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Bristol R*vers dustbin thread


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On 06/10/2022 at 21:04, Rudolf Hucker said:

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. 

I had some interesting private messages with Rich when this cropped up back last August.

Whilst Holmes may have wished for things to transpire as they did (for personal gain,) that was never established and was not how things transpired. He denied such connivance (as he might.) Holmes screwed up big time with the stand fiasco (wrong place, wrong design,) leaving the rugby club without the means to rectify and nigh-on bust. Enter Durnford, the shadiest milkman in the west. He established a 'stadium holding company' as a vehicle to propose a deal to the rugby club. The rugby club were not involved in this, its incorporation signed by Rovers officials only at a meeting in one of their homes in Thornbury.

Knowing the rugby club was on its uppers it was The Milkman who proposed a joint venture to the rugby club's operations manager (forget his name.) The deal was simple: BRFC would provide £2m working capital for the newly incorporated stadium company owned wholly by BRFC (its only paper after all,) the rugby club would receive half the shares issued in the company using the Memorial's freehold as guarantee. They would share use of the ground, if not ownership. The rugby club didn't sell the ground, an important legal distinction, as that would have required quorum approval of rugby club directors and members. The deal also included step-in rights (standard in any such deal,) allowing either party to purchase all shares in the stadium company at 'issue price' from the other party should that party enter administration. This form of contract, under the rugby club's weak governance structure, was able to be entered into by their operations manager alone. The deal was never proposed to rugby club directors or members as it didn't have to be. The blindest Pew might have foreseen what came next and although the rugby club directors and members sought to raise challenge it was quickly established that their constitution had allowed the deal to be legally executed through their own naive, weak governance. The Milkman didn't purchase the freehold, he bought back the shares he'd recently incorporated and with them came, er, The Memorial.

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On 08/10/2022 at 17:37, 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 !

Slarti, did you ever play the '...I was only upholding the family tradition, your Honor...' card?

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4 hours ago, BTRFTG said:

I had some interesting private messages with Rich when this cropped up back last August.

Whilst Holmes may have wished for things to transpire as they did (for personal gain,) that was never established and was not how things transpired. He denied such connivance (as he might.) Holmes screwed up big time with the stand fiasco (wrong place, wrong design,) leaving the rugby club without the means to rectify and nigh-on bust. Enter Durnford, the shadiest milkman in the west. He established a 'stadium holding company' as a vehicle to propose a deal to the rugby club. The rugby club were not involved in this, its incorporation signed by Rovers officials only at a meeting in one of their homes in Thornbury.

Knowing the rugby club was on its uppers it was The Milkman who proposed a joint venture to the rugby club's operations manager (forget his name.) The deal was simple: BRFC would provide £2m working capital for the newly incorporated stadium company owned wholly by BRFC (its only paper after all,) the rugby club would receive half the shares issued in the company using the Memorial's freehold as guarantee. They would share use of the ground, if not ownership. The rugby club didn't sell the ground, an important legal distinction, as that would have required quorum approval of rugby club directors and members. The deal also included step-in rights (standard in any such deal,) allowing either party to purchase all shares in the stadium company at 'issue price' from the other party should that party enter administration. This form of contract, under the rugby club's weak governance structure, was able to be entered into by their operations manager alone. The deal was never proposed to rugby club directors or members as it didn't have to be. The blindest Pew might have foreseen what came next and although the rugby club directors and members sought to raise challenge it was quickly established that their constitution had allowed the deal to be legally executed through their own naive, weak governance. The Milkman didn't purchase the freehold, he bought back the shares he'd recently incorporated and with them came, er, The Memorial.

Thanks for posting this info - very interesting..

What would have become of the rugby club if Rovers hadn't provided the £2m working capital?  I didn't really follow this very closely at the time, I'm not into rugby, and the main thing I remember about Bristol is that they were on the local news because their new stand had been built in the wrong place. 

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32 minutes ago, In the Net said:

Thanks for posting this info - very interesting..

What would have become of the rugby club if Rovers hadn't provided the £2m working capital?  I didn't really follow this very closely at the time, I'm not into rugby, and the main thing I remember about Bristol is that they were on the local news because their new stand had been built in the wrong place. 

The rugby club, like much of rugby struggling at the time, would have gone into administration. Given the freehold I'm sure somebody would have picked them up, possibly Durnford.

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7 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Fewer.

 

Fewers  ?

 

I'm not singling you out Rob but for all the times.that grammar and spelling has been picked up I find it strange that the less / fewer distinction was entirely unknown a couple of years ago but now I see it all the time as though people have learned it from other forums.

I semi-eagerly await the widespread correct usage of effect (make happen) / affect (alter).

 

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7 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

Fewers  ?

 

I'm not singling you out Rob but for all the times.that grammar and spelling has been picked up I find it strange that the less / fewer distinction was entirely unknown a couple of years ago but now I see it all the time as though people have learned it from other forums.

I semi-eagerly await the widespread correct usage of effect (make happen) / affect (alter).

 

It wasn't a use of language observations, far from it.

It was just one of those rare occasions where to term Fewers could be used in context to describe the Fewers!

If Bill Oddie was still alive, he could have done a Springwatch type show on the Lesser-Spotted Fewers!

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6 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

It wasn't a use of language observations, far from it.

It was just one of those rare occasions where to term Fewers could be used in context to describe the Fewers!

If Bill Oddie was still alive, he could have done a Springwatch type show on the Lesser-Spotted Fewers!

 

Oh well, fair dos :yes:

I'm on another forum where you don't dare to get it wrong or you will be jumped upon.

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40 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

Fewers  ?

 

I'm not singling you out Rob but for all the times.that grammar and spelling has been picked up I find it strange that the less / fewer distinction was entirely unknown a couple of years ago but now I see it all the time as though people have learned it from other forums.

I semi-eagerly await the widespread correct usage of effect (make happen) / affect (alter).

 

Just the correct use of would have/of and there, their and they’re would be a start.

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3 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

It wasn't a use of language observations, far from it.

It was just one of those rare occasions where to term Fewers could be used in context to describe the Fewers!

If Bill Oddie was still alive, he could have done a Springwatch type show on the Lesser-Spotted Fewers!

Bill Oddie is alive! Get onto his agent, pronto!

Edited by RedEd73
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Totally irrelevant to laughing at the saggies but the less/fewer thing came up about 30 years ago because a supermarket (Sainsbury's?) had a till with the sign saying "8 items or less."

BRFC English Language lesson

The chuckleheads took far fewer than 40,000 to Wembley.

The Radon sniffers are far less liked by other team's fans than they think.

Edited by gornagain
more relevant to thread
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35 minutes ago, gornagain said:

Totally irrelevant to laughing at the saggies but the less/fewer thing came up about 30 years ago because a supermarket (Sainsbury's?) had a till with the sign saying "8 items or less."

BRFC English Language lesson

The chuckleheads took far fewer than 40,000 to Wembley.

The Radon sniffers are far less liked by other team's fans than they think.

Eight items or less? - my dear man were you born in a sewer??

The correct grammar should be eight items or fewer!

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