pongo88

Good post, as ever, from Havana but he always seem to be going somewhere on a flight or coming back. Perhaps he should change his name to Thereandbackagaintopia (and share some of his air miles with us)

The comment that dogging is better in Bristol than Manchester is interesting though, of course, I can't speak from personal experience.

If would be a good site for Gloucester, as they could raise a fair sum by selling the Neville Road ground. I don't think they will move, as the new floodlight have just been installed. UWE's not a good location for Somerset as it's in the wrong county.

Just about anything, even rounders, is big compared to Rovers

Interesting conversation with someone who claims to be ITK at Rovers. The new owners beleive they have been fooled by the previous owner and there is no value in the deal. There is nothing tangible on the new ground negotiations and they may take action to recover some of their money. This may be rumour, or in the weeks / months to come you may say "Pongo told us first" If you ask for my sauce all I can say is red sauce on a sausage sandwich and brown sauce on a bacon sandwich.

Fantastic view of the ground in Andrew Billingham's tweet

Who was the owner? Other questions. Why did the Bristol Rugby owner (a lifelong Rovers fan) have a clause in the contract that allowed Rovers to buy the rugby club's 50% of the ground for £10k? It's usual business practice to ensure that your only asset is retained in the event of debts. You don't give it away. Also why did the the rugby owner (a lifelong Rovers fan) put the club into administration, thereby triggering the clause? No warning and no opportunity for other interested parties to take over.

The land used to include two practice pitches used by Bristol Rugby and was approx twice the size of the current footprint. Where did the money go when this land was sold for housing?

This, apart from being inaccurate, is from a club that can't even decide on its own nickname. "The Gas" was a term of abuse given to Rovers by City supporters when Rovers played next to a gas works at Eastville. Due to a complete lack of any imagination from Rovers supporters, they had to profusely thank those from Ashton Gate, for this insult, and decide to use it

Technically not stolen a ground, but the circumstances of Rovers obtaining the Memorial Ground must be embarrassing to any honest fan. The owner of Bristol Rugby puts the club into administration before any interested party has the opportunity to take over, meaning Rovers can buy the ground for £10k. The same person just happens to be a lifelong Rovers fan who became a life president of the club. Absolutely nothing illegal but surely a conflict of interest?

Yes - he hit the post from 10 yards with only the goalkeeper to beat. He usually hits the corner flag.

It's entertaining watching City. Six goals last week and four this week.

In case anyone is wondering, Rod Hull was not born in Hull. Neither was Emu. Rod Hull must be one of the few people who died from falling off a roof whilst adjusting a TV aerial to improve reception during a football match. This makes me think that City will sneak a win.

Have you forgotten Boyle's Law? What did you do in physics lessons at school? Boyle's Law - The pressure of gas increases as the volume decreases. Using this, I've calculated that the answer is linked to the phases of the moon

Let's think about this for a moment. Could it be lots of love from the Rovers's fans? Perhaps not. A few free tickets to watch lower league football? Perhaps not. How about a good return on the investment? As building a new ground for a loss making League 2 club is high risk, the return must be high to justify the risk. It's not the same as a bank giving somebody a loan to buy a house as, if that goes pear shaped, the bank can repossess and sell the house. If a football club goes bust there is little resale value in a football stadium other than the value of the land. So, high risk investment = big returns for the investors = a big drain on Rover's finances for years to come. (That's the best case scenario)

It's not a very big car park

Havana - As ever, pure joy to read your excellent prose. Just one question. You mentioned "Hargreaves and Arkwright". Is this an earlier version of the financial services company, Hargreaves Lansdown" and if so why did Steve Lansdown leave Bolton to set up with Peter Hargreaves in Bristol?

This is more appropriate

Love the responses to this, e g: "******* hell geoff you'll bring um to there (sic) knees" "time to liquidise my assets and Sainsburys issue a profit warning then"

Why not go the whole hog and appeal to the European Court of Human Rights? If that fails, they could try the European Court of Justice.

Nick Higgs has taken a lot of flack from the forum over the years, but I think we should all apologise. He's obviously an astute businessman as he's manage to offload all his debts to a squillionsaire from Jordan on the promise of a £30m windfall from Sainsbury. He's laughing all the way to the bank

Court verdict on Thursday morning! It will be interesting reading on the forum, whichever way the verdict goes.

Try smoking for the whole match. City do better without you!

Any chance you can stay in bed till the end of the season?