Thetownend.com

McCrory and Murrall meet fans
           
           


  SWINDON Town board members rejected claims that they had personally taken £200,000 out of the club in consultancy charges and pledged to holding monthly fans meetings during talks between themselves and representatives of two supporters’ groups last night.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10377334.McCrory_and_Murrall_meet_fans/?ref=rss
           
           
           

Interesting to read the different tones between the comments of the Suppporters Club and Trust reps, just how closely is the Supporters Club aligned to the club as they do seem a little happy clapperesque

Heads buried firmly in the sand by the sounds of it. If McCrory winked her way, that would probably do enough to convince her that he's a good sort.

The two bodies are there to do different things.  As the name suggests, the Supporters' Club is there to support - raise funds, organise away trips, sell raffle tickets and provide a voice for supporters.  The Trust's remit is all together different.  They are there to challenge and scrutinise the incumbent owners of the Club, ensuring (or seeking to ensure) that decisions are being taken in the best interests of the Club and its supporters.

The meeting last night would have been a more natural territory for the Trust - and you would expect the Trust representatives to be more guarded I suppose.  But both bodies have their purpose.  Ultimately, they both want the Club to succeed...and we're better off for having them both.

You do get the impression that those members of the Supporters Club are a bit brown-nosed.

Just so happy to be a part of it they will lap up anything the club puts out.

I still maintain we will only know for sure which way the club is going is when we see which players are leaving and who their replacements are.

If our only playing assets are sold and replaced by free signings we all know what to expect

Anyway it provides the trigger for 'Fredi' to put his money where his mouth is, they have denied the £200k so he will need to publish who it was paid to as he suggested he would.

I don't actually doubt him, but we shall see.... Didn't Sam Moosehead say that he had spoken to him, Sam if you are reading this is that likely to lead to an article or something?

Didn't Fredi say that the £200k was paid to an address that was also the address of one of the directors?

If that is true, and able to be proven so, then it doesn't look for those denying it

I quite agree.  Ball was in Jed's court yesterday; now it's back in Fredi's.  If Fredi now goes to ground, we'll know he was on a wind up.

The criticism of the supporters club is entirely unfair and Ardiles sums it up perfectly.

They have always been apolitical for as long as I can recall.

I asked Sam about whether or not 'fredi' had evidence and Sam's reply was that he (Sam) didn't know.

If there was evidence then one would have thought it would have been presented by now, especially considering last night was the perfect opportunity to have it revealed.

Whoever fredi is then he or she has had ample opportunity to provide the evidence and not just last night.

Might not be as simple as that,providing evidence could involve putting someones job at risk?

disgruntled employee/ex employee is my bet

He wasn't concerned about putting anybody's job at risk when the allegations were made on a very public forum.

That's my bet as well.

Somebody that is not actually privvy to information but is close enough to get snippets from which they create their own version of events.

it didn't drop a specific person in the shit doing so

Fredi needs to put up or shut up. If there's reason to rock the boat then he needs to make everyone sick, if not then he should go back to his cabin and go to bed.

There are means for him to back up his allegations anonymously.  Sam has provided him with one such avenue but it seems he prefers to drip feed us and keeo us on tenterhooks.

The thing with the company cars smacks of a bitter person trying to stir up the shit. There's nothing dramatic about it in the slightest, especially if it's true that new cars are cheaper than the previous board's.

Fredi = Nick Watkins ?
Fredi = PDC ?
Fredi = Matt Ritchie ?

Why would presenting evidence be any different though? Whether it is verbal or tangible evidence, the source(s) would surely have to be the same?

you can probably rule out the last two on account of literacy

And the first on account of ethics.

Agreed. Nick Watkins has far far too much class to be acting like Fredi too.

it was tongue in cheek - I know NW has too much class. I just couldn't think of anyone esle to put. :)

I picture Fredi as Fredo Corleone; the weak, runt of the litter who just wants to be seen.

I'm not so sure, if what he says is correct then he would have to be privy to a lot of inside information which would make it easy for the club to pinpoint who it is.

I note the Adver reports:


But wasn't Fredi's assertion that it was in consultancy fees? I guess we'll have to wait for more details of meeting to emerge

What about Russell Backhouse ? was still on the board up until the end

And if what he says isn't correct or only vaguely correct, then who knows who it may be.

Do not lose sight of the fact that the Italian lot had at least two company cars plus we paid the rent for a 6 bedroomed house in Ramsbury for them - and they don't come cheap in Ramsbury!!  Nick Watkins would also have had a company car and just check out in the last balance sheet what one non-playing staff was paid, not that I would begrudge him that - he did a good job for the club.

You broke my heart Fredi... You broke my heart!

Trust STFC initial response to last night's meeting posted here. Apologies for the double post, but both threads felt like the right place for this:

http://www.truststfc.com/2013/04/trust-stfc-swindon-supporters-club-meeting-with-jed-mccrory/

Fredi = Curly. Angry about the cull imposed on the procurement of choccy biscuits.

I do laugh when people talk about the Supporter's Club as if they exist purely to brown-nose. A fan group being willing to work with the club's owners is not the same as one that blindly believes anything it is told. As Ardiles said, the Supporters Club seems to busy itself primarily with helping the club run as smoothly and productively as possible (half time draw/Scoreboard/Legends revamp etc.). They're not in the game of making forthright, politically charged demands, they seem too low-key for that.

The Trust and the Supporter's Club are the Ying and Yang of the club's fanbase to me. Without one, the other would probably collapse in on itself. From what I can see, the supporters club has a consistent and slowly growing membership, whereas the Trust's expands and contracts depending on how deep the crap we're in is.

I would like to add I'm a member of neither group. I know, I'm a terrible person.

I dont think either would collapse without the other as neither rely on the other.

As you said the SC are happy clappers, do not rock the boat, Trust guys are there to ensure that club is run correct (among other things) and are happy to call people to account when  / if required for the good of the club and supporters

so 2 different organisations doing different things independant and regardless of the other

I didn't say they relied on each other. I just think they attract different 'types' of fans on the whole. Judging by the way the Trust and SC haven't combined at any point into one Supporters Group, it seems there is a market for two different 'styles' of fan representation at this club.


That's actually the opposite of what I said. Calling them happy clappers when they try and work with the board instead of against them seems to be a very disdainful and offhand way to deal with them. They are perhaps quite circumspect/cautious, and rarely directly criticise the board because of that. If they did start acting politically, it'd be unlikely the trust/relationship they've built up over the years would survive intact. That would make their primary goals of fundraising, keeping Swindon fans in coaches and with decent facilities (Legends/Winners/Whatever it's called) and primarily keeping Supporters involved in the club on a regular basis, extremely difficult.

The SC are happy clappers, simple as that and I fail to see what they offer proceedings. I can only assume that Tonky is part of the set up.

Could be a good each way bet.

Dr Chang has spoken. My secret's out. I'm Roger Bunce. FROM THE FUTURE!

Or past. Whatever.

Horses for courses isn't it? If the SC are happy clappers then the trust are a bunch of self righteous nosey cunts who feel they have some right to have a say in the running of the club,  despite having no mandate from the majority of supporters.
(Of course neither of the above may be accurate).

The Supporters Club have done more for the club than you ever have Dr Chang. What exactly do you expect them to do?