I haven’t been for 5yrs and I was beginning to think that I would never go again.Since Keates has taken over I’ve been forced to rethink.I liked his philosophy, but anyone can talk can’t they?The thing that started my juices running again are the signings he has made,teams are going to have to adjust their game to combat Walsall’s threat,which is what Walsall were having to do under Whitney.I just want to be entertained,thats all I’ve ever wanted, so watch this space…
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I can guarantee that the football wont be as entertaining as the height of the DS era. But its structured, and that’s bloody lovely.
Saturday wasn’t as pretty but it was bloody entertaining. Come back! It’s worth it again.
The thing is though @SidSwifty most of the stay aways are doing it to protest about the owners continual asset stripping of the club, not just the poor displays we have had to endure under the whitney years.
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I’d rather have exciting, attacking football than the purists fantasy of the DS style of pretty, passing football.
A team constantly running at the oppo with pace will always get my pulse racing more than 25 passes around midfield.
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I like a mixture. I love intricate passing moves and moving the opposition around to create gaps but there’s something bloody wonderful about knocking the ball down the channels to a rapid striker, knocking the ball up to a big man who’ll bully defenses and having actual pace on the wings. Under Smith we had the players to play his way. Under Keates we have the players to play his way and based on Plymouth it was really effective and enjoyable to watch. Actually looking forward to watching Walsall FC for the first time since the 15/16 season.
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I would say that the football at times under Smith was boring, tippy-tappy, pass-it-for-the-sake-of-passing rubbish, where in some games we struggled to have a shot on target. Admittedly in his last season in charge we played some good stuff and looked good. I would be happy to see more performances like last Saturday’s: we had pace, power and created good chances.
George Kirby, Bernie Wright, Andy Rammell, to name a few.
Maybe I’m different Chunkster,the Bonser thing doesn’t bother me mate.The thing that would bother me is if Bonser sold the club to the wrong people who unlike Bonser doesn’t care that much about the club and just wants the assets.I honestly think Bonser is a total Walsall fan and care deeply about the club.Ok he could probably have handled the rent thing better but by and large its a case of better the devil you know for me.
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yeah hence why I said at the height of the DS tenure - Coventry at home probably being one of the best games.
Forget the Northampton game but Saturday was the most entertaining league game I’ve seen at Bescot for quite some time. The front 2 and wide 2 made so much happen and now with the further additions of Osbourne and Gordon this squad looked the most solid we have had in such a while.
I feared a relegation battle but know I’m thinking we are a top 10 side.
Not 100% sure that Bonser is worried about selling to the wrong people , or that bothered about the club , more so that he may lose his income from the business it generate’s for him . He’s told potential buyer’s before that he’d sell them the footballing side of the club but wanted to keep all the money spinning commercial asse’ts for himself .
I’m sure anyone getting a sizeable income from the club would claim to be their number one fan … but can’t help feeling he’s given Deano a bit of spending money to… as you say speculate to accumulate.
Don’t want to put a negative spin on a very encouraging start and pleasing signing’s that everyone is excited about but just feel i had to put my view across on your comment’s SidSwifty .
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Don’t get me wrong RedandWhite,I do understand why people don’t like him or trust him.I was just saying that its not enough to put me off going,but what did stop me from going was the standard of football that was being played.It all started with Merson taking over for me,it took me about 3 or 4 years to get really disillusioned,at which point I stopped going apart from one game that my brother bullied me into going to when we were well beaten by Rochdale.This is the only time that I have that I have genuinely reconsidered going back to Bescot since then.
Very similar story to my own SidSwifty and I actually went to the Plymouth game and got the bug again and have already booked tickets for the next home game but my interest has only been generated because the club have shown a little ambition with the backing for Deano and the signing’s that have been allowed.
Just hope it continues and is not just a little smoke screen for Mr Bonser to take the heat off and then continue to use it as a front for business as usual or the interest will disappear as quickly as it’s been aroused
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I’m not defending Bonser, and I don’t want to get into the 20 year old battle of whether or not he should go (BTW I think it probably is time for a new hand at the helm, although I’m very wary of the “anyone’s better than Bonser” argument - see below for why!), but I don’t think your argument of staying away because of “continual asset stripping” really holds water.
To start with, the club didn’t actually own the ground when he bought it (and weren’t in a position to buy it themselves if you believe the official history) so you can’t say he stripped it. OK he’s not made a present of it back to the club as most people want, but then you won’t find many instances of such altruistic behaviour anywhere else in football ether (again, see below for far worse scenarios).
Be that as it may, I’m assuming the main point you’re making is that by turning up your gate money is lining Bonser’s pockets. If you look at the official accounts for 2017 (the last available) you’ll see that total outgoings for rent (including the stadium, training ground, overflow car park, and some machinery or other) is just short of £450K. It’s not broken down into individual items in the accounts but some people like to quote Suffolk Life’s share of that as £400K.
Our gate receipts only accounted for just over £1M last year out of a total income of around £6.5M. Part of the rest came from TV money, cup games (don’t laugh!), and transfer fees but a very large chunk is from the non-footballing income generated from … the Sunday market, big video advertising hoarding thingie, conferencing and events, and (I think - although happy to be corrected) the deal with the Park Inn built on part of the stadium’s land. It’s this stuff that mainly pays the rent (and much of it was put in place specifically to do so - we never had all those revenue streams prior to the rent issue making them necessary). It’s the first £400K of this money that goes to Jeff’s pension, with any excess generated going to the club. Only if there is a shortfall in these streams do the gate receipts get raided.
So if you’ve ever been to a wedding or cabaret in the Stadium or Bonser Suites, bought yourself some cheap meat from the market, or been persuaded to buy whatever is being flashed up on the screen as you drive past the round on the M6, you are (indirectly) contributing to his retirement fund. By not turning up to a home game the only hurt you are doing is to the playing budget. Worse than that, by only going to away games you are piggybacking on those supporters whose Banks’s money is paying for the team that you are watching (and hopefully enjoying it), while at the same time you are likely giving money to one of the even worse chancers in charge at other clubs.
Which brings me on nicely to … careful what you wish for, there are worse people out there than Bonser to be in charge of a club!! You think Bonser’s bad? That article’s from a little while back - to it you can add (amongst others) Becchetti at Orient, Cellino at Leeds, the Oystons at Blackpool, and SISU at Coventry.
All of a sudden Uncle Jeff doesn’t seem quite such the pantomime villain some fans want to portray him as being. Don’t get me wrong, some fresh blood and an owner who doesn’t have short arms and deep pockets would be very welcome - but staying away isn’t going to make that happen (if anything it makes the club an even less attractive concern to a genuine benefactor and just entices in more of the sharks who think they’ll be able to get away with real asset stripping as no one actually cares).
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I wonder sometimes if JB had built a separate conference/ wedding venue and entertainment centre with a huge advertising screen on a scrap of land next to the M6 away from the football club and didn’t charge the club any rent and gave it a couple of million every year to boost the playing side and facilities whether he would be regarded differently?
The net effect is the same isn’t it?
Nicely put together @AndyWTaylor, a lot to think about there.And maybe assett stripping was probably the wrong phrase, but the fact still remains, he still seems to lie to fans to appease them, and is generally very shady when explaining where all the money goes.And there are a lot of fans that think likewise, he has and is still making a lot of money out of the club, and it wouldn’t kill him to put some back.
Excellent article about club owners there, really enjoyed reading it. The rogue owners on that list are not even skimming the surface, either.
In the West Midlands alone it shows the polar opposites of how these foreign takeovers can go. Villa (Randy Lerner, Tony Xia), West Brom (Yunyi Guokai Sports Development Limited) & Birmingham (Trillion Trophy Asia, Carsen Yeung) all badly suffering under owners that don’t understand the business they have bought into, while the Dingles (Fosun) look a force to be reckoned with implementing a solid plan with George Mendes.
In recent times I have become more frustrated with Bonser, generally for his business plan of doing the bare minimum to protect the status quo and not engaging with fans at all about, well, anything! However, he has been better (in the end) this year, but I think he had little choice. For once fan power was starting to show. Who knows what the future holds but I am more positive than I have been for sometime.
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Would be great if he’d built that (and here’s the important part) with his own money.
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Hope you do end the exile! The football, albeit very early days, is really exciting. At times a little too open with our fragile defence but I can’t complain with the attacking threat of this side. Personally, a 4-4-2 formation with a strong midfield, pacey wide men and good forwards is the stuff of dreams.
Dean Keates deserves as much support as possible and I hope you and others do end your exile, if only for him and the players who are giving absolutely everything for the club and their manager.
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