New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[kaufman]

I was going to tweet the trust to ask if they planned to look into this and then just stopped.
They, more than anyone will know it's these kind of issues that need looking at, and with their membership at their highest, it's in their interest to make sure they hold Morfuni to account.

Of course they are also on this forum

[RobertT]

The saving grace is Aberdeen Angus being CEO. Presume he’s responsible for the day to day running of the club.

Not sure what a Vice Chairman’s input would be.

My worry is that it’s Clem that hasn’t done his due diligence on Austin.

I imagine he knows enough.  It looks possible it's a younger brother who got the conviction - such a thing would potentially appear on the EFL checks anyway as it is one of the few things they do worry about.

Zavier at the very least is from the do it yourself construction background, done quite good.  Clem is similar but done better.  I have no doubt they have crossed the paths of some very dodgy characters in their time given that industry and Zavier has family exposure at a minimum.  At least Zavier should be able to tart up the Corporate Hospitality rooms.

As mentioned  by someone else, Angus is the day to day person running the club.  Zavier will act as the voting member on behalf of Clem when he is not around I imagine.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Not being controversial here but it would be a bit dense to name two sons with virtually the same name...

"Zaver, come 'ere!"
"No, not you Zavier."

I'd put a pretty confident bet on Zaver/Zavier/Xavier being the same bloke. The fact we can't necessarily confirm or tie down something as simple as his age and name is a bit of a red flag. "Open and transparent" we keep hearing.

Would not surprise me if there's been more snuff peddled via Lausanne Lee's pals than a Chandler Bing house party.

We appear to have "got our club back" but at what expense? A "former" drug peddler hardly speaks as an "open and transparent" or "a family friendly club" or is that ok now?

Yet I'm aware people can and do change; let's hope Mr Austin has changed his spots...

NB: Owns a horse named "Power Il Topo"... not sure, if that's a play on words but the horse has only been in service since June this year too. Small coincidence

[horlock07]

The presence of Zavier Austin is what is preventing me jumping aboard the Clem Morfuni fun bus. It really concerns me that this might all just be a case of 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss.'

We know that Austin was an associate of Lee Power, which is worrying enough in the first place. He is also clearly a longstanding associate of Morfuni.

A cursory google turns up an appearance by a 'Zav Austin' in a book called 'Born Gangster' by Jimmy Tippet Jr, which appears to be your standard airport bookshop dross gangster biography, and contains the following passages:

"I was a Tippett and, as Dad said, we Tippetts were 'born to fight'. A few weeks later I was taking on Zav Austin, a bookmaker from Beckenham. I knew Zav already - he was a pretty boy who fancied himself as a bit of a face, one of those who talked the talk but couldn't walk the walk."

"I was determined to obliterate Zav because there'd always been a lot of rivalry between us and he'd recently run off with the wife of a major drugs baron I knew."

"Reggie Kray heard about my fight with Zav and offered to sponsor a rematch from his prison cell. But, before he could get around to organising it, Zav was kneecapped outside a paper shop in Bromley by contract killer James 'Jimbles' Tomkins. This was a warning to Zav to stay away from the drug baron's missus."

Now, there could be more than one Zav or Zavier Austin from Beckenham, but somehow I doubt it, and he sounds like the sort of chap I would expect to be chums with Lee Power.

What should concern any right minded Town fan is that our new saviour has just given this bloke his second glowing character reference and basically said he will be at the helm in his absence.

A known associate of Power with the history above. Who brought Clem Morfuni to the club. And is now being attacked by 'thugs' in front of his children. If this isn't ringing alarm bells I don't know what will.

I'm not saying that people need to wake up, but I do think people need to start asking questions. What is the Trust view on Austin?

I've had lots of worries about Morfuni that I've let be drowned out by the prospect of getting rid of Power (his endless talk of Axis' turnover rather than profit, his UK business issues, the fact that he was involved with Power himself, the glaring lack of any normal reason for him to get involved in our football club etc) but this one just won't go away.

The Trust keep saying they've done their due diligence. I hope that they have. No selfies with Clem for me just yet.

https://courtnewsuk.co.uk/a-fall-guy-who-helped-run-a-pnds-stlg-12-5-milli/

I'm not registered on this site but 'Court News UK' seem to have the nefarious 'Zaver Austin' as 34 years old in 2005.

First two posts on this forum......

You may be right, but much as Austin's potential appointment sets my eyebrows a twitter, so does your sudden appearance.

Its a cautious wait and see from me, it was never going to be easy was it....

[horlock07]

I'd put a pretty confident bet on Zaver/Zavier/Xavier being the same bloke. The fact we can't necessarily confirm or tie down something as simple as his age and name is a bit of a red flag. "Open and transparent" we keep hearing.

Unless he has been bullshitting to Companies House the DoB of the Zavier Austin who is a Director of TES is easily found on CH, he is presently 50 and will be 51 next month. 

[wisemensay1879]

Fair enough! Just a lifelong fan sat here watching what looks like a rather strange personality cult forming and wondering why no-one is asking what seems to be a fairly glaring question.

As someone said earlier, I can't imagine someone with Rob Angus' business background getting into bed with a (potentially) convicted criminal, so lets just hope they have done their homework and haven't been blinded by baubles and access to the club that we all love.

[horlock07]

Fair enough! Just a lifelong fan sat here watching what looks like a rather strange personality cult forming and wondering why no-one is asking what seems to be a fairly glaring question.

As someone said earlier, I can't imagine someone with Rob Angus' business background getting into bed with a (potentially) convicted criminal, so lets just hope they have done their homework and haven't been blinded by baubles and access to the club that we all love.

No worries I generally agree with all you say above. As stated previously the Trust have a hell of a lot riding on this as if any mucky skeletons crawl out the woodwork their credibility is shot to shit, that's why at this stage in them I trust.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Unless he has been bullshitting to Companies House the DoB of the Zavier Austin who is a Director of TES is easily found on CH, he is presently 50 and will be 51 next month. 

Yes but in light of the previous history presented to us... what about "Zaver"... who we aren't sure (looking at different reports) if he was 23 or 35 in 2005 (when convicted).

If it's 35 then it's very likely our new VC. Which then brings me back to my point about sibling naming. If the offence was by his "brother" aged 23 at the time...I'm struggling to see why the parents would name them with almost identical names?

It's akin to naming one kid John and the other Jon?!

[Costanza]

We are hurtling towards the dangerous ground of getting our Austin's mixed up and inaccurate information being distributed.

If the Zavier Austin has a murky past, it'll be sourced without needing Google.

[Bob's Orange]

Lets not judge anything until we get the facts.

No knee jerk reactions, I know we are all worried hes cut from the same cloth as Power but maybe he isn't.

Lets not let this spoil the party until it looks like it has been proved to be spoilt.

Fair points JJ. I have probably been unfairly swayed by the conviction links that may or may not pertain to him. Also re the ex-Power links I was talking to someone about this and he reminded me that Clem is effectively an ex-Power man so perhaps we need to cut them some slack until we know and hear more about him.

[Batch]

well, at least one trust member reads this forum. we'll see if further information is forthcoming

[tans]

Looked at linked in, he left school in 1988. That bloke in that article isnt him, unless he left school when he was 6

[horlock07]

Fair points JJ. I have probably been unfairly swayed by the conviction links that may or may not pertain to him. Also re the ex-Power links I was talking to someone about this and he reminded me that Clem is effectively an ex-Power man so perhaps we need to cut them some slack until we know and hear more about him.

I was about to post exactly the same re Power/Morfuni.

Which then brings me back to my point about sibling naming. If the offence was by his "brother" aged 23 at the time...I'm struggling to see why the parents would name them with almost identical names?

I wouldn't read too much into it, could just be down to some crap transcribing/reporting.

As an example on CH they record what is written, so to use and example (and not suggesting anything nefarious as I see it all the time) with Power not all his Directorships come up under a search for Lee Power, some are under Lee Michael Power for instance and the system doesn't tie them up and treats them as two different people.

Oh and FWIW going back through filings CH has Austin resident in Wales until 2015.

[wisemensay1879]

Skip to 1:08 for Jimmy Tippett Jr talking about his fight with 'Zav' that one can only assume is mentioned in the book. He says it took place in 1997. Our Mr Austin would have been in his mid 20s at that point so seems plausible.

I agree with Rich however that this is all potentially 2+2=5 conjecture but we've just had nearly a decade of being rather badly burnt. It warrants a straightforward answer from our open and transparent club and Trust. Is Mr Kneecap victim and drugs cash launderer our man or not? As stated, the Court News UK article puts him bang in the age range of our fella. If not I wish him every success.

[Jimmy Quinn]

Clem seems open enough on the clubs website

Swindon Town Owner Clem Morfuni would like to make the following statement in regards to Zavier Austin:

I would like to announce that I will be applying to the EFL to make Zavier Austin a board member and I would also like to appoint him as Vice Chairman of the Club. As I said in my statement when I took over, Zav was the person that brought me to the club 7 years ago and Zav has helped me so much over the past 2 years to become the owner for which I am extremely grateful to him. Zav is a huge fan of Swindon Town Football Club and is determined to help in every possible way that he can to do the very best for this great Club. He is going to be a very important part of the Club going forward. Obviously, being based in Australia, I cannot be here for large parts of the season and I feel it is very important that we have a fully committed Vice Chairman to represent the club in my absence.

Most unfortunately, Zav was the victim of a brutal, cowardly and wholly unprovoked attack two months ago by two thugs which hospitalised him and, to make it all the more despicable, the attack was carried out in front of his 12 year old daughter who was traumatised by such an event. There really are no words to describe such disgraceful, disgusting and utterly criminal behaviour, for which there should be no place in a decent and civilised society. It is therefore to be hoped that the persons responsible will feel the fullest force of the law and receive all appropriate justice in due course. Fortunately, Zav is now very much on the mend and will be sitting next to me at the first home game on Saturday.


Zav is one of so many people I want to profusely thank. What has happened over the last 3 weeks has amazed me; I already knew what a great Club this was but the support I have had since the takeover went through has been beyond anything I could ever have imagined. Every single person within the Club has gone so far above and beyond what one would normally expect; the togetherness and the desire to turn this Club around is a theme running vigorously through the whole of it and gives me so much belief that we are going to do something very special together. One, of probably a hundred, examples I can give was when I was in the Club building the other night at 11 pm and I saw Ricky Mcfarlane (Head of Strength & Conditioning) leaving the building. I asked why he was still here and he said he had been preparing the players’ breakfasts for the morning. That sums up the fantastic attitude that everyone at the Club has, with everybody mucking in, everybody doing whatever it takes, giving absolutely everything to help us be successful.

I also have to say a huge, and I mean truly huge, ‘THANK YOU’ to all our supporters; it has honestly blown me, and everyone within the club, away. The support you have given us already, has been incredible. Saturday was one of the best days of my life. I know we won’t win every week and, to be honest, I did not think we would win that first game as most of the squad had only had a 2 week pre-season and had to get to know new staff. This made it even more special but that is why I am here, for moments and days like last Saturday. I know that every match day will not be like that and we will of course have our highs and lows, as every club does, but while our stated aim for this season is to stabilise the Club, remain in League 2 and provide a sound platform for the future, I have so much faith in everybody within and around the Club and our truly incredible supporters that, who knows, we might just surprise people!

Season tickets are flying, especially when you consider most of them have been bought out of the shop window; shirt sales are flying too; we are all turning it around already!

It’s been a long time since we’ve had our magnificent fans in The County Ground, so let’s get behind Ben and the boys and blow the roof off on Saturday!

WE’VE GOT OUR SWINDON BACK.

Clem