I’ve supported since 1976.
I ain’t going back.
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Heard so many fans say that today in different areas of the ground
Today was shocking , the atmosphere , the attendance , the first half especially we were just like… well ■■■■
it’s becoming a sad thing to witness , the clubs dying a slow and painful death , at least the second half we had spells where we looked like we’d played together before … a little
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Very much enjoyed the film this afternoon that I saw this afternoon instead of giving Bonser a couple of quid more for the beers in northern Cyprus. I’d compare Bonser to a massive tumour, some chance of a survival if you cut the ■■■■■■ out, none if you don’t. Recuperation will be tough but it’s not our club till the "robber baron"■■■■■ off
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Has anyone stopped to think that what he is doing is in fact deliberate and is his exit strategy
The lease is ring fenced, we have a guaranteed 95 years left with further 25 year option
And as long as we can meet the rental cost set we can never be evicted
Now I firmly believe he can never sell in his lifetime, down to the way he got hold of the club in first place, and the underhanded dealings in relation to how he came to get his hands on the freehold at a later date
Far to many skeletons will apear, and he won’t let that happen
Howether let’s say we fall through the leagues and as is already happening gates fall to such an extent, that the income generated is less than rent payment
He is in all honestly not going to put in out of his own pocket is he, with no realistic chance of getting it back
And down to the fact he owns the lot, lock stock and barrel this only leaves one option
When rent can not be furnished he has the perfect opportunity to evict us as tenant,s. And if this ever was the case paves the way for him to sell the lot
For redevelopment
Would get a far greater amount for seventeen acres of prime building land than he would ever get for a football club
This in turn would ensure the truths where never to come out, and he would generate one final massive pay day, And have the last laugh on fans just as I said he always would,
And another chapter in our history could be burried never to see the light of day just like fellows park was
Only my oppinion, but like I say this may infact be his chosen exit strategy
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There has to be change NOW bonser. We have reached the point of no return !!! 
So what in your opinion should we do? keep going and funding the rent or let us fall into the lower leagues and into the scenario you have just described? in either case we are losers and can not win?
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I honestly don’t have the answer mate, only wished I did,
But don’t underestimate him, I think he knows himself his time is up, but the very plan he so carefully executed to perfection, is also. The very reason he can’t sell in his lifetime, Well not to any football interested party anyway
And the only way he can leave is to run it into ground, till such a time,he can pull the rug from under the football side of thing,s. Which would be the perfect excuse to sell the lot for non football purposes, safe in the knowledge the past can’t come back to haunt him
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We have some clever fans on this site, i think it is about time they come to the forefront and start thinking about how we bring bonzo to account,(if he has allegedly done something wrong) he may think he has it all sown up, but someone somewhere just might find a loose end? don’t we have any legal geeks on here? i was on a flight last week and someone was taken ill, and low and behold there were 3 doctors on board, what are the chances of that? so come on guys get your heads together.
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But if he seriously wanted to knock down the Banks’s and build on it, then he could sell the club, give it away or simply evict the club, could he not?
He also clearly makes money on events and transfers, so I don’t think he is a hurry to get rid of the club yet. All very lucrative.
No mate he can’t, as long as the football side can generate the cash to furnish the rental cost , then he can never evict them
This is how the lease is ring fenced
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I think it’s too simplistic to attach the football entity (as in what we relate to on a fans emotional basis) to his financial arrangements - in my opinion he doesn’t think that way.
Primarily the finances are clearly very well established (and have been for the last 20 years) like a well oiled machine - he doesn’t need to (never mind want too) do anything to change the situation so he can sit there as long as he chooses just as long as the club exists… in any shape or form.
All the talk of pension regulation and HMRC etc etc is (in my opinion) nothing more than speculation - he ain’t going anywhere on the basis of footballing failure or success (the latter being highly unlikely of course!)
I’ve said before, the only thing to shift him is public pressure generating embarrassment over the shady dealings and shifty methods of the purchase of and the running of the club… this will take a determined and well organised campaign so the sooner the protests gather momentum the better…
I’m sure this post will get opposing views but I genuinely don’t think he’s bothered about the previously petty arguments from fans. We need facts and actions to get change and plenty of them and for siginificant period.
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Dh if he sold the club then presumably the owner could move it or is this covered by the lease too
Coop63 totally agree
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No mate he could sell freehold or club if he chose eithier as a joint sale or individual entities, but he won’t as proven by genuine bids being turned down in the past
The only legal clause in relation to lease is the one that as long as they can meet rental agreement they can never be forced to leave. So if someone brought club only they technically could relocate it
What do you mean we have 90+ years left with a 25 year option?
It states in the accounts that there is an exit clause from the lease in around 10 years
I think keates has to take some responsibility for the mess we are in
Signing players who are simply not good enough. Dunn. Wilson. Ismail.
The number of backroom staff he has recruited when what he actually needed was an experienced no 2. A seen it done it out of work manager who has done it in league football. He could have got rid of all that deadwood and recruited said person and still had money in the bank.
The youth set up / academy isnt working. Not a single player from it starting today. So scrap it. Invest the funds in some decent players.
Im not defending bonser but Martin and jarvis would not have come cheaply. He has been backed to some extent
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Keatea is not using the budget effectively
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That clause is immaterial as in the fact that as he owns both club and freehold, he’s hardly going to locate football side any where else is he
The original lease ( and if Saigon saddler sees this post will be able to confirm). As told to us by himself when we sat down with him, Had 95 years left to run with an option for a further 25 years , But could be revoked should such a time come that the football side of buisness could not meet it,s rental comitment
The issue now, for me, is that the decline has gone on for too many years. It’s like a deep set rot that’s difficult, even impossible, to just cut out and make everything ok. The ownership could change overnight but the fact remains that in the last decade a culmination of factors like price, blatant lack of ambition, a terrible ageing stadium etc has resulted in us missing out on attracting new young fans and has also lost us so many older fans to apathy. Do I believe the attendance would greatly increase if Bonser sold up tomorrow? Sadly, no. Too many olduns have gotten out of the habit. Younger fans have paid less to go to higher up rivals and gotten the bug there, just like we did at Walsall. And I don’t blame them really.
The decade between 1998 and 2008 and all that happened should have been the springboard for the club to push on, but as always, the reins were pulled back and we were conditioned to being a bog standard lower-mid table League One side, evidenced in no greater way than with the Fox/Dann debacle. If you listen carefully, I believe we’re now being conditioned into being a bog standard League Two side or worse.
League position does not matter to this club, neither does the match day experience of fans - if it did matter to them, we wouldn’t ever be talking about wading through ■■■■ in the toilets - it would just be taken care of as a basic, fundamental given that any paying ‘customer’ could expect. Paying the rent matters. The rent can be paid by the events entity, leaving the football as a sideline. The Venue Birmingham would suffer in no way by us being a Conference side. Sporting dinners with Dean Saunders, boxing and gigs by local comedians could go ahead as planned.
As the Gamble letter proves, the club are either in denial about the decline of the footballing side, too blinkered to see it, or far worse (and what I strongly suspect) - wilfully ignorant.
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