Flyover Cancellation

Today was a good day for Bradford City. Bumper crowd, vital win, three points closer to safety, and a new signing.

What did not go to plan, though, was the flyover, and I understand people are frustrated after such a long wait and after investing good money into the enterprise in good faith. I will give as good an explanation as I can here now.

On Thursday I was contacted by a member of a supporters group who I believe has identified himself anyway, and was told that the flyover would have very real, negative consequences for the club on the eve of a marquee signing. Those consequences were explained to me, and are of a financial nature and were linked to the signing. I was a little bit sceptical, naturally, but sure enough the signing materialised, albeit too late for a postponement of the flyover (Friday 4pm).

At this point, the situation was either cancel the flyover at the cost of the full £700+VAT (£840), or proceed. Even with the signing, I explained the flyover would go ahead as planned as I was not prepared to write off this money (which wasn't mine to write off), and I had a duty to all those who had contributed.

This morning, things were ramped up, and anybody who had said the flyover would have little or no impact - they could not be more wrong. I believe we will soon be assured of Rahic's position with the club, though no, I don't know when - I am not claiming to be an ITK, but with outlets like WOAP and various well-positioned individuals all making it clear he won't be around much longer, I believe the initial objective of the flyover has already been completed.

From my point of view, the battle has been won, and the flyover would be a victory parade. Fair play, some still wanted that to happen, and why not? Well, the answer from my end is simple: the flyover was never an attempt to hurt Bradford City. It was never intended to have very real financial consequences that would hamper the club. It was a protest, and a statement. If people feel we should have gone forward and damaged the club, I would question that motivation, but it's not my place to question the strength of their feeling or resentment about how things have gone under R+R.

I effectively had to make a snap decision based on the evidence presented to me, together with an assurance that a full refund would be provided. I am prepared to share the details of that privately to contributors, as I feel everyone is entitled to a full and frank account from my point of view with no embellishments, no bullsh1t, and in turn, no details that I don't actually know first hand.

Safe in the knowledge funds would NOT be lost, I made the decision to postpone/cancel the flyover. If Edin is no longer a key figure at Bradford City, and if there are real financial implications for the club, what is the point of the flyover? We can potentially arrange an anti-Rupp protest in future, but is there really an appetite for that? For me, most of the contributors would say no; at least that was my assumption at the time. If the club is to be run properly, with Hopkin in charge of crucial decision-making, Edin out of the picture, and Rhodes back trying to get everyone to pull in the same direction (and today was a great example of that), then it's job done.

The spectre of the flyover turned out to be far more powerful than the stunt probably ever could have been - and despite people telling us otherwise, we DO care about the club, and we've taken action in good faith for the benefit of Bradford City. And despite people telling us otherwise, we have had a MASSIVE impact. The club was, I am told, panicking.

If that isn't good enough, I apologise to disgruntled contributors. But it is what it is.

Now, onto business.

We have £861 to redistribute. Our options are:

- Continue with the flyover at a different date - but I won't be organising this one, I will be handing any nominated funds over to someone who wants to
- Refund money directly to contributors - you can do this anonymously and privately, either PM me on here or request a contact from me in this thread and we'll sort it all out - if you can share your confirmation email from justgiving, that stops me misdirecting funds.
- Donate money to the Burns Unit
- Donate money to Stephen Darby's Motor Neurone charity
- Split evenly across both charities
- Another action of your choice

Basically, that money is STILL YOURS, do with it what you want - my duty to you all now is to make sure your funds go to the place of your choice, whatever that may be.

If by, let's say, New Years Day there are funds unaccounted for, I'd suggest those donations be split across both nominated charities.

Thanks for your understanding,
Jon

 

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to divulge where the refund is coming from or not, and to be honest I don't actually know for sure WHO is paying it - what I do know is, we're getting a full refund and it isn't worth ANYBODY'S time to mislead us on this. The repercussions of refusing to refund us at this stage would be very unpredictable, I imagine, and if the club is this bothered about the prospect of a flyover, you can bet they won't want the backlash from something like that.

 

So do I, mate.

And as I say, I operated on the evidence presented to me at that time. I really don't think anybody would have made any other decision, but maybe they would.

By the way, I really don't think Rahic is involved.

 

I have not been refunded already, no. Yes, I have taken it on the back of a promise.

 

Not sure what Henry's wages are, but a few weeks ago Hopkin was disgruntled that he was failing to secure somebody's services as wages were a stumbling block.

Let's just say, I don't think he's cheap.

But if Hopkin (and in turn City) think he's a player that can help keep us up, he'll be worth every penny.

In my eyes.

Marquee or no marquee.