06/05/2014 BBC Points West

report from South Africa, on the impact of the long-running Oscar

Pistorius Good evening. The chairman of

Bristol Rovers has said tonight that the club has hit rock bottom and

offered his sincere apologies to the fans. Rovers fell out of the

Football League at the weekend. The board met today and announced twelve

players including, David Clarkson and Fabian Broghammer, are to leave

the club. Will Glennon sent us this report.

Today is a reality`check day for Bristol Rovers and planning has

begun for a future outside the Football League. All day meetings

have been held, inside the Memorial Stadium, with the chairman and his

board of directors as they tried to decide on the best way forward.

Earlier this evening, the chairman Nick Higgs released a statement

saying that he and the board of directors sincerely apologise for

the relegation. He said that mistakes had been made and that the

club must learn from them. He also said that the playing budget and

costs for running the club will be reviewed, but Rovers will be keeping

a full`time playing and backroom set`up. Essential, you would think,

if Rovers will have any chance of bouncing back up into the Football

League. He also said that Darrell Clarke, at the moment, remains as

manager. There has also been an announcement this evening on

players. Twelve of those in and around the first team are to be

released from their contracts, including three big names. There are

still other questions to be answered. Will other jobs be lost

here? Will the board of directors change? The club insists, though,

that the 20,000 seater, multi`million pound stadium planned

for South Gloucestershire will go ahead. Some supporters have been

here at the club buying season tickets for next year. Others say

that they want to keep their cash in their pockets until they find out

more about the future direction of Bristol Rovers. Will Glennon, BBC

Points West, Memorial Stadium, Bristol. So just how much will

Bristol Rovers lose by falling out of the Football League? Here is our

business correspondent Dave Harvey. A bitter defeat and probably the

most expensive in the club's history. Here is what Rovers earned

this season from the Football League. Their share of TV rights and

sponsorship, ?392,000. Then, the so`called solidarity payment from

the Premier League is another ?240,000. And finally, a grant for

youth development of ?270,000 ` taking the total pot to just over

?900,000. Next year, that pot will be half. If they stay down, it

disappears altogether. Of course, there is some cash in Rovers' new

league ` the Football Conference. They will get just ?50,000 from life

there, meaning tough decisions for the board. The knife is going to

have to fall in staff costs right across the board. Staff costs

account for just over ?3 million of the costs at Bristol Rovers. That is

split between playing staff, office staff, and the centre of excellence.

I think we will see cuts in all of those categories. Let us hope that

the start of the season brings success on the field because that

can regenerate the supporters. There is nothing like a good promotion

battle to get out week after week. That is what

the club desperately needs at the moment. Meanwhile, of course, there

is this. Ambitious plans for a ?40 million new stadium at the

University of the West of England. Experts tell me that this is still

very much on track, as, after all, the main business here will be

meetings and conferences. These days stadiums have to earn money every

day and not just on match days. The stadium will sit 21,000 fans. The

real question is now down to them. Will they keep coming to see

Aldershot, Alfreton, and Welling? In the Football Conference, a club's

finances rely very heavily on its fans.

A group of experts has said the contract to build a new nuclear

power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset may be null and void. The

government signed a deal with EDF Energy worth ?16 billion over 35

years. But a group of law and economics experts claim the contract

favours the French firm and could also breach EU rules on state

subsidies. The last group of servicemen and

women to be sent to Afghanistan gathered on Salisbury Plain today.

They will be the final UK troops to deploy there, as combat operations

draw to a close by the end of 2014. Andrew Plant reports.

Preparing themselves for one last push. These soldiers are about to

fly to Afghanistan for the final time. Twelve years of military

operations will end there in December of this year. For some

here, the war in Afghanistan has spanned their entire careers. Cpl

Dan Jones from Gloucester will provide protection for engineers.

Our priority job is to create a ring of steel around Bastion, to deny the

insurgents freedom of movement. It will take months to take Camp

Bastion apart, a settlement the size of Reading, a military city in the

desert. There are still hundreds of vehicles and thousands of tonnes of

equipment in Afghanistan making up Camp Bastion. The job of the Armed

Forces between now and the New Year is to break down that camp and bring

most of that equipment back to the UK. Rifleman Angus from Stroud will

help transfer responsibility to the local Afghan army. We are slowly

letting them take over their own patrols and take over their own

training as well. Over 90% of their patrols and their training are now

self`taught. From the 1st of January next year, the UK will only help to

train the Afghan officers and will take no responsibility for security

in the country. But the remaining seven months there will be no less

dangerous. The twelve`year conflict has already claimed 423 British

personnel. No`one here seems clear whether they will be allowed to

leave quietly or whether the Taliban will try to chase them away.

That is just about all from me. Newsnight is getting started on BBC

Two. Time now to take a look at our weather with Ian Fergusson.

Good evening. Wednesday will be a dry day mostly with some showers as

well. There will be some showers this evening. Temperatures will be

mild, 8`11dC. In the morning there will be some showers in the rush

hour. The general theme is for showers across this area. This

evening should be dried. `` should be dry. Temperatures, 13`50dC. There

will be rain on Thursday. It will turn wet and windy on Saturday. An

unsettled story throughout. on Friday as well. I rather wet

start the weekend and it will be blustery during the week. As you may

have just heard, our weather is taking a turn for the worse. Some

lovely weather on the Spanish Costas. We leave that behind and

find low-pressure close by the British Isles. Behind that, there

are bands of wet weather. Some heavy downpours. In Northern Ireland, this

goes on through parts of England and Scotland. To the south, a few heavy

showers moving through and the breeze freshening. Many of us will

see some rain between now and the end of the night but it will not be

cold. On the many for tomorrow will be a bit of sun here and there but

nowhere near as much. Showers, yes, and stronger winds across southern

areas in particular. That will make it feel a bit cooler. This is how it

looks at ATM. There will be some dry weather around. A scattering of

showers into England and Wales.