Fiale

4 minutes ago, Weezord said:

 

Great season, and minutes away from getting into the Premiership - happy days.... who knows this season could be a repeat performance, though hopefully we get to keep the cake this time... thanks for the link, brought back some fond memories.

3 minutes ago, bert tann said:

 

If it's true then the link would appear to be more through educational contacts than Jordanian ones.

Nicholas was told he'd have to put everything from the Mem sale into the stadium and that no debt could be attached to it. The UWE would clearly like a stadium on their campus but not one which risks damaging their prestige through the type of financial distress situation which is quite common in the football business. Imagine a dilapidated structure with weeds growing up through the tarmac and newspaper headlines with lurid details exposed as each cash crisis erupts and the owners issue pathetic appeals for help. So it is likely they would make sure any deal included a clause allowing them to take control if there was any likelihood of that happening. 

How many train sets are there packed up in the loft because the kids lost interest and the parents wanted it out of sight and out of mind after all the money they had wasted on it ?

 

 

Well you will get a new home which is the important thing - I am sure the club will have something in place, ownership, long lease or something in place to make it worthwhile, and as you said I am sure UWE will have contingencies in place in the contract as well. How much footballing excitement can one city take - onwards and upwards 

12 minutes ago, Southstandoriginal said:

Why would UWE want to fund this? They would never get their money back.

Not fund it, as was said TIAA are the financiers... do keep up old chap.

1 hour ago, bert tann said:

Another day and another embarrassing own goal by Rovers.

The new owners are very nice people but they don't seem to understand there is a limit to the number of  "faithful" who will put up with this kind of shambles and those "faithful" are an ageing group which is not large enough to sustain a football club above league 1 level.

There are rumours in the wind that the American financial services company TIAA will be financing the stadium build.

But with Rovers inadequate capitalisation and no attempt at a professional business strategy it can only be a matter of time before ownership reverts to the UWE .   

 

Possibly good news, will be interesting to find the details out.

hmmm just saw they are a finance, investment, pension company for Teachers. Lot's of their funding and investment in educational linked investments - so did Wael find these people, or has UWE stepped in to save the day ?

best thing about the photo of their stall was.....

:laugh: - why not pay a couple of pound and get it done properly ..

Makes sense, many students when they finish UNI stay in the city and if they have any interest in the game will look to go to a few games. Even if they attract only 50 people across the whole of UWE each year 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 / 350 ---- these things then tend to blow into larger movements/numbers at which point is just a thing UWE/Rovers where you/friends students/ ex students are Rovers supporters...

I would think it's the kind of thing our club would look to do as well.

ha ha - the doomsayers come out from behind the woodwork now they have something to whinge about.... 

come join the game chat peeps    http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/chat/

3 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

Have we all seen the waterfall footage on Twitter?

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Ty_1867/status/775763241427435520/video/1

How on earth can they design a roof that leaks onto the pitch like that.... will listen, but would not be surprised to see it cancelled.

Hes probably a safe pair of hands, can't be worse than Higgs - hell, it's not like they have anything to lose.

12 minutes ago, Drew Peacock said:

In the EP Wally seems to think the stadium finance is in place.  Is this really true or a tale from Arabian Nights?

Can't see he would lie, would be interesting to see that actual deal on the table - though I doubt we ever will.

1 hour ago, Iron Man said:

Meanwhile over on twitter a lovely Gashead calls one of  our ladies players a slut.

 

I wonder how many people reported that tweet ?

46 minutes ago, daored said:

Said it before and everyday being proven right, the guy is simply out of his depth. He was happy to play along with the billionaire comments when he took over, now the reality is he needs to spend money and serious money. The club is going to struggle in league 1; early signs suggest that and they need an influx of players, now got to wait till January. The ground is another matter, they need capital to find the build and every week there's an excuse, the EU vote was strange, now they've got the money  but need to do another consultation. Wouldn't that have been done when they brought the club? UWE was already in place then? Unfortunately for Rover's they've got someone in who brought himself a toy and doesn't have the capital required to run it. Maybe they've got delay tactics so UWE pull out 

I don't think he bought them as a toy, he probably thought it was a genuinely good business deal.

Possible this happened...

Higgs said buy the club, it has assets and only a small amount of debt. They ask why he is selling the club then, well because he has to service a loan and has ran out of lines of credit.

Wael looks at the finances, yup, a couple of loans to pay off that have fallen due, and then the club is debt free with a nice large asset in the Mem. Seems a good deal, check with Higgs what kind of cut he want's out of the deal - he ask for maybe 1-2 million and bingo - Rovers have a new owner, Dwayne Sports, who are registered in Jersey and have now got the purchase and loan payments on their books. Now he starts to realise the club runs at a loss, that the UWE deal is not a clear cut as it seemed, in fact UWE seem keen on using the land for a new faculty. Wael also realises that they will not own the land, and that Rovers will be nothing more than tenants and for that privilege they have to front most of the building costs - so he has to renegotiate to get a better deal.

Wael looks at his £70 odd million wealth and starts wondering how much he should put into the club... it's a big gamble, and most of the wealth is tied up in assets, so he looks for financing, but what kind of returns can they expect from the ground for a large up front costs ? Probably nowhere enough to make it a decent deal, so he struggles to find anyone to get on board.... and that's where we now are Wael goes to sleep at night cussing Higgs and dreaming of owning a trouble free Gillingham. 

So Rovers are owned by a offshore company, in a tax haven, by a business man from Jordan - and what is it they say about us and Lansdown ?

2 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Don't have to cover my eyes, too small for me to read anyway !

Tip if you use a PC or laptop - click on the image - if using a phone, use your finger and lightly tough the image on the screen. For more help I can direct you to http://www.seniorsguidetocomputers.com/     

Got a nice text from my Rovers supporting Uncle that they have started building their ground. Seemed a bit odd there was no news story asked him where he saw it and... it's a thread about some work making a car park at UWE that may or may not be on behalf of Rovers (no one seems sure). Was funny reading the thread, started out about UWE within a few post pretty much all about us  

Cover you eyes people, just a couple of gems...

14 hours ago, OddBallJim said:

This thread is getting so pathetic. 

"Oh they're obsessed with us"

"Ooooh we're so scared!"

 

What a load of old cobblers from both sets of fans. Focus on your own clubs. Red or Blue. 342 pages, which I'm now contributing even more to. **** me.

3 hours ago, NeilS said:

Someone has too remind you that you are obsessed, obsess over your own team, that might help, or if you can't do that just go and support them and leave us City fans to ourselves. 

This means that even with the sags contributing to the thread and encouraging involvement, just over 3% of the posts are to do with the gas. 

Put another way, if you had an hour chatting to your City mate, this would represent 2 minutes laughing at the gas and 58 minutes talking about City. 

58 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

Pretty easy to counter...

A team not capable of matching Reading U23's.

A 'billionaire' owner yet to spend anything. 

A best player who wanted to leave the club, but agreed to stay (for a year) when no one good wanted him. 

The shittest ground probably ever seen. 

A tent for a stand. 

A manager who is beyond unprofessional. 

And, most importantly, a weekly car boot at their home ground. 

well to be fair, I was wondering why we don't have a indoor market at AG now we have that lovely concourse - pop in for a coffee at the shop, buy some tat from tantric healing inc, tye-dye t-shirt corp  etc - open one of the concession stands / or the bars so the husbands/boyfriends can go grab a pint and generally get people down there - who will then hopefully come ore often, use the coffee shop/bar and grill etc....

10 minutes ago, Busterrimes said:

I don't want to be seen to stand up for those cretins but my guess is Wally is pictured at Sabadell pre season

 

yup

Sabadell also has an unlikely alliance with English club Bristol Rovers. It started when fans of the respective sides formed a friendship based initially on the fact that both clubs play in blue & white quarters. It now has a more formal footing with fans & officials paying visits to each others clubs, and Rovers will pay a visit to Sabadell for a pre-season friendly in July 2016.

6 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

 

Isn't that the sort of thing the Glaziers did?

Buy the club, pay off the debt with money from the club then own the club without risking any personal wealth ? 

Yeah, it's pretty common - and feels totally wrong.

28 minutes ago, phantom said:

 

Or move the debt from Bristol Rovers FC across to Dwayne Sports ?

Possibly, will be interesting to see their first years accounts.

10 hours ago, SirColinOfMansfield said:

This is Wally's story ....

http://www.venturemagazine.me/2016/08/buying-into-the-beautiful-game/

"After months of intensive negotiations, al-Qadi eventually beat around 10 other bidders to secure ownership of the club by absorbing its considerable debts. Due to a non-disclosure agreement, he can’t reveal the figures involved, but he insisted his family got a good deal. “You would be amazed at how much value we got,” he said. "

So he didn't pay off the considerable debts .... he just "absorbed" them!

Would we be amazed at the value he got? .... he still had change from a fiver?

 

 

It probably was good business. Higgs ran out of lines of credit and having a multi million pound asset like the mem is meaning less unless you have a buyer / somewhere to move. So Wael pays of a few million of debt/loans on behalf of Higgs and the club as well as giving Higgs a few million to vanish. Now Wael has a nice asset worth £ ? in the mem, and has stuck all the debts/loans to buy the club in a overseas company that owns Bristol Rovers.