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Who will save STFC from a lifetime of lower league-hopping mediocrity, and when do you think it will happen?

The Tooth Fairy

The remnants of Alan Navarro's merkin.

Jamie Cullam & Melinda Messenger :eek:

No one & never

Bob Holt and his stick.

Willie Carson and his milk crate.

Julian Clary😁

Jed

60s throwback Mark Lamarr

Ffs  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

He's never that complimentary of his home Town

Tactics Tim with his gilet still stuffed full with the Luongo money

Just be another chancer whoever it is as club loyalties aside there’s nothing much that makes us an attractive proposition to anyone but a chancer or a rich fan. Just a money pit with a dilapidated stadium that the club doesn’t own.

I wouldnt trust the owner with his choice of who to sell to in all honesty.

Fair point, I keep getting into debates with people about fan ownership being the solution to everything. Has zero appeal to me to be honest as will still leave us as a jobbing bottom half of league 1 or league 2 team at best as again it’s just all about sustainable football. No golden bullet to kickstart our fortunes unfortunately.

I wouldn’t say fan ownership is the solution to everything, but I do think it’s worthy of consideration - especially given lack of alternative options and Swindon’s track record of dodgy owners. I reckon the club has little or no “asset value” so would probably be a case of taking on the debts and running costs. How much would it cost to run Swindon with a competitive playing budget for three years?

Also (and forgive me for not knowing) but isn’t there a treasure chest of Sir Seton Wills money held in trust that might be available to ‘proper’ owners, such as a fan-elected board?

No. Diamandis burned through all the Wills money

Looks like he could be joining his mate Les at QPR😁

The problem is that realistically there’s a lot of near term expenditure needed not least on the ground, it’s not going to be long before areas of the CG don’t pass safety certification. With fan ownership we are likely to need to take out loans, these will likely have sizeable interest rates attached due to our sketchy track record. These repayments will then need to be funded from the clubs normal income meaning even less money gets spent on the team and you have the potential death spiral scenario into non league as less spend on the pitch, could see a double whammy of income falling due to less fans attending and less fans maintaining membership of the club ownership vehicle. The likes of Pompey and Wrexham have abandoned the fan ownership model the moment an owner with some wealth came along which speaks volumes.
Don’t get me wrong I think there should be a member of say the Trust on the board in an oversight position but fan ownership doesn’t excite me.

I think your referring to the Nigel Eady money that has funded alot of the foundation work to date but he left a trust for STFC generally to be used but under the present owner I think they are not keen to.get involved until this is resolved.

Sorry, yes that's what I was referring to.  RIP Nigel Eady.  Isn't one of the previous chairmen on the trustee board?  I'm sure they would look favourably on a fan-elected board, with a proper strategic plan.

I know I always bring up the Bath City FC example - yawn - yes I know it's a much smaller operation - but they have doubled attendances under fan ownership and even raised £50k in a kickstarter to fund the playoff campaign last season.  By comparison we have declining attendances and a generation of fans staying away from games (pre COVID obviously).

Wasn’t it spent on the FITC hub?

I think in all honestly the 2 clubs you refer were purchased as the benefactor was a ke to move these clubs forward from fan ownership , especially Pompey given Mr Disney being the benefactor.  

On the subject of fan ownership I think it's the way forward,  most people buying clubs these days are in it for non football reasons, I.e to make money from getting to premier league , or a branding tool for their own business (Sportsdirect) . Fan ownership would look to use all money to improve the club. On the topic of ongoing funds for operating costs, I think you will find most clubs that make a success of it involves a subscription funding approach so consistent money is coming in to pay the bills, plus in utilising the facilities for other reasons other than football more income can be generated for the club. You also have to be mindful that clubs pay large amounts of rent for their grounds I.e stfc pay 200k a year approx so if they own the ground that rental money doesnt need to be paid and can be used on maintenance and upkeep. Most clubs with a fan model of ownership dont need and dont have loans so that's not an issue. It's all about living within your means,  maximising revenue, selling the odd player for profit and investing everything into football not paying for your luxury lifestyle and living and personal expenses. It's the way you go especially at our level.

No it wasnt !

Some of it definitely was!

Sorry wasnt clear, I did mean not all of it was spent on the foundation,  but they did release a 7 figure sum for sure.

Sadly £50k is frankly petty cash at the level we play at (and aspire to), whilst fan ownership sounds great what happens (as alluded to above) when suddenly the ground needs £100k spending on it or we are (like we are this season) wallowing in shit creek and need to sign a striker in January, where does the cash injections for such matters come from?


Thing is without Power or AN Other you are looking at the Trust needing to raise £2.2m just to buy what is an increasingly decrepit ground, that's without any sort of redevelopment to improve facilities for supporters and provide the 7 days, 52 weeks income that clubs need to sweat such assets.

Fan ownership sounds great but unless we go into Admin (with the potential shit show that could lead to) the fans are firstly going to have to buy out Power (wasn't he wittering on about c.£7m) and with the ground its looking like a c£10m investment upfront just to maintain the status quo. 

If I make c50m in the next 5yrs. I'll buy the club for 5m (Power can cut *his loses). I'll make a share offer in kind of 2.5m to Standing/Barry and 2.5m to AN Other, possibly the Eady's. I'll then initially revalue the club at 10m with a clean slate.

10m then on ground infrastructure and a further 10m on development.

I'd throw 500k at the catering twats and tell them to go (unless their contract has already expired)

15m would be available for player purchases and contracts.

3m would be available for a long term management appointment (upon a successful first year)

I'd have a discussion with Black, Arbib & Co about reinvesting in a new (but familiar) project whilst also agreeing to pay their debenture. No time for fannying about constantly passing the buck on that one.

Investor returns on any asset sales would be capped at 10% with the rest being exclusively put back into player purchases and contracts.

A final C2.5/3m would be used for use of my fuck off luxury jet, permitted to take off/land at Lyneham for any injury or treatments flown straight to Germany or Turkey.

Oh, a final final bag of 50ps (to the value of 10k) will be used to smack Jed and his merry team of convicts around the face. I'd also make sure "Big Petey" saw them right whilst in the clink too.

That's it we're saved and rid of the scum. It's just you have me in charge instead.

Oh forgot to mention, as an optional form of entry to the ground, for an extra 5 quid you can enter via flume which orbits the stadium giving the "rider" a clear view of the pitch on their approach to the concourse. Includes a free Dog Roll, Bürger, Pasty, Pie all developed in collaboration with Mark Stinchcombe.

How big is the flume because if there is a free burger/hot dog i'm using that method, but it would need to be very big, and very strong.

The burger?  :)

Big enough to ride on a large donut style seat (non edible). About 5ft diameter. Carrying a load of c20 stone.

Fill ya, boots.

Also as an added incentive to "ride the County Ground flume", after 20 loyalty rides. You get the last 3 home games gratis.

That's gratis jutty, not gratin. Enjoy :)

Would need to carry more than 20 stone if Jutty gets free half pound cheeseburgers. (He'd still buy cheesy  chips with it).

I'll have to have a word with the architects and ride design department, see if we can upgrade to a 25 stone limit.

Last journeys to ride the flume depart 30mins before kick off.

No, few, assets. Large debts. Quantify. Agree deal with current owners for what is a shell of a club. Explore new build small stadium capable of future expansion if needed. Maybe as part of a town centre redevelopment. Current rented stadium past its sell by date. Look to a balanced day to day operation with salary capped wages balanced by annual revenues. Publish the business plan and plain finances annual accounts that can be understood. Appoint a well qualified Chief Executive.

https://youtu.be/gQo7u6dGTeQ

I’d rather an Ashton Gate approach. After all, the CG is in a perfect location.

The only new ground scheme I’d support would be one of the hat forms part of a Sports Village that puts all of the town’s major sports and healthy living infrastructure in a planned campus style setting.

Out of interest what major sports are you squeezing into the village.

A dual purpose football pitch and ice hockey rink

Polo?

Speedway as well surely. Given we won the league recently.

Spot on Bob

A pitch like Monaco or the new Spurs arrangement. Get IKEA to design a flat pack Town End which can be dismantled after each game, wheel in and out the pitch depending on the game being played and pitch requirement.

And where will the money for all that come from?

Apart from the obvious question you've asked it all sounds good😁

Several clubs should be available? What are you suggesting, do a franchise and take on another club?
Everything you say there requires an immediately outlay of tens of millions which is completely unrealistic without an outside owner willing to throw money at the club. The council have repeatedly shown they’ve no interest in really working with the club. As for capital investment, with the clubs track record we would be seen as a high risk investment and just can’t see it. So again I don’t see where you realistically think this money will come from...

I think you may be taking it a bit too serious. Surely he is just saying what he would like

Suggesting several clubs could be competing for limited capital investment funds. Swindon have an advantage of location, M4, rail links, limited competition from other clubs locally, no tie in with a dreaded rugby club using the pitch, need for current ground revamp or a new build stadium. Potential to get into Championship and position themselves for major changes in the next years concerning the structure of English leagues and cups.
Need a good prospectus to attract the elusive investor.

Footy, speedway, cricket, indoor swimming, lido etc. Eco housing for people who participate in sport and those who watch and have no issues with footy crowds and speedway noise. Lots of paths for jogging, walking and cycling. Outdoor exercise equipment. Maybe education facilities that specialise in sports science, psychology and nutrition, and public health and well-being.

All a bit Utopian, I know, but I find Swindon’s new housing developments so depressing in their limited purpose.

Did anyone else here on the Sky commentary that Power was currently putting £380k a month into the club to keep it going? Got £500k for Bogle that's been spent keeping the club going for a month and a half. I guess that's the difference to fans being in the stadium and not?

That figure sounds high, £4.5m a year.

Power has regularly stated he has funded (or someone else) £2M+ a season in normal times so if there's no gate money once the season ticket money has gone.

The question might be is he funding £380K every single month as the PL bail out will be filtering through and some TV money tonight.

The signings this week suggest he is taking action to avoid relegation rather than the late effort in 2016/7. A League One club is a better proposition to sell than League Two.

Although it's not all Power's money  - Gareth Barry, Clem etc

Fair play to Power though and the many other owners of league and non league clubs who've been funding the clubs with no income for the best part of a year.    It could easily have gone badly tits up for so many of them and still could.
 

Do I trust Power to be accurate or over-state his expenditure?  Who knows. Just pleased new faces, who sound decent, have come in.

If he thinks he's getting his dirty hands on my 50m then he can think again  :D

Very much this.  I have always been amazed by the club's absence of a proper costed and published 3-5 year strategic plan, the sort of thing a normal business (and probably more successful clubs) might do.  I think Sangita Shah attempted something similar a few years back but it quickly disappeared.

Cashflow forecast for three years, contingency plans for worst case scenarios, identified investment priorities, decent CEO and senior management team, proper engagement with fans, council and local businesses.  It's not rocket science is it?  My biggest gripe with supporting Swindon is that we have got used to accepting mediocrity as the status quo. Shockin ('ly bad) all over the world....

The two people who voted for June looks like a good shout.

You hope.

Let's hope this is not resolved by liquidation.

Congrats to all those who voted for 'between July and the end of time'  :pint:

 :toocool: