Thetownend.com

Town release Ritchie statement
           
           


  SWINDON Town have released the following statement regarding the transfer of winger Matt Ritchie to Bournemouth.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10198285.Town_release_Ritchie_statement/?ref=rss
           
           
           

Dosh

Why did this all have to be done now? Why call the debt in half way through the season? Doesn't look like the clubs interests are the important issue to me.

this is what puzzles me most.

we all knew Black wanted out ages ago but why is there all of a sudden a total refusal to continue?

I was thinking this before as well. Black has a 98% stake in the club, is clearly loaded and has bankrolled us to the tune of a lot of money. He has said he is not a football fan so I don't totally understand why he got involved in the first place? Did he think he would become a football fan if he bankrolled a football club? Or was he just doing it as a favour for his mates?

And then there is the timing, which could not have been worse.

Maybe it's not all of a sudden, maybe it goes right back to November when he said I'll give the money now to get some in on loan, but that's it, no more cash at all.  At that point the deadline is set by the Transfer deadline being now - no further chance of getting cash in, so we probably had enough to cover until the end of this month.  Next step, without a certain owner or funding had to be to call in Administrators as we'd have about 4 months with no new income other than matchday revenue.

Spot on ( conjecture on my part like everything else tbh)

Maybe he had said 6 months ago that the end of January was it.

And for whatever reasons its taken until now to get a deal done.

In some ways, as bad as it feels to lose a good player, we were in a situation to avoid Administration even without a backer (which is where we have found ourselves for a few weeks possibly).  That is a good thing, and if it all goes well from now on, we should also be all but debt free.

that would indeed fit with Patey's arrival, fair point.

sounds like the administrators have already arrived though!

That all makes sense Rob but as of yesterday afternoon, we were being told that the takeover deal was done pending FL approval. So why could the new owners not have deposited £400k in escrow as insurance in the event that the FL did not approve the deal? (Which is the scenario under which we could, theoretically, be forced into Administration due to not having operating funds if the takeover does not go ahead). Because they haven't got it, maybe?

Incidentally, I trust FlashHeart, sonic et al will be sending off their apologies to Chris Wise at their earliest convenience

Perhaps it was because until the deal is approved they are not the new owners. I think they would be pretty poor business men if they had done this, would you lend money to a business you don't own yet and if it all went tits up would have little chance of getting back. Negotiations with Andrew Black must have been pretty torrid and none of us know how much money this is costing these gentleman (or ladies!).

So if he'd have funded February we'd still have Ritchie. He could have done a deal with the new consortium to cover February and have them pay him back when the takeover was approved.

Why?

Was it true the club were considering administration to wipe 13m debt. I must have missed that part.

Except this sounds like a divorce scenario, not a see you later, if you get the drift. Would you lend your soon to be ex 400k?

Although the whole Ritchie sale is a bummer don't forget how much Black put into the club and has essentially lost.

Don't understand why he ever got involved or what he thought he'd get out of it but I am glad he did when he did.

No good abusing the bloke now annoying as this all is.

That statement from the club is horse shit. You only call in Administrators to protect a business from it's (usually hostile) aged debtors.

Administration is used to protect the business while financial restructuring takes place - stitching up the usually unsecured aged debtors for a small % of their debt, injecting new working capital etc.

If the business effectively owes money to a benefactor, that's not the same type of debt.

If anyone called in a firm to 'restructure' the club, they would more likely be liquidators, which is probably why the email went out trying to flog our players - ie/ Liquidators don't give a fuck - they just liquidate the assets.

Black seems to have called in the heavies to either try and force the sale through quickly, or for more sinister reasons.

Either way, Black didn't blink first, so the takeover went through.

Both sides are just taking the piss if they expect us to believe that we were close to Administration again so therefore had to flog Ritchie.

Rank, patronising amateurism from a bunch of clueless fucking clowns.

read the clubs statement

I did. And my question stands.

Were the club really considering administration to wipe 13m debt?

I wouldn't go as far as the last line but your take on the prospect of admin is how i see things too. Maybe better to have used the word creditors rather than debtors though.

I believe Black could have made a few million back through some kind of tax write off had he put the club into administration. One of the accountants on here may be able to shed light on how that would work.

Completely different scenario, this is a business arrangement. Emotion doesn't come into it.

Can't see it would have achieved fuck all so i suspect not. Administration does not just WIPE debt otherwise we'd all be at it.

I call bullshit.

Two consortiums of wealth business men couldn't find a way to fund 400k so sold their best asset at about a third of what it's worth. Bollocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGZU61k1ibw

Unless they're not that wealthy...

They are damned if they do or dont....

Load of bollocks though.

Its the Swindon Town Rollercoaster....all aboard!!  ..here we go again!!!

Clearly and worringly the new consortium dont have money to put in....the old lot wasnt putting anymore in.

That means no money in the coffers for day to day running.......the reason i suspect Muff got him cheap was that they were probalby prepared to pay it up front......most transfer fees are paid in instalments these days at our level.

My worry.....the consortium havn't bought the club....they have been given it on a platter.

The point being that the misleading reporting had other people that were unaware of the situation thinking the club has a huge sum of external debt. This was never true. Not only did it happen once but they continued with it afterward as well. It was sensationalist, misleading crap that was not necessary.

If it was claimed the club was selling to avoid administration because Black was no longer willing to fund it, that would have been fine. Instead, they jazz it up as much as possible to get hearts fluttering and have other clubs and their supporters thinking we owe lots of money to business & HMRC etc.  

It bemuses me that some people find this acceptable. Especially from the local press.

I agree with every word.

So why even bother buying the club then...

Sorry, is it that clear?  Nothing at all about the sale of the club has been clear so don't know how you've arrived at that.

So - we are all agreed then.

We've been taken over by asset strippers, chancers and n'er-do-wells.

Shady fuckers nobody knows anything about and whose intentions for the club are anything but clear.

This whole episode stinks and the only cash they have has probably been found down the back of a sofa.

Half-arsed, half-baked fucking piss takers who will right royally butt-fuck each and every one of us

You seem to know a lot about these "Shady fuckers nobody knows anything about"

Are we all agreed on that then?

Laughoutloud

We will never know all the ins and outs of this I doubt.

Just speculating - is this the last day that HMRC has to be informed of all personal tax matters and that is why Mr Black wanted it moved on so quickly? As I say, just supposition and could be miles away from the real reason.


 :headhurts:

i'm glad you've got the perspective to understand the real issue at hand

Or another way of looking at it...is entering the murky world of boardroom politics. Black clearly wants out, and is prepared and rich enough to take a hit on his investment - as a long stop. Other not so rich chaps part of the original consortium are not prepared to take that hit. It's not unreasonable to assume that the original consortium had a legal arrangement drawn up between themselves which in the advent of a member unilaterally leaving could subject themselves to a legal challenge.

So Black issues a challenge - take a hit on my terms or I'll take the company into administration which will mean a bigger hit on your investment.

Of course with bluffing you have follow through if it's called upon. Selling the best player for a knockdown price - to prevent administration - is a good way to demonstrate the seriousness of your challenge.

(I could of course be talking bollocks)

No just a snidey side-swipe. There's always time to take time out for that. Given that all the perspective and bullshit we spout on here doesn't amount to shit anyway :)

It's not clear, no, but if the consortium's intentions were long-term and their finances were good (meaning no fear of snags with the takeover), and they'd been willing to invest the short-term wages it would cost to keep the team going while they awaited FL approval for the change of ownership, they could potentially have got a much bigger deal for Ritchie down the line.

In the long term, the club's probably lost about £400,000 in transfer fees. That's THEIR CLUB that's just lost that money. That's a substantial loss for anyone SERIOUS coming in and looking to be here as long term owners of the club to accept on the verge of their takeover if it was against their wishes. Especially added to the damage it potentially does for the chances of that team getting to the Championship and the payday there.

We have to remain open-minded, but we are within our rights to be suspicious. Something doesn't sit right about that decision.

This feels like it could be close to the truth. From the outside it's always felt like it was the consortium falling out with each other over the balance sheet. Don't forget Black was a professional gambler and he knows you can't beat the big stack.

If this new consortium don't have a spare 400k and couldn't get it any other way (ie even a short term loan from Black) then they sound pretty shit to me...

Using the house analogy, you wouldn't pay money out on repairs on a house you were buying until the sale had completed. If you did and the sale fell through you'd have lost that money. Think the Le Tissier consortium lost a large sum in similar circumstances when their purchase of Southampton collapsed.

No but if I didn't do the repairs on the house the current owner wouldn't sell one of the rooms to bloody Bournemouth and still expect me to pay the same prices for the house....

No but at the same time i wouldn't want some cunt to sell the roof of said house 2 days before i bought it either.

Basically buying a football club is not like buying a house.

Beat me to it DV.

A couple are divorcing and trying to sell their house so they can get on with their separate lives. They also have a talented Italian son, who has the chance to become a top concert pianist, but seems to need a lot of funding to play in the Carnegie Hall nPower Championship. Mum, let's call her Jeremy Wray, keeps persuading Dad to fund the son, and pay the mortgage.

Dad gets annoyed. He wants to move on. He doesn't like the piano. He doesn't like Mum tapping him up for piano lessons on top of maintenance. He's not sure the son is even his. He gives them an ultimatum. Find someone to buy the house. The piano lessons can take a running jump.

No-one wants to buy the house. Dad, frustrated, says he'll even pay the mortgage off if someone will buy it. Dad is rich and the whole divorce is making him unhappy. With no mortgage, young Paolo might even have a shot at his dreams. It's not about the money.

"A free house?" think a number of local double glazing salesman. I'll have that. Even if I have to promise that I'll sponsor that precocious sod's piano lessons.

The double glazing salesmen, as they do, drag their feet. It looks like the deadline will be missed but there is a mortgage payment due on the 1st.

Dad, to illustrate the point that he was serious about the January deadline, refuses to pay any more money. He suggests that to pay the mortgage, Mum should sell her engagement ring. She sells it, but gets a rubbish price for it. The January mortgage gets paid.

The double glazing salesman walk into the house, that they now own, mortgage free.

They sit down young Paolo, and tell him that they too share his dreams of playing piano in the Carnegie Hall nPower Championship, only times are tough right now.....

They wouldn't get a short term loan from Black, because, if my theory holds water - which I'm not saying it does - would negate the threat of administration in order to force the other consortium members to agree to a deal on Black's terms.

As long-suffering experienced Swindon supporters, questions are rightly asked of the new owners (elect) but I don't think we can underestimate internal disputes within the current board either - especially given they have clearly fallen out albeit demonstrating more public dignity than has happened before.

Obviously we have to wait for more details, but the utter ruthless nature in which Ritchie was dispatched suggests there's more than just finances involved.

Thanks Iffy, all has become clear now, classic!

 :clap:

 :clap:

This.  If Black has written off £10 million of debt, what's another £400,000 in the grand scheme of things?

Still doesn't provide an explanation as to why he was sold so cheaply either.

Andrew Black was owed £500k by the football club, due to be repaid in 2013.

A shit load of money.

People just need to accept that Black didn't want to put any more money into a club that he was selling and the new guys didn't want to put any money into a club that they don't actually own. Sucks, but that's the way it is.

Is this the Town End Forum ?

Or have I stumbled upon the website for Kirstie Fucking Allsop ?????

In a nutshell.

Quite.
Let's not forget that Black was only ever funding his mates, who have long departed and didn't have the money to fund us themselves.  I think some people seem to believe he should give a shit, but the reality is why should he? why should he spunk another 400k up our wall?
I'm sure any of us would do it if we had £100m to fall back on, but he's not one of us.  He's a horse racing nut.

I understood it was...now I'm confused. :(

Unfortunately this is exactly how it was and all the people complaining we only got 400k for him which was shite it doesn't matter it's going to mean a bunch of players can be brought in to strengthen. Ritchie was class there is no doubt about it but he was just one player.

Matt who?

Matt Ritchie was the engagement ring.

Shame we were prevented from spending the money seems it was a wasted sale

Have the events of the past two days completely escaped you? We had to sell Ritchie to ensure we had enough money to keep paying the wages for the next month or so, nothing to do with bringing loan signings in

If you buy that story.

So, this doesn't look like it was miles off.....

So, which set of owners were going to pay the transfer fees if the deals had been allowed to go through?