I don't have all the answers Tom, but how can we be sure if, or what, Power paid for any of the players he sold on and pocketed the money for?
That runs both ways though doesn't it, do we know of what fees were received, what sell on fees had to be settled, equally is there evidence that he has pocketed the money or has it just been used to repay loans or wider debts?
I understand that people are wary of change, but I think most of us know Power isn't the long term solution that the club needs.
If we're to believe anything he's said, one thing he's achieved in the time he's been here is to get the books balanced and the club paying it's own way on the turnover it generates, so he's not all bad.
Quite possibly so, but he is the only show in town at the moment unless someone wants to find £6m to buy him out, even if he had shown any inclination of selling?
On that basis, the prospects for the future if it were to be run by an amalgamation of the trust and business people based in the town would be excellent as any sold player profits would purely enhance the business, not an individuals bank balance.
Couple of things here, I have plenty of time for the Trust but have they ever shown that they have enough financial backing or expertise to run the club, there are examples where fan ownership has gone wonderfully but also where it has gone dreadfully? I am sure if there were all these business people willing to net involved we would have heard from them by now, as per my earlier comment there is the small matter of c.£6m to find and also working capital to actually run the club (again no disrespect to the Trust but the Help Raise the Roof initiative has now raised around c.£11k in 2? years, just shows how hard it is to raise funds), especially as possibly finding decent players for peanuts would get even harder without the contacts in the game Power has?
Also, the PR and bad feeling around the town couldn't get much worse, ditto the quality of the football and poor results, so I can't see much of an argument against Power leaving and handing the club over to the trust.
The PR is crap, but is it really the be all and end all or just a handy stick?
Whilst the club has very few assets, can you really see or expect Power 'handing it over' without at the very least getting all the cash he has put in back, plus there is the spectre of Andrew Black still hovering in the distance, as I have said time and time again Swindon is a club with very few assets but a hell of a lot of liabilities, I cannot see Trust board members wanting to take on those liabilities without a fair few safety nets in place.
If they took over they may well make mistakes, but at least they'd be mistakes made with the right intentions and they'd be completely accountable to the rest of us and be open to scrutiny, which would be better than the closed shop and profit drain that we currently have.
Can someone please give me a credible counter argument?
Repeat my point above, what 'fan' would want to take over the liabilities and be 'accountable' to the other fans who have shown themselves unwilling to ever accept hard truths, I can just imagine the fun and game on here if the money got short or a player was sold and not all the return spent on other players, it would be as bad as the non-evidenced stuff that goes around now 'profit drain' for instance what does that actually mean.
Closed shop, if you want a closed shop try Chelsea where, I believe, Abromovich has never spoken to the fans (not sure they have ever even heard his voice), but they are doing well and thus the fans are happy, as I suspect many of the most vociferous here would be also if we weren't rubbish. The problem we have at the moment is we have a crap team, I remain unconvinced that a group of fans and provincial businessmen will alleviate that fundamental issue?
Can someone please give me a credible counter argument?
Credible, probably no more than your original points, I would more say realistic and pragmatic.
Having lived through the Diamandis financial wilderness, the Fitton New Labour Era, the Black financial meltdown, the McCrory Tin Pot Years, the Di Canio Pissing what we don't have up the wall era, and the present Power trying to balance the ship and then stagnating era I really don't have any preference who owns the club as long as they run it as a sustainable business and don't destroy it (feel free to draw your own conclusions where each of the former periods stand in that matrix). No urge for Power to stay, but as he is the only credible show in town at the moment there is little we can do.
I would love to buy the club, plough £100m in to transfers and the same again to the ground, but that's just not credible, but is as credible as many of the arguments being presented on here at the moment.