Thetownend.com

Evening all,
The Trust AGM took place tonight and, for those who are interested, there's a summary of our activities during the year and intentions for the coming year and beyond on our website. Here's the link: http://www.truststfc.com/agm-summary/
Sam

Thanks for the live tweets Sam. Saw the first hour then went off to build elliptical trainer. Will look again + catch up tomorrow!

I remember them. Lessons at college. Something to do with Cartesian co-ordinates wasn't it?

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Ellipse_derivation_1.svg/541px-Ellipse_derivation_1.svg.png)

Thanks for this. The Trust is a real shot in the arm for the club. Such a shame that Power, typically, can't grasp the bleeding obvious benefit of engaging with it. These comments were dispiriting:


Yeah, fuck them away fans. And while you're at it, fuck all those kids you kept dragging in last year. Glad we put a stop to that malarkey. And in particular, fuck meeting up or even lifting a phone to discuss our issues when we can just fire off a quick email.

From the CEO of Excalibur, major STFC sponsor and i/c developing local business relations with the Trust. Whyever would Lee want to engage with him?

Fuck me we're lucky to have a few committed individuals prepared to wade through treacle to try and do something for the club in the community.

Rant over.  :badmood:

Well done, all.  Amazing commitment from everyone involved by the sounds of it.

Is there a quick way to check when your Trust membership is due for renewal?

Yes cross PWP's sweaty palm with beer. Or just ask him.

Or just set up a monthly direct debit to the Red Army Fund and never worry about it again.

The club attitude to the trust seems very odd, in its current incarnation it's a malign force for good and fills a lot of the community role that the clubs should (no idea what FITC is like now as I'm not local any more, but I can't imagine it has much high level support)

Could it be the legacy of the trust taking an active role in trying to take over the club and Power fearing that kind of scenario, or is it just his general dislike of having too many stakeholders in the club to try to satisfy?

Can I ask a question.This isn't a pop I promise but something that has crossed my mind.

Am I right in thinkl Power doesn't really like you much Sam,if this is the case is this likely to put the trusts relationship with the club at risk a bit

If it does it just shows how childish Lee Power is and that he really doesn't give a toss about the future of STFC.
The Trust can only be a good thing for the club.

I think Power's attitude pre-dates Sam's involvement. It doesn't sound like there's a relationship to put at risk

Two points:

1 Power's Keep Off attitude to other people's involvement might start to be understandable if he was very good at covering all their roles himself. As a "football man" though, his strategy seems to be limited to: Get things right on the pitch and the rest will follow. Which is fine as far as it goes, but is a pretty limited view of how to run a business.

2 What's your definition of "malign"?

I think I mean benign, rather than malign. I'm certainly not accusing the Trust of being up to no good.

As for your first point, I agree entirely, but he's also a stubborn one so I'd be very impressed if the Trust can do much about his paranoias and preferences.

Similar question and again not a pop but why apply for planning permission for a toilet block when the lessee of the ground doesn't support it and thus is unlikely to give their consent for it to be built?

I think the Trust is a great thing, however I remain a little confused why we need the Trust and the Supporters Club where there seems to be ever greater cross over between the two, would the obvious enthusiasm of all be better served by pooling resources?

I agree that this looks problematic. Perhaps the lessee's wishes don't matter if the owner supports the application?

My understanding is that the SC and the Trust have very different roles and objectives, and there's plenty of space for both.

It's also worth noting that non football support staff Power has at his disposal are far reduced from what we had under, say, Fitton/ Wray - With that in mind I'd have thought he'd be grateful for the free skilled labour that the Trust offers. The Kids on the Bank scheme last year proved what they can do, he's foolish for not ultilising it more in my opinion.

The SC are primarily a fund raising organization. They run SAS Travel, do the 50/50 draw and Pounds for Points to raise money for FITC, etc.

The Trust are a mixture of political action and fund raising. They are linked to Supporters Direct, follow their rules (one member/one vote). Trusts have been the vehicle to rescue clubs in trouble, with a number of Trusts now owning their club.

There is a good relationship between both organisations (SC and Trust), with a representative of the SC at the Trust AGM last night.

It was good to read Sam's tweeted update last night, sounds like TrustSTFC are going great guns with some good plans, shame that Power cant see that and accept help when it is in the interests of the club.

What more can we do? We've told them that the cost to the club will be nil, for the toilets on SB and a lift to the executive suite. It's a no brainer.

Unfortunately, as far as loosening the reins of power goes, so is our dear leader.

he could at least explain to them behind closed doors why, if he hasn't already.

As someone that was pro trust and heavily involved in the Diamandis protests I can kind of see why the owner may be hesitant. He has no previous history with the club or the Trust and to read the ultimate goal is to run the club (as it is with all trusts) and a mandate to make "A more democratic, transparent and accountable structure for Swindon Town" it could come across that you are trying to force your way into the decision making process at the club.
Ultimately the club is still a business and unless the Trust can put together enough money (likely a seven figure sum!) to gain a significant stake in the club then I don't see how you can expect an owner to embrace that mandate. Maybe the money earmarked on the bank would be better used on gaining a significant stake in the club but history tells me we'd never get close to raising a anywhere near enough unless the club was in trouble and available on the cheap.... That's the only way Trusts ever gain control.

One other thing and maybe it's his me, but you moan about the lack of engagement with the club but to highlight it each time in bold in the summary seems pretty petty to me and likely counter productive. Part of the problem during the Diamandis potests is that it became a tit for tat campaign and we didn't get everyone's full support as a result, subltle (or unsubtle) digs wil just end up counterproductive!

Not read Sam's link but I thought the original idea was to rebuild the derelict toilet blocks already on the bank, especially the whole area by the disused Shrivvy rd turnstiles.

Maybe Power is reluctant to open the door on ground redevelopment for a couple of reasons.

There is a significant sum (£2m I think) repayble to Andrew Black on ground redevelopment. The toilets would be renovation but the roof project could be construed as redevelopment.

The other reason is any and improvements could weaken negotiations with SBC on the lease as he might argue the ground is 'dilapidated' to get a lower lease.

Either way is his motive to nip the idea in the bud. That might mean any money raised by the RAF ends up being offered for loan wages like the Toffolo deal. In Power's model that would be better money spent.

The whole Trust engagement would be a good question for the next Hodgetts love in.

Maybe Power doesn't want any work done on Stratton Bank as he might have his own ideas as to its long term future? I'm sure I read a while ago that Power had been to Australia and had secured some sort of funding from a construction company for future redevelopment. Or did I just dream that?

Other than the dilapidated ground argument, since we own infrastructure its our issue, they are reasonable points. Just meet with the trust and talk it through.

People complained the Trust were too militant/not helping the club. And when they do they are seemingly stonewalled.

No you didn't dream it
Isn't that the Axis sponsor on the top of the home shirt ?

Can someone from the trust clarify who, if anyone, aid yes to the Bank roof fund raiser? I can't believe nobody asked.

Shame about the lack of engagement on other initiatives too. 4K to Coventry should be 10K at home  shouldn't it?

Seems to me the drawbridge was drawn up post Wembley to press, Trust and most outside the club - whether intentionally or because other priorities got in the way who knows.

I was doing a job for a gentleman who (whether right or wrong)  has it on good authority that power is in talks with certain people regarding purchasing land close too south marston industrial estate with a view to building a stadium there :sofa:

Just a thought but if there were plans to do any kind of upgrades to the ground that might include the things the trust are proposing but are not yet confirmed, the best approach might be to keep silent on the issue rather than comment... perhaps the reason for a lack of engagement is because it is in hand?
..

Maybe, hope so, the Trust claim to know nothing though :)

Power would not invest money into rebuilding The County Ground as there is no opportunity to make a return on it. Building a new stadium would make more sense to him.

Sorry but that makes no sense. He'd have just as much chance of making a return on a redeveloped County Ground as he would on a new ground, probably more as he wouldn't have to shell out for a build from scratch, although he'd obviously need to buy the ground and/or obtain a 999-year lease on it.

To be fair he has stated get the foundations in, I.e training ground, then do the rest in order. Pointless putting in an engine, until the chassis is built.

Not sure that's totally true - is the covenant on the CG land not such that none of it can be used for non-sporting development?

In that case, developing an out of town site with housing/business areas alongside it may well offer more financial potential.

Not that I really think Power is in this for the redevelopment money, not sure the off the field stuff really interests him that much.

Christ when is this hoary old myth going to die a death? Yes, there is a covenant on the Country Ground, no it is not etched in blood. It can be bought out, as Diamandis proposed when he wanted to sell the whole lot off for housing. And it wouldn't apply at all in a redevelopment, the ground would still be being used for sporting purposes, there is no restriction on commercial development alongside that. Or the club wouldn't be able to host conferences, lunches, give blood drives etc i.e. the minimal commercial activities they do now.

Assuming you are correct Pauld, why has every previous owners of the club made very little headway into doing something about the ground? It's starting to become a white elephant in the sense sooner or later someone surely has to take ownership. I personally don't know the ins and outs of the convent and the restrictions it may impose but how long can the stadium last in it current condition?

Going back over our recent owners over the past 15 years or so:
Diamandis/Wills - Diamandis' schemes all revolved around him and the Wills family being able to extract cash from a development to the greater benefit of Mike Diamandis, rather than the club or community. They were all founded on assumptions that the council could not lawfully meet. He didn't get that and just thought they were being awkward, no matter how many people told him his schemes were not lawfully permissible. Ended up just saddling the club with a load of debt to St Modwen that took Fitton and co years to unravel.

Fitton/Wray/Black - faffed about and missed the boat, largely. TBF Diamandis had poisoned the ground development issue a little when they first came in and they had to unravel a lot of the mess left behind but they took too long doing that and feasibility studies etc and by the time they were anywhere near ready to looking for investment partners, the crash had hit and the arse had fallen out of the market.

Jed - Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Just be grateful he didn't have any redevelopment plans.

On another note, where did the Sun drag this little twat up from? In todays paper:

(http://i63.tinypic.com/9hi6b5.jpg)

Ha, ha...that reminded me that I met him at Newbury races once during his tenure with us...we'd just signed a couple of players and had won 4-1ish that day, which I had the merry pleasure of informing him.  He was so so happy, and did that silly cackle thing of his.

Great, great days - remarkable to think I could have forgotten that forever without that prompt.

Oh but he did. I have a hand-drawn blueprint somewhere to prove it.

Is it in field green or yellow green Crayola?

Here's out AGM handout on what we've been doing in the last year

Let me guess, it's a sketch of the current ground plus the famous Town End bar and all the windows, internal and external, replaced with newly supplied top of the range double glazing (to be supplied at our best possible price by McCrory's Magic Window Solutions). Job done!

Got it.

(http://i.imgur.com/inQi1jM.jpg) (http://imgur.com/inQi1jM)

(And before anyone says anything, I've been stuck at a train station for 45 minutes.)

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Brilliant Ells  :clap:

:D

I forgot about the Mercs. I have stumbled across a write up of a Q&A the Trust had with Jed and Murrall after they took over, and did chuckle at this line:


Caused quite an outrage if I remember rightly.

For accuracy, shouldn't the Merc parking be at the Town End Ells? Accuracy, PLEEZE!

And get in the way of rice's wig shop? Pfft.

Actually you need a compass rose or a grid reference or Reg will be on to whoop your ass

Discovered a new drinking game.

Watch the videos on this page with a bottle of vodka/your choice of drink in the middle. First one to drink loses.

http://www.swindonweb.com/?m=133&s=2028&ss=2057&c=12098

Can't be fucked to watch the videos. Drinking the vodka already so therefore I am the loser/a loser

 :beers:

 :D

Its a bit surreal looking back at that, what a bizarre period in the clubs history,  even by our standards.

This is my favourite bit:


 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: