Match-fixer Alberto Comazzi takes legal action against Swindon

[Riddick]

18 months later we offered Adam Rooney a contract on £8k a week which has come out as fact, is it really that unbelievable?

He wasn't on 8k a week, that was the cost of everything associated of the length of contract, things like agent fees etc. However he was still on way more than he should of been.

[Batch]

Spencer represented a lot of the players Di Canio signed didn't he?

I thought he was employed as agent to the club, i.e. did the negotiations with the players agent. Might be wrong, and it hardly changes things much even if I'm not.

[Batch]

He wasn't on 8k a week, that was the cost of everything associated of the length of contract, things like agent fees etc. However he was still on way more than he should of been.

That 8K figure has always bothered me.

Take Charlie Austin. Assume he signed for Burnley on a 3.5 year for 1.2M. you could argue that the transfer fee alone is 6.5K a week to the club. Not including wages, relocation, win bonuses, scoring bonuses, agent fees and god knows what else.

Obviously Burnley were financially better off, and it doesn't change the point we couldn't afford Rooney.

[thepeoplesgame]

Because he just completely lost all sense of rationality when it came to Di Canio and gave him whatever he wanted because, well, he's Di Canio and he's brilliant, right? More than a few on here (and in the fanbase generally) in the same boat.

Signing Comazzi on whatever terms he was on could be seen to be poor judgement on their part, but then both Wray and Di Canio inherited a club with a first team squad I could count on my fingers so we had to get some buggers in.

Negotiating his departure to lower the cost to the club when it became apparent he wasn't up to it, however, seems reasonably sensible to me. What was the alternative? Keeping him for the duration of his contract and paying him his full weekly wage to train with the youth team?

Why we haven't been paying the agreed amounts - if his claim is true - I have no idea, nor do I know when we stopped or if we even ever started, but I'd like to think any claim we 'owe' him anything since the day he was banned from playing football would be laughed at.

[pauld]

Signing Comazzi on whatever terms he was on could be seen to be poor judgement on their part, but then both Wray and Di Canio inherited a club with a first team squad I could count on my fingers so we had to get some buggers in.

Negotiating his departure to lower the cost to the club when it became apparent he wasn't up to it, however, seems reasonably sensible to me. What was the alternative? Keeping him for the duration of his contract and paying him his full weekly wage to train with the youth team?

You've missed the point - mrverve's original post (and certainly my reply) referred to the ludicrous scale of the sums involved for what were fairly average players, assuming the figures being reported (in other cases as well as here) are true. Even if they're half-way true, it's clear we were grossly overpaying for not very good players. It might make sense to pay off a contract to get rid - but if £11k a month is lowering the cost, then we were paying well over the odds in the first place. It's on those grounds that (I asume) mrverve suggested Wray had lost the plot and on which I replied. There's "getting some buggers in" and just being plain bloody stupid

[thepeoplesgame]

That 8K figure has always bothered me.

Agreed, it was patently untrue but the rumour was allowed to persist to strengthen the club's hand and cast a shadow on the workings of the previous regime. Now we have people taking it as fact that Jeremy Wray offered Rooney an 8k-a-week contract, all supported by the notion that Andrew Black (a man not without an agenda) put out there that rather than being the decent businessman who was able to help persuade Black to get involved in the first place Wray was actually little more than a cheerleader with a schoolgirl crush.

[thepeoplesgame]

You've missed the point - mrverve's original post (and certainly my reply) referred to the ludicrous scale of the sums involved for what were fairly average players, assuming the figures being reported (in other cases as well as here) are true. Even if they're half-way true, it's clear we were grossly overpaying for not very good players. It might make sense to pay off a contract to get rid - but if £11k a month is lowering the cost, then we were paying well over the odds in the first place. It's on those grounds that (I asume) mrverve suggested Wray had lost the plot and on which I replied. There's "getting some buggers in" and just being plain bloody stupid

It seems I did.

[sonicyouth]

Agreed, it was patently untrue but the rumour was allowed to persist to strengthen the club's hand and cast a shadow on the workings of the previous regime. Now we have people taking it as fact that Jeremy Wray offered Rooney an 8k-a-week contract, all supported by the notion that Andrew Black (a man not without an agenda) put out there that rather than being the decent businessman who was able to help persuade Black to get involved in the first place Wray was actually little more than a cheerleader with a schoolgirl crush.

Whether the £8K a week is made up in wages or paid via other means, the club still have to honour that surely?

 (or perhaps not any longer)

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Yes.

Can't agree, I think it's believable.

[horlock07]

You've missed the point - mrverve's original post (and certainly my reply) referred to the ludicrous scale of the sums involved for what were fairly average players, assuming the figures being reported (in other cases as well as here) are true. Even if they're half-way true, it's clear we were grossly overpaying for not very good players. It might make sense to pay off a contract to get rid - but if £11k a month is lowering the cost, then we were paying well over the odds in the first place. It's on those grounds that (I asume) mrverve suggested Wray had lost the plot and on which I replied. There's "getting some buggers in" and just being plain bloody stupid

If we were paying him 11k a month from July 2012, what the hell did we do between his departure (was it before Christmas) in 2011 and that date, I know there was £40k plus relocation costs but were we paying him in full until July 2012?

[Dazzza]

I cant believe this was missed under due diligence process from Jed and co. If he was indeed given a months payment in July 2012 then it’s a fairly substantial number on the balance sheet and pretty appalling if it was not picked up on. 

Given that we had refused to  make the payments again it’s a pretty significant thing to miss when purchasing a company.  Either someone has not done their job or someone has done a great job of sweeping this under the carpet.  I cannot imagine given the sum owed that this is the first the club have heard about it.  Surely the Crab or his representatives would have made contact several months ago before it got to the stage of going public.

Not justifying the wages here but didn’t he have the option of going to a recently promoted Serie A team and opted for Town?  May go some way to explaining the silly wages he was offered.

[leefer]

Brilliant. What a mess, I really do feel sorry for Jed and co having to deal with all the shit that has been dumped on them.

I did. This should still have be known by the current board. Whether they checked or were not told is the question.

All the finances should have been checked with a fine toothcombe...lets face it they had plenty of time when the league was making there minds up.

When you go from non league to the big boys you learn the hard way,Jed and co are learning the hard way for sure.
I wish them luck...they are going to need it.

[dalumpimunki]

Has everyone forgotten that Black insisted that the purchase went ahead without due diligence being undertaken? That's why all the other bidders other than Jed's group dropped out remember.

Clearly, as people have said, it's difficult to get a totally clear picture of what contractual obligations the club have lumbered themselves with from stories in the very shittiest of shitty tabloids, but it's becoming clear from mulltiple stories in multiple media outlets that the money being paid to players under the previous regime was a bit fucking mental.

If the numbers in this story have been inflated by 200% and the compensation payments were "only" about £3.5k a month, rather than £11K, then if that represents a saving on his contracted salary then it's still fucking outrageous.

And people can people stop rubbishing the Rooney story by completely misrepresenting what it claimed. No-one other than some brain-deads on thisis ever said Rooney was earning £8k a month. Nearly £8k a month (I think £7,800) was claimed to be the total cost of the deal to the club. Presumably this included a signing on fee, agents fees, probably a relocation allowance, plus salary and emplyers on costs.

Knock off 30% and it's still a lot of money for a 3rd choice striker at a League One club.

[Dazzza]

I don't ever recall Black insisting on no due diligence.  That would be just be ridiculous.

It was reported at the time of the takeover that the new board had completed the process in a matter of weeks and they had obviously done some due diligence by virtue of the NDA and the quoting wage bills to the local press.

Given the size of the clubs turnover a decent account should be able to rattle through a few years of accounts within a couple of weeks and raise any concerns.  That is provided they were in some sort of order and up to date.  For all we know they may have been a right mess and the July payment was "buried".

Either way the previous board were either very clever in hiding this or just plain bad at keeping the accounts or those going through the books deserve to be hung, drawn and quartered.

I do feel for the new board though, whatever way we swing it they're going to have deal with this mess and likely stick their hands in the pockets.






certainly not what I recall reading in the press.

[tans]

I see someone stated on twitter they would shoot McCrory this morning.

Then tried to cover it by saying it was a joke from the american office.

Tut tut