Thetownend.com

Town to publish 'healthy' audit results
           
           


  SWINDON Town officials are confident that the club is in its ‘healthiest financial position for years’ as the Robins prepare to reveal the results of an audit today.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10871118.Town_to_publish__healthy__audit_results/?ref=rss
           
           
           

Well, this all sounds like good news, and underlines the bit we need to be thankful to Andrew Black for.
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I'm becoming a grumpy old man. I've no idea why things like this annoy me:

Its subjective. We were in a similar league position when we they came in. We play a different football now at a vastly reduced wage. Lets be thankful that the wage reduction, the real point here.

In any case Reg ain't going to like this :)

Reg ain't the only one. It's not just the club's motto, it's the fucking town's motto for Christ's sake, if you're going to try and use this kind of schtick to tick the "history and tradition" box, you need to get someone to actually check the correct translation, or you just end up looking like an ignorant arse.

Reg didn't like it when Latin was introduced to these isles.

A different audit report would have meant this thread would have been up to 10 pages by now.

The fact that all we have to moan about is the use of the town's motto please me a little.

If there was nothing to moan about, then the fact there is nothing to moan about, er, would be moaned about.

Nothing short of a miracle after the PDC era, So lucky, we aren't up shit creek. So thanks must go to all involved in that, from AB to LP, via Jed and Steve.

We haven't seen the report yet. Just Shah's summary that it shows everything is wonderful. So there's nothing to comment on as yet.

I don't get it - what's wrong with her quote ?

It does mean health and industry, it is the clubs motto (as well as the towns) so surely it's a perfectly reasonable thing to say - especially given the good results ?

What am I missing ?

Health and industry. It's health and industry.

(not healthy and industrious with a luxurious coat)

It does indeed (although "Good health and hard work" might be a better, if less snappy, translation), but either way it's not "healthy and industrious" which was her quote. As I said, the slightly crass "Hey I get your history and tradition, no really I do" schtick irritates me at the best of times, but if you're going to do it at least get it right. It's a minor quibble but then the whole article is a say-nothing puff piece

Yes, I heard he had it out with the local centurion at the time

Did he have to write it out 100 times before sunrise?  :)

The motto is hardly accurate these days anyway.

Every time I go to Swindon, 2 of the words I would use to describe the town wouldn't be Health and Industry anyway!

Perhaps Picas et eu would be a better motto then Bobster

If I knew what it meant then I could agree.

I'm being faecetious (sp) of course, I am aware the Town has a great industrial history.

Pies and football

Sorry Paul, my bad. I was assuming that a summary of the report (which agreed we are yet to see) would at least have some bearing on the factual content which it holds. If this is the case then I stand by my original comment.

Spot on Mr Sutton.

Note to self: do not post before you've had the second cup of coffee (or however many it takes) and dispelled Grumpy Old Man Morning Syndrome. Assuming the summary is accurate, while there's nothing new there, it is indeed good news. Apologies to all for my GOMMS

Yep. Whilst we enjoyed the ups on the field during the PDC era, it could have gone badly wrong off of it

 As PaulD implies this statement is cleverly designed to soft soap the fans....it's fair does that it flags up our immediate future, but the historical twist is bullshit...the club hasn't got or never has had a "motto".  The current badge is a hotch potch Diamandis era thing of very little merit.  

The town badge, designed at the incorporation of Old and New Swindon in 1900, had merit as an aim for the new town of Swindon...namely health and industry...two laudable aims for a new century,  have long gone...SBC no longer seems to have an aim.

The notion that our rightful place is in the Championship is more bollocks...the only times we've reached that level since the hlcyon days of the 60's....was by spending money we didn't have.

Therefore it's unlikely although not impossible, that we'll make that step, with a wage bill trimmed to the sort of level that the Scum operate under, which partly explains why they've been sub Div 3 for a decade or more, and in that time probably not produced a player worth a significant fee.

....all we can do is sit back and see what happens.

".... and a partridge in a pear tree"  :)

No could have about it. The board fell out among themselves, and our two major financial backers pulled out, threatening to put the club into administration as a result. That's "gone badly wrong" in anyone's book. It's only thanks to Black's generosity that it didn't go badly worser (and equally, it's only due to his refusal to at least see the season out, that it nearly became worserer still)

Can we at least praise Shah for commissioning the audit, and this and the last regime (+Andrew Black) for achieving a stable league position on a much reduced cost-base*? Not pulse-quickening stuff, but I could do with a few seasons of relative confidence that we're not about to go broke.

*so far

Amen to that.

It will be interesting to see, over the coming months, just how Power's regime works in practice.

I'd only had one which is probably why I felt compelled to write back. You were definitely Grumpier than me today though.

Good to see Reg has managed to put a positive spin on things for a change too.

I was grumpier than "Grumpy" Mick McGrumpy this morning. We should arrange to meet up one morning for a grump-off :)

Not if you're on the form you were on this morning, I'd be running scared.

Thats like Man Utd challenging Penhill Utd to a kick around. :)

ROOOAAAARRRR!!

Incidentally, if we do go with the Spartans thing, then it would be

ύγιεινον καί φίλοπονια

*that may be Attic rather than Doric, but it's the best I can do with online resources, the lexicon's at home :)

Yeah cheers Pete. Not being snobby like but Penhill? FFS!

Isn't that more 'healthy and industrious' as opposed to 'health and industry'?

Doric is the true greek! None of this silly Athenian nonsense...

:D

I'm liking the hustle and bustle talk recently of The Championship - another quote by Sangita "Lee has made no secret of his intention to propel the club into the Championship and beyond, where it rightfully belongs."  :D


Spot on Red Frog.

Yeah good luck with that.

Fantastic reading isn't it that audit.I like this bit

Without compromising the team and using our excellent links with Premiership clubs, we will continue to reduce the football wage bill.

Good news we won't be selling many players in January then

I take it you're not a big fan of Power then?

Nope not at all

Oh dear. My original positivity has taken a bit of a downturn with that news DRS.

What news? And why the downturn? We already know we are going to go with the model we have with prem loans and good pickups (hopefully)  And if we do sell players in Jan, then we do, we have to live with it.

Agree with you there Sutton. We've made good - startling really in the time - progress at getting the outgoings down to a sustainable level, but we aren't there yet. After the dross has been moved it's inevitable high earners, even popular ones, will have to go.

People were worried about us losing Devera, we coped. People were worried about us losing Ferry, we coped. People are worried about us losing Wes, we'll cope.

No, they're nouns not adjectives, quite clearly. Sort yourself out

I think most people accept that we have to live within our means...but it's a bit like the political situation atm, people haven't quite got there head round the idea that the cuts are ongoing and have only just started...when they see the effect of the full extent, then their sunny dispositions may well change. Some like DRS are just trying to flag this up.

Oh I don't know really know anymore if I am honest!! I guess I was a little concerned about DRS view on Lee Power being far from positive as he generally is quite knowledgable on all things STFC.

You do make good points though Sutton.

Is "sunny disposition" the new "happy clapper"? Have the "cuts" really only just started Reg? A lot of players left in the summer and we have coped. Other than Wes and JayM at a push we're not really left with many high earners that anyone would give a shit if we culled or not are we? Most of them are injured so suspect will be released in the summer or paid up before then.

I don't think it has to be about high earners though. Lee Power is covering our shortfall,rightly so he will want this back. Put wages to one side and that leaves only one other outcome.

Wes
The Thompsons
Luongo
Kasim

I would say they were our main saleable assets and the ones likely to be off in January. Now some may be fine with that then no problem. Me personally I just hope it is only the shortfall he wants back

Is Lungfish really worth more than the £400,000 we paid for him at this point in time?

Well offloading the high earners would mean the next years shortfall is vastly reduced. When he gets the rest back (if ever) is another question.

If all those you've mentioned go in January then yes we've definitely got worries and the old asset stripping line will be out again. I know you have a bit of insider knowledge DRS. Are you worries just an inkling or something more sinister?

Benson, Williams, Navarro, Troy, potential A Rooney contract saga and the ones mentioned (JayM/Wes?) are the one's I believe we're thinking of? Can't think of any others.

Navarro talking to insurance company, end of carer for him I believe.

FUCK YOU ATHENIAN SCUM I HOPE YOU GET RAPED BY A GOD-SWAN

God Swan is pushing it a bit, surely a god Mallard would be more suitable

Kasim has been woeful recently and I haven't been that impressed with N.Thompson this season, I really can't see many clubs wanting to pay big bucks for either of them at the moment.

So what you seem to be saying LR is that people worry, and we cope. Well that seems to have been the pattern for the last 130 years, so you may be onto something.

I was actually referencing this one time when Zeus turned into a Swan and raped the wife of the King of Sparta because she was a bit of alright.

So what can a swan do that a God cannot?

Deep throat?

You know what I mean though? Just trying to put some perspective on it so we can eliminate some of the worrying phase  :)

I forget why he needed to be a swan to screw her, but it's probably something to do with gods not being allowed to consort with mortals. Not that that stopped old Zeus mind, he has quite the long list of mortal 'consorts'.

No I know exactly what you mean. Lower league team sells saleable players on regular basis to fund further players for development. We'd save ourselves a lot of grief if we all took the long view. We're a bit like those small organic producers that keep getting screwed by the big supermarkets. It is what it is.

It's not true that lower league teams sell players on a regular basis... yes, they'd like to, but more often than not don't have players good enough....to use my Scum example again, it's probably been 12/13 years since they sold a player for more than 100K, and why they were so keen to bite our arm off, for 200K for Constable.

We did alright out of the Fitton regime, because they invested a bit, to get a better sort of player like Cox, Ritchie, Flint,even Austin who we sold for decent money.

Luongo seemingly fits the template, but I fear if we drive down costs on the playing staff we'll also drive down the ability to acquire saleable assets.

You're right, Reg. Not thought about it really, but even the evil Scum are top of L2 they still haven't got a player worth a sou.

In some way, I suppose, some sort of grudging nod goes their way.

Your example of Luongo seems to indicate Power will invest when he thinks he can turn a profit. Given the club doesn't generate enough income to fund purchases, the only other option is back to the benefactor route, and we've seen the perils of depending on that.

You of all people should be able to come to terms with the pains and pleasures of supporting a small club whose means will typically make anything above about 8th in Div 3 an over-achievement.

I commend Power for his honesty, he's said he's here to turn a profit, and unlike McCrory intends to hang about a bit longer before taking his slice and running. He's also said he's not interested in redevelopment, but will need success, by which he must mean canny player recruitment to turn that profit....so let's see what happens in January...

Not having a go Reg but when did he say he was here to make a profit? I just thought he said he wants to set up a sustainable football club. I appreciate this may well involve selling players on (at some point if the deal is right. Eg. Flint) and that he may well want his "loan" back from underwriting the current shortfall. Might just be a difference in interpretation?!

He said in an interview he's not here to lose, money, he's a business man, therefore vis a vis he's here to make some, and good luck to him, because if he does it means we've had some good times.

Reg, your points were good until here to some extent.  Yes Luongo is the perfect model of investing a little in potential and prepping for a future re-sale.  However, as Power brokered the deal to buy him, it hardly backs up a claim of him driving down the ability to acquire players like him again.

Also, earlier you mentioned about the only time we have flirted with the 2nd tier since the 60's being when we spent money we didn't have.  96-99 maybe, but the early 90's were actually self funded to a large extent, by doing exactly what we did under Fitton - selling assets once or so a year and investing in potential.  The accounts at this time in fact show we were running around break even and even threatening a profit.  I do get your point that 2nd tier football is not our historical home though.

We are currently a 3rd tier club where resources are concerned, at least until somebody can figure out how to take advantage of the large catchment area we have.

However, somebody like Lee Power might be able to make the best possible use of those resources to amplify their effectiveness. I think he said something along the lines of making a 3M quid team on a 1.5M quid budget. In addition there are clubs out there with more resources than we have but are managing them poorly, effectively allowing smaller and better managed clubs to leapfrog them in terms of being able to build a good squad.

Of course, whether or not Power can do what he says he can do remains to be seen. He's done a pretty good job so far though.

You seem to have forgotten that in 1990 we were relegated 2 divisions, for spending money we didn't have by fiddling the taxman and so fiddling transfer tribunals, to enable the acquisition of the likes of Colin Calderwood. Yes, we worked the sell a player get in replacement game well, but in the early years we were paying players money we didn't have, which enabled the acquisition of those players.

But all the so-called smaller clubs, or maybe unfashionable is a better term, have progressed to the PL on the back of either a brand new ground or a redeveloped one.

Reading, Hull, Swansea, Cardiff, Blackpool

Unless we are all fairly happy with our historical lot we will continue to be a L1 club with the occasional short foray into the Championship.

Doesn't overly bother me, TBH, but how long wil our 8500 or so average remain at that level if we just stagnate

Am I right in thinking, as today's Adver suggests, the short quote from Shah yesterday was indeed the actual commentary for the audit? I may be wrong. But if it is, why did this game so long? And does it tell us anything we didn't know? There are many posters good with matters relating to accounts etc and I am sure, if possible, they will grab the original and pass on their thoughts. Any thoughts?

Shah's commentary in the Adver is mostly events which have happened since 31st May 2013, which is the date of the audited accounts.

I'm wondering when the results will be published?

Supposedly not long, you'll probably know better how long these things take?

Should be within a 2 or 3 days of receipt.

Christ if it's taken her so long to put that commentary together I hope we are not paying her by the hour!

There will be a business review in the Financial Statements I expect, that's probably why it took longer.