beaverface

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as to what the blockers are for making this realistic rather than a fairy tale?

I both disagree and agree with you. I don't believe we've built to the maximum of our capability, however I do feel finance to do so would be very high, so in some ways you're both right and wrong. Nothing is insurmountable with the right ambitions(and money)

Talk of buying the houses for £15million is nothing compared to the parachute payments that relegated clubs get from the premier league, circa ~£90million. We wouldn't need to redevelop the Atyeo unless we make it to the Premier league - and if we did, I'd like us to follow the model that Burnley did when they first made it to premier, and bank the money for club infrastructure rather than blow the money on players. If we get relegated, so be it, but at least the long term plan is in place then. Longer term, the Atyeo needs to done properly, and that includes pulling down the houses to build as big as possible (a proper large single tiered identifiable home end). The Dolman and\or flats are coming close to the end of their lifespan. Maybe a deal could be done for the flats to be relocated as affordable homes\council tenants on the housing project that Steve Lansdown is building in Long Ashton to enable the Dolman to be rebuilt bigger (and in a different style to the Lansdown), and maybe a style that doesn't have roof supports preventing wrap around tiers. Finally, I thought the South Stand was built with expansion in mind, but they dropped the prospect of executive boxes and an internal mezzanine floor at the last minute, but I thought it was designed with those in mind. And Ultimately, I believe it's only a handful of houses in Raynes road preventing us expanding the South Stand a lot higher and bigger. Yes, to summarise, money is an issue, but not so much in the Premier, and with SL's backing it's a lot more doable. I just hope we don't go for a half-baked option, and we look to do it properly.

...does anyone have any idea of when the lease comes to an end?

Is Wickes still operating down there, or is it now a derelict building? I know Planning Permission is being sought for the basketball arena, so if it's granted then Wickes would need to be knocked down, so I'm wondering if it's not being used now, why don't they pull it down and charge for parking until PP is granted?

Does that also include Tommy? He seems to have completely dropped off this forum!

Here's another picture I found on my home PC.

I'm rather hoping that we're shopping in TK Maxx. Cheaper options but quality to be had from time to time.

Sounds remarkably similar to a plot of land in Bristol that I've heard about. Something along the lines of honouring fallen soldiers and having a covenant on it.

Im not a fan of VAR and would scrap it, but if it is to remain I'd like the offside decisions to be relative to the distances involved. For example, the attacking player may have half of his foot ahead of the defender, but the defender could be three paces to the left\right of the attacker, so that half a foot distance isn't making a difference to the attack as the defender would never be able to reach the attacker anyway.

Which manager was it that consistently picked Liam Fontaine, when week after week Fontaine was costing us goals, making mistakes and was literally crumbling on the pitch? I really felt for Fontaine as he was a really decent defender, and when he was going through a rough patch he should've been left out, given time to get his head right, but instead was left to almost breakdown in front of our eyes.

^^^ Taken from the OTIB fanzine.

Looks that way to me, but could it be the ball pressing down on the top of the net?

If he did come back again to play for us, I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be watching him play. Don't get me wrong, prior to his concussion I loved his 100% aggressive nature, but watching that approach wouldn't sit right with me knowing that one more bang to the head could result in severe disability or death. I'm not sure I'd like to watch. I appreciate it could happen to anyone at any time, but surely the risk is a lot higher in this case?

No, you're not completely out of step. Bakinson has got something IMO also. When gets on the ball he has the ability to make something happen, whether thats a defence splitting pass or even popping up with a goal. In fact if you do a like for like comparison with Massengo, I'm pretty sure on an attacking front Bakinson would win the stats. However it's the other side of his game where he's lacking. He lets others drift past him too easily. He doesn't bust a gut to get back. If he loses the ball, there isn't any urgency - things that you do get with Massengo. He's got great skill, he's big, strong, has an athletic build, so could be another poor mans Viera. Similarly Clayton Fortune was the same. Loads of ability but lacked the aggression and desire to take him as far as he could go. Saying all that, I'd still let Bakinson go as I think too much water has gone under the bridge now.

I'd like to see a stadium clock which is linked to the referee, so that when he\she stops play, you can see the clock stopped also. This will then show EXACTLY how many minutes are left to play.

and once again, one needs to ask why SL would go out of their way to help Rovers when they didn't support us trying to build a new Stadium? Cant have it both ways.

...or one for the oldies, Cole > Gas!

I thought the same myself

For the money that Warnock spends, he's probably the closest manager City could've afforded that would "almost" guarantee promotion to the top division. I cannot think of any other manager who'd come close for our price range. The ironic thing is, getting into the Premier league and then getting relegated straight away can set you up longer term to afford other coaches\managers. City keep complaining that we cannot compete with parachute payments, but we seem to reluctant take the dirty approach to get into the Premier and\or appoint proven managers who have got teams up.

Loved reading that, and it's made me think of a couple of questions: - In the 70's when I was growing up, the keeper shirts always seemed to be green or yellow. Was Yellow another option back then? - I knew that City borrowed the Rovers kit for a few games, but has it happened the other way around? Have Rovers every played in City's kit?

I remember when LJ joined, he asked for n transfer windows to get the players he needed. Those transfer windows then passed and he then finished one particular season by stating that the club needed to be brave and trust him to take us to the next level - it then proceeded to not work out!!! When NP joined, he's asked at the beginning for 3 years to sort things out. He's probably realised he doesn't have the wriggle room that LJ had to wheel and deal, and ultimately his hands are tied by long term contracts preventing him spending money. So until those contracts expire and players are moved on, what can he do? I'm happy to give NP the time required. It doesn't mean I'm happy with the football being played - it's pretty languid and un-exciting, but I do feel for the constraints we're under, and no matter what NP tries to do or say, it's the same players he's having to squeeze some kind of performance out of.

I saw this image on a Facebook group the other day and with inflation shows how much extra we're being asked to pay across ALL of the football clubs in the Country.

What a ridiculous thing to say..............................everyone knows the hand dryers aren't warm !!

Im stuck between choosing that, and the Benarous kicking the boot away incident ?