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Paul will be holding a fans forum next Thursday evening (22nd September) in the Cross Bar, any questions regarding the club (or ideas) will be welcome. Austin will also be there to answer any questions on the day to day running of the club.

Doors & bar open at 7:00 with the forum starting at 7:30.

The reason for the slightly later start is to do with Paul having a meeting regarding the floodlights just prior to the fans forum, so any news on them will bang up to date.

spirit of 1990 wrote:Paul will be holding a fans forum next Thursday evening (22nd September) in the Cross Bar, any questions regarding the club (or ideas) will be welcome. Austin will also be there to answer any questions on the day to day running of the club.

Doors & bar open at 7:00 with the forum starting at 7:30.

The reason for the slightly later start is to do with Paul having a meeting regarding the floodlights just prior to the fans forum, so any news on them will bang up to date.

Thanks for throwing some light on that Ian !

Ian, would it better to put questions on here to avoid Paul getting put in any awkward position, then at least he could give an answer?

blue nige wrote:Ian, would it better to put questions on here to avoid Paul getting put in any awkward position, then at least he could give an answer?

A small number of fans post on here, so not fair that is it.

boyliegladbach wrote:

blue nige wrote:Ian, would it better to put questions on here to avoid Paul getting put in any awkward position, then at least he could give an answer?

A small number of fans post on here, so not fair that is it.

but it was airight for questions for the trust on here! was that fair/ democratic ? which way do you want it ?

blue nige wrote:

boyliegladbach wrote: A small number of fans post on here, so not fair that is it.

but it was airight for questions for the trust on here! was that fair/ democratic ? which way do you want it ?

I'de rather it be a free for all.
Hope that helps.

boyliegladbach wrote:

blue nige wrote:

but it was airight for questions for the trust on here! was that fair/ democratic ? which way do you want it ?

I'de rather it be a free for all.
Hope that helps.

Agreed viva la free for all!

blue nige wrote:

boyliegladbach wrote: A small number of fans post on here, so not fair that is it.

but it was airight for questions for the trust on here! was that fair/ democratic ? which way do you want it ?

In all fairness Nige, the Trust Q&A had a massive amount of questions and took a hell of a lot of sorting - not to mention all the work Andy put in splitting them into the relevant sections! That's why we brought it out in three parts.
The other thing is, this is at the request of Paul so has nothing to do with the Trust.

If it helps, I'll take a couple of questions off here to ask on behalf of people who genuinely can't attend (not because there's a repeat of Bargain Hunt on "Dave" at 8:00.......BTW, I don't actually know that)

blue nige wrote:Ian, would it better to put questions on here to avoid Paul getting put in any awkward position, then at least he could give an answer?

So...what would be the point of having the Fans Forum?

If we are in with a shout of play offs at Xmas will funds be available for strengthening the squad? Are play offs the aim? When will we see ground improvements begin? Are we ready off the field for the football league?(it appears not IMHO)

Enjoy tomorrow night all, I'm off to see Spamalot.

For anyone going tonight who has been a Trust member but hasn't renewed their membership (or hasn't even joined yet) there is Trust meeting prior to the fans forum, so forms, renewals or otherwise will be available in the Cross Bar during the evening.

Most of the Q&A's are on the clubs twitter and facebook pages about this http://www.twitter.com/barrowafc & https://www.facebook.com/barrowofficial for those who are interested, the detail about new signings are on other threads on here. Was quite a positive session with Casson saying he has no intentions of leaving and is the happiest he's been since he took over the club and is going nowhere, especially with the team we have now which has been well recruited. Such is the interest we have, not just in Jordan Williams but other players that at this weeks game scouts from 3 League clubs will be in attendance (1 of whom is Wigan and Saturday will be their 3rd successive home game they'll be attending so they're clearly watching our squad). PC says he's frightened when he hears players get injured in training especially Jordan Williams but that's the nature of the training sessions. Cox always speaks with and looks at many trialists in training and can usually tell when a player will be good for the team and club. Apparently he's binned quite a few players who haven't or won't fit in. If we were in with a shout of the title then PC would make funds available but only if the right players were available.

However there is always a downside and that relates to the ground spending and development. Initially PC said that they needed to spend 450K just to get the essential things done at the club (things like new boiler, toilets, water supply and the like and also floodlights). Following a structural survey it was found that the Holker St end was effectively built on a rubbish tip and they'd have to go so deep to reach the clay underneath it all that it will be difficult to support a new development so it seems likely that end probably won't be re-developed After the floodlights the top priority for development will be the Main Stand and extending it at both ends as in order to meet League Standards as we need 1000 seats for League 2 and 2000 seats for League 1 (we currently have about 930-940 seats I think). We also need a few other things like turnstiles and separate directors area. After this the Wilkie Rd/Cross Bar corner would addressed possibly being a new location for changing rooms and PC would like a new Stand to replace the Cross Bar with the rest of the ground virtually unchanged as we don't need such a massive stadium with the expected crowds we'd get. PC is also no longer interested in the Soccer Bar or the pitches next to it. With regard to the floodlights PC did look at some options but no decision has been made yet.

Off the field the club are doing much better with players involvement in some schools and will be making the Eastleigh game a type of event with kids ticket/family offers. The club have taken on young people for training/work experience to help with a number of things such as social media and other day to day club related stuff. On the commercial and communication front the club are actually getting back to people and following up more opportunities and answering more questions where previously that didn't happen. Can others who were there fill in some of the other bits I've missed!!

He said a lot of different things to do with ground development than he did 18 months ago to a group of fans.

thanks for info jhon. could not go tonite as was out. anyone get cassons answer to my q i want to know what his name on here is.