Thetownend.com

I find his comments a little worrying as Luggy is obviously firmly backing the board

Now considering how pathetic this board is - well Ill leave you to draw your own conclusions! :-))(

Much as a like the appointment of Sturrock, he would do well to keep his stick beak out of things and get on with doing the job he is paid to do.

Much as a like the appointment of Sturrock, he would do well to keep his stick beak out of things and get on with doing the job he is paid to do.

Presumably they've spun him various yarns about how much they're behind the club, and want to take us forward.

Who is to say that the board dont have some good plans for a stadium redevelopment

With all due respect to all of you that have taken an active role in helping mount a takeover bid, and to the those of you who merely log on to this site to jump the bandwagon....you lot are becoming more and more childish as the days go on.

Now dont get me wrong I dont defend some of the lies and cover ups we have endured over the years, but in all fairness there is one simple fact and that is that no matter how good, bad or inadequate the board and their current staff are at their job.....it is still their job, they still get paid and as such their wages and dividends etc are on the line if they mess it up as they have been so they have no interest in intentionally fucking it up!!!

You lot seem to think that slagging them off at every opportunity or attempt to try and do things right is justified because of past experiences....do you honestly believe that Diamandis and Co sit in their office with our Profit and Loss accounts pinned to the wall and have a sword fight to piss all over them???

It takes a special breed of one dimentional hypocrits to dictate how things should be done when the full facts are not known and I feel that this forum and the club in general have done a very good job of breeding such people in some of you!

I mean come on, have you never heard one of the many derivations of the story of the boy that continually called and pranked the police and emergency services when nothing was wrong....and then one day when something was really wrong, they did not believe him despite it being a real emergency?!?!?!

Who is to say that the board dont have some good plans for a stadium redevelopment (as they suggest they have several further ones) and who is to say that they dont know what they are doing when you have not been in their shoes with the obstacles they have had to face (merely think you can handle it as you have experience in similar fields).

At the end of the day there will only ever be one outcome out of all of this that would be beneficial to the club and thats unity and investment in my view as opposed to take overs and oustings!  

We get yo-yo'd around the leagues every year cause of our inability to get a good manager to stay and now we have one we should be uniting to help our club.  

Now if some of you believe that Bill Power and the consortium are the way forward then fine I salute you for your bravery in taking on such a challenge....but for god sake stop slagging of the current regime like your 10 years old and get on with the shed loads of work you have to do, as there is no productivity to slagging matches.

I for one am available to be convinced but at present I only see a half finished article.

To the rest of you i urge you to please either back the board, back the consortium or sit quietly on the fence, but the one singular thing that carries through all of these is that there is NO BENEFIT WHATSOEVER in acting like spoilt upset children about the way we have been treated, get over it and do something about it (other than moan and whine like a 10 year old girl)

Cue barage of abusive reply's as that is the level of this forum these days.

Here here

They are desperate to hang on, if Roman Abromovich came in they would not be interested.

It is because they have so much to hide....

Spin Spin Spin

Fuck me the Adver even rolled Willie out again !

It also goes to show that the Board has the Adver in their back pockets

I really cannot believe that after all these years, you can possibly come out in support of the current regime who are in charge of our beloved football club.

It is entirely irresponsible to quote 'unknown obstacles' as reasons for their ineptness, of which we have seen a barrel-full.

The fact is, there are 92 teams in the football league. Each team is run in a similar way with a board of directors, CEO and various other members of staff. Income that is generated for each team varies, and this would appear to have a direct relation with success.

Currently, our average attendance is the highest in League 2, and if we were in League 1 with the same average attendace, it would be the 9th highest. Even if we were in the Championship, it would be higher than Colchester's current average.

My point is, that this club should not be plying their trade in League 2. You can't blame our situation on the fact that we've haven't had good managers in recent seasons. Who do you think appoints these managers in the first place? Who appointed Andy King, again after his first debacle as manager?

I think the fact that we currenly have a decent manager in charge has added fuel to the flames for many supporters. At last, we seem to have added a very important piece to the jigsaw. Can you imagine how well we could do with a new team in charge? SSW has already stated that without stadium developments, he does not possess the moolah to take this club forward, but merely keep its head bobbing above water (of which I am truly grateful to the man), but his continuing association with somebody who has been investigated for various irregularities (i don't know enough about that so I wont go into it) quite frankly worries the hell out of me.

At the end of the day, as you quite clearly stated, the current board are paid to do what they are doing. Unfortunately, they are their own bosses. They aren't accountable to anybody, except maybe us. The fans. I'm afraid that its been going on for so long, and now, we actually have what appears to be a very attractive offer almost in place, we'd be crazy not to back it. And nobody else is going to get the current lot out, so its up to us. I guess you won't be wearing orange on Saturday?

And finally (sorry about all this), this is a discussion forum, designed to ignite debate. If reading peoples opinions (whiney or not) get on your nerves, then maybe take your business elsewhere?

You can't blame our situation on the fact that we've haven't had good managers in recent seasons. Who do you think appoints these managers in the first place? Who appointed Andy King, again after his first debacle as manager?

I think the fact that we currenly have a decent manager in charge has added fuel to the flames for many supporters

There's too many nimbys supporting this club

1 week there telling us they have failed to make a CVA payment and are re-negotiating to delay the payment as there not in a position to pay it

NIMBY = Not In My Back Yard, ie the people who wanted a new stadium for STFC, when the proposals for Shaw Tip were first released, but didn't want it anywhere near them

Oops  :oops:

Got my terminology confused. I didn't mean nimby as in the way you said, I meant clueless moron.

Sharkey I just cant understand how you can be impartial it has gone beyond that for the majority of fans.  I dont think stability is an argument, what worries me is these guys are out for themselves talk of moving our beloved club away from the town makes me angry and worried.  There is no argument, 1 week there telling us they have failed to make a CVA payment and are re-negotiating to delay the payment as there not in a position to pay it at the moment and then the next there employing 3 new people (Holt, Boyd and Bowden), so 3 new salaries that somehow we can now afford, including an expensive consultant from Reading, you want balanced discussion please explain this as I may be missing something?? is this the same board that also sacked/let go Linda Burrell as they couldnt afford her salary.  Sharkey come along to a trust meeting dont fear change, what these guys are trying to achieve is fantastic, these guys all love the club are all pulling together and have some great ideas, read the manifesto, read the ground plans this is not a bunch of cowboys they all have good knowledge and skills, plus Mike Wilks business knowhow and Phil Emmel & Bill Powers financial backing this consortium is going places.  This isnt the time for burying our heads in the sand for stability this is decision time either we want a club or we dont want, there is only one future and that is with the consortium and I for one am right behind those guys bring on the Orange Revolution  :beers:

They never said that the COULD NOT make the payment, they always said they had the money but felt (After being advised by the Accreditor) that they could delay payment to be made with the final installment.....hence make interest on the £100K on account rather than through it at the problem.

Once more I struggle to understand how peoples words can be so misinterpreted and wonder if that is not why we are in the position we are now?

They never said that the COULD NOT make the payment, they always said they had the money but felt (After being advised by the Accreditor) that they could delay payment to be made with the final installment.....hence make interest on the £100K on account rather than through it at the problem.

If you have a deadline for something tobedone for tomorrow and you rush to get it done in time and then at the last minute you are told by the guy who the deadline is for that you can have until next week if you would like, would you hand in the first attempt regardless or would you not spend the next week trying to make what you did better seeing as you now have more time to do it??

I think the point really is that the situation should not have really arisen in the first place.....if there was no CVA to pay then there would likely be no takeover talks and no attempt to move the club forward....regardless they do have the £100K and probably now some interest, but the main point is how best to be able to pay the rest of the CVA.....

If the consortium is the way forward then so be it, but I dnt see the need to slag off the board when people can just get on with trying to provide a better alternative and leave the bickering to the kids.

What a load of old arse! IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY, PAY IT, YOU DON'T GAMBLE WITH THE CLUBS FUTURE!

Is the money still in place to pay the CVA with the additional salaries on our board now?? are you aware that when you dont pay a CVA they are playing russian roulette with our club if even one creditor calls in a winding up order then we have no club, hows that for stability? how about tne mud slanging from the club your quick to criticise the people on here how about them constantly attacking the trust, you need to grasp the facts from both sides because from what I can tell you are only looking at it from one sides, why not do your research on the trust and consortiums proposals and come back with a constructive argument because the stability angle just isnt working for me.

from what i understand the guy that told them they may be able to delay it works for the people we are paying so how is it a gamble......???

I'm sorry you dont think I have taken this seriously from both angles but I assure you I have as its in my interest to do so....

I remain sceptical about both avenues and urge people to not forget that there are other alternatives to both the consortium or the current board.

I'm sorry you dont think I have taken this seriously from both angles but I assure you I have as its in my interest to do so....

I would never stand in the way of a better regime coming in

I remain sceptical about both avenues and urge people to not forget that there are other alternatives to both the consortium or the current board.

one thing that does worry me slightly is that some members of the trust seem to know alot more than other supporters.
i dont think its a major issue at present but it could develop into one possibly?
surely fans will ask why they are entitiled to hold information from them when they are basically equals

i do agree with that arriba.i must admit the nudge nudge wink wink does get to me a bit.When it was announced that it was bill power who was interested i was slighly pissed off about the amount of people who came out and  said thank fuck i can say something now etc

never mind though im sure they have the right reasons for not saying anything

never mind though im sure they have the right reasons for not saying anything

Dont get me wrong i understand that your all in a position where you cant say anything all the time.

It was just the amount of people who actually knew that suprised me a little

And you believe everyone who said that they knew ?

This is the internet Dean - it is full of Walter Mitty types

Can I just say that if you want to know what's going on, get yourself to a trust meeting, Mike Wilkes was very open and honest on Monday.

I found out a lot of stuff there, however, I do not feel comfortable repeating what Mike said, as I see it as it's his decision to publicise what he says.

So Arriba, Macca, go to the next meeting, open to members and non members, sometime in Jan I believe.

i will and i have joined the trust now.but i will just get sooo drunk i will fail to remember

i have problems

Good idea im short of people to talk to

So you're either associated with the board, the creditors or the administrator. Which is it?

Can you tell me what these alternatives are?

Outside investment from an as yet un-named investor

You've either bought the boards bullshit, or you're deluded

If I was Bill Gates or Richard Branson would you say the same thing to me?

Who said I was basing this potential alternative on anything the board have or have not said?

I'm not associated with any of these and it is very narrow minded given the current situation the club finds themselves in to assume these are the only parties with an interest.

Well get your out from your arse, tell us who you are and stop playing the big 'I am'.

Absolutely, there is no way you'd be investing in this club.

If you are an ordinary fan, and not connected in any way with the board or peripherals, then what other sources do you have? If you've got something to say.... be my guest

Well get your out from your arse, tell us who you are and stop playing the big 'I am'.

Funnily enough I do not have to explain myself to you or any of the swindon town fans, but you do not know me, who i work for or what my interest is outside of being a fan so dont come at me so aggressively like you know something you dont.

If I was (for example) a potential investor or connected to one who had decided to get involved in the fans debate to see what interest they showed in receiving outside investment from a third party and what it truely was the fans wanted to happen to the club, then people such as yourself are the ones that would put me off the idea of helping with the "nothing anyone else says is valid or worthy of a debate" attitude.

Only time will tell if another investor wishes to declare their interest in taking the club forward...you know no more than any other swindon fan

If you throw in questions like I am not in a position where I can get involved, you leaving inuendos that you may be someone Sharkey at the moment you are contradicting yourself more than the board statements  :shock:

Funnily enough I do not have to explain myself to you or any of the swindon town fans, but you do not know me, who i work for or what my interest is outside of being a fan so dont come at me so aggressively like you know something you dont.

If I was (for example) a potential investor or connected to one who had decided to get involved in the fans debate to see what interest they showed in receiving outside investment from a third party and what it truely was the fans wanted to happen to the club, then people such as yourself are the ones that would put me off the idea of helping with the "nothing anyone else says is valid or worthy of a debate" attitude.

Only time will tell if another investor wishes to declare their interest in taking the club forward...you know no more than any other swindon fan

If it comes to it, I trust Bill Power and Mark Devlin to find us another top class manager.

I really hope it doesn't come to that though.

Do you not call this a debate? And what with this attitude?
the attitude you refer is totally predictable in light of the past 5 years with the current board,  the stagnation of the business of STFC and the backwards movement of the footballing side. fans want whats best for the club, and you have to accept that the majority of fans will have had enough of this regime now.
the consortium offers another opportunity for the club which is clearly embraced by fans, because its for the fans.

Sharkey earlier you mention an attendence poll or something along those line, stating 2 times the numberof trust members is still a minority. but you are estimating or putting a ball park figure on it. i for one do not know how many people support the consortium and orange revolution, and neither to you. so as you say stick to the facts

Like I also said and you too corrected point out, we do not know the truth of how many support the trust or the current regime so maybe it might be an idea for someone to carry out such a poll and find out???

Sort it out Rob, 80% bollocks :wink:

It never ceases to amaze me how these threads meander off topic to a degree.

Unfortunately, back to topic. IMHO Sturrock has been placed in an untenable position. At least twice that I know of (after the Morecambe & Walsall games), Ed Hadwin has sought his opinion regarding the off-the-field activities at the club - to be fair, Sturrock diplomatically dodged the question, as rightly he should.

The problem is that we as fans are keen to know his thoughts. And when he does publish 'his thoughts', we don't necessarily like them as he appears to be in full support of his current employer - who in the right mind would publically criticise the hand that feeds them one month into their tenure?

FWIW, this clearly stinks of propoganda from the current regime. Sturrock's position in this debate has been made untenable, in that I mean he was almost forced to make some statement to appease certain factions who were keen to know his opinion.

Classic catch 22 situation. I for one am taking with with a huge pinch of salt, and would like to put on record that Paul Sturrock has my full support regarding the on-field management of this club.

I believe there is one on January 13th before the Wrexham game at a venue yet to be decided.

The parties involved though would more than likely agree to a seperate meeting and can normally be found on matchdays.

So to be straight to the point Sharky, you're a potential investor?

I'm sure if you'd mentioned this before, many people (myself included) would have been a lot more welcoming.

My apologies Sam if the way in which I have come across has not been ideal however it is not normally myself that uses this account but a friend of mine, furthermore I am not normally one for public speaking or debate.
Such things are normally left to more talented individuals.

See you all at the next meeting anyway.

Sharkey nothing hear should by any mean deter you or your colleague, this site only shows just a small insight into how much we all care and love this club and what lengths we will go to keep it in business, I think meeting the consortium would be an excellent idea and I think you will be both surprised and impressed with how good they are, the orange revolution is only the start  :D

Have you been drinking?

Thanks Robert,

I am sure that at first a general discussion will be the best course of action, either by attending the next consortium meeting in January or be it that we discuss things over a bovril and mars bar at the ground.

Either way I will look forward to hearing more detail about the intended actions of the consortium and look forward also to trying to find the best way to progress our own intentions, albeit I do not believe we will have a potential working relationship.

Regardless, my colleague's and I are of course open to further debate on perhaps more educated grounds outside of this site but will require a couple of weeks to be able to meet with the relevant people.

Look forward to seeing those of you who attend the consortium meetings at the next meet.

Cue barage of abusive reply's as that is the level of this forum these days.

I am not normally one for public speaking

Didn't Mike Diamandis say something very similar in his statement a few months ago?

Go digging kids.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I'm not so sure about this Sharky guy now actually.

I've been doing some digging: How does a guy who drives an RX-8, who works in conveyancing and goes on xmas do's in a minibus afford to 'invest' in a football club :?:

what you saying about RX8 drivers Sam ? You want some ?

Ah. Missed that. Well pointed out Fred  :D

I'm not so sure about this Sharky guy now actually.

I've been doing some digging: How does a guy who drives an RX-8, who works in conveyancing and goes on xmas do's in a minibus afford to 'invest' in a football club :?:

Sturrock has only been here 5 minutes.

We'll see what he says when he asks for some money in january to buy some players....

Dennis Wise said similiar things when he joined about being behind the board etc now where is he? he jumped the first chance he got to leave.

The fact that the club HAVENT paid the CVA bill and told us they HAD should be enough for ANYONE to realise they are liars and cant be trusted.

DIDNT PAY THE C-V-FUCKING-A!!!!!!!!!!

get a grip ffs!

Sturrock has only been here 5 minutes.

We'll see what he says when he asks for some money in january to buy some players....

Dennis Wise said similiar things when he joined about being behind the board etc now where is he? he jumped the first chance he got to leave.

The fact that the club HAVENT paid the CVA bill and told us they HAD should be enough for ANYONE to realise they are liars and cant be trusted.

DIDNT PAY THE C-V-FUCKING-A!!!!!!!!!!

get a grip ffs!

Didn't Mike Diamandis say something very similar in his statement a few months ago?

Go digging kids.

The following is a statement from Mike Diamandis and provides a brief history of his direct involvement with Swindon Town Football Club:
îI have been involved with the Club for more than 15 years as a supplier, however I became seriously involved about 5 yearsí ago when Sir Seton Wills and Cliff Puffett asked me to help when things had gone seriously wrong. I supplied the management and financial support on a day-to-day basis with backing of the Wills family. At that time some of my advice was not heeded and control of the Club was handed to a consortium which you all know about.
It is well documented that a new consortium made up of Willy Carson, James Wills, Cliff Puffett and myself (represented by Bob Holt) was formed. This consortium fought for about a year to remove the incumbent consortium, which is also well documented. Upon taking control of the club we discovered that the clubís balance sheet had now deteriorated to minus £14 million.
The club was within two hours of going into liquidation. With the help of Hacker Young we were able to rescue the club by raising £1.5 million through the Wills family and a further £1.5 million through St Modwen.
At about that time you would have read in the Adver that at the time the Club had a debenture over it and without itís removal the Club would have been destroyed. With the help of the Wills family and St. Modwen we were able to remove this threat.
I found myself in the unenviable position of being responsible for putting the necessary resources together to ensure the clubís survival. The Wills family would not have continued to support the Club had I not been involved. Since then every year through one method or another, I have been able to raise approximately £750,000 a year to keep the Club going. During this period before Bill Power joined, more than £5.5 million was raised through my leadership, through my own company, with the dynamic share coming from the Willsí family and St. Modwen.
Through successful negotiation we have been able to negotiate with all the creditors so that for the first time in the next month or so our balance sheet will go from a minus to a plus £3-4 million and, with Bill Powers total monies raised will top £6.5 million. The Club will still however require the average gate to rise for it to be safe and in the long term we do require a new stadium to ensure the future stability of the Club.
In 2000 Swindon Town FC employed 98 staff and was loosing over £2m a year. I brought in a professional manager, Bob Holt, who then carried out the cost cutting plan I had developed with the then Finance Director, reducing the staff on the payroll from 98 people to 61, and eventually to the 48 it is today. At this time brought in Mike Sullivan as Marketing Manager (someone who had worked for me in the past). I knew of Mark Devlin as a customer of my company; he was a Commercial Manager at QPR. Mark Devlin then joined us as Chief Executive and as a result of his football knowledge and his media skills we were able to steer the Club successfully for the period that he was with us.
When the opportunity came for him to return to QPR as Chief Executive as you all know he left STFC. Last autumn as soon as I heard that he had left QPR I telephoned him and asked him to return as we all know we had dropped the ball when it came to PR.
After his return we eventually had a discussion that lead to me meeting Bill Power.
I believed that with Bill Powerís football knowledge and Mark Devlin skills, they would create a great management team for our Club and after further negotiations it was agreed that Bill Power would invest in the club and join the Board. That investment is still to be completed. We are hoping it will be complete in the next few days.
Recently many discussions took place amongst the Board regarding the clubís manager. Mark Devlin had the idea that Dennis Wise would be an excellent candidate. I had met Dennis Wise recently at Chelsea when I was a guest of a mutual friend, who is also Dennis Wiseís agent. I met with Dennis Wise again in a London hotel the following day and we struck a deal. I am absolutely delighted that he is joining us with Gus and his team and so is Mark Devlin and Bill Power. For those of you who did listen to the press conference you would have heard Dennis Wise confirm that he was persuaded by a nice man, called Michael, who had talked him into joining. That Michael was me!
During my working life I have employed many people and unfortunately once or twice these relationships have failed. Certain people who have been associated with me in the past are using your forum which is for the specific purpose of discussing football matters as a method of attacking me. I cannot say I am too pleased about all these attacks.
I have now reached a point whether these personal attacks just have to stop to protect myself and my family. For those of you that are interested I am married with a young child and have two grown up children. I have been an employer for more than 25 years and within my various companies there are over 200 employees whose welfare is replied upon and obtained on my ability to move amongst the business community in an open manner.
I have known the Wills family for the last five years and I have come to think of the family and of Willie Carson as my friends. I have worked previously with the ex-board, in particular Cliff Puffett and Mike Spearman, to improve the Clubís position. All of the current Board, and everyone involved with the Club knows me, speaks with me and deals with me in normal manner. I speak to Bill Power everyday and we are all looking forward to the footballing future of our club.
I am often persuaded to take a more public role. However, I am not the best public speaker, in-fact I get tongue tied the minute a microphone gets thrust in my face, and although I have tried to overcome this I am not a natural, and I have always felt that there are other people who are better spokesmen for the club than me. My preferred choice is that on a Saturday I go to the game with my family, sit in the seats that Iíve always sat in, and watch a game of football. I am not interested in a high profile life and I hope you all enjoy Mark Devlin as the public face and spearhead of our Football Club.
The Adver has removed various posts because they have been of a libellous and non-proven nature. My lawyers have written to the Adver and explained how we understand the legal position with regards to chat rooms. Once the Adver have been notified by the person who is being libelled they have no alternative but to respond and remove the postings otherwise they will be knowingly publishing a libel.
This is the only statement I am ever going to make on this subject, thank you for taking the time to read it."
Mike Diamandis
26.5.06

I thought Bob Holt was a professional?

You'll be telling me Santa isn't real next, and this close to Christmas, thats going to cause me to hyper-ventilate.

Oh, just realised I missed a word of the end of my first paragraph. Fuckwit. There, fixed.

 :wink:

also apparently we are 6.5 million quid up - I make that 5.6 million once the CVA is paid !

The Fans Consortium WILL succeed. It is inevitable.

That's just bollocks.

:blahblahblah:

Actually I have been keeping it a bit quiet, but in fact I am the son of a considerably wealthy Arab sheik who is seriously thinking of giving a lot of money away to anybody who is interested in racehorses (as breeding the buggers is what we do in Arabia).

Does anybody know any connected people? Like a jockey perhaps?

If they have any ins with any football clubs then perhaps my father could bung them a few mill as well?

 :blahblahblah:

I have images now of opening next months rich list and richard branson saying

"well last month i nearly bought stfc but those cunts on the Townend forum put me right off that idea"

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Is his name Lawrence ?

Fucking Walter Mitty's the lot of ya

You ought to all be ashamed !!!!!!!

 :D

No.

It's Sheik Yer-belief en Jerku-Off

On a serious note sonic know who this bloke is.Im sure he said this the other day didnt he

Nah

Rich hasnt been on here for days

   Maverick....who's the other Newbury mole.

Whits, Sonic - Who is Sharky? I think you're duty bound to your fellow TEF'ers to tell us who he is!  :wink: