Thetownend.com

From BBC interview for people at work etc or cant get it. Feel free to correct any inaccuracies.

- New board wants to listen to fans

- Investment is complete

- ALL past debts including Power and CVA to be paid in days.

- Jim Little is the face of the investment team

- The new owners want to make Swindon Town great

- As of now the board only consists of 2 people. Jose Veiga and Jim Little but may expand board later.

- Rufus Brevett will be sporting director

- Willie Carson will stay in an unofficial capacity and all the current board must re-sign

- Will speak to Sir Seton Wills for Advice

- Sandy Gray to stay at club

- Bob Holt has no official status but will help with the club

- Martyn Starnes at the Moment will work with Jim Little

- Jim Little deals with the finances

- Jose will work with Sturrock and Brevett

NEW STADIUM

- Club are looking at a new location for a stadium and move from the County Ground

- Understand how valuable the County Ground site is for the council

- Club will remain in the borough of swindon

- new stadium will be multi-purpose

- Want STFC to be the cornerstone of the growth of Swindon

- The club will stay in the town "it is called swindon town football club for a reason"

- Sites for new stadium are all close to the Town

- Cannot give away exact location because if they do the value of the land will go up.

- Want to break ground within this year

- The new investors have the financial resources to build a new stadium

- Will be hoping to come up with several designs for fans to vote on.

- Match day experience most important thing for the club

- Will work with several parties in England and USA to build stadium

- Not sure if St Modwen will be involved (see below)

- Wont allow third parties to getin the way of building a new stadium (referred to St Modwen here)

- Hotel and Conference facilities at new site

- Want to generate money to put into the club and expand it.

PAUL STURROCK

- Money is available but wont be stupid

- Portugal have a great footballing tradition and will use contacts there.

- Sturrock will deal with Brevett and Veiga, Footballing starts and ends with Veiga not Sturrock.

- Sturrock, Little and Veiga all have their own ideas which team to field to win games.

- Teams will be chosen by the three people involved and not necessarily Sturrock. (Didnt say exactly but words to that extent)

- Want to win promotion to the Championship this season

- Viega runs clubs who are very sucessful

FINISH

- Will do whatever they can to please fans

- Want to re-engage with imput from fans and work with the fans.

I'll look forward to getting a reply to our letter within the next few days then.

The rest of it sounds great, but the above points are rather worrying..

Very interesting.  Doesn't answer all the questions, but it's a good enough start.

I think I'll wait until the dust settles before commenting!  Sturrock's reaction to all this will be key.

 Go steady there, you'll be saying Sturrock is on his way next......

Cheers Reg :D

I try and keep my concerns for things I know about!

I can't think of one succesful football team that's run by commitee.

Sturrock was employed as Manager, not first team coach.

With this change in his job role, will his contract have to be re negotiated?

 Maybe they could give him a pay rise foir a loss of job status....the reality is whether you regard it as non factual, Sturrock is dead in the water under this regime,  and its just a case of how messy it gets, before he goes.....1 win in 5 is not looking good.

So basically Paul Sturrock is not in charge any more???

That's what the man said.

That's what it sounds like...................

The only thing i am concerned about is Sturrock leaving. Well ok let's be honest i'm still a bit concerned about the others staying on too. What is going on with Mike D as well? And this new stadium. Ok that's fair enough that they cannot reveal just where it is yet but they could be feeding us bullshit and it could be anywhere.

Will Sturrock,Veiga & Little be having a face off using the Paper,Rock & Scissors method to see who gets to pick the team each week?

Spoof

This is all getting worse and worse the more I hear about it, to be honest. I've had a really bad feeling from the outset and it's just getting worse.

Don't worry, we'll soon have one of those carbon copy soulless bowl's of a stadium.

Haha can't wait.

At least it's situation normal for Swindon with nobody quite knowing what the fuck is going on.

"Don't worry, we'll soon have one of those carbon copy soulless bowl's of a stadium".

What the fucks wrong with some of you people?

The carbon copy as opposed to the wonder of the world that we have now!

I like the CG.

It's old school.

Stay at the CG just build a new town end, stratton bank and put red seats in the arkles job done!

That would be ace but there is no ROI for them in that plan !

Err..... I know what's going on.

We are/are not going to move to a new ground (delete as appropriate depending on which week Jim speaks about it)

We are owned by a company where people can just invest or withdraw their money at will - but the investors won't be named (and quite right too - why should turnstile fodder get to know who actually owns the club)

Rufus Brevitt was bought in as a Director of Football and the new chap bought in as General manager so either Sturrock, Brevitt or the new guy (or any combination of the three will be picking the team)

It's as clear as day really.

Hope that helps.

Sounds alright to me.

Sure you can pick holes and stuff it basically sounds fairly positive doesn't it?

I know its hard but lets not be to cynical.

What would we do without Worcester's interpretation skills, eh?  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

 :goodpost:

Did you want that in Portugese as well?
 :thumbs:

Doesn't sound too positive for poor old Luggy.

Hard not to be cyncial given the lack of transparency to date

Exactly my thinking Yeovil. I think it's fair to pick holes where bigger concerns may be, but at the moment the football club isn't under immediate threat from going under, like it was after Power pulled out of his Directorship.

The Veiga situation really does worry me, but I'd rather not pick up  on every point and niggle instead of looking at the bigger picture (that's not an intentional Jim Little impression btw).

To think many people berated some for daring to question Bill Power's every move and now they're doing the same with the current investors.

Hmmm, well, my view: I'm glad they've come in and stopped the club from going under. *BUT*, at the risk of sounding like Bart et al, I'm still finding it hard to come to terms with what I still see as a lack of clarity especially over Luggy's position. Ok, we've not made a great start, but he was only under orders to keep us up this season which I think he will. The man is a legend for me and I wouldn't want to see him forced out by a change in regime, nor would I want him going with any kind of ill feeling towards us.

I know it's early days but I am holding on to my cynicism until they new guys prove to me they're fit to run this club. Remember, trust is earned not bought... They've got many steps to take to repair the damage done by the previous people and the veil of secrecy over the past few weeks has not helped one little bit. When people aren't up front straight away I always suspect they're hiding something!

They're promising the earth for what is, let's face it, and average club with a history of owners short changing us on the field ... and I'm worried it'll happen again.

 :goodpost:

I don't like the colour of the seats in the Arkells. I hope the investors are going to change them all to red. I don't think they will though. Grrrrrr!!!  :x

FFS.

Sturrock must be leaving then.

the prozac is on the door.

each dose has a free pack of 100 paracetamol, please ignore directions and swallow them all at once.

thank you

In the stadium bit, to break the soil this year has to mean an out of town site which really narrows it down if within the Borough still.  Any of the plots by the M4 I suppose.

If the GM has a say in the team selection, then clearly he'll win any vote over Sturrock as he's higher up the food chain.

It's a right mixed bag, possibly a sign of the nature of the investment.  Some of it sounds good, other bits sound at the least worrying.

FFS. So what if Sturrock resigns/is sacked/poached by Leicester (delete as appropiate). As long as the powers that be replace him with a proven quality manager (and there are lots out there) it would not be the end of the world. As long as the club progress's on the pitch as well as off it I couldn't give a monkey's who is the manager.

 Time for a reality check for some of you. The new owners have spent £10M clearing debts and making plans for the future and i'm willing to give them the benifit of the doubt. You dont put that sort of money into a business without having some say in who your key members of staff are. Now I know I will get slaughtered for saying this but i'm 99% certain that in the eyes of the New Board they probably already have a Team manager lined up to relace Luggy and are just waiting for the right time to do so. I'd also bet that it will not be Rufus Brevitt either but someone who is of higher caliber, probably foreign too.

Bottom line is:

-debts to be cleared in days
-new stadium to relace the aging CG
-money available for new players
-STFC to be ran as a profitable company


All the above failed by the current board. So why can't we once just try and look forward to the future without slating everything. Sure we don't know all the facts ( and I guess a lot of it will remain in a cloud of mystery) but when the info becomes available then we can debate!

Onwards and upwards, see you all at Hartlepool!  :beers:

Exactly!!

It would seem they wouldn't want a proven Manager though, if they want to be involved in team decisions and player recruitment.  It would suggest they want a 1st Team Coach who will simply run training and allow involvement in team selection and possibly tactics.

It's not necessarily a bad thing provided the club is set-up properly to that way of working and the GM is experienced in football.  It's rare, almost unheard of, to run that way in this country though which means either a new coach or a foreign coach used to that system would be needed.

It does all seem a bit similar to Hearts to me.

The other stuff all sounds good so far, I'm just holding back a bit as it seems the strategy keeps changing.

I think caution is very much order of the day. Building a new stadium is all well and good, but unless there are safeguards regarding ownership of the stadium and revenue streams then we could still be in Oxfords position in a few years time.

And I do care what happens to Sturrock because as a fan I don't think there is better man for the job.

And I also care about most of the other issues raised.

The takeover may be a good thing, I'll jump up and down after seeing their actions rather than reading their words. If you don't agree, I really don't give a fuck.

The main jhist of it...the investment the ground etc I am very happy about, the Sturrock thing with him not being allowed to pick the team himself I think stinks, yes it does remind me very much of the Hearts shenanigans with the Chairman running the team over the managers head.

I agree that I think they have their own man ready and willing to replace Sturrock, probably a Portuguese man with experience in Portugal but not so much in how the English lower leagues work which Sturrock does have.

It was stated that there are many proven managers out there, point 1...name a few...point 2...would they be willing to come to a club like Swindon in their position......point 3....will they be willing to not have full control of the team...I think the answer is we have the best man available right now and it is Paul Sturrock.

is that re sign or resign?

To be fair, following almost an hour of trudging through crap speculative post after crap speculative post with the all too frequent crap speculative post throw inbetween, the above is a refreshing blast of fresh air.
Why do people have to batter the new owners before they have had the chance to say or do anything with the club.

What I would like to know is......

If, for the sake of argument, I was to be able able to say for sure that next season, we will be in the Championship and possibly even challenging for promotion to the premiership, hypothetically speaking of course. And that the long term security of our beloved STFC is assured. Would any of us on here really give a flying fuck who is in charge?

Not me  :D

I think we will have a new foreign coach in place very soon who is used to this sort of continental set up with sporting directors and general managers. Will cost to get one though but I think the owners will want to show us 'the fans ' they mean business.He wont be a huge profile coach but one we have heard of.

What's that Argentian chap who had a stint up the A420 doing?

Oh fuck. The Brevett connection. There's our next manager then. Great  :(

As much as I think PS is an absolute legend, if he did go and we brought a first team coach in I wouldnt be devastated, as Jose Veaga has an awesome pedigree and reputation in Portugal, and has worked alongside some of the best coaches going. If he can do half as well here as he did in his post at Estoril, and the town become solvent and financially competitive, then we could be going places!

Naive or confident, I don't know, but I'm certainly not going to shit a brick about the new set up before they've had any chance to fulfill their promises.

ramon diaz! that would be a fucking ace signing. one of the best managers of all time. check his record.

Fair enough. But losing the best manager we have had in a long time is not a good start for the new owners. The jury is out on them already in a lot of fans eyes and if they piss us off by forcing Sturrock out they are not doing themselves any favours. I don't give a shit if this guy has a good record working with coaches. I do not want Sturrock to leave. I do not want 3 people picking a fucking football team for a game. It would be like me saying "I'm off for a piss can you two come and hold it for me?" I mean WTF do you need 3 people running team affairs? It's ridiculous.

I heard a rumour, its an old rubbish dump, where they planted a few trees and owners take their dogs to take a daily shit, can't remember the name of it.

news bulletin on RS at half 6 this morning stating that little has said that "the buck stops with veiga" when it comes to footballing matters.

that is worrying.

Why?

Director of football!

  After Sunday's dismal show....Veiga out..

Three players,  if you've got first shout, hold nil, shout 4 - Sturrock B, you're not playing !

veiga has appointed experienced managers at every other club so why wont he here.They funded sturrocks signings so far this season it seems they are backing him in my eyes.If sturrock goes i think it will be his own choice to do so.

He may well end-up leaving of his own choice, because his job role will have changed.  Probably able to claim constructive dismissal so get a pay off to avoid that as is the norm in the football world.

I'm not saying the concept is necessarily bad.  If they have better people lined up, it's their money I suppose.

basically I'm confused about the whole situation and the impression I get from the snippets we have in the media, it seems those running the place now are not exactly always singing off the same hymh sheet.  Most of the stuff sounds good, some of it sounds worrying and I can't quiite place whether it will end-up in cheers or tears right now.  Will we be some ultra well run club using the best European style management, cut costs, increase revenue, get a sparkly new ground etc.  Or, will we be some weird shop window club with agents hanging off us like the top deck of the titanic, dodgy deals making people money but not the club, a kassak style ground and a Hearts style set-up where the Chairman picks the team if he fancies playing boss.  I just don't know and it might be that they don't either, especially if so many different people have a vested interest in the private equity fund.

Jim Little: "Bringing Jose to Swindon is an absolutely unbelievable coup, he is like the Jose Mourinho of football management."

That's a bit daft.  Isn't that a bit like saying he is like the Alan Titchmarsh of horticulture or the Gordon Ramsey of fine cuisine?

Jim's not a football man, is he.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: Trade window

I've been holding off posting about the way things are going off the field until things got a bit clearer, but as it's looking like it isn't going to ...here goes!

Firstly, I think we're probably all agreed that this outcome in terms of the club's ownership is not our ideal. A club owned by a friendly, football-mad multi-millionaire in partnership with the fans Trust would have been great, but it's no longer on the table, so we need to put it out of our minds.

I can't help but think that the disappointment of that failure is colouring peoples views of the current situation.

Like everyone else is saying I'm reserving judgement on this new lot, but everything that has been announced is not bad, and some peoples attempts to out a negative spin on absolutely every element of Little's interview is sounding a bit childish.

Over the last few days we've found out:

Diamond Mike is no longer General Manager, because Viegas is. . So we've replaced a dodgy foreign geezer with another BUT crucially the one on his way out 's only involvement in sport has been to nurse along a half arsed promotions company from one CVA to another for a few years, whilst his replacement was general manager at Benfica during a title winning spell, and had previously taken a Portugese minnow through two promotions into the top flight.

I'm not sure, but that sounds like a good thing to me. OK these people might be self serving bastards, but if what works for them financially is a successful football club, then they seem to be capable of bringing that about, and that would make a nice change.

Secondly, people have been on here bitching about the lack of progress in the stadium redevelopment plans by the old board for years now. The new lot are around for a couple of weeks and they're talking about cracking on with it asap, and some of you can find things about that to moan about aswell. They've said it will be in Swindon, they've said it will have the off field income streams to club needs. They can't announce the potential sites until they've looked into it further. What the hell more do you want? For people to leap from there to assuming it's an out of town greenfield is just total speculation. There was enough going on as far as the New Swindon Company regeneration stuff was concerned the last time I looked for there to be new bown field sites coming up fairly centrally over the next few years. Besides if it was in the front garden area that's predominately SBC owned and the commercial sensitivity issues they hinted at wouldn't really apply.

Again, that one for me is (conditionally) good news.

Thirdly, the Sturrock is off thing. Didn't he make a statement yesterday to say he was at the club for the long term? Wasn't that after Viegas appointment? Now either PS found out about the proposed working arrangements with Viega, and RB at the same time we did by listening to Little's interview, or he already knew the score when he made that statement.

Either way can we all stop being so bloody parochial. The General Manager, D of F, First Team coach arrangement is how football clubs are run just about everywhere else in the bloody world apart from in Britain, and it's been known to work quite well.

It may not be what PS is used to and he might not be able to adapt to it. But then again he might. And he might leave, actually fuck that he will leave, because, THEY ALL LEAVE FFS! Have you not noticed? That's what happens at all clubs other than Man U and Crewe. Managers do shit and they're sacked, or do well and move on to better things. Two seasons, three tops, that's all you get.

Maybe, just maybe having some stability on the footballing side through people with a stake in the club wouldn't be such a terrible thing. Shit, maybe there being other opinions about who should play in the side wouldn't be a bad thing. Jesus, half a dozen of you were on here on Sunday saying that PS couldn't pick a team to save his life! BB in particular was about to volunteer to go round and help Sturrock pack his bags.

I'm not saying get the flags out or anything but can we just try to have a little balance.

Oh and despite his short lived connection with the Pox (God knows how he ended up there?), Mex is bang on! Diaz is a highly bloody successful manager with 7 (8?) Argentine titles to his name with River Plate (I think).

That's a really good post and I agree with most of it. However, pointing out innacuracies and questionning what the future brings doesn't necessarily mean people are painting a negative spin.

To answer your points for instance, it's great that Diamond Mike is no longer General Manager but (and I stand to be corrected here), he is still a Director?

Secondly, regarding ground development, my point is that three weeks ago, ground redevelopment or a ground move was not something that was on their radar - and yet now it's of such importance that it's been released to the media that negotiations appear to have taken place and we might get an announcement within six months? I do of course appreciate that things change though.

So I don't think that I am painting a negative spin but I like things to be black and white, not shades of grey - and questionning what comes out of SN1 surely helps to clear the muddy waters?

I just think that if people wants to ask questions, they should be able to without those that don't continually barracking them - likewise if people don't want to ask questions and just want to watch the football, that's also fair enough and they shouldn't be barracked either.

What seems to be happening is that one side might make a remark that the other thinks is a little to close to the mark and then the mud slinging begins.

This my take on the new stadium thing, which kind of puts a different spin on it.

A few weeks ago when Little met with the Trust he basically said a new stadium wasn't important and that they'd just tart the CG up a bit. This was before the takeover was complete.

Now that all the I's have been dotted and T's crossed, Little's changed his tune and says they've been in talks with the council etc. over possible sites. He actually said to the Sky Sports interviewer (or was it the BBC) that there were things he couldn't say before but could now, then launched into his spiel about the new stadium.

Now to my analytical mind, this suggests Little didn't want the previous incumbents to know about his new stadium idea before the deal was done. Possibly to not inflate the price of the club? Possibly because he knows what a greasy character Diamandis is.

Seems to me like Little has got a lot of sense and wits about him. Yeah, ok he'll more than likely make some money out of this new stadium but as long as we keep performing on the pitch I don't really care.

i wouldnt care if a new stadium was financing gary glitters conquest of vietnamese 10 year olds, as long as the team play well and the club is secure all is good in my eyes

i'm convinced sturrock wont want interference with team affairs from anybody.
why the hell do we need brevett and whatever the other blokes name is?
too many cooks and all that....

Having met Jim Little on a couple of occasion now and listened to him and his/there plans for the future, both on and off the pitch i say give him a chance!!

He's a business man for christ sake!! It is just possible that he knows what he is doing!! I realise that this isn't the kind of business man that we as STFC supporters are use to, but hey he may, just may get it right.

OK he's a yank and comes out with some Americanism at times i.e 'trade window'. It isn't life threatening!

If the 'team' that he has around him 'off pitch' can successfully get STFC into the Championship or better and keep us there, then good luck to him.

NO football Director/ Chairman anywhere, ever lets the ,cat out of the bag, about future developments without being accused of gross stupidity. Look at the way everyone has jumped on Bob Holt when he has done it. (although he has deserved it).

As Jim Little said, he doesn't want to let on which sites they are looking at re new stadium  due to the possibility that it will inflate the price. That makes absolute sense!

He and his team have backed Luggy with player purchases and i can't believe that the way that things are going re JV is a total surprise to Luggy. It may take some getting use to, but it is the way it has worked very successfully in Europe for a number of years.

At least JL he is talking to people, it may be in measured, controlled announcements built around press interviews with the BBC. But hey, at least he is doing it!

If it all goes tits up by the end of season, then lets all jump on his case and rightly so. But as a number of people on this and other sites have stated, they will regard mid table obscurity as success this yr.

I don't think it was even that complicated. I think the new fellahs might just have a vague grasp of PR. In other words if you've just taken over a football club and you're from a property development background, you spend the first few interviews talking about what's really important to your customers, what's served up on the pitch.

If he'd even mentioned potential stadium development in that first statement people on here would have jumped all over it with the "see they're not interested in the club it's all about making money from property" bollocks. (Whilst ignoring the fact that if someone wanted to make cash out of property by buying a football club they might be better off buying one that actually fucking owns some).

Ok there are pluses and minuses to having a board that know when to say what the fans want to hear, but at least its better than the frankly embarrassing half arsed amateurism of the last lot.

In reply to Lumps about the new stadium.  I think people are assuming greenfield because he mentioned starting work (physical work on the development not just the plans) within 6 months.  I can't see any site currently cleared in time for that to happen inside the town.

That's not to say people have anything against a greenfield site.  I don't, provided it's done properly and in consultation etc.  Just that it's peoples hunch.

The greater spotted crestfallen natterjack toads might though

 :wink:

Can't they just  SHOOT THE FUCKERS!!!?

Worcester.

There's nothing in my post that suggests that people shouldn't have questions or reservations, or that they shouldn't post them on here. In fact I made it pretty clear that I wasn't exactly delighted at who came first in the race to own our club. But that isn't what this thread comprises of is it.

Look at these posts:

"This is all getting worse and worse the more I hear about it, to be honest. I've had a really bad feeling from the outset and it's just getting worse."

It's not exactly a question is it, or a doubt is it. It's just "woe is me, everything is shit, a new stadium and the debts wiped out, what a disaster"

As for

"Don't worry, we'll soon have one of those carbon copy soulless bowl's of a stadium."

Well some people are never fucking happy!

And Rob: "It does all seem a bit similar to Hearts to me."

In what fucking way mate?

Up there a Billionaire with a huge ego buy's up a club with the express intention of getting to play Champ Man for real and rides roughshod over the coaching staff to get his own way, eventually sacking them all and bringing in some foreign yes men who'll let him make the transfers and  pick the team.

How is that in any way analogous with what's going on at Town, where there's no high profile individual and the investment is clearly about making money for faceless investors. No one is going to be allowed to piss about with the club like it's their personal toy because that would threaten its potential for success.

Oh and as for this bit of knee jerk bollocks:

"What's that Argentian chap who had a stint up the A420 doing?

Oh fuck. The Brevett connection. There's our next manager then. Great "

Do you want to explain what connection Rufus might have with a bloke who walked out on the Pox two seasons before he went there himself?

This fucking knee jerk everytime someone mentions a coach/ player / ice cream salesman who might have once been to Oxford is getting really fucking annoying. What the hell do you think Brevett would have to gain by bringing people in from Oxford? He was there for a season, he doesn't owe anyone there shit. If he brought in the fitness coach for any reason it was because he thought he was good at the bloody job. Now get over it!

As I've said elsewhere, even if it did happen, Diaz has a better coaching CV than ANYONE who has ever been involved with this club. Why would you just dismiss that as a bad thing unless you knew nothing about the bloke and you were just spitting the dummy at any mention of Oxford or Brevett.

To conclude with one final quote:

"I'll jump up and down after seeing their actions rather than reading their words"

is exactly what I'd like people to do. Unfortunately jumping up and down without much justification seems to be exactly what a few of you are doing

They are a protected species Hertha

Muslim Extremists carrying 4 tonnes of fertiliser in a backpack are not

subtle difference

 :wink:

Thats one hell of a backpack

Hearts comment was related to the selection policy that was described by Jim Little - i.e that the Manager doesn't have carte blanche to do what he wants and live and die by those decisions.

Overall I've made it very clear I have absolutely no idea whether it's good or bad at the moment.  Some stuff sounds good, other bits I'm cautious about (some things offer two contradictory perceptions which confuses it even more).

The fact that we've so far not had any comprehensive strategy outlined and confirmed is what keeps me dazed and confused.  It may be simply the process of leaking out tit bits to get the deal done and then back tracking etc, but you just can't tell.

So far nothing seems to be known with any degree of certainty.

I still can't put my finger on any specific feeling about the takeover at all.

Sorry but if  i was sturrock i would be gone after reading that :evil:
As for trying to get promoted this season to the championship who believes our squad is good enough to get promoted now as it stands i don't, i still think were missing some players even though players were brought before the transfer deadline closed we struggled to make an impact against yeovil who were  an average team in this league so are we to expect some bigger signings or am i just reading into it to much in to it.

Excellent post Lumps. My thoughts exactly!

Paying attention last year were you? Yeovil finished 5th and narrowly missed out on promotion in the play-off final.

They did sell their 2 best players in the summer though

Well brevett i agree with but veiga is the main man with the cash

 :goodpost:

Very  :goodpost:

I see Little has confirmed Arrieta and Almeida where his and his friends signings.

Wheres that then?

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=150309&command=displayContent&sourceNode=150308&contentPK=18354759&pNodeId=150310
 

But does that mean:
A. that they signed them without any imput from PS or that
B. they brought the players to the club in order for sturrock to assess them and in turn he wanted to sign them.

We've had loads of other foreign trialists that we've not signed, so seems more likley to be the 2nd option to me.

dunno, could be either.  Just pointing out they were behind those two players coming our way.

It's a fair comment Mr Todd, it's a bit ambiguous.

I find it ironic that the anti-fans consortium brigade,  said that Sturrock would leave if the fans bid suceeded.

There is no way i can see an old school manager like Sturrock, who is used to signing his own backroom and playing staff, being happy with having his signings and team picked partially for him...

i agree with blackcurrant.

yes, but surely its up to sturrock - he may very well be incredibly upset about the whole state of affairs, but then again he may not.  We don't know and there is no point trying to second guess something that only he knows the answer to and on which he has been pretty much tight lipped.