Smaller than a flea

16 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

So, to summarise their season so far;

Stuffed by Scunthorpe

Beat Oxford who got beaten by Fleetwood tonight and look like they`re going straight back down

Beaten at home by a team we beat 6-0

 

To be more precise:

Beaten by Scunthorpe, who were on the verge of the playoffs last season.

Beaten by Bolton, who were two divisions above us in May.

Beat Oxford, who finished above us and were tipped to do well in L1.

Beat Cardiff.  Your rivals, who do better than you.

Not brilliant, but not bad.

And as for calling 9,000 in League 1 "pathetic", the vast majority of clubs in that league would bite your hand off for an attendance like that.

I'm not trying to big us up, but just hoping that some more reasonable posters on here might see that what we have achieved in the past two years is actually pretty impressive.  We're not going to storm League 1 as you did, but to be where we are now compared to May 2014 is something to be a little "prowed" of.

9 minutes ago, Cider_boy said:

You used to be in the same league as us too. Apparently. I don't remember it myself.

But we now wear Macron.  And we have a new tent.  It's all looking good.

8 minutes ago, Between heaven and hell said:

Tough game for your mob tomorrow especially after 2hrs on Thursday night.

It will be tough.  Oxford were better than us last year but now Kemar Roofe has joined Leeds and Matty T decided not to leave us for Oxford, we stand a good chance of turning them over in the West Country/South Midlands localish derby.  How do you describe where Oxford actually is in the country?

15 minutes ago, BS15_RED said:

Macron 

That's the one. Crystal Palace wear it too.  They used to be in the same league as you, but times move on.

9 minutes ago, Malago said:

A draw tomorrow, a loss to Bolton, who are on an early roll, on Wednesday and after 3 games you're already cut adrift,

Happy Days.

Just like you will be playing Man U next season after two matches.  You might, of course, if they are relegated.

1 hour ago, Red Right Hand said:

Another big local (ish) game for them tomorrow v Oxford. How many of the best fans in the world will venture up to the mem for that do you think?

My guess would be that the crowd will be about 6,200 with 800 odd from Oxford.

It's a virtual sellout tomorrow.  Oxford have taken their 1,200 and over 9,000 have been sold in advance. POTD will soak up the rest.  

Darryl's strange new hairstyle is firmly gelled in place. Matty is wearing his lucky scoring pants.  And our stunning new Macron kit is ready for its League debut.

52 minutes ago, daored said:

Please, please, please can these lot beat Cardiff on Thursday (not impossible) and please, please let us play them in the second round at the gate.

Let's show these lot what a real owner with real money can achieve with regards to the building of a new stadium.

Little Lee, play a strong team. It doesn't matter how many facebook likes you get, who gives a **** about that. Let's put 3 or 4 past them and remind them of their place in Bristol football on and off the pitch 

I think we all know that if this fixture happened, we would beat you with a disputed 94th minute scrambled toe-punt from Matty Taylor, against the run of play.  One empty seat in the Dolman would be proof that City can never fill Ashton Gate, and a police dog barking at someone wearing a blue and white shirt would be proof that the whole animal kingdom support the poor horses.

4 minutes ago, bert tann said:

 

 

It is unconventional but worthwhile if it draws attention to the absurdity which remains at Rovers despite the regime change.

I make no apology for challenging the wisdom of our President re-tweeting the boast about Facebook likes.

In February, after years of watching Nicholas stumble from crisis to crisis, all of us believed the new owners would tighten up our defences and then launch an attacking strategy.

But six months on and we are still scoring own goals 

Well, since we're playing Cardiff on Thursday, I expect you'll be standing in the away section telling everyone how Matty Taylor is never going to cut it in League 1.  I'm sure they'll also all agree with you.

3 hours ago, bert tann said:

You mean the 1950's ?

Ah, but what a manager Rovers had then eh Rich ?

Clough, Ferguson & Shankly all rolled into one with just a touch of the Arsene although we won't go into that.

Up at post 11199 RumRed has a photo of Stephen Lansdown and in it I have to say he looks just like a farmer I used to buy gallons of cider from goodness knows how many years ago. This is not intended to be disrespectful. In fact I wonder how many other fans thought something similar when they saw that photo. A typical West Countryman - one of your own you might say - and certainly not the stereotypical image of a grey faceless businessman.

I thought it was rather nice.

On the other hand Rovers now have a non-Bristolian owner for the first time in our history and we must work out how we are going to adapt to this situation and compete with Bristol City in a way which will inspire our fans and attract neutrals to our cause. I would suggest the rather weedy response of re-tweeting about Facebook likes which can be purchased for £ 120 per 10 000 from thesocialguys.co.uk is a sign that we have not yet come up with a winning strategy.

I know you get a lot of likes on this forum by, in written form, wearily shaking your hand and bemoaning how lame Rovers are, but it's a slightly odd thing for a Rovers "fan" to do, isn't it?

13 minutes ago, Ohbasso said:

Twitter followers - 

City - 75k

Gash - 50k

OK, we got an early goal and you've replied with a lucky deflection.

Bristol Rovers Facebook. Likes 100,335.

Bristol City Facebook. Likes 99,301.

The horse punching tent dwelling minnows are liked by more people than the one team in Bristol. 

6 hours ago, Nicki's soulmate said:

Your lot did get their act together from around '71, had a decent firm, came on the East End in the '74 Gloucester cup, stiil got ran on the pitch after though and your escort was attacked near the tannery, that was the best your lot have ever managed,  the '80's till the present day has been a total piss take,  just embarrassing,  always ready with an excuse, "you've got too many, we were washing our hair, we forgot etc"

There was never a join-up against Millwall, where the **** did that come from? as for the Man U game in '74-'75 the gas did come on the EE, but were told in no uncertain terms to shut the **** up when they got a bit mouthy.

Never try to rewrite history when there's sharp fuckers like me around.   

CITD

So the dinosaurs didn't die out after all then.  I can't believe that a few Rovers and City fans still harp on about "firms" and violence.  It nearly ruined football than, and stains it today.  On the rare occasions that City and Rovers meet, it would be great if it could be more like a Liverpool v Everton celebration rather than a nasty violent tense stand-off.

Great signing for you and good money for us.

https://mobile.twitter.com/FL92Transfer/status/759080348978413569

It's a classic kit which everyone admires.  Except on here.

Rovers get two mentions in this link.  Can't see City anywhere there.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Articles/Classics.htm

12 minutes ago, cityloyal473 said:

So he's no longer a Rover's player?

Wael's bunged him a few dinars to keep him afloat but time is running out. Time to decide. 

He's either signing for Celtic, Reading, Brentford, Hibs, or us. All the others have offered him £7k a week and we've offered him £3.5k plus bonuses. 

This is the gossip. He is taking a long time to make up his mind, and he's now out of contract since the end of June and not being paid.

Perfect signing for City really.  Best to jump in quick. Top scorer in the Football League last season.  Go for it.

4 hours ago, pommers1965 said:

This beauty was posted on gaschat earlier....

I honestly believe we are now on the same level again as City apart from them having a new stadium built and playing one level above us for one more season.Remember,just over a year ago they were just leaving the div we are 're- entering, yet them across the river always act as if they are Man Utd and we are Stockport! The "gap" that they have gone on about is down to us failing to move forward as a club rather than there growth.

However Bristol Rovers FC is now a very different beast to the one that failed for so many years...We have the best set of players I can remember,our best ever manager in charge and a very rich... however very humble,very ambitious new set of owners that want to take us to the stars.

I will be AMAZED if in 5 years time we are not playing in a new stadium in front of our largest consistent crowds ever being at least top half championship club.If City can be at that level in 5 years time,or even above that then fair play to them,but for the first time ever we as a football club can aim as high as we desire and need to focus purely on ourselfs.

I think this was from icegas, who I previously (wrongly) suggested had just joined gaschat as one of you lot on there to stir things up.

Now I'm wondering about him again.

The views expressed in that post are not necessarily representative of the views of all fans of the up and coming club north of the river.

4 hours ago, Somerset Red said:

Millwall to visit the Family Club then.

 

That'll be fun!

 

(Do tents burn?)

Hopefully it'll be raining and the thugs will get a good soaking in our luxurious "you're not welcome" roofless away enclosure.

They were up to their usual antics today chasing Barnsley fans in the upper tier at Wembley. 

2 minutes ago, City169 said:

Still never seen any evidence that these multi zillionaires actually have all the money you lot like to claim

I must admit they don't seem to be throwing money around, but they did say it was evolution, not revolution. Darrell Clarke has done all we could have hoped for, and more.  If we're to be a success in L1 and push on to the Championship then a lot of money will have to be produced.  

5 minutes ago, Kingcider said:

Does that make any sense,if you borrow money you have to pay interest and pay the capital back,use your own money and you have no interest to pay ! Are you saying that they can make more by using their own money for other things ? If so what was the point of buying a run down club ?

It does make sense. A bank wanting to fund a project might need £50m. They might be getting say 7% return by investing that £50m in the stock market. They could borrow the money at 5% if the loan is mega-safe, such as a rich Jordanian banking family. So why would they spend £50m of their cash and lose the 7% interest when they could borrow it and only pay 5%? This of course does not apply to mere mortals like us who pay huge interest rates for loans, but that's why the rich always do well.

2 hours ago, bert tann said:

Nicholas vowed he would only sell Rovers to someone who had the finance to carry out his UWE Stadium plan.

But he must have got himself in a bit of a muddle when he sold the club because it appears Mr Al Qadi doesn't actually have the finance himself which is why he has been looking for outside investors.

However the potential outside investors may well have found that the location on a University campus is a severe hindrance to the type of development which they would need to build to provide them with a satisfactory return on their capital.

So the only way to finance the UWE Stadium would be unsecured venture capital from a risk taker who would be gambling on the football club being transformed into a valuable asset which he could eventually sell at a profit commensurate with the amount of cash he provided and the risk he had taken.

The amount of capital needed to bring the UWE Stadium plans to fruition would be huge compared to the amount of capital which Mr Qadi needed to buy out Nicholas, his friends and MSP Capital.

Therefore, it follows by virtue of the relative amounts invested, the risk taker providing the capital to finance the UWE Stadium would become the majority shareholder in Bristol Rovers FC and the Al Qadi family would be reduced to holding a minority stake.

Is this likely to happen ?

If it did, would Gasheads be "crying like Jim Chapel" ? 

Well that's a load of nonsense. Bankers look for outside investors because the return they get on their investments is higher than the interest they pay for loans for the investment, so long as that loan is secured on a safe source, ie the Al-Qadi family. In other words, it's cheaper for them to borrow the money than to use their own cash to fund the stadium.

4 hours ago, Southstandoriginal said:

Out of interest why do you think Holloway would be a catastrophe for you. He would be for us but that's an entirely different story!

Because I think he lost the plot at Palace and Millwall and the stress of it all seemed to do him in. Also the old adage of 'never go back' applies in spades here. He lost it in 2000 when we bottled the playoffs and admitted managing Rovers as a fan and ex-player was a bit too much to take.  

Still, he, and we, don't have to speculate about that now.

Just as well Reading sacked their manager today and not last week.  That would have been a much more tempting offer for DC.

I don't know if DC did it because he thought he wouldn't be able to work with the maniac at Leeds, or the new contract offer was too good to turn down, or he's simply loyal to the club and keeping his promise to get Rovers to top 10 in L1.

Whatever the reason, it's a huge relief he's signed. The names Gary Johnson and Ian Holloway had already been mentioned as replacements. Both, especially the second, would have been a catastrophe.

You're all just secretly jealous that you haven't got a manager that Leeds United want to poach. 

3 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Anything to say @Smaller than a flea?

We are going up!