Thetownend.com

Anyone know owt about this chap?  A quick look on google hasn't yielded anything but I'll look deeper.

http://www.hellenicleague.co.uk/club_details/hungerford.html

And that was the last we ever hear of Kinky Tom.  The authorities deleted him soon after that post was made.

It's all in the public domain, haven't printed anything anywhere directly, think I'm fine with what I've written so far... aren't I? :?

I would imagine it'd be fair to say that this guy ain't exactly loaded.

Tom, Tom, Tom, come on, you know better than that my boy.  You've really gone and set the cat amongst the pigeons now.

Hmmmm, does anyone know if he has any real financial clout?!

I'm led to believe he's from the second richest family in Ramsbury. :|

ANDREW CHARLES FITTON
Lives In Ramsbury Marlborough

Has been a director of 35 companies
20 of which he has now resigned from or parted company
15 of which are active
19 of which are dissolved or not trading
1 of which is in receivership

Current directorships
GRACCHI CAPITAL PARTNERS LLP - Co number OC303804 - Status  Active
SUETONIUS TRADING LIMITED – Co Number 05402930 - Status Active
CLEAR GLASS CONSULTING LIMITED Co Number  05156765 - Status Active
MOBITEX HOLDINGS LIMITED Co Number 05081799 - Status Active
PLAUTIUS (OPTIONS TRADING) LIMITED Co Number 04367033 - Status Dissolved
GRACCHI CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED Co Number 04341401 - Status Active
COMPANY 3756449 LIMITED Co Number 03756449 - Status Dissolved
ORCA SPORT LIMITED  Co Number 03070962 - Status not trading  
TARDIS TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED Co Number 03057470 - Status Dissolved
MARCH RACING ORGANISATION LIMITED Co Number 02877592 - Status not trading
EXCOM PLC Co Number 02642905 - Status In Receivership / Administration  
COMPANY 2436758 LIMITED Co Number 02436758 - Status Dissolved
A C FITTON & CO LIMITED Co Number 02068730 - Status Active
INTERNATIONAL CAR IMPORTS LIMITED  Co Number 01812814 - Status Dissolved
OPEN BOOK NETWORK LIMITED Co Number 01331140 - Status Dissolved

He's an IFA - Gracchi Capital Partners LLC, based in Ramsbury. Website still under construction.

  Isn't our new man allegedly so minted that a mill here or there makes no difference?

  Of more importance is the involvement with Hungerford....suggests a love of the game.perhaps rather than seing it is a money making venture...

And AND HIS CO DIRECTOR THERE IS JEREMY PHILIP WRAY

Is it this Andrew Fitton by any chance?

Comments about a company called Tardis as described above....

http://www.growthcompany.co.uk/company/articles/ASY/4475/andrew-fitton.thtml

Indeed, although it's partner as it's an LLP. Elder brother of Edward of Betfair fame. Who one would hope is behind this as Gracchi do not appear to be a large concern, although on the upside they file their accounts correctly, without nasty notes from the auditors and (whisper it quietly) make a profit. So at least Messrs Fitton and Wray know how to run a small business (which is what STFC is in the grand scheme of things) which would make a nice change.

http://www.growthcompany.co.uk/company/articles/ASY/4475/andrew-fitton.thtml

article from a while back now about Transcomm, later to become Mobitex.  Presumably they lost their competitive advantage with GPRS and then 3G but he may have made a bit from this type of company at somepoint.

The Wray connection is interesting, is that a confirmed relationship?

edit: fuck it you quick bastards.

http://www.growthcompany.co.uk/company/articles/ASY/4475/andrew-fitton.thtml

From what I can gather from people I've spoken to who know him through his Hungerford connection, he's a self made multi-millionaire.

Started off as a property developer at a young age and made all his money that way.

Seems as though all these other companies were set up as little side empires once he'd already made his money.

As a classicist, I'm impressed by his choice of company names. Not so sure the board will like them so much though - the Gracchi brothers were populist Roman tribunes who led the Roman mob in a struggle against the aristocracy. They eventually met grisly ends at the hands of the aristos but their agitation and legal reforms paved the way for populist reformers in the 1st century BC. They're more Mex than Bob Holt, let's put it that way.

Lick my Arse Orifice yes Rob I am a quick bastard and beat you by 2 mins :)

I was quite taken by Suetonius....he being a Roman historian of note.

Shouldn't he just concentrate on getting his ankle sorted and adjusting his bowling action so he's fit for next season? :shock:  8)

Which begs the question why he wants Diamandis (whose specialism appears not to be so much running small businesses as running them into the ground) and the current board to remain in situ after the takeover.

My concern is that this Fitton chap is simply another family friend of James & Seton Wills and that we're looking at another short term fix - with 'A Fitton' being added to the long list of creditors in 12 months from now.

Yes, Ardiles, that's the key question in all this - is this a genuine takeover or just the latest mark to be persuaded to let the "professional board" blow their cash while they wait for that ever-elusive ground redevelopment to drop into their laps?

Unless the reference is to the general Suetonius Paulinus who supressed Boedicaea's Iceni revolt. But I suspect you're probably right and we're talking about the slightly less muscular historian. Cracking writer, FWIW

well, as we have his address and e-mail address thanks to him being an IFA, we can all advise him of the situation, in polite terms while welcomming his interest etc etc

 Problem is though, we're not exactly blessed with options right now....especially with various wolves at the door.


   Suetonius records the art of trepanning, in the ancient world, perhaps it could be used to get the ground plans out of Bowden's head.

Think this is the neighbour of Seton's that Diamond Mike referred to in his interview last December

I would have missed that interview as I was away, got a link?

Is trepanning the same as trephinning?

 Yep...apparently, never heard of trephinning before though.

He bought the Transcomm technology from Bell South for £12.25m in 2000.

Lost £3.1m on the 6 months to June 2001 - did a big re-structuring, and stemmed the losses.

BT bought Transcomm for £15.9m in 2004.

I once played Hungerford Town. true story.

 Slow day today then ax?

so slow reg, so slow.

 Anybody on here make sloe gin....its about the time to do it.  The sloes are best after the first frost....its proper ace.   Let it stew for a couple of months then ready for the winter.....birds love it.

I'll take two bottle please Reg!

its lethal when made right. warms you up good and proper. just make sure you don't drink it on an empty stomach.

One you have finished it take the sloes from the bottle, remove the stones, melt a load of chocolate and add the sloes and there you have it, acoholic chocolate!

A guy at work did recently. I always thought it was some kind of strange fermentation of the sloes that made the alcohol. Apparently it isn't, get gin, add sloes, wait, voila, sloe gin.

  That's about it, you can add spices and so on but I've never bothered with that....you got to give it a bit of shake every so often. Oh and you put sugar in as well.

So great. This would probably mean that he will part of the current board. And how well off is he? Just another investor for the Wills and Diamond Mike to fall back on  :-))(

fred used to play for hungerford town i think

I did

3 happy seasons there, played under Wilf Trantner

Bastard of a hard trainer but very happy days, played in the old Diadora league which has since reverted back to the original Isthmian league

Getting back to the Romans, didn't they conquer the Greeks  :beers:  :beers:

Sloe gin is both awesome and lethal. The strong taste of the sloes do a good job at hiding the alcoholic gin lethalness, making it much easier to drink than it probably should be.

 Which may be why birds like it....

Would he be a Fitton proper person under FL rules then ?

 I knew something had been missing from the TEF recently.

My mate knows him. Apparently he's alright.

Time for you to get digging then RfK...

ps. what's happened to the 'fro - I noticed at Millwall it had disappeared?  This is an outrage...

What an ace thread - Andrew Fitton, classical civilisation, sloe gin, Hungerford Town and afro's :D

It's got it all...

It's growing back. Soon I'll be proper afro once more and will be able to ise an afro comb again. 8)

I look forward to it...

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/display.var.1787228.0..php

Must admit I'm warming to the man already.

That all sounds pretty reasonable. Well apart from actions not being acceptable but I presume that means those thugs who run the trust.

Saving the club would be fantastic, long way to go just yet mind.

Ti's a bit off having a pop at the fans if he wants to repair the damage but hey ho. At least he says he wants to talk and at various points there has been fault on both sides. If he means what he says then great.

Encouraging noises about Sturrock and the team mind.

Certainly sounds like he isn't going in with the blinkers on about the finances, which is good news after the BEST debacle. Fingers crossed....

I assumed he was talking about people not telling the truth at AGMs, running companies while disqualified, banning fans without good reason, withholding monies due from fellow Football League clubs, sacking well-respected Football Secretaries for no apparent good reason, falling out with investors at the drop of a hat etc etc etc. All of which it would be completely appropriate to describe as "some of their actions are not acceptable".

Have to agree it's good news about the apparent lack of blinkers - "the club is in a mess" is refreshingly straightforward after "the current back office team have done a fantastic job" etc

I assumed he was talking about wearing burberry caps and standing up in the nationwide.

clearly he means shouting addresses in the arkells.

anyway, if the club is in such a mess why would he want to keep the current board who are responsible for the mess?

Maybe he wants to keep them close so he can hold them responsible when a fuck load more debt is found in IOU's down the back of the CG sofa.

i used to play for the juniors from age 9 to 15, we once played the senior team for a charity night. I think at one point we had about 15 of us against the 11 of them. still lost heavily mind.

i love how you two have your drunk recolections that you both played for the same team at different times

all i need is a flux capacitor and a shit 80's car with gullwing doors and we'd be on the same team.

So he tried to buy Newcastle?  That's a fairly ambitious move, he must have had money available to even think about taking a club that size over?

In 1988 i don't think Newcastle were such a force...

Blast, I read that as 1998, no wonder there's nothing else on the net about it. Ho hum...

didn't it say he tried to buy Newcastle for 3mill? its not really more than you could shake a stick at. Guess they're worth a bit more now (debts aside of course)

19 years ago 3 mil was a fair bit, pre Prem and all that.

He is a mate of SSW, hence the current lot staying on  :cry:

What's all the failed attempts about though?  

It could be that SSW didn't want his mate in because he'd see first hand how incapable he was at keeping his concerns in order.

The bit about the wry smile in the article could be interpretted to back that up.

Cross posted from my post over on the L&P forum.......
but these are my feelings on the matter....

I must admit I am cautiously optimistic about this takeover compared to the BEST one.

He is a football man, in his own words, he obviously has an amount of money that can be used to take Swidnon forward hopefully.

As has been stated he tried to buy Newcastle in 88 and back in 88 3mill was a fair amount of money for a club with huge debts which Newcastle had at the time.

He says he tried to buy the club 3 times before...well why was his offer not accepted then? were the club holding out for more money from different people or did he want full control and the board were unwilling to give that? we can only assume but to be so persistant must be good, he is obviously interested in Swindon Town FC. whether that is because has been stated he is a friend of SSW's? I have seen no evidence to prove that he is a "mate" of his anywhere, who made these alligations that he was? thats not me being pedantic I genuinely missed the part about him being a friend of SSW.

There appears to be connections with Betfair, very very strained connections being the business partner of the original Betfair founders younger/older brothers best mates uncle etc...

I doubt Betfair would be interested in investing into a cashcow of a club so I expect the Betfair connection to be denied.

Who the other backers are I am sure will become plain very soon as he says he does not deal in secrecy.

For once I am being optimistic but feel the outcome of the revealing of the height of the clubs debts will be tantermount in the completion of the deal. He may well walk away when he realises that the club is in much higher state of debt than has been suggested by MD or SSW which is pretty much what drove BEST away along with the wish of those 2 to have some/all of their previous investment into the club repayed to them...the missing 8mill as stated previously by the adver etc.

I dont feel the statement was openly criticising the fans but merely making sure that the fans know whos been funding the club recently...like we didnt know and the fact that we are all very aware and grateful to SSW...but SSW it is time to go and give up control now.

I am giving them time as they could well be our last chance of redemtion, but I do feel that they will need to bring in their own board...which I feel they will do despite what has been stated to the contrary.

Hopefully....happy times for the club may well be ahead?

Or am I just being a tad too optimistic?

BETFAIR OUT.  :wink:

it was in the adver article JJ:

Fitton is believed to be a friend of current Town owner Sir Seton, who also lives in Ramsbury

Cheers Axs I cant get the adver being in Somerset and must have flicked past it if that was on the adver web site! curse these old eyes of mine!

it's on page one of this thread as well!

SSW was president of Hungerford for a long time while Fitton was chairman.

Yes but the wording is "believed" to be a friend of SSW not that he actually was...I was wondering if it had been confirmed that he ACTUALLY was a friend of his and not merely a neighbour or business aquaintance.

KT - you should get a job at the adver. Their grasp of the English language is appalling.

Now that is a much better link :)

It was just curiousity anyway :)

i havent seen any other evidence to support the theory other than that speculation in the adver then.

unless he was having a a glass of single malt at the time.

Perhaps their RYE smile was a direct dig at person at the club who "grassed" on the deal?  :--

Clearly, I am aware that due diligence is a touch more thorough than internet or local press financial revelations, but he must at least be aware of the scope of likely liabilities by now, and yet still appears interested. Like you JJ I am cautiously optimistic about this

I can barley raise a smile at that one.

That's a bit corny...

Oh no, ear we go again...

bit corny that one Sam

boink on the head for repetition.

 A simple rule which I've always applied to matters STFC, is believe it when you see it....the last fiasco though has made even that redundant, as Little was wheeled out on national TV and Veiga wheeled out on the pitch.....but we're still stuck with Newbury.

   If Fitton calls for patience, then he will get it from me,  I'm good at waiting :tea:   it seems this really could be the last chance saloon.

Oops - somehow I didn't see that :oops:

I'm loving all the positvity from Reg Smeeton..

I agree Reg, this could be last chance saloon, I too in my 35 years of folowing the Town have learned not to believe anything until it is confirmed 100%, but I do feel this could be the way forward for us.

 I would be happy to see it progress....

So is it actually this man behind the deal then? Or is this just more specualtaion? He sounds like he knows his football and as long as the rest of the board fuck off then i'll be happy.

If the BEST Holdings affair taught us one thing, it was the size and shape of the deal involved should somebody want to take over the club. Most, if not all of the debts and liabilities are now public knowledge (although admittedly there may well be some more hidden gems waiting to be uncovered), so surely the current owners can't try and pull another fast one over any prospective bidders.....or can they???

My concern is the discovery of the exact nature of the deal. Is it a takeover (a la BEST), or merely investment (a la Bill Power), which would mean the present hierarchy maintain some degree of control for the immediate future.

That said, if said investment secures the short/medium term future of the club, it should be welcomed, but with a degree of caution.

Thats my take right now, FWIW.

I'm gonna wheat and see, although I can barley let myself imagine it :D

That at least shows a grain of sense, let's hope this doesn't become the latest in a cereal of failures

SHUT UP THE LOT OF YOU !!

Repetition sir !

What's the matter Fred, in a state of flax ? - Cheeri-o

I refuse to pick my way through the maize of this thread


(fuck fuck fuck..................I promised myself not to get involved in this)

oh i get it rye. ive just cottoned on

TAXI!

errr....wheat and stuff.

Ill get me c  oat

this deal would be the rice-ing on the cake

The one that got lost in the De Vere Fred?

Chaff to keep going on about it?

  Good.... I say go

Why must we defile at least one thread per week with weak plays on words?

   Is week/weak the play on  words there KT?

Pampas git  :wink:

No, that was plain coincidence and I was comfortable enough with it to let it pass. :)

 You're a manioc..

Hopefully not a yellow rape of the Club.

look at the terms and conditions when you sign up, it's in there.

you lot never cease to a-maize me.

:surrender:

Cassava drink on that..

I'm sure this guy was at the last home game with his two sons, he was with Sandy G.

Who works for Diamond Mike or did when I was there ... link link link

Was this him?
http://www.newswireless.net/contentimages/medium/Andrew_Fitton.jpg