Thetownend.com

What a crock of shit.

Firstly because of the stupid use of that phrase which is covered on the this is forum.

Secondly why has this article been published? Like someone else has stated on thisis why didn't Puffett come out last November and say what great news the prospect of Bill Power's new investment into the club is.

What the fuck is going on at the Adver?  That "story" is not newsworthy.

Puffet is a grade A cunt and should but his nose out.Hasnt he got his own little empire at Supermarine to play God at? I used to think he was alright but he was a failure at STFC so what the fuck gives him the right to comment on anything.Just another patsy with his own agenda.

que Asher saying what a great bloke he is and that hes just a fan,etc,etc

Agreed.

We averaged about 15k in the premiership. We have won 1 major trophy in our history (and even that was the least important major domestic trophy)

We are not a sleeping giant of a club. We are a club that should be fairly happy if we reached the championship, based on size and fanbase.

Dont want to be on too much of a downer, but it pisses me off when people start thinking their clubs are bigger than they are and dont want that to happen to us.

Do you think he went down the Street in Police Squad to get his info, you know, the shoe shiner?  Haven't seen him down my street asking for opinions.

Sleeping giant :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

It's attitudes like that one that cause the problems, too many people thinking they can make money out of our great potential.  What would be nice is for someone to run the club on the basis of trying to make it work with we have at the moment, crowds of 7000ish when doing ok, anything we achieve beyond that is a bonus right now.

Dozing Dwarf more like!

Less than 15000 wasn't it, with many games well below a sell out, most notably Oldham right at the start of the season with around 11000 in attendance.

You're probablly right Rob (you usually are, you cunt :wink: ) I was just going off the top of my head there.

talking of dwarfs.mr puffett is a small little man.always imagined him to be taller

Nah hes not my client anymore  :D

If I remember rightly Monsieur puffett was one of the gang of 4 consortium who ousted the brady bunch was he not.
So as far as i am concerned he also has made many promises which were not kept.
Therefore he has no credibility

Piemonte, I was wrong, so I am a cunt 8)

15274 is the answer I get

11940 against Oldham for our first ever home game in the top flight!

oldham brought very few down that game,was a midweek one if i remember rightly.bastards got a late winner after a drab game

stll, less than 12000 for our first ever top flight game does go some way to show we are hardly a sleeping giant.

Has he been in a coma? we have had an exciting takeover in the offing since September with the dream of kicking out the current clowns and running on an even keel.  What ever next for Puffet we may walk on the moon?

i agree,no way a giant.could potentially do a reading,wigan, bolton though.and i think our away following would put theirs to shame

I 100% agree Arriba, we could do that, and if he had said that then I wouldn't have an issue with that part of his comments.

So true, and he still must be connected to Diamond Mike and co. as Puffett must have got neckache due to the fact he kept on nodding his head everytime Bob 'Sticks' Holt opened his mouth at the Fans Forum a few months back.

Don't doubt for a second he's a fan, but on that basis surely our opinions on all this are just as valid as his - virtually all the board have had their headlines now...plus Puffett and Andronikou...hows about we start afew thousand days of ours - how the hell can they print the rubbish he's spouted about getting excited about new investment without so much as questioning it - we've had an offer of investment since last year! But for some reason Puffett chooses to trumpet one which sees SSW, Diamandis and co stay in place.

There are some real nitty gritty stroies to be uncovered but we don't have anybody with the bollocks to do any digging - hows about openly saying to one of the directors: "You're accounts are the worst we've ever seen and the auditors gave an adverse pinion of them - how does that reflect well on your tenure' - If you don't get a response, print that you didn't! It says just as much - that they have no answers. Instead he says to Bowden/Puffet/Andronikou - give us your slant on the club right now - I'll print it for you, and promise not to ask anything remotely testing.

Thought we were on to something yesterday, but alas not.

Don't doubt for a second he's a fan, but on that basis surely our opinions on all this are just as valid as his - virtually all the board have had their headlines now...plus Puffett and Andronikou...hows about we start afew thousand days of ours - how the hell can they print the rubbish he's spouted about getting excited about new investment without so much as questioning it - we've had an offer of investment since last year! But for some reason Puffett chooses to trumpet one which sees SSW, Diamandis and co stay in place.

There are some real nitty gritty stroies to be uncovered but we don't have anybody with the bollocks to do any digging - hows about openly saying to one of the directors: "You're accounts are the worst we've ever seen and the auditors gave an adverse pinion of them - how does that reflect well on your tenure' - If you don't get a response, print that you didn't! It says just as much - that they have no answers. Instead he says to Bowden/Puffet/Andronikou - give us your slant on the club right now - I'll print it for you, and promise not to ask anything remotely testing.

Thought we were on to something yesterday, but alas not.

It was Cliff Puffett who promised a fan on the board at the first Trust meeting. If I remember correctly,  it was the first of many promises the current board broke, although it may have been Bob Holt's "more money than you can shake a stick at" investors promise.

EXCLUSIVE: 1st picture of the "street people" Cliff polled in his exhaustive survey.

http://www.tptb.co.uk/blog/archives/3%20tramps.jpg

I seem to vaguely recall that too, making me think that Puffett was 'ok'.  I since found out he decided to get rid of the safety officer to cut costs - before realising one was a necessity to host matches, and employing a more costly replacement.  The bloke tries to say and do the right things - amnd act as the impartial fans voice - in reality another Newbury placeman.

He's spot on.

We're massive.

To be honest pretty irrelevant to this day and age as you could look back the the late 60s early seventies when attendances were between 20-30k. From 88-93 we'd been in the second tier for a few years and were regularly challenging to get into the top flight. As with anything you take certain things for granted, and i'd imagine certain parts of the fan base saw being at second tier level, a given. Compare that to now when we have been 3rd tier or lower for 7+ years, even getting into the second tier would see a great spike in crowd - at least initially. If the club is ever to get a sustainable higher fan base of 15k+ not only if success required on the pitch but also required are better facilities, which modern day football fans are attracted to.

Ah, Cliff the "fan" of STFC who was quite happy to leave the Walsall game at half time to go to another game. How many fans of the club do you know that would have been prepared to do that?
Just another small time local businessman after an ego boost.

He is so far up Diamandis and the boards ass it is unreal, even though Diamandis has shafted him in the past as well

As has been muted by Mike Wilkes- we already know we have a small budget next year- we know it will always be this way with this board as they wont invest in players, Power will.  

Time for them to go- no more fucking about

If this "newbie" investor is given access to the books and is allowed to make a balanced judgement based on facts....then so be it.
If he is hoodwinked, and goes on what he/she is told, then i feel for them!!
Makes you wonder!!

What I know about Cliff Puffett and co from memory and from a mate who worked for him at his sand pit near faringdon:

Puffett was Rikki Hunts lapdog for years in the boardroom till Hunt dropped him shortly before the club went into administration. I think Puffett, Godwyn, Spearman and co let Rikki Hunt pretty much do what he wanted and they then paid a painful price later.  

Puffets time as chair of stfc was a disaster (Jimmy Quinn, flogging players like Ounoura and N'Dah, relegation.) He eventually took us into administration and also took the rap for Hunts equally disasterous tenure as STFC chair.

Cliff Puffett and Rikki Hunt continue to share common business interests outside of Swindon Town though. They are both directors of a holding company (Swindon Supermarine Land Ltd) which effectively controls Supermarine FC and their commercial activities.

Puffett was involved in bringing Terry Brady, Danny Donegan and Ian Blatchley to STFC when Seaton Wills decided to bail out first time around.

Puffett was also responsible for aiding Mike Diamandis, Nick Presscot and Seaton Wills efforts in getting Donegan and Blatchley ousted via a High Court ruling a year or so later, when Seaton Wills realised he could possibly recover his numerous loans to the club by redeveloping the ground himself.

Rikki Hunt continues to have considerable daily influence at STFC, via his business relationship with Cliff Puffett,  Mike Diamandis and Mike Bowden.

Between them, Hunt, Puffett and Diamandis have racked up a couple of relegations, two periods of administration, countless millions of pounds lost, two very possible ground redevelopments wanked away, millions of pounds worth of debt, at least 2 high-cost commercial mortgage debentures and an overall feeling of stagnation and depression of the football club.

Puffett. Don't make me laugh :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Pretty much how I remember the whole thing delta, I've always seen Cliff as the dude who keeps getting screwed over but keeps going back for more.

I agree Ben. The worrying thing is though that Diamandis has treated him like shit yet Puffett still pedles his bullshit in public. I wonder what Diamandis has on him because Puffetts latest words defy belief for someone who is a self-styled 'mister Swindon'. As for all the shit about 'word on the street', what a cunt.

I think the Advertiser editor needs to take some serious fucking action with the junior reporter who's taken over from Ritson before more unbalanced shit like that gets printed. There are plenty on the net who know what a cunt Puffett is, but there will be plenty more in Adverland who'll read that and believe it.

Cant believe the BBC have been lobbed by the club by the way. Is it personal because they broke stories about Diamandis this season just gone? Anyone from the consortium or trust know anything about why this action has taken place?

Thanks to the uniques way in which the BBC is funded I doubt they'd be able to see off a challenge from a commercial enterprise when it comes down to ££££

I'm more inclined to think that Radio Swindon may have known it was coming and hence why they've been allowed to be let off the leash a bit more.

And the Adver has improved since Ritson left, not that it was difficult.

Pretty much agree with all of that ........loving the puffett picture too  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Hadn't thought of the beeb maybe knowing in advance that they were going to lose the broadcasting rights. Good point.

I beg to differ about the Advertiser improving since Ritson fucked off. Annoying as Ritson could be with his constant (bracketing) habit, treating us like reatrds (just in case we'd somehow lost the thread of the sentence) I think the controversial ouput was at least balanced. The newbie bloke may be balanced over the course of a few days (by printing the views of others involved in the debate) but I think he'd do better cobbling up (all the comments) on any particular issue and sticking in one article when possible.

As for his ability to cover football matches, we'll wait and see what his work is like next season (2007/08). I'm going to give him a chance to show what he can do before piling in though :wink:

Ritson, well balanced? Fuck me, maybe I read a different paper to you!

I'd agree with dismissing his Sleeping Giant waffle but think Reading. With the right man/men/board at the helm they have shown what is most certainly possible. Plus, Swindon - as a place - has more going for it commercially than Reading - FACT

OK, that was a bit off the mark. Sorry. Ritson was a cunt :soapy tit wank: