pongo88

In 1779 new horse race was planned, and it was decided that it should be named after either the 12th Earl of Derby, or one of his guests, Sir Charles Bunbury. According to legend the decision was made by the toss of a coin, but it is probable that Bunbury, the Steward of the Jockey Club, deferred to his host. The race has been known as The Derby ever since. What is the link to Derby County FC? None, but the Bunburies is a better name for their supporters

The Bristol Rugby owner was a lifelong Rovers supporter who just happened to put the club into administration, enabling Rovers to buy the other 50% for £10k. No attempt was made to find any other backers to avoid administration. This has been covered many times on the forum, but is always ignored by those of a gas persuasion

Very true. The Wael family definitely have a long term plan, it's just doesn't involving funding a football club.

Roadrunner, what have you done? I was over the moon when I read finbarr's post but sick as a parrot after reading yours! Why remind me that we could get zero points from the 4 matches after today? I need every bit of happiness I can get watching City, so I'm going to enjoy today's 6-0 win and forget about the rest of February

City must be positive and start with Abraham, Djuric and Tomlin (Taylor to come on as sub in 70th minute when the score is 3-0). There are interesting connections with Rotherham, as Gerry Gow played for them and Norman Hunter was their manager. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have them playing today?

Any mention of captain of the school reminds me of the Kinks song David Watts: He is the head boy at the school He is the captain of the team His is so gay and fancy free (This was written before the word "gay" had it current meaning. It used to mean happy but I can't imagine Sweeny will remain happy and fancy free for long, playing for the Rovers)

This seems to be a reasonable assumption as it fits the other snippets of info that have emerged. If true, it makes the prospect of a new ground at UWE remote. Assuming the Memorial Stadium could be sold for housing at £15m, and Nick Higgs and other debtors are paid from the proceeds (£8-10m?), it leaves approx £5-7m to fund the build. I know Rovers like tents (sorry I couldn't resist that), but you don't get much for that sort of money. This would confirm the reports that Wael is trying to fund UWE by getting money from outside investors. It's obvious why they have said no, as Wael doesn't seem to want to put much of his own money into the plan and not take any of the risk. If he doesn't want to invest any more of his money into the club, it also makes it impossible to redevelop the Mem. A good long term prospect for him might be to sell Rovers as an established League 1 club, with only Nick Higgs debts to repay and a bit of profit for himself

It's very difficult to get to the bottom of Rovers' finances, but reading this, and your previous posts, it implies that Wael bought the club for only a payment of £3m up front! The other debts (mainly owed to Nick Higgs?) will be paid off over an unspecified time period. £3m seems to be a small sum to pay for a league club, and the fact that Wael can't afford to pay the other debts immediately implies he hasn't got, relatively, very much money.

There are some good points here, but one fundamental error. Rovers are owned by a holding company Dwayne Sports so the debt hasn't really gone away, it's just transferred to an offshore account.

I'll wish you well Mr Flea. Anyone who has to watch Rovers deserves some charitable thoughts at new year.

How about City start well and score first after 5 minutes? (It's got to happen eventually). Final score 3-1 to City.

I've only skimmed through the most recent posts, but it seems that ease of bus travel is the key to Rover's future. I think the reason no new ground is on the horizon is because Wael has read the article below and it has confused his thinking http://m.bristolpost.co.uk/39-things-bristol-bus-passengers-know/story-29207397-detail/story.html

Are you sure the decimal figure isn't in the wrong place with the sum qouted? Rovers don't pay transfer fees, it's just free and loan signings. You're source probably meant there's £40 to spend on on misc items

When teams who are on a poor run of results visit Ashton Gate I never feel confident as the run is bound to come to an end. Shore nuff it does and City lose. Today I'm using the reverse logic, which means City must win.

I used to quite like Wolves until their hooligan mascot came to Ashton Gate.

Well done Havan old bean, though I'm a little bit disappointed you couldn't link Preston with Prestonpans in Scotland. As you've said you would do some tangential intros I was hoping for something about frying pans, saucepans etc. Perhaps for the next time we play them?

No comments or words of wisdom for 5 hours!

The last few games have been a reality check. Earlier in the season we had poor to average performances but picked up points due to Tammy's goals. This wasn't sustainable or he would have ended the season with 40 goals. The deficiencies in the team aren't new, just more obvious. Pre season there was a lot of optimism due to the large number of signings made, but too many can't even get onto the pitch. Patterson, Brownhill, O'Dowda, Engvall - what have they contributed this season?

It was indeed a wondrous exposition, but how will he follow it up for Brentford? What can you say apart from it's close to the M4?

Ross Cook the Hartley Whitney striker is on trial with Rovers! Obviously Darrell Clarke's plea for more money to splash on new players has been answered big time As an aside, Hartley Whitney is a fantastic name for a person to have. It has a certain upper class ring

The booby prize is a lifetime season ticket

Good post as ever Havana though, as you say, it must be difficult to keep saying something interesting about the same teams. I like your idea of mixing it up a bit by talking about marginally related topics, as going off at a tangent would be in the spirit of the forum. Hopefully the picture below will reflect today's result for the tractor boys

Good post Hava, as always. Just one question - why would a crow want to fly from Bristol to Birmingham?

The revised design should fit

If you think it's pure rubbish, which you're entitled to, why did you bother to read 322 pages?