EnderMB

The only logical outcome to all of this would be to do a MK Dons with Bury. MP's and fans should band together to grant severance pay for the staff affected by Bury's liquidation. Additionally, the mayor should work with the Bury fan club to get a phoenix club set up an unincorporated association, with a charter that dictates that the club is fan owned and the only way to invest money is through membership. This gives Bury the Barcelona/Real Madrid type model where someone cannot own the club. Once the phoenix club is set up, the existing Bury youth team should be granted first-team contracts with the phoenix club with the sole purpose of playing friendlies across the country for the year. Closed door friendlies happen all the time, so put the phoenix club to use and let the youngsters prove themselves. Finally, the EFL should grant the phoenix club a place in League 2 for next season, on the assumption that they can find a ground to play in. If this involved buying the ground from Steve Dale, then so be it. It will be the only asset he'll have left, and with political and social pressure he'll either sell or be a pariah in the north. It'll mean a year without competitive football, but to be frank I think the fans would tolerate it if it meant getting their club back, and even though it'll technically be a new club, the new structure will make it all worthwhile and ensure that such a thing can never happen again.

Any news on whether a phoenix club is being set up? While Bury technically still exist, and can apply to enter the Football pyramid at a lower stage, there's no way anyone would want to buy them when they're out of professional football.

Ever since the news of Bury's potential demise broke, I've seen so many tweets and FB posts around how we're lucky to have Steve Lansdown, because he cares and would never do this to us. Obviously, that much is true, but to put on my overly cynical hat, I don't believe any owner buys a football club with the sole intention of stripping it for its assets, mostly because any idiot knows that the second Steve Dale tries that land will go up in flames and be vandalised to the point of it being worthless. IMO, this problem runs deeper than the EFL failing to implement a "proper" fit and proper persons test on the characters that have ruined these clubs. Current legislation allows owners to strip assets from clubs, as they would do with any asset-rich company, in order to raise capital. Bristol City are one such club that no longer owns its own stadium, and probably won't own its own training ground after redevelopment. I'm not suggesting that Lansdown would ever allow us to fail, but as Sunderland have shown you can drop through the divisions like a stone, and an owner that once cared can be disillusioned by the situation, and sell up to anyone. The reason I brought up Lansdown is to demonstrate that, IMO, we're past the point of no return. By allowing clubs to separate their assets into limited companies, we can't go back and say "sorry Lansdown, you need to give back the stadium you spent millions on because some owners can't be trusted". It's also unfair (and probably) illegal to force a fan ownership/presidency model on clubs when the reason the Premier League and modern football is thriving is because of foreign investment. You'd be very interested in the tax figures for football as a whole. Across the Premier League there are players on every team earning millions a year. All of those players are being taxed, so all of that money is then flowing into our economy, so imagine telling the government that they need to kick an industry that gives so much and happily allows them to give it a kicking for societies issues? Anyway, my main point is that this will be the new norm, and if Dale gets off reasonably scot-free for allowing this to happen I can see more owners stripping assets and selling them after expulsion in the lower leagues - especially in areas where land is expensive. Why the **** would you spend millions to build up a football team that hates you when you can rack up debt, not pay people for months, and sell that land for millions?

There is no "point". If the women want to play at Ashton Gate, then it needs to be economically viable for them to do so, and with that comes a higher ticket price. If £30 is too much, then maybe it's not a good idea to play your matches in a 20k+ seater stadium? Besides, if price is really a factor, there are plenty of ways to make that £30 worthwhile. Give out a free matchday programme, or give out free food/drinks vouchers. That's what is done at American Football and Baseball stadiums all the time when minor/major league matches are scheduled together.

Why not? I know that tickets are pretty cheap for women's football, but you'd imagine that part of playing at a 20k+ stadium would be the costs of playing at that stadium. I don't see why this can't be done, either. It's a lot of football to watch, admittedly, but would fans pay £30 if it meant they could watch two games and get a drink half-way through?

It makes total sense. In the same way that a boxing card between Fury and Wilder will have an undercard, I don't see why Bristol City matches don't have an undercard. Let the fans into the stadium early, let them watch the women play. Have a break for a while for people to get a drink, take a dump, etc - then start the men's game. If you don't give a shit about women's football, then it's easy to avoid - come a bit later. The only issue I can see with this, and it's the kind of thing that I think would be overlooked, is whether this causes issues with the pitch. Will 90 minutes of football before another 90 minutes damage the pitch?

The football could be so bad that you'd rather watch Babestation in a pub with the lads... https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-rovers-accidentally-air-babestation-1898305

My very shitty "claim to fame" is that I was a part of the UWE consultation regarding the revelopment of the new campus. I filled in a basic questionnaire and attended one of the planning meetings, with the following suggestions: Rebuild the Computer Science faculty. Of course, because it would mean improving the academic side over making money, that's not happened. Buy Franchay Hospital, run it as a university hospital by setting up a Medicine degree, and stop it from closing. This one pisses me off the most, as Frenchay was one of Europe's leading hospitals for neurosurgery, and when it closed a lot of the doctors involved dispersed around the country. Again, UWE didn't go for this. Build a stadium. UWE had a shitload of land, and although the sports stuff was all new when I started it was still a bit pokey. No other UK university has a stadium, and by building one you build a sports infrastructure. My last point was brought up in the planning meeting, and I was surprised to hear of the deal between UWE and Bristol Rovers. With that being said, I would've been happy for them to go ahead with it, because Bristol is a ******* shambles when it comes to getting anything built. Both teams have now failed to do something as simple as build a stadium on already-approved land, something that even London can do without a hitch. In many ways, I want to laugh at Rovers' misfortune, but it really doesn't surprise me. You can't build shit in Bristol, another sports team struggles, UWE would rather build accommodation/hotels on their land instead of improving the university for its students, etc.

I've supported LJ a lot more than many on here, but the writing is on the wall. Lansdown needs to sit down with the players, and ask them if LJ needs to go or not. I reckon they'll say yes.

The five pillars in themselves aren't bad, as already said. The problem seems to come down to micromanagement of a head coach. If your club philosophy is ultimately limiting your coaches ability to coach then it's going to be a problem. I think a lot of people look at Millen, McInnes, and SOD now, and they wonder why successful people fail with us, and then succeed again afterwards. Additionally, Cotterill seemed to do away with some of this micromanagement, and we destroyed League 1. Each of the pillars are sound concepts, but we apply them at the wrong time. They would improve a mid table club with a solid foundation, but trying to apply them to a club battling relegation is insane. As the saying goes, premature optimisation is the root of all evil.

I'm really not a fan of the guy, but I reckon wheelin' dealin' Happy Redknapp could be a viable option. He's clearly holding out for the Bournemouth job, but Eddie Howe isn't going anywhere for at least a year. He's got a record of success, which Lansdown will like, and he likes to spend a bit, which is something the fans want to see right now. Our more successful managers tend to be the gobby ones. Tacticians rarely get the best out of this club, so I don't see the point in hiring someone who is set in their ways of how to play football. Redknapp is a motivator, and I reckon he can get us mid-table by the end of the season, and a real push towards the playoffs next season. A season later, he might make the playoffs. Sure, we'd be nothing but a stepping stone for him, but if it gets us stability in this league, and a chance for Lansdown to loosen the purse strings I say go for it.