Thetownend.com

As most of us know, Mike D represents the majority shareholder Sir Seaton Wills.

Bill Power invested some money (allegedly buying 33% of the shares) and was hearalded as the man to work with SSW to take the club forward and relieve the finacial burden on SSW who has put roughly £10m into the club. This much is FACT.

So those of you who think that the statement issued regarding Bill Powers health is a smokescreen for a board split or fall out.... answer me this:

Why would Mike Diamandis and James Wills deliberatly engineer the departure of Bill Power when it is going to cost their Boss/Dad considerable amounts of money? In my eyes that does not make any sense whatsoever.

It wont cost them any more money....rather there will be cuts to cover it.

    Just as last season when at any one time, there were up to 5 or 6 players who's wages were being paid by other clubs.

    The fact that this engineered our lowest position in the separate third tier, didn't seem to concern them too much.  

    Its called inertia....when this mob took over from DD and IB, it was welcomed by many.....but now is time for them to stand aside, they're only in place because they are, there has only been a gradual recession.  We should now expect this to continue.

double fecking posts :x

I know what you are saying Reg, but even with half our squad being paid for by someone else the club was still losing money. The Wills now have to cover that on their own rather than 50/50 with BP.

Its unclear weather Power paid off the CVA or if there has been any provision for it (not fucking likley I'd suggest.)

I think that’s the million dollar question Piemonte.

Despite the disillusion I feel with Bill leaving the club until I hear his side of the story or something of concrete substance that Mike Diamandis has an ulterior motive that is detrimental to the club I’m a bit hard pushed to go on a witch hunt.  Although that said out of pure curiosity I’d be interested to put him in a barrel, roll him don the hill just to see what happens.

The fact that the man from memory has only ever once spoken publicly about his involvement with the club through does not help his cause at all.  Every time we hear from the man directly or indirectly it’s been reactive to a situation that has usually involved speculation and rumour reaching fever pitch.  

Laying it on the line, it’s been said that he stands to gain from any stadium development.  Now if that’s right or wrong can someone please clarify for me here exactly why and how?

FWIW my interpretation is that  Power didn't pay off the CVA, but rather guaranteed funds to do so,  probably in  the form of a director's loan.

 His mill appears to have been in shares purchased from SSW.....but there were also other loans to cover some costs which will need to be paid back, though he may have to wait a while for that.

 The current regime are now wholly discredited, when loyalists like Banbury Red, withdraw their matchday sponsorship, they should know enough is enough, and seek a dignified exit.

That does raise the question in which company did he buy shares in?

SWINDON TOWN FOOTBALL COMPANY LIMITED

or SWINDON TOWN F.C. LIMITED

One effectively has its creditors and a CVA to pay off the other as I understand it is the holding company for new investment and presumably will hold ownership of the club’s stake in any development.

At the moment company one holds all of the cards but if the development does ever happen then company two potentially has it over a barrel.

I don't want to sound like a stuck record but who exactly do people have in mind as a replacement for the existing regime? Are we back to the mythical queue of big money investors idea again? Or have we all suddenly decided that the Trust aren't a bunch of self promoting politico's without the ability to find their arses with both hands in the dark all of a sudden, despite the things that a large number of members have posted about them in the past?

There is a guy on MOS offering to set-up a Consortium.

When all is said and done there doesn't seem to be any other choice than SSW et al.

The supporter trust may be able to do something (see Brentford, etc) but I really don't know if the financial responsibility is too much for them. I personally doubt there is any chance of SSW handing the club to the trust anyway so it's kind of an academic argument,.

 I'm certain if the Wills family looked for an escape route, then someone would be willing to step in.......OK its a risky business, but the current regime have exhausted all good will from the fans....and at the end of the day we are the club.

wills and diamandis will hang on in there, hoping for ground redevleopment and therefore make at least some of wills' money back via property development

I'd also think that (based on no fact, just opnion).

:nod: And nobody should forget it, on either side of the turnstiles

I dont think that Diamandis wanted Power to go. But I bet he had laid down very demanding terms for Power to stay, Power probably said, no Im not working under those sort of restrictions and left.

I know that is extremely vague, and could be bolllocks. But sometimes you have to read between the lines. This board does everything on the cheap as far as the team goes.

That so many fans are still loyal to them is an amazement to me. The club is in a continual recession, and theres no way we are going to get another Bill Power to help us out. Power wanted to see us succeed, Dunwoody can only see spreadsheets.

Don't forget it was this board who saved our club from extinction not so long ago, but that would probably be why so many show loyalty towards them.

I agree with Spencer though, since they saved the club they haven't exactly done anything of note.

It's time for a change, either SSW needs to get his wallett out or he can pack up, sell up and fuck off.

I do remmember that. I do remmember that night after Brentford away 2002, I was there. Ive said before it was my worst moment supporting STFC. But that was 4 and a half years ago and we have to move on.

Their main remit seems to be to downgrade the club as much as possible. I want to see us go forward. I want something positive. I want someone competant and commited at the top of the club. I want people who wont forget to pay the tax. I want a chairman who goes to games. I want a chairman who likes football. I want someone who will talk to the fans (shock!) and has some (any) respect for us. I want someone who sees STFC as a football club and not a bargaining chip for housing.

We cant go back to being run by Dunwoody. They are an absolute joke.

Reg and Spencer White never a truer word said

With even Banbury against them- that says something. They must go, they have no credit

But what you want as a fan Spencer, is a big money investor. None seem to be forthcoming so at the moment the club is being run like this. You can't ignore the debts and at least this board has seemingly not done this as previous boards had.

Until we get a new stadium (if ever), or someone with proper financial clout invests heavily in us we will have to keep running the club this way

We did have one of those for a bit! (investor)

Right now I'd settle for being in competent hands even if it meant no great investment.

I'm not sure if Devlin will resign, but I'm fairly sure he's been hung out publicly for the sack on his return.

Power invested £1.1m, which is a lot of money for us, but in terms of a football investment (in the general industry) isn't. But the way people are going on you'd think we'd lost Abramovich ffs. If we want proper progression through financial investment people will want a Madejski type, which we don't have.

I see a person like Power to be what we could expect at best as a club.

He invested £1m without even having the paper work in place first and had promised further investment down the line.

To lose him harms us right now and harms us ongoing, especially as we prepared our budgets etc on the basis he would be here.  To be stood peering over the cliff at the prospect of Devlin being shifted on as well would leave us back where we were 12 months ago but a league lower and with even less time to find the money for the CVA, and without the person who dealt with all the clubs admin (which has annoyed the players and Wise).

I think if you're going to make a proper assessment of what we've lost Si Pie, you have to consider that Power had made an initial investment of £1.1 million and was (by all accounts) happy to pick up the tab on football-related expenditure this season on top of that. How else do you think we could have afforded Wise, Poyet and even to have thought about talking to Ince? So, you've then got to think, well if that's for starters, we really could have been going places with careful cultivation of a decent working relationship with a man with money to invest and a fan's enthusiasm for football.

And instead, we're not. I think Spencer's pretty much on the money. Which is more than the club is (again).

BTW, to go from happy clappy head of the face painters and wig wearers to being in a permanent state of rage since yesterday late in the evening is quite soul destroying.  I guess I'd personally be a happier person if I'd gone home after work yesterday and not read the internet all day.

I'm not saying it doesn't harm us, or it's not a bad thing or that I don't appreciate what Power did for us (because I do). But I think some people have perhaps put Power on a bigger pedestal than is perhaps warranted.

For people saying get your cheque book out SSW - he's invested more than anyone so in my view deserves the stake he has etc. That said if he has forced Power out then obviously he's a bastard for that reason.

Again this I'm not denying. But we were hardly going to be a super club with Power on board, that was made clear. The point I'm making is that some people are giving the impression that they think we could have been a super club with Power involved but I personally think that is naive.

I think, and this is entirely based on my own opinion, SSW and Diamandis are trying to keep up their % stake in the club for the sole purpose of making a quick buck if (big if) the stadium redevelopment goes ahead.

I don't see that SSW suddenly needs to massively invest, or that he has had any "real" role to play in anything.  He's a nice bloke if you ever meet him, but I just think he's not able to see some of the people around him for what they may be.  If SSW could be convinced we'd live in a much happier place right now.

It doesn't have to be a Power or SSW thing - it's not a black v white, good v evil thing. We all have good reason to be very grateful for the money the Wills family have put in over the years. That doesn't mean, tho, that Power is not a very great loss and the circumstances surrounding his departure of grave concern

[rubs chin]I wonder how much SSW would make out of a stadium redevolpment?[/rubs chin]

I thought Diamandis wasn't a director though? (that's a genuine question not a rhetorical one btw).

He's not, but as SSW's advisor he probably stands to make a lot of money from any deals undertaken by SSW.

I think Diamandis is paid as an advisor or though he may have stake in shares within one of the companies.  certainly not a Director, even though he is no longer disq.

I would guess, and yes this is just opinion, he'd make money if he got SSW some of his cash back.

No he's not, although he is now legally allowed to be a director - his period of disqualification expired last season iirc

Of all the things I listed there, a lot are not financial related. Things like having a chairman who likes football.

I know we have limmited resources, but it doesnt have to be this constant grinding down. Its not good vs evil. But the feeling around the club with Devlin here has been night and day. Devlin makes the same budget go much further. Hes got ideas. Hes articulate. He knows football.

Im not saying that Power was our saviour. But I am saying that I think that Dunwoodys previous handling of STFC is nothing short of incompetant. And they will run us down again if they are left in charge for any significant period of time.

At least Sandy Gray is their perfect metaphor. Out of touch. Out of depth. Hopefully out of time at STFC.

Sorry I aimed the post at you, it was really meant for everyone with the same view. I've gone by what you have said in other threads as well.