high even if permission is granted and we have the money. Being a bit of a thinker I've pondered over this and genuinely feel it is a wasted opportunity. If we had held the majority of the cash in reserve and instead invested a small amount in a longer term development plan for the site, which would involve commercial partnerships, then things could look far rosier now. The club would be in a much stronger financial position to weather this crisis, our players would now be training at a better interim facility, Gasheads would be looking at artists impressions of our future "AXA? sponsored training ground and sports centre", we would be the blue eyed boys as far as South Gloucestershire were concerned and potential new investors would be impressed by our business acumen. Maybe I'm dreaming Thanks Swiss, for a thoughtful and considered response. I’m not sure I would necessarily regard this as a wasted opportunity for a number of reasons. Since the withdrawal of UWE from the second round of talks about a new stadium, we appear to have been kept in tick over mode, until Wael acquired effective control of the club from his family. There is clearly a plan for future phases (no idea how much, if anything, is based upon any Evans Jones work), with a 3G pitch and another grass pitch intended to follow as the next step. While there may be other local facilities available to rent, there are none with the high quality fibre sand pitches now in use at The Quarters. I don’t think I would describe the gym as remote, it’s the same distance from the pitches as the future clubhouse. While the distance between the two buildings might be regarded as an inconvenience (around 70m), it’s a relatively minor one. There is a lot to commend in your longer term view of developing the training ground, however by making use of existing permissions and permitted development rights, we are constructing the first club/owner funded building since probably the south stand at Eastville in the 1920s. The psychological impact of that, after decades of attractive artist’s impressions and absolutely zero outcome, is considerable. I entirely agree that we need a long term plan, and that the training ground should provide an income stream - but there is evidence that that is what is intended, but perhaps not in quite as neatly organised a way as you suggest. To me this is an interesting subject to discuss, although I realize many will say the decision is made so let them get on with it, so thanks for replying. When in 2017 we first saw the old plans I was struck by the number of parking spaces which had been approved and this is something you drew attention to fairly recently. What this said to me was that the planners saw no major traffic issues with the development although I’m no expert so you may correct me there. And if traffic wasn’t seen as a problem then there should be scope for limited sports related commercial activity on the site provided a development was planned carefully and in close cooperation with South Glos. I actually missed a trick with my earlier post because I should have described it as the “Swissquote Training Centre and Sports Science Park”. With good planning such a venture could have conserved a considerable amount of cash for Rovers, made the training facilities we would use cost neutral, potentially provided an extra income stream for the club and enhanced our commercial reputation ready for the next step ... the stadium. I agree about the positive psychological impact but is the uplift in spirits based on something real or imagined ? Which is better an owned but cobbled together training ground and a cash crisis or a leased training ground and an ability to financially weather the storm ? I believe the true Gashead psyche is more in tune with the Gerry Francis and Denis Dunford honest philosophy of blood tears toil and sweat than the “don’t worry, we know best, everything will be all right” which we have had for the last ten years.
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Post by johnmalyckyj on Nov 21, 2020 21:52:21 GMT
That's not radical at all. That's mainstream, a bookkeeping alternative, to the single (albeit wealthy) ownership ambition. Splitting the share capital into a group of wealthy individuals is not exactly a radical solution to sell to the fan base is it. There are multiple ownership models you could quote, but I have not heard or read one, from you or anybody else, that delivers sustainability when aligned to fan ambition. That's the magic formula. In football terms what Swissgas proposes is radical. As Sir Tom Cowie (Chairman of Sunderland and multi business owner) once said 'when you become involved with football ownership sound business principles go out the window' It is hard to argue against that. And in another radical move have you had an opportunity to count the number of Presidents Club members to answer my question? If you like we can get President Trump's lawyers to help you with the count. Kind regards John Malyckyj
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Post by a more piratey game on Nov 21, 2020 21:58:24 GMT
In football terms what Swissgas proposes is radical. As Sir Tom Cowie (Chairman of Sunderland and multi business owner) once said 'when you become involved with football ownership sound business principles go out the window' It is hard to argue against that. And in another radical move have you had an opportunity to count the number of Presidents Club members to answer my question? If you like we can get President Trump's lawyers to help you with the count. Kind regards John Malyckyj I think we all know now that revealing the true number might deflate the projection of self-importance that is shared by those Presidents
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2020 22:04:46 GMT
Oh, for God's sake. Is it more or fewer than twelve?
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Post by johnmalyckyj on Nov 21, 2020 22:17:51 GMT
Oh, for God's sake. Is it more or fewer than twelve? Well I suspect like Trump they still think they are influential and the numbers don't really matter. I am not a betting man but I suspect fewer than a dozen..... Kind regards John Malyckyj
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TaiwanGas
Paul Bannon
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Post by TaiwanGas on Nov 22, 2020 4:20:12 GMT
Oh, for God's sake. Is it more or fewer than twelve? Well I suspect like Trump they still think they are influential and the numbers don't really matter. I am not a betting man but I suspect fewer than a dozen..... Kind regards John Malyckyj Is this some kind of Secret Society?, surely somebody at Rovers knows the actual number other than the Presidents Men themselves, I just don't get it!.
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knowall
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Post by knowall on Nov 22, 2020 13:48:00 GMT
In football terms what Swissgas proposes is radical. As Sir Tom Cowie (Chairman of Sunderland and multi business owner) once said 'when you become involved with football ownership sound business principles go out the window' It is hard to argue against that. How is a balanced cash flow radical? Nah. What would be radical is enforcing that and fans accepting the resulting league position. That acceptance would indeed be radical. Would you accept it Knowall? Read what I put again Oldie - 'in football terms' it is radical - meaning outside of football what Swissgas says is normal good business - so we are in agreement! For the record I would always advocate following good business practice but I guess most football club directors find that difficult when all around seem to operate to the limits of their cash flow.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2020 16:36:23 GMT
How is a balanced cash flow radical? Nah. What would be radical is enforcing that and fans accepting the resulting league position. That acceptance would indeed be radical. Would you accept it Knowall? Read what I put again Oldie - 'in football terms' it is radical - meaning outside of football what Swissgas says is normal good business - so we are in agreement! For the record I would always advocate following good business practice but I guess most football club directors find that difficult when all around seem to operate to the limits of their cash flow. Operate to their limits of cash flow? Did you mean to say that? BRFC certainly do not, like most clubs they burn their cash at an alarming rate. So my question remains to you. Would you accept BRFC playing in L2 or non league if we limited our expenditure to within the constraints of our cash flow?
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Post by swissgas on Nov 22, 2020 17:26:14 GMT
Read what I put again Oldie - 'in football terms' it is radical - meaning outside of football what Swissgas says is normal good business - so we are in agreement! For the record I would always advocate following good business practice but I guess most football club directors find that difficult when all around seem to operate to the limits of their cash flow. Operate to their limits of cash flow? Did you mean to say that? BRFC certainly do not, like most clubs they burn their cash at an alarming rate. So my question remains to you. Would you accept BRFC playing in L2 or non league if we limited our expenditure to within the constraints of our cash flow? Something which has niggled me over the past ten years has been the haughtiness of both Nick and Wael in telling fans “funding is not an issue”. We both know that whatever the size of the business, or wealth of the owners, funding is always an issue. So by saying this our owners have in some ways betrayed the trust of most fans who believe “they are rich businessmen so they must know what they are doing”. It seems ironic that finally, just as the communication has changed from undertones of unlimited money to “I will do my best to fund the club through this crisis”, we are throwing millions of this scarce commodity called cash at a very questionable property development called the Quarters. If we look candidly at the way Rovers is run we see that cash has been spent in a profligate way to serve purposes other than creating a football club which provides supporters with enjoyment and at the same time is sustainable within the owners resources. At two clubs which in our own haughtiness we might consider inferior to ourselves, Wrexham and Wycombe, new owners have come in fairly recently and caused great excitement with the promise of investment in the 2 - 3 million range. At Rovers over the past four years, leaving aside monies paid to NH and MSP, over 20 million has been put in with (if we are honest with ourselves) no tangible improvement. Something is clearly wrong with the way Rovers are managed and the way I’m thinking now is somewhat in line with your recent post about the Al-Qadi era playing out. I think the best we can do is to try to persuade fans that when the new era starts we should not continue with the mistake of treating our leaders as if they were some kind of demi-gods and start taking the common sense approach which we do in every other aspect of our lives.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2020 18:56:44 GMT
Operate to their limits of cash flow? Did you mean to say that? BRFC certainly do not, like most clubs they burn their cash at an alarming rate. So my question remains to you. Would you accept BRFC playing in L2 or non league if we limited our expenditure to within the constraints of our cash flow? we are throwing millions of this scarce commodity called cash at a very questionable property development called the Quarters. If we look candidly at the way Rovers is run we see that cash has been spent in a profligate way to serve purposes other than creating a football club which provides supporters with enjoyment and at the same time is sustainable within the owners resources. At two clubs which in our own haughtiness we might consider inferior to ourselves, Wrexham and Wycombe, new owners have come in fairly recently and caused great excitement with the promise of investment in the 2 - 3 million range. At Rovers over the past four years, leaving aside monies paid to NH and MSP, over 20 million has been put in with (if we are honest with ourselves) no tangible improvement. Something is clearly wrong with the way Rovers are managed and the way I’m thinking now is somewhat in line with your recent post about the Al-Qadi era playing out. I think the best we can do is to try to persuade fans that when the new era starts we should not continue with the mistake of treating our leaders as if they were some kind of demi-gods and start taking the common sense approach which we do in every other aspect of our lives. Swiss One of the big issues the football club has had for years is the lack of a training ground. In truth, its been a bit of a disaster area for Rovers since we had to sell Hambrook. Frys, Golden Hill, Knowle, Cribbs, I would love to know how much we have spent on rent over the last 30 years. Remember the fiasco at Filton, which was supposed to be a game changer. You speak to anyone in the game and they will tell you how important the training ground is. Its where the players and managers do their work Mon - Fri. Having decent pitches is where you can develop the players, the academy, and potentially bring many aspects of the club together. Just because we didn't have this 30 years ago doesn't mean its not the right thing to do now. Re Oldies question to Knowall above, I wonder what your response would be too - would you accept non league if we were sustainable year after year?? I'm not too sure you acknowledge how the game has moved on (not in a good way sadly) from days gone by. Wage inflation, Bosman Ruling, the collapse of the transfer market at the lower levels, the greater reliance on commercial income, corporate hospitality etc. These issues were not so critical at Twerton 30 years ago. I recall Gouldy saying he kept is in League 1 on a wage budget of £150k in that first year at Twerton. Now just think about that figure and then consider that a couple of years later Martyn & Penrice went for £1.5 m. Thats like JCH going for £15 million nowadays. And we continued to sell to survive as that was the only model possible. Ollie 250k, Yates £750k, Gareth £1m then onto Marcus £1m Hayles £1m, Roberts £2m the list is endless. But that model was closed off to a large degree, the PL and Bosman changed all that and now its much harder to get the big fees at our level. So that selling to survive model has been replaced by owners subsidising the club, be it Wael or Lansdown or the Accrington owner, they all have to put their hand in the pocket as otherwise clubs simply will not be competitive at their level, simple as. (Obviously I exclude the PL, as thats in a different universe.) Thankfully we have a dedicated owner, a football person, and after years and years we have finally got a good place of our own in which to do our work during the week.
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