A New Era Begins..

The last few days have seen quite dramatic changes at the head of BRFC and it seems to me that we have a new era under way with a complete change of Ownership / philosophy .

I dont kow the indivduals involved but in Wael we had an owner who was something of a football purist - a fan first and foremost brought up on supporting a successful Chelsea side . He loved and still loves to be photographed with huge names from the game and enjoys being on the terrace more than the Boardroom.

He was perhaps guilty of having an idealised view of how things should be at this level and wanted a club that extolled the virtues of the beautiful game with younger skilled players . He imagined a working scenario based upon his own business experience

Wael seems to have been brought up to operate in the higher echelons of business more used to strategy rather than the operational more transactional shop floor and anyone who interacted with the ownership prior to Wael will acknowledge that the Board ran the club very much hands on .

Employees had very little financial authority and were constantly on the phone to Board members seeking agreement to this or that. Indeed one Director stated that he spent more hours dealing with Rovers during a working day than his own company .

Wael changed this from day1 and tried to make all aspects of the club more “ professional” . He brought in employees to deal with operational matters but simply could not make it work for all kinds of reasons. Managers came and went but footballing wise Rovers were stagnating and he was personally heavily bankrolling debts with no sign of how it would change.

He decided to do something about it..

The club will always be hugely indebted to Wael for getting them through a difficult period and keeping us afloat. He released the financial shackles that the old rag bad Rovers operated under where every piece of finance needed personal guarantees . His investment and the involvement of the family banking contacts moved BRFC up the corporate ladder even though the actual footballing side did not reflect that change .

Everything permeated from that .

In came the new owner - Hussain AlSaeed- and the style seemed to be like chalk and cheese compared to Wael..

There are few photographs in the press and you kind of get the impression that the new owner is a self made man - a trader if you like - who is used to working in a more hands on environment

This is not a vanity project and whilst he perhaps enjoys football , you get the impression that he would not have taken Rovers on if he could not make it work for him financially.

When taking on any business that is leaking money then you cut all spending until you get a handle on where the money is going and get spending under control. That happened when the owners came in and there will always be crossed words between old and new because of a complete culture change .Family or trusted employees are appointed in all key positions and that stops all leaks .

In Matt Taylor they appointed a manager who reflected their own style in that he is not flashy , works hard , seems intelligent and just wants to do a good job. The old traps of feeding ego at the expense of your employer are a thing of the past .

Some people are great at playing the media but the owners seem to have given up trying to please people who are always looking for negativity and decided to weather short term storms in the belief that a successful side will answer all critics .

Indeed my son was leaving the ground with a couple of mates after a recent game and the owner called across as he made his way to his car . He asked them about the their thoughts on the game and chatted really amicably . They stood in the car park for about 10 minutes and described him as a really nice guy.

Running a football club is not like anything else and the Owners will never have been involved in any business where so many people are emotionally involved wit every decision that you make .

In any business the people who succeed are usually the ones who not only try something but the ones who learn from their mistakes as they go along . Sometimes those mistakes can be expensive .

As Rover go into a new era , we don’t know how wealthy the correct owners are and indeed it’s none of our business really . All we as fans can do is hope that they have the wherewithal and vision to see that Bristol Rovers Football Club have more potential than ever say Brentford or Bournemouth had and take us forward to a new exciting future .

Is that where are headed? As fans all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and wait and see!

All opinions are my own- who else would want them ?

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