Thetownend.com

Can anyone/everyone come up with a list of lies that our 'board' have come up with over the years, along with linkage to the dirty deeds?

Be nice to have a definitive list to reference back from for future arguments and such.

I did post a set of contradictions a while back

Ill see if I can find it

Here you go Bob


19/9/06

“We have not been approached officially or unofficially by anyone looking to invest in the club,” he said.

“If someone came along with an offer that can be substantiated, then the board would be duty bound to put that offer to the shareholders with the appropriate recommendations. – Bob Holt



22/9/06

“There was media speculation about some rift within the board. It is not the case

The disappointing news was that because of the seriousness of Bill’s illness and the fact that he won’t be returning to work for at least 18 months, he is unable to fulfil the role at the County Ground that he originally intended, therefore would not be taking up a position as a director or an executive role

26/9/06

the directors have said that should a group or individual demonstrate the financial clout and ability to take the club forward, it would relinquish control immediately.

Should a group or individual prove they have the financial backing and management ability to ensure the future of the club ‘an agreement would be formalised and immediately the current board would resign and relinquish the day to day running of the club. – STFC Board

Director Bob Holt told the Swindon Advertiser last night: “Some of the things being said out there are totally unwarranted and completely without foundation.

“We really hadn’t wanted to say any more once we’d made the statement (about Bill Power’s departure) but felt we had to.

“Why should anyone accept comments about cheats and liars and the like?”

The director also reiterated the board was deadly serious in terms of listening to offers.






28/9/06

“There is no crisis in the club whatsoever. Bob’s departure has nothing to do with anything rumoured to be happening here. It was a completely personal thing”

“I don’t really want to get involved with it all but I want to reassure the fans there is nothing sinister going on”. – Willie Carson

3/10/06

Holt said: “It is what we have all been waiting for to be honest. If someone was to come in with the investment I think you would smell the burning leather as we got out of there.

“But until someone does come in with money it would be very unwise to keep criticising them (Devlin and Power)  because it could well push them over the edge. I don’t think anyone wants that.”



4/10/06

To conclude, my father and I are distraught by the prevailing attitudes towards us and the current Board of STFC, and it leaves us no option but to seriously consider our future involvement at the club – James Wills



23/10/06

Swindon reluctantly agreed to that request, but made clear they would only release Dennis and Gus from their contracts if suitable compensation were paid by Leeds

Regrettably it has proven impossible for the clubs to agree a suitable financial package


8/11/06

“I’m sure Dennis himself didn’t think he was going to leave the club that soon but circumstances came about and he had to go” – Willie Carson




24/11/06

The Board have for some time been discussing with the administrator the requirement for a variance of the CVA. With the additional problem of this years overspend, this years payment has been, with agreement, delayed until the rights issue is completed. The Board are also taking the opportunity to see if they can include this year`s payment in the variance – Following the AGM statement that all CVA payments were up to date

30/11/06

“We will have to try and get sources of funding from outside, try and see what we can generate organically.

“The bottom line is that the money Bill put in was used to pay bills and effectively it was used to finance the losses.

“If you’ve a cash deficit arising from trading losses the money has to come from somewhere. It either comes in share capital, from loans or ultimately from profits. Bill’s money was effectively used to finance trading losses last year and trading losses at the beginning of this year.” – Martyn Starnes


1/12/06

The continued reference to a Fans Consortium appears to be misleading given that Mr Wilkes is stating he has funding available from an unnamed backer, who we understand is American and not a fan of the club. – STFC Board


1/12/06

It should be emphasised that the Wills family are not actively looking to sell the Club - STFC Board

Just the job.

Ta Fred.

BigBobJoylove, I hope you're putting that list to good use. Some kind of letter/rant to the board?

As if the board care about what us fans think :)

It's more to convince those who are sitting on the fence to back the trust/consortium.

Might be worth trawling even further back (there are some good ones about them having investors at the ready just before the wrestled control back for example).

"More money than you can shake a stick at", IIRC. The best one recently of course is misleading the AGM about the CVA being paid.

Arf  :D  just stuck that in another thread.

One of my favourites is from Rikkkki Hunt years ago when we sold Horlock to Man City for £1.5m.

He was quoted in the Adver thus: "Every penny of the Kevin Horlock money will be spent on players"

So they spent 400k on Darren Bullock................and that was it. Oh well, what's 1.1 million between friends :?

Lies make baby jesus cry

you forgot the radio interview when bob holt said about Wise commiting his future to the club, followed by little Dennis sounding not awfully happy, then BH resigning and DW legging it soon after.

Very true. A factor that tends to get overlooked all too often in this day and age :nod:

Here is the shake a stick article from the Adver

Big firms are on our side
THE consortium hoping to wrestle control of Swindon Town Football Club claims to have secured financial backing from three major multinational companies.

It says the money ­ which is understood to run into millions ­ would “virtually guarantee the future” of the club, should the consortium take over from the current directors.

No contract has yet been signed but, following a series of meetings last week, a verbal agreement has been made and the deal is expected to become official later this week.

The consortium includes former Queen’s jockey Willie Carson, former club chairman Cliff Puffett, ex-Robert Maxwell aid Bob Holt and James Wills, the son of the club’s biggest shareholder, Sir Seton Wills.

Mr Holt, spokesman for the group, said the three firms are all international giants in the development industry, but have local connections to Swindon.

“They’ve got more money than you can shake a stick at,” he said. “At this stage we are still talking with them to finalise details of how they will support us, so we cannot name them yet.

“The consortium has for some time had at its disposal £1m to deal with short-term cash flow difficulties at the County Ground.

“But this proposal will secure the long-term future of STFC and provide the club with a new stadium for which the freehold will be owned, without any encum-brance whatsoever, by the football club and not by some property company.”

Mr Holt said the removal of the current directors, Danny Donegan and Ian Blatchley, was the consortium’s next target. He added: “If they (the directors) had the best interests of the club at heart, they should elect the members of the consortium to the board, then both of them should retire gracefully.”

The Advertiser profiled all last week the ongoing saga at the County Ground, revealing that the club had apparently broken the terms of a creditors’ voluntary agreement (CVA).

The agreement was made last year to stop the club going into receivership and involves paying off debts to the creditors in an arrangement agreed by all.

Now a creditors’ meeting is to be held in the next three weeks which could force the club into receivership.

The club also owes £87,000 rent arrears to Swindon Council, has had minibuses repossessed and faces the possibility of being forced to call an annual meeting by the High Court.

It was also revealed on Saturday that the council may strip Swindon Town Properties Ltd (STPL) of its preferred developer status for the Front Garden.

STPL was set up specifically to buy the Front Garden land from the council and to build a new £40m stadium, hotel, conference centre and leisure complex.

Town chief executive, Peter Rowe, speaking on behalf of the directors, said he wasn’t surprised by the consortium’s new investment claim.

“I think I might know who these companies are and, if I’m right, they are in direct competition with the developers we are dealing with.

“If they’ve actually got the money, they should sit down with the directors and talk. But at the moment, they seem to be just playing political games.”

I suppose St Modwen did loan the club £2.5m since then, but hardly straight forward investment, and hardly more than you can shake a stick at from 3 companies that will secure our future.

Happened across a rather interesting bit of info in an article from the Adver around the time the current incumbents were trying to get control back.

"Sir Seton had earlier been on good terms with STPL, entering an agreement with Mr Brady to sell his 76 per cent stake in the club for £6 million. The deal, signed on May 26 last year, shows that Sir Seton will not receive a penny until outline planning permission on the Front Garden for a stadium has been agreed by the council, when £4 million would be payable. The final £2 million would change hands after the first league match had been played at the new ground."

Strange, seems he was willing to let the club go with no upfront money passing hands and no return of other monies, just monet upon development.

The deal being offered now seems better, yet we are being told they want cash upfront as well as the loans aid and the capital returned as well.

A Monet? Clearly that's where we've gone wrong in not including fine art in the deal  :D


Ah, yes but don't forget since then the club has benefited from five years of "financial engineering", gone into two periods of administration and been relegated and so now has much more "potential"

can we add any parts of todays statement to the list of lies?

just parts? we could probably add the whole lot!

fair point