Ryan Sparks

Absolutely gutted to read there is no takeover.

What a thoroughly depressing read that was.

Rupp staying until we get into the Championship under his leadership.... My word, this could be a long wait.

 

Agreed but as I've said before on here, my view was 5 years to get over the Rahic carnage and I stand by that. That bad, bad guy left on 18th November, 2018 from my recollection of his last day at the ground. That is almost 2 years and 3 months, almost half my projected time scale.
Even the most optimistic of us probably think promotion is out the window this season but if it was achieved in May 2022, that would be 3 1/2 years then to get us up to say a play off position in L1 where we finished the first Rahic season, my forecast will not be far out.
So jerking off, defo not, optimistic?, yes.

 

Ah yes. Our summer recruitment was instrumental in our revival.....

 

I can't tell if you're being serious or on a @Fordy117 wind up.

We've just had one of the best transfer windows (on paper) we can remember, we're in great form, we've spent money on transfers and things are looking up. What exactly are you wanting a new owner to do differently at the moment?

 

That would be progress. But even if it happens, it would be 10 years under Rupp to get us back to exactly where we were when he bought the club.

The last few weeks have been very positive, but its going to take much, much more before we can start with the backslapping.

 

Watt Sutton Hosannah all good signings it was the manager and his unwillingness to spend in other areas

 

Watt Sutton Hosannah all good signings it was the manager and his unwillingness to spend in other areas

 

Plan for the future.

If Rupp cut his losses and we had a takeover with committed individuals, they wouldn't be aiming for Championship football and a sale. We wouldn't be talking about recouping losses. We wouldn't be taking about recouping investments. We wouldn't be talking about undoing damage. We wouldn't be talking about the minimum amount of progress to meet an end.

We would be talking an open ended future. Ambition. Plans.

Is Rupp doing the worst possible job right now? No, he's not. Is it sometimes better the devil you know? Sure, why not.

But we are fans, and our dreams and aspirations shouldn't hinge on a guy who more than likely regrets ever getting involved.

If you're prepared to swallow that gruel, good for you - but the sooner Rupp is out the better.

 

That sounds good Jon the trouble is how many owners have we had in the past with those sort of plans. The reality is with new owners the Status Quo will probably prevail.

 

Totally disagree. I think Stefan is warming to us. Look how much money he has put into the club this January. Could you imagine Rhodes or Lawn doing that? Even though we had to put up with Edin for a couple of years we have ended up with an owner with the finances to help us into the Championship.

 

Rupp gets my support until someone comes in with an offer from a credible source. Then, for me, Rupp needs to accept, whatever it is (within reason, I guess), and cut his losses.

If there are no offers, no interest anywhere, fair enough.

But what a depressing situation to be in. I am not interested in Bradford City in terms of Rupp's investment, nor will I ever be. If that's where we are, that's where we are; but it's not a good thing, it's a very negative thing, and a result of his extremely poor ownership.

Now if Rupp came out and changed the conversation, well then, let's hear it. What's the aim, how are we getting there, I'm interested, I want to know, forward march, etc.

"The plan is the Premier League, give me 15 years, I want to be established in the Championship in 5. We're going to make money by investing in young players, we're going to be bullish in the transfer market - we're going to buy players that other clubs want to keep because that's the market, and we're going to use it to our advantage."

All right, Stefan, let's do it.

But please, none of this "I hope we get into League One within the 5 year time frame given by our Associate Director (apologies if that's wrong), maybe we can get into the Championship and Stefan can sell us for a buck", you know what, shove off with that.

 

How much money?

 

I’m no Rupp apologist by any stretch, but his naivety has probably cost him millions. He backed the wrong horse with Rahic and who could blame him for being cautious with his money after that. He’s still investing now and has backed Sparks and the club again.

No one is going to come in until there’s evidence the ship has been steadied and the course has been turned fully towards calmer waters. What’s done is done, Sparks and his team are working as one so let’s see how we get on over the next 6 - 12 months.

 

I'm very interested to see what we do over the next 6-12 months, I'm impressed with the way we've turned it round, I think Sparks has been smart in appointing Turnbull and I think he should be giving Trueman and Sellars the job full time to avoid situations like THIS, where we look like we're just flying by the seat of our pants until something happens, but it is what it is.

I think as a fanbase and as a club we need to be looking for a new buyer, I don't see any reason why the club shouldn't be publicly up for sale, we need owners that are thinking in decades not seasons, who are thinking of ambitions and not restorations (of either league position OR investments), if Rupp's heart really is in this club and he really is going to be here for 20 years, let's talk about it, let's discuss plans to move this club forward. No, it's not pointless to do that.

After all, you can't tell me that the initiatives Sparks has put in place haven't been discussed on this board at length. It's like he's followed the blue print fans have been demanding, and fair play to him for doing it. Now let's go further, and discuss how we're getting to the top.

 

The money spent this January was also available to Stuart in the summer if he had chosen to spend it. Yes it's great we appear to have recruited well during January but let's not kid ourselves that there has been some massive investment that has come out of nowhere - the money was always there.

 

Why?

 

There’s no guarantee any buyer would stick around for 20 years. Anyone looking to buy, will spin the sales pitch based on restoring our position before pushing on. Unless a rich Arab or Russian comes in, the best we can hope for in my opinion is the championship, something achievable under Rupp with the right team in place.

 

Only need to wait until Wednesday !

 

Realistically, as long as we don't lose 9 nil at Exeter they should be in charge for the next match so only 1 game to go really!