Thetownend.com

Council taxpayers should stay out of football club's grand plans says fellow forest protector
In response to Alan Hayward's backing for the football club, fellow Shaw Forest supporter John Doyle says the Swindon Town should sort its affairs out and not expect Swindon Council to help them. He writes:
In a Borough of 190,000, Swindon Town FC attracts average crowds of 5500. That’s less than 3% of the local population. Deduct the away fans and those who support the team but don’t pay the borough council tax and this number is woefully small.

The County Ground has a capacity of roughly 15,500 so nearly three seats are available for each spectator. SwindonLink readers can probably produce a long list of interests, events and activities that have more appeal and offer better value for money than a trip to the County Ground. For me, watching Swindon Wildcats playing ice hockey at the Link Centre is an altogether more enjoyable way to spend some free time than venturing to the County Ground to watch STFC. My need to watch football is now satisfied by a well know satellite TV supplier.

 
STFC has lost its relevance to all but a handful in Swindon. This decline may be linked to decisions in the boardroom to cease to be a Swindon concern. The club’s registered office is in Newbury, its legal advisors would be hard pressed to know where the County Ground is and none of its directors live in the Borough. Here they are:

Robin Holt – from Kent, living on the Isle of Wight

Willie Hunter Carson, from Scotland, living in Gloucestershire

Sandra Gray, a New Zealand citizen living in Wantage

Mark Devlin, a Londoner, QPR fan, from Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire

James Seton Wills, living in London

Sir David Seton Wills, 5th Baronet of Hazelwood, Laird of Meggernie Castle and President of Hungerford Town FC

Michael Agapios Diamandis of Hungerford

The Board of Directors are extremely unwilling to have a supporters representative attend its meetings to discuss issues - but it expects fans to turn up each week and to buy their ever more expensive tickets without complaint. When successful companies are spending large sums to develop their markets, get closer to customers and offer value for money, STFC chooses to do the opposite.

The Board has an odd view of its relationship with Swindon Borough Council. Far from being its landlord, the club has an expectation that the Council is its bank and that SBC should hand over public assets for free. This was the expectation with the stadium proposals for Junction 16 and Shaw. The latest County Ground stadium proposal is looking for £25 million of free land with £0 from the club.

STFC are tenants at the County Ground with a poor payment record; thousands of council taxpayers pounds have been written off by the Council who have helped them stay afloat. The tail is trying to wag the dog.

STFC are now threatening to move the club out of the Borough. It’s a threat that they are unlikely to carry out as they would have to pay the Council to terminate the lease on the County Ground early – a sum in the region of £1 million. How sure are they of finding another landlord so long suffering?

A football club can be a great source of pride for a town. The stadium proposals and posturing of the Board of Swindon Town FC are proving to be an embarrassment and a worry for the future of professional football in Swindon. If STFC is to survive, fundamental changes need to take place in the Boardroom to re-establish some sort of relationship with the area, the people and the fans.

This need for change has been recognised at other football clubs For example Chesterfield FC is now a fan based club working with its council and has turned a debt of £2.5 million into a small profit. Brentford’s supporters have just taken over their club. York, Swansea and others are taking the same approach.

The bad press Swindon Council has received from the three failed stadium plans has not put off some borough councillors from trying to play wheeler dealer with the club. As Salt Way Primary School faces a final closure decision by the School’s Organisation Committee, after the council’s cabinet decided to shut it down, and Windmill Hill faces an uncertain future, a "Task Force" of Councillors has visited Reading FC to see what lessons can be learnt from the stadium development by Junction 11 of the M4.

Bailing out a struggling business seems to be getting a higher priority than the education of children in West Swindon or perhaps there’s an urgent need to benefit from the Councillor’s recently agreed higher levels of expense claims.

Councillors should never have agreed to be on a Task Force. The council should have left club representatives to travel around the country to learn how to make their future work before returning to their landlords with a plan that makes sense and does not burden council taxpayers. Councillors need to devote their time to ensuring that the services provided by the Council are operated correctly and improved where necessary. It’s only a two star rated Council and it’s not as though there isn’t work to be done.

Undoubtedly the Council will soon have to look at re-developing the recreation facilities that it has at the Oasis, the Link Centre and around the County Ground. This will probably lead to a community stadium development of some sort for use by a number of sports including rugby, athletics, hockey, ice hockey, gymnastics plus amateur and professional football.

In the meantime, Swindon Town Football Club has to make some decisions about its future, the way it does business and interacts with the community and Council. If it decides that its future is as a Swindon concern and that it really does want to be an asset to the people and Borough then, and only then should the Council engage in any more discussions with the club.

My need to watch football is now satisfied by a well know satellite TV supplier.

 

Cock piss Partridge. We need club&supporters trust input to answer his claims before people start believing the half truths and making their mind up.

My need to watch football is now satisfied by a well know satellite TV supplier.

Dear Editor

Though a Labour supporter and candidate in May’s local election, I’d like to write in support of Conservative Councillor Martin and his letter re No Public Cash for the Soccer Club, SA 11th Jan. The Council has many duties; funding Swindon Town Football Club is not one of them. Councillor Martin’s letter was spot on. It is for the Board of Directors of STFC to fulfil their responsibilities of raising the capital needed for any development, talking to their neighbours and presenting plans that have some semblance of legality and a chance of passing through the planning system.

A number of letters to the Adver show that many still fail to grasp the reality of the plans put forward and still have a muddled view of the Council as an organisation that owes STFC something. The opposite is in fact the case. N Swatton’s letter, SA 24th Jan, is one such example and it would appear to have been written far too soon after his lobotomy. When trashing Out of Towners did he mean :

Robin Holt – from Kent, living on the Isle of Wight
Willie Hunter Carson, from Scotland living in Gloucestershire
Sandra Gray, a New Zealand citizen living in Wantage
Mark Devlin, a Londoner, QPR fan living in Chalfont St Peter
James Seton Wills, living in London
Sir David Seton Wills, 5th Baronet of Hazelwood, Laird of Meggernie Castle and President of Hungerford Town FC
Michael Agapios Diamandis of Hungerford

Should we perhaps list the staff and player who are also out of towners? Or perhaps the out of town fans – yovile_red, melksham_red, Lancashire_red etc who help contribute to the very small economic impact that the club has in the Borough.

N Swatton should be asking why the club appears so unattractive to the people who have moved to Swindon since the end of World War 2….. Perhaps too expensive, perhaps the poor entertainment value or perhaps too many thoughtless and small minded people in the County Ground concentrating on in-breeding/avoiding new people.

Thankfully not all STFC fans are as daft as N Swatton.

There is not long to go until the lease at the County Ground expires. I hope this deadline and the three failed plans to date will focus thoughts and help the out of towners at the club to develop realistic plans that can be given support by the out of towners on the Council. Whatever finally transpires, and I believe it will be a smaller community stadium as seen at Doncaster, it should be an inclusive facility for all in the Borough and surrounds for more sports than just football.

John Doyle
Shaw and Nine Elms Ward

and almost choked on my own rage

Shut up SY. You dont live in Swindon therefore you have no right to an opinion at all. In fact you sholdnt even be allowed into our town. This is a local town for local people :wink:

Well said Dazzza.  Although IMHO if and/or when the club leaves the CG what will replace it.  I'd bet good money it won't be a fantastic athletics facility and improved cricket ground with a world of open space.  It'll be retail or residential designed to pay off the SBC debts.  I get annoyed by the short-sightedness of people.  Mores the point I now cannot read the adver letters page.  it's either inconsequential nonsense, bitching between local political activists or just ill though out garbage from people like Doyle, or G Scott amongst other self-righteous fools.  I don't know what's worse the people writing the letters or the Adver for publishing them. Do they not realise some people form their opinions on the basis of this drivel.

God I hate him. He's always got a fucking wisecrack answer to anything the Trust boys throw at him.

A big Casino with lots of bright flashing neon lights, 24 hour opening and lots of noisy extras thrown in. Not to mention the conversion of a few houses in County Road to brothels under the new legislation and a 24 hours pub. All fits in with Recreational uses as far as I can see.

Hey I quite like the sound of that, down with STFC, up with a Casino and Brothel :wink:

The reason the club may not have released more details as yet, is because they agreed with the Council not to issue any more releases without both sides first agreeing to the content (Clr Nick Martin decided to ignore this with his recent letter).

I think this was to stop the very problem of both sides just seeming to counter each other through the press.

In agreement

THOUGH a Labour supporter and candidate in May's local election, I'd like to write in support of Conservative Coun Martin and his letter re No Public Cash for the Soccer Club, (SA, January 11).

The council has many duties and funding Swindon Town Football Club is not one of them. Coun Martin's letter was spot-on. It is for the board of directors of STFC to fulfil their responsibilities of raising the capital needed for any development, talking to their neighbours and presenting plans that have some semblance of legality and a chance of passing through the planning system.

John Doyle

Shaw and Nine Elms Ward

Swindon