The frightening increase in losses in lower league football continues

Late on, after a few pints and the same negronis on a holiday balcony have given pause for reflection on this fundamental topic.

We are known for our fantastic support...killie Scots, swedish lads and a German in one night knew of how well we turn out. Gave me pause for this late post.

At its heart Gibb had done his bit. Rhodes jnr was a daddy's boy of zero substance. Noble in heart but utterly lacking elsewhere. Put off investors until he could get a lawn character to tow the line

Gibb had the means and pounced due to the above. Dont care for him at all but far more befitting when two middle aged supposed rich boys argue over who's train toys they own.

We have frankly had long enough under Gibbs yoke. His pension when the deal ends has coined it.

Now is the time to say sh£t or get off the pot.

Why?

We seen Wycombe and Lincoln to Swansea etc get meaningful investment. Tinpot frankly compared to us (when lookingat multiple factors; arroagnce none intended and my opener included)....apart from....the yoke of the pension fund...we won't get that.

Fans in our numerous voice need to get gibb to realise...either own it of feck off. Hes now in parasite territory.

18k of us protesting, agitation and embarrassing his pension fund greed. A few hundred every weekend protesting at flamingo land? Easily done

We dont need a new build on utterly the wrong end of bradford with the egg chasers...we have our soul and the lives of 56 off manningham lane.

But if we want progressive bantamism we wont get that into anything beyond league 1 without forcing gibbs hand on the stadium front.


We as a big, European renowned fan base need to collect and agitate change. End of.

 

I agree with a lot that you say here. Gordon Gibb and family have done extremely well from owning the ground.

However, if someone wants to 'invest' in the club, then the amount of money required to sustain us above L1 will dwarf expenditure on purchasing the ground. Yes, our resurgence and potential saleability has strengthened Gordon Gibb's hand - but realistically a one-off payment in the £12m region (for arguments sake valuation wise) would do it. The need for expenditure on stadium repairs does add to this, but that won't be unique to us.

If anything, I would argue that the need to meet SR's valuation and purchase the stadium puts off any chancers (another Edin Rahic for example) that can't raise in the region of £20m.

In terms of protesting, I get what you say, but I don't think it's a good look for a bunch of grumpy football fans to be intimidating families on a day out.

 

Not this again…..how do we force Gibbs hand without making him believe we would hand him back a worthless piece of land without a football club playing there?

 

Colin or Nigel take some beating !

 

Unless Gordon Gibbs fancies taking over, he said he was not ruling out taking on a football club in the future, I agree like it or not Ryan has the club talking to our landlord which is not a bad start after the Rhodes situation.
I suggest demonstrating outside Flamingo Land is the last thing fans do, we see the antics of some of our so-called fans at away games imagine a couple of dozen of them protesting outside as families are trying to get in, that could be the end of any bond we have built up with Gordon Gibb, like it of not he holds all the Aces at the moment in time, do we really want to cause any bad feeling when our club looks to be on the up.

 

Doesnt Orients ground have a huge rental income stream with a block of flats on each corner of the ground?

 

If it’s worth £20m why isn’t he banging on Rupps door with a £12m cheque . Hes talking bollicks as usual !

 

What a bad situation for the club - one of the most worthless pieces of land in Bradford for Gibbs, yet he has us over a barrel for rent with a fabulous return as long as we play football there. Whoever set up the terms wants shooting without any clauses inserted that includes a buy back, (figure?), etc which has Gibbs holding every single card as we simply have no other alternative or hope of bluffing him.

 

You could argue a case for potential, but nobody paying £20m for a club logo and 15k season ticket holders.

 

I don't think we had much of a hand to play at the bargaining table at the time to be honest.
The club was in dire straits and it was a case of beggars can't be choosers.

 

They lease the stadium from Waltham Forest council

 

We lost nearly £3million for the promotion season last year.

How long realistically could Rupp sustain those losses for?

 

Latest accounts...

https://www.bradfordcityafc.com/news/2026/march/31/bradford-city-afc-financial-report--2025/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ4kjNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBrNWRaa0ZzT3RLMXFEUWs0c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHp0aT1Ww0QSVWZArOowntE7E-IgrulZprg_f-VSQX1p8Z7LsFzps2KAzzd-o_aem_8xW_9yR58GvXqM4yeRRyEQ

 

Loss of £3m, wonder what the impact would have been if it had not been for a certain deflection