Exeter City

[Harlow Massive]

From The Farnham Herald 5th December 2019

ALDERSHOT Town have revealed an ambitious five-year plan which hopes to see them return to the Football League and playing at a rebuilt Recreation Ground by 2025.

Chairman Shahid Azeem and manager Danny Searle unveiled the blueprint at a packed fans’ forum last Thursday, with redevelopment of the EBB Stadium – including the construction of a new 7,000-capacity arena, at a cost of £7 million, plus 136 houses and a 140-room hotel – due to begin in the summer of 2021.A 118-year lease on the site, which is owned by Rushmoor Borough Council and has been valued at £3.5 million, is due to be ratified in the next two weeks, and would allow the club to proceed with plans which Azeem described as a “game changer”.

The renovation would see the stadium move slightly north-east of its current footprint, away from the adjacent London-to-Alton railway line on the south side, and to create more space at the High Street end of the ground to accommodate the hotel and additional car parking spaces. It would retain what he called a “retro” feel – “not a soulless, plastic stadium”, promised the chairman – and also be designed to allow for a further increase in capacity if required.

To be fair we did have the Covid 19 interuption so some latitude should be afforded. Oh the 3rd thing was debt free.

Didn't I see this on that TV program, now what was it's name?.....Ah yes JACKANORY!

[abee]

Brian Bloomfield

That's interesting Sean. Was in hospitality a few seasons ago and was talking to a director who was on the board when Brian was there. Amongst other things he said he was the one who pushed and got Terry and Graham as the club ambassadors. I think what this shows is that Brian was if anything a person who wanted to develop the structure of the club.

Yep, also Brian was definitely a Director who engaged a lot with the supporters of the club.He always popped over to Wally’s bar pre match and was always available to talk to the supporters
The way the pair of them have been treated at times has been shocking. Shahid barely speaks to Terry and Graham was resorted to having to sell his book on a table outside the ground.An absolutely disgraceful way to treat the two Co Founders of this football club.

Good for Brian,

Back in the ‘80’s I was only able to attend a couple of matches a year at Brentford as I was living and working in Saudi Arabia. Brentford had been going through a very rough patch and at one of the matches I attended the then Chairman was being given a very rough ride in the forecourt after yet another home loss. He was in with a mix of fans shouting for his head/resignation and he dealt with it all patiently, politely and with good humour until after maybe twenty minutes the disgruntled fans dispersed but with it seemed to me a lot of respect that he had engaged with them.

I was on nodding terms with him, watched him take the abuse from the side lines and afterwards I said to him how I admired the way he handled the fans.

He replied that he was always prepared to face up to the fans who screamed at him because it showed they cared and they were more likely to be the ones who would stick with the club through thick and thin. The ones to worry about he said were those who just left in silence after another grim display because sooner or later they’ll find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon when they decide there’s no hope and once they’ve taken that decision they then fall into another routine for Saturday afternoons and it’s hard to get them back.

Anyway cheer up at least we’re not yet ‘customers’ which I’m told is how some board members of Premier clubs refer to their supporters/fans.

[Old Bob]

That's interesting Sean. Was in hospitality a few seasons ago and was talking to a director who was on the board when Brian was there. Amongst other things he said he was the one who pushed and got Terry and Graham as the club ambassadors. I think what this shows is that Brian was if anything a person who wanted to develop the structure of the club.

Yep, also Brian was definitely a Director who engaged a lot with the supporters of the club.He always popped over to Wally’s bar pre match and was always available to talk to the supporters
The way the pair of them have been treated at times has been shocking. Shahid barely speaks to Terry and Graham was resorted to having to sell his book on a table outside the ground.An absolutely disgraceful way to treat the two Co Founders of this football club.

Good for Brian,

Back in the ‘80’s I was only able to attend a couple of matches a year at Brentford as I was living and working in Saudi Arabia. Brentford had been going through a very rough patch and at one of the matches I attended the then Chairman was being given a very rough ride in the forecourt after yet another home loss. He was in with a mix of fans shouting for his head/resignation and he dealt with it all patiently, politely and with good humour until after maybe twenty minutes the disgruntled fans dispersed but with it seemed to me a lot of respect that he had engaged with them.

I was on nodding terms with him, watched him take the abuse from the side lines and afterwards I said to him how I admired the way he handled the fans.

He replied that he was always prepared to face up to the fans who screamed at him because it showed they cared and they were more likely to be the ones who would stick with the club through thick and thin. The ones to worry about he said were those who just left in silence after another grim display because sooner or later they’ll find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon when they decide there’s no hope and once they’ve taken that decision they then fall into another routine for Saturday afternoons and it’s hard to get them back.

Anyway cheer up at least we’re not yet ‘customers’ which I’m told is how some board members of Premier clubs refer to their supporters/fans.

Errr ... I think we are just customers, abee. I do recall being so described in the recent past by club officials.

And the infamous TW quote of "your job is to support" shows a similar disrespect, don't you think?

[abee]

Oh dear I didn’t know that Old Bob.

Whilst acknowledging Shahid’s financial contribution by way of share purchases over the years and clearly the amount of time that he has put in my limited experiences with him (agreed back in 2016/17) convinced me that he was not and likely would never be the best person to run the club. The board elected Chairman and major investor is not necessarily the ablest to exert almost total control but that’s what we’ve got here

That he would no doubt wish to continue as Chairman I accept is a given but it is time that he stepped away from day to day control and allowed some new and competent blood on the board to drive up the quality of the communications to the fans/supporters/customers (delete as applicable) and also work with the team manager. The only qualifications that Aldershot seem to have had and continue to have to be a board director is the willingness to write out a cheque for a decent amount and whilst of course their financial injections have been essential they should not necessarily buy them a place on the executive management but rather just a board appointment.

Frankly you look at the club from a distance as I have to and you hardly know where to start.

Check out the invitation to explore the hospitality on the main page and they can’t even spell ‘football’ correctly………you could hardly make it up and if I didn’t know better I’d think that the club had been infiltrated by Reading fans as a private joke.

I have previously proposed that if they would both be willing Brian Bloomfield and Richard Petty should be co-opted onto the main board for their business and communications acumen and they could immediately inject some professionalism and ‘management by wandering about’. Under the present structure I would normally expect an agreement to be struck with the Supporters Club and for any subsequent approach to the Chairman to be made through the Supporters Club but that entity is simply not functioning is it? The committee listing looks to be out of date and they don’t seem to have met for what nearly eleven months now. If they are not requesting meetings with the main board to discuss the current dire situation at the club then what on earth are they for?

I was attending board meetings from October 2016 – April 2017 and in my view it was a great pity but Tommy Anderson made the right choice when he felt forced to resign from the board. The appointment of a Supporters Trust representative to be on the board in the first place was purely cosmetic and I saw no attempt from the other side to try to make it work. So the Supporters Trust went belly up and was I assume replaced by a far more docile Supporters Club.

I’m saddened by just about everything that I see, hear and read about the club and the fans/supporters/customers deserve much, much better.

[HackJowarth]

Oh dear I didn’t know that Old Bob.

Whilst acknowledging Shahid’s financial contribution by way of share purchases over the years and clearly the amount of time that he has put in my limited experiences with him (agreed back in 2016/17) convinced me that he was not and likely would never be the best person to run the club. The board elected Chairman and major investor is not necessarily the ablest to exert almost total control but that’s what we’ve got here

That he would no doubt wish to continue as Chairman I accept is a given but it is time that he stepped away from day to day control and allowed some new and competent blood on the board to drive up the quality of the communications to the fans/supporters/customers (delete as applicable) and also work with the team manager. The only qualifications that Aldershot seem to have had and continue to have to be a board director is the willingness to write out a cheque for a decent amount and whilst of course their financial injections have been essential they should not necessarily buy them a place on the executive management but rather just a board appointment.

Frankly you look at the club from a distance as I have to and you hardly know where to start.

Check out the invitation to explore the hospitality on the main page and they can’t even spell ‘football’ correctly………you could hardly make it up and if I didn’t know better I’d think that the club had been infiltrated by Reading fans as a private joke.

I have previously proposed that if they would both be willing Brian Bloomfield and Richard Petty should be co-opted onto the main board for their business and communications acumen and they could immediately inject some professionalism and ‘management by wandering about’. Under the present structure I would normally expect an agreement to be struck with the Supporters Club and for any subsequent approach to the Chairman to be made through the Supporters Club but that entity is simply not functioning is it? The committee listing looks to be out of date and they don’t seem to have met for what nearly eleven months now. If they are not requesting meetings with the main board to discuss the current dire situation at the club then what on earth are they for?

I was attending board meetings from October 2016 – April 2017 and in my view it was a great pity but Tommy Anderson made the right choice when he felt forced to resign from the board. The appointment of a Supporters Trust representative to be on the board in the first place was purely cosmetic and I saw no attempt from the other side to try to make it work. So the Supporters Trust went belly up and was I assume replaced by a far more docile Supporters Club.

I’m saddened by just about everything that I see, hear and read about the club and the fans/supporters/customers deserve much, much better.

As ever, an insightful and well communicated post.

The misspelling of ‘football’ is merely the tip of the howler iceberg unfortunately.

Please continue to post as and when you feel it is correct to do so.

[Aldershot_Rob]

SNIP

Thank you for your passionate post, Abee. You sound as hurt , disillusioned ans disconnected as we do.
You have made so many great and valid points. A really good summary, sadly.

[ShotOnTarget]

Anyway cheer up at least we’re not yet ‘customers’ which I’m told is how some board members of Premier clubs refer to their supporters/fans.

Errr ... I think we are just customers, abee. I do recall being so described in the recent past by club officials.

And the infamous TW quote of "your job is to support" shows a similar disrespect, don't you think?

Correct OB. The best BoD's have been those that have seen themselves as custodians of the Club on behalf of the Supporters rather than their masters, and we their customers.

[Rba]

Oh dear I didn’t know that Old Bob.

Whilst acknowledging Shahid’s financial contribution by way of share purchases over the years and clearly the amount of time that he has put in my limited experiences with him (agreed back in 2016/17) convinced me that he was not and likely would never be the best person to run the club. The board elected Chairman and major investor is not necessarily the ablest to exert almost total control but that’s what we’ve got here

That he would no doubt wish to continue as Chairman I accept is a given but it is time that he stepped away from day to day control and allowed some new and competent blood on the board to drive up the quality of the communications to the fans/supporters/customers (delete as applicable) and also work with the team manager. The only qualifications that Aldershot seem to have had and continue to have to be a board director is the willingness to write out a cheque for a decent amount and whilst of course their financial injections have been essential they should not necessarily buy them a place on the executive management but rather just a board appointment.

Frankly you look at the club from a distance as I have to and you hardly know where to start.

Check out the invitation to explore the hospitality on the main page and they can’t even spell ‘football’ correctly………you could hardly make it up and if I didn’t know better I’d think that the club had been infiltrated by Reading fans as a private joke.

I have previously proposed that if they would both be willing Brian Bloomfield and Richard Petty should be co-opted onto the main board for their business and communications acumen and they could immediately inject some professionalism and ‘management by wandering about’. Under the present structure I would normally expect an agreement to be struck with the Supporters Club and for any subsequent approach to the Chairman to be made through the Supporters Club but that entity is simply not functioning is it? The committee listing looks to be out of date and they don’t seem to have met for what nearly eleven months now. If they are not requesting meetings with the main board to discuss the current dire situation at the club then what on earth are they for?

I was attending board meetings from October 2016 – April 2017 and in my view it was a great pity but Tommy Anderson made the right choice when he felt forced to resign from the board. The appointment of a Supporters Trust representative to be on the board in the first place was purely cosmetic and I saw no attempt from the other side to try to make it work. So the Supporters Trust went belly up and was I assume replaced by a far more docile Supporters Club.

I’m saddened by just about everything that I see, hear and read about the club and the fans/supporters/customers deserve much, much better.

Yes another great post Mr Broomfield to me seems sensible. Richard is very loyal though Mr Azeem got this one right ( in my opinion) he is a liability as he communicates to much which I am certain has been " drip fed" down to him to implant in our heads and to make him ( Richard) look the fool guy ( which he also helped himself with ) with his rant when he finally realised he was being used.
Aldershot needs change and quickly of the entire board.
Would love to see Tommy Anderson back on the board. He really cared and is young and learnt alot.
(That's my opinion)

[Localshot]

and a bloody awful opinion if I may say so RBA. Just my opinion of course.

[abee]

My suggestion was that the main board needed beefing up. It doesn’t seem to have attracted much interest or enthusiasm. I put forward the names of Richard Petty and Brian Bloomfield because they both were/are regular posters and readers of Shotsweb who post using their own names so Shotsweb members know them certainly by name and have probably taken a position on their views. I declare now that Brian I know fairly well and Richard I don’t except that Richard and I agreed on very little when I was around and subsequently. But that’s exactly the point and why any and every board and certainly those of lower league football clubs should have a mix of views and specialist talent.

In my business days I always wanted people around who would tell me that what I was proposing to do was stupid and would never work and explain to me the reason why. Being licked to death by colleagues with an eye on their next promotion or possibly retention of their board place was of no interest to me.

Brian’s recent suggestion that Shahid, John Leppard and Deane Wood would almost certainly be communicating last Sunday to discuss the situation was I suppose meant to reassure us but we don’t have a clue if things are going as planned and if they are relaxed about everything. It may be that the team management told the board last August that they had a relegation budget and they would be over performing if they kept the club out of the bottom four. In that case there is no ‘crisis’ but given the lack of communication from the top we’re all just blundering around in the dark.

If the board are at the point where they needed to caucus on Sunday (according to Brian) then what exactly was it about the Eastleigh loss that would have made them be burning up the phone lines last Sunday morning? Sharaz Hussain is the fourth member of the board and has been for nearly seven years but Brian by omission seems to suggest that he wouldn’t have been involved in any Eastleigh inquest and I’m not sure why. If he’s not involved in ‘crisis talks’ what is his boardroom brief exactly?

I also suggested that the Supporters Club should be getting involved…….maybe they are but there is virtually zero content that is coming from that source despite their Mission Statement. Maybe they’re totally happy with everything and are satisfied that the present four man board is the best for the club and there’s nothing they can suggest to improve the framework of the club.

In that case just say so and we can all give up.

[Old Bob]

My suggestion was that the main board needed beefing up. It doesn’t seem to have attracted much interest or enthusiasm. I put forward the names of Richard Petty and Brian Bloomfield because they both were/are regular posters and readers of Shotsweb who post using their own names so Shotsweb members know them certainly by name and have probably taken a position on their views. I declare now that Brian I know fairly well and Richard I don’t except that Richard and I agreed on very little when I was around and subsequently. But that’s exactly the point and why any and every board and certainly those of lower league football clubs should have a mix of views and specialist talent.

In my business days I always wanted people around who would tell me that what I was proposing to do was stupid and would never work and explain to me the reason why. Being licked to death by colleagues with an eye on their next promotion or possibly retention of their board place was of no interest to me.

Brian’s recent suggestion that Shahid, John Leppard and Deane Wood would almost certainly be communicating last Sunday to discuss the situation was I suppose meant to reassure us but we don’t have a clue if things are going as planned and if they are relaxed about everything. It may be that the team management told the board last August that they had a relegation budget and they would be over performing if they kept the club out of the bottom four. In that case there is no ‘crisis’ but given the lack of communication from the top we’re all just blundering around in the dark.

If the board are at the point where they needed to caucus on Sunday (according to Brian) then what exactly was it about the Eastleigh loss that would have made them be burning up the phone lines last Sunday morning? Sharaz Hussain is the fourth member of the board and has been for nearly seven years but Brian by omission seems to suggest that he wouldn’t have been involved in any Eastleigh inquest and I’m not sure why. If he’s not involved in ‘crisis talks’ what is his boardroom brief exactly?

I also suggested that the Supporters Club should be getting involved…….maybe they are but there is virtually zero content that is coming from that source despite their Mission Statement. Maybe they’re totally happy with everything and are satisfied that the present four man board is the best for the club and there’s nothing they can suggest to improve the framework of the club.

In that case just say so and we can all give up.

I'm not sure that there is no interest or enthusiasm for your suggestions, abee. It’s just that as supporters we have absolutely zero influence on the composition of the board.

On the contrary, our job as supporters is to support. Pure and simple. It begins and ends there, so we are told.

[Josh]

Communication doesn't exist with this club, Abee.
Having supporters on the board can work but perhaps we don't always agree ( as we see on Shotsweb!)
From reading, I can understand why BB would work but I often disagreed with Richard ( who seemed to like writing 2000 words when 20 would suffice.) Doesn't make me right either.

What I do know Abee, is we are continually hanging around the relegation zone, with no vision or ideas to grow the club, and I think we will end up as a part time NLS club.

[abee]

Communication doesn't exist with this club, abee.

Most supporters would I think agree which is why I have suggested a way to improve them.

Communications from the club whoever manages them should be factual and not personal opinions with the intent that supporters are kept in the loop. At the moment we have a ‘them and us’ stand off which may for all I know suit the board but it’s not the way to run a football club.

I thought that there already was a vision laid out to get the club into an improved stadium, clear the debt and be back in the EFL and at the very least a progress report could be issued detailing any setbacks and maybe a new timeline for these ambitions. The Supporters Club should be all over this.

My point which everyone must be weary of by now is that agreed we cannot magic up another £500k for the playing budget but the club can be made far more professional with its off the field management/relationships at little or no cost with the board having a conduit to present to supporters the difficulties and constraints that they are working under.

[Josh]

There was a vision laid out in December 19 but unfortunately the chairman doesn't want to tell us how it's getting on.

We've seen from the 2 postponements that the club's communication is appalling.

I totally agree with you about the last point. The only argument we get from Azeem's supporters is there's no one else out there and we should be grateful. He's doing an abysmal job and leading the club into obscurity.

[lowerbourneshot]

Communication doesn't exist with this club, Abee.
Having supporters on the board can work but perhaps we don't always agree ( as we see on Shotsweb!)
From reading, I can understand why BB would work but I often disagreed with Richard ( who seemed to like writing 2000 words when 20 would suffice.) Doesn't make me right either.

What I do know Abee, is we are continually hanging around the relegation zone, with no vision or ideas to grow the club, and I think we will end up as a part time NLS club.

Other clubs seem.to suffer bad times ,Stockport being a prime example who seem to be flying now . We never seem to get these filips and seem to be in permanent struggles .