The supporters meeting started with a mention of the problems in communicating effectively with supporters but with a commitment to a minimum of a twice-yearly Q & A session.  We moved on to a review of the 08/09 season highlighting the problems arising from the economy, abortive Newport move, changes in personnel and, not surprisingly, our disappointing playing performance. The positives however,; were that the club is financially stable and that a new management and coching structure is in place.

Tribute was, rightly, paid to Richard Hill, but it was stated that he had "taken us as far as he could" and that a transition to Paul Hull had been planned "months ago" although the change was originally planned for the start of next season.  Rob Clilverd was clear that Richard Hill had not parted with the club under terms of bitterness but, on the contrary, the two had been at Cheltenham on Thursday and that Richard had picked four winners despite not being a racing follower.

The financial problems of professional rugby were, once again, covered.  The combined loss for the GP clubs is expected to be £20-25M.  The best clubs (ie Leicester and Northampton will, at best, break even).  For Bristol we have seen revenue down 30%, reduction in gates losing 20% of revenue, corporate income down by 40% and reductions in both merchandise sales and reduced income from sales at the Memorial Ground.  The proposed move to Newport resulted in the loss of a big new sponsor, who then was unable to commit when that move was aborted.  Our loss for the year is estimated at £1.25M, but this is within the range envisaged if we had actually moved to Newport.  We did indeed experience real financial problems in December of last year and we might well have folded, nearly unable to play our fixture with Gloucester.  Chris Booy and John Lacock acted to avert this disaster.  This means that in future we will only spend what we have, but that the maximum will be put behind the team.

Chris Booy, as our new Chairman, promised, like a boy scout, to "do his best"! He asked if Premiership rugby was sustainable in Bristol?  He answered: yes.  But he was not prepared to risk the future of the club by chasing a Premiership "dream".  He said that Bristol requires an additional £2M to compete in the top six of the Premiership, of which £1.7M would have to be devoted to the playing budget.  This can be achieved by getting new investors, money from a proposed new TV deal (surely dependent on us being in the Premiership?), increased gate revenue and sponsorship.  His vision is one of stability. But with Bristol as a genuine force in the GP play-offs, Heineken Cup rugby, expansive & attractive modern rugby, the club as beacon in the community and producing England qualified players.

He announced another, rather Stalinist sounding, three year plan.  This recognised, realistically, that a return to the Premiership was a priority (although still try not to be relegated in the first place!), to confirm our long-term ground arrangements (with the Mem being the preferred option) and to establish a secure financial position.  To achieve these things we need a new stadium, bigger revenue streams and continued investment.

He went on to mention the proposed ‘Golden Share'.  He claimed that this would stop investment, reduce the board's flexibility and would be difficult legally.  I still retain an email from the club's then lawyer telling me that a Golden Share was possible and that he had developed the legal framework for its implementation.  Go figure.  However he was open to some form of supporter shareholding and would "talk to all groups".  This was all rather vague and not at all positive.

We then heard from Paul Hull.  Firstly he paid a warm tribute to Richard Hill, which was well received.  He then moved on to talk about his playing philosophy which concentrated on team and individual performance (in which he saw signs of improvement already), team spirit which involved celebration of good performances (and we have already seen this on the pitch with players celebrating good tackles and scrums) combined with criticism and support (an example of which was the clearly heard instruction from Shaun Perry against Leicester "Get to your f*****g feet Brewsy").  He also wants the team to enjoy their rugby.  He wants to instil a strong work ethic, improved fitness for a fast 15 man game, mental toughness and clarity of game plan.  Next season he sees a new challenge and is already in a rather ominous sounding "War Mode".  He wants everyone to share this vision: players, managers, support staff, board and supporters.

A Bristol player must have a professional attitude, a work ethic, be personable (hopefully!), buy into the culture and understand where we are going.  No one will be there " just for the ride": if they join the club it is to get us out of ND1 (if that's where we are) and into the Premiership.

Paul announced that John Brain had signed a one year contract extension.  He was absolutely clear that this was his decision and that he want John to provide continuity, to start next season running and for his experience, commitment and motivation.  He was equally clear that John's arrival had been a major cause of resentment and upheaval in the club and that we were only recently starting to see the fruits of his work in the scrum and lineout.  He urged us all to extend a warmer welcome to John Brain and that John too would make an effort to more approachable but that he "can't help his face". He went on to announce the signing of centre Jack Adams from Gloucester, the re-signing of Nathan Budgett and the signing of lock/6 Darren Barry (who I think is from Clifton, but I stand to be corrected on that one).

The evening concluded with a Q & A session, the substance of which is on the Trust website.  Overall we had a clear statement from the club of our current position, although exactly how we will achieve increased revenue was perhaps more opaque.  The talk around supporter shareholding was disappointing.  The reference to: "all supporter groups" sounds potentially divisive, but let's wait and see if anything comes from this.  The negative stance on general awareness advertising is, I believe mistaken in the medium to long term.  The problem here, I think, is that few of the present board are from a commercial or industrial background in which general awareness advertising (as opposed to specific, targeted, campaign advertising) is of any major importance.  I believe it is a problem in a city with a large population, but one with a high proportion of incomers.  Traditionally Bristol retains a higher number of students in the area than other university towns, but how do we attract them to Bristol rugby unless they are already rugby fans, but not from a town or city with a Premiership club?  How do we attract people who aren't traditional supporters if they have no real awareness of the club?

The frankness of Paul Hull, who has genuine passion for this club, around John Brain's appointment was very refreshing.  I hope he can deliver on his vision of an expansive, fast game.  His admission that forwards and backs had only recently started practising together was a telling one.  Let us open our hearts to John Brain and get into War Mode!

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