Esmond Million's Bung Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 15 minutes ago, Chris said: Every single interview I’ve read with him, there’s been a massive elephant in the room. Camel?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC11 Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Blokes a tosser, and now he’s being found out, when the going gets tough he hasn’t got a clue. Keep up the good work DC FTG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmond Million's Bung Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 1 hour ago, Sergio Georgini said: Anyone who spots the mistake in this hilarious article gets a pat on the back http://m.gulfnews.com/sport/football/premier-league/wael-al-qadi-bristol-rovers-reaching-the-premier-league-is-doable-1.2126221#.Wg8Z7492lMk.facebook The bloke is full of shit and if gasheads still believe his camel shit, they seriously need therapy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Chris Posted November 17, 2017 Admin Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 3 minutes ago, Esmond Million's Bung said: Camel?. If I’d thought of it yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Hard to believe anything from someone without a plan. Peel back the rhetoric and there is nothing left. Whats happening next year. What's happening the year after? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freezer Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Can someone please enlighten me to what the 'FTG' means, in their language. I am slightly aware of what it might represent in City talk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fat Controller Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 1 minute ago, freezer said: Can someone please enlighten me to what the 'FTG' means, in their language. I am slightly aware of what it might represent in City talk? Its the same thing, just that Otib has a handy autocorrect for anyone trying to replace the F with a U. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviestevieneville Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 I like the part where he says . "In three or five years we need to be here or there" Obviously a man with a plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freezer Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 6 minutes ago, Chris_Brown said: Its the same thing, just that Otib has a handy autocorrect for anyone trying to replace the F with a U. Thanks, but on the Roovers site they post FTG. Bit confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC11 Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 11 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said: I like the part where he says . "In three or five years we need to be here or there" Obviously a man with a plan. ‘There’ meaning non league Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AppyDAZE Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Listening to yer average Gashead talk is like trying to work out one of them Zen Koans. 9 minutes ago, BCFC11 said: ‘There’ meaning non league 20 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said: I like the part where he says . "In three or five years we need to be here or there" Obviously a man with a plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Son of Nob Posted November 17, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 2 hours ago, Sergio Georgini said: Anyone who spots the mistake in this hilarious article gets a pat on the back http://m.gulfnews.com/sport/football/premier-league/wael-al-qadi-bristol-rovers-reaching-the-premier-league-is-doable-1.2126221#.Wg8Z7492lMk.facebook OK, I tried. How did I do? Arab owner of English third-tier ex non league side is bidding to fulfil lofty ambitions with passion and pragmatism out any money London: Wael Al-Qadi is no ordinary football club owner billionaire, it immediately becomes apparent from interviewing him. “I am a football freak,” the engaging and enthusiastic charlatan president of the English third-tier ex non league side, Bristol Rovers, tells Gulf News. “I followed Chelsea [as a boy] and I never used to miss a second when they played friendlies or cup games or league games had the funds to invest in them. If [football] is rarely not covered on TV, I follow it on the radio. It’s like any other fan person who can’t afford a ticket. “I live and breathe every second of the game.” English football has increasingly become a playground for faceless and often-clueless foreigners, for whom owning a football club is ostensibly just a vanity project; exhibit ‘A’ being the Venky’s much-maligned running of Blackburn Rovers. As such, Al-Qadi represents a welcome breath of fresh air amid the all-pervasive stench of greed and self-interest in the modern game. But the Jordanian businessman has clearly developed a genuine passion and affection for financial interest in Rovers since his family’s Dwane Sports business assumed control of the club in February 2016 secured a £10M loan against the club’s ground. This is illustrated by the 47-year-old’s desire ego boosting decision to eschew the directors’ box in favour of mingling with the club’s fans. “To go to a football game and not be able to express your emotions and support your team and being restricted in your behaviour, racially abuse the opposition you’re not watching a football game [properly],” explains Al-Qadi, who has attended five World Cups as a fan a timeshare on a £15k watch.“You have to express [yourself]. You have to chant, you have to scream and shout, so I am much more comfortable watching the game and enjoying it [by being in a] section that has fans – and especially your own fans – home and away.” Al-Qadi’s ardour for football was nurtured in the 1980s when, while studying in London, his father took him to see Chelsea home and away. “The [Rovers] fans remind me of the old-school Chelsea fans way back then. They are very passionate, committed and loyal no matter what to their team. That got me to buy in [to the project] and I feel I’m one of them now racist." Aside from their fervent over exaggerated fanbase, Rovers appeared a highly unattractive proposition to potential investors given their continuing parlous financial state two years ago. Relegation to the amateur Conference Premier in 2013-14 – the first time the club has spent outside the Football League since being admitted in 1920 – was largely to blame for this hilarious Al-Qadi was undeterred, though, as he had been scouring Europe for a club with a specific profile very limited funds “Basically we were looking for a club – and this goes back to the investment return side of it – where a club was at the pure bottom the owners were prepared to sell without full due diligence and the fans are gullible" says Al-Qadi, who was born in Qatar and who is assistant general manager of the Arab Jordan Investment Bank, which his family founded in 1978 has no independent wealth. “There was nowhere else to go and they were seconds away from going into bankruptcy. I wanted a club that I could build up from the bottom upwards, get an initialled training top at unlike most of the investors who are coming in at the top level, be it Premier League or Championship, and paying huge amounts of money.” Rovers secured immediate promotion back to the Football League in 2015 via the play-offs and then, just months after the Al-Qadi takeover, clinched their place in League One. The club, known as ‘The Gas’ due to their former Eastville Stadium home’s proximity to gasworks, finished a creditable 10th in League One last season and are currently 15th and into the FA Cup second round six months away from exhausting the charge the family have on the clubs only asset. Al-Qadi is “quite pleased” with such encouraging progress, but stresses: “We believe we should be better than what we are right now and hopefully the team will improve. If you look at the numbers, the attendances, the revenues and all that, then yes, there has been a rise.” Of his long-term ambition, he adds: “The ultimate goal and dream has to be to reach the Premier League and it has been done before. There are a lot of clubs in the Premier League right now who were in League One not so long ago, so it’s doable recoup the families spending with 6% interest. “But I do not like to put targets that in three years or five years, we need to be here or there. It’s a long-term investment asset strip and hopefully the success of our strategy will be reflected one day with success by reaching higher divisions obtaining prime development land.” Leicester City’s fairytale Premier League title triumph in 2016 remains a great source of inspiration and an exemplar for clubs of Rovers’ ilk. Says Al-Qadi, who supported Prince Ali Bin Hussein’s unsuccessful bid to become Fifa president in 2015 and who is an executive member of the Jordan Football Association: “It was one of the greatest-ever stories of sporting success. It was a miracle. This gives hope and ambition to clubs like ours sell to our deluded fan base” Al-Qadi is first and foremost pragmatic businessman not a billionaire rather than a football romantic, however. His “main strategy” is “to build [the club] with the correct foundations, so that it can grow by it itself, organically lie about ‘evolution not revolution’”. Central to this aim has been the formation of a development squad to bridge the gap in quality between the academy and the first team idiocy of the fan base And, as vice-president of the Asian Football Development Project, a not-for-profit youth project funded by Prince Ali, Al-Qadi is eager for talented Arabs to be given a chance at Rovers. One such is the 18-year-old left-back, Ghassan Abu Hassan, who plays for the Jordan Under-19s and who has joined the development squad after being recommended by a Jordanian talent-spotter. Yet Al-Qadi is anxious to emphasise that Middle Eastern prospects – and he admits he is well aware of the UAE’s most-renowned and sought-after player, Omar Abdul Rahman – face a battle to succeed in England because they aren’t very good. “Okay, a player has the skills and talent and is technically superb and that’s maybe only 20 per cent of the formula. The rest is can he settle down in England? Can he train on a dark, cold, rainy, Thursday night in Bristol? Can he have the hunger, the desire, the power and the strength to compete in the English leagues? “If they don’t have these attributes, then they’ll fail in English football.” One high-profile Arab who has done anything but fail in English football is the genuine bone fide billionaire Abu Dhabi-based Manchester City owner, Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who has presided over five major trophy triumphs in nine years. “People who criticise saying, ‘Oh, he’s just spending money and buying the league’, [I say] ‘No, there’s the other side of it’,” Al-Qadi points out. “He’s done amazingly for the community there and also brought success to Manchester City Football Club.” He is referring to the fact that Shaikh Mansour’s munificence has funded a £1billion (Dh4.82bn) regeneration of a run-down area of Manchester via 6,000 new homes and a state-of-the-art football academy and campus. There have been varying reports of Al-Qadi’s family’s own wealth – from £1.4bn (Dh6.74bn) to £400million (Dh1.927bn) – neither of which he wants to confirm. So could he have emulated Shaikh Mansour? “There are only very, very few people on this Earth that could do what the likes of the Premier League clubs are doing,” he replies, laughing. “They [City] are doing things from the top downwards, so you can’t compare them with us. No” A more cogent comparison with City comes in the form of Newcastle United, who are reportedly the subject of takeover interest from a consortium led by the Dubai-based financier Amanda Staveley. Al-Qadi says of this prospect: “Newcastle is a huge club and I read some time ago that they sold 35,000 season tickets before the start of the season. I believe anybody who is going to purchase and invest in Newcastle, they have potentially a mega club that could be taken on to the next level. “If someone was to ask my advice [about taking over Newcastle], I would say: ‘Go ahead’.” Al-Qadi reiterates his unwavering commitment to Rovers when asked whether he would ever fancy owning a bigger club. “It’s more of an affection and being emotionally tied into Bristol Rovers now and for me, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Premier League or Championship or League One or League Two [club]. The hope and ambition and emotional gain is to have success with Rovers and only Rovers. I couldn’t afford one ” 3 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Constant Rabbit Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 Oh yeah, the penny has finally dropped alright.... From Gaschat ..... "In my opinion, these are the only plans for the Mem we are ever likely to see." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BanburyRed Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 4 hours ago, Chris said: Every single interview I’ve read with him, there’s been a massive elephant in the room. Are they using this elephant to fertilise the pitch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 Well I am utterly shocked Singing "is there a fire drill" at Bradford, the scene of one of the worst fires in a football stadium. Depicting Fred West on a brfc flag, a mass murderer & "Auschwitz gas" What idiot would take the picture let alone wear a football kit showing a complete lack of respect to the 7 million people who were systematically exterminated in places like that. Truly astonishing Words fail me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TV Tom Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 6 minutes ago, Swede said: Well I am utterly shocked Singing "is there a fire drill" at Bradford, the scene of one of the worst fires in a football stadium. Depicting Fred West on a brfc flag, a mass murderer & "Auschwitz gas" What idiot would take the picture let alone wear a football kit showing a complete lack of respect to the 7 million people who were systematically exterminated in places like that. Truly astonishing Words fail me They are a true embarrassment to our wonderful City. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fgrsimon Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) It's the old Gareth Keenan joke from The Office but couldn't resist... "Al-Qadi, who was born in Qatar and who is assistant to the general manager of the Arab Jordan Investment Bank" Edited November 18, 2017 by fgrsimon spelling 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanatopia Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 48 minutes ago, fgrsimon said: It's the old Gareth Keenan joke from The Office but couldn't resist... "Al-Qadi, who was born in Qatar and who is assistant to the general manager of the Arab Jordan Investment Bank" So he is basically the secretary who worked a few favours, aye aye, found himself with a wee nest egg and had a flutter on a little football club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 7 hours ago, Swede said: Well I am utterly shocked Singing "is there a fire drill" at Bradford, the scene of one of the worst fires in a football stadium. Depicting Fred West on a brfc flag, a mass murderer & "Auschwitz gas" What idiot would take the picture let alone wear a football kit showing a complete lack of respect to the 7 million people who were systematically exterminated in places like that. Truly astonishing Words fail me Unfortunately, we have just as many idiots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 11 minutes ago, CotswoldRed said: Unfortunately, we have just as many idiots. Please point me towards the pictures of City fans with Child rapists and Mass murderers ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 5 minutes ago, Vincent Vega said: Please point me towards the pictures of City fans with Child rapists and Mass murderers ? Oh for goodness sake.... I'm not suggesting we have fans who have replicated precise actions being discussed here. But if you were to collate the misdemeanours of fans from both sides of the river over the years then you'd be putting all concerned into the same dustbin of humanity. And who's to decide which is worse? An offensive flag, being punched, kicked, verbally abused or glassed? Personally, I'd rather someone show me the flag so I can walk home safely afterwards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Hitler Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 I was having a quick browse of gaschat, or "slumming it" as I believe it to be known, and the mood has very much changed. It seems to be yesterday's DC interview that has passed around the collective coffee which most of them have now smelt and woken up. Little steps I know but you need that realisation phase as a first foot on the road to becoming a normal fan base that holds "Sack the Board" demos when they're being taken for a ride. Has their fan base genuinely woken up though; or will a couple of decent wins see them drifting off again? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 12 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said: I was having a quick browse of gaschat, or "slumming it" as I believe it to be known, and the mood has very much changed. It seems to be yesterday's DC interview that has passed around the collective coffee which most of them have now smelt and woken up. Little steps I know but you need that realisation phase as a first foot on the road to becoming a normal fan base that holds "Sack the Board" demos when they're being taken for a ride. Has their fan base genuinely woken up though; or will a couple of decent wins see them drifting off again? I read the last week as... DC knows there is no money there. The owner has no money to spend and the interview /article is to position them as an attractive takeover prospect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Hitler Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 7 minutes ago, CotswoldRed said: I read the last week as... DC knows there is no money there. The owner has no money to spend and the interview /article is to position them as an attractive takeover prospect. That looks to be about the size of it. They just need to somehow prevent any potential investors who, on the strength of that article, think that they are buying the next Man City from ever visiting the ground. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22A Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 13 hours ago, freezer said: Can someone please enlighten me to what the 'FTG' means, in their language. I am slightly aware of what it might represent in City talk? In parts of Belfast and Glasgow, FTP is an insult at "the other side" and it is an acronym for F### The Pope. I believe FTG means Forever The Gas. Then again, they may come to their senses and replace Pope with gas. I know I do! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, CotswoldRed said: I read the last week as... DC knows there is no money there. The owner has no money to spend and the interview /article is to position them as an attractive takeover prospect. I am constantly surprised that they are surprised by the lack of forward thinking by whoever happens to be running the club, as it was ever thus. Listening to the Harry Dolman special in Sound of the City, they corrected the long held belief (by me at least), that he had been basically thrown out of a board meeting for suggesting that selling Eastville to the greyhound company was a bad idea. Apparently it was more a case of being told by one of the other board members after the meeting that, "you might want to go down to Ashton Gate, they are a lot more ambitious". A clearer admission that they have always been run by shysters and charlatans you couldn't wish to find, and it came from "one of their own" Edited November 18, 2017 by Port Said Red 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 14 hours ago, Chris said: Every single interview I’ve read with him, there’s been a massive elephant in the room. I've heard that Darrell want's the elephant replaced with this fella; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombsy Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 “Basically we were looking for a club – and this goes back to the investment return side of it – where a club was at the pure bottom,” says Al-Qadi, who was born in Qatar and who is assistant general manager of the Arab Jordan Investment Bank, which his family founded in 1978. “There was nowhere else to go and they were seconds away from going into bankruptcy. I wanted a club that I could build up from the bottom upwards, unlike most of the investors who are coming in at the top level, be it Premier League or Championship, and paying huge amounts of money.” Rovers secured immediate promotion back to the Football League in 2015 via the play-offs and then, just months after the Al-Qadi takeover, clinched their place in League One. The club, known as ‘The Gas’ due to their former Eastville Stadium home’s proximity to gasworks, finished a creditable 10th in League One last season and are currently 15th and into the FA Cup second round. Al-Qadi is “quite pleased” with such encouraging progress, but stresses: “We believe we should be better than what we are right now and hopefully the team will improve. If you look at the numbers, the attendances, the revenues and all that, then yes, there has been a rise.” Of his long-term ambition, he adds: “The ultimate goal and dream has to be to reach the Premier League and it has been done before. There are a lot of clubs in the Premier League right now who were in League One not so long ago, so it’s doable. “But I do not like to put targets that in three years or five years, we need to be here or there. It’s a long-term investment and hopefully the success of our strategy will be reflected one day with success by reaching higher divisions.” Leicester City’s fairytale Premier League title triumph in 2016 remains a great source of inspiration and an exemplar for clubs of Rovers’ ilk.and we are still seconds from bankruptcy but I can still sale the ground and we play for free up on the downs I will look after the supporters and each one can own a brick in one of the houses which will be built only joking 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBobSuperBob Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 3 hours ago, Vincent Vega said: Please point me towards the pictures of City fans with Child rapists and Mass murderers ? We have a poster on here who used a serial killer as his avatar No one said a thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 14 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said: We have a poster on here who used a serial killer as his avatar No one said a thing Really, who ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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