Up The City!

19 minutes ago, CotswoldRed said:

So long as the crowds are big enough then yes. 

Bolton is also under significant pressure from the change in their demographic too. Lets just say the local population is less likely to attend football than would have done 30/40 years ago. 

Nothing wrong with that, just the way it is. 

Rochdale 3,574 (record average attendance)

Oldham 4,264

Bury 3,845

Bolton 15,887

Wigan 11,661

Salford 2,489

Are those average attendances from last season really big enough and sustainable?

39 minutes ago, solihull cider red said:

20 years ago, Oldham & Bury were both 2nd Tier clubs and Rochdale hadn't been promoted or relegated for 30 years (the epitome of stability on the face of things! I know they were probably riddled with debt and a dilapidated stadium). Wigan, Swansea, Reading & Cardiff have all seen a decent rise up the footballing pyramid since then - it could also be said that running a modest football club sustainably isn't that bad of an idea, that's not down to the fans.

This country has the appetite to sustain more than 100 professional football clubs & most prove their worth to their communities every year. Rushden & Diamonds, Dagenham & Redbridge, Hayes & Yeading were all non-league and had to pool resources to make a step up, I do think they brought more to the community as a joint entity than as 2 individual teams [happy to stand corrected]. I'm not even sure Hayes & Yeading did much more than tread water - I think that merger was a necessity because of finances.

I don't think one would gain even as much as the other two towns(?) would lose in this scenario, let alone do any more for the area.

A well run club should be the pride of a town which can be relied upon to have its fair share of joys and disappointments, bumper crowds and leaner seasons - they should not have to empty their pockets to support it when the next failed businessman risks everything for an ego trip and it doesn't work.

It happens time and again, just when you think football is beginning to learn

 

The issue is, can greater Manchester sustain all the teams they have in the area? 

20 years on and there is now two huge Manchester clubs that will draw support from far and wide. Personally I don't think all these greater Manchester clubs will be able to continue in their current form.

Wigan, Reading, Cardiff and Swansea all rose up the football pyramid because of investment. Unfortunately the Burys and Rochdale's of this world are not that attractive of an investment as those clubs were, due to living in the shadow of the huge Manchester clubs. 

13 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Ok, so let’s assume Bolton and Bury merge and the new club is called Bury Wanderers playing in Bolton - how many Bury fans do you think would consider the new entity to be ‘their club’ ?! And how many Bolton fans would support a team called Bury Wanderers?! You haven’t thought this through - way back a proposal was put forward to merge Reading and Oxford under the name Thames Valley Royals - if you were a Reading or Oxford fan would you have supported ‘that’ ?!

Way back, a proposal was also out forward to merge Bury, Rochdale and Oldham, to be called Manchester North End, 20 years down the line and you could say that idea wasn't that bad of an idea.

5 hours ago, bcfcredandwhite said:

I feel sorry for the fans. They haven’t spent beyond their means. They just buy their tickets and merchandise from their clubs, plus all the expense it takes going to and from watching their team play, and hope that the powers that be use their hard earned money sensibly to take their club forward. 
Those owners are not fans. If their venture goes wrong they will simply move on. 
Real shame that this has been allowed to happen. Football is in the blood - we all know that. I may be in the minority here, but wouldn’t even wish this on the Sags. It’s a sad day for football - but also English culture - when a football club folds.

I can remember this happening to Chester City, Hereford United and Newport County - it’s taken how many years for Newport to climb back into the league (?) but as far as I know the other 2 clubs are still out of business (happy to be corrected on this - not Googled it!!  )

(No idea how the text size changed half way through this - and can’t work out how to standardise it  )

I'm sorry but yes I do wish it on the sags because they are a horrible football club and their fanbase is rotten to the core.

If Bury or Bolton were closer then no doubt they would be after their stadiums, whilst trying to get someone else to pay for it.

15 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Really?! Surely no proper football fan would put this proposal forward?

 

Im not a proper football fan because I out the suggestion forward? Hmmm ok then. 

Louis Carey often put forward the idea of us and Rovers merging, guess he's not a proper club legend either then? 

What I am saying is we are on the brink of losing two historic football clubs, if a merger was the only way to save them, then surely that should be explored? Businesses merge all the time so what's the difference?

1 hour ago, Ska Junkie said:

This is spot on. While Bolton fans don't want to see Bury go bust, there is most certainly no love lost between the 2 sets of supporters. A Bolton fan in work just wants to see his club survive, whatever league they're in.

Like BS3, I spend a lot of time in Manchester and work with both Bolton and Bury fans and they most certainly don't like each other. 

But if the only way to see his club survive was to merge? 

Whilst I get the rivalry, wouldn't that just be them cutting their nose off to spite their face? 

When you look at the teams that are in the conference, Notts County, Chesterfield etc, teams with a long football league history then it won't be long until Bury and Bolton are forgotten about.

4 minutes ago, phantom said:

Double the debts? 

Would still need a buyer

But maybe more of an attractive proposition to a potential buyer? 

4 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Would you like to merge with Rovers if we were both struggling?

I ain't going to pretend I know what the rivalry is between Bolton and Bury, all I know is they are close geographically but have had contrasting footballing fortunes over the years so from the outside it doesn't appear they are fierce rivals.

It just seems strange that two clubs within a few miles of each other are both about to go out of existence yet the idea of merging hasn't come up.

Why has a merger between Bolton and Bury not been mooted? Surely makes sense? 

On 02/08/2019 at 07:44, HitchinRed said:

Things not going so well for Hollowhead.

Over the summer is failed to get as many jobs as Rovers have failed to sign players.

His regular column in the EP, reportedly where ‘The former Bristol Rovers and Blackpool manager gives his insight into both camps’ is all about him, him, him.

Still an enjoyable read though...

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ian-holloway-graham-coughlan-right-3163100

Did I read that right? They asked him to send a detailed response as to why he he should be the new Plymouth manager and he gave a brief reply asking to meet with them?

On 03/08/2019 at 14:46, bert tann said:

Announcement expected imminently from Dwane Sports to say they are purchasing a valuable tract of land at St Phillips, Bristol on which they will build a new 20 000 capacity multi-sports stadium. The development will also include a hotel, offices, restaurants, cinema complex and associated parking. 

The project is said to be financed  through the support of the Bahrain Arab  International Bank (BAIB) and the Kuwait Asia Bank.

 

The Memorial ground will get sold off to fund the scheme, hotels etc will get built using that money, and then when it comes to building the football stadium the money would have ran out. 

3 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

Definitely. AJ to over confident IMO . Seems to get wobbled quite a bit

He needed this tbh.

I'm a huge AJ fan, i deliberated about spending the 20 quid to watch this thinking it could be over before it even got started. Within 2 rounds I found myself cheering Ruiz on. Delighted I spent the money now.

Wow wow wow

1 minute ago, petehinton said:

AJ slowing everything down nicely here. Ruiz getting tired. 

AJ started to show signs of tiredness in that round.

Wow

Im actually finding myself cheering Ruiz on 

Wow

1 hour ago, 29AR said:

Cardiff are a limited company not a plc. I think more likely they got advice ‘you’re liable for £15m, to challenge will cost £x and a chance of winning is Y%’ and the board found it favourable. 

Or we could turn it the other way and say that's the advice Nantes received.

It all depends on the wording of the transfer agreement which none of us know.

23 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

Just to play devil's advocate...

If they player was/is insured, but the insurance company won't pay out because in their view, he wasn't correctly registered with Cardiff and therefore not yet a player, would it not be down to his old club to claim on their insurance?

Whatever the reasons are for this payment being disputed, no one is going to come away from this situation with any credit. It really shouldn't be played out in public, not when two families are grieving.

I agree with your summary. The insurers won't pay out because of the irregularities around him being registered so Cardiff are following a course of action that any other club would follow.

This clears it up for me.

BBC Sport has also learned arrangements for a signing-on fee did not meet Premier League rules and so had been rejected by the league.

5 hours ago, Ska Junkie said:

This thread has taken an interesting turn.

@bodin, do you honestly think your club, given the absolute tip you call home and your losses / lack of revenue / infrastructure, would stand a hope in hell's chance at the level we currently do quite well at?

I'm genuinely interested as myself, like the rest of us, already know the answer but would like to hear your thoughts.

Would the EFL even allow them to play in that stadium in the Championship??

8 hours ago, In the Net said:

Yes, the only downside is losing out on the extra income, which, as you know, would have come in useful, given our circumstances. I couldn't bring myself to actually hope for us to lose tonight, but I'm glad that we'll be playing the scheduled league fixture against Luton that weekend - avoiding relegation is the priority.

I'm a boycotter, but, to be honest, at the end of the day money will talk.  If the Premiership dangle a large enough carrot to get their B teams into the league, too many lower league clubs are in financial straights to be able to vote against it.  The revival of the Bristol Derby could be closer than we think! 

I can't wait for the day when we enter a U21 side in this competition and come up against you. Our U21s beating your first team would almost be as funny as when you became the only Bristol football team to relegated out of the league, especially as you were 3 points clear and you held a survival party before the game.

9 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

It’s a fairly unprecedented situation, thankfully. 

At the end of the day, they signed the player (the details of whether the player should ever have even been on that aircraft are not known enough to judge, granted) 

The second he signed that contract, Cardiff were liable for his agreed transfer fee. 

We were able to pull out of the Metab? Transfer after everything was all agreed.

6 hours ago, Dollymarie said:

The privately funded search has found the plane wreckage  

http://news.sky.com/story/emiliano-sala-missing-premier-league-footballers-plane-found-11627529

I think it's a shocking state of affairs that it took a privately funded search to find the wreckage.

14 minutes ago, spudski said:

Not sure there is ever a right time to ask about this...but I've never been able to find an answer.

What happens with the contract signed?

Do Clubs insure against such a thing?

Is there a clause in the contract?

Do relatives receive the contract total?

Guess it's a personal contact that are all different and agreed between agent, Club and player. Everyone being different.

I guess it would also come into FFP rules as well.

Complicated...

Sorry if this seems inappropriate...but when is there a right time?

I'm glad you asked this, was gonna ask it myself but didn't know if I should. 

Would Cardiff be able to claim the transfer fee back from insurance? 

Something just doesn't make sense with all of this.

Fans on Radio Bristol are already calling for their new managers head 

1 hour ago, WesM said:

I almost feel sorry for him. Even the reddest of reds has to admit he did a good job in getting them back up from the National League to where they are now. He’s clearly not had much support from the frauds that are the board there. He could and should of left a few summers ago when his stock was high, he stayed loyal and its now damaged him professionally.

Should have went to Leeds when he had the chance. At least he would be set up for life financially.

I would feel sorry for him if he wasn't such a ******* cock #happydays

1 hour ago, Bristol Rob said:

Some cracking replies to the statement put out by Wally. The Fewers aren't a happy lot.

 

In other words, we can't afford to sack him and pay him off so we're placing him on gardening leave.

Can you imagine Steve Lansdown issuing a statement like this? It's totally unprofessional.