BREAKING NEWS: New Bristol Rovers stadium a step closer as Sainsbury's bid to redevelop Memorial Stadium is approved by government

“How about addressing the issue Your Holiness ?”

“The Looney returns

"As a Rovers fan I" .........Yeah, Right! And I'm the Pope”

“@Nobbynoob

We both say ha ha ha to the fantasy of the debt free magic castle full of unicorns and flying pigs.

As a City fan you are laughing about it because in living memory you have usually come out on top in terms of league position and level of support and you can see Rovers fans are once again being duped by a flawed plan.

As a Rovers fan I couldn't care less about your league position or higher level of support because at Rovers we have always had our own personality and we have enjoyed the up's and down's with the sense that ours is a sports club where supporters matter and that atmosphere and entertainment is more important that being a few more rungs up the ladder or having a few more pennies in the till.

Now that is all changing and Rovers are faced with a cold dull future in a three quarters empty concrete bowl whilst the UWE elite boast about "their" landmark stadium which sits lifeless on the edge of the university campus.”

“Debt free!!!

Hahahahaha!!

Seriously, how stupid must you have to be to believe that?

I might lease some land of someone and build a magic castle full of unicorns and flying pigs for free, anyone in?

That said, I couldn't care less about this really, It's what City does that matters. I hope we press ahead with the redevelopment of Ashton Gate personally, I would take that any day of the week over some out of town (and county) soulless bowl type stadium.

What does get on my nerves is the pure idiocy of the average rovers fan.

Debt free!! Brilliant!!

Ahead of us? Not by a long long way.

All I hear at work these days is 'in a few years this' and 'when this happens that'. Fantasy based on nothing more than what you so desperately want to see happen.

Just have a look on the rovers forum, you can almost taste the bitterness and inferiority complex.

I mean, we're rubbish and you have an inferiority complex about us? What the hell does that make you?”

“sh!theads just can't take it that our stadium will get built and their one will not.

they can come up with all the nitpicking and windups they want but in the cold light of day they know we have gone ahead of them in terms of stadia.

and that is why they continue to come onto OUR story and comment negatively. Because our success frightens them senseless.

By 2015 our stadium will be open and they will have given up on their plans by then, and will be redeveloping Trashton instead. if they continue to lose circa £11m a year, they will then have losses of circa £66m. great man that SL; wonder why he hasn't written the debt off by now, or converted it into shares?”

“manchestergas: "...our stadium will be debt free..."

There are three distinct entities: the FOOTBALL CLUB, the HOLDING COMPANY (1883 Ltd) and the STADIUM.

It has said the the football club will be debt free. The football club comprises of the players, backroom staff and little else - no reason at all why that should not be debt free anyway.

I can recall no mention being made of who will ACTUALLY own the stadium and what debt (if any) the stadium will carry.”

“That was a real shock Brennus - agreeing with the first two points but not the other two.

Point 1 is actually irrelevant but since it bigged you up you didn't mind that.

Point 2 like Point 1 is fair and objective towards Rovers - I don't just **** off without reason.

Point 3 relates to the new ground if you bother to read the last part of it and forget the City part. It will be interesting to see what % of it you fill. At least you will have your own nest for once rather than residing in others.

Point 4 is also irrelevant to the story - just a little reminder that a new ground won't be able to win points for you.

In terms of the game of foootball, league tables are all that matter - not grounds (and I include Ashton Vale in that regardless of if it ever goes through). So long as facilities are decent enough and capacity is in line with the amount of people wanting to watch then happy days...”

“@manchestergas

"our stadium will be debt free so there will be no massive cash flow or debt problem over not filling it"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...........”

“@another

Laxative - we all know where that ends up .......................

Ask an adult to explain that one it you are struggling.

UWE Premier Stadium of the west country - sounds great, does it not!!

Oh .... and enjoy the mud rats when they arrive - it will properly help you in Cola 1 ... plough!!”

“Vonner:

1, Yep
2, Yep
3, Irrelevant – this is a story about the Secretary of State waving through the Mem development, not about the redevelopment of AG. There is no reason why Rovers can't be competing in League 1 or even the Championship by the time that UWE Stad is open.
4, Garbage – you're clearly taking us seriously enough to write a long diatribe about us.

There is one reason why City are a more successful club than Rovers at this point in time: £40 million of Steve Lansdown's money. And you're doing your level best to screw things up even with that huge benefit.

Comments like yours have a real knack of coming back to bite you on the backside. I'd be very careful what I said if I was a C*ty fan at the moment.

Having said that, I do hope that you get your new stadium built or AG redeveloped – I believe that both clubs will kick on and be more successful with new and improved facilities.”