Thetownend.com

Just seen on Sky Sports site. Can't post link because I'm on my iPhone.

They'll hopefully be told to fuck off, but it could be like Greer all over again.

Would be devastating to lose Austin now ... can't see him wanting to leave though, yet.

I think if he was sold the club would wake up to a pile of season tickets outside the front door

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_6345836,00.html

If we sell Austin I can see us getting relegated. The place would go into meltdown.

Damn straight.

I like how they just casually mention at the bottom that Parker might move. Get the priorities straight.

It won't happen, and if it does I'll go into denial.

Absolutely

Hopefully its a load of bollocks but after the Greer debacle, who knows?

IF it were true, I think that would just about do it for me. My enthusiasm would competely drain away. I would be done. Finished. Let's just hope nothing comes of it because I don't want that to happen.

Ah, what are all these feelings that I haven't felt since 2007? Oh, it's how it used to feel being a Swindon fan.

 A sale would fit in with the business model, of developing young players and selling them on. I suppose it will depend on whether a buyer meets the asking price....which I would have thought would be in the Cox range. 

If it is he'll be gone......

Not good that's all I will say. I don't think we will sell him with so little time to get a replacement in but then I never thought we'd sell Greer. If Austin does go I think i'll cry.

and looks what has happened to Coxy since, might be pulling a good wage, but he's sidelined his playing career.

Not really, hes in their first team squad and is as expected on the bench most games.

Done alright if you ask me

Not been this worried about a sale since shearer and jan the man were rumoured to be on the way. And that ended well. Oh.

I was gutted when Duncan left for Blackburn, but we did go on to win the play-offs, Jan, i'm still getting over that. How far have we fallen!  :no:

Agreed I think as Spencer said earlier in the thread things would go into meltdown and there would be a huge shift in feelings against Fitton and co. Not advocating that but football fans are very fickle and Fitton would face the prospect of undoing every bit of good work that has been done over the last 3 years.

Its ok we have Vince

I really can't see him going, saw him and his Dad at the pre-season game versus Poole, they're very happy at Swindon, it'd take a bigger club to come knocking, that's for sure.

.........great

Yes but we've already lost Paynter and sold Greer so far this summer. To lose our best player (or more to the point our hottest prospect) at this stage would be stupid. Money or not we can't be that short. We sold Henshall for 250k and Greer for a sum thought to be around that mark as well. So we're already looking at 500k netted through player sales this summer. Why do we need to sell Austin? And if we do sell we're up shit creek in terms of the playing side. I'd have hoped Fitton as a footballing man who takes a lot of interest in that side of things would not be stupid enough to sell.

People seem to forget that in his professional career VP has scored nearly as many goals as Austin has.

He'll come good, and be our 20 goal a season man once Charlie has gone.

Comedian

i aint joking

Lets face it we're doomed
[url width=260 height=194]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:_YZBDPn9IfBlhM:http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/dadsarmy/img/gallery/02/BAP_BBC_5213.jpg&t=1[/url]

True, but it has taken him 150 games to get there, it took Charlie less than 40.

Nowt wrong with being a striker and having a 1 in 7 strike rate John ;)

There were lots of rumours about Charlie over the summer and all turned out to be bollocks. The easiest solution I can see is for Fitton to say "Fuck off"

And they were all for alot more money...

I'd take 5mill cash for him.

Lick my Arse Orifice good one!

He aint no way worth that, if they stump up £1.5mill I think we would snap their hand off in all honesty, but I don't think they will and I also don't think he will leave.

if this is true,austin will know what is on offer from millwall(contract length,pay,higher division etc). if it's better than here,i think he will ask for improved terms or will leave.
i was sure he will go next summer anyway,this just might speed his departure up.

The position we are in, both financial and league means all of our players will leave if a decent bid comes in we cannot afford to say no to clubs.

If we don't do something now in terms of contract revision then Austin will go next summer without a doubt. So we might as well cash in if the bid is decent enough but I doubt Millwall will pay the £1m+ figure for what is very young and untried player.

If we cash in on Austin who else will score goals in our team (assuming no replacement is made)? But its more than that, this would be a massive kick in the balls for the fan base. The opposite of a statement of intent.

But yes, all players have a price. But we fans largely don't think of the commercials!

My worry isn't that Millwall will sign him, but that this will be the bid that brings other bids out from other (bigger) clubs. And then it cold be see ya later.

That's what I think, it will raise other clubs interest.

I don't want him to leave, I hope the board sticks to their guns and repel any bid for him. We have no other striker really and losing him would piss me right off. We get a decent player and they leave after a season its starting to rile me slightly.

But hey, if he does go Wilson will get a decent replacment and stick him on the bench. Someone to talk to Ferry.

It's a bullshit rumour with no foundation. Media talk.









Now where are those straws that need clinging to?

All very true....but Charlie has been a bit lethargic this season.....personally I'd cash in on a Cox type offer and use the funds for further rebuilding.

That's the point though Reg. There isn't time to rebuild. We've got less than 72 hours before the window shuts. To sell now would be totally stupid.

There are loans to be had, then maybe pay some money in Jan....something like 1.5 to 2 mill would be impossible to turn down. 

I'm sure it wouldn't be....500 to 750 could be turned down.

we're not going anywhere this season, might as well take the money. it makes good 'business sense'

we're going to be stuck in the botton 2 tiers for life now.

haha. fuck off

Someone put Dave on suicide watch

 L1 is our natural home.....

[url width=230 height=230]http://s9.thisnext.com/media/230x230/Ticking-Time-Bomb-Alarm-Clock_02D78330.jpg[/url]

Try not to lose it and embaress yourself again eh?

I cant help but think Dave is on the wind up

Covinghams my natural home - but sometimes I want to leave the house.

But surely only as far as Nythe.....

No, maybe I'm just ambitious!!

when was the last time we dug our heels in and didnt sell a player we received a bid for?

Cuthbert in january.

The clubs which do consistently better in this division are the ones with financial backing or the fanbase. Out of the top 6 last season we were the financial lightweights.

I know our board/owners have money but it's not our place to start telling them how to spend it, not least when our gates haven't improved that much. That said, I would be bitterly disappointed if Austin got sold, especially in this transfer window.

Fitton obviously sold Greer thinking Ferry and Caddis would collectively return greater reward (both financial and perhaps on the pitch), maybe that was a mistake. But here's some food for thought: old board and owners or new board and owners and the sale of players like Greer every so often? We were selling players every season before anyway.

Agree on all counts, Si

Fucking hell Dave !!!!!

No idea, as presumably a lot of this stuff stays in house....if you're ambitious, maybe you should lok to follow another club.

We've always been a minnow, that occasionally punches above it's weight....last season was such a thing, but we failed, so it's back to a period of shitness before the next decent season.

as far as I remember that was all rumour and nothing substantial.

Exactly, we don' know either way. For all we know arsenal could have been making £1 million bids for david lucas which we've been rejecting. useless speculation is all it is

Oh and and any Swindon fan who feels that Milwall are a bigger club than us is a complete cunt.Letting Charlie go anywhere like that would be a travesty,book balancing accountant style fans fuck me off more that the adver depressive comments.Swindon fans have lost their back bone,its all "oh they saved our club from certain demise we should be gratefull" .grow some you cunts grrrr.

I'm sure Mr Fitton realises that to let Charlie go now would fuck the whole season, it would only take a few back to back wins for us to shooting up the table, the season isn't dead and buried yet! Pretty sure he won't be going anywhere

Haha nobody has said that really. Certain things have been said about Greer, but only because someone keeps bringing it up more times than I said Billy Paynter wouldn't be easily replaceable.

I don't think we will sell him yet but if we do we are fucked. It's nearly 3 months since paynter left and we have struggled to get a replacement so fuck knows how wilson would manage 2 new strikers.

Not that it's going to happen if it was january i may think a bit differently.

Millwall cant afford Austin.........end of story.

Crickey, this forum/football club needs a good week... and quick! Chins up chaps and, erm, chapettes.

not that simple.we dont know what money they have,or have maybe offered.fitton has already shown that he'll take the money despite a player not wanting to go(greer)so who knows.
and regardless of that,if austin wants to move he'll move.

Based on what i saw yesterday we have a few more weeks of this shit ahead

I'm not too sure he'll want to go. His dad and grand-dad are Swindon fans, but then who knows

Months...

years...

Eternity

They are going to play well against Saints in the league game on the 11th. I'm trying to inject some positivity here

Could we all try to remember that AF is, or at least seems to be, a failrly intelligent bloke that knows what he's doing.

Selling the only goal-scorer days before deadline day at the start of a season in whaich you're doing all you can to get the gates up and are hoping to challenge for promotion doesn't fuckin fit with that analysis of his character. It would be a short termist twat of a thing to do.

It won't happen. Comparisons with GG, BP and Coxy are completely spurious. GG was after a contract renewal that wasn't on the table because he didn't fit with the "focus on the young, saleable assets" policy, BP WAS OUT OF CONTRACT FFS, and Cox was sold in the closed season as a part of the cash in and rebuild process, (we are not now in the period for that).

Fitton knows how to market a product, and he was so keen on Charlie I think mainly for his marketing potential (young, local ......).

He's not going to flush that at the start of the season for a few quid that will still be there at the end of it.

Please put this bullshit out of your minds.

Will do Lumps........but if it isn't false i will hunt you down.

I really can't see it happening Leefer, it would be suicide and wreck this whole season before it's even started

Henshall's family are Swindon fans, didn't stop him being sold, before we even got a chance of seing him play...

Unless the offer is too good to refuse, the club can have my season ticket back.

We dont NEED the money, we did with Cox/Parkin, Hasn't Fitton and Co. cleared the debt? Then why sell him? Do we not have any ambition as a club?

At least youll have weekends free to go to bradford ;)

No surrender.

The fans would go into meltdown if this happened!

Can't see it though unless they're offering big money.

We are still loss making, so they continue to clear the debt in a way.

But other than that, I agree. The only reason we should sell Austin is for a stupid bid. Of course the player could force the move too, but lets hope not.

how much would it take then folks?

1M + I hope we can keep of charlie till at least jan. The at least we'd have time to get a replacement in... and a few more points on the board

£1 m + for a bloke that was laying fucking bricks this time last year ?

You clearly are mental

Id be disappointed to lose him at any cost, but 1.5M up front would mean I would sort of see sense in it, 1 step back to take 2 forward - just not this season. That's assuming it was all reinvested in the team.

However I know 1 good season in league 1 does not mean he is really worth anything like that. I would say a true valuation would be 700-800K and probably that would be staggered/conditional. I'd be gutted/livid if such an offer was accepted though.

Fitton & co had to put in shit loads of cash to buy the club and clear the debt, plus the club runs at a £3m loss each season which they have to cover. They don't want to have to keep putting more money in and I imagine they'll want their money back at some point. That is the reason we still need to sell players.

If a decent offer comes in for Austin he will be sold, I reckon it would take £2m at the moment - I rate him more than Cox plus he's got a few years on his contract. But I'd be very surprised if it happened in this transfer window as it will be too late to get a decent replacement and with Fitton wanting promotion he won't take the risk. Bizarrely, we have Pericard to thank for this as if he'd scored a few goals they'd probably think we could cope without Austin.

I agree with this. If he does leave though I hope it's next may, then we'd have time to spend the money in other areas too and hopefully do something simliar to what we did when cox left.

whatever it is, no doubt you will then go on to tell everyone how wrong they are and that he's worth much less.

Start with the asking price of 2m and go from there.

IMO every player has their price no matter who they are. If a sensible offer comes in, the club will definately consider it. Thats life unfortunately.

if they come up with stupid amounts like 2 million then of course i will.
£750,000 is what i'd value him at right now.

I said start the asking price at 2m, not that he was worth 2m.

I'd be fucked off if we only got £750k for him.

the only way he would be going is if we already have another player lined up like ward maybe  ;D

Didnt Fitton last season say something along the lines of, i wont get out of bed for under 1m?

It's always hard to call on what price a player should be sold for from a lower league than the team that has bid for is in. The players are often unproven in the higher leagues, albeit particularly good in their league.

Really, we could use the Pitman transfer as a benchmark as it were. I've heard it's between £800,000 and £1,000,000 and he'd played only a hatful of league one games. Yes, he's been prolific in his league two career, and very early league one career, but other than that i'd regard Austin's goalscoring much higher purely because of what league his goals were scored in last year. Pitman only had a good 18 monhts anyways.

Le Fondre is similar, Rovrum are even valuing him at £3,000,000 which is ridiculous for someone who has played out his entire career in the bottom football league division, and only been prolific at one club.

I'd really hate Austin to leave right now, although if his goalscoring continues his departure really is inevitable.

Bournemouth fans seem to think they got about 250k upfront for Pitman.

Leeds have signed Ross McCromack from Cardiff for 600k. We got £1.5m for Simon Cox

Austin having 2 years left on his contract increases his value though.

He's had less time here than Cox, scored less goals but is younger and has longer on his contract. He's had more media exposure (more games on tv) and more articles in various papers due to his story.

One less season but 1 year longer contract, thats got to make him worth as much as Cox was when we sold him.

dont shoot the messenger but spoke to a memeber of Austins family who said he is defo signing for Millwall tomorrow in a deal worth up to 1.2 million

His old man? I too know somebody who has spoken to him..

...and did he say the same thing?

Not sure, i know somebody who has spoken to his old man in the past and knows him well. Just saying i know somebody who knows Charlies dad  :D






Yes.

if you are lying i will send that colchester player round to tell your kid to fuck off again.

I assume your mates having you on.........but the more I think about it the more I think the result of this sale would be catastrophic for the club. I'm already struggling to to have the same passion this season as last season as so far it's all been a bit of an anti climax and to be frank a real let down. Add in the sale of Austin and it would break morale within the fanbase and probably within the squad and the likely relegation battle this would lead to would be a case of 1 step forward and 100 back.
Sometimes money is only part of the bigger picture and on this occasion that is definitely the case.

Been out all day at lambourn carnival and knew nothing of the speculation but got told by a member of his family that the deal was in the offing if it is true then Wilson better have some cards up his sleeve

Like I said hopefully all crap, but if not watch this club go into complete meltdown

*forum

Nah it'll stretch further than this forum, the fans that focus purely on the football and don't even use this forum will be the most pissed off as they don't think about finances and all the boring stuff

Could you blame them if it happened though? I understand the finances but that won't stop me asking wtf is going on if he does go.

No I'd be completely fuming and if I saw Fitton in the street at that moment in time I'd probably lob my season ticket at him, just saying it won't purely be this board that would see everything kick off on.

I didn't mean that any rage would be limited to this board at all. I hope nothing happens, because it could well turn seriously ugly on and off the pitch, but blimey, this place would explode.

Fair enough I think this is a sure fire way for years of hardwork to be thrown away in an instant

Fuck me, Diamond Mike must be back in town!  Where is our £3m annual loss suddenly comming from then? Those fucking made up financial headlines were only put around by Wills and Diamandis so that the plebs would fall in line and not rock the boat.

I havent heard Fitton and Co say anything of that nature other than they need to balance the books, which is fair enough as long as we're broadly making progress.

If they plan to balance the books by selling Austin, they'd better have a good plan B.

If they do flog him, that could well be the start of the end of the Fitton era. I have no doubt whatsoever that the whole atmos in and around the ground would turn very ugly, very quickly, and all the hard earned goodwill would be fucked.

championship in 3 years!

The £3m annual loss hasn't suddenly appeared, the last set of company accounts (2008/9) showed a £3m loss and the year before a £2.8m loss. So either you're talking shit or Fitton is filing false annual accounts. I think the former is more likely.

Having said that the unknown is the effect Fitton has had on the bottom line, it's possible he will have turned things round a bit though even if he has there is still most likely going to be substantial annual losses.

austin out ward in im happy with that IMO

what are you on?

Fuck off Millwall.

All of a sudden, I've never witnessed so many men behaving like women. We sold Don Rogers, the rest is history. CALM DOWN.

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/8360451.Swindon_Town_chairman_warns_other_clubs_off_prized_asset_Austin/

here we go

If all this is BS, which it probably is, the this cunt deserves some kind of retribution. A suspension or banning perhaps.

Spreading this kind of crap is not good,

Perfectly sensible - many on here do seem to go quite quiet once you use a bit of evidence.  None of us can ever know the exact situation at this moment, but the published accounts show a need to bring money in through player sales now and again, to keep the club going.  I'd rather sell Austin and stay stable than wind up in serious trouble again.

 However, as we all know, we are a rich club with an endless pot of money and a divine right to be in the same division as Derby, Nottingham Forest, Norwich and the like.

I will be very disappointed if Austin leaves, but if the offer is right and is deemed as such by those in control - who have done an excellent job with our club - then I will accept it.  If others are intent on hounding Fitton out of town, then they need to grow up a bit.

Not having a pop at fitton billy but not all fans will see it like that. After a good season and publicly saying they want the same some fans would be bemused at losing key players not replacing them etc. Not entirely my point of view but surely people will be annoyed that would happen. If we needed to balance the books so desperatly would Wilson have been able to get the 2 celts? and also looking at getting in 4 new players. Fwiw i don't think he will be sold but getting assey with fans who sometimes just dont understand the finances is a bit cuntish.

At the end of the day i wont be surprised if we sell Austin. All i have ever seen is town selling there prized assets day in day out and replacing them with........nobody. The board saying this then doing something else it would not be stfc without all this heartache. 

We are completely unique in this.  No other club sells players to bigger clubs for a tidy profit to pay the bills.  It's fucking shocking.

Fair enough DRS - I'm not saying we all need to understand the finances - fuck me I don't understand most of it - but we do need to be aware of that angle, and in a way accept our ignorance and put a bit of faith in those "in the know".  By all indicators Mr Fitton has done a good job here and I'd like him to continue his hard work.  The doom-mongering "beginning of the end of the Fitton era" type posts are the ones that worry me.  People have very short memories.

People also want on pitch success and selling off our best players wont bring that.

Its a fine line between football and business, and as Town fans we know better than anybody what can happen if you pay more attention to one and ignore the other.

However, I also dont want to see us go the other way and be all about business and all about the balance sheet.

If we do sell Austin - I want to talk about who we are going to replace him with and which players we are going to buy - not how good it will make our accounts look and then fail to re-invest the money into the playing staff.

Agreed.  We should spend money we don't have, have two successful seasons, then disappear off the face of the footballing world within five years.  That's be brilliant.

In all honesty Billy, I think Dave was more alluding to that thin line he mentioned and to get the balance right between 0n/0ff the pitch matters

Fair enough.  I think I just like picking on Dave.

Well, that was the point I was trying to make - yes.

Billy just likes ignoring what I actually type and pretending I said something ultra negative.

Austin hasn't even been sold yet.

This has not been wasted on myself either Si!

Yet being the crucial word Sie...ware is all the we don't need to sell ideas gone?....Cox,Greer,Henshall and now looking like Austin any time in the next six months....for me very sad but not suprising.
 

You lot need to find something else to do today, T'aint good for your blood pressure ;)

Whilst we do sell to keep our finances more secure, Fitton has reinvested money into the team. Remember when we pinched ourselves that Douglas had signed for us? That we got Ferry and Caddis?

Did we need to sell Greer? Probably not, but we got two players we were all rating highly just a few games ago, players with more potential and greater (probable) future resale value. I doubt we're going to find someone like Austin for some time and I doubt Fitton will be hasty to sell for this reason.

But if Austin goes I will be gutted, but we will sell him one day. I just hope it's not during this season because that would be a travesty. I just can't see it happening this transfer window.

Henshall could end up being the next Ben Tozer for all we know. Fitton and Wilson are taking risks to keep this football club going forward. Occasionally they will be wrong.

The best line I've read on here for some time... accepting the fact that our football club is running by human beings who will make some mistakes.

I feel happier with this setup now as a supporter overall (regardless of league position) than I have in the last 10 years before AF took over, and DW is an excellent manager. They won't get it right first time, but this club is being run well, and is moving in the right direction (albeit slowly at the moment!)... Keep the faith! COYR!! :clap:

is the club going forward though? we certainly aint on the pitch.

I'd call getting to Wembley and buying players for actual cash going forward yes. I'd call managing our debt and continuing its existence good too. Getting it all right will take time We havent got a rich sugar daddy taking us up the leagues a-la Wigan, Fulham or Blackburn

This season has been pretty poor so far, maybe Wilson ha  made mistakes, but its a bit early to write it off. The point is as far as I can see Fitton is backing him by bringing in players like Caddis, Ferry and Prutton.

The only negative I can see was the sale of Greer.

Not at the moment. It's like watching a Malpas team, who incidentally Fitton kept in the job for far too long. But for all the doom and gloom this transfer is only speculation until it happens.

If we were playing well and Ferry and Caddis were playing like the wonder kids we thought they would be (ok Ferry should be playing but isn't) then I reckon this thread would be dismissed as speculation. Perhaps we've also learnt a bit of a lesson from the surprises in the past few months though.

The season is 4 games old for christs sake.

Absolutely..'not going forwards on the pitch' is something that has to be (and can only be) measured over a much longer time frame than four games. Frustrating though those four games have been.

five.and not a win in any of them.
the fact that it's early days is the only plus i can see at the moment.

As much as I like to try and be positive. I'm sort of seeing it in the same way as arriba at the moment.

Think we need to win vs Saints to get us going.

Carlisle away couldn't come at a worse time.

Jordan كافر Crisp I'm in love with Charlie Austin, who is, im pretty damn sure, joining Millwank tomorrow. Fuck my life.
Jordan كافر Crisp Just trust me :L 90% sure. Fuck i hope im wrong.

Based on what, fuck nugget?

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

the edl said so

no surrender

Fucking hell Crispy


go back to wanking over Vanessa Hudgens on a Sunday afternoon FFS

ju
just passing on what I was told cunt face

Jordan كافر Crisp Lost my Vanessa Hudgens picture. Fuck my life.

This is why i don't accept random cunts on facebook anymore :)

And, as i said before, i know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who could use somelike like you, woaaaaaaaaah your sex is on fire.

And it's monday :)

Nice to know I'm priveledged then

You are indeed, i don't mind adding people who i know, but i didn't even know i had b3nny added :D

If Austin gets sold I'd have fears losing Greer then Austin would be the 1, 2 punch that could knock out our ambitions for the season.

Altho thankfully I don't actually think it'll happen.

Altho thankfully I don't actually think it'll happen.
[/quote]

It can't be allowed to happen ..... I still have faith in Fritton and Co; to sell Charlie now would be a bad business decision. To cash in on your potential star is short sighted madness.

It's going to happen in the future and in a way I hope it does, as I think Charlie will develop quicker than the club therefore a move is inevitable. However we should be planning for this to happen and have replacements in mind.

It's too early for Charlie and the club, and lets face it we would be stuffed if we lost him now.

Losing Charlie would be awful for our league position but also what would be shit would be a certain section of our support would lose faith in Fitton, or at least start to doubt him.

Anyway like I said, I think he's still ambitious so I really don't think we'll sell Charlie this season. In the summer, possibly after he is top goalscorer (could still happen), then maybe.

If we sell Austin before the end of the season then I can't see how it can possibly be 'rebuilding for the future'.  As far as I'm concerned it will be a step backwards and nothing else.  If he has a good season then he's going to be worth far more at the end of it than he is now or in January? 

I know it's difficult to hold on to your better players when decent offers come in, but if they are taken every time, then Dave is right, we will remain in League 1 for the forseeable future. 

When I renewed my season ticket in May, Championship football was a real possibility or if not we would be pushing to carry on the good progress we made last season.  Unfortunately the start of this season has obviously been extremely disappointing and uninspiring so far.  To sell Austin would leave me and I would imagine a lot of other supporters feeling very aggrieved and certainly doesn't tie in with the 3 year plan for the Championship? 

Every players has his price and if we was offered silly money for Austin I don't think we would be in a postion to turn it down - especially if Austin fancied the move as well, the telling factor would be who we got in as a replacement

Austin is going nowhere this transfer window though anyway

Major backlash if they let Austin go whilst we are playing shite....

It is inevitable that Austin will leave us probably within the next year or so. Selling now would be damn right ridiculous and would really make me question what is going on? We have already lost Greer and not replaced him, lost Paynter and not replaced him, and if we lose Austin we are as good as relegated. Ok the season is 4 games old but apart from Austin no one looks anywhere like scoring and our defence is leaking goal so.... we would be fucked as we would have no time to replace him. Pericard as much as people wank over him is shit and will enver score more than 10 goals a season in a Swindon shirt. So we lose almost 50 goals from last season and replace them with fuck all. If our league position does not improve (which I certainly believe it will) before January then by all means it is inevitable he will leave in January IMO.

All I know is that with the previous b'stards in charge we would have ceased trading days after the date that AF arrived.
So any thing that sees us still putting out a team is progress.
Having said that I agree it would be madness to let Austin go unless for silly money & that in my opinion would need to be 2.5 million plus which I don't think anyone will pay at present. He is under contract, so it's the clubs call. If we were to sell him we wopuld need to have an equivalent player lined up, AND have a healthy profit on top of that. We would not get an equavalent plyer for less than a million (Lambert would be a yardstick)

Mystic Dave and the doom merchants (that'd make a good band name) are only right insofar that they have preempted the sale of Austin today.

FOR FUCK SAKE HE HASN'T GONE.

It's the principle though dave.

errrm!

No need to panic people......
Not worried about this rumour at all and as for people saying the club not going forward clearly dont have a clue. we went from an awful season to play off finalists and a team willing to fight for the cause... we lost half the squad and now wilson is rebuilding it give it another month or so before you start panicing.
I just want you to know i am as frustrated as anyone by the lack of movement off the pitch but please can people start showing faith in the club we all love and instead of moaning at games when a few passes go a stray get behind them like we did at charlton away a few months back  :)

I'd be devastated. Especially as we haven't won yet this season so everything is a bit gloomy. Realistically though if a substantial offer comes in and crucially, Austin wants to move on, i think that the clubs hands may well be tied. Lets hope not, i honestly feel a win will turn our season round no end.

What our team needs now is support.......

You don't....

Nor me. We can all see your page...

Ahhh makes sence, can't be assed with all that private rubbish.

For what its worth, Austin has said previously he wants to stay and has never once said that he hopes for a move in the future and has also stated he supported Swindon (or atleast watched us), like Simon Cox, Austin knows he will get his move in the future and will get a decent club so he is obviously in no rush to leave because he knows he will get his big move eventually. Other people are dealing with that and when the time comes he will go (likely at the end of this season I would have thought unless we get promoted)

The club have officially rejected the bid.

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/8362130.TRANSFER_DEADLINE_DAY_NEWS__Millwall_s_Austin_bid_rejected/

Millwall fans seem to think Austin has chucked in a transfer request, can't see him doing that as he seems pretty level headed, but if he has that would be all my respect for him gone.

There's no way he'd request a transfer or look for a move away this early in his career, he's not a fool.

My thoughts exactly

Millwall fans are idiots.  Charlie Austin is not.

:D

Millwall think the Austin deal is in the bag

http://www.hof.org.uk/showthread.php?t=11783

I like the £ + Neil Harris swap comment.

Such comments were made on here before Greer left Gazza.

surely we have learned something from the Greer saga?

This just posted on BBC's Live Transfer Deadline page

"Hi Paul, news on Swindon's Charlie Austin - Millwall already had one bid rejected...QPR and Fulham are circling..."

why would he be a fool to ask to join millwall? or any other bigger club for that matter.

One good season doesn't mean anything.

I see where you're going with this though, a step up would be a step forward for him but I honestly can't see Charlie wanting to taint what he's done here by acting like a spoilt and petulant Premiership footballer

in charlies case it means everything.he's started this season in the same manner.the lads a born goalscorer hence why he's being chased.
all better for us if he stays as his value will increase.

Nope. Every player has his price.

Every player has his price and if Millwall or anyone else matches our valuation he will be off. As gutted as I would be to see Charlie leave you would have to say fair enough in that case, but what concerns me is that we always try to replace our better players on the cheap.

If we sell Austin then we should have a bid lined up for someone else, Le Fondre for example, but you can bet we would do nothing and then get someone in on loan in a weeks time.

We still haven't adequately replaced Greer, Ward or Paynter and we are struggling because of it.

But not the better for the likes of Millwall or others who may wish to take a cheaper gamble now.

so say wall have offered 700k, which is there 2nd bid, they are going in with a 3rd, which i expect to be in the region of 1m, that wont be enough to tempt AF, reading on there forum they seem to like us :D

Couple of links from a SE London journo: http://twitter.com/JLSouthwarkNews

"I think - and these are purely my own thoughts - that Millwall will keep plugging away until 6pm. They REALLY want him."

"Swindon Town rejected a formal bid from #Millwall for Charlie Austin this morning. Swindon confident that Lions will NOT make another."

"Confident when I say that it will take a club record fee to get him."

"Hearing some less-than-encouraging things regarding #Millwall's pursuit of Charlie Austin, I'm afraid."

I don't expect austin to leave for Millwall - I'd be worried if it was QPR that was putting a bid in as they seem to have a bottomless pit of money, I don't expect Fulham as Charlie is nowhere near good enough for the premier at present time - let's hope that talk of a move to the championship has not turned his head though as it seems to do with a lot of young players when bid's are made public and agents get involved

As noted Austin will get his big move eventually and depending how things go that would likely be in January unless we are "there or there abouts" I would imagine. I doubt Austin will be going anywhere today. WE would be fucked royally. Pericard and Ball are not going to score loads of goals so that would be 50 goals we have lost on last season (Paynter and Austin) and with our defensive frailties right now we can hardly allow our only proven goalscorer to leave given the fact we are almost guaranteed to give away a silly goal right now. The pressure would be well up on the back 4 (if it isnt already), Would be an incredibly daft move to let him go now, equally it would be incredibly daft for someone to bid £2M for someone that has had one and a bit good seasons in league football. I dont doubt the fact he could score for fun the Championship though but £2M is a massive gamble (if thats the right price to get him to go) for someone who has spent less than 10 months in League football. I dont think Austin will go until January, if he does go it will be QPR and not Millwall as they will pay stupid money no doubt.

i think as fitton sees austin as his discovery,that will be enough for him to want to keep hold.i think he's the last player fitton would want to lose.
that said austin holds all the cards.if he wants out he'll be gone.

Agreed to an extent but Bournemouth may disagree wtih that, They were going to offer him a contract but were embargoed, that said I know AF knew him at Hugerford, much like Cox, Austin knows and probably has an agreement with Fitton that he will get his move eventually to a decent club.

i dont think fitton found austin.i think he does though

Agreed. Millwall can't afford him, not worried about them at all. Let's hope their interest doesn't spark interest elsewhere though.

QPR are apparently set to sign Rob Hulse... that would hopefully simmer their Austin link.

Yeah, we sell players. Any of them.

Every club at this level is a selling club, and has to be as we all know. Who knows, if we go up, he may want to stay a little longer with us before moving on?!  :hmmm:

I may not want to sell my house, but if someone offered me double it's value I'd certainly take it  :nod:

It said in The Sun yesterday that Swindon turned down a bid from Millwall for £150,000.

*Chortle*

that is an offensive bid if true

I think the Adver reported £600,000, but the paper is on the other side of the room so I can't be bothered to check.

Both full of excellent journalism, but we all know the Sun is usualy spot on in regards to the facts it publishes...  :no: