Old things

[fatbury]

Which I came across on the THIS IS site

Board are left with a hole to fill
THE departure of Dunwoody Sports Marketing from the County Ground has left Town with an ‘uphill task’ to fill a sudden financial hole.

A five-year contract between the club and the Newbury-based firm has been cancelled and the contracts of those previously employed by DSM have been transferred to Swindon Town.

Chief executive Mark Devlin said adverse publicity about DSM had been hampering the club’s marketing activities.

He said: “Both DSM and the club thought regretfully, that in the circumstances, this move would be in the best interests of the club.”

Devlin and the board must now address how to fill the gap.

He said the Dunwoody contract had enormous benefits in terms of providing banking and credit facilities to the club, not to mention funding the marketing operation.

He said: “We will now be faced with an uphill task of filling the financial void left by this decision.”

Devlin added that the negative publicity surrounding DSM had created an underlying reluctance in the business community to support the club.

As revealed in the Evening Advertiser last Friday, Nick Prescott and Sandy Gray have resigned as Town directors, both having strong DSM connections.

Devlin said: “Nick and Sandy and indeed DSM would make their best endeavours to ensure minimal disruption during the transition.”

DSM’s role at the club extended beyond marketing duties.

Brian Wood, Town’s head of catering, said: “It’s a shame because the whole operation was beginning to gain momentum but we have been assured that all the staff will retain continuity of service therefore it’s business as usual at the County Ground.

“I trust that our suppliers will continue to support us.”

At Monday evening’s fans’ forum, TrustSTFC chairman Tony Norris said: “We would like to state that we never called for the termination of the contract between DSM and the club.

“What we did do was pose a series of questions to the board, so we could understand how the contract was operated and what checks and balances were in place to ensure that over the course of the contract Swindon Town Football Club benefited.”
Sir Seton’s fury at TrustSTFC
SIR SETON Wills has penned an angry open letter to the Swindon Town Supporters’ Trust.

The club’s backer is unhappy with the way he believes the Trust board have undermined his family’s efforts to support and save the club.

Extracts of the letter include the following thoughts.

Sir Seton said: “My family and I have, for a very long time, been loyal and dedicated supporters of Swindon Town Football Club. During which, we have each year, underwritten the trading shortfall to keep the Club alive.

“However, in light of the Supporters Trust’s continual negative criticism I must question my family’s future financial commitment.”

“I am informed that the Trust’s Directors have indicated that they have the resources to take over the future funding of the Club.

“If this is the case my family are happy to hand over free of charge to the Trust our holding in both the New Co. and the Old Co. providing we are repaid in full the money lent to both companies over the last few years.”

These suggest firstly Dunwoody left the club .. which they never and also that some things never change regarding the Wills and the Trust.

[Batch]

Strange coincidence. I found that exact same 2002 news story while looking around yesterday.

How things have changed since then. Oh.

BTW

"and the contracts of those previously employed by DSM have been transferred to Swindon Town. "

So is Sandy Grey et al still employed by STFC, or has contract of employment reverted to Dunwoody again?

[Fred Elliot]

Its uncanny isnt it

I was reading this before the AGM on Saturday

[Piemonte]

4 years solid progress.

Well done to all concerned :thumbs:

[Frigby Daser]

In four years there hasn't been public explaination - its time for there to be one covering all aspects of concerns. Without a public statement delineating DSMs role (or that of their head, yep, him) from the beginning to now then negative speculation will continue and eat away like a disease.

No matter what anybody says about personal figures, there's no reason to be suspicious on the face of it - its purely the shroud thats been thrown over Diamandis' role since.

Put simply it needs to be put out in the Adver, BBC etc what Mike Diamandis does i) on a day-to-day basis ii) what authority he has in the pecking order. He needs to make one public appearance, say 'here I am, this is what I do, this is what I've done, this is what I plan to do' - wave to the camera, hug Rockin Robin, and then he can fall back into the shadows happily without this rumour and chinese whispers and we can focus our energies where they are far better served.

All football fans want from a board is transparency and honesty. Without it people will assume there is something to hide.

[Batch]

And also what process is used in tendering contracts that Dunwoody currently look after.

Could be that Dunwoody do us a huge favour by providing their services at minimum cost. But whilst an advisor to the STFC board is also top dog at Dunwoody questions will always be asked about what looks like a conflict of interests. They could so easily put these to bed.

[Piemonte]

Indeed. If you look at the situation from a non "diamandis is evil" point of view then it could well be the case that DSM provide employees and services for a price lower than STFC could do "in house" - Which would obviously be sound business sense. But we dont know - so no one can tell the likes of STFC bart that he is wrong with any degree of certainty.

[RobertT]

I'm not really sure the Dunwoody contract issue is one that people are as much concerned about.  At the end of the day you are just as unlikely to get details of their shopping bill at Tesco.

My presumption has always been that the contracts can never look 100% water tight to the outside world because of the Diamandis link, but that they are probably all ok.

All my concerns relate to the style of management, decision making processes, having a non director/employee making important decisions without the necessary legal accountability, and knowing that these combine to create tensions within the club from time to time which in turn creates a problem with the talent we can retain (at all levels).  Diamandis' style has also ruffled feathers at the Council, and given everyone agrees the only real long term solution is a ground development, that can't be a good thing.  We have also previously fallen out with the developer we were working with.  It's just a long line of relationships that keep breaking down.

[Batch]

But there are those that intimate Dunwoody is on the make from it's contracts with STFC. Like you I don't think that is true.  But who'd know either way if the contracts are best value for money?

In order for everything like that to go away they'd have to lay it all on the table. Maybe that is a bit unrealistic for any business to do. Doing the opposite isn't helping though.

But yes, the unaccountability, the apparent dysfunctional boardroom  and style of management are probably the primary concern.

[Frigby Daser]

I'm not really sure the Dunwoody contract issue is one that people are as much concerned about.  At the end of the day you are just as unlikely to get details of their shopping bill at Tesco.

My presumption has always been that the contracts can never look 100% water tight to the outside world because of the Diamandis link, but that they are probably all ok.

All my concerns relate to the style of management, decision making processes, having a non director/employee making important decisions without the necessary legal accountability, and knowing that these combine to create tensions within the club from time to time which in turn creates a problem with the talent we can retain (at all levels).  Diamandis' style has also ruffled feathers at the Council, and given everyone agrees the only real long term solution is a ground development, that can't be a good thing.  We have also previously fallen out with the developer we were working with.  It's just a long line of relationships that keep breaking down.

That last paragraph sums up in 100 words what I've struggled to in 500 in the past. Sadly 'style' is something we cannot ask the club to comment on. Thats not something that can be changed. Fell out with Richard Dunwoody too - it is worrying to say the least.

But the club CAN and MUST clear up once and for all everything else regarding his role. I'm sick of even talking about it but its so important that we can't get away from it.