bert tann

14 minutes ago, Rocky said:

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Are we trying to mend fences ?

9 hours ago, Seventeen said:

I'm sure it's been mentioned on here but apparently we're in for Wagstaff. 

Bl**dy hell ... Ken ?

16 minutes ago, Smaller than a flea said:

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.

Funnily enough the AJIB is paying a 7% dividend this year after a 12% dividend last year.

It has been said the dividend is so high because of the perceived risk.

Are you suggesting that Mr Al Qadi is offering to pay someone 5% interest on a loan of  £30 million to cover the stadium funding shortfall and that Rovers will pay the £1.5 million interest per year out of their profits but if for any inexplicable reason they can't then the Al Qadi family will pay it instead using the dividends received from the AJIB ?

Forgive me but it sounds as though you went to the Nicholas Higgs School of Finance.

I believe if you asked Mr Al Qadi or Mr Hamer they would tell you that they are looking for equity capital and not a loan. 

But if someone is being asked to put up £30 million they are going to demand an extremely convincing business plan plus a very high equity stake.

1 hour ago, Bristol Rob said:

Looks like the new stadium for the lock-out lads might take a bit longer than expected. 

Rumours that Wally is looked at tarting up the Mem as the offers to finance the new build aren't as plentiful as hoped. And for a billionaire he doesn't seem to want to pay for it himself. Which if this was the great investment you'd think he would be all over it. Maybe this explains the lack of investors interested.....

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" ? 

3 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

We are in the Championship, YOU are in the basement (mixing up the medicine).

 

That serious enough for you ?

I'm on the pavement, thinking about the stadium

7 hours ago, Miahdennehy said:

True, but when you consider the thread was started by a City fan pretending to be a Rovers fan suggesting we could be 'the next Leicester', and then that the HUGE majority of posts after that ( from real Rovers fans) tell the OP not to be so silly, then it kind of turns the whole thing on it's head!

Still, the media never let the truth get in the way of a good headline, so why should football forums be any different

Seven replies about Leicester now with only the two latest ones offering them any congratulations.

And a new thread has emerged to rubbish tonights National League play off fixture with particular nastiness reserved for Forest Green.

There was a time when the Rovers were respected for our sportsmanship . 

2 hours ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

Get someone else to pay for it because he hasn't got the cash or the balls pay for it himself?

I think he has the balls Peter because there are a lot of lambs scampering around Jordan without them.

What concerns me is that on every other football league club's main fans forum there will be a thread congratulating Leicester City as there is here on OTIB. But on the two Rovers fans forums's there is only a general chat thread with 5 posts and hardly a word of praise for Leicester on one and just a thread speculating that Rovers will win the Premiership in ten years time on the other.

What happened to the club I used to know ?

Why have we become so self centred ?

2 hours ago, bcfcfinker said:

He's no John Travolta.

But drop the T, maybe?

That photo is of John Locke the well known Gashead and 17th century social philosopher

Some of us like to bring you news of events in the wider Bristol sporting community.

For example, Rovers plans for a 300 acre state of the art training facility next door to your run down group of huts at Failand.

@Officious_BRFC – 1h  Rovers officials at King Power this afternoon checking out Premier League infrastructure requirements

2 hours ago, phantom said:

At last some documentary evidence of the fact that for the 1935/36 football season clubs called Rovers were ordered by the Government to change their name in the interests of national security. The Pirates adopted the nom de guerre "Bristol Rivers" as a tributary to the majestic waterway of the Frome which meandered effluently past their Eastville home.

The situation had arisen after the demise of SA chief Ernst Rohm in 1934 which left a power vacuum at the top of the Nazi party. British intelligence was conspiring with leaders of the Reichswehr to topple Hitler but a counter threat emerged through radical elements of the SA who wished to resurrect their lost hero as a cult figure and seize power from the Fuhrer. Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels saw advantage in this and soon newsreels and radio broadcasts were staged with highly charged audiences chanting "Rohmers Rohmers" to signify their support for the martyred Ernst Rohm. Before long the campaign was given an international twist as newsreels from British cities such as Doncaster, Blackburn and Bristol were featured and, through the technical wizardry of the Telefunken company, the sound was distorted to give the effect of massed crowds in Britain chanting "Rohmers,Rohmers" instead of "Rovers, Rovers". By early 1935 the German population was convinced that their counterparts across Europe were rallying in support of the radical Ernst Rohm SA faction and it's popularity quickly surged. In the face of such a threat Adolf Hitler, the German Army and the British Government formed an unlikely alliance to thwart  the SA counter revolutionaries. Emergency Parliamentary measures were enacted and, despite protests from the RSPCA, the name Rovers was forbidden to be used in public.Within a short space of time the British "Rohmers" were forgotten and in Germany the radical SA plotters slipped into oblivion.  

For the 1936/37 season the name Bristol Rovers was reinstated and the "Bristol Rivers" interlude was hushed up to the extent that even long standing club members such as myself, who weren't there at the time, have forgotten that it never happened.    

Fresh back from the capital after yet another unsuccessful mission to secure finance for the UWE stadium the Rovers Chairman Taffy Hamer is beginning to lose heart. 

Late last night  he was heard leaving the Civil Service Club on Filton Avenue giving a wonderful rendition of Hen Wlad Fy biNhadau ... 

Wael, Wael, oh why did you purchase that pile ?

Wherever I roam

I can't fund a new home

And Higgsy is all full of smiles

43 minutes ago, Smaller than a flea said:

No denying the fact that Rovers have been woefully mismanaged over the last 16 years or so.  Or perhaps longer.

Since 1972 I should say.

Between 1950 and 1972 they were managed superbly.

21 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

Any news on the investment you suggested may be sought from the local businessman with construction industry experience who had recently received an unexpected injection of capital or is he still chuckling away to himself by his pool in Tuscany?

I understand he is waiting in the wings.

That is the hickory smoked barbecue type not the kotex simplicity freedom ones.

All good banter but what if it's campus location makes the UWE stadium impossible to finance by conventional means ?

Is it conceivable that only way to fully fund it is through council support or a donation from a benefactor ?

Were the Al-Qadi family aware of the situation before they purchased Bristol Rovers ?

Will books be written about the final days in the 2016 Horfield bunker just as there were about the 1945 Berlin bunker ? 

Could we yet see a nuclear confrontation followed by withdrawal into Middle East isolation and the creation of a wasteland on Filton Avenue ?

A gentleman on the Bristol Post website used to post regularly about the insufficient revenue generation potential from the proposed UWE Stadium facilities and how the plan was flawed due to duplication of facilities which were already well established on the Frenchay campus. His words appear to be prophetic because it is proving extremely difficult to interest financiers in the project. What may be required is a cash injection from a local businessman with experience of the construction industry who has recently received an unexpected cash windfall ?

2 hours ago, Rich said:

Back to sell out Rovers. Why now?

Why did Higgs and co sell just before the Sainsbury's outcome?

Were the others advised/forced to go along with the sale?

How much did they get, close to their value?

Did they fear the outcome?

Has the loan been repaid or any other debts? Presumably directors have written theirs off in the share sale/value.

Has Al-Qadi gambled on winning the Sainsbury fight?

If lost, will he bail out?

If they win, will he bail out?

Will he/the family, bankroll the club without the new stadium? Already stated it's crucial to their business future.

Too many questions, and the media are still quoting them as having had a massive cash injection, (ITV news tonight). The only outlay is on shares purchased.

Looks like a gamble on both parts. The last time Higgs sold shares, it was Cowlin's shares. They had risen sharply in value after they were awarded the memorial ground redevelopment contract. He subsequently sold his shares for £11m to Balfour Beatty, presumably on the strength of that, and then later cancelled the contract in favour of the UWE plan. I bet Al- Qadi would crap himself with that knowledge.

We must hope Mr Al-Qadi doesn't discover the same problems as Balfour Beatty did after their acquisitions ...

"Balfour Beatty also made a string of other acquisitions in the pre-recession years, including Bristol-based Cowlin in 2007, Dean & Dyball in 2008, and Birse in 2006.

But on 29 April, Balfour Beatty told the Stock Exchange it had uncovered problems with a number of contracts, including delays, subcontractor failings, and changes to forecast commercial outcome. At the time, it also said there were more problems in the south than the north.

Speaking to CM, Seymour said: “My feeling is the businesses they acquired were basically left to their own devices, in a difficult market. They were out there bidding unprofitably, and that’s where the problems [with contracts] were. Predominantly I think the issues were in the new acquisitions."

(From construction-manager.co.uk, the magazine of the chartered institute of building, 14th June 2013)

On 2/24/2016 at 11:18, Big Brother said:

I don't know about the others, but I'm here for the laughs and they just keep coming.

Well you need cheering up tonight don't you ?

Quote 

 

Post by alloutofgas on 2 minutes ago

20 minutes ago, Just Red said:

No I don't think anyone can agree. There has been zero evidence to back up any wealth. Nick Higgs was quite well off, wouldn't it be perfect if Higgs actually has more money than these lot?

Many a true word etc etc

The priority for Nicholas was to get out and this option enabled him to do that.

Although details of the transaction have not been disclosed it is interesting that those who had the most to gain by their debt being repaid seem happy whereas those who possibly expected a windfall for selling their shares do not appear overjoyed. And apparently no offer was made to the shareholders still left with 8% of the equity ?

But the big question remaining unanswered is the commitment to the future because Nicholas had repeatedly said he would only sell to someone who could show they had a plan to take Rovers forward and prove they had the funds to implement that plan.

Where is the plan ?  

The other interested party are said to have had a plan which included building the UWE Stadium to it's full specification and injecting substantial cash into the football club to help elevate the team up the leagues.

But perhaps they were not prepared to be so generous to Nicholas and Co so he turned a blind ear to them ?

43 minutes ago, Dynamite Red said:

Have you not heard the family worth 100 billion. Richer than the richest man on earth. 

http://gaschat.co.uk/thread/5999/sorry-on-bonfire?page=3

Wait until the clowns realise this guy is worth £20 million and the family around £130million, more likely to feature on the Fraud list than the Forbes rich list. 

If that does happen Rovers new chairman will be able to help.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/former-swansea-city-chairman-helps-6200850

In the immortal words of my intimate friend Donna Summer "this time I know it's for real Bert"

Nicholas always said he would only sell out to someone with the best interests of the club at heart and certainly not to some foreign fly boy who was willing to pay him back his money with no questions asked.

We didn't believe him then and ... 

Rovers Takeaway Latest.............. Events took an unexpected twist this afternoon but, speaking from Winford Orthopaedic Hospital, Chairman Nicholas Higgs said it was simply a typing error and he expected to be up and about within a few days. Meanwhile a no fly zone has been imposed over central Jordan and the Golan Heights but this is not expected to impact local businessmen taking the p*ss because most of them wear thobes. However, as a precaution, householders in the Horfield and Bishopston areas are being advised to stay indoors with their windows and doors closed in case there is a gas leak. So, with news that work is expected to start as early as April it's back to Peter O'Hanraha-handjob in the UWE erection special studio, over to you Peter.

12 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

I had one like that and am just waiting for the paperwork to arrive that confirms I now own 80% of the Nigerian oil industry. I`ve used my life savings and I`ve remortgaged my house to pay the processing fees but I reckon it will be worth it.

Would you like to add an investment in Bristol Rovers (1883) Ltd to your portaloo ?