So, you'd have the current owner step aside rather than have him build a stand holding 3600?
Big call that. We could easily end up with owners who not only don't build any stand at all but drive the club into the ground.
And where are we going to find the next owner? Pilley is locked up so that leaves that Singaporean chancer from those that we know have shown an interest. Who else? I doubt that there is anyone out there looking to buy a club in need of major infrastructure investment when we've seen plenty of clubs get into financial trouble over the last few years. The canny investor just needs to wait to buy a fully packaged club at a distressed price. Wigan and Huddersfield are two immediate examples that come to mind.
I find it bemusing that more and more if us are getting more and more demanding of Sadler. For a while everyone supported his efforts but over the last couple of years there have been these growing complaints that he doesn't spend enough of his hard-earned on us all. I don't remember this clamouring for this sort of expenditure when he first bought us. I actually remember him saying that his goal was to run the club sustainably and I dont remener anyone questioning that aim
Nevertheless, last we heard from him he said he was projected to spend £90m. That sounds like he's actually being a lot more ambitious than running sustainablly and that's still nowhere near enough for so many.
If he was at the match today I doubt that there was anything he saw to convince him to build larger. Another thread described today as the biggest game of the season. This would've been viewed as a big game for the majority of the last 50 years yet there was nothing in today's fan turn out to encourage him to build bigger.
I really think that we should be careful what we wish for as we have an owner who promised stability and has delivered on that promise. I for one don't want the club put at risk for the sake of a couple of thousand extra seats or for a risky push at the big time.
I’d prefer not to bother with a stand at all rather than building one that doesn’t serve our medium term development needs. Its totally pointless! Better to give a new owner a blank canvas or build a proper stand at a point when we can actually afford it, rather than allowing financial constraints to dictate the scope of the development.
As far as SS is concerned I think he has done a very solid job of getting the Football Club back on its feet and functioning as a professional outfit. I’m sure most fans will be eternally grateful for this and of course ensuring the club was no longer in Oyston hands… However….
You are absolutely right that there is increasing discontent both in regard to his approach to fans and level of investment, which has possibly fallen short of expectations. This fanbase is no different to any other and we want proper success and for any owner to have a clear and well communicated vision for how we achieve that success… For whatever reason the vision has never been communicated or materialised.
This stand thing is one of a number of signals over the past year or more that the Current Owner has perhaps lost some of his appetite for rebuilding this Club and I can fully understand that… It’s a thankless task and football fans are a demanding bunch - that’s the nature of the beast that m afraid.
I’m not sure about the £90M thing or what exactly that constitutes, but I’d imagine that a good proportion of that investment will relate to capital projects that will increase the asset value of the business.
It’s easy to play things down as ‘Just a couple of thousand seats’, but ultimately it’s a couple of thousand seats here and a pretty unimpressive transfer window there, a pretty uninspiring season here, on top of the last disastrous season there, an appalling manager appointment here on top of a ridiculous appointment there etc… So over time these things all add up …
Stability is something you might want to offer up as a solution to some kind of poorly run charity or perhaps a run down stately home, but as far as a football club is concerned I’m afraid stability is just boring…. It’s fine for a while to stabilise a Club that has been in decline, but if treading water is where we are at, then that’s simply not sustainable over time - fans will just get bored and walk away. So to that extent I do tend to think that stepping aside (assuming of course that the right owner comes forward) is probably the best way forward… it’s certainly preferable to the constant reminders of how much it costs to run a club and fans being continually made to feel like they are out of order for wanting to make progress…..
Maybe it’s better that an owner is more detached and not a fan of the club… maybe then fans can press the owner for investment without being guilt tripped etc..
As for putting the club at risk, this decision is one that could very easily hamper the long term progress of the football club by building a capacity / fanbase limiting stadium…. That too is a risk… But not only that it’s pointless….
Edit to Add: I’m not sure at what point a Hime game against Oxford over half way through a pretty turgid season would ever have been considered a ‘Big Game’ - certainly not in my time supporting the Club… As for the game itself it was certainly no great advert for L1 football… I had to get a coffee at Half Time to keep my eyes open.