Mr Popodopolous

Will bear that in mind PF, yes would make sense. I have serious issues with our SAG fwiw. I have the feeling that they are over restrictive, over cautious, over secretive. I appreciate that not everything can be put in the public domain but this is weighted too far in favour of anonymity given to decision making of a dubious quality.

Bellingham they had to sell for FFP ultimately, without it they would have been in deep trouble unless they could have kept their show on the road in other ways. Hopefully we are not in such a bad place.

Very much get the sentiment but without some fresh income, or cost savings it's unlikely we will be able to strengthen ourselves. Rather Bentley than Scott or Semenyo as of right now.

Been quite impressed with the club in recent days. First raising the penalty issue at a good level then not bowing to the first offer which probably would be reasonable/okay but not aligned with our views.

I mostly agree with your 1st paragraph especially about what we have to adhere to. Big elephant in the room that some fans seem to be overlooking or pushing down a bit. On the pitch can definitely influence it, even individual games e.g. v Watford as the players were visibly hard at it, crowd got into it and two fed off each other. Can think of other examples to the contrary- v Luton we were excellent in August, early goal and well on top- crowd were IMO pretty quiet considering. I do though it's something intangible think that some livelier fans in closer proximity to the away fans helps.

We don't know unless anyone on here has info to the contrary, what would have been deemed acceptable to the SAG and probably more football specific, the SGSA. The club can promise it from their perspective but we don't know If standing up a side stand would have been deemed acceptable to said authorities.

I'll look into that. Reading are a divisional high. One apiece this season. However this has been going on for a while and tjsr quick stat aearch covers League only. Last season? Blackpool- 7 Huddersfield- 3 Millwall- 5 Preston- 5 For balance the divisional average does seem to be falling but this again is League only. Not really the club as such, consider it a bit of old school fans getting into refs. Bit of anger talking when I posted of course.

We can if we see fit extend until end of June to get the best possible deal if we need that option.

Yes, this. Of course they have the right to protest, but it's a weird hotchpotch with no overarching objective. Individual points I have some sympathy on, modern game has it's less positive elements albeit a lot of these the club has little say in. "What do we want?" "We don't know!" "When do we want it?" "We're unsure- ASAP!?"

I am happy about this, has assuaged my concerns somewhat that we might be under some kind of orders to raise January transfer revenue and fix the shortfall like Birmingham in 2019. That is in part a "Hands off" message as I don't see anyone paying £25m yet.

Takeover approved. Or that should be 85 pct of club...SISU retain a 15 pct stake. Final piece doesn't seem to be disclosed but maybe it will be findable.

Fair points. I am sceptical about whether we can get the lighting thing changed but it is also possible that the club are not exactly battling very hard over it. Same goes for some of our noisier fans being put where they are, SAG may have issues but it may also be something the club don't mind too much about. I would suggest on point 2 that the policing and stewarding bill would likely increase were the fans in closer proximity so the current status quo may suit the club just fine with that.

Sounds like you were spot on. Read some chatter the other week but yes seems to be confirmed today.

There was yes. Especially the back rows? I remember seeing it from the Atyeo in late 1990s, mid 2000's? Decent noise came from there and unsure when it faded.

That sounds about right. Some will be higher, some lower but I suspect we are somewhere around the average for cash losses/equity. £15-20m maybe a better range though maybe this drops a bit post Covid.

Of course, problem is if you are ambitious and aiming for the stars and don't get it with a few years...do you keep going or do you lose interest and the club withers. Let alone potential FFP penalties if you gamble, bet big- but lose.

There is some truth to that, anger talking but the record is beyond belief all told. At home the last penalty was during Covid season, October 31 2020, last one with fans I think was December 29th 2019. Yeah maybe VAR though I hate to say it as I don't much care for it tbh. Would be interesting to know? Reading have had 6 this season in the League, that Championship chart in August made for incredible reading and thst was August- Bcfc Pezza iirc.

There are ways he could walk away wirh a profit, would debt to equity conversion be included in a sale price I wonder. That aside to turn a profit on our current position vs what he has sunk in it would be difficult IMO. The £200m figure, is it net or is it gross? ie is this before or after interest on his loans or for a brief period, rent on Ashton Gate. There are for sure much easier ways that he could have turned a profit however.

Let's get a bit into them then. Let's really get on the backs of officials if this carries on, really make it horrible for them in most cases.

Let's look at some comparables shall we. Reading have 6 in the League this season. I wasn't aware that they were a great and free flowing attacking side posing a range of threats! Was anyone else?

Obviously Rovers and the odd Swindon fan it's a given but neutrals like Chelsea, Derby, WBA, fair enough why would they see much of us but some of the Tweets from non rival clubs are laughable.

Kent in part is a fairly rich area..in theory if Gillingham really got something going, one League club in the county could they grow significantly? In theory. In practice absolutely not hut a team representing Kent. A lot of PL fans there but if they could turn it round quickly who knows. If they could get excitement, capitalise then a bit of luck. Sleeping giant is fanciful but Kent had a population of nearly 2m so you tap into that, but still a rather long shot yes.

I wonder why we don't show them on club highlights that often. Not only should each penalty shout that is at least reasonable be on there, there should be a replay or 2 from different angles. We have video evidence of each wrong call against us, a few were bound to be incorrect calls. I also think that we should get right on officials backs from early in games often, really get into them as fans (verbally). Case by case obvs.

Two I thought it was, plus theirs was suspect too.

I'm largely behind the club on this one. Bit of pressure combined with a montage could be interesting...I started work on some shot data in the Autumn, could now be a good time to return. They might also add the Bennett non red card, the Sykes red but nothing in the build-up when a penalty was waved away, or Sykes was sandwiched and no foul and this I believe fed into the mindset which caused the red card and then Freeman only being booked. Then the Norwood non red vs Sheffield United.