Gashead2017

What a time to be a Gashead, debt free tonight and a multi million new stadium development being announced next week, not sure life can get better than this, we jut need to convince Matty Taylor we can offer him better prospects than Oxford and it will have been a perfect summer. 

5 minutes ago, El Hombrecito said:

Not a single one of the comments you quoted said we're not interested in the 15ers. We simply said we have absolutely no desire for you to be anywhere near us in the league. Which you're not - so all is good.

Not interested but your posting within a minute of my post! Although being near you is somewhat different than being miles away which could well now happen, in my view Bristol would be an even more boring CIty without the football rivalry.   

19 hours ago, Rich said:

Very nice of you to come on here and bring your "news". You are welcome to come on here, unlike other sites, unfortunately, if you do bring "news" onto this site to so say correct somebody, please make it accurate. You can get away with misrepresentations on the other site but, not here.

Below is the obituary of Arthur Holmes, written on your clubs website in honour of him, by Mr Dunford in 2015. In it, he goes to great lengths to try and justify the deal, which seems rather strange, rather than celebrate the mans life. One wonders why. Please read and digest.

By Geoff Dunford

Arthur Holmes who passed peacefully away on January 4th aged 90 should be remembered by both Bristol Rugby club and Bristol Rovers with gratitude.

Arthur had to deal with rugby turning professional when it was not universally accepted. He carried this financial burden almost on his own. He was also the man who recognised sporting clubs could work closer together for mutual benefit

With the advent of professional rugby in the 1990's the top rugby clubs in the country had to make important decisions on their future.  Should they turn professional or retain their traditional amateur/semi professional roots?

Bristol Rugby Club decided to follow the professional route along with most of the top clubs in England, however, it did not go down well with some of the Bristol purists who either withdrew their financial support or did not contribute to the coffers of Bristol Rugby. This resulted in a lifeline for Bristol Rovers who were still playing in Bath and I was charged with negotiating a lease with Bristol Rugby to return Bristol Rovers to Bristol which was successful.

When I first met Arthur Holmes he was struggling to maintain Bristol on a sound financial footing and it seems he was fighting a lone battle. He needed financial support from other Bristol businessmen who were rugby fans, but the professional era was not popular. A deal was on the table to sell The Memorial Ground to a pension company and for the rugby club to rent it back. This was discussed at a Rovers board meeting and it was decided to offer the rugby club the same deal as the pension company but with the added benefit of starting a new company to acquire the stadium (The Memorial Stadium Company) with each club buying 50% of the shareholding for £10,000, and the rugby club would also receive £2.3m to solve their cash flow problems.

This option was far better than the pension company offer as it would result in the same amount of cash to the rugby club plus 50% ownership of the ground.

I found Arthur Holmes to be a gentleman in his business dealings and as a person. Indeed, he funded personally an amount of £250k to complete the sale to The Memorial Stadium Company as we were still short of funds at the deadline, to ensure Bristol Rugby could retain 50% ownership. (Arthur was made a Vice President of Bristol Rovers in light of this kind gesture.)

As we are only too aware in Football, professional sport is a difficult business to balance the books, and without further financial assistance from others who could have made a difference, Arthur, found the finances of professional rugby unsustainable without other benefactors.  Indeed, the only time offers of financial help came, it was too late as the club had already entered administration.

If either club entered administration, the other had the right to purchase the shares in the stadium company for the initial price of £10k to maintain their trading position, and this is what occurred.

Bristol Rugby survived turning professional and like most sports clubs needed very rich benefactors to help them maintain their progress.

Arthur Holmes loved rugby, and loved Bristol Rugby Club. If it wasn't for his support the rugby club would have disappeared into the amateur game and Bristol Rovers would still be playing elsewhere. Sometimes history gets twisted into rumour and sub plots, but rest assured, both Bristol Rugby and Bristol Rovers have reasons to thank Arthur Holmes for being in existence today.

Arthur, rest in peace, you were a true gentleman, something very rare in sporting circles today. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Julie and family.

The deal you refer to with Amtrak, was I believe, to purchase the ground for £1m, then rent it back to the rugby club with a distribution center on the car park area. Suddenly there appeared a much better deal for £2m which Arthur negotiated and was better all round because the rugby club still got to own 50% of their own ground, except the rugby club got so little, as £2m was paid back to AH. There was only one club going to go bust and that was Bristol rugby, as they were haemorrhaging money, as on national journalist put it. At the time of the deal I remember a quote from Mr Dunford stating that, this was a great deal for BRFC, as we now have a 50% share in £6m worth of real estate for £2m.

 

So you agree with the basics that Bristol RFC got a better deal from Rovers than they could elsewhere plus they were no real fears the owners would eventually evict them should they ever want to develop the ground.  

10 hours ago, Lita For Congo said:

No, not at all. The dream of Bristolian football clubs being  on equal footings is a very one sided dream. 

Quite frankly, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if we never played you in a league game ever again. 

10 hours ago, El Hombrecito said:

100% no. I want City to be completely dominant for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, it looks like my wish will be coming true.

11 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

No, No, I would rather we were in the Premiership and you were in League Two, like Stoke and Port Vale.

Three similar comments all saying they are not interested in Rovers but you've all taken the time to read this thread today then post on it! 

Just now, Wanderingred said:

Perfectly happy the way things are thanks!

At the moment there's still rivalry, I bet there's not a thread this long about Port Vale on the Stoke forum!, if you ever get to the promised land and Wael doesn't deliver something at the Mem soon life could become a bit boring with neither teams fans interested in the other's results. 

18 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

Sorry but no , I hope we never play you in the league again . Rovers fans want it because you'll be closer to us and to some of you that's all you aspire to. Nobody has a Devine right to play at any given level but I certainly hope we dont drop below the championship for many many years. To be honest,  the way you have been run I'd just be hoping it doesn't collapse like a house of cards. I'd be very worried if I was one of your lot. 

You say that but your posting on a thread relating to Rovers so clearly you have some interest in the club, personally I feel Bristol would be a worse place, football wise, if we became another Stoke, there must be virtually no banter/rivalry between fans their as all Stoke fans probably have zero interest in a club light years away from them. I fear that could well happen in Bristol now unless Wael  soon starts pulling rabbits out of hats  

Just now, B block said:

I'm pretty sure no planning has been submitted 

wonder why ?

None submitted according to S Glos online portal but it's possible initial plans are with the planners for their agreement before formal planning is submitted, although Wael didn't suggest that was the case, assuming but perhaps Hamer's not told him!

10 minutes ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

This is a cracker on Gaschat, just a few minutes ago.

So, I take it you are happy we are now destined to be forever in the shadows of the city then ? That's what a redeveloped mem means. Make no bones about it. We will now always be the poor relation and the talk of we're coming for you are completely gone.

harleygas Reserve Team     Posts: 299  Member is Online   Posting Level Next Level in 201 posts 54 minutes ago Quote   Post by harleygas on 54 minutes ago And that's bath city

To be fair to Harleyhas this a fair post rather than a "cracker"? I sense a lot of genuine Gashead feel the same following the news the UWE was dead, the real danger is we become the Port Vale to your Stoke, I think most genuine Bristolian football fans would sooner a bit of rivalry than one totally dominant club like is now the case in the Potteries.

2 hours ago, Rich said:

I was referring to how they acquired the ground, Very dodgy!

Arthur Holmes was the chairman of the rugby club, he'd been in that position for a little while, evidently, he was also a supporter of BRFC.

He'd come in to give stability after professionalism of the rugby union, with Bristol rugby losing lots of money each season. He lent them the money to build their Centenary stand, which without his money, they couldn't afford.

After a couple of seasons, he invited BRFC to join as tenants of the rugby club, to help out with finances but, they still kept losing  money. He needed his money back (£2M) and a plan was hatched to form the Memorial Stadium Company with a 50% holding between BRFC (Dunford) and the rugby club, (himself).  So Bristol rugby received £2m From BRFC (Dunford) in exchange for 50% of the Memorial stadium company and Arthur Holmes got his £2M back. The rugby club were still losing money. As part of the new company formation, it was agreed that if either party should go bankrupt, the other party could purchase the remaining 50% for a figure of £10k. The rugby club were still losing money.

Within six months of that agreement, Arthur Holmes (the Chairman) filed for bankruptcy of the rugby club and BRFC(Dunford) exercised the right to purchase the remaining 50% of the shares in the Memorial stadium company.

Arthur Holmes was not a well liked man to supporters of the rugby club but, he was made a life president of BRFC, for services to that club.

Make of it what you want.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the correct version appears to be :

"The rugby club were in serious financial difficulties so we agreed to a 50% share of the ground at at a cost of £2.3m. In 1998, Bristol's financial issues became worse and they wanted to sell to Amtrack, reputedly for £1m. That agreement fell through as Amtrack pulled out so we triggered a clause in the ground share agreement where we could buy the remaining 50% for £100,000."

Although I agree with the views we didn't learn from previous mistakes as I've no idea how we now owe £10m to a family of bankers from Jordanian who apart from the odd Rolex watch show no real signs of being wealthy. But at least the believers still think Wael will build us a new 22,000 seat stadium and a state of the art academy!!