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PASTA to host New Years meeting with James Brent
- Thread starter tonycholwell
- Start date
ChepstowGreen":3ts6escj said:
Seconded!! I will be there with my brother and travelling from Longwell Green
Patstatpilgrim":1wd95fib said:
Who is this fellow in Longwell Green!!!??? I'm on Long Beach Rd!!!
K
KatieSparkes
Guest
very much looking forward to this after work tonight!!
Will be interesting to see what he says about things
Will be interesting to see what he says about things
I attended this meeting and hats off to James Brent for his honesty and curtersy. Whatever our opinions of events that have happened bad or good I really don't believe his good intentions and motives for the club can be questioned.
I won't preempt or steal your thunder Tony!! Only to say James was refreshingly open and honest to the point that he admitted he has made mistakes over the last 12 months or so. Very determined to put things right and I think we will eventually succeed in the end with James at the helm.
First time I have met the guy, but he is incredibly approachable and open and I would recommend to anyone who doubts the man, go meet and talk to him and see if you change your opinion.
First time I have met the guy, but he is incredibly approachable and open and I would recommend to anyone who doubts the man, go meet and talk to him and see if you change your opinion.
By the time we had all marched into the Sports Hall at Filton there were 36 attendees to hear and question our guest speaker, James Brent.
He started by saying this was the hardest role he had undertaken and freely admitted to some mistakes. He spent 6 times more time on Argyle than he did in his role for Devon and Exeter NHS.
He reiterated the large size of the playing budget and the subsequent size of our squad when compared to Torquay.
He said the decision to sack Carl Fletcher was the most difficult of his life as in his case he was committed and driven to the Argyle cause.
JB confirmed the budget was based on figures which the Board felt at the time were feasible. In addition, non football income was also down on what was expected. To this extent Argyle were not alone, Bristol Rovers gates were 50% down on what they expected.
Grandstand would be announced early 2013 and fans will be consulted. Questioned, he said he hoped the model of the stand and the developments in the car park would be available to view in 3 months time. It appears that temporary seating would be provided on the Mayflower terrace whilst some of the work was under going so that fans in other parts of the ground (Lyndhurst in particular) would not be inconvenienced. The income derived from this particular development, although not the "car park" would directly go to Argyle. JB was asked if any training/gym facilities would be included in the Stand and he said no although closer links would be maintained with the Life Centre. The whole development, both stand and car park would be treated as one development for building purposes, this included an 1500 seat ice rink. There were no plans to have an Argyle ice hockey team.
After much thought JB had decided on a non executive Chairman of the football club supporting a CEO. He said we had an experienced FD in place on a short term contract who had previously worked at Blackburn Rovers. The arrangement would be reviewed at the end of the season.
The reorganisation of the staff was complete which had resulted in one part time post holder being made compulsory redundant.
The new manager needed to have experience of League 2, passionate. They had been over whelmed at the sheer number of candidates. No time scale of appointment although sooner rather than later. They would have some money available in this window, but the 55% threshold would not be breached.
Prior, during (drink break) and after the formal meeting many members took the opportunity to chat to JB as he made clear he had no other commitments this evening. The raffle was very very popular with a signed and framed shirt from Alex MacDonald and a second shirt signed by the team.Huge thanks to Ian Newell who provided these and also attended the meeting.
The members were very appreciative of the time JB had put in and showed their appreciation in the usual way
He started by saying this was the hardest role he had undertaken and freely admitted to some mistakes. He spent 6 times more time on Argyle than he did in his role for Devon and Exeter NHS.
He reiterated the large size of the playing budget and the subsequent size of our squad when compared to Torquay.
He said the decision to sack Carl Fletcher was the most difficult of his life as in his case he was committed and driven to the Argyle cause.
JB confirmed the budget was based on figures which the Board felt at the time were feasible. In addition, non football income was also down on what was expected. To this extent Argyle were not alone, Bristol Rovers gates were 50% down on what they expected.
Grandstand would be announced early 2013 and fans will be consulted. Questioned, he said he hoped the model of the stand and the developments in the car park would be available to view in 3 months time. It appears that temporary seating would be provided on the Mayflower terrace whilst some of the work was under going so that fans in other parts of the ground (Lyndhurst in particular) would not be inconvenienced. The income derived from this particular development, although not the "car park" would directly go to Argyle. JB was asked if any training/gym facilities would be included in the Stand and he said no although closer links would be maintained with the Life Centre. The whole development, both stand and car park would be treated as one development for building purposes, this included an 1500 seat ice rink. There were no plans to have an Argyle ice hockey team.
After much thought JB had decided on a non executive Chairman of the football club supporting a CEO. He said we had an experienced FD in place on a short term contract who had previously worked at Blackburn Rovers. The arrangement would be reviewed at the end of the season.
The reorganisation of the staff was complete which had resulted in one part time post holder being made compulsory redundant.
The new manager needed to have experience of League 2, passionate. They had been over whelmed at the sheer number of candidates. No time scale of appointment although sooner rather than later. They would have some money available in this window, but the 55% threshold would not be breached.
Prior, during (drink break) and after the formal meeting many members took the opportunity to chat to JB as he made clear he had no other commitments this evening. The raffle was very very popular with a signed and framed shirt from Alex MacDonald and a second shirt signed by the team.Huge thanks to Ian Newell who provided these and also attended the meeting.
The members were very appreciative of the time JB had put in and showed their appreciation in the usual way
To clarify a couple of Tony's points. I'll put them down to the acoustics rather than senility or failing hearing on Tony's part!
... and we've located some more PASTA members, mostly from these boards. I will send an email to those who provided details but to save time our email group and Facebook group are in links in my footer.
An excellent evening, some frank answers, some unsurprising dodging of the question about the new manager. Overall, very approachable and honest in his assessment that mistakes have been made. I have faith that they will be learned from.tonycholwell":32n4tnha said:
... and we've located some more PASTA members, mostly from these boards. I will send an email to those who provided details but to save time our email group and Facebook group are in links in my footer.
Mark_Colling":1ramm98h said:To clarify a couple of Tony's points. I'll put them down to the acoustics rather than senility or failing hearing on Tony's part!
An excellent evening, some frank answers, some unsurprising dodging of the question about the new manager. Overall, very approachable and honest in his assessment that mistakes have been made. I have faith that they will be learned from.tonycholwell":1ramm98h said:By the time we had all marched into the Sports Hall at Filton there were 36 attendees to hear and question our guest speaker, James Brent. Not a single dog to be seen.
He reiterated the large size of the playing budget and the subsequent size of our squad when compared to Torquay. Our budget is one of the larger ones in the division but if you consider that our first team squad is 32(?) compared to 18(?) at Torquay, it might have been better spent.
JB confirmed the budget was based on figures which the Board felt at the time were feasible. In addition, non football income was also down on what was expected. To this extent Argyle were not alone, Bristol Rovers gates were 50% down on what they expected. What was said was that Rovers' gates were down 15% on their expectations and this was in line with other League Two clubs. Combine this with the fact that we've, er, not been very good and the gates aren't as far off as it first appears. I know some will see that as a bit of a cop out but he acknowledges that they got it wrong and I believe they have learnt from it. What he also said, and didn't need to because no-one could have known was that they got the non-ticket revenues wrong too. They will learn from that as well.
50% did seem high
The reorganisation of the staff was complete which had resulted in one part time post holder being made compulsory redundant. Before anyone points out that two or three were highlighted on here earlier, he also mentioned five voluntary redundancies had taken place.
... and we've located some more PASTA members, mostly from these boards. I will send an email to those who provided details but to save time our email group and Facebook group are in links in my footer.
