please log in to view this image A report lifted from OTIB on the meeting.. Taken from the bcfc yahoo group Fans Parliament last night, the main item being a discussion about the club's season ticket proposals for next season which, I should add, met with (almost) unanimous approval from those present. I won't say more as an announcement is due in the next week or so. However, the evening started with the announcement of Keith Burt as Director of Football followed by a surprise (well to me anyway...and apparently also to Sean) Q&A session with Sean, Keith and Jon Lansdown. I wasn't the only one present who came away excited by the vision, strategy and commitment to see it through (yes, I really am talking about BCFC). Keith Burt's appointment was clearly received very positively by Sean, in fact his words were something along the lines of "if I was the owner this is how I'd run the club". It is very clear that Keith has substantial experience (7 years at Forest) and a strong team of scouts working for him. His role is to find the players that Sean wants, but Sean was very clear that he has the final say, as he has to work with them. There was also a big emphasis on getting players who are the right 'types' - they also made it very clear they know which positions are crucial! Both Sean and Keith come over far better in person than on TV/radio - Sean was smiling & relaxed and even made us laugh. More importantly he talks more sense than I've heard from most managers who have far more sound-bites! For the record, my wife knew Sean when he was a player at Bournemouth and said he's always been very shy and never suffered fools gladly - is it surprising then that he doesn't react well to stupid questions from the media. We also had a presentation from Martin Griffiths (Bristol Sport) about the proposed stadium redevelopment which has been amended substantially to reflect fans' wishes - and looks a lot better for it! (boxes going in the dolman and not eastend) The final presentation was a very passionate and enthusiastic talk by Amy Kington (Interim Director of the Academy) about the attempt to obtain Category 2 status for the Academy and the reasons why. Since relegation became a certainty (and even before) - a number of fans have used words like 'shambolic' and 'rotten culture' to describe BCFC (although personally I've never subscribed to that view). If that's your view - I wish you'd been present last night as I believe, like me, you'd have come away with a very different view. Others who were there came away excited and believing that there has been a very real culture change actually over the last few months (despite relegation). We have a head coach who's here for the long haul, a tremendously experienced Director of Football, an academy that is showing massive potential, some very good business brains in charge of the finances and last but by no means least, an owner who is a fan, a Bristolian and is still passionately committed to Bristol City. We could be in a far worse position off the field - I firmly believe that, given some time, we'll eventually be in a far better position on it! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Comments... harvey54 .. I was at the meeting. I was a fence sitter until I attended tonight but the talk by Sean and Keith Burt was very encouraging. The club are actively in talks already with new players with a view to changing the mentality of the team and also with a focus on bringing in strong characters for the dressing room. The proposals for the season ticket prices were accepted and we felt that the fans were getting a good deal. The proposals for the alternative plans for the redevelopment of Ashton Gate, should Ashton Vale not be used, were extremely impressive. The academy appears to be going from strength to strength and we are awaiting the results of the audit. On the whole, the matters off the pitch are falling into place and the focus on wholesale changes in personnel are going to be interesting. I left the meeting with a lot of optimism for next season, whereas I had entered the meeting with a very negative attitude. Watch the City website for the season ticket news soon. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Anybody really have contact with these fans parliament bods?? Remember bristol boy? Proof is in doing v talking lots. Ground consultation still no images, what opportunity have fans had to put ideas forward? It appears to be about what you can't do v what you can.
Very encouraging views from two supporters who were at the meeting. I'm still not totally convinced but am certainly willing to begin to believe that the way the club is run will improve significantly from the ineptitude of the last decade. PS; Sean did not like the public address humour with choice of record after the Birmingham game; somone tell him we don't do blue shirts at Bristol City! (see photograph)
I'm really worried about the redevelopment of Ashton Gate. We'll be blowing money on tarting up a stadium that passed its sale-by date a long time. If we don't get Ashton Vale then quite frankly I wouldn't bother. As I said before on here, it was embarrassing to watch BBC present a game from a make-shift tent at Ashton Gate. Even if we doll the place up a bit, it'll still be a small time stadium for a team that wants to stay in the small-time. Ashton Vale or nothing, in my opinion.
We have to have some sort of contingency if Ashton Vale gets blocked in October/November - so sensible to have that in the pipeline
Why do we need that contingency? We don't fill Ashton Gate as it is. Let's be frank. It's a poor stadium for a team that one day wants to be in the Premier League. The only reason we want to tart it up a bit is to save face if the numpties win their battle against the building of Ashton Vale. In ten years time, we'll want a new stadium again. A renovation of Ashton Gate is at best a short term move, and is probably a big waste of money for Lansdown. If I were Lansdown, I'd be pouring my money into that legal battle. Hell, legally, we can start building now, so I would probably just get started on the foundations now.
A forty million pound re-development is not a tarting up. We don't fill Ashton Gate as it is ... Forty million is not being spent on increasing capacity by six or seven thousand. Check details on stands, capacities will also be downsized to incorporate internal facilities and boxes. The Williams capacity in contrast will be significantly increasead. This is no stop gap or short term contingency, it is a means of increasing revenue. The funding for the re-development also comes from one source v Ashton Vale including business partners. The business plan appears significantly different. All revenue created will go directly to BCFC. I expect Steve Lansdown to carry on his legal proceedings v Ashton Vale residents, but this could easily mean that he pursues alternative uses for the land. This is a massive re-development of three stands of Ashton Gate, not licks of paint.
I agree with all your points. Apart from Ashton Vale, which may never happen because of the Village Green pantomime, please City fans look around Bristol and see if anyone can find another location for a new stadium without paying hundreds of £ millions for the site. Apart from the area alongside Temple Meads which was formerly Bath Road railway depot and was cleaned up for an Arena site and may not even be big enough for a football stadium, I cannot think of anywhere. So we must rebuild Ashton Gate and as Cliftinville rightly points out it is not just tarting it up. It is the only way City can significantly increase it's annual revenue to give us at least a chance of firstly getting back to the Championship, but more importantly, STAYING THERE AND BUILDING FOR THE NEXT STEP UP.
It's both a tarting-up, and a large waste of money. It's a second prize, and anyone with a brain can see this. So, what happens if we do achieve the impossible, and manage to land Premier League football? What if the fans start pouring into Ashton Gate? What if the media decide to come around? Ashton Gate leaves us with very little wiggle-room. Future expansion is severely limited, much of the stadium and nearby facilities will be of poor quality compared to the rest of the league. And do you think the revenue will be anywhere near as high as it would be with a brand new development, with additional room to grow? Why would he? He's not a property magnate. If he can't have his stadium he'll probably just drop it, and then sell the land on the cheap. It's still a second prize compared to a new stadium, and it'll forever be a reminder to any future investors that you can't get **** done in Bristol.
EnderMB without being privy to the business plan for Ashton Vale it is impossible to back up your points. The Ashton Vale project involved business partners who would want returns on their investment. If you cannot highlight who owns on site assets, you cannot make assertions as to where revenue created will go. Steve Lansdown would not spend forty million pounds of his money if A/ It was not viable B/There were not going to be significant returns.
Shiny, you are the innocence of youth and I admire you for it. But when you get a bit older, the cynicism of long life kicks in and you realise that nothing is possible and that the worst always seems to happen. I hope you are right.
True, but you can make assumptions on future potential, and anyone can see that moving to Ashton Vale would provide far more potential to future business ventures and to the potential future expansion of the club. This isn't a Coventry scenario. Lansdown would have more sense than to allow that, so I cannot see why people are trying to justify the second prize as just that. My main concern is that Bristol City will continue to stay in a stadium that is poor by Championship standards, and that our future "expansion" will be modifying a stadium that is not fit for purpose. Call me a cynic, but modifying Ashton Gate to be a modern stadium to meet our needs will be like watching Pimp My Ride. Sure, it'll sound nice to have a bunch of boxes and to make it a bit cozy for the fans by reducing the capacity until we need it, but it'll still be a poor stadium.
If the Nimbys win the village green'thats a laugh in it's self, then where else in Bristol is there to build a new stadium the club has spent years and shed loads of money looking at other sites over the years.
Is this much difference to say Liverpool FC who for years talked about moving to Stanley Park but because of issues of building a ground there and the now raising costs they have now said that they will look to increase Anfield. If I am being honest Id rather stay at Ashton Gate and yes I can understand some peoples opinion of why spend so much money on a new ground or redeveloping the ground when we cant even fill half it is. For me I currently feel embarrassed when on a weekly basis our sound system fails and they cant announce the team sheets or our basic score board decides to go off or show the wrong game time. Little things like that I cant understand why they can fix it. But as mentioned redeveloping the ground isnt about football its about money as it is a very large sum for a few extra thousand seats but they hope withthe boxes they make more money and they will be able to hold a lot more events at the ground to bring in money. You and I buying a season ticket is just an added extra to their finances, the money is in corparate events and sponsorship. I think it was burnley who were in the Premiership said that if they survivedtheir first season all season tickets would get a free season ticket the following year because their revenue was great enough to be able to do that, sadly for the fans they got relegated.
