Many clubs at this level and even level above don’t have these facilities though. How many clubs in League 1 and 2 actually have their own training ground and not a shared leisure centre facility or school playing fields. The others things, hotel etc, are all revenue streams for the club, which Pomlett he said are beneficial. Hopefully money gathered from these streams is used effectively, because one doesn’t function without the other.
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Agree, and for me the real “elephant in the room” aspect of the “Bonser saved the club” narrative, that even now get’s credited for as if it were fact, is this…
"In 1995, the opportunity arose to acquire the Freehold of the Bescot Site from Severn Trent. At the time, the Club explored every avenue available to be able to purchase the Site itself but this would also have meant initially purchasing the Lease followed by the Freehold and once again the Club was not in a position to pursue the transaction and came up against a brick-wall in attempts to finance the deal.
Once again, the only way to ensure that the Freehold did not go to an outside investor or developer at this time was for the SSAS to purchase it. This was done with the aim, at some point in the future, of reuniting the Club with a Freehold that the Shareholders had agreed to sell back in 1988."
The idea that the club coudln’t have raised a measly couple of hundred grand in 1995, when it was financially sound and enjoying on the field success and a fantastic relationship with the then thriving supporters club is too ridiculous for words.
This is the definitive moment Bonser chose himself over the football club, and for 24 years (and currently ongoing) the club has been paying for it.
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Oh dear me Jeff , calm down ffs.
You prove my point! 
As @el_nombre points out, he’s been here for nearly 30 years and we’re essentially in the same position. I’ve also seen some pretty convincing arguments from other posters debating the facts of whether he was in fact our great ‘saviour’, so even that is up for debate.
Being a stable football club should be the norm, not cause for celebration. Let’s not forget how much money Bonser has made out of WFC, he’s one of the few people to earn a considerable profit from football, whilst ensuring that the club continues to languish and cannot progress without a Manager that overachieves significantly.
I find it interesting that you’re so keen to judge to Pomlett on his actions, which is absolutely the correct thing to do, but you’re failing to recognise the damage Bonser has caused by his own inaction.
Also, I was responding to your earlier post, not your subsequent post regarding the statue.
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Sometimes wonder if all folk want to do is disagree on here!
A good debate is fine but the title of this thread is ‘A new dawn’ so is it possible that we can discuss the present and the future rather than dragging up, regurgitating and disagreeing, every other post, about our previous owner! 
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Totally disagree with that 
Woah, I defended you further up in the thread when you pointed out this takeover might not be the be all and end all of our problems.
But it’s not hyperbole to suggest that, relatively speaking, he leaves this club in the same position he found it. That’s just fact. A pretty standard training ground and sprinklers in 27 years haven’t moved this club anywhere.
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It’s genuinely the most exciting time for our football club in 30 years.
I just can’t understand how some people aren’t as enthusiastic! 
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My enthusiasm will be woefully curtailed until the rent payments cease to exist.
I think Pomlett is already proving himself through actions. At the time of DC’s appointment it did not feel like a Jeff move, we all expected a bargain basement appointment. Instead we ended up with a fantastic young manager proven at this level. At the time I wondered why on earth he wanted to take on the basket case that was our club, makes sense now. Pomlett obviously shared his vision for the future with DC and as they are obviously both ambitious men it appealed to both parties.
Also DC fits in with the ‘Pragmatic Optimist’ catch phrase, an ambitious man but use to working within financial constraints. Genuinely excited about the clubs future for the first time in years, I honestly thought we were hiding for non league and then ceasing to exist at all under Jeff. Bring it on 
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Thats a shame because it may take some time for those to cease…I am looking forward with great enthusiasm and confidence .
Am I wrong in thinking the hotel is nothing to do with the club.
My memory is that negotiations with hotel groups broke down and the club finished up just selling the land.
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I did appreciate that support el, and I should have acknowledged it earlier.
I’m not trying to disagree with you in particular - and definitely not defending Bonser - but facts that aren’t facts need correcting rather than left to take root and grow. His debit column might be much bigger than his credit one but there is something in it, and there’s also no need to exaggerate the debit side with things that aren’t actually true.
As an example, in the last few days I seen a post quoting £10M he’s taken out of the club and another £12M, and plenty of other figures over the years; they can’t all be true. Elsewhere on here someone came up with some numbers that added up to much much less - I can’t vouch that these were any more a reflection of reality than anything else plucked out of the air as they were taken from the clubs official accounts (and if you believe the narrative everything that came out of Bonser’s mouth was a lie - even when it had been independently audited) but they are the ones that have some basis rather than just speculation. If you add in the loans that Bonser put in to keep the club afloat (and he wasn’t the only one - why would anyone who thought he was crooked and had nothing to gain themselves do that?) plus the investment from the SIPP and the extra revenue streams that these generated, it comes out at even less. To some people (and that is probably a majority on here) even taking a penny would be a penny too much, and I get that, but if you’re going to make a claim then at least claim the right amount and not make up something over exaggerated.- and then I don’t have to pull anyone up on it.
In some people’s eyes he may only have done what she should have done anyway (although it has been pointed out by others that there are plenty of other clubs at our level, and above, that haven’t) but he did them. If you want to say he didn’t go over and above that - absolutely. He never put his hand in his pocket or gambled to take that extra step, it always had to be from within the very narrow budget he allowed. If he had done, and we’d been successful, the whole rent thing would have still been there but wouldn’t have drawn him as much flak. His failing was not turning us into an established Championship level club when he got us there (like it or not, he did get us there!)
Getting back on track as Coop63 has said, I really do hope it is a step forward and not out of the frying pan into the fire. The trouble with your Oystons, Ridsdales, Andersons, etc (and Bonsers 
) is that you don’t know what they are going to turn out to be when they first come on board and the fans are all over excited. I’m impressed rather than disappointed that LP has not made any big promises, and on the surface he has a good track record, so I am optimistic. And if all he does is what he’s supposed to but doesn’t do any more to take us to that next level (or make us a basket case in the process) - I will celebrate what he has done right and not turn on him. I’ll celebrate even more if he does bring the good times back.
At the moment LP and DC are both talking the talk. On the pitch we look solid and workmanlike but not world beaters (yet - still waiting for this promised new striker announcement. BTW Back on my pedantic correction crusade - to the poster that keeps saying they saying they want a marquee signing, that’s a tent! You mean marque - grammar lesson over. 
)
Some of those players are better than others, and the ones that aren’t but still get game time will not be abused by me so that they decide to leave the club. I may shout at them in exasperation when they make a mistake, but I will also applaud them when they do something right - even if it isn’t spectacular. And I will continue to support the club whatever.
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I had a long chat with him a few years ago when I was picking up season tickets. He said his big mistake was falling for the celebrity that was Merson. I think that broke him of ambition for the club really because he became ultra careful after that and even more risk averse.
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This is what Jeff has done to us, made us suspicious, and somewhat apathetic, towards a new owner.
We’ve only known lies, shady dealings, and deceit for so long then we expect it, it’s much like when a political establishment changes hands.
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What was the excitement like amongst the fans when it was announced we were signing Merson? And how did it all turn out in the end? That’s why (plus a few similar other experiences over the years) I’m pragmatically optimistic about LP coming in but not wildly celebrating just yet until I see what happens.
Bonser’s relationship with the Magic Man goes down in the debit column for me - totally clouded his judgement and led to bad outcomes. I suspect (but it isn’t a fact because I don’t know and am not claiming to) that it was a factor in using that flimsy excuse to sack Colin Lee - which I thought was a massive mistake at the time.
I also disagreed with how Graydon was sacked. It was probably the right thing to do given how things were panning out on the pitch, but it could have been handled better.
His appointment of Graydon to start with though (and Lee, and Money, and Smith) are credits. Not enough credit for a statue, but enough not to be brushed aside like they didn’t happen.
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Joe Bloggs talking this figure or that figure is completely pointless and I have no interest in speculating what they might be so I’m not going to dispute or support what you are saying about how much he has taken out of the club. The Accounts tell you as much as the club wants you to know.
I’m just looking at the overall situation of the football club and the benefits that I, as a fan, have seen. For me, he could take millions out of the club every year if I saw marked improvement year upon year and some sort of ambition to move forwards. From a fans point of view we are no more further up the food chain than we were when he took over. We have been, at certain points, but he/the club failed to capitalise on it. And now we are a club in debt to him (I’m assuming) paying for a ground we no longer own back in the division we were in when he took over.
That’s why I called it a fact that most of the things he’s done over the years are just “keeping up with the Jones’”. In this day and age Training Facilities and the other things you correctly listed are pretty much par for the course. His supporters want to pretend keeping a football club afloat is some massive achievement. It isn’t. There are 92 Football League clubs. There are 2 in marked financial difficulties and both will be teeing it up in a league above us next season. Not being number 3 on that list is not a massive achievement, it’s the bare minimum a football fan should expect.
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For every good appointment he stumbled across, there is a Hutchings, Merson, Mullen, Broadhurst, Keates, or Whitney.
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