Thetownend.com

I'm sort of playing devils advocate here so just read it and think about it before you call me a cunt etc.

I can't shed the feeling that Devlin is not all whiter than white in this. It can't all be totally unsubstantiated, and we've not heard anything from Mark to the contrary. IF- if- what is said about his influence in signing Ince without the baords backing then I can understand that his position is untenable.

Look, I think Wills makes a fair point that we all bang on about Power and Devlin bringing in Wise, Poyet etc but presumably the board must sanction this, put the money in and we've got to stop bumming MD and BP as if they're the sole influences.

I like Devlin. I side with him in this. But we lose him, we're in shit and we lose a valuable PR resource whose done well here before. We lose the Wills money, well then we're dead and buried.

I wish Devlin/Power would make a comment.I believe they are unable to because of legal issues though.The way I see it if you leave Wills unchallenged we will be dead and buried anyway.

I think Devlins probably out of a job anyway Yeovil, he can say what he wants. Unless of course he knows different and he's staying on.

Yes I was thinking that as I typed it actually.

Devlin and Power didn't bring them in, Dave. It was Diamandis.

It's a fair enough discussion.  It's quite likely that Devlin took decisions as the CE, it is also quite possible given Wills' statement that both sides weren't clear on the state of play.  The question would be, was Devlin doing it on purpose, and if so was he doing it without even Power knowing as well?  That's quite an acusation which I'd presume would need a fair amount of backing up.

Now this is an opinion:

I think nobody set the agreements of how they should all work together in stone enough.  Power invested £1m which allowed us to get people like Wise in.  At some point an intimation was made that other football related expenditure would be allowed (remember the quotes from Wise saying he was allowed to run it his way, well some of the money spent would have been the things he was asking for no doubt - meals at the training ground for 25 players 3-4 days a week will soon add up).

Somewhere along the line people got cold feet about stuff, little tiffs began and once Power was incapacitated and finally withdrew it left a big problem into the mix of panic already ensuing.

Now, whether it's all right, I don't know.  But I think it would have sat much better with fans if it was.  As someone else mentioned, all a bit like when ITV Digital went bust and everyone realised they'd already spent the money.

so when power said "i knew wises dad" so i thought i would give it a go,he was bullshitting

Bob Holt said it was Diamandis (Supporters' Group Meeting), Diamandis said it was Diamandis (in his statement) and Devlin said it was Diamandis.  :shrug:

I would imagine that Devlin is considering his options legally. To talk about things in public may predjudice his case (if there is one). Technically he is still employed by the club at this time.

BTW, I'm not saying he is or isn't guilty as charged. I'd imagine Rob has it right in that it depends who you ask. There seems to have been a lot of supposition and assumptions made all round.

On the Wise recruitment I think the chain of events was:

SSW wanted a change of Manager (possibly Diamandis as well) and realised POwer's investment put a new light on budgets for such things.

Devlin and Power (can't remember which) suggested Wise, as Power knew him.  I think the public statements suggest one of those 2 called up Wise to check if it was worth pursuing and then Mike D met with Wise to put an offer to him.

There was certainly a degree of influence from all sides and Mike D was def the final man to meet with Wise.  Believe it or not, the guy can talk a good game and is larger than life.

Wise actually said when he was appointed that he'd been convinced to come to Swindon after having a meeting with "a nice man called Mike" ...

No-one disputes it was Mike Diamandis who brought Dennis Wise to the club. Bill Power's family connection probably helped, but it was Mike D who made the contact and negotiated the deal.

There was a bit of PR at the time that SSW was the one who wanted a new manager.

But for me its still difficult to believe? Where was all this go get em initiative after we got rid of King? It was Iffy or Reeves and they didnt even consider anyone else. They have absolutely no iniative on their own.

that doesn't mean to say SSW didn't want a new manager then. it just wasn't financially viable without other investment. when BP came along SSW probably thought "great i can find a new manager now"

I think it is less to do with initiative and more to do with cash that Iffy was the man hired for the job.

Power was quoted that he was happy for Iffy to carry on, and then later that SSW wanted the change and that he was happy for that too.

All true. But end result is the present board as they sit now will always choose the cheapest option. As they did in the past. We dont have Power anymore, we dont even have Devlin anymore.

Thus putting STFC in reverse gear. Constant cheapest options = relegation.

What deals did Diamandis (or anyone at Dunwoody) do between June 2004 and November 2005 for STFC? Were any of those deals a success? What can they do with their own money?

And I still find it very unlikely that they could have signed Wise and Poyet without a significant contribution from Power and Devlin because they have struggled to pull off any decent signings in the past.