I am not sure if other Gasheads share my concerns with the chairmans new report (extracts above) as it seems to suggest a lack of heart or understanding of the potential impact, if we drop out of the football league. Whilst it is one of the directors priorities it should be the top priority ,so much of the directors time has been spent on the new stadium rather than on our current position over the last three years I would suggest it has had a detrimental affect on the clubs overall financial and league position. "our position in the league will not impact on the building of a new stadium" Hmm not sure how they will justify the building of a new stadium as revenues will decline along with the attendance, I estimate it will reduce to between 2000 and 3000 echo echo, laughable in a 21700 capacity plus stadium. Also a big concern is there cavalier attitude to ticket pricing as I cannot see them reducing the season ticket prices much ,as they only froze them when we dropped to L2 from L1! Will you renew your season ticket,especially if we drop out of the league?Note that we already charge the highest prices in L2, I for one thought hard this year before renewing at the current prices,given they offer beer fare at champagne costs,no way will I pay their prices to watch conference football.See BBC report link below. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14367362 It is also an unusual turn of phrase to say "and look forward to seeing them playing in a new stadium" it sounds as if BRFC will be just be tenants, providing an income elsewhere. I despair that so called smaller clubs with tiny budgets perform better in the league year after year than we do.The Directors I suggest should concern themselves with on the field matters get the structure right first then divert there attention to the new stadium and its facilities. COR
I think you're forgetting that we have already got planning permission! This is Sainsbury's application and they have a team of people working hard to ensure their application meets all the required planning criteria. Whilst Nick Higgs will have been kept up to date and offered support where appropriate, the bulk of his focus on the planning permission ended when the UWE stadium got the green light. The team at Sainsbury's have been fantastic at making sure all the i's have been dotted and all the t's crossed, hence the reason it has been recommended for approval 1st time! Yes, relegation is an option; however, there are 63 points to play for and we're currently only 3 points from safety. I still firmly believe that we will stay up and have the bonus of UWE stadium to look forward to too! The reason they will go ahead regardless of league position is because the club will be debt free, UWE want this to happen regardless as they would be the only Uni in the country to have stadium on campus, attendances would probably plateau (interest from students and our sleeping fans intrigue) and the revenue streams available for UWE stadium far outweigh those of the Mem regardless of football. For those reason the club will be in a far better financial position regardless of division so it is right IMO to pursue this. I would also point out that we would not be tenants. I agree that the structure of the club needs to be addressed to match the long term ambitions of the club, but I don't see how focussing on those over the next week or so will change the fortunes of the club in the near future as they would all be long term changes. It might also be the case that some of the money invested in the project would be released upon Sainsbury's getting the go-ahead thus allowing us some funds in the budget for new players before the end of the transfer window!! I understand your concern but genuinely believe this is going to be a month to remember for the right reasons!! UTG!
contracts been signed with uwe pending the sainsburys outcome. cant pull out now if we get relegated. say we go down and go back up again... i doubt we will ever get this chance again.
i think if next week goes well, there will be such a big boost around the club which will be very much needed. i think that may give us the incentive to stay up. the players will want to be apart of this.
Once the Mem planning has been agreed, Sainsbury's will want to start work. Presumably at the end of this season. Where we gonna play anyway???
Cheltenham? {I've put a post on the OS to see if anyone knows anything} http://www.brfcforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/107546-have-i-missed-something/
The new stadium will be a massive boost and will guarantee revenue for years to come. The massive potential at Bristol Rovers will start to be realised and before we know it we'll have Championship football.
Thanks G82 I have noted all your well constructed comments, understand the planning approval. I was suggesting that over the last three years the directors attentions have been elsewhere than on the field of play as shown by our current predicament,and pure investment in the team has been low from the directors whereas on the new stadium side Rovers have incurred huge costs on previous and existing proposals,whilst I appreciate the future proofing finances of Rovers with a new stadium is a positive one long term for the Directors our gate money and other revenues have been redirected including sizeable transfer fees have not been spent on players also poor management/coach appointments have cost the club a small fortune. However under the new Financial Fair Play all clubs will operate under the SCMP which limits spending on total player wages to a proportion of each club's turnover that is updated as the campaign progresses.Any club that is deemed to have breached the permitted spending threshold will be subject to a transfer embargo by refusing player registrations that take clubs beyond the threshold.The permitted spending threshold for us is 55%. You are misguided to think that reducing our debt, (which will not happen this season) would free up transfer monies as we can only spend a % of our revenue which is on a permanant decline look at the figures. I do applaud your positivity towards the move, it is not in my opinion, as you have stated realistic, to think that if we drop out of the football league the reduction in attendance revenues and other profit areas will be boosted by the student population next door. Firstly the concession prices will be much lower and why would a student wish to watch conference football (unless it was really very cheap) when they could watch Championship fare at our noisy neighbours BCFC or my choice would be to spend it in a subsidised Bar on campus. Attracting players to a struggling L2 side is difficult enough, consider what it would be like if we were in the conference do not tell me it will be easier especially under the new ruling ,if revenues drop our spending % power to attract players will drop also. "So come to Rovers who are a conference side,you will earn less play poorer teams but we do play in a nice stadium that would work for me". The other thing to remember that the Stadium will be completed by the start of the 2015/16 season (or maybe longer)! Surely the players were already sold on this idea anyway CJ and look where we are in the league now (Sorry but its true) Nice stadium shame about the quality of football in the conference. What revenue will be guaranteed Gastro,Championship football is a long way away and if we drop in the conference its even further away.It is a fresh start new stadium but at what cost if we drop? I do think as said the stadium is fantastic but it has and may yet prove to be a high cost on what league Rovers play football in over the next few years. We cannot even afford a decent striker. COR
Nope. The beauty of the arrangement is that the Mem will not be developed into a supermarket until UWE Stadium is built - we will simply move in from the Mem when UWEStad is ready and then they'll build the supermarket. This link - http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bris...um-relegated/story-17814426-detail/story.html - 9 lines down the article
You took the words right out of my mouth/typing. Strange scenario really, the board seem to have gone about the whole stadium thing in a very professional, well organised and informative manner. Shame they can't apply those talents to the playing side
Totally agree Gas they have put together an excellent plan on the Stadium front.Pants on the field of play!! COR
We've been in decline for a few years now. I really think that the new stadium can help arrest and reverse that decline. Let's face it, if we stayed at the Mem as it is, we'd be going nowhere but in a downwards direction. Let's just hope we're a league team by the time the UWEStad is ready - if it gets built <prayseventhoughnotreligious>
