All day long, Gasheads have been asking me (no, they haven’t, really) what I think of the club sacking chairman Steve Hamer. Was this good news or bad news? And how did it affect the power base at the club? I am very clear about this (which in political language means I am not): I don’t have a clue and I don’t really care. For all that, I’ll post a few words about it.
Am I sorry that Hamer has gone? No. He was not a club chairman in the way that we usually know club chairmen to be, which is normally someone with close ties to the club, a supporter like Denis and Geoff Dunford (RIP both) and – God help us – Nick Higgs. Hamer was a hired hand who was paid to be chairman. He was good at putting forward the party line, or waffling as we call it. For all the failings of those directors and chairmen who went before, on balance I’d sooner have a genuine fan running the club than someone doing a paid job.
You can say the same about all Rovers’ senior officials from Wael al-Qadi down (or up, as the case may be). Only the laughably named ‘fans director’ Ken Masters is actually a fan, although his stellar lack of achievement in his role taints his longevity. None of them, not even Wael, were born into the blue and white quarters.
What happens next is anyone’s business. Will Hamer’s departure herald a glittering future at Bristol Rovers, safely ensconced in the long promised new stadium? Or will it bring forward further crises? Will the al-Qadi family continue to lend the club money whilst the debts continue to escalate?
My advice to Gasheads who are far more interested in events than I am is to let the owners get on with it and watch the football. There is no organisation to provide meaningful representation to supporters so there is nothing you can do about it, except hope that someone at the top knows what they are doing. For the Rovers, that would be unique indeed.
