Bonce's own personal thread. Volume X

Ten Bobsworth wrote:Isn't that Smiffy bloke an old associate of Sluffy's.

I used to be the mod on the Burnden Aces forum and basically ran the place as the owner Chris Mann was basically to busy with his uni work and had the shock of his dad dying.

Smith used to be on the clubs official forum which was not modded and lawless.

Apparently someone pointed out to Gartside the abuse and other non PC stuff that was going on, on there and he shut it down immediately.

I saw this as an opportunity to grow the Burden Aces Forum and contacted a few of the people who used to be on the now closed forum to tell them they could join us on BA if they wished (Cajun being one of them - Big Sharps, the lad who recently died being another).

A number of them did join the forum but didn't like that it was modded, which was fair enough if they were not used to that - but some were not prepared to tone things down play nicely.

The upshot was that Smith set up his own forum and rather naughtily tried to poach all of Burnden Aces members to jump ship to his forum.

When Chris Mann found out he banned Smith for doing so - however Smith believed I was the one who banned him and he used his forum to call me all the names under the Sun and encouraged others to join in, including 'Breezeblock' (Howard being his real first name).

Well name calling never bothered me at all but to cut a long story short Chris Mann decided to 'sack' me out of the blue and I simply decided that I would stay were I was not welcome, which prompted a few people to contact me to start my own forum instead.

I brought together Natasha and Reebok Trotter and the three of us formed the embryonic Nuts forum.

Smith obviously followed what we were doing and decided to seek revenge for me banning him from Burnden Aces (I hadn't fwiw!) so decided to buy a very similar domain name to ours and link them to gay male porn sites.

I could believe how someone carried over internet grudges into real life - and actually spent his own money trying to fuck me - but I've grown use to it now as  he wasn't the last whose tried to do it with me, I even had someone trying to hack me but thankfully they failed.

A year or so later Smith even tried to buy our actual domain name when it became due for renewal - so he clearly carries a grudge!

Smith's forum collapsed of course and Nuts prospered, or at least it did before all the hatred from a few over Brexit, Anderson and the Tory Government was all they could talk about.

Anyway Smith hated Gartside more then me and went on to start the ST to get back at him - and failed - although he did do the initial work.

He then went on to form a coup of the BWSA with Breezeblock and former councillor Chris Pead and they succeeded for a while until the BWSA voted them out at the following AGM.

By this time Gartside had died and Eddie was trying to sell the club and Smith resurrected the ST again but this time with popular support from Bolton fans fearful for the future of the club.

Smith/the ST really thought at one time they would own the club with Trevor Birch favouring supporter ownership but Eddie was having none of it.

They championed Holdsworth and the ST, Holdsworth and Iles led the hatred towards Anderson - however no matter what people believe of Anderson, he never actually did anything much wrong in the legal running of the club - for instance he didn't pocket £164m as Wanderlust once famously claimed!

Anyway back to Smith, he clearly used the ST as a vehicle for himself and his ambition of having some power over BWFC.

The ST has not been run in accordance with its own charter - they've skipped compulsory AGM's for instance - and it has never been democratic - they've yet even to this day held an election where people have actually voted!

How the Devil Neil Hart believes the ST is representative of the fans is a joke, ww have more members the the ST does.

Anyway it is what it is.

I wouldn't trust Smith as far as I could throw him and if people had any sense they would check out his Companies House dealings (and those of Bridge, where one Liquidator kept the company going for a number of years until Bridge repaid in full what he had taken out of it! It is in the public domain for all to see...).

Anyway Smith and Bridge have got what they want, they see themselves as self important to BWFC and if BWFC, via Hart, believes they are the voice of the fans - then that's up to him.

Cringed my way through the self-proclaimed Gobby One’s introduction and didn’t watch any more. Not someone I’d go into any kind of partnership with.

Not really my cup of tea.
The problem with the ST is, to paraphrase Simon Jordan, it's a small man in a big suit.
I'll stick to The Wanderer podcast with Jack Dearden.

finlaymcdanger wrote:Cringed my way through the self-proclaimed Gobby One’s introduction and didn’t watch any more. Not someone I’d go into any kind of partnership with.

That's as far as I got too. Same reaction.

Ian Bridge has always seemed to me to come across as more plausible but, as Sluffy says, he did seem to have some financial difficulties. Iirc he was later involved with Mark Taylor, one of Big Sam's associates and an advocate of cryotherapy. This involved a loan facility by Taylor from his pension fund to IJB Design Services Ltd. IJB, along with other mutual companies, didn't seem to get off the ground and was dissolved in November 2018. 

Taylor had followed Big Sam from Bolton to Newcastle after Sam kicked BWFC into touch on the grounds that Eddie Davies wasn't spending his money quickly enough.

Dean Holdsworth also seemed to have been involved in unregulated aspects of the pension fund business as was a lawyer on the Board of the ST.

It seemed to start initially by Holdsworth being employed by associates allegedly seeking to gain access to the funds of retired players. Gordon Taylor, as CEO of the PFA, was unhappy with some  of the tactics employed. That business failed with Holdsworth unsuccessfully claiming a six-figure fee in the liquidation. Sports Shield was set up subsequently in an association with a retired woman footballer.

The lawyer didn't prosper. Holdsworth did, even getting an honorary doctorate from UNIBOL.

Allardyce also took Taylor to Sunderland.

Taylor was sacked within six months but later formed a company with Ian Bridge called Cryotherapy Solutions Ltd. It also lasted only six months before it was dissolved.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10800260/filing-history

Another company formed with Ian Bridge, Euclid Special Projects Ltd, is still alive if not kicking. Its doing nowt. Taylor bowed out in December 2019.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10931426/filing-history

Ten Bobsworth wrote:

finlaymcdanger wrote:Cringed my way through the self-proclaimed Gobby One’s introduction and didn’t watch any more. Not someone I’d go into any kind of partnership with.

That's as far as I got too. Same reaction.

I'm a third who did exactly the same - and based on Bridge and Smith's financial backgrounds (Companies House records) let alone Smith's personal behaviour that he exhibited against me/Nuts - he's also been called out on ww for having made racists comments (I don't think he's posted again on their since), then I would suggest Hart carried out no 'due diligence' whatsoever with who he was getting into bed with, with regards to a fan based sounding board and/or the authenticity and accuracy of the views they express (they don't act in accordance and adhere to their own charter, so I personally would question the integrity and validity of any information they supplied - for instance their fan based questionnaires.

There is an art in setting non leading questions, the questionnaires I've seen from the ST seem to me not to demonstrate this skill and frequently seem to be written in order to get the reply they desired.

Hart himself said he was introduced to the ST by his own Chief Operations Officer, Phil Mason, who seems to be a mate of Ian Bridge

Now that to me IS cronyism.

Hart was also factually wrong that the ST was the largest BWFC membership fan grouping in the world, it isn't even the biggest in Bolton, Wanderers Ways is!

I would suggest even with all its faults that ww has more actual active members physically following the club home and away, who use the facilities such as the match day buses and the hotel on match days as well as the ST led Fan Zone, and who would be a more representative sounding board of all fans (including the representation of women, youth and ethnicity).

At the end of the day it simply doesn't matter to me as I'm of an age and health were my visits to the ground have ended so if Hart wants to Tango with the likes of Bridge and Smith then let him get on with it.

It's almost certainly a box ticking exercise required by the EFL in any case and no doubt Hart is smart enough to have the ST to 'endorse' anything he requires endorsing in order to state we consulted with the fan representatives before we did/did not do, X, Y or Z.

I suspect that Neil Hart may look forward to a trip to the dentist more than his meetings with the ST but its part of the job. Nowadays, even footie seems to have been infected with full-blown wokery and box-tickingitis.

P.S. It was Sharon that embraced the ST long before Hart arrived on the scene but it doesn't look like she spends much of her time with Smiffy &Co.

Ten Bobsworth wrote:I suspect that Neil Hart may look forward to a trip to the dentist more than his meetings with the ST but its part of the job. Nowadays, even footie seems to have been infected with full-blown wokery and box-tickingitis.

P.S. It was Sharon that embraced the ST long before Hart arrived on the scene but it doesn't look like she spends much of her time with Smiffy &Co.

I'm not to sure she did other than use some form of warm rhetoric towards them in her 'all Bolton together phase' after the hatred towards Anderson period had come to an end.

As if you listened to Hart's introduction on the video he seems to suggest it was he who took the initiative and asked Phil Mason who he could contact for fan engagement representation.

Just a random thought, Phil Mason long serving BWFC staff member -

https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/phil-mason-appointed-club-chief-operations-officer

Phil Mason (FV benefactor?).

Any relation to each other, possibly nephew/uncle perhaps?

Might provide a reason why FV are at BWFC rather than anywhere else or even in football at all?

Or just a simple coincidence?

Oh and yes, as I said it is all no doubt a required a box ticking exercise by the EFL but there is no reason why Hart does genuinely want fan engagement and even actually likes Bridge and Smith, no doubt they are both BWFC diehards in their own ways and both seem good at putting on an act and hide their darker sides.

Sluffy wrote:

I'm not to sure she did other than use some form of warm rhetoric towards them in her 'all Bolton together phase' after the hatred towards Anderson period had come to an end.

As if you listened to Hart's introduction on the video he seems to suggest it was he who took the initiative and asked Phil Mason who he could contact for fan engagement representation.

Just a random thought, Phil Mason long serving BWFC staff member -

https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/phil-mason-appointed-club-chief-operations-officer

Phil Mason (FV benefactor?).

Any relation to each other, possibly nephew/uncle perhaps?

Might provide a reason why FV are at BWFC rather than anywhere else or even in football at all?

Or just a simple coincidence?

Oh and yes, as I said it is all no doubt a required a box ticking exercise by the EFL but there is no reason why Hart does genuinely want fan engagement and even actually likes Bridge and Smith, no doubt they are both BWFC diehards in their own ways and both seem good at putting on an act and hide their darker sides.

Very positive meeting with Sharon Brittan and Mike James last night, wrote the ST in September 2019. See photo and account.

https://www.bwfcst.co.uk/blog/general-trust-news/bwfcst-meeting

I know a few people called Mason, Sluffy. Its a common name and doesn't mean that they are related to Phil Mason, Nick Mason or Perry Mason.



Phil Mason has been the Club Chaplain for 20 years.

I also expect that there were masons on the Board of BWFC before Eddie Davies arrived on the scene but that, as they say, is a different story.

Thanks Bob.

I do know that Mason is not an unusual name, and I did think the chances of them being related was remote but it isn't impossible that they are and it would have given some sort of a reason why FV have decided to pitch their tent with us and not someplace else far more convenient to them for many reasons.

And I don't doubt Sharon had cordial meetings with the ST before Hart appeared on the scene but if you did manage to last long enough into the video you will see for yourself what Hart said about his urgent desire to find and establish an immediate link to the fans and on his first day at the club asked Mason who he needs to talk to and Mason put him in touch with his old mate Bridge,

Fwiw Sharon once had an interview with Iles early doors - but never had one since and I suspect the same happened with the ST, as part of her charm offensive, to win the influencers over to get the fans back into the club again.

Once achieved she'd never bothered with Iles or the ST much since - hence I suppose why Hart had to ask Mason who to contact rather than Sharon telling him all about the lovely people she had met at our local Supporters Trust.

Sluffy wrote:Thanks Bob.

I do know that Mason is not an unusual name, and I did think the chances of them being related was remote but it isn't impossible that they are and it would have given some sort of a reason why FV have decided to pitch their tent with us and not someplace else far more convenient to them for many reasons.

And I don't doubt Sharon had cordial meetings with the ST before Hart appeared on the scene but if you did manage to last long enough into the video you will see for yourself what Hart said about his urgent desire to find and establish an immediate link to the fans and on his first day at the club asked Mason who he needs to talk to and Mason put him in touch with his old mate Bridge,

Fwiw Sharon once had an interview with Iles early doors - but never had one since and I suspect the same happened with the ST, as part of her charm offensive, to win the influencers over to get the fans back into the club again.

Once achieved she'd never bothered with Iles or the ST much since - hence I suppose why Hart had to ask Mason who to contact rather than Sharon telling him all about the lovely people she had met at our local Supporters Trust.

Thanks Sluffy.

 I didn't bother watching any more after Smiffy's introduction but I do think that Sharon and Neil Hart are well capable of putting on charm offensives that might be quite contrary to what they really think or believe. Some may recall Sharon putting on a vomit-inducing charm offensive with Dale Vince but who is to say that she didn't like the rascal?

I agree that Sharon does seem to keep Iles and the ST at a distance from her.

My old Mum, 93, has presented me with an early Christmas present. This! I suppose I'll now have to buy a pipe, a Labrador and a shotgun. She usually buys me socks! I was quite happy with my hoodie. Hope I don't turn into Nigel Farage.

boltonbonce wrote:My old Mum, 93, has presented me with an early Christmas present. This! I suppose I'll now have to buy a pipe, a Labrador and a shotgun. She usually buys me socks! I was quite happy with my hoodie. Hope I don't turn into Nigel Farage.

Do you like to drink dark mild out of a glass dimpled tankard?

karlypants wrote:

Do you like to drink dark mild out of a glass dimpled tankard?

No I do not! Brother is already taking the piss. Wait till he sees the duffel coat she's bought him.

boltonbonce wrote:

karlypants wrote:

Do you like to drink dark mild out of a glass dimpled tankard?

No I do not! Brother is already taking the piss. Wait till he sees the duffel coat she's bought him.

You'll look like someone of Last of the Summer Wine in that Boncey 

Norpig wrote:You'll look like someone of Last of the Summer Wine in that Boncey 

Compo?  

Edit: more Norman Clegg haha!

Norpig wrote:You'll look like someone of Last of the Summer Wine in that Boncey 

Don't you start. I've already been compared to Foggy Dewhirst. Mum has been doing this since childhood.
She once sent me to a school Christmas party in tartan pants and buckled shoes. I looked like Ronnie Corbett.
Is it any wonder I didn't see any girl action.
Even my mates started calling me Jock. These things can have a lasting effect.
It was years before I could even look at a box of Scots Porridge Oats.