New board press conference thread

[Flashheart]

It's a non-story.

Jed is just responding to a question and the adver have made a 'story' out of it.

[@MacPhlea]

I think the 'invitation' is related to redevelopment investment rather then 'footballing investment'

[fittons_coaching_badge]

So is the consensus now this board might be half decent guys worth a go running our club?

[cheltred69]

So is the consensus now this board might be half decent guys worth a go running our club?

Still many unknowns for me.  I don't doubt that their heart is in the right place and they're saying and doing all the right things but we still don't have clear evidence that the financial side will be well run or sufficiently funded. So, benefit of doubt or now and hopefully all will be rosy going forward.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

I can only speak as I find and from what I've seen and heard so far - only just over a week in I know - they've not put a foot wrong. Long may it continue.

[sonicyouth]

We still need to know who the anonymous investors are and how they are planning to sustainability without redevelopment plans.

[Ardiles]

As a person, I'm warming to Jed.  But the unanswered questions are still the 'elephant in the room' for me.

• Who are the backers?
• What's in it for the backers?
• If you are completely sure that you cannot reveal the identity of the backers, are you at least able to explain why?
• Do the backers have an exit strategy and, if yes, what is it?
• Ground redevelopment or relocation?
• If neither of the above are a part of your business plan, why not - and how do you propose to maintain the ageing asset of the County Ground?
• What are the salaries of the new board members?

All that is just for starters.

Impressed with the MacDonald appointment, and with the initial soundings about youth development.  It demonstrates that the man at the top knows his football (and probably a lot better than I do, given that I'd not even heard of Kevin MacDonald before last week.)  Otherwise, jury still out until we get the full picture.  As a club, we have too much bad history to be able to offer any newcomers - and especially newcomers that none of us have any prior knowledge of - the benefit of the doubt.  That isn't ingratitude; it's common sense.

The other board members are going to need time to get their feet under the table before we start seeing results from them...but the Callum Rice appointment still feels very strange to me.  I'd like to think that his being a Dunstable/Luton local is coincidental to Jed's own association with the area and that he hasn't landed the job simply because he's a drinking buddy, but I have my doubts.

[dalumpimunki]

I think people need to stop being paranoid about "ground development" being some sort of shadowy background reason for people wanting to buy the club.

Buying a club to asset strip it of its land really only works if the club actually owns some fucking land. As far as our club goes, development land isn't that hard to come by in Swindon. If you wanted to just make a packet developing commercial and residential property, it would be a damned sight easier to just buy some of that rather than buy the County Ground site, that has a load of covenants applying to it that really complicate things and that the council haven't been falling over themselves to sell before.

[Ardiles]

Not really my main worry.  It's more wanting an indication of what their thoughts on the redevelopment issue are...because ours is now so long overdue that it's difficult to see how the Club is going to progress further without some kind of movement in this area.

My main concern is that the purchase has been so rushed that they haven't even thought about this...and that they might not have either the skills or the inclination to deal with the issue.

[dalumpimunki]

Not really my main worry.  It's more wanting an indication of what their thoughts on the redevelopment issue are...because ours is now so long overdue that it's difficult to see how the Club is going to progress further without some kind of movement in this area.

My main concern is that the purchase has been so rushed that they haven't even thought about this...and that they might not have either the skills or the inclination to deal with the issue.

My remarks not just based on what you posted really, but the whole sort of background muttering, which admittedly has sort of died down in the last week since there's been movement on the management front and the season ticket news.

As far as needing ground development is concerned, I'm not sure. With the current land ownership issue I doubt very much that the investment required to increase capacity is likely to deliver anything like the income in terms of gate receipts to pay for itself. Looking at our average gates, and average gates in the Championship, I can't see that we'd have capacity issues more than a couple of times a season.

I know that development would provide other potential commercial income streams, but with the economy stuttering the way it is, now might not be the best time to be investing in new hotels,  function suites etc.

It might be better to work with what we have for the time being and focus investment on the team and training facilities. If in a couple of years we can establish ourselves in the Championship, then there are always people that can be bought in that have the expertise to develop the ground.

[sonicyouth]

It's always the same argument that's sort of unquantifiable - the new stadium/redevelopment effect. It's worked for Reading, Swansea et al so there's a belief (or blind hope) that it would work for us.

[BruceChatwin]

Good post Ardiles. This especially:

• What's in it for the backers?

Is something they should be able to answer now as it's irrelevant to their identities (unless their plans are for an artificial pitch which would kind of give the game away). Jed described them as businessmen. So what business opportunity do they see out of loss making third division club Swindon Town that doesn't even own it's own stadium?

Dalumpimunki, Ardiles has probably written more about ground redevelopment than anyone else on this forum and been the most vocal about a general concern (i don't think i've seen anyone seriously pursuing as a worry the concern you brought up earlier, though i stand to be corrected by a link to a comment) that if the new people don't have long term plans for redevelopment then we don't have long term plans for sustainability and the cycle of boom and bust is likely to continue.

It's very hard to establish yourself in the Championship as you say without the extra revenue streams of a new stadium unless you're propping up the team with a lot of other people's money that if things go wrong will put us in serious trouble again. There are arguments both ways for the effect redevelopment can have on a club, as the Coventry debacle goes to show, but realistically as it stands not even owning our own stadium we'll always be treading water on the edge of financial viability.

[dalumpimunki]

It's always the same argument that's sort of unquantifiable - the new stadium/redevelopment effect. It's worked for Reading, Swansea et al so there's a belief (or blind hope) that it would work for us.

But then there's also Notts County, Preston, Chesterfield, and the disasters of Rusden and Diamonds and poor old Darlington, where it didn't quite work as well.

[jimmy_onions]

I have no problem with Jed, but some of the tweets directed in his direction over the weekend were cringeworthy..I know we were all on a high etc, but he's not the second coming.

Actually, I do have a grizzle about big J; I find the fact that he doesnt know the difference between 'there' and 'their' a little depressing.

[sonicyouth]

But then there's also Notts County, Preston, Chesterfield, and the disasters of Rusden and Diamonds and poor old Darlington, where it didn't quite work as well.

Absolutely, I was just mentioning it as it's a point people frequently bring up in discussions over redevelopment.