Youth Olympics and Brent Pope

Thread starter #1
Some tidy young players in this tournament. Currently the Slovakia vs Sweden women's game on red button and Brent Pope appears to be providing some of the commentary.

Wonder if he speaks to any of the youths about study and play time at the Devils organisation. Would be good for future publicity and play if so.
 
Thread starter #3
I understand some peoples frustration towards him but surely any positive publicity and upcoming youth players for the Devils is always good!
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#4
I never followed the Devils in the turbulent Pope era, my stint being 89-96 and 2014 to date. I’ve seen a few comments in the past on here slating Pope, but what did he do tinder serve such a bad rep ?
 

kettdevil1

Well-Known Member
#5
I never followed the Devils in the turbulent Pope era, my stint being 89-96 and 2014 to date. I’ve seen a few comments in the past on here slating Pope, but what did he do tinder serve such a bad rep ?
Hmmm, can open, worms everywhere. I will try to be as balanced as I possibly can and I am sure that others closer to the club can fill in the blanks and correct any errors but the following is my viewpoint.

The short answer is that BP (funny how those initials have caused tensions for Devils fans on a number of occasions...) is perceived to be indelibly tied to the owner in the unpopular Paul Ragan era. At the risk of sounding precious about it all, I think it is difficult for fans who missed this part of Devils history to understand the anger, upset and sheer frustration of this part of our existence. Leaving aside the shameless self-promotion (but for a good cause), in the book 'Voices in the Crowd' (proceeds to charity hence the good cause!) I wrote maybe five lines about the nadir of this period and after remembering back to that game which is often seen as the lowest point (a horrible, turgid game versus Fife where maybe 600 people were present), I was so angry that I slammed my laptop down so hard it broke.... that was what that period did to me, and others.

The perception was that between them BP and PR sucked the life and the spirit out of the club. The treatment of outstanding servants such as Gerad Adams (who had performed miracles with limited resources) and Neil Francis was deplorable and whilst most fans accepted that when we were in the BBT we were limited in our expectations, we still had always done things the right way, as a club we had honor, integrity and a fighting, underdog spirit that carried us a long way. G and Franny built some fun sides before the BP/PR era and most importantly they (and the other senior people in the organizations) treated people the right way. Tough decisions were sometimes made, but everything was done according to a code of honour that meant we were respected as a team and as supporters we had self respect.

I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes at the time and whilst I have spoken to BP on a few occasions (and he has been perfectly pleasant), I do not claim to have any inside track as to whether he was the architect of the slide from near the top of the hockey pyramid to a team bereft of heart, soul and most importantly integrity, but as the stand-in coach and front man of the organisation, he was the person who attracted the ire of fans.

I remember being in Coventry when we were battling to get into the playoffs in the last game of the season. My mind sometimes plays tricks on me but I think we needed to win and in the last two minutes, with the game on a knife edge, Matthew Myers took a penalty which cemented our position as non-qualifiers and rather than being angry at Myers, or the rest of the team at their performance I just shrugged and felt relief that the season was over and I could go and watch some cricket instead.

Returning to that game against Fife, I am sure at the time someone took a video of the crowd and the sparseness and apathy was what hits you when you look at it. Although for me, that game was the moment when all the anger I had about what was happening came out. Losing against Fife was not what did it, it was the realization that the club was dying on its feet and the whole rink knew that there was nothing that could be done to save it. We had witnessed so many triumphs, so many great games, so much upset when we left the WNIR and through it all the club had fought to be the club we are now but on the evening in February..... it felt like the end and the man in the hat, patrolling the bench, was the lightning rod that attracted every bit of anger that fans had.

There were other moments, the farcical signing of Tomas Kurka (an undoubtedly talented player but not one you would pin your hopes on) on the 'biggest contract the Devils had ever signed' which turned out to be nothing of the sort, the revolving door that was recruitment, the treatment of warriors such as Lordo, Mac Faulkner and Tyson Marsh and I am sure there are many, many other examples.

Thankfully dawn breaks after the darkest hour and the sheer outpouring of emotion that greeted the new owners was testament to how low we had been.Without wanting to be blasphemous, it felt like a miracle and what our Calgary friends brought us was not only hope but also a return to the time when the club did things the right way, treated players in the way you would want to be treated yourself, treated fans as a valued part of the club and gave us all back our love of the game and the club. The Challenge Cup win that followed remains a memory I will never forget.

So, (with apologies for my ramblings) in answer to the original question, whilst I am sure BP would defend his role and point out the constraints that he was working under, he has come to symbolize a time in our history when we were at our lowest ebb, we had become irrelevant and worse than that, as fans, we were becoming ashamed about what was being done under our name.
 
#7
One fan I spoke to called pope a cancer, although that's a horrible word I felt it was a perfect description of him. The man was poison to our club, I remember confronting ragan about pope trying to move Adams out and replace him on the bench, both denied it would happen at a public forum, then those two lying bastards were found out for what they were. They took our club to new lows. After supporting the club I loved for20 years I couldn't take any more of those two and decided I was done. I'm now so thankful we has those two idiots making such a mockery of the club we love as Eagan had nowhere to go with the club they had ruined. Having to sell was the only option, new owners came in Todd did the impossible and not only brought the fans back , he and the new owners gave us our club back. I'd personally be happy if I never saw that self promoting clueless arse ever again. If your in any doubt about my opinion , speak to any fan who was supporting the team back then who were also on the verge of walking away from this great club. Even bob Phillips wasn't as bad as those two and that's saying something
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#8
One fan I spoke to called pope a cancer, although that's a horrible word I felt it was a perfect description of him. The man was poison to our club, I remember confronting ragan about pope trying to move Adams out and replace him on the bench, both denied it would happen at a public forum, then those two lying bastards were found out for what they were. They took our club to new lows. After supporting the club I loved for20 years I couldn't take any more of those two and decided I was done. I'm now so thankful we has those two idiots making such a mockery of the club we love as Eagan had nowhere to go with the club they had ruined. Having to sell was the only option, new owners came in Todd did the impossible and not only brought the fans back , he and the new owners gave us our club back. I'd personally be happy if I never saw that self promoting clueless arse ever again. If your in any doubt about my opinion , speak to any fan who was supporting the team back then who were also on the verge of walking away from this great club. Even bob Phillips wasn't as bad as those two and that's saying something
Absolutely spot on, those two were pure parasites who didnt give a shit about players, and fans alike, two bigger enemies against our club you couldn’t find, we were now on the brink of destruction, and our great club steeped in history was rapidly becoming a friggin joke, with Pope being the court jester. Thankfully for us all today these two comedians finally got kicked into touch, and our great club has blossomed ever since. This great club is now in the hands of the best owners we have ever had, people who genuinely care and that’s why this great club is in the best condition ever, and it sure does show. Words could never be enough to show exactly how joyous it is to have our club back where it belongs at the top.
Happy Hockey Days
 

rolf

Active Member
#9
If it is possible to access archives from twitter, I strongly urge you to read the tweets attributed to Raul Pagan. Satire but based on actual events which gives an insight into the random chaos at the time. The author of these tweets was connected to the club but remained anonymous despite several witch hunts and mistaken sackings by the then management to eradicate. Who remembers the £1 parking fee "for charity" and the DCF? The Devils Community Foundation van driven by Brent Pope? It is all in there if it is still available to view.
 
#11
he was, he wearing one of his many hats, sitting in block 2 for the 1st,
wasn't there for the remainder of the game.
Looked like we was with his partner and young child
 
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