Thetownend.com

NEW INVESTMENT PARTNER SECURED
Posted on: Tue 16 Oct 2007

Swindon Town Press Release

16th October 2007

The Club acknowledges the concerns of its supporters and would like to make the following statement in relation to the proposed acquisition by the new investors.

Today, the Club are pleased to announce that a new investment partner has been secured. An agreed payment to HMRC has been made which will stay any potential legal proceedings whilst a period of due diligence takes place. This assurance has been confirmed to the supervisor of the Club's CVA, Andrew Andronikou, by the Inland Revenue.
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The Club would like to take this opportunity to thank Best Holdings for their considerable interest in taking over the ownership of the Football Club, but regrettably the two parties have been unable to conclude the deal.

The Club would like to take the opportunity provide the supporters with an update, details of which we have not previously been able to make public due to confidentiality arrangements.

On the 14th August 2007 a contract was signed with Best Holdings enabling them to acquire a controlling interest in the Club. This contract was due for completion by 31st August 2007 and provided for the CVA payment and the Club's outstanding PAYE liabilities to be settled in full.

Contrary to the front page article in The Swindon Advertiser dated Tuesday 9th October, there was no provision in the contract of August 14th to make a payment of £8m directly to the Wills Family. An amount of £3m was ascribed to the shareholders; this was allocated for the repayment of monies owed to Shaw Park Developments, arising from the rescue of the club six years ago, and to cover litigation and legal costs.

The Club is willing to make available for scrutiny, by the media, the August 14th contract with Best Holdings which was signed by Jim Little, Jorge Rubenstein and James Wills.

It has been well documented that dialogue continued between the Club's shareholders, Best Holdings, and their respective legal representatives in an attempt to finalise the agreement. Throughout August and early September the three main representatives of Best Holdings; Jorge Rubenstein, Rufus Brevett, and Jim Little, regularly attended meetings at the Club to discuss strategy and budgets for the 2007/2008 season. As recommended by Best Holdings the Club proceeded to sign three foreign players thecost of whom Best Holdings in good faith agreed to underwrite.

During September 2007 the Shareholders and the Club's CVA Supervisor Andrew Andronikou of Hacker Young began expressing concerns at the time being taken to conclude the deal with Best Holdings.

In view of these concerns exploratory talks were initiated with another interested party. The Club has now been able to grant this alternative investment group a short period of exclusivity to negotiate the purchase of the Club. In exchange for these rights, the potential suitors have made a substantial "lock-out" payment which Andrew Andronikou has used to reduce the Club's Inland Revenue liability and stay the possibility of any legal proceedings.

Over the last two months, whilst the Best Holdings talks continued the Wills Family supported the Club as they have done so for many years. However they accept that it is now time to pass on the responsibilities for so doing to new investors. Every effort is being made to achieve this aim. However, the negative media coverage and the type of protests held at the ground on Tuesday 9th October are not helpful to this process.

Today's announcement gives the Club renewed optimism for the future. We appeal to our loyal fan-base to remain positive over the coming few weeks whilst contracts with the new investors are finalised.

The Shareholders, Directors and staff at the Club understand the concerns of supporters. Everyone at STFC is striving for the same objectives, namely the successful transfer of ownership, financial stability and accompanying success on the pitch.

The Club would like to thank all Swindon Town fans for their continued support during this difficult time and look forward to everyone getting behind Paul Sturrock and his team on Saturday, when a win could take the team back into the Play-Off places.

Just came across this release (above) on official site

Sorry didn't see the link posted before!

Hmmm so Best are gone and there is now a new "mystery" investor

The board are scared shitless i reckon and just releasing this after the meeting last nite. Or maybe I'm wrong?

i hope your wrong but i'm glad Best Holdings have gone.

they sounded worse than Diamond Mike

SSDD.

I think the timing is 'interesting'. Maybe they've realised that they won't be able to pass off Sat protests as the work of 20-30 busybodies

I really hope this statement is true.

SSW has decided it's time he fucked off (Taking diamond mike with him) and we get new investment.

I really hope it isn't more bullshit.................

Cant see how they could come out with a statement of a new deal has been negotiated with the Inland Revenue without one actually being made.

Given them a slice of their cake, suggesting a figure below £1m I would think.

How long before we get to know who?

How long before we get to proper due dilligence?

How long before we get the nearly now statements?

How long before we get the "we seem to have fallen out" statement.

I'd be interested to see if BEST go public now on their real thoughts.

Haven't we heard this before ? :shock:

And what about showing this "contract" to everyone not just media

Is this good or bad?  

I cant even figure out how I'm supposed to feel with all this shit anymore.

Was waiting for the board to come out with a statement like this.

Its all a load of utter rubbish,realeased to make everyone who was planning on protesting to think again,bet everyone falls for it all as well  :(

good point

if thats the case surely something has been tied up.

wish it was BP though

I see they don't refute the £3m to buy the club itself then.  The only figure out of everything quoted in the Adver that they have an issue with is the £8m to Wills.  I wonder if they only cover that because it's something that someone has to agree to liability for as opposed to pay up front for.

It says we are in talks with a new consortium who have paid a "considerable sum" as a lock in payment which i assume is an exclusivity deal?

Nothing has changed,infact we are back to square one.Im glad the Best thing has come to a conclusion though and the way the statement reads reeks of fear in the boardroom.

We must still protest until the people that have caused this mess have gone.

Full steam ahead with protests in my opinion.
A) They talk about "investment" Does that mean the current lot (board) are staying then
B) They are just trying to buy time.
C) Sippo is right. Even planning protests is having some effect
D) If they don't want "negative" media coverage try being open frank & honest ! Trouble is of course no one believes them any more anyway.

It also seems a thinly veiled effort to lay the blame at BEST's door for not concluding, hence why I'm interested to know if they will respond.

Hmmm, they clearly don't like the prospect of saturday's protest do they.
All the more reason to make it a fucking big one.

they're also willing to make public the contract signed by STFC and BH

I'm concerned by the term 'investment partner'. To me that sounds like they're just taking on extra money rather than selling up.

Forgive my cynicism, but given the current board's track records my feeling on how this will pan out is as follows:

- Board find new 'investment partner'
- New 'investment partner' thinks "Oooh, goodo. I'm going to buy myself a football club"
- Said 'investment partner' hands over circa. £1 million to pay to HMRC
- 6 weeks later still no deal
- 8 weeks in "deal nearly done" statements
- 12 weeks in, deal falls apart, new 'investment partner' joins long list of creditors
- Still no takeover, current board remain, still in debt - but they've bought more time from HMRC

Who was the 3rd foreign player? Almedia, Arrieta and...............

My hunch being the investment partner is 'The Dunwoody Group'!!! or a group who has a director with the name of Mike Diamandis associated to it.

oh imagine the shit that'll hit the fan if that did happen  :twisted:

Anzite?  The bloke who's turning out for the reserves again this afternoon

Was just querying that same thing, Comingues?

So we shouldn't protest because it may hinder the 'takeover'?  :blahblahblah:

Tell someone who cares. We need to keep up the protests til these people are gone.

Exactly and how would the 'the club acknowledge the concerns of its supporters' if we hadn't protested?

Could it be Graeme Souness?

what the fuck?

I just saw Paul and Fred on telly.  

*shudders*

can someone explain what a "lock out" payment is please

Nobody else can have an offer accepted etc.

Its a payment that is basically buying you sole exclusivity rights for a set period of time.

"here you are Mr Diamandis, have thei £500K and promise me you wont sell the club or talk to anyone else for the next 28 days"

in other words:

'we've found some mug to cough up a bit of cash, now shut the fuck up you proleteriat scum - hahahaha!'

my... head... hurts...

and i take it it's not BP's group who the board have finally allowed in?

The board couldn't give a shit about the protests other than it might scupper their new deal so to think this is in some way a response to last night's meeting is wrong.

I'm delighted Best are out of the way as I was suspicious of their motives and the non-information we were receiving, I see this move as the board having lost patience with them.  I'm also optimistic about the new partner as I no have reason to think otherwise. We need help to keep our football club alive, we don't want BEST (in my opinion) and there doesn't seem to be many other alternatives floating around.

So to the new partner welcome and thanks very much.

You seriously think they would talk to us even now ?

nope

its a smokescreen clearly.fuck em! protest on i say

£500K wouldn't keep the wolves from the door, would it?
Do you think we are going back to the guy who was originally branded as the mystery investor, RobT whats his name?

So no more Rufus Brevett!!!  Class!

When Jose Reina was introduced on the pitch at half time i did think it reminded me of the Michael Knighton Man Utd situation (without the ball juggling).

Back to square 1 then?

Yeah great idea. Scare off the very people who could possibly save us from the current regime.

Simon Arber it is then eh dell  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

 :shrug:  Cant think of many others who would just toss money in the pot, he knows the situation after all, he is a friend of SSW and MD.

No Dell Boy

but no one is going to pay anymore for what basically is for the priveledge of carrying out due diligence on a bankrupt club

I disagree, the content of the statement might not be a response but the timing is. Before, the Club could dismiss the protests of around 150 such as the one last Tuesday, but I believe they may have realised that any protest that needs liaising with the Police and involves a march though town with placards etc was going to be different in terms of scale and organisation.

Digglie did you not anticipate a statement like this would come out the minute protests cranked up? most predicted this and saw it coming as a way of trying to defuse any large protests.  You learn from your mistakes we have given them too much time already, full steam ahead on protests.

What ya sayin? Don't protest because they released a statement that coincides with a successful meeting last night? I don't see how the protests will scare off any future investors. It shows the fans care for the club. The protests are against the current muppets in charge.

Whilst I respect your views Digglie, I for one will be protesting full fucking hilt on Saturday.

Ive heard all this bullshit once to often.

I just don't see how protests are helpful at this stage. The board are trying to step down as we want them to and I don't think that instability and unrest will appeal to a potential investor.

heard it all before. tired of it now. same old rubbish from the board to try and buy more time.  :blahblahblah:

sadly there are many that will be sucked in by yet more bullshit.this will effect protester numbers i think.unless more is revealed this week.
all this has done is make me more angry and more determined to get them out of our club once and for all!!!

and also i'm pretty sure that this statement would in no way ever have appeared had there NOT been a meeting last night.

A show of numbers protesting about current mismanagement should not scare off serious investors anyway ?  I would have thought it would show that there is a passionate fan base that would welcome a transparent change of management - all of which are potential market.

I'm sorry mate but where does it say the the board are trying to step down ????

It says that the major shareholder understands he needs to pass the reigns to someone else, nothing about the board stepping down

The key word would be 'partner'

You would expect a new board to accompany a change of control.

Would you walk out when you can make such easy money, Mike Diamandis is going nowhere.

All depends on where the new money is coming from doesn't it

The article says an investment partner not a takeover so I would assume there going nowhere.

That would be a shame!

Well I hate to say it but Bape on thisis was spot on again in saying that another party was interested that would loan us the money to stop being wound up by HMRC while due dilligence commenced.

The name banded round was Betfair, but lety me make this absolutly clear that this is unsubstantiated and could easily be several thousand miles wide of the mark. It's not clear to me why they would want to get involvved...

The statement - if true, sounds like it has the potential to be good news.

But we have heard it all before and it has come to nothing several times before. I don't think this has any bearing on whether to protest or not. We either try to put pressure on the Wills to do a deal, or we don't.

As a matter of interest, who else can petitiion to wind us up? Presumably paying the revenue takes away a large  % of the CVA, or am I missunderstanding exactly what is being paid off?

So would this money they put in to "lock in" the deal for x period be a loan or a payment?

Its going to be a loan isnt it?

Mike D says  "Sandy, add xtz Ltd to the bottom of the list, just below Cheltenham Town"

fuck them. try and fucking stop us saturday.

Status Quo.

And not the long haired guys either.

What a fucking load of old wank.

This changes nothing.

i know that.you know that.but there are far to many gullible fans out there who would have taken that statement hook line and sinker

Great - Swindon Town caught u pin yet another betting scandal!!!

But "we" have the advantage of not starting on our media push for Saturday yet...

I'm going down on Saturday to start a protest about the protestors  :)

Serious point here, I had intended turning up at midday, leaving home just before 11am, are we protesting or not?
If it is a no, I do not need to leave home until 1.15pm.

As far as I am concerned we are protesting until suitable evidence from solicitors is presented to the Trust board to confirm that all of the club's immediate liabilities that could result in an imminent winding up petition have been satisfied.

Yes we definitely are majority of people are not falling for this crap.  As I said earlier momentum is with us, full steam ahead for the march.

I'm certainly not getting fooled again. That statement couldn't smell more of shit if they plucked it straight from Barnfield road. The protests have to go ahead.

sadly nothing you would normally expect applies to the wonderful world of STFC :?

Secured? I dont think.

As has been said before, it looks like they want to stay again, which is not on. Dunwoody/Diamandis have to go. If that includes the Wills' so be it. They all have to go.

Fairplay to the investors stopping us going tits up though.

the majority of people on here wont fall for it.but the majority of town fans overall will.
 :evil:

I said the other day that the football buy a club website I subscribe to were going to be taking us over but no one listened!!!

www.myfootballclub.co.uk

Im sure its them .. this would allow funds to pay off our debts .. CVA etc and introduce a new set of fans but it would still allow Diamond Mike to keep in with the club and make money etc

Swindon is a byword for apathy.  If people are taken in by this, they deserve everything they get.

Please stop being such a cock. They dont have the kind of money required.

Well its £35 each just for starters and they have nearly 100,000 people who have paid now .. and its still coming in .. so are you sure about that??

and they stated last week they were closing in on a club ...

So to stop me reading all through the posts again, what is the programme for Saturday, times approx.
Town March
Magic Roundabout
Arkells before kick off

nothing's been confirmed yet, dell. there's a meeting tonight and i'm sure details will be forthcoming.

fatters - their site says they have £1.3m and it's based on a vote, town aren't even in the top 15 of teams to buy so it's highly unlikely. i think i'd give up watching town if they took over.

wanky jizz spunk

So you didnt read the adver article last week stating the clubs debts? (even excluding £8m for the Wills)

WOW, 100,000 mugs well done! Still at least 8 million short of what is needed for a town takeover.

I don't think it's that much. The club is worth about 4m and there will be a bit more for whatever reason, even Jim Little said it wasn't £18m.

I'm up for a bit of protesting still, despite this statement today the clarity over everything to do with the club and the 'takeovers' is resembling shit.

Could be me being naive but at last nights meeting and last weeks protest I have seen more determination and more passion from people to get these jokers removed.  I think it will effect numbers a bit but not massively, I don't think that many people will be taken in by it.  Only time will tell.

What sort of moron actually pay's £35 into some Mickey Mouse website to buy a Football Club?

Fatbury?

We've heard it all before.

Bob's got his stick out and found an 'investor', not a takeover. We've got to get the incumbents out...NOW!!!

No, fatbury paid £70.

On the basis that would make him majority shareholder :wink:

Loads of people wouldn't be at the meeting, but  lots of them will feel fit to protst in some way, probably most likely behind the Arkells. Even if they don't make noise they'll be making a presence.

For what its worth....

I personally think its another smokescreen to put off the protests ..

I say carry on with the protests ... especially if it gets up the current boards noses

How the hell did they get 100,000 internet geeks to part with £35?
That is mental do you get a free copy of I'm a cybercunt get me out of here or something!

I'm tired of statements that bullshit around the point.  What's wrong with saying "CompanyX or Mr Y has just paid 900,000 into the club and this has been passed on to HMRC to settle the CVA"?  Because the cunts are just spinning a line and don't want to indulge in any sort of plain communication at all.

Sometimes I hate being a Swindon Fan!

 :cry:

Fuck em!  Get the bastards out!

 :goodpost:

If best holdings have gone who bought billy paytner and mcgovern more money going a miss :-))(

I'm happy that we've got shot of the scummer and the amigos....interesting to read that one was called Jorge....or George as I predicted back in the summer, though Rubinstein, isn't a common or garden Portugeezer name.

   What a statement,  I think there may even be the odd grain of truth in there somewhere.....although Diamand Mike is continuing to take the piss, at least it means Sturrock will be around for a few more games.

So BEST are gone then. What we were all expecting really wasn't it? What this now means is that a deal is needed and fast. whether or not the other party of investment really exists is something we will find out in the coming days and weeks. The board have been forced to admit that the deal with Best is dead. The pressure of protests have finally forced them to come public with that. We shall see what comes of this "other party" but i'm not holding my breath.

I've read the latest statement, bape and banbury on thisis, Ps's comments, threads here and I think this:

 SSW and his family want out, he's out of funds and doesn't want the aggro. the protests have helped with this. SSW will take the best offer (not Best) he can get but will not take the Club down with him.The Board have probably made an effort searching  for new investors as PS thinks.

So,Best are out of the picture, a GOOD thing and the new lot would give PS a free hand, another GOOD thing. At least the IRC are held back for  the moment and the Club is still breathing.

BUT, although the new lot have bought exclusivity to look at the books and attempt to buy the Club, this may not happen and they may be left at the investment partner stage meaning the old lot are still here and running the show. A very BAD thing.

The Board statement as usual raises more questions than it answers eg Who are the new lot? Why are they secret, do they include any of the old lot/board? What budget for progress do they have? Are the Board playing with statement words again to try and fool us? If the Board answered these questions or at least gave us honest answers as to why they can't so that they might just be believed for once; some of the heat might be taken away from the situation.

For myself I will scale down my personal protest but I will not stop protesting for the current lot to be removed.

Trouble is we've all been lead down the garden path too many time sbefore. Nobody believes anything coming from STFC's boardroom. What we need is as much information as possible.
We need to know

Who is taking over & why
Will the current board & advisor remain or go
Will ALL debts be repaid
Why are they investing, & what are the plans to move the club on.


I for one will judge it on it's merits using the fans consortium bid as a yardstick. If it measures up, great. However, such judgements are not easy to make when we are not told anything.
If that were forthcoming in an open, HONEST, & credible way, I believe (given that the answers are the right ones) all fans would unite behind the new regime.
Until them I will still protest, because I still see the club as being under threat

heard it all before, dont believe a word of it...

We've appealed to the current board/owners to hurry up and sell the fucking club. It seems two offers have not concluded. They can fuck off with their appeals until they advance a deal to a satisfactory concusion.

I'm sorry, they fucked it up the moment they decided they didn't want to del with the fans consortium. That was a viable offer and now they are getting egg on their face.

Keep up the protests, they're shitting it.

Si Pie = Propaganda Machine

 8)

It's ace  8)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/John_Bull_-_World_War_I_recruiting_poster.jpeg/180px-John_Bull_-_World_War_I_recruiting_poster.jpeg

 :goodpost:  :king:

God those statements bore me.

You bore me ralph you fucking bore me

I've been out of the loop for a few days and look what happens....

In all honesty, I was extremely cautious about BEST Holdings intentions for the club. For what its worth, I'm more inclined to believe their account of events than the Club's right now.

Although I'm unable to physically attend or support protests in person at this time, I fully support the mandate from TrustSTFC and all of you who lawfully protest this weekend. Good luck, and lets all hope and pray the objective is eventually achieved without costing the life of this club that we all dearly love.