BBC Radio Leeds Fans 'Forum' 7th Feb 6-7pm

probably scored a hat trick at the weekend. Wouldn't trust Sparks to do due diligence on a ham salad sandwich

 

It just wasn’t good enough, especially his answer on season ticket shortfall which must be a big worry. There’s just nothing to get excited about, it’s 2011 with Jacko all over again.

 

I think the forum was very useful because it has confirmed several things very clearly

- Sparks thinks he’s doing a good job and hasn’t been a failure
- Sparks thinks last season’s failed promotion campaign was a success
- Sparks thinks winning the FL trophy (whatever it is called now) would constitute a good season
- Rupp has little interest in buying back VP
- The club are considering whether to enter another 25 year lease (the intimation was we will probably……..“VP means a lot to a lot of fans”, Bradford as a City is struggling” etc or words to those effect)
- Rupp is not actively looking to sell the club
- we now have clarity in the clubs vision - “SUSTAINABILITY”. Nothing more. Rupp just happy to exist.

 

I really would prefer Rupp to just go and not put himself through the stress of finding one.

 

Thanks Dennis.

12% has been a pretty decent return then, although I appreciate we had no other options.

I guess my thinking is that the value of the ground is basically the future value of the income that season ticket holders will provide. Without the supporter base then the pension fund has nothing. Although the supporters are a third party, and it is the club's decision as to the terms it agrees, as stakeholders we should be looking to influence this. I wouldn't trust Ryan Sparks to make a sound business decision that commits the club to another 25 years of expenditure.

 

So his brief was to run the club sustainable from a position of financial peril he has overseen a 45% growth in the business which would have been regarded as a major triumph in any other business with a top three budget last year and a top seven every other year. And a first play of position in 8 years last year. At least in the owners eyes he must be doing a good job

 

Spot on. To me reading between the lines Rupp is open to it but in no rush and probably wanting an offer he cant refuse, until that time were stuck with this sustainability and weak leadership model.

 

Who would?

 

When Maxwell took money from the Mirror pension fund to shure up some of his dodgy dealings, I thought after that pension funds were ring fenced and with regards the funding that law, any new funding had to be as good as the present funding or better, sorry I asked ?.

 

And he's back in the room.....

 

Luckily we don't have many fans like you that don't see the reality of the situation. Looking to the past gets you no where. We are 18 th in league 2 , playing shite and you laud the club. Numpty.

 

Predictable wasn’t it?

 

I love the tweet from a city fan on the 2024-25 season tickets campaign - Let's keep the club in the football league and not go bust.

 

Park, we had a top three budget and didn’t go up.

We now have a top seven budget and are what, 18th? We aren’t going up.

He makes the appointments. Repeatedly he’s made bad calls.

ST turnover will be hugely down in two months and when he can’t even say he’s a financial success for us, that’ll be him gone.

 

Unfortunately many fans will disagree, surely you cant be happy with the present situation, or as other posters might comment "glad we still have a club to support", we may be self sustainable but were going backwards mate, from a very good League One club just missing out in a play off final when they took over to 18th in league two, you cant be happy with that can you ?.

 

Sorry Park but it isn't a 45% growth in the business. That to me, as a football club, would be us making it to mid-table L1 from L2.

They've increased commercial income, which is to be commended. However, I've no idea how much profit that has actually made and whether it has filtered though into a 45% increase in the funds available for the football side of the business. If it hasn't, and I think we know the answer to that, then for me that isn't growth as a football business.

I can see the value from an FFP perspective of growing the commercial side, but that needs to translate into the football side. We are not seeing that, in fact we have probably seen the money squandered.

 

Sparks absolutely contradicted himself tonight. He came out with his pathetic claim that what he meant be not accepting mediocrity was not accepting the brief Rupp gave him to just keep the club afloat and in the football league, because that seemed mediocre to him. But then he says the vision of this football club is absolutely clear, it's to be sustainable and to remain in business. Isn't that almost identical to what he claims Rupp first asked him to do and therefore, the very essence of mediocre, which he apparently doesn't accept?

 

Again, an obvious challenge left unsaid.

Raynor was an empty chair tonight