Bristol Rovers Chairman Hussain AlSaeed speaks to BRTV on the Club's hopes and ambitions for 2025, and plans across the operation going forward...
Happy New Year Hussain! How do you reflect on what 2024 brought for you and Bristol Rovers?
“We were extremely busy in 2024. A lot of things happened and some of those things, our fans already know about, and there is a lot that fans do not know about too.
“One of the first and biggest things we did in 2024 was take on the Women’s Team from the Community Trust. They have done an excellent job for a number of years and advanced the team in many different areas, and now we’re giving the team all the support they need. They are doing excellent so far. They reached the fourth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, something they’ve never done before, so they’ve done excellent and we hope they continue in that way. The growth of the women’s team is a real priority for us.
“Also, in terms of the infrastructure, we submitted the pre-application for The Memorial Stadium in 2024 and we received feedback from the council. We are working on their notes and observations with a view to resubmitting the pre-application next month. I am sorry I can’t share some of the pictures or plans at the moment but soon we will be able to. Once we have got the second round of the pre-application done, we will be able to share more with our fans.
“The first stage of this will be closing the gaps in the East Stand with the North and South Stands. That will be one piece of work. We will also convert the freestanding and the terraces into seated. The first stage of the operation with the conversion in the standing will increase the capacity by 500 - 1,000. We will also build on the North Stand, which will take the capacity up another 2,500 - 3,000. So once we are completely finished, we will be around 16,000 - 17,000 capacity at the Stadium.
“In terms of the training ground, we submitted our pre-application in September 2024. We had an initial, very good meeting with the council and we are now awaiting their reply in terms of our proposal for the training ground. Both projects are moving at pace and we hope that, in 2025, we will get the final approval for both. Before that, we will share the final designs with our fans.
“There is also another point which I feel we did not really talk about and maybe our fans do not know too much about, which is the human infrastructure. Having those facilities is very important but you need the right people to run it. When we took over, we felt we did not have that in the Club so a big piece of work was hiring the right people for those jobs.
“We started with George Friend as the Director Of Football. He did an excellent job in the summer with the recruitment of the players, and George will explain his job in more detail in an individual interview. After that we hired Mitch Waddon as Head Of Media - another important role to fill - and Mitch will also be speaking in an interview about his job and what he has been doing.
“Then, in the summer, we added both Ritchie Bates and John Stanley. Ritchie came in as Director Of Commercial And Revenue. He brings a lot of experience and he will talk about his ideas and some of his plans in his own interview. John is working as Head Of Football Administration and is doing an excellent job."
One thing I know fans are very eager to know about is the potential for a new scoreboard at The Memorial Stadium. Are there any updates regarding a scoreboard?
“Absolutely. The scoreboard has been purchased and we have also designed the structure to hold that scoreboard. James Hillier, our Head Of Safety & Stadium, will be able to talk more about it when he does his interview with you. But I can say that the board have approved the budget for it and work should start on it very soon. I’m sure James will be able to speak more on it.”
You mentioned budget, and there was certainly a budget for the recruitment drive the Club went on in terms of signing sixteen new players in the summer and one new player already this January. Could you speak a bit on the board’s backing of the squad in that regard?
“That was our commitment from the beginning. We always intended to do that. We’ve spent the highest budget in Bristol Rovers history - something we’re very proud to say - and also we have the highest paid-for individual player as well. George Friend and the recruitment team have done an excellent job in recruiting those players.
“We have very talented players. We are yet to see them fully click and play together but it will take time to see it come together in the right way. We have no doubt that it will and we have all the trust in our players. We support our players and their head coach going into the remainder of the season.”
And, in Inigo Calderon, we have a young, exciting head coach taking Bristol Rovers forward in 2025…
“Calde is the right man to come in to work with this squad that we have. We have young players and he has worked with young players before. He is very well respected in the field and we felt he was the right person in terms of his character, his passion and his commitment.
“George Friend and his team recommended him and, after meeting with him, we think and feel he is the right man to guide us through. We will be behind him and we are going to support him in this transfer window and, of course, in the summer too. We wish him good luck and we are going to be behind him all the way.”
Towards the end of 2024 we learned the news that you would be purchasing the shares of the Club owned by Wael Al-Qadi over the next 18 months. Could you tell us about that process?
“This was something we didn’t see coming and was a bit of a surprise for us. I’ve known Wael since we joined him as a partner at Bristol Rovers. He is a really intelligent and good person to work with, and we will really hate to see him leave Bristol Rovers. But that was his wish, because of his own circumstances, so we stepped in and closed the gap to continue to fund the Club. We continue to have Wael with us and we wish him all the luck.”
In closing, 2025 is shaping up to be quite an exciting year for Bristol Rovers and all associated with the Club. What message would you like to give to Gasheads watching this interview?
“First of all, I would like to thank them for all their support and for standing behind their Club. I would urge them to continue to support our players, our team. We are at the beginning of our journey, and it’s a journey that will be up and down, and we will have to support our head coach and our players at all times.
“I would like them to be behind their team and thank them once again for all their support in 2024 and in 2025 so far. I wish them all a Happy New Year, and I think there are some really exciting things to come in 2025. Up The Gas!”
