[T-End is in sight]

Maybe i'm a bit out the loop, but he says people have wanted him gone for ages....why are some fans so against him? My understanding was that AP has done a lot for the club.

Where’s the proof that fans have wanted him gone? You’re prepared to believe everything in the statement? Pretty sure someone said on here recently that “you’re naive if you think an owner wouldn’t meddle in the first team” even though AP has constantly said he doesn’t. So, what are we believe?  He’s said he wants out for ages, most seasons, and obviously announced it 2 months ago.

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I doubt the Plymouth sponsorship amounted to very much in the overall context of things. Also if we got promoted could we really afford a competitive squad in the league above?
Overall though we need an owner who are prepared to be here for the long term and base expectations on sensible budgets, attendence forecasts etc.

The amount is irrelevant. If money is an issue and you’ve waited 20 years to sponsor them a few more months of waiting wouldn’t hurt surely.

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It's a fair comment isn't it. At the end of the day this boils down to the fact that Gloucester people haven't supported the club, AP has so if they won't why should he? Imagine if we got 2000 every week, this club would support itself.

Agreed re poor attendances, but you can’t just build a stadium and expect the city to turn up. The community engagement element and business sponsorship hasn’t been done well enough.  And when we get a big crowd people don’t have a good view, look at the debacle that resulted on Sunday.

[Traud1]

What were the problems on Sunday?

[SHANDY LOVE MACHINE]

Alex is very good at building stadiums, but less so at building clubs. Bricks and mortar don't have opinions, emotions or answer back. And being the owner of a football club is very different from running a business, where you can get away and sometimes actually succeed more with a more autocratic style.

That said, he joined City at a time when he needed someone to keep us going but more importantly get us home. We should always be grateful for that and give him some extra credit, and this will be his legacy. Its a shame that that legacy couldn't extend to ending his tenure with the play-offs, which would generate a bit of money and local interest which could carry over into next season. But he strikes me as an 'all in' or 'all out' type of character and I respect anybody in life who is honest enough to walk away from something they don't think they can do to the standard they or others expect, and hand over the reins to someone who might.

Looking at the wider picture, I hope for the sake of his employees and their livelihoods that his company prospers.

As for us, despite his current actions I think he loves the club and on that basis hope he looks after us as our landlord, and who knows with a bit of a break and refresh may in the future support us in a different way.

[Stable Lad]

First of all, I think a ‘thank you’ is in order to AP (and I am sure EMG too) as without his “...injecting 6 figures of cash into the budget...,” I doubt very much that we would have enjoyed the Season that we have; indeed one wonders quite where we would be now financially on and off the pitch. Business success, such as that enjoyed by AP, does not come about by chance but through a lot of hard work, long hours, innovation and risk taking. That he has been prepared to share some of the ‘fruits’ of his success with us is generous indeed.....he didn’t have to give us a bean remember.

Of course things have not worked out as he would have hoped and what with Covid and the run of injuries, his time at the helm brought with it more than it’s fair share of bad luck. But, it’s also fair to say that some of the decisions made along the way were not great and that his operating style did not find favour with everyone.
As we know, some of those people have been very ‘vocal’ in expressing their opinions both on here, social media and singing from the T End as well. I think it’s clear from the statement that some of that criticism stung, and I can understand why it would. When you’ve put in the amount of money that AP has, to read folk telling him he should put in even more must be hard to take. That he has chosen to make reference to this in his statement is, in my opinion, not an unreasonable thing to have done, although his choice of wording should have been a little better – not all fans have that sense of entitlement he refers, though I think there may be a few that do. If the posts on here are a barometer – clearly many do not. That said though, experience tells me that no matter how well worded a statement or reaction to the opinions of others may be, some will chose to take umbrage; it seems to be the way of the world these days.

I’ve no understanding of the Club’s finances. But I do know that being over budget is never an ideal situation and is one that cannot be allowed to continue. Some of us are long enough in the tooth to recall the messes (plural) we have found ourselves in before and how difficult and painful it is to get out the other side. Some of us have actually stared down the barrel of Club ceasing to be and trust me, it ‘aint a good place and one to steer well, well clear of.

For all that, it’s a little difficult to quite understand why now is the time to be reining back, more in terms of why this didn’t start some time ago and the timing has done little to manage the frustration and disappointment of fans. Reading the statement in the round, one wonders if the financial climate beyond the gates of the TT may have had some bearing on this. Perhaps a hoped for bounce in crowd numbers didn’t happen. It could be many things, we don’t know, but we do know it’s happened and so we move on.

Next season, whatever league we are in, is going to be a new and very different journey. One thing we do need though is a generous landlord(s) to cut a good deal for all of our sides who want to use the TT and hopefully also help out the coffers by way of sponsorship. As Shandy says " ...for the sake of his employees and their livelihoods that his company prospers."

Edit was correcting spelling error. Crown to crowd

[London Tiger]

First of all, I think a ‘thank you’ is in order to AP (and I am sure EMG too) as without his “...injecting 6 figures of cash into the budget...,” I doubt very much that we would have enjoyed the Season that we have; indeed one wonders quite where we would be now financially on and off the pitch. Business success, such as that enjoyed by AP, does not come about by chance but through a lot of hard work, long hours, innovation and risk taking.  That he has been prepared to share some of the ‘fruits’ of his success with us is generous indeed.....he didn’t have to give us a bean remember.

Of course things have not worked out as he would have hoped and what with Covid and the run of injuries, his time at the helm brought with it more than it’s fair share of bad luck.  But, it’s also fair to say that some of the decisions made along the way were not great and that his operating style did not find favour with everyone. 
As we know, some of those people have been very ‘vocal’ in expressing their opinions both on here, social media and singing from the T End as well.  I think it’s clear from the statement that some of that criticism stung, and I can understand why it would.  When you’ve put in the amount of money that AP has, to read folk telling him he should put in even more must be hard to take.  That he has chosen to make reference to this in his statement is, in my opinion, not an unreasonable thing to have done, although his choice of wording should have been a little better – not all fans have that sense of entitlement he refers, though I think there may be a few that do.  If the posts on here are a barometer – clearly many do not.  That said though, experience tells me that no matter how well worded a statement or reaction to the opinions of others may be, some will chose to take umbrage; it seems to be the way of the world these days.

I’ve no understanding of the Club’s finances.  But I do know that being over budget is never an ideal situation and is one that cannot be allowed to continue.  Some of us are long enough in the tooth to recall the messes (plural) we have found ourselves in before and how difficult and painful it is to get out the other side.  Some of us have actually stared down the barrel of Club ceasing to be and trust me, it ‘aint a good place and one to steer well, well clear of.

For all that, it’s a little difficult to quite understand why now is the time to be reining back, more in terms of why this didn’t start some time ago and the timing has done little to manage the frustration and disappointment of fans.  Reading the statement in the round, one wonders if the financial climate beyond the gates of the TT may have had some bearing on this.  Perhaps a hoped for bounce in crown numbers didn’t happen. It could be many things, we don’t know, but we do know it’s happened and so we move on.

Next season, whatever league we are in, is going to be a new and very different journey.  One thing we do need though is a generous landlord(s)  to cut a good deal for all of our sides who want to use the TT and hopefully also help out the coffers by way of sponsorship.  As Shandy says " ...for the sake of his employees and their livelihoods that his company prospers."

Excellent post

[Darran]

That is a very fair post Stable Lad.

I think part of the problem is the fact we are almost stuck in limbo between an owner who doesn't want to really have anything to do with the club anymore and the new owner who can't start until the season finishes. The fact we are so close to the play-offs adds to the frustration. Whilst I understand why our new owners didn't want to leave Hungerford in the lurch, it is a shame that we don't have a situation as they had at Scunthorpe recently where a new owner left Ilkeston to take over at Scunthorpe straightaway. If an instant takeover had happened then things would have been better.

[London Tiger]

I've been to TT twice, York and Hereford games, and must admit, the view from the T-end is terrible. I'm sure this will put people off returning, especially if they are floaters.

I also think AP hasbeen disappointed that we've never had good enough run in the FA Cup. One money spinning draw can set you up. I think that's what we've got to be looking at next season.

[Neil]

What were the problems on Sunday?

I think that was where people were stood by the dugouts and refused to move thus blocking the view of people in the stand behind.

[Badger]

Great post Stable Lad.

[Daveangel]

Great post Stable Lad.

Pretty much sums up my feelings, word for word.