Reduce the budget every year
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The Bonser of 1998 maybe wouldnāt have tolerated it. The Bonser of 2019 probably knew that his low risk/low return method of running the club- to preserve his own low risk / high return asset - had run out of road.
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Donāt forget increasing the rent each year too Bags. I also assume we are all talking about the same JB? Only because it confuses me as to whether he was the one and only saviour and that he would have spent hard earned cash making the needed changes or a blood sucking leech who was only interested in reaching a certain age whereby he could cash in and have a nicely feathered, comfortable nest to live in or off?
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Canāt believe thereās still some people pining for that cretin to be back in the fold. Honestly unbelievable.
If you compare the match day experience, infrastructure and pretty much everything around the Club from when he finally departed in the Summer of 2019 to now, we are in such a better position.
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He had long since lost interest and along with Whalley has complete contempt for the fans. We would have gates of about 2,500 by now if not worse
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Early bonsor would never have stood for js in league 2. He had ambition drive and passion for a while and for a few years looked a good chairmen
Then something changed and he became the villian we know todayā¦
Still the bonsor story isnāt finished ā¦ maybe there is a redemption ark yet
Yeah nothing says ambition like giving Graydon the lowest budget in League One. Always said it. Success in spite of him, not because of.
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It is true that when we got relegated from the Championship and from League 1 he relaxed the purse strings but the amount of money you had to spend then compared to now is worlds aparr. Doubt very much he would have been giving the likes of Wrexham Stockport and Mansfield a run for their money budget wise.
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You sure about that? If not exactly running the show he was very much a part of it. A consortium led by Maurice Miller bought the club off Ramsden (or his creditors) in March 1988. JB was appointed a director of this consortium and had shares as a ānominee shareholderā (which is why he couldnāt help receivers when they asked the directors to provide a statement of affairs back in 1991 after Denglen Ltd (the consortium) collapsed.
Two entities were newly-incorporated at Companies House just before the March takeover. Their names? Denglen Ltd and Davenmanor Ltd. Press at the time indicate that their āspecific aim would be to take over then run WFCā. This is corroborated in the official history on the club site, which also has Uncle Jeff ādiscussing the plan [for JB to get involved] with his business associatesā.
So I beg to differ; JB was fully involved. Except for the all-important emergency general meeting where the move was approved by shareholders, when he sent his apologies. In it up to his elbows, if not quite his neck, at the time.
The land registry tells us that JB, via the JW Bonser Ltd pension fund, paid Ā£200,000 for the land. This is on top of the Ā£299,999 receivers for Denglen achieved for the stadium and two derelict houses, and the Ā£1 paid for his shares in the club.
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And how much did he sell those shares to Pomlett for? Another big wedge Iād presume. 
Iām not sure why/how Whalley is still about he should be treated with the contempt he deserves from everyone at the club
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how much did Bonser make
- total Ā£ rent received over 22 years
- total Ā£ for shares sold to Pomlett
- total Ā£ for sale of freehold Ā£6.5m
did he take a salary?
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I seem to remember him quite publicly stating that he didnāt take a salary.
An attempt to make himself look benevolent whilst ignoring the fact he was having rent paid into his pension fund and money paid back through loans.
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Even on the generous side, is taking over twenty million pounds out of a small town football club remotely ethical? Even if you claim to have saved it from oblivion, at what point should you say āenoughā? At what point has the club paid you back for your timely intervention that nobody else could do? At what point is the debt paid?
I donāt for one moment believe Jeffās story, and Iām bloody glad heās milked his last payday out of us.
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And as Bonserās involvement in the rent became more widely known throughout the fanbase there several disingenuous attempts by the club to try and make out it was nothing to do with him.
Like when they claimed the rent wasnāt going to Jeff, it was Suffolk Life who were the landlords. Ignoring the fact that Suffolk Life were doing so on behalf of a pension fund that Jeff directly benefitted from.
Then they claimed that the pension fund was a company pension fund for employees of WFC. Ignoring the fact the only employees in it were Jeff, his brother and their spouses.
Technically true but leaving out pertinent facts which revealed the true nature of the arrangement.
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I accept fully he was involved but I donāt think he was the prime mover in the switch to Bescot It was very murky at the time but I think that was decided largely by others and in any event due to the state of the club there was little alternative in my view. The rest of the story is pretty clear and I agree with your synopsis.
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why do you say that @WalsallOne? If Fellows Park had to be sold (and theres surely some debate there as Luton are playing at Kenilworth road in the Premier league 30 odd years later) then all of the following are better options then paying to build a ground on rented land.
E.g.
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Buy the land first and then save costs on building the ground. e.g just build 2 or 3 sides until money to finish the ground becomes available.
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Play at another ground until building a ground on our own land becomes viable
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Find a cheaper bit of land
I just find it breathtaking that we paid to build to ground on land that wasnt ours. Obviously Jef Bonser ultimately benefitted from this, but those who made the decisions (and as you say it is a bit murky who made these decisions) are equally culpable in my eyes.
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The club was virtually bankrupt. It had no money to do anything. The only way they saw of getting money was to sell the land enabling the building of a new stadium. Why they chose land owned by Severn Trent at Bescot I donāt know. Most of us were just grateful to have a team to support.
The first few years at Bescot were difficult but gradually things improved and as someone said above we had some of our best years ever around the turn of the century .JB at that stage was ambitious and that showed .After that period I think he gradually lost that ambition and the Club drifted downwards . New thinking was needed but JB and RW stood by their old model .
Anyway enough of that. The changes over the past 2 years have been excellent culminating in the opening of the Locker. I think we can look forward with renewed confidence.
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I agree we need to look to the future now.
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A ground that was identical to Scunthorpes, yet we mysteriously paid far more for, and the building company owner ended up on our board. 
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