Thetownend.com

FOLLOWING Paolo Di Canio's comments earlier today, the Board wishes to assure fans that it continues to work towards the sale of the Club and the ensuring of its long term future.




The last few days have been extremely demanding given the combination of significant on-going losses, a closing transfer window and the disappointment of not bringing in the loan players as we had wished.




The Board expects to complete the sale of the Club next week and are confident that the new owners share the same ambitions as Paolo and his team. The decisions made over the course of the last few days have not been made lightly, and in the case of the decision to sell Matt Ritchie, have been done in conjunction with the new owners.




Whilst the Board understands Paolo's desire to gain promotion and is wholly supportive of this, the Board's considerations and responsibilities extend beyond the on field activities of the team. On some occasions it is faced with difficult choices and whilst we recognise the disappointment to all caused by the sale of Matt, the Board has not shirked its duty to face up to the harsh realities of its financial situation.




We look forward to the swift resolution of these short term issues, Football League approval of the new owners and hopefully a win against Crawley.

Finally. Welcome communication, if not earth shattering.

PDC deserves to know why Ritchie was sold (after alegedly saying he wouldn't be) and what the future budget is before he decides to stay/go (if he hasn't already). But maybe he does already anyway...

Is that it?

An important but not very convincing statement, it has to be said.  It reminds us that the club IS more than simply the world of the first team.  It is a business, and has to live in the world of business whether fans (and managers) like it or not; and the fact that its business is primarily entertainment, and that there is a 'paying public' out there makes no difference (any more than it does when a cinema or theatre or museum is faced with difficult decisions to make.

BUT the statement does not address the fundamental question which we have all been struggling with - the lack of communication; and the fact that a key - some would argue THE key - member of staff appears to have been excluded entirely from decisions which profoundly affect his ability to do the job he is employed for.  It may be that that has been necessary, or it may be that the board does not accept some or all of the accusations made in di Canio's statement, but some kind of recognition that there has been a serious breakdown in communication, whether avoidable or not, would have been welcome.  Further, in human terms, a football club is NOT like a cinema or theatre.  Business or not, football unleashes profound passions amongst people aged 5 to 95.  Of course business decisions cannot be ruled by that; but its future will be very rocky indeed if it ignores completely its supporters and their emotions.  And that is the problem with owners, chairmen or directors who are not at heart football fans.  Take that passion out of football, or ignore it, and it will quickly die.

Bit of a non-statement really. Doesn't say anything of anymore use than what we have already heard.  

It's got to the point where I'd actually be more surprised if Paolo stays. And I can't help but recall that uneasy feeling I had when last season we were hemorrhaging money on countless new signings and letting good players go for pittance despite being comfortably placed in the league. I bet we spunked way more than the half million we just took for Matt Ritchie.

A shit attempt at a 'holding' statement if ever I read one.

Sounds like Nick Watkins or Chris Tanner have had their Friday night ruined by being asked to hot foot it over to the ground and cobble something together in an attempt to keep the natives quiet.

Sorry to lower the tone to gutter level, but the last time we had PR this bad was when STFC's ex-CEO Samdy Gray eagerly took a hold of the BBC's Karakoe mic, way back in 2005.....

(click on the last link on the bbc page)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2005/09/16/stfc_160905_feature.shtml

What a load of shite

I feel like Doctor Who stuck in a timewarp with Diamandis and his cronies still in charge.

Consider me patronised and unsatisfied..

You sound like my girlfriend...

 In other words we're fucked, as suspected.

Time to make decisions, radical action and an attempt to restructure the club in a more realistic fashion..or carry on with this sort of farce....definitely a rock or a hard place.

Fuck me,If it was ever the time to show support and turn an away following into a home game it is now.
Paolo will be gone with anything less.
He needs passion in his life.
He has huge respect for the away support.
We all need to get there however we can and show the man the same respect.
Fuck the egg-chasing and show up or he'll be gone by Monday.......

I am a business/NDA luddite, but how can the old board happily saw the new board share the same ambition blah blah, but apparently the new board can't actually even say that.

I suppose the new board can say it to the old board but just not to us?

This one puzzles me however: (From a Banbury United forum)

From a supporters meeting at Banbury Utd friday evening:

Jed reiterated his commitment to Banbury, confirming he is the owner and his involvement with Swindon did not change this.

He is speaking to the FA and Football league to ensure he can continue with both clubs.

Bringing consortium's together is part of his business and if any club are in trouble he would try to help, the issues with Luton hurt him and he doesn't want to see another club i the same trouble.

He didn't want this to come out so soon and he was very unhappy with the press, he wanted to protect the rest of the consortium from the press.

He's loving it at Banbury and only a call from Luton could change this, he was meeting with planners yesterday to look at possible new sites for Banbury

STFC are entering the Twilight Zone