[bdc]

I think there are a number of posts on here that raise some interesting points, in particular that the club will never move forward until EW and DON are gone from the club. This would then probably increase the chances of investment coming from the local economy and perhaps increase the prospects of gaining some good commercial deals. Without this sort of capital the club will never become self-sustaining, so it is a catch 22 situation until the ownership issue is sorted.

I think the capacity issue kind of best sums up everything that is wrong with the current management structure. This issue has been ongoing for over 4 years and only now are we actually trying to sort it at a time when bad weather is upon us and they will struggle to be to get the concrete to set to provide the necessary standing space.

In the short-term I think that things will continue to be run in the way it has been for the past few years. In the long-term we need to get to the point where we are a self-sustaining club that the community has a say in the running of. However this is mainly depending on Ilyas and getting his plan into action. The sooner this happens then the quicker the broken bridges can be mended.

In relation to the flags ban, I struggle to understand how the club has imposed a ban on these. There have never been any issues in the past few seasons and I think the club have shot themselves in the foot with this as it has reduced the atmosphere in the Clayton End and alienated The Ultras who have done so much for the club. Surely it would have been better to sit and down and discuss the issues arising from the risk assessment and then take steps to sort these out rather than imposing a complete ban. The club need to remember that without the fans there is no club.

As for future action, maybe it might an idea to get members from The Ultras, ASSF and OSC together to perhaps discuss what common ground they have in order to perhaps engage in dialogue with the club to sort some of the issues out.