Brockhall STC - planning permission application ?

[JHRover]

First alarm bell that should be going off is the fact that the club have only acted AFTER the news has emerged through fans doing homework online and spotting the planning application.

If this is such a brilliant, ambitious and sensible plan why weren't they shouting about it from the rooftops early doors?

I'll be honest I feel physically sick about this. Not just at the thought of Jack Walker's legacy being dismembered before our very eyes despite still being lumbered with Venkys but also the possibility that there are other agendas in play here with the Coventry-Venus-Waggott connection. I may be a cynic but expecting me to believe there is no connection is pushing it to the limit. The very thought of vultures picking at our prized estate, the envy of the land at one time, is sickening.

Equally distressing is the volume of supporters online happily accepting the club's statement and feeling quite pleased about it. These people are beyond help yet I can't help but get angry at their gullibility to just accept whatever they are told. It's almost as though the last 10 years of misery and decline in every department haven't happened.

The trouble is that very few of these people will have ever been to Brockhall or understand what the situation is like down there. The rubbish from the club referencing the facilities being 30 years old - nonsense. The senior training centre is a little over 20 years old. It is a fantastic facility to this day, and will cost a hell of a lot of money to even match never mind improve upon. Most PL clubs would love a facility like that. The new one the dingles built at Gawthorpe isn't as good and that was only opened a few years ago.

Thank you Jack Walker.

There simply isn't the space on the existing academy site to develop it into a state of the art facility able to house everything we need for a Championship club and Category A academy. It isn't big enough. Jack Walker knew this, which is why he funded construction of a separate site elsewhere. 

They'll worry about that after though. 99% of fans won't ever go to Brockhall to see for themselves what there is there so they'll just cobble together something on the cheap. 

They disgust me. I don't even think this is a brain child of Venkys. They are too distant and disinterested to push something like this. Mowbray-Waggott-Venus - this has your fingerprints on it. I want them gone. Now.  

Edited February 20, 2021 by JHRover

[roversfan99]

Communication, non existent. The plan to downsize but renovate, at this stage unclear.

The amount of people (not seen any on here to clarify) instantly coming to Venkys defence, the same people who are grateful that we merely exist and arent in administration, sick inducing. The cretins that own us do not deserve the benefit of any doubt.

[Stuart]

45 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

If I trusted the people at the club then I wouldn't have a problem with the proposal (although worrying that there was no mention of Cat 1 status). But given how the club has been run in recent years and how this came out I fear that there will be no state of the art facilities but rather facilities built on the cheap. 

What odds our new facilities don’t meet the requirements for Cat 1? We shall see.

I don’t trust a single one of them. They have got the ear of Venkys so much so that results no longer matter. What else will they go for?

[Blue blood]

Given the club have shouted from the rooftops anything that could be construed as good - drones and youth who can't really break into the first team signing contracts spring to mind - the fact they haven't said anything tells us that this is very clearly bad.

It's also logically implausible. Facilities are always praised by new players, it's been good enough for many premiership managers and a raft of poor championship ones. An ounce of scrutiny can see that there are lies being told that the facilities need renovating. 

It does however answer some key questions. Why TM, Venus and Swag are still here. Why we trained on the pitch in winter. Perhaps even where the owners might make some money back. 

It's more subtle than Anderson and SEM but I fear the current set up is just as nafarious and corrupt. 

Operation let's halve the fanbase again is in full swing. Not sure I can go through another pillaging of the club. 

[Blue blood]

5 minutes ago, Stuart said:

What odds our new facilities don’t meet the requirements for Cat 1? We shall see.

I don’t trust a single one of them. They have got the ear of Venkys so much so that results no longer matter. What else will they go for?

Agree what wasn't said was just as worrying as what was said. We perhaps should have been worried the moment the Coventry lot came in. Clever move for HSH to put them in after Coyle. 

[StevenSK]

Less pitches to train on, shared Offices and overheads, they will scrap the u13s and u12s etc soon

[den]

Under this current regime, we’re heading back to where we were in the 70’s. 
 

Lower league football, no training facilities, no money for the first team and no crowds. 
 

Brings a bit of realisation to Mowbrays comments this week about us being  a long way past a Premier League club. He knows, doesn’t he.

 

[Darrenbot]

The worrying thing is it took them being called out about it for them to make a statement,if it's so great and beneficial for the club why wasnt it released when they put the application in.The whole thing smells and it ain't a good smell.

[StevenSK]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

Sigh.

 

The types of people who’d see there wife shagging another bloke in front of them and see it as no harm done. If it’s what she wants etc

[Dreams of 1995]

30 years is nothing in a buildings life cycle. I doubt they built it so it was impossible to upgrade. 
 

Waggot is talking out of his arse just like he has done throughout his time here. First Coventry, now here. 
 

Luckily we will have chance to appeal this so all is not quite lost yet. 

[RevidgeBlue]

32 minutes ago, JHRover said:

First alarm bell that should be going off is the fact that the club have only acted AFTER the news has emerged through fans doing homework online and spotting the planning application.

If this is such a brilliant, ambitious and sensible plan why weren't they shouting about it from the rooftops early doors?

I'll be honest I feel physically sick about this. Not just at the thought of Jack Walker's legacy being dismembered before our very eyes despite still being lumbered with Venkys but also the possibility that there are other agendas in play here with the Coventry-Venus-Waggott connection. I may be a cynic but expecting me to believe there is no connection is pushing it to the limit. The very thought of vultures picking at our prized estate, the envy of the land at one time, is sickening.

Equally distressing is the volume of supporters online happily accepting the club's statement and feeling quite pleased about it. These people are beyond help yet I can't help but get angry at their gullibility to just accept whatever they are told. It's almost as though the last 10 years of misery and decline in every department haven't happened.

The trouble is that very few of these people will have ever been to Brockhall or understand what the situation is like down there. The rubbish from the club referencing the facilities being 30 years old - nonsense. The senior training centre is a little over 20 years old. It is a fantastic facility to this day, and will cost a hell of a lot of money to even match never mind improve upon. Most PL clubs would love a facility like that. The new one the dingles built at Gawthorpe isn't as good and that was only opened a few years ago.

Thank you Jack Walker.

There simply isn't the space on the existing academy site to develop it into a state of the art facility able to house everything we need for a Championship club and Category A academy. It isn't big enough. Jack Walker knew this, which is why he funded construction of a separate site elsewhere. 

They'll worry about that after though. 99% of fans won't ever go to Brockhall to see for themselves what there is there so they'll just cobble together something on the cheap. 

They disgust me. I don't even think this is a brain child of Venkys. They are too distant and disinterested to push something like this. Mowbray-Waggott-Venus - this has your fingerprints on it. I want them gone. Now.  

What a fantastic post.

Nothing more you can add to that.

[TheRovers1994]

Not a bad thing at all,most clubs have all teams under one roof, it also helps running costs,plus the senior centre has pitches that go unused so aslong as the facility's are brought to standard or better and academy status is maintained then it's a good thing 

[matt83]

 

As of today our “30 years old” training facilities mean we are one of 24 clubs to have category 1 status. Let’s see where we are after the Venkys and their magic touch for our state-of-the-art modern training base. I’d wager not on that list. 

Edited February 20, 2021 by matt83

[AllRoverAsia]

I'm saying nothing. I promise ....

Edited February 20, 2021 by AllRoverAsia

[Roverall]

Ever since Venky's rocked up and the protesters were sneered at, it's become patently obvious that vast swathes of Rovers fans are incurably thick. That's not an exaggeration by the way. We have so many supine, bovine 'supporters' whose mentality is, in a sourly ironic sense, exactly the opposite of what Jack Walker always espoused in terms of thinking big. It's sickening.

Brockhall has always been one of the major assets in terms of attracting quality management and players, and has, through the years, been talked up much more than Ewood Park itself in terms of the excellence of its facilities. While everyone knows that Venky's ownership is always a major cloud over the club, there has at least been some hope in recent years that - with Ewood and Brockhall and our rich history, known all over the world - we might just 'stumble across' a good manager who could get us back to the Premier League.

Cutting Brockhall out of the equation will also serve to diminish our appeal even further.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Roverall

[chaddyrovers]

Supposedly the Academy site is bigger according to this

 

Also if Waggott is retiring at the end of the season will.the new CEO overseas the new plans. 

[Mattyblue]

9 minutes ago, TheRovers1994 said:

Not a bad thing at all,most clubs have all teams under one roof, it also helps running costs,plus the senior centre has pitches that go unused so aslong as the facility's are brought to standard or better and academy status is maintained then it's a good thing 

In what way are they ‘not to standard?’   What examples of substandard facilities do you have?

Considering the statement made no mention of any commitment to the Cat 1 (or even an acknowledgment of that key ongoing success of the club, which is odd considering you are trying to sell a plan) just ‘pathways’, I’d be very wary of pinning my hopes on that.
 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Mattyblue

[AllRoverAsia]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

Supposedly the Academy site is bigger according to this

 

Also if Waggott is retiring at the end of the season will.the new CEO overseas the new plans. 

It is not MUCH bigger. I dont think there is much in it.

Whatever its not big enough to house all the current footballing activities in one new building with indoor pitch etc etc, ancillary residential housing and car park.

[Stuart]

34 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Agree what wasn't said was just as worrying as what was said. We perhaps should have been worried the moment the Coventry lot came in. Clever move for HSH to put them in after Coyle. 

Definitely one for the Fans Forum to keep an eye on. They need to be insisting and monitoring that the new facilities DO meet Cat 1 academy requirements. No reason they shouldn’t but I would hate for there to be any ‘misunderstanding’ or ‘oversight’...

[StevenSK]

The land is probably worth 5 million at best. 
 

Burnley’s training ground cost 4.75 million. 
 

Sell the STC move to the academy facilities which will go from a state of the art facility to just a refurb of existing facilities 

[Dreams of 1995]

Does anyone know if it is possible to download the current drawings for the STC/JTC centres anywhere? 
 

The only real way to tell if they will upgrade to the same spec is to measure and compare. I assume the drawings will be released for the PA very soon. 

[Dreams of 1995]

8 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Supposedly the Academy site is bigger according to this

 

Also if Waggott is retiring at the end of the season will.the new CEO overseas the new plans. 

What’s the bet Mark Venus oversees those plans? 

[Wovers]

8 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Supposedly the Academy site is bigger according to this

 

Also if Waggott is retiring at the end of the season will.the new CEO overseas the new plans. 

Think they and you are missing the point, that site may be bigger, but we currently have two sites, therefore it’s a massive condensing down.

[Roversider]

This is a difficult one for us all to swallow given the connection between Jack Walker and the wonderful facility Rovers have at Brockhall.

An initial planning permission request is a long way from an outcome but there appears to be an intention of cashing in on the assets.  Venky's have invested in the Academy before so it raises a question as to whether there is now a different view of the owners.

If there is a consolidation and good facilitities remain then we will breathe a sigh of relief but more clarity is needed from the club.

[Riverside under the drip]

One of the more challenging aspects of primary school literacy is always reading comprehension. Understanding the motives, the intentions behind writing not just the written facts. Why are certain words used in a situation? It takes a lot of practice for children but they get it by and large eventually.

A large slice of our fanbase seem to have missed those lessons. The club said it was positive and vital to the future so anyone with doubts is a doom-monger. One on twitter even said the next step was for them to move from Ewood to a 'state-of-the-art' new ground. I mean seriously! One PR release hastily cobbled together after pressure from fans and (belatedly) the local press forced a response the next day. People are then relieved about this? Nothing to see here...

The fact is that we are combining existing needs into a far smaller space. The motive is money. The motive behind not telling fans sooner? Well, it isn't because it would make us too happy is it?!

I fear we are entering the beginning of the end as Venkys try to claw back some money. Let's hope it doesn't end like Coventry/Bolton/Bury/Portsmouth/a load of other examples.