Thetownend.com

Lee Power: Swindon Town owner moves to allay money fears
     

Swindon Town chairman Lee Power promises financial stability at the League One club following his takeover on Tuesday.
     

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25217953
     

Ooh, a fans phone in  :)

At least that will get to the bottom of the cheese issue.

I doubt that with the sort of dribbler's these phone ins attract.

So, him saying the club has no debt surely means the rumours of a host of unpaid creditors is a load of bollocks, then.

I wouldn't go that far. I read it as saying there is no outstanding large debt i.e 10 million tax, but he did say money was still leaking, so I assumed that there probably are some smaller ones that will be mopped up now the take over is ratified

But, surely, there is a world of difference between day to day running costs and creditor debt which has, allegedly, built up to the stage where legal action was being considered - not to mention staff not getting paid.

All sounds like bollocks to me

You're probably right Audrey. There may well be some existing 'debt', and some have chosen to portray it out of context.

I would guess he's talking about the difference between current and long-term liabilities.

For the first time ever (thanks to A Black) the club claims not to have serious long-term liabilities and massive rolled-up debts (assuming Jed didn't mortgage anything*) it only has short-term liabilities like suppliers etc. Not that these aren't trivial, but they're more manageable.

(*And given that AB appears to have put some change of control provisions in the Jed deal, he may well have put other provisions around debt in there too. If he did make it a condition of sale to stop future morons gearing the club up again, then there's another reason to be impressed with him.)

Debt is when you owe people money. Which we patently do, unless all the stuff about repayment schedules etc is untrue (i.e. never mind the rumoured threats of legal action). Any attempt to pretend otherwise is, at best, not giving the full picture, surely?

I know what debt is Paul but thanks for educating me anyway. I was quite clearly referring to rumours that creditors are unhappy and considering taking legal action etc.

Sorry, wasn't trying to be patronising but Power seems to be using a different definition. Which may well be technically correct in accounting terms, but it's not how folks use the term in common parlance. Which was my point, that he was (possibly unintentionally) perhaps being slightly misleading in making this bold claim

And actually your meaning wasn't at all clear. At least not to me.

Businesses always owe money and most businesses will try to pay suppliers as late as possible. Anyone I know who runs a small business tends to makes a distinction (in their books and in their heads) of working capital liabilities and proper big, scary liabilities like mortgages and loans. Without trivialising the cases of those who are owed money, having a charge over your business isn't the same as paying the milkman late.

Prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt on this for the moment.

Of course there will be a level of debt - businesses will pay creditors between 30 and 60 days and until they actually get paid there is debt. This is normal business practice.

When LP said the club had no debt I took this to mean long term debt, outside of normal business running costs.

Sure but, to take just one example, Murrall spoke in the Adver, and it's not been challenged/corrected to my knowledge, about repayment schedules being established with suppliers. Which suggests a special arrangement outside of the usual terms of trade, and more of something that would be called debt.

Pffft. If it's minor, it's minor, not trying to trip the fella up, just seemed a little at odds with what else we'd been told was all.

Ah well. As long as I've got a club to support I'll leave the the financial worrying to others.

Bit head in the sand, I know

But Paul - Power also said clearly he wasn't prepared to be drawn into public debate with former employees - seemed pretty clear to me he was talking about Murrall

Therefore why would Power challenge or reject it ?

Just because its been said by someone who left the organisation a while ago - doesn't mean it's actually happening does it ?

I don't pay my phone/tax/water/electicity/gas bill until they send a red through - and in some cases (usually tax) until they send a threatening letter - it's better in my account earning interest than theirs....

True enough.

Good idea on the Power PR front to have the fans phone in, looking forward to it!

Whatever Powers plans, they'll count for fuck all without us. We just need to have the balls to walk away at some point if we have a justifiable reason to do so. Money men love.....................money. Without the cash cow mooing it's way toward SN1 every other weekend ANY owners investment will turn to dust. TBF they'll have pissed off long before that happens anyway.

So he and his "team" are on notice that my three ST are not a nailed on certainty for next season or the season after that come to it.

So Lee it's over to you.

Fatbasher

With fickle fans like you go now. If you are a true supporter you support them through the difficult times!

And Fredi, he said before and after he joined..

Yeah, but you spent most of the summer looking for an excuse not to go didn't you?

It was easier then though Dave, BBQ season. :-)

Depends how you define support. Lets say he chose to boycott home games and went to every away game. Its not really fickle to do so.

In any case his post was hardly suggesting abandonment of STFC, more a means to an ends to get control of the club back if Power messes the club up. Sounds committed to me. No idea if this will be needed mind. Certainly hope not.

Supporting the club for 40 years and i mean supporting like most if not all home games and between two to ten away games, so, a) can you say the same? b) who the fuck are you to tell me to go now c) read my post again and tell me you're sorry for misinterpreting my message to Mr. Power 

Also if it all goes horribly wrong and we end up like AFC Wimbledon will you come and shake my hand on a cold, wet windy day in January? I doubt it. I'll be there as a founding Father of AFC Swindon or whatever, however, if I feel that I need to withdraw my support it will be as a last resort and with a heavy heart. I'm fed up of the shenanigans that have beset my club in the last 10 years or so. so  :smugfu:

Can we please not have the 'Who's a real fan' debate again? It was fucking tedious the last time.

For Power to say the club ha 'no debt' while being interviewed when he knows people, mostly 'normal' fans are watching, I think we can read that as the club owes no money to anyone. In accounting terms maybe it means something different and I can't disagree we owe a lot less than previously. He has more than a few 45 day term payments being held back. Some big, and some small. There is also legal action currently from more than one party and has been some previously from others. How much of this was Jed and how much of this is Power? We don't know 100% but we do know Power has had his accountant there for a while and Murrall talked about debt in his interview.

Yep.

We all know it's me anyway.  ;)

A real Swansea fan debate?  :sherlock:

Irked me somewhat this morning. Maybe i should have replied or ignored it before i opened up my work inbox.....

so on a brighter note there is 10% off in the club shop today.

Back in the days when SAS travel was run by Annie and Paul and they used Silver Knight coaches we never missed an away game.  Four people used to get on at Blunsdon - older supporters will know who I mean - and they never missed a game home or away.  The club wrote to them and told them they were moving their season ticket seats for some obscure reason, they took offence and as far as I know have not been back to the County Ground since!!  But for some seasons they still never missed an away game!!  The club never benefited at all from moving them against their wishes, but t hey certainly proved they were not fickle supporters!

Depends how managed it is. I imagine it will last for an hour, there will be 5 or 6 friendly calls in which the caller will toss up a juicy half volley or two for Power to smack to the cover boundary and the rest will be spend seeing just how far Shaun Hodgetts can shove his gigantic nose up Powers arse.

Hope I am wrong though.

If some of the texts sent in after home games are the norm then it needs managing that's for sure. And that's only the ones that get read out.

Words mean jack shit as fans of STFC have found out time and time again. It's all become a fucking bore, for me at least. Fuck the lot of them...
I'm a shit fan by the way, as I cannot be arsed to go anymore. Boo me

Can't be arsed to go but still spend most of your time on the forum talking about them. If you'd truly lost interest you wouldn't even be here.

Not having a go like, just don't get it.

Loyalty point prove how loyal you are. How many of those do you have, eh, Mr Bangkok. Probably about none. I'd imagine on loyalty terms that means you are sleeping with Oxford behind our backs.

Still interested in STFC. Nowhere near as much as I was though and I definitely don't comment on STFC football matters as much as I used to. I honestly have no desire at all to go to a game now. They're still my team but just cannot be arsed anymore.

I come on here for a read about all manner of things as i've enjoyed the debates people on here have thrown up and will continue to do so.

The TEF's a bit like crack; really moreish.

TEF. Not even once.

Just say no to TEF kids.

I don't really come on here for the football news either. I don't really know why I come on here other than habit.

Never realised so many regular posters never actually go to the game

Excellent piece on the Washbag:

http://thewashbag.com/2013/12/05/whats-the-story-mourning-mccrory/

"Jed and Steve showed me, Paul Wardell and another fan the dank and claustrophobic spaces where Paolo “forced the youth team to use as their changing rooms” after they were moved out of the main changing room."

If true, that is shocking.

Sounds believable given the contempt we know he had for the youth team and its manager.

Good work with the title of that article

nobody was bothered at the time when i mentioned what di canio was doing. In fact almost everyone was backing him on here.

No, you're not wrong. I've seen him and his nose is rather large.

Typical fan (and I include myself). When you're winning no one cares.

What happened about the phone in?

It's on Monday isn't it?

Press confrence now at county ground.

Well, the adver's brief reporting doesn't tell us much, Shah to stay, look at team strengthening after Xmas, in it for long term - not going to flip it and sell it and he is sole investor!

an 8 minute presser! Wow!

Day to day general manager will be appointed which will be interesting.

Bob Holt?  Mr Whippy?

??? It's Monday unless it's been cancelled

Cheers I must have misread, I thought it was on the Wednesday just gone for some reason

Not much said but what was seemed encouraging. Then again he should know what to say. Maybe he can give the groundsman some tips on PR after his twitter comment about Tom Daley.