In the Net

21 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

 Personally, I think we'll find out next season - and the gAssholes won't need the Playoffs either. Just my gut feeling.

What is certain, if they are promoted, is that they'll be giving it the big one all summer

If we get promoted I'll be permanently drunk all summer!

On 03/04/2016 at 10:36, Doozerchris said:

1982 you belter know your history 

1982 - the year when a new company was formed in order to evade the club going out of business. The year when creditors of Bristol City Football Club had to accept a maximum of 20p in the £ - better than nothing, but still a big hit for small, local businesses who supplied goods on credit in good faith.  The year when 8 players agreed to tear up their contracts so that the club would not be declared bankrupt.

Following this, the Football League changed the rules so that this could never happen again - 1982 was not exactly the finest hour in the history of your club was it?

If you read Deryn Collier's account of those days, it seems that they were more concerned about Osborne Clarke buying a £1m worth of shares than they were about the Eastville stadium company - who he describes as "the greyhound people".

Just shows that when backs are against the wall, the business men stop at nothing to survive. I for one am glad that you did manage to keep going, there are some things that I wouldn't wish on any football fan - and losing your club for ever is one of them.

2 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

Ah, Crumpy, Tormod, Little Boy Boo, Steve Gresham, Ledbitter.....I think I may cry !

Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger ..... for some reason I was taken to Swindon Speedway as a nipper. Never forget the excitement of the noise, the smell and getting grit in your eyes!

With regard to an announcement about UWE - be honest, would you want to pick up one of Nick Higgs' projects and run with it, without going through all the details with a fine tooth comb first? 

37 minutes ago, bristolcitysweden said:

What is this Plan B they are talking about? Staying at the mem (redevelopment)? Groundsharing/merger with FGR at the M5?  

Forest Green Bristol Rovers FC? 

 

Rumours been around for a few weeks that there is already a deal in place to sell the land for housing development. @Kid in the Riot is usually pretty accurate with his info - watch this space!

I can't believe that anybody is surprised by the verdict, including our new owners. I think that the charge against the ground re. Sainsbury's legal costs was set at £199k. They didn't exactly put a lot of effort into the appeal, other than their legal reps being in Court on both days to go through the motions.

The real winners are the NIMBY groups, same as with Ashton Vale.

6 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

You don't know the value of the Emperors new clothes. You're a Gashead. Meaning you get all your clothes from Tesco. Or Asda. Or from the British Heart Foundation. 

NO RETURNS.

Rob

(Aged 41).

I do have some standards you know - I only shoplift from Primark or Sports Direct.

13 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Let's hope who ever paid the debts is applying a lower interest rate....

Oh wait, money is owed to a billionaire who, to date, hasn't converted his debut to equity or indeed mentioned how much interest he wants on his investment.

Nothing to worry about. Course, if Sainsbury's lose, he could sail off in to the very wealthy sunset, after all, he is a well publicised billionaire - featuring in all the respected publications.......

Sure it's fine. I wouldn't want any reassurances before shouting from the roof tops...

Not shouting anything from the rooftops, not even poking my head out of the 2nd floor window!

Apart from the deluded few, we all know that the new owners are not billionaires. My approach is to see how things unfold, I'm old enough to know the value of the Emporer's new clothes.

Court verdict to be delivered on Thursday morning.

Apparently the Wonga loan and the Directors' loans have been repaid.

No doubt Sainsburys' legal expenses will be next on the list, as the verdict is supposed to be out sometime this month.

18 hours ago, Just Red said:

So is this the bloke who was responsible for delivering Wembley vastly over budget?

No, this is the bloke who negotiated a fixed-price contract for the Wembley project, thus ensuring that if the build went over budget the additional costs would be borne by the main contractors, which indeed they were.  It ran over time due to the two main companies involved blaming each other for the delay, and I believe they tried to sue each other for the costs during the build process. The main contractor had built the Milleniuim Stadium amongst other large contracts, so should have had the experience to bring the project in on time and on budget.

Only time will tell as to whether he does a good job with regards to our long anticipated new stadium.

The family who now own the club do not have the wealth of SL, however, they have increased their wealth over the years with some shrewd business deals. If they can improve Rovers via a slow but sure method, building from the youth system upwards, then that will do for me.

34 minutes ago, Reddie The Eagle Edwards said:

crazy how all the gas scum have just accepted this bizarre rumour that the family have catapulted them into the top 6 richest clubs in the country.  There is no evidence of any such wealth but the media have also just accepted this. If they are that rich why would they want to buy gillingham or rovers?! None of this makes any sense

A lot of us are being more realistic as to the family's wealth.

Yeah, they are not billionaires, but they've got a bob or two. I'm still a bit uneasy about all this, but at least the guy is not talking about premiership in x years etc etc, so will keep my fingers crossed that his lack of wealth means that he will cut his cloth accordingly with regards to the way the club is run.

I'm more concerned about the Chairman's history tbh.

15 minutes ago, Iron Man said:

I know the sell outs have lost the tiny self respect they had as a football club today, but surely, SURELY they won't be dressing up as arabs tomorrow?

Of course not, we're too busy printing the fake £50 notes that we'll be throwing in the air!

3 hours ago, BCFC_Dan said:

Considering that Gloucester Rugby was sold for around £20m last week I'd say £70m is massively overpriced for the Rovers.

Potential or not I'd rather have a profitable Premiership rugby team than a football club that was only promoted out of non-league 8 months ago.

Bloody hell - even I'm not that deluded!

I'm feeling a bit "meh" about this at the moment - just doesn't resonate with my love for all things Rovers.

Yeah, I know that we have to be practical, as we're in deep s**t with the finances, but it'll take a while for my heart to be convinced that it's a good thing.

Possibly somebody at GT printed off the wrong set of accounts?

The set issued in error showed current shareholding figures, which have now been replaced with a set showing the shareholding figures as at June 2015.

Maybe ......

2 hours ago, Super said:

good or bad?

Good!

1 hour ago, Griffin said:

Rovers fans..

 

Complain about gates being vandelised

 

Happy to demolish them for Sainsburys 

The plan is to relocate them within the Memorial site - there is a difference.

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

If you have 'always' been 'second fiddle' why do your fans constantly bang on about 1982 when we were in div 4 and skint? And I still cringe at the 10 league matches in a row when we just couldn't beat you (86 to 91).

Your lot seem to revel in the victim mentality and love to think your fans are more loyal and chose the underdog - 'oh we had to train at a chocolate factory, we were ragbag rovers, we had nothing, we were kicked out of Eastville, all City fans are bullies and have never suffered the hardships we have...'

But our fans were amazing when we hit rock bottom and you were comfortable in the divisions above. The Terry Cooper years will live long in the hearts of all who were there, true support, incredible backing. You weren't 'second fiddle' then but the pride in our team just oozed out of BS3. Still my fave period of supporting the boys. That 0-0 against Fulham with the most inexperienced team ever was amazing. We just felt lucky to still have a team to support.

And we won't forget you tried to steal Ashton Gate when we were at our lowest ebb....

I think it's more about the fact that BCFC closed down and rose from the ashes as BCFC 1982 during that period - although personally that's not something that I feel the need to "bang on about".

Both clubs find out who the true fans are when times are tough. I would guess that as you have the larger fanbase, you will logically retain a larger number of fans when the chips are down?  I say fair play to anybody who doesn't jump ship and become an armchair supporter of a premiership club. 

I think that there is definitely a group who are interested, and that they are people who have not been associated with Rovers previously. It is n doubt a pipe dream for all the boxes above to be ticked, but, hopefully an offer which will give the club a chance to establish financial stability for the future.

I think that most Rovers fans would be happy with an SL situation!  He is a supporter of the club into which he's poured a lot of money, and his son is also a genuine supporter - so what's not to like?

First of all a club "insider" said that Higgs wouldn't dignify the rumour with a response. A few days later Higgs has given a little known ITV reporter the ambiguous quote above. Why doesn't he just put a statement on the official club website categorically denying that there is any truth regarding this matter - with no room for different interpretations?

No - he will get his loans repaid, possibly over an agreed period of time. The need for the Directors to loan the club money has mainly arisen due to debt increasing due to their poor business decisions. I do feel sorry for Higgs, as I'm sure that without the Trash delay he would have delivered the stadium.

It isn't a fabrication, and one of those with info did not get it from anybody inside the club. Higgs doesn't want to be caught lying to the fans again, hence a club insider telling the EP that he "will not dignify this with a response".  If there's been no approach, why does Higgs not just come straight out and say so himself?

Whether anything does actually come from it is another matter, but at least fans are now aware that there is a credible option for Higgs to take, if he can put his ego to one side.

My source says Harry Redknapp and his dog!

I can see why.  Since the appointment of CS to the Board, there are a few strange suppositions on our forums which might raise a laugh too!

That post was just somebody trying to be clever, having a dig at the people who originally posted the information about a Consortium bid.

Surprised that it reeled you in!