I know it's early days yet but I really am warming to James Brent, I know he is a shrewd buisnessman but he does look like a good bet for us and Plymouth in general. I'm liking what little he has said since showing an interest in our club. From day one the vibes were encouraging. Although Brent has made a start in his plans for expanding the area around Home Park I do like his ideas and they are balanced with plans for improvement to the football ground itself. Expanding the area is good for the local economy and gets people into the area. He talks of his plans for the club, it's goals (pardon the pun) and seems (unlike his predecessors) to understand that for the club to survive and flourish it needs investment, he appears willing to invest and reading between the lines I detect the beginnings of a football fan - an Argyle fan. All these plans James Brent has for Plymouth and the Central Park area are good financial backing for the finance this club needs to flourish but it takes a brave man to put that money up front, I hope for all our sakes that his business ventures are successful - he has to know what he's doing with his financial background. I have keep reminding myself that it's early days yet and it will take at least another full season to really begin to understand Jame's Brent's intentions but he does seem like a decent individual and his intentions for the club appear to be honourable. My opinion is we were very lucky to have got this man on our side, I don't even want to think about where we would be now had he not got on board.
I have to agree with you Mrs lalala that he certainly makes all the right noises. He has so far done all the things he said he would do as far as I know but I didn't follow every statement of his so that could be wrong. He has the view I hold which is that the club has to live within it's means and be self sufficient. It is ok people talking about mega buck investment and all that but it was clear from the start he was never that person. He has again made a statement which is not over blown with promises and there is no reason to believe he won't keep the ones he made. Having been bitten well and truely on the ass previously however for me the jury is still out. Believe me when I say I want to believe in him wholeheartedly and every bit of me wants him to be the right man right now and the club to flourish. But I cannot give him the full thumbs up just yet and the pre-season and signings etc will do it for me if he puts something in the kitty. Not a fortune but enough to show he has become a fan as well as an owner. As for his business dealings well I'm not sure why anyone should be either surprised or even count it as a negative. I've read posts elsewhere about his Pavillions deal. What the hell has that got to do with Argyle? Nothing at all and the man is perfectly at liberty to conduct business outside of the club with PCC. The proposals for the ground appear to be a good move which does concern us. The development around the ground does appear to be in keeping with the plan PCC had so again nothing contentious there. Why people should be suspicious of development I just don't know. Every single bidder for Argyle had plans for that and he should be able to conduct his other business without anyone from Argyle shouting foul. Like what I see so far (if this was a school report). Plenty of effort but needs to keep it up and not fall away in the future. B+.
The negatives that flow from ATD,the weird ideas that some of them have regarding James Brent just make you wonder whatever would convince them that he could be the right man for the club.......they only understand that everyone must be on the make.
You have to understand with ATD that these are loads of people like Surfer who were predicting failure of the club before the failure set in and railed against the trusting of Stapleton and the old original board. They all see lack of ambition as being Argyle's greatest failure. As Brent has not arrived with a spend spend spend policy to put Argyle into the super league he is being seen as no better than any owner we have had previously. If that is their view and opinion then they are hardly likely to be pleased with him or blow his trumpet. I might not agree with them but at least they have been consistent for a very long time it seems. They will need to see some investment and serious moves and shakes before they warm.
I wasn't in favour of switching bidders during the administration process for the simple reason I feared a further delay could cause the club to collapse altogether. I didn't have anything against Brent particularly but it is hard to judge people solely from the media coverage and so I wasn't as certain as some seemed to be that he was the better option. However, so far, I am impressed and they were right about him. He seems to have a clear grasp that the football club should be seen as a community asset. He's trying to draw people in because it's good for the fans and the area and ultimately, it's good commercially for the club. He's doing that without losing control of his sizeable investment but you can't expect anything else. I think his ambition for Argyle to be a Championship club is just right. Whilst we have a long, long way to go to get back there, a city of 0.25m plus surrounding areas ought to be able to sustain a club at that level most of the time. To talk about the Premiership would be bull**** to be honest. We might dream of a season in a hundred up there a la Blackpool but they're likely to be matched with the certainty of the odd season in League 1. As an average, the Championship is a very challenging target but one a city like Plymouth ought to aspire to. He's not going to pump in millions to buy success, he didn't say he would. In any event, I don't think that would be healthy, unless you could find a die-hard Argyle fan with money to burn. No such animal exists as far as I know. Sooner or later, any other sort of rich benefactor is likely to get fed up and move on to something new. That leaves the club up the creek without a paddle. This will of course require the fans to get behind the club as they have done over the past few weeks, with pretty decent crowds home & away, considering our bargain-basement league position. It just goes to show we have the support when something exciting is going on, promotion or relegation wise, but the question still remains how many would stick with it through mid-table Championship mediocrity? His plans for Home Park are what we expected them to be and the fact that he'll make a few quid out of it doesn't mean that the club won't benefit too. I remember the moans & groans only what was it, oooh only a month ago, about what a tragedy it was the Pavilions was closing. Yes, Brent may be using his Argyle related contacts with the council to springboard a redevelopment and will again make a few quid, but so what. I just have 3 words to say about that - THE PALACE THEATRE! Which would you prefer?
