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Bristol R*vers dustbin thread

42nite

By 42nite
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22A

22A

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An article in today's "Metro" about a player who left Rovers in 1948 to join  the army. At the age of 90 he is still playing.

Not for Rovers though. Instead it's a Walking Football team up North. Who knows, he could still make Rovers first team with those credentials.

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Slacker

Slacker

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Just now, 22A said:

An article in today's "Metro" about a player who left Rovers in 1948 to join  the army. At the age of 90 he is still playing.

Not for Rovers though. Instead it's a Walking Football team up North. Who knows, he could still make Rovers first team with those credentials.

Is he still in the army?

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GreedyHarry

GreedyHarry

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**** me, isn’t this bit in bold just about the biggest history rewrite known to man. Bet he’s claiming there was no holocaust and Neil Armstrong never went to the moon.

gassince1957
First Team
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8 hours ago
Dirt Dogg, gashead1981, and 2 more like this 		Quote
holmes said:
Easy to bash Wael for not making progress but we hardly saw progress in the 30 years leading up to him coming in now did we?
 
Geoff Dunford did buy The Mem which has given us the security that we now enjoy. I doubt Wael's family would have come anywhere near a club renting Twerton Park.

Higgs was a disaster though, two full planning consents, didn't build either and non league football.
 
Loved Geoff Dunford but he didn't buy The Mem - he borrowed the funds, or rather the club did and that was the cause of some of the financial issues.  He had no choice as the contract with the egg chasers was that if either club went under, the remaining club could buy the stadium for £2m.  If Rovers hadn't come up with the £2m, the land would have been sold to housing developers and then the team would have had to return to Twerton Park with tails between legs!
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PHILINFRANCE

PHILINFRANCE

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, GreedyHarry said:

**** me, isn’t this bit in bold just about the biggest history rewrite known to man. Bet he’s claiming there was no holocaust and Neil Armstrong never went to the moon.

gassince1957
First Team
****
8 hours ago
Dirt Dogg, gashead1981, and 2 more like this 		Quote
holmes said:
Easy to bash Wael for not making progress but we hardly saw progress in the 30 years leading up to him coming in now did we?
 
Geoff Dunford did buy The Mem which has given us the security that we now enjoy. I doubt Wael's family would have come anywhere near a club renting Twerton Park.

Higgs was a disaster though, two full planning consents, didn't build either and non league football.
 
Loved Geoff Dunford but he didn't buy The Mem - he borrowed the funds, or rather the club did and that was the cause of some of the financial issues.  He had no choice as the contract with the egg chasers was that if either club went under, the remaining club could buy the stadium for £2m.  If Rovers hadn't come up with the £2m, the land would have been sold to housing developers and then the team would have had to return to Twerton Park with tails between legs!

What was/is the true story?

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nickolas

nickolas

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On 05/10/2022 at 19:28, Sheltons Army said:

Give the bloke a break

He’s had to put up with court cases , incompetent officials , injuries , the expectation of managing a massive club and now pesky ‘kids’ trying to kick his ‘seasoned pros’ (????) off the pitch 

Dont forget 6 deflected goals in just one game!

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GreedyHarry

GreedyHarry

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1 minute ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

What was/is the true story?

My memory was that the Rugby Club chairman had something to do with that lot, and sold them half the ground with a clause saying that if either went through the hoop, the other could pick up the remaining share for a quid. Quelle suprise, shortly after the deal was signed the rugby club went into admin.

 

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Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan

Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan

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16 minutes ago, GreedyHarry said:

My memory was that the Rugby Club chairman had something to do with that lot, and sold them half the ground with a clause saying that if either went through the hoop, the other could pick up the remaining share for a quid. Quelle suprise, shortly after the deal was signed the rugby club went into admin.

 

Arthur Holmes is the person you’re referring to. A Gashead who was Chairman (I believe?) of the RFC. 

Im not sure the deal was for a £1 exactly but it certainly meant Rovers could get the stadium on the cheap. It pisses on Gasheads claim they “saved” the Rugby club, they did no such thing. If they refused to stump up the money for the stadium they would’ve been homeless themselves.

The agreement meant they would get a stadium cut price. Many Rugby fans would say that they took advantage of the RFCs precarious finances with the help of Mr Holmes. 

That’s my understanding anyway.

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pongo88

pongo88

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3 minutes ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

Arthur Holmes is the person you’re referring to. A Gashead who was Chairman (I believe?) of the RFC. 

Im not sure the deal was for a £1 exactly but it certainly meant Rovers could get the stadium on the cheap. It pisses on Gasheads claim they “saved” the Rugby club, they did no such thing. If they refused to stump up the money for the stadium they would’ve been homeless themselves.

The agreement meant they would get a stadium cut price. Many Rugby fans would say that they took advantage of the RFCs precarious finances with the help of Mr Holmes. 

That’s my understanding anyway.

Rovers and Bristol Rugby owned 50% of the ground. The contract was if either club went into administration the other could but the remaining 50% for £10k. Bristol Rugby had a few financial difficulties but, instead of reviewing options to sort it out, Holmes put Rugby into administration without consulting other stakeholders. Rovers then bought the remaining share for the said £10k. Holmes was a Rovers supporter and was later make (I believe) a life president of the club. It could be described as the a bit of dodgy Arthur Daley deal.  You might very well think that, but I couldn't possibly comment

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Bristol Rob

Bristol Rob

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3 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

Rovers and Bristol Rugby owned 50% of the ground. The contract was if either club went into administration the other could but the remaining 50% for £10k. Bristol Rugby had a few financial difficulties but, instead of reviewing options to sort it out, Holmes put Rugby into administration without consulting other stakeholders. Rovers then bought the remaining share for the said £10k. Holmes was a Rovers supporter and was later make (I believe) a life president of the club. It could be described as the a bit of dodgy Arthur Daley deal.  You might very well think that, but I couldn't possibly comment

I don't think it was quite as clear cut as 50% for 10k.

It was the share for 10k, the Fewers then had to pay what was owed in full for the ground, the give-away was the title, not the debt.

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Rudolf Hucker

Rudolf Hucker

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The person who always had information to share on this subject was the sadly recently departed @Rich. On page 761 of this topic 10 August 2017, he wrote:

”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.”

 

Thanks Rich - OTIB’er forever! RIP. 

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PHILINFRANCE

PHILINFRANCE

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3 hours ago, GreedyHarry said:

My memory was that the Rugby Club chairman had something to do with that lot, and sold them half the ground with a clause saying that if either went through the hoop, the other could pick up the remaining share for a quid. Quelle suprise, shortly after the deal was signed the rugby club went into admin.

 

Thanks for that.

Your response certainly prompted a few interesting suggestions as to the real terms of any deal, although I’m not sure I’m any closer to learning the entire story.

I do recall hearing the name Arthur Holmes mentioned in various accounts of events I have heard over the years, in very unfavourable terms I should add, so it would seem only the finer details are missing.

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slartibartfast

slartibartfast

Posted
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2 hours ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

 

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.”

 

 

He certainly wasn't liked by my old man who gave him a good hiding after telling my mum to "**** off" (which you certainly didn't do in the mid- 50's) :boxing:

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Red-Robbo

Red-Robbo

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54 minutes ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Thanks for that.

Your response certainly prompted a few interesting suggestions as to the real terms of any deal, although I’m not sure I’m any closer to learning the entire story.

I do recall hearing the name Arthur Holmes mentioned in various accounts of events I have heard over the years, in very unfavourable terms I should add, so it would seem only the finer details are missing.

 

He had a big insurance brokerage. An industry full of shysters.

It went a bit further than just triggering the rugby club insolvency. He actually lent the Gas £250,000 because they were too potless to stump up the £2mil to buy their share of the ground. 

The Bristol Rugby chairman actually lending another sporting entity money so they could steal BRC's biggest asset. Pretty shady. 

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In the Net

In the Net

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6 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

Long story, but my mum and I apparently trespassed on his land before the Oakdale estate (Downend) was completed, she didn't know..............unfortunately ( for Holmes) she told our dad, who was en ex RAF boxing champion, only one winner there !

Sounds like he was a middle class toff - they don't like it up 'em.  Well done to your Dad for putting him right. 

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Bar BS3

Bar BS3

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54 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Bad news for "Joe" as he now seems to be referred to on local BBC at least?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63198892

That must be quite a big hit for Joey. 

A 15% increase on your most frequent expenditure is probably going to mean he'll have to wait a little while, until he can afford a watch as nice as Weals..! 

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In the Net

In the Net

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51 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

That must be quite a big hit for Joey. 

A 15% increase on your most frequent expenditure is probably going to mean he'll have to wait a little while, until he can afford a watch as nice as Weals..! 

I can't imagine that JB's defence is Government funded, so he'll be paying the usual fee. 

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PHILINFRANCE

PHILINFRANCE

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1 hour ago, Bar BS3 said:

That must be quite a big hit for Joey. 

A 15% increase on your most frequent expenditure is probably going to mean he'll have to wait a little while, until he can afford a watch as nice as Weals..! 

I doubt very much that JB is receiving Legal Aid, so should imagine that, for him, this news is somewhat academic.

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Bar BS3

Bar BS3

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11 hours ago, In the Net said:

I can't imagine that JB's defence is Government funded, so he'll be paying the usual fee. 

 

11 hours ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

I doubt very much that JB is receiving Legal Aid, so should imagine that, for him, this news is somewhat academic.

Ah OK, I hadn't realised it was for government funded legal aid, I thought it was across the board payrises/increases. 

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