Thetownend.com

Looking good for Mark Cooper and FGR,  3-1 up against Tranmere at half time.
Rather go to FGR than Tranmere on a wet Wednesday night !!!!.

The away day is the only redeeming factor, I was happy with the away day (they'll do Park and ride at least) but then you get to thinking about....

- The inevitable and boring Mark Cooper 'narrative'.

- Overexcited FGR fans who used to support Liverpool (and will return to Liverpool once the FGR bubble bursts) visiting L2 forums, including TEF, to tell us how great they are but they weirdly can't recall the seasons of dodging relegation due to misfortune elsewhere.

- The faux rivalry that will inevitably form between us.

- Enviously watching another Non-League mainstay pass us by in the Football League.

you missed the big one, no fucking Bovril.

I quickly scoffed burger at FGR once, didn't realise that there was a bit of a delayed spice to it and thought I was going to die for about 15 minutes.

The burger queue was like someone shouting 'it's vegetarian!?' in a cave.

I think we should all take a pepperami and throw them on the pitch..

pepper-ami
red army..

...and if she don't cum, I'll tickle her bum with a pepperami...

You can now its official they are in the same division as us !!, to be fair,  either of those teams out there today would have hammered us last season,  they both fought, tackled and ran, let's hope by the start of next season we have players that are prepared to do the same.
Hope there will be park and ride,  not prepared to tackle that mountain with a belly full of beer  :pint:

FGR are based in a residential estate on top of a hill. Not sure what the pub situation is though?

For big games they operate a park and ride which is close to the ground.

What a shit season.

So so shit.

1 pub in the town from what I remember and only 1 stand has a bar

Last time I went there they did let away fans use it, not too sure it will be the same once they start to get bigger crowds though.    If I remember rightly, at one time the chairman banned pies in the ground and sold only vegetarian options, again, not sure if thats still the case.

It's a fully vegan club, and that includes the players menus.

They're a low end Bournemouth, losing around £2.5M a year, averaging crowds of around 1700 and have some players on around £4K a week according to their forum.


It'll all end in tears.

Nah, he is actually investing in the future of the club with the new stadium which would make them self sustainable and will be on a business park which will house his business along with others. It's costing him a lot of money at the moment due to the poor stadium but the future does look rosey.

They'll struggle with the 55% wage cap too.

They'll find a way around it, just like most other clubs with owners who are blowing large sums

they only have room for 1000 or so away fans don't they...

Hmmm wonder how easy it'll be to get into the home end if need be.

Bristol Rovers had behind the goal and along the side (non stand) when they went to FGR a couple of years ago, only about 3000 that day and most seemed to be Gasheads.

Good news, as I think we're the only team to have beaten all other 91 in competitive matches. We're number 1!

yeay, go us

good news on the ticket front then. I can just about take queuing up for scum tickets, but FGR might be a queue too far

You don't half post a lot of opinions disguised as facts. Would you like to put some money on the long term prosperity of FGR? Once he does or doesn't get his business park you watch what happens to the club, it's all about using the 'community sports hub' argument to sweeten the planning department, I attended one of the walk in sessions as it will impact me and their new ground would be made of wood if it gets the go ahead. You really need to question the motives of anyone looking to move a club more than 10 miles away from their 'home'. Eastington might be right on Junction 13 of the M5 but in terms of location and match day experience it's piss poor as there's no towns within comfortable waking distance. Gloucester is 5 miles away as is Stroud and even Stonehouse is a bit of a trek. Any fans they gain will be negated by the losses they'll suffer from moving away from their current home as Gloucester isn't a football city and has never sustained a club. Either way they will never be self sustainable as Vince will own everything and FGR will always be dependent on him firing some their way.

Vince may have some money but it terms of feeding his ego he puts Power in the shade and when he doesn't get his way the toys usually get thrown firmly out of the pram.

There are a few people at Gloucester City that might argue with you - but only a few!

I've got mates who support City, they are playing in Evesham next year which is a shocker. The fact that it's now been 10 years since the floods and aren't much closer to returning to the city shows the lack of interest in football.

Just checked the FGR accounts; £11 million in debt with a wage bill of £2.4 million against a turnover of only £1 million (only £600k in ticket sales). That is pretty shocking and will end in tears. Will be getting a League 2 record sponsorship deal with Ecotricity next season to flout FFP I'm sure.

Why does anybody give a fuck about this club? Let them eat nuts (cutlets) and carry the fuck on, they're of no more interest to me than any other club our managers have gone to. They're certainly not an example of a club I want to be like.

Because it's a football forum and it's nice to discuss things.

Because it's a local fixture and FGR are managed by an ex-Town manager.

Both these last points sound pretty valid TBH.

FGR are kind of ingrained into the local area, from kids football all the way up. But having been the yocal community club up the road, suddenly they are competing for players with us and probably have more cash to do so.

I'm struggling with the reality of it all.

FGR have become the closest FL club to Swindon ever.

The Stroud/Stonehouse/Ciren and also Tetbury, have always been solid STFC country, not only players and staff, remember we lost 3 last summer, but fans.  Maybe it'll help Power up his game.

Cooper on Vince in today's Guardian "he's not conventional but he's good to work for. He gave me the opportunity to have full control, of the football side"

Will be interesting to see what happens with the kids' football. Up to U11 they compete in N Wilts League, from U12 up they rebrand their kids team as an "Academy" and play in JPL. Not sure what JPL rules are on FL clubs entering their academies in the league, but I'm fairly sure N Wilts don't permit it. For understandable reasons. But while their kids' teams are generally of a pretty high standard at grassroots level, they're not going to be able to compete against proper Academy teams

Good Point, Had'nt thought of that one Reg, I know there are a fair few 'nuetral' football fans who also travel from this area on a regular basis, I'm not saying its going to make a vast difference to our gates, however, every bum on seat matters and I'm sure there will be a few who take an interest in FGR due to the locality of the ground to the 'Gloucestershire' nomads. 
If we play football again as we did last season (Hopefully Not) and they play as they did yesterday, if I was a nuetral I know where I would be going !!.
C'mon Power, We've got to sort ourselves out this season - more competition than ever !!!!.

you know I hadn't really considered the implications in that respect.

interesting

They'll probably just rename/spin out the younger age groups as "Cirencester Rovers" or something (they play at the Royal Ag or "Hogwarts" as we like to call it!) and then have them as feeders into their "proper" Academy, starting at U16 I think? Tails would know, his mate used to play for them IIRC

Always taken a passing interest in FGR having originally been a Stroud boy.

Always believed in supporting your local team - Town was my local team. That was tested when Cheltenham came into the league and I lived and worked there for a bit. But you don't change, do you.

Interesting which team I would take more of an interest in if STFC were to disappear - Prob FGR.

Yeah he did, it was out of Swindon College and they were coached by Paul Hunt so essentially it was a college team just branded as an FGR youth team. They used to play against mainly other non-league teams youth setups.. Eastleigh, Cirencester, Weymouth etc.. Not sure how it works now.

As for FGR, I'm not too sure he'll get his stadium / business park so it will be interesting to see how long he sticks around. Either way, there's no way Nailsworth (or the middle of nowhere where Vince wants them to be) can sustain a FL team without a backer making serious losses. They'll enjoy the ride but I feel it will all end in tears. (see.. Rushden and Diamonds)

This

Max Griggs, built a wonderful little club at R and D.... they suffered when Power came in.

Come on Reg you know full well they basically went into financial meltdown the moment Griggs turned the money off as they were reliant on a benefactor. They were also based a fair distance from their historical roots so many similarities to FGR if Vince gets his way.

Funnily enough, I saw FGR (then Stroud FC) at R&D precursor Rushden Town in the very early nineties… always wondered what those fans (and Irthlingborough's) made of Rushden & Diamonds. Never bothered to find out, mind.

The new ground is a concern. Sure, it might give Vince the opportunity to grow the club, but it also appears to take away the club's ability to scale back down should Vince leave that their current home in Nailsworth affords them. Nothing lasts forever, and FGR will need a get-out plan. If they have one, they can just enjoy the ride while it lasts.

They suffered because they no longer had his money.

But where did the money go?

There isn't much information on Power's tenure at R&D apart from he was there for a year, he was only a director (and not the owner). He was reportedly (depends which news source you read) was just Director of Football (the same role he had at Cambridge and here (before he "bought out" Jed) ).

Based on that, I can't see the link with Power that the club went into admin considering he left in 2009 and they didn't enter admin till 20011 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/14012770 where they reportedly had 2 owners after Power and the other directors walked away. There may be well much more that went on that isn't in the press?

Wouldn't surprise me to see Cooper sign Branco for next season

I think thats a possible, FGR will be paying the most wages in L2 this coming season apparently, adding to their £3m a season losses.