Stefan Rupp - An Open Letter

Dave it’s match day tomorrow we need to Keep the Faith marching on together oops sorry
If thinks don’t work out
I’ll send an S.O.S to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle yeah….

 

I do not believe he flew to Germany either. In this day and age video conferencing and meetings can be held on Zoom. It is easy enough and not expensive. Quite normal business practise these days. I have used Zoom myself. Saves travel costs and time and is far more convenient. I would have thought any meetings with Rupp would all be done this way. I cannot attend tomorrow because of mobility issues but wish you every success. Keep up the good work. I am a member of the Indy group and will continue to support it .

 

I mean, I'm not saying that the post is absolute nonsense but I'm thinking, if they really were struggling, maybe the 90 minutes they wasted watching the absolute shite could have been used for discussions of how to improve the club.

 

Sounds like you've just analysed your own club and attempted to shift the conclusions onto ours.

 

They discussed the budget on the Friday with GA....now apparently everything has changed cos Ryan flew out.....ffs give me strength....can't make it up....

 

Would people be happy if our owner followed Wrexham's lead and lent the club money and charged interest at base rate plus 3%? They owe their owners about £9m currently and it costs them £8k a week interest.

 

Is the playing budget actually a problem? Based on the size of the squad and having a few players who I assume are on a decent salary, I always think the budget is competitive. The bigger issue is that we’ve spent it dreadfully and with no overarching/long term plan.

For me I would prioritize the pitch, investing in a better back room staff for GA (eg sports science, extra coaches, etc) and a more experienced back office function with real football experience.

Lots of nice sounding words from Rupp but it’s all meaningless without action.

 

Do we know what the playing budget was/is? Wrexham last year spent about £6m

 

We just spaff money on shite. Regardless of the budget we are just clueless with RS in charge of the money.

 

Here's the link to Simon Parker's latest piece.....

Bantams owner Stefan Rupp talking is a step forward for fans | Bradford Telegraph and Argus (thetelegraphandargus.co.uk)

Maybe it needed the season to suddenly fall off a cliff or the criticism to grow in volume and anger.

Maybe it needed talk of a protest before tomorrow’s game from fed-up fans.

It seems it certainly needed Ryan Sparks to hop on a plane to pin the man down in his own backyard.

But 24 hours on from those summit talks in Germany, we have an open letter from Stefan Rupp.

City’s owner has finally broken his self-imposed silence and issued a “mea culpa” to supporters.

Some were quick to point out that Rupp had issued a similar “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again” statement in the wake of the Edin Rahic trainwreck.

But this time is different, there are actual targets mentioned rather than just vague platitudes and promises.

Supporters have a checklist to see if Rupp’s big words translate into actions: the pledge to communicate a lot more, an increased budget, the strengthening of the football department, the desire of buying back Valley Parade.

It has made the chairman accountable – and that surely indicates progress from where we were standing this time yesterday.

Rupp has a long way to go to restore any faith in his leadership. A glance at the corresponding league tables from season one to now confirm how far the club have fallen in that time.

But there is substance to suggest that Rupp will take a more active interest. He has no choice.

If he ultimately wants to get out and sell, the product must be worth buying and currently that is way, way short of the sort of price he would be after.

Rupp finally saw that for himself when he took in the Mansfield mauling – his first visit to Valley Parade since pre-season.

The sullen face hidden beneath a red motor-racing cap could not have been further removed from the smiles and hugs for Sparks after the Carlisle play-off first leg last May.

But it still needed Sparks to demand yesterday’s meeting in Munich to hammer every point across and leave Rupp in absolutely no doubt how much has to improve.

Sparks has copped the criticism for both of them in the owner’s continued absence.

As the abuse rained down on the chief executive at Harrogate, he must have wondered if it was all worth the hassle.

In Sparks’ shoes, would you put up with the constant slagging while the man at the top sits miles away oblivious to it all?

Maybe the conversation in Germany went along the lines of “you ship up or I’ll ship out”.

Whatever, it seems to have brought Rupp to his senses.

Of course, fanciful talk will always be cheap. “Fine words butter no parsnips” as someone put so succinctly on X. It’s actions that we need to see – and now we wait for City’s owner to deliver.

Nobody is talking about a Rupp resurrection just yet, but his Easter message represents the very start.

There remains an awfully long way to go.


Wow, just wow!!!!....think he's seriously in love with Ryan....this is all because Ryan got on the plane......nowt to do with the fans then Simon.....waste of space, go back to Pompey....

 

Ryan Sparkes,

You should be relieved of all duties and place Ex CEO of BCAFC on your CV and collect your P45. You have only not been relieved of your duties because it would mean Mr Rupp has left 2 men incompetent to run his investment in his absence leaving a double yolker on his head.

From the letter there has been no mention of what model Mr Rupp intends to take. Are we just going to spunk money like we did when Rahic was playing real life championship manager and have done ever since so we have a “full squad”?

We have “scouted” and acquired absolute dead beats under his reign.

1. Theo Robinson (headless chicken)
2. Tyler smith (can only play against kids)
3. Ash Tayler (awareness and turning circle of the Dali)
4. Matty Derbyshire (MH best mate) signed from Indian League
5. Luke Hendrie (living off his dad’s name)
6. Clarke Odour (brought on and dropped by Kenya for been weak)
7. Clayton Donaldson (because he’s a local lad)
8. Richie Smallwood aka the Pointer (living off his championship name so has nothing to prove)
9. Kai Brunker
10. Oscar Threlkeld
11. Jake Reeves (went on to do alright after departing despite his “turmoil” here)
12. Lee Angol
13. Jackson Longridge
    
14. Kurtis Guthrie

I could field a full squad. Mow many millions has that waste on OUR money under your current “sustainability”model but not one of them was/is MEDIOCRE!

All I want is players that turn up at VP like every week is a cup final, failing that take a leaf out of Brad Halliday’s book and not Smallcocks.

I want my club back.

See you all later today!

 

Whilst most may appreciate that our owner has finally spoken up, and addressed the issues, from on-field performances, budget, ownership of the stadium, the ultimate turning point will be what action is taken from this

The understandable outrage from the statement isn't so much as to what was said, but the timing of it. It shouldn't of taken half a decade of League Two football to realise serious change is needed. It shouldn't have taken endless manager sackings, a relegation, years of fan unrest and wastefulness in the transfer market to realise we are an absolute basket case.

Ive gotten a bit tired of dwindling on the past, theres not much you can do to change what has already happened years ago. What can be done is lessons being learnt an action being taken. I don't think for a moment that Rupp is a terrible owner, I just believe hes very naive and lacks ambition, which is baffling considering hes a wealthy businessman.

He's realised the error of his ways. His immediate action should be to move Sparks away from the CEO role. I dont really care if it means pushing him onto the marketing side, its the one thing hes good at, but he cannot make any further football related decisions at this club

Bring a DoF in. A football man, not an accountant or a PR manager. Let him run the club in Rupp's stead. Get rid of Gent. Find a manager who plays attacking football and find a Head of Recruitment better suited to the task than Gent. And most importantly, make sure they are on the same page.

The irony in all of this is, Rupp does actually provide us a decent budget each season, but his inability to create a proper structure in the management of this club has allowed his investment to be pissed away time an time again, an its for that reason, the majority of blame lies upon his shoulders an it is now his responsibility to fix it, through whatever means neccessary

 

Can’t see a fans forum anytime soon.
With passions running high it would likely develop into a slanging match.

Personally would trust WOAP to have a no holds barred live interview with Rupp.

Clearly define expectations.
What are we being asked to buy into?
What is the plan?

Walk the walk Mr Rupp

Personally I don’t trust Sparkes to move the club forwards based on the last 3 years. That’s not personal, just based in the clubs regression over. 3 year cycle.

BUT I also don’t know how hamstrung he has been by Rupp. It takes backbone/arrogance take your pick, to put up with the grief raining down on him.

Without clarity we don’t know the true situation that he’s been working under.

The bottom line is not renewing is something I’ve never considered.

I believe?

Well right now I need something to believe in.

Action is required.

Walk the walk Mr Rupp.

 

If he actually got a dof in they would yell him how much Sparks has pissed up on bog standard shite ...........if hes gave us a top 5 budget then ypu should be pushing for at least a play off place ....... the reason we will fail is due to Gent and co and Sparks for allowing this to happen

They really do think we are simple the Wright signing in January another signing to get us on board ut failed ........... this letter to some how get us on board it will fail ........we have fallen for this shit for years now and sadly for Rupp and co thousands of us have woken up

 

Verpiss dich Herr Rupp und nehmen Sie Jungenfehler mit.

Nearly translates.....

 

Well, I guess we've got partly what we have been asking for, dialogue from Herr Rupp.

It's strange how it has taken an under pressure Sparks, who will be dreading today's protest, to beg Rupp for help.

Why hasn't Rupp seen it for himself when he was over 2 weeks ago?.

I actually believe Rupp when he talks about increasing budget now and its clear to me he wouldn't do anything to harm us financially.

Talk of Sparks wanting help is key to me. Appoint a real football man such as Jewell as DOF and I would be happy for Sparks to stay in a Commercial and marketing role.

One thing I would have liked Rupp to say is that he would extend the season ticket deadline until the end of May to allow supporters to see whether there is any progress on such an appointment and the dust to have settled on the season.

Well done to all who have organised today's protest, it has certainly touched a nerve with Sparks and then Rupp.

CTID

 

Not enjoying it Broncs but people renewing their STs endorses what a ‘good’ job Ryan and Rupp are doing. If the only way to drive Sparks out, which is what the club needs to progress, i’ll not renew our STs. Will still see every match on ifollow and I won’t have the hassle of parking up on matchday and keeping the kids entertained.

i’d much rather Rupp sold up and Sparks was replaced, and i’d renew my ST immediately.

the statement doesn’t change anything for me. I don’t trust Sparks one bit. Been going since 1993 to pretty much every home game. Had several years commuting back from York in that time for a bit.

Don’t buy into the current ethos and despise Rupps apathy (rejecting the petition is sickening) and think Sparks is out of his depth. Would crawl over broken glass to see a David Baldwin-led consortium running the club instead of the current shitshow.

Just reached the point where I just don’t care. Match days are a chore, the football is shite, the atmosphere is shite. Whats the point in going, to be disappointed?

Even in the past under Rhodes, Rhodes/Lawn when we were shit, I could still identify with the club and understand the reasons.

There is no excuse for the current owners disinterest and the CEOs incompetence. Theyre neglecting our club and I’ve had enough.

 

DOF plenty of would be candidates out there I would have thought.
Paul Jewell's name will naturally be linked if we are to make an appointment but in my opinion I don't think his knowledge of the club would really take us forward. We need a fresh approach completely to shake things up not a well I used to do this when I was here before. I know the club and it's supporters doesn't cut it with me.
This is a chance to make radical changes in the football department don't miss the opportunity of appointing a fresh face.

 

Dont know if it was him but the rumour at this point was that Jewell was the former manager who was brought on as a consultant in the managerial hiring process? But the rumour was that he advised against hiring GA? Would be an interesting dynamic if Jewell was brought in as a DOF.