Thetownend.com

Well what happened then??

It's probably still going on  :|

The sturrock interview is up @ http://www.swindontownfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10341~985680,00.html

There's a bit more on there  now about Brez and Brownlie and other stuff.

I fucking hope Brown is one of those who will never wear the shirt again.

Quote from Sturrock regarding Brown

"Aaron will be in my office at 9.30am on thursday morning because i need to make him aware of what i expect from him. I heard some of the things that were heard on tuesday night from both sides, but he wil be dealt with".

Sounds like he might end up playing saturday if that's the case every game i go to i will boo brown everytime he touches the ball, also if he plays again it proves Sturrock has no balls!!

oh no.

so was it all football questions then?

I'd expect the footy questions came first

I hope the fans gave the board hell tonight!!!

and they probably won't post the "other" questions!

His posititon is now untennable I would have thought.

I presume it was announced that Sturrock is now on the board? If not, Fatbury's getting his head flushed down the toilet in the Merlin on Saturday.

Cock.

Sturrock was last up after Andronikou, James Wills and Bowden.

Andronikou did his 'the CVA can be renegotiated and all payments are up to date' (we've heard that before somewhere!!). Millom kept on asking questions...and pissing the board off!!. Andronikou hadn't heard about the fact that the Council have stated that they will NOT renegotiate. Paul D had him on the run when he mentioned in the CVA that the last 'bullet' payment was not dependent on a ground redevelopment, despite Andronikou saying it was originally. Andronikou didn't even know how much the last payment was for, but he said that can be delayed for up to a year on his say so . He better tell Nick Martin !!!

James Wills then read a statement from our favourite club solicitor Trevor Watkins, virtually saying the same old BS as before i.e. not knowing there is a consortium, where is the offer, etc. which got a load of laughs, except from the front row which were full of the boards lackeys, and Cliff Puffett. Bob Holt said that he had an e-mail brom Mark Davis, BP's lawyer, and he asked Paul D what the Consortiums offer is, but Paul D rightly said that discussions are for the lawyers, and not for public consumption. Bob Holt tried to ask Paul D again, but Paul D just repeated his answer.

Bowden gave his normal splurge about the ground redevelopment, saying that Rod Bluh, the Council leader, was a 'brilliant leader' and that if he was here (he had the flu, apparently) that they would be announcing a plan for a possible CG redevelopment. He was asked about the Trust plans, and he still said about a 'fatal flaw' and he accused the Trust of not speaking the the 'right local councillors'. He said Chippenham was a last resort, but he then brought up a possible development on the Front Garden (been there...done that!!!)

Paul Sturrock answered questions, and mentioned that the players bonus systems is better than most clubs and will be reviewed at the end of the season. Later someone asked Starnes who put that bonus system in place, and Starnes blamed Mark Devlin and Bill Power !!!

I'm sure I've missed something out, but undoubtedly some other people will fill in.

By the way, Sandy Gray wasn't there...and Micky D said.....NOTHING !!!

Board span more lies. Bob Holt is a sarcastic little cunt. The amount of digs he had a the trust! Bowden almost made Sturrock fall asleep with his long winded tripe. Diamandis said one thing, and that was insulting a fan. Andronoku or whatever he's called contradicted himself more than once.

Some of our fans really don't know when to shut up aswell, and I actually cringed at some of the questions/statements being asked....

That's about it, I'm sure someone else will expand.

All I took away from the meeting is the obvious contempt held by the board members for the fans of the club.

James Wills sat there rolling his eyes at most of the questions,Holt is an arrogant twat and the only thing Diamandis had to say was to abuse a fan asking a question.I suspect the board see tonight as a sucsess it wasnt at all.

Oh and Milloms dead angry :D

Yeah, isn't he.

I assume he can forget about getting a Christmas card from the board this year.

Time to really step things up on saturday with non-stop chanting, banners and everything, things need to get heavy as this board obviously don't stop talking bullshit and they think they can slag the fans and trust off and get away with it, all i can say to them is think again!!

Who did Diamandis insult and what was said?

Sounds as if I missed out on some fun.

Some guy asked a question and he quipped something about giving him 10p for a phone call or something.It was something and nothing to be honest I wouldnt want to make a huge deal out of it.

just the usual twaddle from the board then?  :-))( didn't expect much else tbh

I obviously missed that, as I was on the other side.

But I wouldn't put it passed him. That was the only thing he did all night then.

The question i asked about brez didint come out as i intended it to, i basicly wanted to know how long before he was fit again to play but i get stage fright and splurged out something totaly different, ahh well

Bob holt is a sarcastic arogant so and so and digging at the trust every moment he got was out of order

Andronakou is so smug and tried to twist everything that was said.

Willie is quite funny, esp the comment which he said about bumping into leon best and nearly giving him a blow job, this was wispered to another board member but heard by a few in the crowd

My view on luggy has changed a lot, some of the stuff he was coming out wityh was great but when in person you can see he says it with a smile on his face and is only have a giggle such as taking the piss out of jon stewart was hillarious


Oh and apparently the trust are a joke, they look like orangatangs dressed in "yellow" someone going colourblind in their old age.

im not sure how millow survived the whole eve without being kicked out.

Paul Davis pulled him up on it

"way to speak to the fans Mike"  :soapy tit wank:

some old guy called the Trust members Orangatangs  8)

oh Maverick did some arse licking.I think it was him anyway :D

So what sort of comments were made about the Trust and by who?

It would certainly be foolish to ignore nearly 1,000 members...

which one was he then/? (maverick)

What concerned me is how many 'lackeys' there are.

There was some old bloke, who said he joined the Trust when they started (he said he had a share certificate to prove it) to get money for new players. (Trust started in 2001...RAF started in 2003 !!), but he says he no longer backs the Trust as they cause problems with this board, and that he calls they the yellow...orange uranutangs (or something).

Nice he got his facts right.

I think he said something about hecklers and the board being right not to speak to such ill manored people.Though I think Maverick has to understand that unlike him most of us dont attend meetings every week.Maverick wears bins right? I think Bennets told me it was him.

So what is new ?

Surprised he didn't get to sit with Mike Bowden.

 :shock: That's Maverick!

I sit behind him every week!

On second thoughts I'm glad I didn't get a ticket, I'd have gone on a murderous rampage.

That Maverick makes me blood boil, he's such an idiot, should ban the cunt off here and not let him on like the other forum, talk about Maverick sucking the board's cocks!!

I was thinking of calling in Thames Water, as there was certainly a lot of sewage material coming out from the back table of the Winners tonight.

If I'm likely to ban anyone it's you, so do yourself a favour and shush.

Not sticking up for Mav are you sonic?  :mrgreen:

My summary:

Andronikou - dodged every single question put to him and didn't give a single straight answer. Paul D asked about the bullet payment being conditional on the ground redevelopment and Andronikou didn't even mention this in his reply.

Holt - Class A Idiot. Openly invited Paul D to propose the consortiums offer in front of the room, to which Pual replied he would take the correct route and do everything through solicitors. One strange thing though is Holt asked Paul to confirm who the consortiums solicitors were. Fucking duh!

Wills - Basically read a statement from Clarke Wilmott Solicitors, same old drivel - we don't know who the consortium is, we're yet to receive and offer and the only discussions we're having with Bill and Phil are about the loan/share issue.

Bowden - was supposed to talk about the redevelopment but gave us his fucking life story. Is obviously a keen fan of Rod Bluh and insinuated that outline planning permission would be forthcoming 'within the year'. He also admitted the Chippenham proposal was solely his own opinion and NO TALKS WHATSOEVER had taken place about a move to J15. Bowden was also posed a question about his supposed 3 options for redeveloping on the current footprint which he completely dodged and didn't tell us what the 3 options were.

Sturrock - I love this guy. Says it as he means it. Explained he got rid of Monkhouse because Brown and Zaaboub were better. Will be speaking to Roberts tomorrow basically to tell him he's a WINGER or he's got no future at STFC. Will also be having words with Brown tomorrow 9.30am. He's very optimistic to have two loans signings by Saturday. When questioned aboit Leon Best he said he would try his best to land him at the end of the season.

Starnes - bascially told us what is current with the club. 2005 account to be 'signed off' by auditors soon and 2006 accounts don't have to be submitted until '31st March 2006'. I hope he got that wrong.

Wee Willie was Holt's puppett all night and Diamandis didn't say a word.

Just got back it was a total farce to be honest, my question was how can you justify misleading shareholders at an AGM, the question was conveniently lost.

What summed it up for me was right at the start, they hadn't put enough chairs on the top table so spent 5 minutes scrambling around trying to find another.

Seeing James Wills in person also I have decided I don't like him at all!

Millom spoke to Wills after as well, bless him.  Said he toned it down to stay in the room :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Mike I'm important and here is my list of why my dick is bigger than yours Bowden irritated the living fuck out of me. "yes, I got that wrong and there are only 33 acres at the site", "so that's all the site then", "yes" - god which bit was he struggling to understand about the implications of his words.  The other parties and the residents just won't stand for it - but that's ok because Mike made it very clear he didn;t give a fuck what they thought, so long as his mate Bluh was nice to him (which Mike, is his job, as he was equally nice to me and Alan when standing with us in the Town End a few weeks backs discussing the club and the ground).

Some idiot near me tried to whinge about Power not turning up after Holt asked where they were.  Lets get this straight, the board made it clear the takeover was off the menu - that might be the reason!!! Plus lawyers being involved, as they went to pains to tell us.  Why the fuck would they come?

Forgive my ignorance but how did Holt get back in following his resignation over the Wise thing?  Can someone tell me.

Oh and TFUN while I am pro consortium and trust - this is a forum and Maverick is entitled to his opinions and just because they are not the same as yours does not make him an idiot

Also, after the forum ended James Wills was flouting about emails from the consortium's solicitors to anyone that was interested.

Breach of confidence?

Also fair play to Paul Davis for not biting despite Holt's constant attempts to provoke him.

Who was the moron who said the Trust is just full of personal empire builders.......there were some definate set-ups in that front row who just praised the board to the hilt

hhahahaha, I'm building my own personal empire for sure.

Undoubtedly. But he was only doing what Bob Holt offered to do.

They don't care about confidentiality do they (See plenty of statements for proof), and the questions about offers to Paul D were scandalous.

I wasn't the only one to spot that then. I see Cliff 'Man of the Fans' Puffet, who was in the middle of these 'people',was nodding like a horse with every word that came out of Holt's mouth.

I was getting death stared and tutted by some old bint sat a couple of seats away from Puffet for clapping anti board questions.

To be honest it was a waste of time and some idiots seem to fall for it, on the adver site someone thinks the board came accross well...

These are the notes that I took, it was impossible for me to keep up with everything and so they can not be deemed complete. I have made them as accurate as I can but can not guarantee 100% word for word accuracy:

In attendance: Paul Sturrock, Willie Carson, Mike Bowden, Matyn Starnes, Andrew Andronikou (administrator), Bob Holt, James Wills, Mike Diamandis. NB: Mike Diamandis was introduced as a STFC shareholder (amount of shares and in which company not divulged).

I will use initials to denote speaker.

AA - The CVA
- The terms of the current CVA agreement was drawn by AA as he is the most objective person to do so.
- The 5 years at 100K payments are now up to date and so we have no outstanding payments to date.
- The CVA was put together on assumptions that STFC would become profitable. This did not happen and secondly a new stadium was not forthcoming that would have provided a "windfall" payment.
- The variance is to be sought on the bullet payment (the big 900K one), and we have a year to do this if AA guidance says so.
-The variance has not been presented to creditors yet .
-AA talked at length about how the Wills have made substantial injections to the club over 5 years and info from them means that he has confidence that the board can work to fulfil obligations of any restructured CVA.
There was a QandA answer session and some debate took place between Paul Davis and AA amongst others.
AA did state that creditors will be made aware of potential investors/takeovers and that the delay in negotiating the bullet payment with creditors was partly to see if anything came of this (consortium or other investor not specifically mentioned.

JW
A lengthy statement was read out by JW from his solicitor stating their legal position on takeover talks. There were some questions from the floor but nothing of significance.

[The statement was nothing new and I guess will appear on the official site in due course]

MB
-Talked about how passionate a Swindon fan he was.
-Stated how Roderick(?) Bluh (council leader) was a breath of fresh air.
- Believes the club have the most cordial relationship with the council in years.
-In his opinion the council members he has spoken to were very pro of keeping STFC in the borough
- Hopes Bluh will make announcement on the matter in due course
- Stated that there were some meetings he has had that are either of a confidential or informal and private matter. He says to divulge these details would cause a loss of trust which could lead to derailing any CG redevelopment.
- Stated that moving to Chippenham was a personal view and that he had not had any discussions with anyone regarding moving the club to Chippenham.
- Stated that the absolute preference is to redevelop the CG. Then if that failed an alternative site would be looked at inside the borough (J15/J16), then as a last result outside as his personal view was better to move the club outside the borough than have no club.
QandA - Apologised to people that he had said the CG redevelopment proposal would encompass 38 acres, it is in fact 33.3 acres (which I believe he said was the whole footprint incl. annex but that needs checking)
QandA-Stated that no financial dealings with St Modwen impact his job of looking at new ground
QandA- Stated that the Trust proposal "fatal flaw" was linked with housing and the fact that the Trust had not talked to the relevant councilers that would ultimately be responsible for the approval of CG redevelopment.

PS
-Very open and amusing when asked about players. Says 1 target fell through this morning and that another is being worked on maybe in time for Saturday (though one target may be ineligible for that game for technical reasons.
- Talked explicitly about one or two players, so expect to see one of our strikers moved to the wing and one of our wingers apologising for recent bad behaviour
- Said that the one or two players he swore may not play for us again may earn a reprieve (one already has)
- When asked about whether he would quit if a takeover happened said that he came to the club because of the vision sold to him and was very happy working with the current board.

My opinion is that other than the CVA 100K finally being paid nothing of any substance came out.

Diamandis got away without question, however I'm not sure there was much point arguing the past with him with anyway.

I think one gent over emphasised his points a bit and that was balanced
by Bob Holt and his snide remarks at Paul Davis and the consortium.

There seems little movement on the possibility of discussing a takeover and the lawyers are getting richer.

I was expecting some kind of clear plan forward on the CVA and some more flesh on an apparently "advanced" plan for CG redevelopment.

I respect Sturrock for only answering a direct question about the takeover and otherwise remaining totally football focused.

so it got nobody anywhere then?
questions were dodged and nobody is any wiser about anything?

My obs on the forum:

Andronikou was posturing and giving out the glib shite that he thought we were worthy of hearing. I don't think he'd prepared for many, if any of the questions asked of him. The trusts Paul Davies asked some good searching questions and Andronikou flapped about like a cunt.

I think he may be regretting not doing his home work for tonight as he seemed a bit annoyed that he couldn't answer questions on points of his professional conduct.

Holt was his usual confrontational and aggressive (pre-arranged in the 'hard man' maxwellian influenced warm up no doubt :soapy tit wank:)  He went after the trust in public tonight, but I thought that Paul davies fought his corner well, being very obviously put in the spotlight glare.

Holt asked if he knew who the trusts solicitors were :?  WTF? was he trying to catch him out on something that we don't know about?

James Wills was fucking embarrasing. Why the fuck did he turn up and just read out a statement (from his own fucking lawyer, quoting himself and his own fucking dad) about the phantom consortium / power / emmell / trust-consortium / non-consortium / fucking bollocks that everyone knows is legit, but the club want to still perpetuate as a load of old bollocks?

The pissed-up gobby bloke who stood up and made some good points was class. He went on a bit a couple of times, but fair play to him for making some hard hitting points which the crowd agreed with.

Sturrock: On honeymoon. We'll see.

Diamandis: Why bother showing up?

Bowden, Starnes:  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I wasnt pissed.....yes i was gobby.
 :wink:

Unless I'm mistaken, the CVA says in black and white that the final bullet payment is not dependent on ground redevelopment?

You're not mistaken sonic, although worryingly the Administrator didn't seem clear on the point. I had to read him that section from the CVA and even then he came back with his stock "I am Administrator, I am God" answer. But later in answer to questions from others he said it was not dependent. So then he was asked directly again and said no the "bullet payment" was not dependent on the CVA. So that was how the topic finished - not dependent on the ground redev.

i wasn't present last night so may have mis-interpreted what's been said, but earlier in this thread it was mentioned that the board said that the takeover was off the agenda, is this right?

if so, wills reading out his anti-consortium email, and holt asking paul davis who the solicitors confirms that this "fans forum" was being used solely as a board propaganda vehicle, as many suspected it would be.

bring on the protests.

It's been 20p for a while now.  He's made himself look a right mug there :D


Nothing much was ever really going to come out of last night.  Glad to hear PaulD fought his corner well.

You we're lucky not to get chucked out!

And as for trying to go after Mike D afterwards, fair play but as soon as he saw you he gave security the nod and then ran away!

No idea on the agenda, but to be fair the board did open the floor and seemed to take all questions asked. The questions after James Wills statement were none to pressing.

Whether anybody submitted written questions that were not read out I don't know.

I think last night it was Board 1 Fans 0 as they was well prepared and didn't want to diversify from what they had decided to talk about, doing it deliberately, Holt & Bowden were real ases, Holt was clearly spoiling for a fight with the Trust but didn't get one.

They are still denying a consortium exists, perhaps BP, PE, MW & PD need to organise a Press Conf together and invite Mickey D to be in the audience.

What was the point of Diamandis being there though, I was dissapointed no one asked any questions of him, after them bumping up security as they did he got an easy ride and must have gone home laughing and thinking that it is just those nasty internet people that don't like me and everyone else loves me.

I don't think anyone came away any the wiser though, which was probably the point to give out information that is already known.

I suspect the letter to the Consortium's lawyers will be on the web site soon though so it can be read by all, but they are just playing stalling tactics though, they wil keep bouncing letters around with the same old rubbish on them hoping the consortium will just give up and go away.

By your own take then that rather sounds more like 1-1? And remember they wholly failed to establish a key part of their agenda - that the CVA is renogotiable dependent on the ground redev. In fact Andronikou contradicted both his own opening position and Mike D's statements before Xmas on this - in a public forum. That's pretty major ground to concede. The rest of Mr Andronikou's performance also left him wide open on a number of fronts. So


What we don't need to do is dance to the board's agenda in the way you suggest. They're starting to look ridiculous with this whole "There is no Fans' Consortium" thing - Bill Power's interview in the Adver made it very plain where we stand, as did Phil Emmel at the Trust meeting on Monday (and indeed at the Youth Cup game to those who spoke to him). If the board have difficulty understanding that, then no amount of press conferences, tattooing "There is a Fans' Consortium and they want to buy the club" on their foreheads etc will make them understand it. This is just an extremely weak propaganda play on the board's part - even Holt looked uncomfortable trying to deliver that BS last night.

I have to say I didnt expect anything else ... but it clearly shows the reality of the situation ... although the Trust are saying negotiations are still taking place can you honesty see the current board giving any of it up?? They seem to strive on these little power trips of theirs and they continue to lie and use underhand tactics whenever possible.  I for one will be protesting more vocally on Saturday ..

I'd agree with Paul more like 1-1 at the moment.

Loved the question

"Can you tell us if the Bryan Adams concert made any money for the club last year?"

"Yes, about £50,000" Starnes

"Why did Mr Diamandis state in an Evening Advertiser interview that we made no money out of it then?"

**Silence**

To be fair I thought Holt was out of line with Paul D, but I suppose it's understandable, ie they know he's a major player in the trust and if they could make him look stupid (which they didn't) it's have been a good night for them.

Yes that moment was class Jan. Diamandis just looked at Starnes and shrugged.

they have lied so often they can't even remember the lies

Bowden seems to forget that the previous leader of the council was quite happy to sit in on the clubs press conference to announce the Shaw Tip plans which he wouldn't have done unless he and others within the council supported those plans. It was amazing how quick he back tracked as soon as the local residents and councillors started kicking up a fuss. It will take a lot more than being a bit cosy with Bluh to get any plans through.

I was making allowances for you being so loud. Your loudness must have been down to you being fucking angry then. No offence :wink:

Interesting to note what wasn't announced last night:

Sturrock as a director (wonder if he refused it)

Starnes as Chief Exec - Holt kept referring to him as "the Accounts Department" which must have gone down well. Given Sandy Gray's no-show, I wonder if Starnes has been pushed sideways to FD and Bowden will be CE. He certainly seems to want it. If so, Starnes must be spitting feathers - so near, yet so far. Ah well, back to your place in the "Accounts Department" then.

"I cannot comment on previous members of Swindon Borough Council"  Mike Bowden 21 February 2007 or 21 February 2006 if you ask Starnes.

maybe the board decided not to put Sturrock on the board yet in order NOT to alienate the fans against their manager .. sadly as far as Im concerned he is IN with the board wished .. I know you wont all agree with me on this and I dont expect you to .. its just my opinion

Sturrock is an employee.

Why anyone is surprised that he backs his employers is beyond me.

What's he supposed to say?

'The people that employ me are all wankers and I'd like the consortium to takeover'?

Seriously now Fatbury will you please shut the fuck up.

I was left feeling frustrated and drained after sitting through that charade last night. Got home at ten to midnight and realised it had been a complete waste of my evening.
One lad sat near me summed it up very early on when he said "the amount of contempt coming from those seven people (ie the top table minus Sturrock) for everyone in this room is unbelievable"

Bob Holt was very aggressive against the Trust, in particular Paul Davis, who to his immense credit didn't get caught up with Holts petty attempts at point scoring. "is Bill Power here tonight? no? is Mike Wilks Here? no? Phil Emmell? NO? They're not here???" No Bob you plum they're not here, this is a fans forum, one which the club originally stated would have no discussion on the consortium/takeover. Why the fuck would they be here anyway?
Ok Mike Wilks would as he's a Town fan but he's out of the country not that that's any of your fucking business, my mate wasn't there last night either, goes to every game he does, do you want to know why he wasn't there too?

Andronikou, well he was dropped right in it considering he was the only one there not a club employee he got all the flak right at the start. Think he was unprepared, and didn't expect the level of interrogation he got, and as a result he contradicted himself on a number of occasions and failed to answer the main points ie. is the cva dependant on a ground redevelopment?
first he said it was, then it wasn't, then when asked whether it was or wasn't, he went into such a long ramble in avoiding the question, that everyone forgot the question.
Incidentally I thought it hilarious and scary at the same time when he described accounts as quote no more than a historical document unquote.

Starnes, our acting CEO's entire contribtution for the night was to (a) get forgotten when Holt was introducing 'the panel' at the start. (b) blame the now infamous crippling bonus scheme on Mark Devlin and Bill Power and (c) say the Brian Adams concert had made the club £50k. (causing Diamandis to shrug *did I lie? ah well who cares*)  
oh and (d) say the accounts were not three years out of date at all how dare you suggest that, 2005 is nearly ready!! maybe this was what Andronikou was referring to as a historical document...

Wee Willy was there for comedy value only.

Bowden, to be fair to the bloke he's only been here five minutes. re the ground development it could all just be pie in the sky whatever it is he's trying to achieve.
But as he wouldn't give anything away about anything, it's very hard to judge the bloke. He seemed to name drop alot, and shout about being a corporate lawyer a bit, but no substance with regards any proposals at all. they're looking at 3 options on the CG site was all he would say. Out of all of them he seems like the only one who would get out there and get things done. Dodged everything nicely and did himself no damage.

Wills. This is the one that I've been churning over in my head. The family love the club and have kept it alive for years as we are constantly told. ipso facto we all love the Wills family, and James Wills was sat there in theory with the goodwill of the fans behind him. Why then did he resort to reading out a bland statement written by his Lawyers? Why??

I'd have loved to hear the bloke speak freely and from the heart about the club. his love for it, how its in the family, in the blood, how he must be stark raving mad to keep on mortgaging his estate to fund this club, how all logic goes out the window when it comes to STFC, and this club is in his bones like it's in all our bones too etc etc etc.
I'd have loved to have seen someone up there with some passion for the club I guess. I wouldn't expect it from Starnes, Andronikou, Diamandis, Holt or Bowden (despite repeated attempts to paint himself as a football nut) maybe wee willie a little bit, but he's just wee willie at the end of the day.

but surely your man Wills could have shown that someone on that fucking table up there table actually understood what it meant to be a Swindon Town fan and actually gave two shits about the club!
Instead he came out with a sterile, patronising statement, longer than this post is turning into. And I just thought what the fuck am I doing sat here listening to this facade? What are you actually saying and why are you here?

Sturrock was good value as always, but I really wish he hadn't been there.

The whole crux of the matter is they are denying there is an offer. They all put on pantomime shocked faces everytime anyone referred to the consortium or the takeover. a la  :o  what takeover??  :shock:  consortium? WHERE?  :o  and by that point it had ground me down. and I thought this is fucking nonsense we're going round and round in circles here.

I don't really think this changes anything at all, I just wanted to vent my spleen and actually make some sense of a long evening. Sorry for the rant, if anything it just means I'm going to protest louder and stronger from now until they're gone.

The_Plagiarist,  :clap:

I didnt go last night

Anyone see the link between "2005 accounts almost ready" and the consortium (that dosnt exist) not making a firm cash offer?  :shrug:  Thats right because BP is supposed to have memorised the clubs balance sheet (does this exist?) as at june this year isnt he?

Give me strength :wanker:

The ‘news’ on the stadium development is interesting.  Presumably the club are going for a similar proposal to the Trust introductory plans released a few months back.  Minus ‘fatal law’ no doubt.  

If and again it’s a big ’if’ the proposals carry more credibility than previous tenders and we have something of a ‘community’ stadium with commercial bolt-on’s the club are going to require a serious amount of goodwill from the community and fans to back their proposals for a private/commercial development on council owned land.  

As Roddy mentioned above previous Council leaders have been more than happy to sit on past development announcements but after a waft of unrest from the natives they've quickly jumped the Titanic.  Are we on course for a similar announcement, backing in principal from the council to see a re-developed stadium?  In effect this has been re-iterated by the council numerous times in the past..

They’ll also be a few cutting questions from fans and supporters groups.  Previous proposals have always been a little light on factual detail when it comes to ownership, commercial rights, rental agreements and shareholder/board stakes etc.  Yet despite the sketchy details and questionable looking plans there was a lot of goodwill support in the past.  

While the consortium rumbles on in the background will there me anything at all in the way of backing?  

Unless there is full public disclosure on the development plans will you support the board’s proposals to develop the County Ground?  

The reality is that unless precise details are known beforehand we could easily end up with a Newbury influenced equivalent of the Kassam situation.  Looking at the unlikely scenario, if the board were to succeed in getting through planning it’s going to strengthen the incumbents hand and effectively place any takeover bid in a difficult decision.  

On balance though we have to be careful of a ‘nose cutting’ – ‘spite the face’ incident.  It is in the club’s eventual interest to develop the stadium regardless of ownership as it could pay off the final CVA payment of 900k, resolve the club’s future and possibly generate external revenue.  However, even with the goodwill pot empty the board are going to have to clarify their exact position on the following before I could consider giving them any backing.  Off the top of my head….

Who will retain ownership of the site?  Typically these schemes are held in a holding company comprising of the council, club and developer.  Given that the club is owned by a holding company with external interests, shaeholders and connections to St Modwen through additional developments I would feel very wary of the holding company holding any rights over site ownership/management.

What involvement has St Modwen in any development?  Has the ‘lovers tiff’ been resolved?

Will the club pay rent, for what and how much? Hull City are living rent free at the KC Stadium for the first 10 years.  If the club has to pay rent; how much, who to, what length of contract and crucially what for?  If the football club ends up simply paying rental into a management company for playing at the CG are we actually going to be any better off?  

Who retains ownership/control of any initial commercial profit generated through housing etc and through continuous income streams such as conferencing and rental of commercial space?      

All old questions that have been far more eloquently asked in the past but unless there are answers then I’d have to consider any development.   :|

I haven't quote it all to save space but...... :goodpost:  :toppost:

Sums up how I feel about those mother fuckers perfectly.

I agree totally, he wont say anything against his current or possibly future empoyers, that would be totally stupid.

i will tell nick - really don't think he will be happy!



he is ill at the moment (just hope it was not me that gave this to him!)



I think Paul (et al) has spoken to most of the council - often, last time i spoke to was last night before the meeting.  i know he has spoken to the leader, dep leader & Nick Martin (in charge of finance) as well as myself as a ward cllr.  who has he NOT spoken to? [can someone find me a confused emoticon to go here pls]



was at the council meeting this was discussed, not a bright move bringing that up again.

Mjad - Bowden didn't know your name!!!!!!!!

He also stated while they will talk to you guys and the residents they don't really need you onboard at planning.

He also made it very clear the proposals include the entire site (cricket club, athletics & extension), because he confirmed they were for a 33 acre development (not the 38 he said previously) and confirmed that meant the entire site was included.

Yes he did Rob, it's Cllr Wilkinson or Watkinson!!  :)

oh, and I;m sure I heard him mention moving the ground from the current footprint was in the proposals.

Bowden did say that he wanted 'a brilliant new stadium not neccesarily on the existing footprint'.

The more I think about last nights forum the more convinved I am that the board are just a bunch of cunts on the make.

How the fuck they have the gall to sit there, with straight fucking faces and tell us that if they do sell the club, then they want to know that whoever they sell to will have to prove to them that they can take the club forward? What, just like they have? Who the fuck do they think they are? They cant pay their debts. WTF?

They really are absolutely fucking priceless :evil:

Non taken mate....i just hate microphones :oops:

have e-mailed Nick Martin - will await the reply, but hope to see him Saturday!

As for the name, really don't care.

Am meeting with the cricket club very soon, they are NOT happy with the idea of moving, as for the residents' views on losing the green space - that's a no!  Perhaps if they spoke to the Trust who have spoken to all these groups they may learn what's going on

Having been 1st elected in 2000 you get to see the same issues keep coming up again & again - just with STFC it seems they want to take this to an extreem!  When will they stop trying to do everything from scratch & see what's been done before?  New people keep coming in to the club & come up with a new great idea - usually including a fair few of the reasons previous schemes have failed!

did he happen to mention how this was to be financed? (sorry as an accountant & it being built on council land i am rather interested)

Isn't Mr Martin the bloke who really fucking hates STFC?

I thought he was the 'fifth Beatle'?

Nah that's George. You're very good at being wrong today hertha  8)

I was replying to your 'Mr Martin' post, Sonic.

Therefore I am 100% CORRECT!!

He's not particularly fond of the club, that is true - mainly because they've had so many problems with rent payments, and the CVA, but I think he'd still dislike the club without that.  In any event, he is the sort of person you'd need to do a lot of talking with and compromise, show the financial benefits and that proper consultation has taken place etc.

he has e-mailed me tonight using the correct surname - mind you he did refer to "Your wife" which was news to me i was married!  

copy of the e-mail i sent:
I would prefer an answer to the question I raised in relation to the County Ground Development in writing:

 “I am extremely concerned about the rumours doing the rounds about these plans that they include building on the Cricket pitch & the green open spaces around the ground which would be unacceptable to the local residents and cricket club.  Please can you reassure me that these rumours are not true.”

I am meeting the cricket club in the near future & would like to reassure them that their pitch is not under threat (as per the Trust’s plans, which I was fully consulted over).  Also I am in constant communication with local residents & would like to say that the club are not touching the green space (as per the Trust’s plans)

I would like to direct you to the Trust’s plans, available at http://www.truststfc.co.uk/CG_main.php which was done in conjunction with ward councillors & the local residents.
 
Also I am concerned that:

i)                     Comments about the CVA at the meeting yesterday were along the lines that the council would be affected in a negative way.

ii)                   Plans for the redevelopment include developing the whole County Ground site when STFC do not own nor lease it.

-----

I await a reply with interest!

:clap:

Nick, like me is not a football fan (both are members of Premiership rugby clubs), just wanting the best for Swindon.
I feel that the club are not doing the best for Swindon - whereas the Trust are trying to!

Mjads a tory dontcha know :o

At the moment he is

 :wink:

(no offence Mike)

Mike,

It will be interesting what kind of response you will get back from Mr Bowden.

It will be also interesting if he mentions the so called 'fatal flaw' which he describes on the Trust plans, in his response.

didnt anyone ask what the so called fatal flaw is?

Seems the local counsilors perfer and have had more imput from the Trust.

It worries me, that since the last fans forum thingy....just after Iffy was appointed, they've pretty much said the same stuff re: stadium and have progressed no further....apart from hiring someone on more money to spout the same lines

In that time the Trust have done so much more, and all in their spare time.....the mind boggles

Bowden doesn't even talk a good game. I can't believe the club have employed him  :jaw1: (the last sentence was ironic).

Yes. Bowden mentioned it was the housing on the development, despite it being low cost housing, and been given the OK from local councillors and residents as acceptable.

Personally, Bowden is just shit-stirring.

so, how exactly is it flawed?

Id say its less flawed that building on the cricket pitch, where the club have a longer leece than the football club

....but what do I know compared to Bodwen eh  :roll:

can i be a lad at 25?  8)

none taken!  :D