pongo88

Don’t forget that City won the Welsh Cup in 1934

Even Shrewsbury and Burton Albion, who have not achieved much over the years, have modern grounds. They were built 15 and 13 years ago respectively, but Rovers new stadium is still just talk

It depends on how you measure things. Rovers play at the Memorial Stadium which was built in 1920/21 on a patch of ground called Buffalo Bill’s Field. The location was named after Colonel William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, whose Wild West Show had proven popular there in 1891. Did Buffalo Bill every perform at Fratton Park? NO - because Buffalo Bill knew that Portsmouth was always going to be a small club

If you’re far too bone idle to look, why should anyone bother to tell you?

Peterborough have spent approx £1m on JCH this season and approx £1m on Mo Eisa last season. Two million pounds is more than Rovers have spent on players over the last 20 years, yet their fans regard Peterborough as a smaller team. Gas logic

Maybe, but maybe not. Has anyone got an exact figure for the money in and the probable value of the land? Looking at it in another way, the money invested in Rovers by Wael could have been invested in a stock market fund instead. Even allowing for the recent dip due to Covid this would probably have provided a better return.

Bert - I’ve said this before and I’ll probably say it again as I’m a man of habit. You are far too sensible to be a Rovers supporter. You must be a true City fan who likes Adge Cutler and cider.

This is true, but it does make a difference. Some of the Rovers supporters believe the club is debt free because of previous statements regarding finance / debt. As W C Fields said: “If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh*t”

You are awful - but I like you!

Sunderland and Rovers have very similar grounds. One is the Stadium of Light. The other is the Stadium of Blight

I liked the part: “The Club has registered a range of intellectual property rights, including current and historical logos and words and phrases associated with the club “ The majority of words and phrases associated with Bristol Rovers are not the sort you you use in polite company

However bad the last few weeks have been for City it’s not as bad as this chaps problem: “It’s getting harder to find clubs like Dorchester Town, Eastleigh and Barnet."

I heard that he said he would cover the losses for the next 2 years. Does this mean he expects to lose £50m per year?

If they’re offered £700k, Rovers should take the money ASAP. Prior to joining Rovers JCH’s scoring record was average to poor. He’s had a good spell with them, but will this last or will he revert to his previous form?

Kent Walton would have liked the last bit of action from Williams (for older fans)

You beat me to it. I was just about to say the same. Plenty of possession but little creativity

Nice intro @havanatopia, but I’m afraid you lost your credibility when you said you had green cords. Have you no self respect?

The last couple of sentences are spot on. My 10 a shares in City mean I now only own one hundredth of a door handle on one of the toilet doors. Not that I’m complaining as if could be worse. I could hold 100% of a tent at the minimal stadium

Got to agree with you about Coppell’s record, but I don’t think he would have got the job if there had been a proper interview process. He never seemed interested, so I don’t think he would have applied. If he had applied I can imagine the interview being a disaster with his “I can’t start at the moment because I’m a bit busy. Might be able to fit you in, in a few months time” attitude.

The top coaches wouldn’t be interested as they could work for top Premier League teams or clubs abroad. However, there are always plenty of good coaches who would want to work with a team like City. We’ve got a good ground, training facilities, the basis of a good team and an owner who gives a coach time and money. The way to identify them is to advertise the job, see who applies and then interview the top 5 applicants. Unfortunately, this basic principle doesn’t seem to happen at City and the job is just given to someone SL likes - eg Lee Johnson, Steve Coppell, Keith Millen, Brian Tinnion

The structure involving Bristol Sport, Bristol City and Bristol Bears etc is complicated to say the least and I don’t try to understand the way money flows between the various parts of the structure. There is however one thing that’s clear from the City accounts and that’s commercial income for City was (from memory) approx £15M last year. If Rovers end up in a stadium owned and paid for by a consortium, then the consortium will almost certainly get the commercial income. Ruinous for Rovers as said by @City Rocker . The only way to make money from the new ground will be for Wael to buy the portion of the fruit market site to be used for the stadium and finance it’s build himself. He may decide to do this or he may not. Time will tell

The academy route seems to be the likely option as Rovers have said they want to get rid of their “expensive” (!) players and replace them with lower league cheaper players with potential. As Rovers are in League 1, and aren’t prepared to pay much, the players they get aren’t likely to be of high standard. Any exceptional local young players will have the choice of joining City’s academy or Rovers. An easy choice

Exactly. Things are not as presented by Wael and the Rovers supporters. This is a business land development deal, with the Rovers thrown in as a red herring to ease the planning process. There will be much joy by the Rovers fans for the next few months or years, but the truth will emerge in time. As the man himself says, “these things take time”

Just the redevelopment of Ashton Gate cost in excess of £50m and that was without having to buy the land. A large percentage of the build cost was catering / hospitality facilities. Today, to build a ground of similar standard from scratch would cost In excess £100m plus the cost of the land. Nobody is going to spend that sort of money on a League 1 team that’s losing £3m a year. The sale of the Memorial ground will bring in a few pounds but nowhere near enough to make a meaningful contribution. The best Rovers can hope for is a basic 10-12k capacity stadium with basic facilities. The worst case is it all goes pear shaped.

Rovers seem to be debt free as of tonight but it doesn’t solve the problem of the weekly losses that are being accumulated. As Charles Dickens’ character, Mr Micawber, said: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." Adjust that for inflation and you have the scenario facing Rovers