Current Predicament...

[pauld]

I can tell you what their recorded profit / loss was, this is public information available to anyone.......... Oxford lost 2.5m last time they filed their records, Colchester lost £2m on sales of £3.5m  

Yeah, lovely. That tells you what the business declared as profit/loss 2-3 years ago, and a little bit about their turnover back then, if they filed on time. It tells you little or sod all about how the club was actually being run even back then, and nothing about how they're being run now, which was the original point made. And you have fuck all idea about who really owns club's debts, you just know what is in the accounts.

[horlock07]

Presumably also means there's more money available for transfers now

Only English ones obviously!

[pauld]

Actually the only thing that is fairly clear is that Power was looking to make money out of the club its all going down the shitter and his ability to make cash will be further eroded if we get relegated.

I do wonder whether he has just lost interest....

Nah, bet he's still charging interest on the loans

[garethgillman]

At the end of the day, Power has alienated fans with his approach on the field...... that's what most fans give a shit about, he may have secured the club financially but how many fans actually care that much, the fans pay for entertainment and that's been lacking for the last 2 seasons due to the way him / Luke decided they wanted the players too play (slow and boring is used a lot).

I believe we have the quality to beat most teams in this poor league but due to the way they are told to play we never get the best out of the players and end up losing because we just don't take the game to the opposition and we are strict in our play, there is no flexibility especially when teams come here and sit everyone behind the ball. We only seem to win when teams come at us as we can then get behind them. P'boro was the same, they sat back and soaked up the pressure and made it seem easy, we didn't do enough to put them under much pressure.

[GL5 Red]

Predictions for next two games?? I will go defeat to Rovers and beat scum (somehow). 11k optimistic for scum at home? (Given they have sold 2,800).

[garethgillman]

Actually the only thing that is fairly clear is that Power was looking to make money out of the club its all going down the shitter and his ability to make cash will be further eroded if we get relegated.

I do wonder whether he has just lost interest....

This gets pushed about but no one has ever been really been able to make money from the club, Power would have had to perform miracles (or do illegal things) to make the numbers which some fans believe has been made. The club has always been loss making (Black / Fitton wiped off £9m of historic debt) and then still wrote off another £3m when they left. Power came in with the club losing £4m a year so had to "sort the shit out" which he has said is now done (will be seen in the new accounts).

Once you take out wages, bills, player fees etc....... there isn't a lot left in the pot to take, he is here for to make money for himself (and the club hopefully) but how much he has been able to make is anyones guess).

[Peter Venkman]

This is true, and maybe it was the naivety of youth, but at that time I actually thought things were going to get better at some point.

With where we are now I can't see any way out.
At the end of this season most of the team will be gone & we will have to rebuild again, in comes another stream of kids that find it hard to cope physically with League 1 or (god forbid) league two and we struggle again turn it around just enough to stay up and then the cycle starts again.

We may get lucky that the new faces all gel and we have a decent season, but if we do and don't get promoted (which history shows is quite likely) we are probably back to square one for the season after

Yes I think it was more so that we were young (I was 16 in 1982) and having only watched us for about 6 or 7 years I was still full of optimism so things felt good.

We had a couple of good seasons like 79/80 but in the main we were pretty shit, and we knew we were shit but we made the most of it, football was fun (in the main) and anybody could beat anybody else, it was like some said "our time to be shit" other seasons we did ok but there was none of the saturation of football on TV back then.

It was Soccer Saturday/Saint & Greavsie or it was Football Focus/Match of the day....that was it for football on TV week in week out.

Now fans EXPECT success and quickly because some clubs have done it, we have done it.... but have settled at our natural level again...flitting between Div 3 and Div 4.....we will get some good...some bad seasons.....thats how football is.

There is so much money in football that all fans of all clubs want a piece of that success.

Not every club can have a rich owner, most in the lower leagues live hand to mouth season to season unless they have a rich owner in the background or have a massive following otherwise we are all the in the same boat.

Sometimes you get lucky with players sometimes you don't.....currently we don't.

Sometimes the players click and play well together...sometimes they don't.

Sometimes the manager has fans backing.....etc etc

Shit seasons happen, good seasons happen...we can't all be Arsenal/Man Utd/Man City or even Boremuff with their silly spending.

Power would love nothing more than get the formula right, get the players performing well, going up the league....dare I say even promotion....because a club in the Championship is a hugely better proposition to sell than a club in League 1 and again League 2.....why would he deliberately get the club relegated which will cost him money if it goes tits up?

He wants us in a higher division so we make more money and would be a better prospect for a new buyer.....its not brain surgery.

At the moment there is no alternative to Power, he puts the club up for sale what will that acheive? absolutely nothing.....if someone has money and will pay what Power wants (what paid for the club plus a bit extra) then they will come and buy the club or at least make a bid.

Where are they? where were they when we were looking for a new owner previously? wake up and smell the coffee....they arent out there.

[garethgillman]

but have settled at our natural level again...flitting between Div 3 and Div 4.....

Exactly, but don't say that on the FB group as we are a premier league team stuck in L1 

we will get some good...some bad seasons.....thats how football is.

Exactly, we have always been a yo-yo club, never been consistent

At the moment there is no alternative to Power, he puts the club up for sale what will that acheive? absolutely nothing.....if someone has money and will pay what Power wants (what paid for the club plus a bit extra) then they will come and buy the club or at least make a bid.

Where are they? where were they when we were looking for a new owner previously? wake up and smell the coffee....they arent out there.

Exacto mundo, how many came forward when Black put us up for sale? 2 if I remember and we got left with Jed and how did that turn out? He didn't have a pot to piss in and tried to get a fraudster to finance him (http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/10513407.Swindon_Town_investor_Greg_Hall_was_part_of_rogue_firm/).

Again, go on the FB group as they think if we are put up for sale, a millionair from Italy is willing to buy us or some shit 

[Reg Smeeton]

Exactly, we have always been a yo-yo club, never been consistent

No, we were in Div 3S or Div 3 from 1920 to 1963.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the model. It just needs to be operated better. It's failing in Power's terms as we're not adding value to the scraps we're picking up from the heap.

This means it's failing in our terms as we're having to watch sub Div 3 standard football, but pay good money for it.

This can't go on. Something will give and and the next 10 days or so will settle it.

[garethgillman]

One rumour keeps popping up on the FB group is that Ian wright is buying the club with a consortium 

[Costanza]

Lose both and the coaching staff, whoever they may be, are dead to me.

[GL5 Red]

Lose both and don't think I can stomach anymore this season. Not knee jerk but costs, time etc and the return from this simply not good enough. We owe scum and the thought of losing to them again doesn't bare thinking about. Fingers crossed the players are up for it and we pay them back.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

RE: attendances, I think the true impact of stay aways won't be accounted for until next season because most people having their last straw with Power seems to have happened this season.

We sold a reasonable number of season tickets in the early birds last season and these are accounted for if they turn up or not. Wait and see the numbers next year if things keep on with this trend. If Power has the gal to up the prices even nominally, we could be looking at Cambridge at home under King type attendances again.

[GL5 Red]

Great points Chalkey. Of the lads I go/drink with I can only think of one who is renewing, the rest will not tolerate anymore under Power. In my opinion as pretty obvious by my threads, sooner he goes the better.

[Peter Venkman]

the rest will not tolerate anymore under Power. In my opinion as pretty obvious by my threads, sooner he goes the better.

yes but seriously....who will replace him? there is nobody out there...at all.

No sugar daddy, no trust with enough money....who do you suggest?