[Archived] Rovers Sold ??

[Ben-2000]

Bloody hell - they're big stands them! They weren't there last week though I know that much.

Seriously, good point though. However, as has already been said, we can't fill the ground as it is anyway. What we need to do is rebuld the Riverside, at very little cost, so that it's the same height and appearance as the other three stands, but reduce it's capacity - thereby making the overall capacity at Ewood approx 25-26K.

I think if that was to happen then maybe the same height as you say but with the same capacity as we have now as we occasionally get crowds above 25-26,000.

[roversmum]

Exactly. Like I said before, it might be viewed by those of us that actually go to the ground as a perfectly good stand, but what about the potential fan? What about the Blackpool/Preston/Burnley/Colne/Clitheroe (etc) based potential fans that are looking for a club to support? These fans are naturally drawn to bigger local clubs and I honestly think that a new stand on the Riverside would give off the impression that we are a bigger club.

Now think of a potential big-name summer signing and the missed opportunities we MAY face. Ok so you're Eidur Gudjohnson right, you meet MH and JW in the Jack Walker Stand and do the small talk. You walk through the tunnel and out onto the pitch and the first thing you see is a stand dwafed by other club's stands such as Peterborough, Hull City, Leeds United and Coventry City.

Now imagine walking out and see a brand-spanking new stand - maybe not the biggest in terms of capacity but one that shows ambition and that the club want to go places!

How can we make Ewood a fortress when one of our walls is only half built?

Four proper sides would keep the noise in, intimidate the opposition players/fans, make sure we aren't putting off potential signings, and make sure we look after the fans that sit or plan to sit in the Riverside stand.

Thank you, IHB. Nail on head. Couldn't put it any plainer.

[AggyBlue]

I think if that was to happen then maybe the same height as you say but with the same capacity as we have now

That would be able to include more leg/elbow room I might even be tempted by that.

[stuwilky]

Bloody hell - they're big stands them! They weren't there last week though I know that much.

Seriously, good point though. However, as has already been said, we can't fill the ground as it is anyway. What we need to do is rebuld the Riverside, at very little cost, so that it's the same height and appearance as the other three stands, but reduce it's capacity - thereby making the overall capacity at Ewood approx 25-26K.

An overall capacity of 26k is a brilliant idea. The capacity of the existing Riverside is a shade over 5k, so why dont we knock it down, paint a nice big picture, in 3D even, of a lovely looking stand that shows ambition, people sat in there, a lovely tubular steel structure. It would save us millions - the ground would look nice, these maintenance costs which we dont pay on the riverside would disappear as well, the reduced capacity would stimulate demand for more tickets.

Brilliant solution.

Whilst if we had £5m a lovely nice stand would be good - we dont, so we wont be building one. So its a perfectly pointless discussion!

[AggyBlue]

So its a perfectly pointless discussion!

Then stop contributing to it.

[philipl]

So have the Rovers been sold?

[den]

not yet.

[Hasta]

Thank you, IHB. Nail on head. Couldn't put it any plainer.

No players who are transfering for X-million pounds and tens of thousands a week are going to turn a club down based on their stand. "We can offer you £25,000 a week and european football." "No thanks, I'll go to Boro for 15k cos their stands look good."

As for attracting fans, it's hardly going to generate the missing thousands. Neither point gives Rovers a probable return on their investment which this boils down to.

I'd love to see it done, but from a business point of view can't see it happening.

[AggyBlue]

but from a business point of view can't see it happening.

Nail. Head.

Now if one of our more affluent supporters want to pay for it, I'm sure the club wouldn't mind the stand being named after them.

How about the 'Thenodrog Stand'.

[stuwilky]

Then stop contributing to it.

Touche!

[ihateburnley]

No players who are transfering for X-million pounds and tens of thousands a week are going to turn a club down based on their stand. "We can offer you £25,000 a week and european football." "No thanks, I'll go to Boro for 15k cos their stands look good."

As for attracting fans, it's hardly going to generate the missing thousands. Neither point gives Rovers a probable return on their investment which this boils down to.

I'd love to see it done, but from a business point of view can't see it happening.

Hasta, we ain't talking about decision makers here, but more contributory factors.

The fact of the matter is that if we have roughly 70% of the members on this board that have contributed to this thread that think our stand looks ###### and outdated, you can safely assume that any potential fans/potential players are thinking the same aswell.

Re-read my post. I wasn't saying this would solve the attendance issues, but if we are giving new fans the impression that we are a small club that is content with where they are and not looking to improve, then why the hell would they come and support us?

If it was upto me I'd redevelop the Riverside, maintain our excellent cheap ticket policy, but sell the tickets in the Riverside first and lets show the world that Ewood is where its happening - and it costs f all to get in!

[bob fleming]

paint a nice big picture, in 3D even, of a lovely looking stand that shows ambition, people sat in there, a lovely tubular steel structure.

Can you put a TV gantry on top of a 3D picture though? Then again you wouldn't need to. To make it authentic you would need to have cardboard cut outs of people leaving early - they could be put on rails and pulled along and out of the ground by Roar or Franny Jeffers. In the event of a really bad home defeat you could even throw a few of the cut outs off the top tier to show just how passionate we are as fans.

I's like to see it redeveloped but it just ain't gonna happen. The current owners are unlikely to want to pay for it are they?

[joey_big_nose]

Its all about proportionality though. I mean for the cost of a new stand what real value would we get from it? A few more fans perhaps, possibly a tiny tiny little contributing factor to a player wanting to sign. Thats it. Nothing more.

How can we possibly justify expense for small realised benefits in the face of the fact that we have, compared to our compeititors, an ever smaller transfer budget. Hughes has worked wonders on a shoe string but if the board turned round to him and said "sorry Sparky we're going to wipe off £5m from transfers to rebuild a stand when we can't even fill the stadium" he would think, quite rightly, the board was taking the mickey. And would perhaps wonder.. "would they do such a daft thing at Spurs? Or Newcastle? Or Bolton?"

Honestly, you do not make business decisions that cost lots of money unless you can be sure it has real tangible benefits. Anything else is utter suicide. We are not in a position where we can throw away large wads of cash to what is essentially a beautification project!

[b12_simon]

This happens all the time threads just wonder of onto another topic this has turned into a topic about updating the riverside when it should be about rovers getting sold, there hasnt been the slightest indication that the stand is going to be upgraded.

It gives us something to do while we all hold our breath waiting for the announcement that the club's been sold

[Exiled in Toronto]

And would perhaps wonder.. "would they do such a daft thing at Spurs? Or Newcastle? Or Bolton?"

Errr....they already did, and without a Jack Walker to gift the first three sides.

[ihateburnley]

How can we possibly justify expense for small realised benefits in the face of the fact that we have, compared to our compeititors, an ever smaller transfer budget. Hughes has worked wonders on a shoe string but if the board turned round to him and said "sorry Sparky we're going to wipe off £5m from transfers to rebuild a stand when we can't even fill the stadium" he would think, quite rightly, the board was taking the mickey. And would perhaps wonder.. "would they do such a daft thing at Spurs? Or Newcastle? Or Bolton?"

That's just it though. As fans we don't know the true secrets over how the club is run financially. There's a few that reckon they do know, but they don't. For all we know, the club may have been putting £2m a year away for ten years into a Riverside Fund waiting for the right time to spend it. Alternatively the Walker Trust may be bound to redevelop the stadium as part of Jack's legacy? We just don't know.

Let me say that I don't support the redevelopment of the Riverside if it will have an adverse effect on the playing side of things, but if there is some money tucked away for this very reason, I feel the time has come to use it.

[Claytons Left Boot]

Can you put a TV gantry on top of a 3D picture though? Then again you wouldn't need to. To make it authentic you would need to have cardboard cut outs of people leaving early - they could be put on rails and pulled along and out of the ground by Roar or Franny Jeffers. In the event of a really bad home defeat you could even throw a few of the cut outs off the top tier to show just how passionate we are as fans.

Very good Bob How about knocking the Riverside down completely, putting up a large white board and buying a super duper space age projector and projecting images of Anfield the other night doing You'll Never Walk Alone (with surround sound naturally). All that would be required would be to paint over the red scarves as being blue and hey presto, a passionate full stand that holds 10,000 - we could even fiddle our attendances upwards, for a change, to show 31,367 on every home game.

[Jan]

For all we know, the club may have been putting £2m a year away for ten years into a Riverside Fund waiting for the right time to spend it. Alternatively the Walker Trust may be bound to redevelop the stadium as part of Jack's legacy? We just don't know.

For the first part, not through the financial statements they haven't. No-one knows about the second

[Hasta]

If it was upto me I'd redevelop the Riverside, maintain our excellent cheap ticket policy, but sell the tickets in the Riverside first and lets show the world that Ewood is where its happening - and it costs f all to get in!

I agree with most of your points IHB.

Unfortunately if running all aspects of the club finances, including allocating money for wages transfers etc.. was up to you, you'd probably realise that the £5m can be better spent elsewhere if available.

I wonder how much Arsenal would want for the old Highbury mural they had.

[LeChuck]

Charlton next in line for a big takeover?

It's the same group that were interested in Liverpool a while back. It seems an odd decision and it does make you wonder how much they know about football if they're basing it on the fact that they're a south London club. If they felt they could buy Liverpool then surely there are clubs ahead of Charlton that are prime for expanding within their budget? Newcastle, Everton and Manchester City come to mind.

Still, I'd be quite happy if Charlton got taken over instead of a 'bigger' club who could potentially pull away from us. No matter how much money is thrown at Charlton, I can't see them moving too far ahead of us...a bit like Portsmouth, and in the past Fulham.

[joey_big_nose]

That's just it though. As fans we don't know the true secrets over how the club is run financially. There's a few that reckon they do know, but they don't. For all we know, the club may have been putting £2m a year away for ten years into a Riverside Fund waiting for the right time to spend it. Alternatively the Walker Trust may be bound to redevelop the stadium as part of Jack's legacy? We just don't know.

Let me say that I don't support the redevelopment of the Riverside if it will have an adverse effect on the playing side of things, but if there is some money tucked away for this very reason, I feel the time has come to use it.

Wel of course I agree with that, I am not opposed to the idea of a lovely new stand for the sake of it. But I just cannot see how it wouldn't come out of the playing side of things. We run at a loss as it is. The prospect of the board "tucking away money" just doesn't seem likely at all.

And if they had put aside 2m every season for Riverside development I would be a bit cheesed off as we could have used that money for transfers as opposed to saving up for something which, whatever way you look at it, has to be a low priority.

[b12_simon]

The club still has the model in the boardroom of that proposed stand Rev......a 15,000 seater!!!!

Anyone know of any pics of this on t'interweb? I had a Google but drew a blank.

FWIW I'm in favour of doing up the squad, rather than the stands while gates are so poor, but I'm also bloody curious to see what was planned!

[Alan75]

I bet there's a get out clause somewhere.

[blue phil]

So have the Rovers been sold?

Three quarters of it , according to Tooting's scource . Just a bit of haggling going on over the Riverside - they want us to pay them for that

[Fife Rover]

Three quarters of it , according to Tooting's scource . Just a bit of haggling going on over the Riverside - they want us to pay them for that

When reading posts on this thread one can never tell whether the poster is being serious, facetious, or just plain stupid!