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Is this the easy access stadium that only has one small bridge access from the A4? That is due to be sited next to 3 x recycling plants, Bristol Water depot and the river. Not only that but the proposal from Congyer is for them to have a portion of the site, with the rest made up of residential and business space. With the trainline bordering to the north as well. How is this easy access? It's only if you get a train into Temple Meads and walk there. How many supporters are going to do that. If the Arena had problems right next to this site, how do they figure this sort of proposal is going to go down?

As an aside.... Does anybody know whether Rovers actually have a functioning Academy/Development set up? My eldest has just started at the SGS Academy team under Dave Hockaday. The goalkeeping coach was with Rovers until last season and a load of the team left Rovers over the summer. Obviously all the Academies let a large number of players go at 16 and SGS provide their Academy with the Scholarship environment to try and get them back into the Professional game (15 signed Pro contracts in last 5 years). They play all the local teams under 18-21s (excluding us) and have beaten Swindon, Newport, Reading and Forest Green over the pre season and then CAT 1 teams in term time SGS though rarely play Bristol Rovers as the standard they play at isn't of a sufficient level.

Oh, absolutely they are a tin pot club on every level. The problem we have over our sustainability is our massive operating costs that never seem to be broken down. As @Mr Popodopolous and @Davefevs have spoken about in the past why our operating costs are £25m, when our turnover is only £26m (even before we factor in playing budgets) is beyond me. Other clubs in the championship operate on a much lower cost base. However until the club breaks down where that £25m is spent we can never take an informed stance. in the meantime, City have their biggest average attendances in over 40 years, but still lose £20m+ per season.

For every Middle Eastern Owner success story, there are 3-4 absolute disasters. Who knows what will happen with this potential new owner, but the Jordanian Billionaire that took them over in 2016 and is still currently in charge has hardly moved them forward at all has he? I think any new ownership comes with it's own inherent set of risks. The proof will be in the pudding of course. Any decent owner with financial acumen will look at the current Fruit market deal on offer as a complete fools gold. They would look to either develop the Memorial Ground (probably by turning the pitch 180 degrees, or given the complete nightmare of getting planning permission look to get planning permission for housing (just like Lansdown has done in order to fund the Sports Village), and then use those funds to build a stadium for them that A) They will own themselves and B) Will provide them with an income stream that will make them a viable football club in the future. If this new Kuwait guy just looks to carry on the Fruit market deal, it will demonstrate to me that like Wael they really don't have the independent financial resources to broker a better deal.

I think the phrase "In Advanced talks" is an interesting one. Previously it was stated about fees/bids etc. The fact that Pete O has gone as far as to say the clubs are as per above, demonstrates that he believes that things have moved on. No doubt James Piercy will be looking to double down on this from a local perspective if true.

Although we were at the other end of the ground, James got completely done for pace on the outside and took the guy out. A clear penalty for me. Nothing dubious about it at all.?

He is a unit isn't he? Very good touch, and of course a natural LCB. Certainly no way back for Idehen now is there really?

Normally reserve judgement on a player until I see then live and today was the first chance with the Cheltenham game. Got to say very impressed with Roberts. Technically excellent close control, ability to turn a player, pace and delivery on crosses. Not to mention he very rarely gave the ball away. Still Pring for me in the LB spot and probably Bell on the left wing, but I really enjoyed watching him today. We certainly have recruited a very good footballer. Also a shout out for Knight. Very busy around the centre of the park and quite decent in the air for a smaller guy. Not sure I can't really see James/Williams and Knight playing in a three if Scott was to depart though. Still has that look of lack of goals and creativity from the centre, early days though of course. Great additions to squad depth.

Conway taken a bit of a knock qne coming off now. A few injuries/knocks to deal with at the moment.

Good finish by Tanner to be fair

Just picked up Chelts tickets off Jerry. He said over 4500 out of 14.5k STs have requested physical STs. By comparison Liverpool have over 38k STs and have only had requests for 800 physical ones. Obviously going to take some time now to get it all sorted. It's fair to say we don't like change in Bristol...?

Great move for Seb. A decent well run L2 club (there are a load of cluster##### in that division)

Yep, excellent research and background knowledge from the pair. To the extent that Sky obviously invite them in to do their Top 21s production on an annual basis.

I personally think the comment about it "being a step back", may well be around the fact that he couldn't be guaranteed to be our first choice left back (that would be Pring). It's unlikely that we would also be utilising a LWB in the early months of the season, so there was a distinct possibility that JB might well have been spending a significant part of the time on our bench. With that in mind, was he willing to accept that, or did he want to be playing for a team in which he would normally be in the starting 11? Originally he wanted that and to stay abroad. When that didn't transpire, Millwall obviously came to him with a deal which suited his playing aspirations and financially it made sense. No issue here for me, a good player; but I also like the look of Roberts down the left. Pring was also for me the standout most improved player at the club last season, so a nailed on started at LB.

You do get the feeling that clubs are starting to think "We're arguing the toss over losing a real talent for the sake of £2m or so" Are clubs really willing to take that chance? A young player with real sell on value as well to one of the big 6 clubs in due course. So many upsides to this sort of transfer for them.

Good if we can keep as many clubs interested in him as possible. I sense a good old bidding war brewing ? So much better than just one club meeting the club's valuation, we can drive the agenda over payment terms to our benefit, rather than the buying club.

I see the Gas have got yet another penalty again. Obviously they've been using this training video down the quarters.

New ownership now of course (Chairman seems a decent bloke) Seb needs to be playing higher than Step 1 or Step 2 for me.

Really happy for Seb getting this new deal. Hopefully he can get a decent league loan at a club that isn't a crackpot outfit (like Yeovil was)

Agree with that. I can't see us offering an improved contract to Vyner before Jan and with a new CB potentially coming in post Scott money, he would be even further down the pecking order.

Print, Bell, Conway absolutely a priority. I'm not so sure we view Vyner in the same light. He had his best season last year and of course on the whole his performances were much improved. However the contract offer he got is viewed as not acceptable. Do we improve on that, or say that that is what we value you at take it or leave it? Seems strange that we would look to bring in players for those positions before tying down Vyner if that's the case. Awaiting the Bajic move to a French team any day now. He's certainly not in the first team frame at all for me

The issue they have is that they are basically funded by Rovers It essence it would be biting the hand that feeds them. Incredible that they wouldn't have a press release ready to go out the moment the sentence was announced really.

Could be true there Mark. Does a new CB mean that we're not going to give Vyner a new deal? Although Kalas looks to be moving on, our general modus at the moment seems to be getting players in that can play a multitude of positions. In that sense, one more CB and it could be bye bye Zak.

Got to feel that any fee of £20m + add ons (potentially moving it up to £25m+) is one where we start serious talks. Whether than is Bournemouth it doesn't really matter in my book. Money talks at the end of the day. It would be interesting to think how that money would change our transfer dynamic over the next few weeks though (the plan B NP spoke about). Would we look to upgrade in positions we've already bolstered in the Plan A implemented thus summer so far. Another 3-4 players and do we block the pathways of a number of the Academy players? Sometimes having a larger budget comes with it's own issues and difficult decisions.

100% this @Davefevs Ashton wanted to portray himself as the first CEO to produce a profit in over 20 years, through his amazing wheeler dealing and talent spotting ?. There was no other reason for the Kelly money to be included in the 2018-19 accounts other than this in my opinion. Really messed us up FFP wise in the following years.