https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...rdiff-23906677
Steve Borley made his millions from nothing and has ploughed his money back into the places he loved as a boy.
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https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...rdiff-23906677
Steve Borley made his millions from nothing and has ploughed his money back into the places he loved as a boy.
All credit to him for his success and various projects but the first impression of Cardiff when coming out of the railway station is quite soulless.
Probably an improvement on the horrible buildings that were there before though, all 50/60’s nightmares weren’t they? I quite like the mix of modern and Victorian.Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie
Really , Asteys , football echo stand toilets,newsagents . ,great access to the ground from bus station , Red Dragon Bar , Bus Shelters , waiting place for away fans ????????????
At the moment perhaps, with the offices quiet, and the array of chain stores, but when the bus station is finished and hopefully people get back into work more and back on the trains more, it could become very vibrant.
Personally I think Central Square is looking the best it ever has - maybe it had something when the old bus station was new, but I think for most of the last 20 years or so the welcome to the city was dreadful
Every chairman of a football club should be someone like steve Borley. Football would be much better if it was.
Nice to see a write up on a positive subject
Looks like he deserves every penny
His company didn’t design the buildings. They’re a mechanical & electrical engineering business.
However, that area is bland, mind.
It's an improvement on the outdated, piss-smelling bus station though
I was mortified when Astey's closed, along with the Kiosk attached to it. Excellently situated for buying a couple of 'single' fags for the bus journey back to Llanedeyrn.
indeed, the new look might be soulless and bland ( Ive not seen it in person ) But lets be honest, the old lot was ugly and quite frankly a eyesore
All credit to Borley for what he’s achieved so far. Very impressive.
Curly Humphreys story is just as interesting and impressive.
2 local lads who did well.
Bronco Lane another one
Steve Borley is a throwback to the days when football clubs in the top two divisions tended to be run by local businessmen and the weird thing is that plenty of the clubs with overseas owners who throw money about like it is going out of fashion are no better off now than they were then - in fact, they’re worse off in lots of cases.
Steve Borley is a good Cardiffian who has put a lot into both his home city and its football club - chwarae teg to him.
Interesting quote from Steve Borley
Then in 2000, Sam Hammam came in as new Cardiff City owner. Steve offers his take on the next six years that would follow: "When a club is for sale you're always going to attract weirdos," he said. "We ended up forced to do a deal with Hammam. I assumed I would be gone but he kept me on as chair for a bit. Hamman had run out of money by 2006."
The Lebanese businessman was best known for making one of football's most rakish financial killings from Wimbledon. He walked away with around £36m, first by selling the Plough Lane ground to Safeway for £8m, then the club itself to two Norwegian investors. He promised much for Cardiff but by the time they reached the First Division in 2003 the wage bill exceeded the club's entire earnings. The debts, £1.5m when Hammam arrived, had ballooned to almost £23m
That is interesting and it's somewhat at odds with what Steve was saying at the time. In July 2000, when it was reported that Sam Hammam's interest in buying the club had cooled due to alleged boardroom wrangling at Ninian Park, Steve told BBC Wales: "If he sat down and met the board, I think he would change his mind. We're easy people to deal with. We've made it as easy as possible to accommodate any possible deal going forward because we only have the interests of the football club at heart."
Within a couple of months of Hammam taking control, Steve told the local press: "Sam has incredible energy. If the dust ever settles, he will see there's a huge job ahead, but who else would you want steering the ship?"
In January 2002, in the wake of the FA Cup victory over Leeds United, journalist David Conn attempted to do a hatchet job on Hammam in the Independent, but Steve was fierce in his defence. He told Conn: "Sam is the best thing to happen to this club in 50 years."
While Steve's a good man who has no doubt always had the club's best interests at heart, I think it's fair to say he's occasionally run with the hare and hunted with the hounds during his time in Cardiff City's boardroom, whether that be alongside Samesh Kumar, Sam Hammam, Peter Ridsdale or Vincent Tan.
I think most fans had the same opinion of Sam at the time though didn’t they ?
I'm sure they did, although you won't find many who'll admit it now.
It was the "forced to do a deal with a weirdo" claim that tickled me. Not quite how I remember things, that's for sure.....
Exactly
Remember a poster on here called Astey’s rent boy 😂
Yeah, i remember that one. Also, Markylicksthais or something similar, 'Kin' ellAll of that area was rank, especially around the public Toilets.
Always Liked Steve, I will never forget the messages we exchanged prior to Scam joining, Steve always had the clubs best interests at heart with whatever that meant to him
the guy deserves nothing but respect from us city fans
I’ve my beef with him for some of his actions during the rebrand, but overall can’t fault him.
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