“It’s an absolutely essential part for success. The stadium is a requirement for the club and it has to be built, and it will be built when everything is in order and 100 per cent ready to go.”
There are variations of the above answer to the same question - this one is via Bristol TV - such were the media rounds he was doing at the time, but each one essentially said the same thing as Wael Al-Qadi held his first press conference at the Mem seven years ago this week, after his family had purchased a 92 per cent controlling stake in the club.
It was, and in many respects always has been throughout their and his ownership of the Gas, the subject that has underpinned everything; four managerial changes, two promotions and one relegation, countless transfers and loans in and out, boardroom manoeuvres, battles with the Supporters Club, the pandemic and everything else in between, it’s a question that has never gone away, and continues to represent an uncomfortable millstone around Wael Al-Qadi’s neck.
