New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

That last paragraph is the main reason I can’t get involved with the Trust even if I had time. The way Spencer acted a few weeks ago was a disgrace making hollow threats of ‘we know who you are’ to that guy on Twitter. He represents Morfuni’s interests more than he does the fans.

Agreed.

The Trust seem to be stepping up their response at the moment but he is an absolute waste of time and has no business being involved. He compromises the trust more than anything.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

[Berniman]

Agreed.

The Trust seem to be stepping up their response at the moment but he is an absolute waste of time and has no business being involved. He compromises the trust more than anything.

I did try to call this out very early on, on here, and even though I had to be somewhat criptic due to the fact that he was also posting on here at the time, he knew what i was saying and who i was aiming it at.  I got shouted down by a couple of unamed posters at the time saying that I was making shit up, whilst watching everyone lap up everything that our friend was posting on here.

I know a couple of posters know this to be true and are aware of what i knew at the time because they PM'd me.

And this is not a "I told you so" this is a "it's not like the signs weren't already there" post.

[Costanza]

I'm reluctant to go in too hard on the Trust because there is clearly an internal conflict within. There's no way in hell that 10 or whatever people are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. There will be apologists, people who want action and apathy.

If the hierarchy are pro-Clemente then it'll be tough to nudge them.

Clem's charm offensive was very impressive from the off and there's a 'not average' fan who can take a lot of credit for that. They still work busily behind-the-scenes to fly the flag for the ownership. They keep a very low profile which has made their impact so significant with PR and keeping the fans sweet.

Raising concerns over the last year or so have been quite difficult because, when cracks/red flags started to seep out of the club well over a year ago, a lot of 'regular' fans were resistant/outright refused to believe anything could possibly be wrong. Obviously, the 21/22 season helped a lot too.

[Batch]

Yep, but tbf the danger of someone going after the club for payment and the associated problems that would bring, are diminished by Clem owning the debt. He’s not going to put the club in admin and lose his own money.

.

was having this conversation on Twitter.

I don't actually care if he gets it back + some when he sells. Money is out of his account until that day.

As long as he isn't making stupid money on loans, which he says he isn't.

No idea what the Kiely deal is and who is paying for it mind

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Which, now, begs the question - why don’t they let the Trust see the books? There has to be something in there that’s not fit for public consumption.

If there could be a silver lining explanation it could be a sale may be in the offing.*

*straw clutching

[Mooneyraker]

Listening to Dan Hunt on the LSPOD reminded me of the absolute travesty that was Rob Angus and Clem ringing up fans and pressuring them into not getting season ticket refunds.

And yet we’d been told the Trust had seen an account with X million £ in it prior to the takeover (I can’t remember the amount but when Able were allegedly sniffing it was part of that process).

How did that not worry anybody? We had our new “millionaire” owner acting like a bailiff within days.

This week has nudged me into the view that Clem is worse than Power. A truly desperate state of affairs. I know Duke of Banbury makes valid arguments to the contrary but I’m honestly leaning towards Phoenix Club being a less bad outcome than lurching from Clem to the Kiely/Parladorio era. This can’t continue. Clearly a clean break takeover is preferable to either but we are in an absolute pickle with the ownership structure and court cases so don’t see that as likely.

[Pericardinho]

Listening to Dan Hunt on the LSPOD reminded me of the absolute travesty that was Rob Angus and Clem ringing up fans and pressuring them into not getting season ticket refunds.

And yet we’d been told the Trust had seen an account with X million £ in it prior to the takeover (I can’t remember the amount but when Able were allegedly sniffing it was part of that process).

How did that not worry anybody? We had our new “millionaire” owner acting like a bailiff within days.

This week has nudged me into the view that Clem is worse than Power. A truly desperate state of affairs. I know Duke of Banbury makes valid arguments to the contrary but I’m honestly leaning towards Phoenix Club being a less bad outcome than lurching from Clem to the Kiely/Parladorio era. This can’t continue. Clearly a clean break takeover is preferable to either but we are in an absolute pickle with the ownership structure and court cases so don’t see that as likely.

The signs were there from very early on. I regularly commented about the appalling lack of staff in the playoff season. Nobody there to answer the phones. We haven't been ran proffesionaly since Clem took over.

You call these things out though and Clem just says it's the consequence of the Power era. It's a very easy out for him. It doesn't fly anymore.

[Frigby Daser]

The one thing Morfuni and his chums have had a clear strategy for, and have done brilliantly, is to dupe the Trust by bringing them in close enough to be part of the gang, and always far enough away to never have an influence, aside from community engagement activities, and unless there is an upside for them for free (such as the ground purchase). The ground purchase is a huge achievement, but it must now be one of the most dysfunctional JVs around. The fact the club won’t produce the accounts, and when they do, will likely not explain the “admin cost” line items, is all the proof you need that they’re kept away from anything meaningful. Ironically, in terms of knowing details of where the club’s cash flow really goes, that is probably very good news for the individuals involved in the Trust

[Mooneyraker]

I'm reluctant to go in too hard on the Trust because there is clearly an internal conflict within. There's no way in hell that 10 or whatever people are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. There will be apologists, people who want action and apathy.

If the hierarchy are pro-Clemente then it'll be tough to nudge them.

Clem's charm offensive was very impressive from the off and there's a 'not average' fan who can take a lot of credit for that. They still work busily behind-the-scenes to fly the flag for the ownership. They keep a very low profile which has made their impact so significant with PR and keeping the fans sweet.

Raising concerns over the last year or so have been quite difficult because, when cracks/red flags started to seep out of the club well over a year ago, a lot of 'regular' fans were resistant/outright refused to believe anything could possibly be wrong. Obviously, the 21/22 season helped a lot too.

The Clem charm offensive with certain people is what bothers me.

There was the not insignificant prize of a stadium/share of £4m to play for if the right people could be convinced that Clem was a worthy recipient. Plenty of motivation for someone to make key decision makers feels special one way or another.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Is owning 50% of the CG any sort of lever the Trust can use to put pressure on Clem?

[horlock07]

Is owning 50% of the CG any sort of lever the Trust can use to put pressure on Clem?

It would be interesting to see what legal knots the Eady Trust tied the club in within the agreement to fund the purchase, I would imagine that STFC Ltd's 50% is not easy to dispose of for any vendor and not particularly attractive to potential purchasers.

[Wobbly Bob]

The collective weight of STFC angst has even put the TrustSTFC website out of action.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

That’s what I was thinking. Everyone seems to think that owning the CG would make the club more attractive to a prospective buyer but they may well see it as a hurdle having to negotiate improvements with the Trust.

[Bennett]

Legally, I think the club has to run any change of ownership by the JV, but I doubt they can prevent it.

Outside of that:

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/siteassets/202122/2021-22-general-content/memorandum-of-understanding---truststfc-and-stfc---final.docx.pdf

rob's had a look at the JV and whether the trust can do owt, legally