The Albion Rovers Thread

[The Pastmaster]

1 hour ago, Tutankhamen said:

Was the main goal scorer at St Johnstone for years. Didn't Tom Fagan punt him to St Johnstone about 2 days before an Rovers cup tie?

Correct....TF  couldn`t afford to have him cup tied so his price would go down.....think Vers got £7K for Brogan

[Tutankhamen]

Don't know how long old John will last at Rovers. Just between us, he's one old grump. Suppose 20 years in the Juniors would do that to anyone. Might take a couple of side bets for an interest.

1, John doesn't see August before a massive fall out.

2, September weekend

3, Christmas.

[The Pastmaster]

The problem Rovers have is the archaic share set up (articles of association) which dates back to when the club became a limited company in 1919. Many of the share owners (descendents of the original purchasers probably) are untraceable. The current Chairman, Ronnie Boyd, who originally joined the Board as the Trust appointee decided several years ago to investigate the legalities of a further share issue to attract new funding - and no doubt as well attracting  individuals with spare cash who would not otherwise become involved unless they had a stake ie shares in the club. He mentioned this at the 2016 AGM and was immediately told by the current majority shareholder - the son of a former chairman (now deceased) and who is a current senior employee of the SPFL that he would vote down any attempts to widen the shareholding. Obviously any further share issue would dilute his holding.  Add to that the fact that previous directors took out  a loan to a sub prime business lender which sits as a millstone round the club`s neck.  Plus the club`s bankers (RBS) tightening overdraft criteria. None of the above makes it easy for Ronnie - yes I have known him for almost 50 years - like me he is a lifelong fan - to try and balance the finances against the hoped for requirements of putting  a competitive team on the park

[JHS rip]

Correct....TF  couldn`t afford to have him cup tied so his price would go down.....think Vers got £7K for Brogan

I’m sure it was the night before our cup tie at East Fife and we didn’t actually find out until we arrived at Bayview. Was a very winnable game as well that .

[The Pastmaster]

That`s probably the case - I cannot remember exactly. While it is easy to blame TF. Then, as now, the club is always under pressure from their bankers to reduce the overdraft and are virtually arm-wrestled into maximising any possible sale of a player to keep the bank `happy`. If JB had played against EF then he would have been cup-tied and not have the same potential value for St. J to pay.

[Velazquez Blue]

Wouldn't worry about the LL as long as Cowdenbeath are around. That ain't a dig at Cowdenbeath btw. Teams are coming out the like of the LL and HL scoring the likes of a 130 goals in a season against teams who'd have problems in a Sunday morning league. They then play a senior team and its goodnight. Only ES have dropped down. Enough said.

Not a dig at Cowdenbeath?
Bollan is already putting together a squad that’ll be ready to challenge at the other end of league 2.
We also don’t owe anything to any bank. I guess John Brogan is coming to save the day with or without adequate up to date qualifications...

[Tutankhamen]

23 hours ago, Velazquez Blue said:

 

Not a dig at Cowdenbeath?
Bollan is already putting together a squad that’ll be ready to challenge at the other end of league 2.
We also don’t owe anything to any bank. I guess John Brogan is coming to save the day with or without adequate up to date qualifications...

 

All praise the gate holders of the Pyramid oh wise one.

[Tutankhamen]

On 25 May 2018 at 09:44, The Pastmaster said:

The problem Rovers have is the archaic share set up (articles of association) which dates back to when the club became a limited company in 1919. Many of the share owners (descendents of the original purchasers probably) are untraceable. The current Chairman, Ronnie Boyd, who originally joined the Board as the Trust appointee decided several years ago to investigate the legalities of a further share issue to attract new funding - and no doubt as well attracting  individuals with spare cash who would not otherwise become involved unless they had a stake ie shares in the club. He mentioned this at the 2016 AGM and was immediately told by the current majority shareholder - the son of a former chairman (now deceased) and who is a current senior employee of the SPFL that he would vote down any attempts to widen the shareholding. Obviously any further share issue would dilute his holding.  Add to that the fact that previous directors took out  a loan to a sub prime business lender which sits as a millstone round the club`s neck.  Plus the club`s bankers (RBS) tightening overdraft criteria. None of the above makes it easy for Ronnie - yes I have known him for almost 50 years - like me he is a lifelong fan - to try and balance the finances against the hoped for requirements of putting  a competitive team on the park

Wonder if in the 99 years (1919-2019)  the club have ever paid a dividend on the shares. How much is an Albion Rovers share worth?

[Aloysius Snuffleupagus]

1 minute ago, Tutankhamen said:

 How much is an Albion Rovers share worth?

2 shilling and sixpence! Seriously! They aren't openly traded so the share price has never changed since 1919.

[Tutankhamen]

23 hours ago, Aloysius Snuffleupagus said:

2 shilling and sixpence! Seriously! They aren't openly traded so the share price has never changed since 1919.

Does the Trust own shares?

[Aloysius Snuffleupagus]

3 minutes ago, Tutankhamen said:

Does the Trust own shares?

No, but individual Trust members do.

[Jan Vojáček]

Hi guys (please don't laugh when I say this).

We've been linked with Ross Perry in The Sun, with Ian Durrant apparently 'urging' Stevie Aitken to sign him as he believes he has unfulfilled potential.

I remember him being absolutely horrific at Raith, but was just wondering if he did anything last season that would make him in anyway worth signing?

[Chris_the_rover]

Bombscare one of the reasons we went down. Done better towards the end of the season a bad injury kept him out for weeks just as he was coming onto a game but at the start he was costing us at least a goal a game

Done the same with Clyde the season before.

He was coming through the youth ranks while durrant would have been coaching at rangers possibly

[Jan Vojáček]

1 hour ago, Chris_the_rover said:

Bombscare one of the reasons we went down. Done better towards the end of the season a bad injury kept him out for weeks just as he was coming onto a game but at the start he was costing us at least a goal a game

Done the same with Clyde the season before.

He was coming through the youth ranks while durrant would have been coaching at rangers possibly

Dang. That's what I feared.

Aye, I think we're just trying to stock up on as many ex-Rangers kids as we can. Since Durrant arrived last January we've had (in no particular order): Tom Lang, Calum Gallagher, Ross McCrorie, Andy Dowie, Tom Walsh, Scott Gallacher, Kyle Hutton, Iain Russell, Aidan Wilson and Liam Burt - all of whom have some sort of Rangers and Durrant connection.

When he first came in he had a major impact, but I'm really questioning if it's all just an old-pals act with him now. I assumed Perry's next move would be to the Lowland League or Juniors.

[Aloysius Snuffleupagus]

3 hours ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

Hi guys (please don't laugh when I say this).

We've been linked with Ross Perry in The Sun, with Ian Durrant apparently 'urging' Stevie Aitken to sign him as he believes he has unfulfilled potential.

I remember him being absolutely horrific at Raith, but was just wondering if he did anything last season that would make him in anyway worth signing?

I really didn't think he was that bad, and certainly far better than Jason Marr who came with a more positive reputation from [previous clubs.

He does have mistakes in him, but he's a grafter, and doesn't go hiding when times get tough.

[Yoda8]

On 25/05/2018 at 09:44, The Pastmaster said:

The problem Rovers have is the archaic share set up (articles of association) which dates back to when the club became a limited company in 1919. Many of the share owners (descendents of the original purchasers probably) are untraceable. The current Chairman, Ronnie Boyd, who originally joined the Board as the Trust appointee decided several years ago to investigate the legalities of a further share issue to attract new funding - and no doubt as well attracting  individuals with spare cash who would not otherwise become involved unless they had a stake ie shares in the club. He mentioned this at the 2016 AGM and was immediately told by the current majority shareholder - the son of a former chairman (now deceased) and who is a current senior employee of the SPFL that he would vote down any attempts to widen the shareholding. Obviously any further share issue would dilute his holding.  Add to that the fact that previous directors took out  a loan to a sub prime business lender which sits as a millstone round the club`s neck.  Plus the club`s bankers (RBS) tightening overdraft criteria. None of the above makes it easy for Ronnie - yes I have known him for almost 50 years - like me he is a lifelong fan - to try and balance the finances against the hoped for requirements of putting  a competitive team on the park

Don’t doubt any of above , but signing a manager who’s not been in senior league for 22 years is not the way to go IMO .

I’ll be surprised if there is an Albion Rovers in 2 years. 

Club is going downhill fast.

if the manager keeps to his word and signs Junior players then he’ll get relegated.

Not a single senior player has resigned due to the way club is going 

[Tutankhamen]

23 hours ago, Yoda8 said:

Don’t doubt any of above , but signing a manager who’s not been in senior league for 22 years is not the way to go IMO .

I’ll be surprised if there is an Albion Rovers in 2 years. 

Club is going downhill fast.

if the manager keeps to his word and signs Junior players then he’ll get relegated.

Not a single senior player has resigned due to the way club is going 

The gap between playing at Albion Rovers level and the Juniors is enormous. In a one off game anything is possible but over an average season most Junior teams would struggle against Albion Rovers. Junior teams are overwhelmed by players who played Senior with XY and Z for a season. You soon realise watching them why they were let go. Should you flood the team with Juniors you will be wiped out by Christmas.

[Yoda8]

16 hours ago, Tutankhamen said:

The gap between playing at Albion Rovers level and the Juniors is enormous. In a one off game anything is possible but over an average season most Junior teams would struggle against Albion Rovers. Junior teams are overwhelmed by players who played Senior with XY and Z for a season. You soon realise watching them why they were let go. Should you flood the team with Juniors you will be wiped out by Christmas.

Couldn’t agree more. And Rovers don’t have the fan base or infrastructure to bounce back.

I fear this could be the biggest gamble ever. 

When Rovers were down bottom  of league in years gone by there was no pyramid system. 

[Jan Vojáček]

Hi again guys, John Gemmell has tweeted a good luck message to yer man Alan Reid on his move to DFC. I know the big man likes a windup, but if there was any truth in this do you think he'd do a job for us? He looks to have been Mr Consistent for you guys.

[Francesc Fabregas]

18 minutes ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

Hi again guys, John Gemmell has tweeted a good luck message to yer man Alan Reid on his move to DFC. I know the big man likes a windup, but if there was any truth in this do you think he'd do a job for us? He looks to have been Mr Consistent for you guys.

If John Gemmell came into my house, soaking wet, telling me it was raining outside, I'd have to out and look for myself.