I do not understand people who are against the model. Look at where we were 4 years ago.
How many people who are questioning the model were at Bristol Rovers away the game before the covid shutdown? Because I was. That was a club without direction, without accountability, without talent, without any form of plan.
We have made progression every year under KLD and Speakman. Considering the mass dysfunction they were left with by the previous owners i'd say that's pretty good. 4 years ago yesterday we lost 1-0 away at Gillingham with a squad that lacked talent and ambition and a manager in Parkinson who is the worst i've seen at this club. Today, we are looking for a new, ambitious coach who we hope will take us to the premier league with our squad of multiple £10mill+ talents who have been recruited and developed by the club.
It's not just the first team this model has improved. KLD and Speakman walked into a club with an academy team which had been torn to shreds by the previous owners in their desperation firesale and had barely won a game in 2 years. We had to bring in stop gap players for the u23s for christ sake. We are only just recovering from the destruction to the academy caused by the previous owners and we have some wonderful talent emerging now due to the hard work being put in by the club.
Look at the way we deal with transfers, every signing seems to be exciting, unlike how I felt while we were announcing the likes of Joel Lynch and Callum McFadzean. We have only just started selling players, the Stewart sale looks better and better every day. The selling players part I understand why people are concerned about it but every club sells to improve and as long as we do that we will be ok. Selling players allows you to evolve as a team and the higher the fee you receive the more you can reinvest. Gone are the days of our owner panic signing a striker who didn't want to come that the coach didn't want with money he didn't have all because he personally messed up negotiations with our in form striker and let him leave to pay off a debt.
Look at the head coach situation under the current ownership and model. The Johnson appointment helped to gradually change the play style but was sacked at the correct time despite outsiders saying it was the wrong move. The Neil appointment was outstanding, exactly what we needed in them few months at the end of the season, but him walking out because he had no power and doing a bad job at Stoke where he has all the power proves KLD/Speakman were right to not cave to his demands despite being under so much pressure from the fanbase to do so. Replacing him with Mowbray was another great decision, steadied the ship and laid some great groundwork for the future but has also been let go at the correct time despite pelters from outsiders, so I think they deserve some trust in the decision to sack Mowbray and with the next appointment.
I guess what i'm trying to say is that some of the fanbase need to get some perspective of where we have came from in such a short space of time. Are KLD and Speakman perfect? No, they have and will continue to make mistakes but I think they deserve more trust and respect from certain sections of the fanbase considering where they have taken the club after what they walked into.
Sorry for the long post i'm just pissed off at some of the stuff I have seen recently and this morning.