Long interview with Shahid

[RC-Moderator]

https://www.theshots.co.uk/shots-tv/sho ... hid-azeem/

Still watching - but the headline seems to be that the development plan now is to include a refurbished East Bank! (rather than demolishing it)

[Banbury Shot]

Good interview I thought. Bit defensive in places, but I get that. Great news about the East Bank.

[Graham Stovold]

Well done Shahid, you’ve taken a lot of stick over the past few months, so it’s good to see you do the interview for the fans. The news about the East Bank not being demolished should convince some, that he does listen & acts on it.

Old Bob won’t be too pleased about what he mentioned a couple of times though

[Silasgoldeen]

I think he's verbalising what some of us have said, it's all well and good having a go at him but the club doesn't fund itself, and runs at a loss each year. This needs topping up from the directors. The counter argument is "sell it to someone who can afford it then" but this goes round in circles I guess.

[Ian Rust]

Well done Shahid, you’ve taken a lot of stick over the past few months, so it’s good to see you do the interview for the fans. The news about the East Bank not being demolished should convince some, that he does listen & acts on it.

Old Bob won’t be too pleased about what he mentioned a couple of times though

If Shahid (and it’s a big IF) has managed to negotiate a refurbished East Bank as part of the ground development then he deserves a knighthood, freedom of Aldershot and a statue of him outside the ground. If true, simply the best news ever for the club.

[Banbury Shot]

Well done Shahid, you’ve taken a lot of stick over the past few months, so it’s good to see you do the interview for the fans. The news about the East Bank not being demolished should convince some, that he does listen & acts on it.

Old Bob won’t be too pleased about what he mentioned a couple of times though

If Shahid (and it’s a big IF) has managed to negotiate a refurbished East Bank as part of the ground development then he deserves a knighthood, freedom of Aldershot and a statue of him outside the ground. If true, simply the best news ever for the club.

I don't know the details, but if the East Bank can be refurbished, what is reason we cannot do the same for the other parts of the ground? I would love to tidy up the ground and add a bigger stand at the High Street end with facilities, but presumably that is not possible?

[Weybourne Shot]

Great to hear about the East Bank but surely there must now be even more doubt about the overall viability of the project. The land the East Bank currently occupies was stated as being necessary to make up the project funding.

[Mytshot]

Great to hear about the East Bank but surely there must now be even more doubt about the overall viability of the project. The land the East Bank currently occupies was stated as being necessary to make up the project funding.

That was my understanding. I thought it was about the space required, not the condition of the structure.

[ShotOnTarget]

I think he's verbalising what some of us have said, it's all well and good having a go at him but the club doesn't fund itself, and runs at a loss each year. This needs topping up from the directors. The counter argument is "sell it to someone who can afford it then" but this goes round in circles I guess.

The counter argument to that is that addressing the funding situation isn't just about directors topping up losses. It's about growing the core supporter base. What Shahid said regarding community engagement was encouraging, as the more of a 'feel good' factor that exists around any club, the more likely it is that the supporter base will grow. It hasn't always been understood at the Club to be quite brutal, and the club has suffered the consequences. This interview suggests that things have come a long way since certain individuals projected hostility at the fans for not turning up in numbers, albeit under a previous administration.

Obviously attendances fluctuate with performance on the pitch, so building the core support over the long term should always be a priority and that appears to be recognised with a degree of clarity.

A good interview, the best news being that the asset that is the envy of lower league football, our East bank, will be preserved.

[Silasgoldeen]

I think he's verbalising what some of us have said, it's all well and good having a go at him but the club doesn't fund itself, and runs at a loss each year. This needs topping up from the directors. The counter argument is "sell it to someone who can afford it then" but this goes round in circles I guess.

The counter argument to that is that addressing the funding situation isn't just about directors topping up losses. It's about growing the core supporter base. What Shahid said regarding community engagement was encouraging, as the more of a 'feel good' factor that exists around any club, the more likely it is that the supporter base will grow. It hasn't always been understood at the Club to be quite brutal, and the club has suffered the consequences. This interview suggests that things have come a long way since certain individuals projected hostility at the fans for not turning up in numbers, albeit under a previous administration.

Obviously attendances fluctuate with performance on the pitch, so building the core support over the long term should always be a priority and that appears to be recognised with a degree of clarity.

A good interview, the best news being that the asset that is the envy of lower league football, our East bank, will be preserved.

fair enough. Yes and a little transparency goes a long way doesn't it? The more you hide away the easier it is for the narrative to find legs of its own.

[Ian Rust]

With the EB incorporated into the development the capacity will be 10 to 12 thousand, even if the phase 3 part (new north stand) never happens. Much more like it and will be great to finally have decent sized stands at both ends of the ground.
A bit disappointed with the bus shelter stand on the south side (would have preferred new stand to the same profile as the existing all along), but so so pleased the bus shelter east end has been shelved. I wonder if the new High St stand will be used for away supporters. Either way it’s going to be great to have two fabulous new ends.

[Steve Melledew]

Good to finally have some kind of communication from Shahid, I’m sure if he did this more frequently then a lot of the anti board stuff would not be happening. Really hope that the anti board songs will cease but can understand people’s frustration when they don’t here anything from the club regarding the development and what happened to the money from last season.

When asked about the money the club made from last season’s player sales and cup run he didn’t really give an answer apart from saying Tommy got a slight increase in budget and the fact that everything has gone up or is going up aka National Insurance etc. wish he had at least said we paid off some of Dean Woods loan early?

Great news in regards to the East Bank being in better condition than first thought though it contradicts what Waites had said on the open evening about needing the land so the East Bank would have to be moved towards the high street and a smaller stand put in place.

Certainly can’t be easy running a football club and though many of us get annoyed at the lack of comms from the Board I do believe they have the club’s interest at heart and are doing there best with the money they are getting in, he does state that it would be nice to get more people through the gate but surely we are averaging above what they budgeted for we are just shy of 2,500 at the moment.

He says about our great alliance with the local community the Army and The MOD it’s a shame the MOD are still stalling on a new road being put into place for access to the new development behind the East Bank obviously want as much money as they can get for it.

[ShotOnTarget]

Good to finally have some kind of communication from Shahid, I’m sure if he did this more frequently then a lot of the anti board stuff would not be happening. Really hope that the anti board songs will cease but can understand people’s frustration when they don’t here anything from the club regarding the development and what happened to the money from last season.

When asked about the money the club made from last season’s player sales and cup run he didn’t really give an answer apart from saying Tommy got a slight increase in budget and the fact that everything has gone up or is going up aka National Insurance etc. wish he had at least said we paid off some of Dean Woods loan early?

Great news in regards to the East Bank being in better condition than first thought though it contradicts what Waites had said on the open evening about needing the land so the East Bank would have to be moved towards the high street and a smaller stand put in place.

Certainly can’t be easy running a football club and though many of us get annoyed at the lack of comms from the Board I do believe they have the club’s interest at heart and are doing there best with the money they are getting in, he does state that it would be nice to get more people through the gate but surely we are averaging above what they budgeted for we are just shy of 2,500 at the moment.

He says about our great alliance with the local community the Army and The MOD it’s a shame the MOD are still stalling on a new road being put into place for access to the new development behind the East Bank obviously want as much money as they can get for it.

It probably equates to 0.0001% of an increased defence budget. The MOD probably has a large team of pen-pushers earning a generous salary whilst 'working' from home administering this, thinking that it's valuable work.

[A.T.F.C 92]

One of shahids highlights celebrating frank burrs 100th birthday is a nice mention. Shame the club soon stopped using the scoreboard frank donated the money for the board tho

[CH]

Has Shahid decided to save the East bank, or have the increased costs of demolition and rebuild made the original plans unfavourable/unviable?