Thetownend.com

Bid accepted apparently - As per SSN 'ticker' a couple of minutes ago.

I like to think that Di Canio signed Collins to spite Graham Turner.

Fuck me where did Hibs get £200k from, they haven't spent anything on a transfer fee for about 10 years

That did pass my mind, and selling him on for a similar fee as he cost us means they Whinge Turner will not  get 1 penny from the sell on clause!

And like Abrahammer says how long have Hibs had that much money?

Bobs Orange wont be happy

Hibees signing Collins AND Jambos in the financial shit.....bad summer for him :)

He'll get 1 game in europe at least!

Their fans seem quite excited by the prospect, some of them welcoming him to the club before he has even agreed terms.

http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?268642-Hibs-have-%A3200-000-bid-accepted-for-James-Collins-%28Swindon%29-%28merged%29

I think he will do well at that level which is a smaller jump up than going to the Championship at Huddersfield.

Let's hope we replace him (not with obika preferably) pretty light up top unless benson is back in favour.

Church?

200k is that it what a joke are fucking board are im loseing complete respect for our new owners and the season to come.

Brown envelope stuffed with cash to avoid any commitment to Screwsbury Town re: sell on fee.

Drip,drip,drip.....more life blood oozing away.

It is looking fucking omminous

Yes.

Another whole in the squad we can fit a a spurs player into.

Good luck Collins. Welcome back Obika

Its more the silence and no answers from the new owners no explanations from our irratating board wish i hadnt bought my season ticket now i realy do i know its not a thing i should be saying but its whats going on behind the scenes thats pissing me off coliins is worth so much more the 200 k. :badmood:

Thats what we paid for him,they just want to free his wages up.

Exactly, he has stated a few times he is not happy here so why have a player that wants to leave wasting wages that can be spent on other players who DO want to be here, also £200k we don't have to give a penny to the whinging Turner at Screwsbury.

It's like the Ritchie thing though.

Collins is worth more but receiving more money for him would mean the other STFC get a cut and we would lose out.

didn't someone say we have to pay shrews 20k every 15 games ?
or did I dream that ?

I realize that but getting rid of another good player for shit money has done it for me.Why are we getting spurs players alot of them whats the connection now between both clubs what deal has been done with our new owners why all the secrets.

Wonder why he dosn't want to be here?

Being fucked around and put on the bench all the time,while ending up top scorer i should think.

Also seeing whats coming in is making him shudder a tad....why are players like Caddis and Collins unhappy?...Paolo is long gone so that is not a reason.

Bentike was unhappy at Villa....he has just signed a new 4 year contract,sometimes the club have to work hard at keeping decent players who are not happy.

It's like throwing £5 notes at a stripper

Why was he being put in midfield and defence was that just to fuck him off?

How much is Collins on here? The hobos do not pay a lot in salary so he's going to have to take a wage cut to go there, I'd be surprised if wages won't be an issue here.

After what we acheived last season reaching the playoffs after the threats of adminastration i just wanted to see us progress not struggle at the bottom this season i cant get my head round whats going at the moment.

Caddis has been unhappy here for fucking ages, nothing to do with the new board. As for Collins, it's not like losing a Parkin, or Cox, or Austin. It's James fucking Collins! Any stick to beat the new board with. Getting fucking tedious now.
If we're shit this season moan and whinge then.

I'm with herthab. (not in a gay way!)

Dont need a stick to beat them...they do that themselfs.

And we dont need your permision when to whinge at them.....if you are happy,then i am happy for you.

But there are plenty who are not including myself and is pissed off with the way things are being conducted at the club.

Will do dont you worry ,i know every town fan has there opinion and everyones different with opinions but im realy concerned on to were we are heading thats it realy.

Nope he's not the same quality as those players.

We are still selling our top scorer which isn't exactly a positive step forward.

Really not that bothered to be honest. He never looked that interested but did have to come off the bench a lot. 200k means we're roughly getting our money back and we can replace him relatively easily..

Lets be realistic about this.

We have a budget of £2.9mill or whatever the figure is, we are currently £900k overspending that.

Caddis is probably on £4k a week+ and Collins a similar amount but probably less at about say £3k a week so thats £400k per year of the budget gone on 2 players that do not want to play for Swindon, take into account £175k fee for Caddis and £200k fee for Collins that makes the budget come down to a defecit of @ £200k from the original £900k......we are still one expensive player leaving away from having a budget that is affordable.

Rooney and Benson are both not in the clubs plans so if they left then I am pretty certain that then we would be under the budget so we could make an offer for a more experienced player that we want to come in such as Church or others that have been mentioned.

At the moment our budget was fucked totally by PdC overspending so that has to be addressed first by getting rid of the high earners before there is any left over to spend on experienced player wages as I am sure that we are paying a lot lot less for the Spurs players on loan than we are paying our experienced under acheivers from last season.

I am sure that if we can get rid of these high wage players then the board will allow whoever is in charge to go out and bring in some experience in the positions needed until then we have our hands tied by the massive contracts that these players are on which will not allow us to get the best experienced players in until we have balanced the books on wages.

Yes the board COULD go out and break the budget for the right player....but then we will be in the same situation as we were in under PdC/KMac when we effectively broke the FFP rules and were put under an embargo stopping us signing ANY players at all let alone experienced ones.

Is everyone going to have the same argument every time a players leaves?

Collins, like Caddis, is not happy at the club and hasn't been for months. Most of his goals came as an impact sub and as herthab states he isn't anywhere near a Austin, Cox or Parkin. £200k is good business.

Think Collins was over rated. Hopefully we can get a better goalscorer in. He had the odd game where he looked a real player but most of the times he was poor i thought. Wasn't big and strong enough to hold up the ball, couldn't win much in the air, he has no pace almost to the point that he is slow. His technique is dodgy, takes lots of heavy touches and air shots. His effort always seemed to be spot on though in fairness. Not convinced he's good enough for the championship, will see how he does in Scotland i guess.

Decent fee for a player who misses so many chances.

I want to hear what reg has to say about it all.

We need to balance the books and reduce the budget, people just can't seem to fathom this out!

This board aren't perfect, but for fucks sake let's wait until the season starts before getting the pitchforks out!

Opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one!

This

Exactly.

Agreed,but my pitchfork is out early this season.

Hello League 2.

vintage

Do expectations really never go further than promotion or relegation? What about a season of mid table mediocrity?

Makes me wonder why some bother following the club if they already know how our season is going to pan out. Save a few quid on season tickets lads.

we have the most bipolar fans possible

Whereas I think a dull season of mid season mediocrity is exactly what we are heading for.

Then again we haven't seen the team play yet so nobody really has a clue what will happen.

Because when I posted I would be fairly happy with mid table this season I got this answer....

Chang doesn't quite grasp the concept of supporting a lower league team then, there have been plenty of times during our history when mid table league 1 is acceptable. This season is probably another of them.

Indeed.

It's such a succinct and blatantly obvious thing that the histrionics still surprise me.

This. It's incredibly tedious.

I've not renewed my season ticket this year and it's not because I don't love the club, it's because I'm the polar opposite of all the negative, moany fans who seem to ruin every Saturday I go to watch football with their relentless mongdom.

This....so much this.

I'm surprised nobody has said our manager isn't good enough yet.

We're definitely due a season of mid-table mediocrity. I guess the expectations are set by recent history of fluctuating between the former two with barely a pause for breath. I think it's got us set in an almost millenarian mindset where we feel like we're perpetually on the verge of catastrophe or rapture.

I'll wait to cast my final judgement on this decision until I've seen who've they got lined up to replace him. He's definitely not irreplaceable, but that doesn't mean we don't need to replace him, and with someone of a comparable pedigree. Williams up front on his own is not going to cut it.

Hes no world beater and like some have said hes no Cox or Austin or Parkin.  But as we speak he is probably our best striker.  So its not just about him going and wage bill coming down.  Its who comes into replace him.

If he goes we have Williams ( mr nearly man ), Storey ( potential but only one magic week so far ), and then your looking at samsung lad who usually never gets a kick.  And then Waldon.  Adam Rooney is anyones guess.

Alot would like to see Williams go but who would take him.  We need 2 strikers.  But can board bring in as good as williams and collins for less money, or actually get better in for less money.

Going to be down the who the new manager is i think.  If its a name that inspires it may inspire players to come here.  If its a malpass style clone we are in deep poo poo.

Collins may have been our top scorer, but a huge percentage of those came in a small number of games.

4 v Pompey and 3 v Stoke

I'd rather have a striker who can score 19 goals in 19 games

Good business, I reckon

To be fair, the situation at the club is now vastly different to what it was when a good majority of season ticket holders renewed back in April/May time.  I know an awful lot of people who wouldn't have renewed if the current situation was as it is then.

If things do go a bit wrong this season, all the additional people that have been pulled in over the last few seasons will quickly disappear again.  And if as some are concerned, we end up effectively being a second string Spurs side, they'll start losing some of the longer term fanbase.

PV mentioned in relation to Collins and Caddis that we only want players here who want to be here.  Fully agree, but how do we know the ever increasing Spurs contingent all do? They could be being made to come here through no choice of their own?

just worried that his replacement will not be as good

Good luck to him.

I not worried about him leaving to much, as long as we bring in a replacement.

I think we could bring someone in that is better with his feet (passing and vision ability) to be honest.

200k odd, fine. get back what we paid for.

yup.

I was a big fan of Collins and I think we'd be safe for 15 goals minimum from him but his head hasnt been in it for a while. He will improve and be a decent striker I think though, can see him in the Championship soon.

Oh and as for doom mongering... We know we overspent and have to hack at the wage bill so why people seem so outraged is beyond me. Whatever happens, the players we brought in were due to be either younger or a lesser profile than the players we've had and moaning was inevitable. The fact that a lot of the players coming in have all been from one club has given the whingers something else to complain about... for some reason.

Full details of our tribunal here when we bought him

http://www.shrewsburytown.com/news/article/20sept12-james-collins-tribunal-379793.aspx

Seriously how did people expect it to go,  it was blindingly obvious that huge cuts were necessary to get costs down, and player wages were also known to be the huge problem.

Bloody hell if we can't offload players to the a championship team that were recently in the premier league is a bloody huge clue at how close the club was to the brink!

Jed et al may be a bloody shambles but I didn't (and still don't see) a huge queue to take over from them.

An important point Horlock. When black decided to sell up it would have taken someone with massive wealth to come in and continue to support our overspend, or a new board willing to take on the reins and completely restructure.

Jed and co have come in at very short notice and clearly don't have the wedge to carry on as we did before. For Christ sake we had players on 3,4,5 maybe even 6k a week under the old board!!

He may not be the best person in the world but jed had the balls to take over and try and run the club sustainably. Some people really do appear to want the moon on a stick but the reality is, without jed doing what he is currently doing, we might be in admin, or worse.

Actually, our season ticket sales are pretty consistent now, since the price promotion season.  That was one of Fitton's great successes.  He got more than double the number we had been getting in recent years and the past 4/5 seasons it has now remained quite high.  Certainly well above the historical norm for the club which had always teetered between 2k and 3k even in good times.

By having the renewal price, people will continue to get hooked in, it is not like "new" fans were found to take up the season tickets.  Overall it probably means we make a little less through the gate in average to good seasons, where on the day purchases would have made good money for us.  But, it brings certainty and off season income.  It also prevents really bad seasons like 05/06 where we dipped close to going under 4000 turning up.

Every year where things are not just tickety boo you here people saying they won't renew etc.  Every year we get the same uptake no matter what.  Fortunately that number is at a much higher starting base now.  80%+ of our fans probably pay little or no attention to what goes on the media, behind the scenes in the boardroom etc.  It's just us idiots on the internet who get all uptight about life as a fan.  Mind you, experience suggests they more than make up for not letting off steam on the internet by doing so mid match!

Oh, and I thoroughly enjoyed the past couple of years, but we didn't get any real surge in season ticket sales because of it, so everyone who was a season ticket holder the last time we got relegated will have had them in the past season.  Why would they not renew because the club has sold some players and got some youths in?  They stuck around even after watching one of our most abject season ever, I doubt ther past few months has had much impact on their lives.

It's worth adding some balance, in Black's defence.  We were not overspending until the start of last season it seems.  Up until then, any shortfall vs income was sanctioned with equity/loans being granted.  It was the overspend he didn't sanction that got us into trouble.

We still would have had to cut our cloth once he left, but last season was accident waiting to happen once the Board started agreeing to demands they didn't have the cheque book to sustain.  From Black's leaving tweets, it does seem that he got pretty pissed off at that point, hence the quick sale being pushed through in the end.  He didn't want to be left holding the increasing cash shortfall that we'd been signed up to, especially as he'd underwritten the losses before that.

Can't see how Jed 'had balls' in taking over. He got the club for nowt and has not had to invest a penny of his own.

There are plenty on this forum who wouldn't mind a bit of that

He got it for £1 because we were staring at a good £2m+ set of losses for the year.

That is a big risk for someone without serious cash to take on.  We as fans knew we were for sale, but I don't remember us pulling together and creating a viable option?

That may well be true - but it doesn't change the fact that he got a decent business for bugger all and with no risk for himself

That is massive risk kerry.  As a director he is personally liable and without a wedge of cash sitting around burning a whole in your pocket, our monthly losses could easily have dragged a man down.

I think he took a calculated gamble on the basis our losses the year before and the in the previous few years suggested the club could be run close to break even.  Where they hit a snag is probably finding the massive gulf that been allowed to open up in the previous 6 months in terms of costs vs income.  As that would not have been fully accounted for at the time of the sale, they probably were a bit shocked once the full extent became clear.  Hence the 2/3 month period of panic in trying to get investors in to help them and now the the need for a complete clear out.

Anybody that picks up a business with running losses does not pick it up for bugger all.

If he bought it for 1 quid the cost would be 1 quid + the difference that has to be made up for. If the club was losing 2M a year then the new owners stand to lose 2M a year if the cannot reduce the deficit so how is there no risk?

If I do have a problem with the new owners, it's that they didn't outline the potential of their ownership and what it could mean to the club really early on.  By that I mean:

State what sort of expenditure they could support with their current level of investment
Make it clear that if expenses at the club exceeded this, what their plan was going to be to rectify it

They clearly thought the club was spending a little less than they found.

The should have come out and stated that outside investment would be sought, but if it was not forthcoming by the end of the season then a cloth cutting exercise wouldbe needed.

I think if they had done that early on, they'd have people onside like Fitton had people.  There should have been no shame in coming out and saying we simply cannot fund the gap we have found.  We'll work on new revenue, be it investment or concerts etc. but in the short term some tough decisions are going to need to be taken and it might take a year or two to get the club back to break even again.

What am I doing

Will not allow myself to get drawn into this repetitive, tiresome shite again. That's not a dig at anybody.

I for one am looking for the new season to start. The off the field politics is fucking boring. The football is way overdue.

STFC is a limited company. Unless an individual has invested their own money - which Jed has not - he has no personal liability.

If it all goes tits up, it's just hard luck Swindon Town Football Club.

Jed just returns to being a town crier

I agree that whatever we all prattle on about on the forum will not make a jot of difference to what happens.

But it is relatively healthy outlet for people' concerns

Bored of it all. Don't know why I interjected.

On another note though Shrewsbury are likely to make fuck all if we sell Collins for 200K. I bet that will piss Graham Turner off, which amuses me. The miserable, bitter old cunt.

I think we're all bored of the off the field shite.  It's been dragging on for far too long now.  Let's hope it doesn't drag on into the new season and start to overshadow that.

Logically speaking, should they not pay us a % of the loss we made on him?

amen to that

If only.

Seeing Turner seething about it (which he would) would be something to behold.

*Edit.... just noticed my typo  ;)

Even the board biggest critic would have to admit they got the season-tickets bang on this season, early renewal with a price freeze while Championship footy was still possible. But most of all the interest free instalments made it  a no brainer for most. credit where its due.

Don't share your optimism of retaining that increased fanbase if things go Pete Tong, but we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

That sad, anyone wavering and wanting to come to 'some' matches will still surely be swayed by the price difference between matchday prices and season ticket "per match" prices.

Not for me,i am glad of the break and wish the break was longer.

Under Di  Canio i couldn't wait for the season to start....don't feel like that at the present.

AND FOR THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP REMINDING US CYNICS,I KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THE CUTBACKS,I HAVE DONE IT IN BIG LETTERS FOR YOU TO SEE.

I admire the people like Herthab and co who seem to applaud the boards every move,thats all well and good but the fact is there are many who have big concerns.

Its probably because i am older as as a youngster i didn't give a jot about the off field shananagans.

Stop it.

Nobody is applauding the board's every move. Nobody has.

A decent business is one that turns a profit however small, that can't be said of STFC

Spat my beer out...excellent!

I think we technically managed for 2 years Fitton was in control through Player sales and some loan write-offs (some sort of technical adjustment that worked in our favour in terms of profits).  They did add about £2m a year in new revenue.

Of course they are. Everyone is in two camps on here, same as our fortunes for next season, there is no middle ground.

Go out and enjoy the fucking summer, you bunch of cunts.

We cant, its too hot. And when this heatwave end it'll be too fucking cold.

;)

Bring on the skiing.

It's always summer here.

Ha.

I've got concerns Lee and don't feel I applaud the boards every move. I just don't see the purpose of pointless never ending moaning. Especially when the moaning is usually based on nothing but poster's own permanently negative outlook.
And people think I'm a miserable old cunt!


(I am).

So has Collins actually gone north of the border? It was pretty obvious that he would be move on, as he could command a bit of a fee, and didn't want to be here....we know were getting closer to a balance point, whereby everything that can be moved has been moved...Caddis, both Rooneys, Cox and Benson still to be resolved. I would like to think we may be able to shift some of these soon, as still having a player overspend suggests to me cheap option when picking new boss ie Cooper. Which will be followed by meltdown.

The cooper debate keeps arising and I'm not sure why. Absolutely no chance of him being manger. They wouldn't have gone through the interview process, cooper hasn't applied, the grief from the fans would be unreal. For those 'moaners' writing off the season, we haven't even appointed yet...PDC turned a lot of average players into winners. Just look at where those players are now...

Let's see what happens when there's nobody left to sell or season tickets to be bought. Blind faith or doom mongering big fucking meh.
Pick your side or get splinters  :suicide:

No you are not.

Its good the new board have people with a bit of faith.
I hope that in a few months time i am joining that particular trend.

We all do Lee! Lets hope in a few months its not the other way around and the pitchforks are fully sharpened!!

One thing we all have in common is that we want the best for the club, the last couple of years have spoiled us a little I reckon.

Deal is done according to a few posters on a Hibs forum

http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?268642-Hibs-have-£200-000-bid-accepted-for-Swindon-striker-James-Collins-(According-To-SSN)/page13 (http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?268642-Hibs-have-£200-000-bid-accepted-for-Swindon-striker-James-Collins-(According-To-SSN)/page13)

TBF they thought the deal was done within minutes of Sky covering the story on Sunday....they may be a little premature.

'Uddersfiled maybe interested then

http://www.examiner.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/no-huddersfield-town-bid-swindon-5171117

Hibs play in Europe on Thursday so I guess if he is to be registered in time, they need to complete the signing quick smart.

I doubt they will get international clearance in that short time though even if he is signed today.

Sam M tweeting that reports suggest this has gone through.

Sky Sports reported he's signed a 3 year deal.

0 profit on this but no money to Shrewsbury (titter) and 3.5k per week off the wage bill.

Leaves us a bit short up front, don't want Obika personally but need another striker.

Fair play to the lad, I think he will do well up there, may even nudge him into the Eire full squad on the back of it.

Good luck to the lad. Still a little unconvinced myself, but he's still quite young and did on occasion show a real quality, just lacked consistency for me.

Need to get a target man style forward now i think. A Little worried that we are relying on Williams up top, Storey may yet turn out to be good though.

Decent player, pleased with the fee. Would rather not have sold though as this makes our squad even thinner, I'm becoming increasingly more worried as the season draws near.

We could have just kept Benson, he's not on that much and is decent back up. Doesn't look that way though.

We still have Benson.

He's one that has been left behind from Portugal isn't he? Indicated he's pretty much done.

Not good enough for league one anymore. Didn't look great when he played last year and did little in league 2 on loan. Another year older and no takers from any other club says it all i think.

We need a proper forward now or 2 even. Lets hope Chuch doesn't impress Charlton

True but along with Luke Rooney it looks like there are no takers on either of them so we may as well utilise them instead of alienating them. They are in the shop window so no point in being utter muck if we have to play them.

Indeed. Some of our fans need to realise we don't have the money to just replace players we don't want anymore. We have to use them until sold/contract expires.

That would make sense if they'd bother to take them to Portugal, the fact they were left behind is a pretty clear indicator that regardless of desperation we won't be seeing them involved

Just a guess but maybe they've been left behind to negotiate contracts with interested clubs/trials etc?

My hunch is that these players are still going to have to be involved at some stage as it doesn't sound like we are bring in any experiences players anytime soon.

I'd forgotten that they'd both played in some of the friendlies so perhaps they do have some sort of future

Selling your best striker is never a good move unless he is adequately replaced. Good to break even, I guess, and hope we have a nice sell on clause for the future.

Good thing about this is that we don't have to worry about giving Shrewsbury and that cunt in charge of them money anymore. Either in appearance fees or sell ons.

Bet they won't stop fucking moaning about it though.

You bet it deosnt.  Just had a look on their forum and they are moaning to kingdom come!

Cunts

At least something good has happened this week then.

Well, without the percentage payback to Shrews how is Turner going to afford the monkey glands and Sanatogen to keep his youthful looks

http://blueandamber.proboards.com/thread/84551/james-collins-signs-hibs?page=1#scrollTo=1094249

I love how one of the posters says 'some people really aren't very bright' and then proceeds to make an idiot of himself by getting his facts wrong!

 With the first game very near, anybody think it's time for....

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghunvEkji4E/UWgDXRqaW6I/AAAAAAAAAdI/FrEZgxnCz84/s200/panic-button.jpg)

He appears to be the standard average intelligence of a Screws fan it would appear judging by some of the shite thats posted on there.

And that was the point I made on another thread that I couldn't see the value in leaving players we're paying hefty salaries to behind to do nothing.

One of their fans said we call them screwsbury.

I've been on this forum for nearly 10 years and I don't recall ever seeing them called that, or anything else like that. It's been mostly bemusement as to why they have so much hate for us. Bitter, odd bunch.

Whosbury

How do you know they aren't doing anything, those changes to the Legends and painting the ground won't do itself you know!

Perhaps those players such as Benson, L.Rooney etc have had chances to go elsewhere but the money isn’t as good. By not taking them to Portugal the message from the club may be either take less money or rot in the stands?

Except 2 posts up from yours....

But thats JJ, thats his 'thing' to give other clubs a nickname. :)

Yeah he doesnt count!

Sorry my bad, I didn't mean to offend the 6 fingered inbred taffs.

Another down.

Just Caddis, Benson and Rooney(s) to go.

...and perhaps Cox later.

McEveley and Navarro possibly

Good player Collo, would have liked to see him stay. Will score goals for Hibs I'm sure.

Onwards....

Hibs 4-0 down on aggregate then in Europe.

I see St Johnstone's wage bill is apparently £1m a season.

Here,here.

Hibs fans want the manager sacked after 2 games and people on here say Town fans are negative.

So much for the 'step up' then james

What an awful post, you should get a job in the media (the usually reliable Henry Winter wrote an article last friday proclaiming David Weir as another very good manager from north of the border after one game of the season).

Not that anyone's that interested Hibs fans don't want Fenlon sacked after two games, they want him sacked after sitting through the last year or so, in which fenlon has overseen some of the worst performances at ER.

Problem is if they do sack him not sure if it'll make much of a difference.

Pat Fenlon is the most negative manager I've ever seen, he makes Paul Hart look recklessly adventurous.

The only reason he wasn't sacked was because they limped into the jock cup final last year.

That's more like it.

Collins has got it all to do to replace that man.

True and Collins won't be able to. Not a knock on Collins but Griffiths is a special talent who could create goals for himself as his teammates were too shit.

Scored a beauty yesterday for Wolves, should be for good 20 goals minimum this season

didn't shine today for me..

G'wan the jambos!!

Is that Henry Winter is usually reliable as in writes something worth reading - or normally reliable at being a cock?

That moves gone well hasnt it