I'm delighted to inform everyone that James MacNamara will print an article about the protests/dissatisfaction among Rovers supporters and his article will include some details about the meeting at The Wellie on June 10th, so let's get a really big number down there to show we are not going to put up with this sorry state of affairs and keep pushing for dialogue and change at the club. Will be in The Post on friday !! UTG! Mark
In case someone has missed this story i'm bumping it up. We are hoping to meet many of you on Tuesday. All the best, Mark
Change comes for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes from within, sometimes because of circumstances; and sometimes because of external pressure. At Rovers changes are needed. The regime which has seen us slip from upper L1 to Conference in a short space of time cannot continue to work in the same way. It may be that changes are under way, and we may never know exactly what has brought about change. All we can do as fans is keep the pressure up. Make it clear that we will no longer accept the same old........... This is meant positively. We want the best for our club. We want to move forward together behind a successful team. James Macnamara wrote a piece in Friday's Bristol Post about our meeting planned for Tuesday. There is a letter in today's Bristol Sunday Independent on page 6 which Richard Latham was instrumental in having printed. Perhaps, just perhaps, news of this meeting, and the work of those behind BRISA has filtered through. Perhaps, just perhaps, it has focused minds. So let's have a good turn out on Tuesday, 7.30pm at the Wellington. Let's keep the pressure up.
Only two days to go ! Just echoing Pirate 49s words. We supporters need to come together and show the same passion like we do on matchdays and come to the meeting - you won't just have to listen. You can take a full part and feel/be involved in something which just might make the club's leaders heads turn round and think !!
Just a reminder everyone.... THIS TUESDAY 7.30pm THE WELLINGTON PUB MARQUEE, HORFIELD. Come along and share your views with other genuinely concerned Gasheads.
I wont be able to make this but I know there will be a fair few turning up! Can someone who does attend take notes and then post it on here so those who cant make it still feel apart of it?
I'll be there straight from work in my suit. May not be able to take copious notes due to having to stand, drink a pint and rant all at the same time, though I'm sure that between me, P49 and whoever else from Not606 rocks up we should have most of it covered.
Anymore for anymore? Well worth popping along to see if any of us can encourage changes for the better. Go on...Make a difference! Please attend if you possibly can. Once more - The Wellington, Horfield tomorrow night 7.30pm If you ask nicely i'll put some crisps and nuts out FOC!!!
Tonight's the night! A chance for ALL fans, not just SC members, to express their views. It needs to be a constructive meeting. Where we go from here will depend upon how tonight goes. We will discuss our main concerns, what needs to be done to improve matters, and what we are prepared to do if we do not see sufficient progress. Many have expressed interest and support. It's been promoted on all the forums. Bristol Post and Sunday Independent have both written about us. All that needs to happen now is for people to attend!
I'm in the East Midlands at present so will be relying on you guys to give us the heads up on what gets discussed.
More updates tomorrow. Good to meet Bb...charming fellow! Over 50 there, with many apologies. Good discussion and suggestions. Over 2 hours. Very positive...we continue the fight.....
Wow! 50 for the first meeting, good start, hope we get some positive feedback because the debates were good and some interesting points were raised. "From little acorns" if one tiny positive comes out of this it will have been worth it. Thanks to everyone who attended. Proud to be a Gashead tonight.
It was a good meeting with a lot of passionate Gasheads. The organisers were Jon the Stripe, MarkCgas and the inimitable Pirate49. The agenda examined what went wrong last season and what can be put right this coming season. Obviously there were calls of 'sack the board' and all the recriminations that we as angry Gasheads feel but there was also a number of practical discussions about how we supporters can make our feelings heard to the board. There was a lot of frustration about the abject level of communication coming put of the club and the futility of having an internal review conducted by the same people that have caused the decline of our football club. Interestingly, there were several individuals present who were on the board 7 or 8 years ago and that wanted to bring further investment into the club but were frozen out/shouted down by Higgs and co - one was called Kim I think.... Tellingly, several who previously worked closely with the board claimed that Toni Watola was the individual who actually ran the club on a day-to-day basis rather than Higgs and that he was very much part of the problem (kind of backs up what Virgo said in that interview). Also, many had very little faith in the Fans' Directors, Brian Seymour-Smith and Ken Masters. People stated that BSS was a nice enough fellow but had virtually no influence and was only good at smiling and shaking peoples' hands. One slightly depressing moment came when people were asked to put their hands up if they thought we could bounce straight back up to the league - not a single person thought so. It was also quite apparent that all present felt pretty impotent to be able to influence the running of the club, however, it was decided to hold another meeting after or around the same time as the Supporter's Club EGM and the Q&A with Higgs. Many thought that it would be a stage managed affair, but others thought that the level of anger was such that people's frustrations would be put to Higgs and the board would have to react. Much of what is stated at those 'official' meetings will inform the agenda of our next get together. There were various suggestions as to how we can let the board know of our anger and frustration. One was to boycott the Coventry friendly and demonstrate in the car park (not a particularly popular course of action). People were keener on demonstrating at the first home game of the season by turning their backs for a minute on the 36th minute (when Daniel's scored for Mansfield and sent us into the Conference). Personally, I'd be keener on a targeted demonstration against the Director's Box at the start of the match. There is another group with similar motives - Bristol Rovers Independent Supporters Association (BRISA) but apparently they're moving at a snail's pace, getting websites and articles of association set up and suchlike rather than actually meeting and getting on with it - hopefully the two groups will coalesce at some point. There was a lot more discussed, but it's late and I couldn't be arsed to type anymore. It was a productive meeting and one which I firmly believe could snowball into a larger Gashead's movement. I'm sure that P49, MarkC and Jon the Stripe will have more to say over the coming days and hats off to them for organising the meeting. It would be excellent if a few more of us on here could attend the next meeting as it was great to meet P49 and also great to be in a room (marquee) full of likeminded Gasheads wanting to revive our great club and get it back to being something that we're all proud of. UTG!
Thank you for your kind comments and great summary. Early days but a great attendance and between me and you, P49, myself and Mark have had our fuse lit by last night, We can make a difference, and if we don't , it won't be for the lack of trying. UTG
