Thetownend.com

Twitter is reporting Palace making a bit for Richie. My son will be gutted if he goes. Can we replace Richie?

It's bollocks

It's Tans..

Well let's hope so

Tans. I tip my hat to you sir. That's two whoppers in one day.

Palace got a winger called Bolasie who is much better then Ritchie

He's done well today

The Brighton one was my favourite...

The stuff on twitter started as wolves then changed to Brighton then to palace.
God it's  only December and its started already. I hate transfer windows.

Obviously this isn't serious but if we could get anything north of £1 million I would sell him.

Who started the Di Canio to Barnsley rumour then? Own up  :)

Do you even need to ask?

Today has been a good day.

Well done, have you considered setting up an ITK account for January? I will follow you just for the laughs

Got one already

[url width=150 height=150]http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o209/candyheart235/a.jpg[/url]

:)

Mr Tans strikes yet again, love it! even the facebook Swindon Town page mentioned you! I doff my titfer.

Boooooooooorrrrring.

Fair play Tans that is soo funny all the ones that fell for it

Is it worth spending a quid to vote for Ritchie in the Advers sportsman of the year award?...er no, sorry Matt.

No idea if it's true, but just read on twitter that Wolves have made an offer

I think I started that one off last week, £1.4m it was, It got a couple of lines in the Independent Online  :)

ITK  ;)

Wolves can pay our fucking sponsorship money then....

Haha. So YOU'RE the face behind @npowertransfers ?  :D

isnt all this starting transfer talk a little unsettling - wouldnt it be funnier to start rumours for non stfc players, or players coming to stfc?

They're not unsettling in the slightest to anybody that is not gullible enough to believe them.

in order for these spoofs to be even vageuly credible (and therefore for the whole 'joke' to work), they have to have a certain amount of plausibility - which in my opinion makes them potentially damaging.

Even so, my point was, surely it would be funnier to 'unsettle' or not as the case may be, Constable, for example.

Nah!

Paolo already did the Constable one.

Not me  :)

Fuck off...I'm unsettled.....off me grub and everything..

Off to Palace now apparently to replace Zaha? Is Zaha supposed to be going to Arsenal?
Cut out the middle man I say, Wenger should sign Ritchie. He couldn't be any worse than some of the donkeys he's signed over the past few years, he'd be a bargain, and he's British. Maybe we could get Arshavin in return, looks like he could do with the Paolo treatment.

More chance of Wenger coming round your house and shaving your arse than getting Arshavin.

Being suggested zaha is off to manchester united

Being returned to palace on loan though

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8429470/Sky-Sports-understands-Crystal-Palace-have-bid-for-Swindon-winger-Matt-Ritchie

Hopefully just a re-hash of the earlier rumour.

“@SkySportsPeteO: Crystal Palace have made a bid for Swindon winger Matt Ritchie. #CPFC #STFC”

That's my thought. They made an enquiry, nothing more.

Need to keep hold of him. This is when the uncertainty over the sale of the club is worrying. Who's making the decision on whether to accept or reject and for what reasons.

http://www.cpfc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=235257&page=2

Eagles take on it.

Perhaps as some kind of exchange deal?

[url width=800 height=300]http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/c0.100.851.315/p851x315/131635_430179880376382_833569850_o.jpg[/url]

Not sure if this has any truth to it, but he's certainly good enough. Big big loss if he goes.

Tell them he will cost 13 million - sorted!

 :D

Mark R ‏@AdvertiserSport
Ritchie is a top talent outside of the Championship. Holloway, as I said yesterday, told me he won't talk about other club's players. #cpfc

The Croydon Advertiser's uneventful comments on the matter

Talking of Ritchie, it seems Eden Hazard has been taking lessons

Anyone see the altercation between Hazard and the Swansea ballboy trying to waste time?

Swindon Town have said they have not received any bid.

Little chav is on Twitter bragging about it, although Hazard shouldn't have booted him like that!

Morshead has tweeted saying unaware of any bid for Ritchie!

I'm sure someone will make a cheeky bid for him after the bollocks about us about to go into administration, but IF we were to let him go, what do you feel a fair offer for him would be?

PDC has stated he would want £2m for him but personally I think somewhere in the region of £1.5m to £1.75m.

Doesnt Matt Ritchies contract end in the summer. I would have thought talks should be ongoing about a new one but i would also imaghine Ritchies would want to wait to see the outcome of this season before he does commit but its leaving it all a bit fine to me.

Nope.  18 months to go I believe.

Yes, Ritchie signed an extension in the summer.

cheers

Desperately hope that we can keep hold of Ritchie in this window, vitally important to our system and is as consistent as you can be as a League One winger.

Depends on if Wilfred gets his big move i reckon.

I would hazard a guess that he will stay as pdc will say if we dont go up and they come back for you in the summer...

I think Palace have targeted Albert Adomah from Shitty??

I think you're right SR but can we please stop talking about Hazard. :-)

We need him to stay.. but to be fair.. hes good.. but.. has he been found out in League 1 or was League 2 just that too easy for him!

Big piece on him in the mail today. That fat beardy twat has been having a go, saying how come he got off with a yellow for tangling with the ball boy at the shed, when ( i know i know) hazard got a 3 game ban.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2269299/Eden-Hazard-ball-boy-kick-charge-shows-FA-hypocrites--Martin-Samuel.html

There's the article. Still talking about the stupid ballboy incident, Ritchie didn't even kick the ballboy so you can't really compare them.

It amazes me how many so called expert journalists and pundits don't even know the rules and regulations.

The ref saw the Ritchie incident and issued a yellow, which means there is nothing else the FA can do - they're not allowed to change it to a red or issue a ban. The ref saw the Hazard incident and issued a red, the FA are allowed to issue the punishment they (or rather the panel) sees fit. You might think the rules stupid (and I think it mainly comes from a FIFA directive that the refs decision is final) but they're the rules that the game is played to.

Which makes the majority of that article nothing more than the ramblings of a moron.

Yellow Cards for these ballboy incidents was so 2012!

Them Oxford fans were still fucking going about it. Fuck knows why, they won the game.

Anyway when we drew them in the cup, the ballboy tweeted 'hello swindon, love the ballboy'

Wiki reckons he gets paid over £400k a year to write for them. Fuck me - i'm in the wrong job.

In so much as you get paid nothing to write the same quality shit?

Grabbed round the throat and kicked?! Fuck off.

Exactly. :-)

Daily Mail in biased, bigoted article shock.  :eek:

If you don't want to get angry, don't go there.

You are so deserving of more.....

Thanks. If you have the contacts, feel free to put me in touch with the right people.

I hear the FL Paper is after somebody with some creative writing skills.....

Be sure to put a good word in with your boss for me then...

New bid for Ritchie from Bournemouth

getting a little boring now with Bournemouth bidding for Ritchie.

This is what, the 4th or 5th time???

Maybe they hav met Paolos 15m valuation. Sweet! We should start bidding for their players. Okane anyone.

Swap him for David James

Most likely testing the water to see if we still need the money or not

 :sherlock:I bet they have bid 700,000 with add ons.

I wish we just responded in an email saying 'no, now will you fuck off'.

This. Unless of course they have matched paolo's valuation which is probably about 3.5 million now

Unconfirmed reports suggest #stfc have agreed a fee of £600,000 with #afcb for Matt Ritchie.

Bournemouth reporter suggests we've accepted a 600k bid

which is baffling

Its not quite £15m is it?

Jed out!

backwards move if you ask me

Haven't we turned down more money before?

Bournemouth Sports Reporter: @neilperrettecho: Unconfirmed reports suggest #stfc have agreed a fee of £600,000 with #afcb for Matt Ritchie.

The first actions of the new board?

McCory Out

if it is the actions of the new board then surely they'd have someone else in mind to replace him as he has been a major part of our squad and would be difficult to replace

This can't be right, surely?

Bradley Wright Phillips ?

wrong club, wrong amount, wrong time. Cant be true.

(1000)

IF THIS IS TRUE  it surely tells us all we need to know about the new owners.

We won't get Championship football selling our best players, unless we have a replacement of equal quality lined up.

How long before Paolo follows him out of the door

If true, the rationale/explanation for the sale from the new owners (whoever they are) will be the first clue as to their plans for the Club.

If the new board are only with us for 6 months (maybe they'll buy a bigger club), they could sell all our best players, bring in freebies and then sell the club for a profit in the Summer  8)

If this is true, I'll be livid. The new board will win no friends by doing this, and neither will Black for selling to them.

If true, who has made this decision? The new owners or Black? Hardly endearing to your new fans IF it is the new owners...
Morsehead also said that the new owners & Black will retain joint running of the club until the takeover is ratified, so has it been accepted to fund the club during that period?

i'd be happy with that

Hold up guys, this is only unconfirmed reports, from the Bournemouth local rag. As we are acutely aware after the last few weeks, it's not unheard of for local media to report off incorrect information

£900,000 if you believe this

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/9821780.Ritch_fee_/

I'd want Shaun W-P if we sell Ritchie!

If this is the first act of the board to come in pocket half a million they can go fuck themselves. I do hope this isnt true. To sell now and under PDC's nose as well.... I do hope 2+2=5

Will not be happy if this turns out to be true!

I think this is the same journo that was shit stirring the last time that B'mouth were in for Ritchie.

I'd take this "news" with a gigantic pinch of salt.

Given the only source for this 'unconfirmed report' at the moment is a reporter for the Bournemouth Echo, and our recent experiences with exactly how (in)accurate "news"papers can be, I'm not going to worry or start speculating just yet.

Maybe some port and a nice strong stilton will help keep the panic button at bay

The only person I know with any connection to the club whatsoever tells me that Ritchie is going and Madine is coming in, subject to paperwork.

Don't mean its true though

Bbc wiltshire -
@BBCWiltshire: SPORT: @BBCWiltshire understands that #Swindon Town had already called in financial accountants before the takeover was completed. #stfc

- @BBCWiltshire: SPORT: The accountants are understood to have sent a list to all Football League clubs stating that every #Swindon Town player was for sale

BBC Wiltshire ‏@BBCWiltshire
SPORT: It's important to point out that today's takeover of #Swindon Town means that is no longer happening. #stfc

confusing isn't it

So Bournemouth made the offer earlier in the week when this went out. Hopefully we no longer need to accept it now

What the hell

That would be the worst bit of business since Fjortoftgate

this is interesting tweet from BBC Wilts

"SPORT: The accountants are understood to have sent a list to all Football League clubs stating that every #Swindon Town player was for sale"

EDIT: Sorry Tans

Hasn't Moorshead already covered this? Admin error or something??

What the fuck is going on?

People getting carried away with everything they read on social media

If anything it shows how close to being totally fucked we were.

something is rotten in the state of DenmarkSwindon

exciting isnt it

someone tweet SM and find out as it's quite confusing

1:34pm

 Today's report in the Daily Mail which suggested Swindon Town's players were all up for sale and that the club was about to be plunged into administration appears to have been the result of an erroneous email.
 
The Advertiser has learnt that an agent issued the missive, which intimated that every member of the Town squad was available for transfer, last night.
 

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

MIND FUCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

 :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash: :crash:

How tinpot. Embarrassing.

Important

Last night all clubs were told all our players were for sale, a letter prematurely sent out.

BBC have stated now the takeover has happened this is now not the case.

Hopefully that means Matt Richie is not going anywhere but was subject to a bid from last night email should the deal not have gone though.

Makes sense?

SM tweeted this 2 mins ago

Sam Morshead‏@SamMorshead_SA

club's finances had prematurely sent out an email saying all players available for transfer last night.

Fuck off Bournemouth with your 3 sided tin pot piece of shit ground  :D (sorry, any excuse to have a little dig)...again I won't believe this until Ritchie has a Bournemouth scarf above his head on their bog of a pitch!

But it isn't a Friday! Statement Friday is dead! We want statement Wednesday!!

Makes a bit of a difference if it turns out it was the club's accountants rather than an agent putting the news out. A little like the earlier use of the "A" word, this sounds like playing brinkmanship games in public.

The woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks...

SM tweeted this a couple of secs ago..


Sam Morshead‏@SamMorshead_SA

In answer to all your questions, I have no fucking idea what the fuck is going on...I am preparing for full scale panic and meltdown....aaaaaaarrrrghhhhh...what the fuuuuck

I think he's lost it.

So basically some agent got carried away when he saw the prospect of earning himself a few £

Says more about agents than our club

but it wasn't an agent.

I might buy tomorrow's Adver if he publishes that.

What a lot of shite. Even if we sell Ritchie for 600k, Portsmouth probably get half.

would explain the shitty offer from Bournemouth then. But what a fuckup by the financial dept at STFC though

This is all feeling very 2007.

I think I'm due another internet holiday.

According to Adver it was, contradicts BBC Wilts though which does to back to Contanza's point regarding sitting back and waiting for official news.

This couldn't happen to any other club, feels like im watching an episode of Mike Bassett

nah, both the Adver and BBC Wilts are reporting that it was a fuck up by the interim financial restructuring folks (aka administrators)

https://twitter.com/SamMorshead_SA/status/296657096940851201
https://twitter.com/SamMorshead_SA/status/296657268039114754

Feck me - players come, players go.

Who gives a shit

I'm really fucking confused.

Bit surprised we haven't heard anything from the club, even just to deny the Ritchie rumours (assuming they aren't true)

Really?

Fair enough, my head hurts

Things like this were so much easier in the days more instant media

seriously?

Eh?

KR

You know this is Swindon fans forum?

As far as I see it, things were looking pretty bleak on the takeover last night so the e-mail was released to the press with a view to getting some money in before the end of the transfer window.

The takeover is now complete so no its no longer applicable.

Simple.

Look - we, as supporters, are at the very bottom of the pecking order.

Always have been, always will be.

Nobody in the Boardroom gives a flying fuck what the supporters think.

So why bother with all the hand-wringing and wrist-slashing

This is why it's so exciting being a Swindon supporter - we never know what the fuck is going to happen!
 :eek:
Winning at Wembley and getting to Premiershit, subsequent relegation to bottom division, administration twice, fight for clubs very survival, Italian superstar takes over - Champions of our division and promotion - WTF!!!

Almost makes me feel sorry for the likes of Man Ure fans - what with their near constant stream of success and stability...... They're missing out on the highs and lows that only Swindon fans can appreciate (and Portsmouth of course)....

First game after 10 years away and you've given up already?

it was sent prematurely but there's no real confirmation that any deal for the club has been done, just "understanding" from the Adver.

the Ritchie stuff sounds like a story that has come out a few days late

The 'no comment' from both ourselves and AFCB regarding bids for Ritchie concerns me

It's not a case of giving up - but, honestly, what's the point in all the shock-horror stuff when many of us have seen it all before - more than once.

If Ritchie stays, fine

If he goes, get on with it. It wont stop me going to games

You may be right (to a reasonable extent), but supporting a team lasts longer than just 90 minutes on a Saturday or Tuesday night. It's just the way it is!

here is the point: X











this is you: Y

see how you are missing it?

Pointless worrying about anything just yet, it's all reports, until something official comes out it's not concerning.

I imagine the club are too busy tying up the takeover to worry about commenting on some speculative offer from Bournemouth, and if AFCB haven't heard back from us yet they're not likely to want to comment either

"Players come and players go"-yes,but hopefully not to close rivals!Shearer to Blackburn all over again.

Jeez, what I mean is it doesn't matter what you or I think of the situation.

What will happen, will happen with very little, if any, regard to the fans.

I just don't get the doom and gloom if Ritchie is sold - it's what clubs like Swindon do ad infinitum

Only at STFC could we get new owners who's first act is to sell our best player to a smaller club for 50p and a bag of grapes

I don't think it's Ritchie leaving that's causing the panic - it's the amount of money supposedly being accepted, and what it says about the intensions of the new board. Personally, I think it's a load of bollocks but I'm happy to play along.

So far, neither #afcb nor #stfc making any comment on Matt Ritchie bid. Deal could be done today or in morning understands @BmthEchoSport

Hmmm.

Again - it's nothing the fans have any control over.

If we are about to get fucked over by Jedward there aint nothing we can do about it.

For all we know the new mob may sell ALL the players, pocket the cash and fuck off.

Then again, they may well be fine, upstanding and sympathetic owners!!

It doesn't really matter what we think of anything-but its what forums are for I guess

Hope we don't sign another Terry Gibson type.

The hand of Andronikou?

Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_SA

I've been told Bristol City are interested in #stfc striker Andy Williams, of whom City boss Sean O'Driscoll is said to be a big admirer.


Could be the youth team playing Crawley  ;)

I know where you're coming from - as fan, we are the  bottom feeders so to speak. The ones who support the club regardless of whether they are high flying or dredging the bottom of the leagues....

BUT I'd be mightly pissed off if he does go, just like when Fjortoft went and Shearer.... it would send out all the wrong signals (unless of course the club is fucked financially and we're it's sending out all the correct signals)....

Add Andy Williams to the list

If we ever go to war can i be in the trenches with you?

As supporters there's nothing we can do about the football on a match day - it doesn't stop us giving a toss though.

If we're going to sell one of our best places for 300k+ less than the amount we've previously turned down the we might as well give up full stop.

Selling players on the cheap is not something an ambitious club does and a non ambitious club goes no where, does fuck all and appoints Paul fucking Hart as manager

I wouldn't be surprised if a fee was agreed before the takeover was complete.

I'll be completely pissed off if he actually goes to sodding Bournemouth since the takeover is apparently 'on track'. Palace I can understand, but sodding Bournemouth.  no.

We are a selling club, but why do we never scalp anyone?

We always sell below market value.

This is a car crash. It feels like we're watching all of the good work from the past few years undone in one swoop.

The Advertiser understands the prospective new owners of Swindon Town do not want to sell Matt Ritchie, after a £600,000 bid is believed to have been tabled by the Robins' League One rivals.

If an email was erroneously sent to all league clubs then we're bound to receive a few cheeky offers. It's up to the club to tell them all to fuck off.

I tried to recall an email at work the other day.

Never easy.

while we are all waiting for updates, can someone please explain to me, on twitter, what is the difference between things that are trending with and without hash tags...if there is no difference, what is the point of putting the hash tag in?

Exactly!


Even harder for a fax ;)

Just so you can search for the #tag and see all posts made about that topic, its just convention.

yes, but you can search for anything and it will come up in tweed, ht'ed or not?



edit, tweets, not tweed.

Just convention. You are right it makes no odds.

If we sell one of our players against Paolo's will he'll be off. Let's hope these rumours aren't true.

Why would send an email out like that and appoint administrators for financial restructuring (not going into admin) if we knew a deal so sell was close? It makes no sense at all.

In case the deal fell through?

He won't stay at any club on a long term basis if he adopts that attitude

A manager with ambition deserves a club with ambition.

Thank. Fuck.

Well all this shit flying around isn't going to be very unsettling to the players is it?? ???

If that's a PR stunt by the potential new owners then that is genius

Last night, when he was talking about the defeat, he said there were some individual situations that he wanted to sort and that he wasn't afraid to bring in youngsters.....I wouldn't be surprised if he was considering selling a few even if he doesn't have to.

Hopefully the current board feel the same as the new board.

[devils advoicate]
"prospective new owners of Swindon Town"

Its not just down to them!
[/devils advocate]

Don't know what to believe and what to ignore any more. The club are hardly providing any clarity. All I know is it's amateur hour around Swindon at the moment.

The word administration has kept on reappearing in the media for a couple of weeks without a strong and convincing enough rebuffal from our chairman to make it stop, our current owner is suffering panic attacks and wants out of a club he has already poured millions of pounds into to try and get to the Championship just as they get themselves on the verge of getting to the Championship, Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Sir William of Arabia Patey has done fuck all since he's been here except disillusion the fans and get his teeth fixed, we're trying to rush through a sale to investors led by a man who sounds just about fit and able to run a Sunday league team not one with a £250,000 wage bill half a season from the Championship, and amidst this uncertainty, there's still 24 hours left in the transfer window, and other teams are circling like vultures around our assets because of a supposedly erroneous letter sent around all the FL clubs saying 'our players are for sale, come get them on the cheap' (because emails often erroneously write themselves and send themselves to 92 clubs around the country).

It seriously comes to something when Di Canio has seemed like the statesman and voice of reason around this club the last couple of weeks. Happy fucking 2013 Swindon fans.

 :blowup:

What a load of crap.

Agreed. There's some serious over-speculation filling up the forum today!

Better to have a club at all though.....we need funds and our resolve will be tested.

This is the guy who said it was a 'done deal' this time last year.

He can do one !!

Just sit back, put your feet up and enjoy it. When I know what to panic about, I'll join in. Until then, chill Winston.

People are entitled to voice there opinions....dosn't mean there panicking does it :hmmm:

Voicing concern is fine Lee, it's when people post theories as fact that it becomes ridiculous.

Correct......but panicking :no:

It was about 85% tongue-in-cheek crap and 25% sincere opinion in accordance with the ratio demanded by this website. Good to play the LouisCassius role up once in a while and get all your paranoia and worst fears out of your system.

I now feel cleansed and at peace.

 :harp:

The Ritchie bid probably came in and was accepted as a contingency plan, just in case the deal didn't go through.

If he ends up at Bournemouth I'll be amazed and question his ambition.

But if we are prepared to sell him Batch.....he will question ours.

All this is dependent on the new owners. It was the old owners that were willing to sell him. The new owners supposedly want him to stay.

Well said...I particularly like the Paolo bit...to think there's a few on here who'll be happy to see the back of the man, not just the refuseniks, but those upset by his post match comments.

A couple of weeks ago when it started to kick off, I said we'll need tin hats and sandbags....things are getting critical, so I reckon nuclear fallout shelters might be of more use.  It would be nice to think we could still call on the entrepreneurial spirit of former Town legend Vince Farrar...who along with the Lay Brothers wanted to flog us shelters for 10K a time back in 1980 and we'd only just lost 5 in a row and sacked Bob Smith

No, the bid was pre new owners. It wasn't the case of wanting to sell him, it was having to in order to exist. He's clearly not surplus, but the fact he is our most saleable asset.

I see the Boremuff fans are creaming in their jeans at the prospect....quotes like put in a cheeky £600k bid we should get him they are in financial trouble ::)

Bournemouth is more likely to go into admin that ourselves,especially if the Russian buggers off. Their spending this season is unsustainable by far.

Also why the fuck would he want to go to a team lower in the league than us playing worse football than us and with a poorer manager than us?

If the bid is anything less than £1.5 million I would say we would not accept it, we may start talking at that figure upwards, which Boremuff will not pay especially after paying £800k for Tubbs who can be said to be an unmitigated epic fail.

Has anyone asked the most pertinent question yet?

Does OST have to do anything?

@SamMorshead_SA
Reports in Bournemouth suggest a deal to take Matt Ritchie to Dean Court is complete #stfc #afcb

WHAT THE FUCK. This better be wrong.

Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_SA
Reports in Bournemouth suggest a deal to take Matt Ritchie to Dean Court is complete #stfc #afcb

We must have a replacement lined up......    Ritchie will still have to agree personal teams......

if this is the case and has been the doing of the new board (which they have said they don't want to sell him) then it's a massive backwards step in us going forward.

unless, they have a major coup coming in to replace him

Fucking wanky bollocks if correct

Pissed off if true, why are we being kept in the dark for this is fucking ridiculous just like the old days again.

 :eek:  :no:  :headhurts:

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/10195163.Cherries_close_in_on_Ritchie_deal__updated_/

In talks...sources..blah blah blah

Quite fancy Ramon Nunez as a replacement if he goes. Saw he was released by Lids and his stats look decent.

That article also refers to having to restructure finances as being the reason, due to the debt.  Which is in direct contrast to other reports that the debt has been wiped out.
I may be being a little too hopeful, but I sniff a sense of reporters just making shit up all over the place right now.  There is probably a tea lady to blame somewhere.

Initial reports suggested Cherries had tabled an offer in the region of £600,000, although the Daily Echo believes the figure could be lower.

If that's right it really is a case of a panic sale and either indicative that the new owners aren't likely to push for C'ship or that the reports of the takeover being complete are premature.

Ambitious these new owners then.

[url width=500 height=361]http://i.imgur.com/Qt5T6hX.gif[/url]

What the hell is going on today, the club have made no comments at all! Selling Ritchie i can accept for a good amount to a team in a higher division (over 1m to championship) but 600k to a league one rival. Worried about the news to be released tomo.

Why do this to the club now it just doesn't make any sense

As they don't actually own the club yet - FL have to sanction it, not sure how they can do anything.

Innit.

Maybe that's the problem. In the time it takes the FL to sanction it Black wont put anymore of his own money into the club hence selling a player.

Just a thought

Can't believe Black would sell players behind their backs after agreeing a takeover.

Well, fuck a duck, this thread has been 'interesting'.  I hope Batch posts more on it...I feel better after his calmer posts.

I've noticed Simon Ferry has deleted his twitter account recently. Make of that what you will.

Neil Perrett ‏@neilperrettecho

#afcb have completed the signing of #stfc winger Matt Ritchie for a fee of around £500,000.

Gonna need a bigger Gif.

Didnt this happen last time the club was sold when fitton and co took over we got rid of tozer to newcastle.

What a joke. Looks like it will be a while yet untill we reach the Championship.

I just hope we can keep hold of PDC, but that Ritchie deal suggests our ambition is League 1 for as long as possible.

Not what I had in mind, Batch!

Flogging your best player on the cheap or selling a kid - really similar!

ha ha.

[url width=300 height=225]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbnuffzz3N1rqfhi2o1_400.gif[/url]

I'm seriously thinking of crying :hmmm:

That does make sense.  The sale of a player would guarantee funding of the club for a few months at the very least, allowing time for everything to go through properly.  It would equally not be impossible in that situation to sanction a few loans coming in as it's ongoing cash required that the sale couls easily cover in the interim.

500k for Ritchie is a joke amount! Clearly we'll take what ever we can get at the moment. Who else is off then.

Fucking livid at the moment

[url width=900 height=675]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xN0CUCo2QkE/UCKkveVvcGI/AAAAAAAAA3M/b0a7H8TrtEY/s1600/Kent%2520panic.gif[/url]

i'm starting to think that @neilperrettecho is just on the wind up.

or perhaps i'm just clinging to straws?

Nothing official as yet, either way.

I'll believe it when I see a scarf pic.

Why should a sale be different to a purchase?

I'd expect to see Madine, Wright-Phillips and ANO coming in tomorrow...then again I never thought Ritchie would be off after the takeover was agreed this afternoon...just WHAT THE FUCK is going on?!  :sherlock: (looking out for the scarf above head pic still...!)

I think they're two halves of the same walnut (as it were).

That's a pretty impressive wind up...

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/10195163.Cherries_complete_deal_for_Ritchie__updated_/

I thought the days of selling our better players on the cheap to the first bidder were over, clearly not...
I thought the days of the club lacking ambition were over again clearly not
We're 3rd in L1 for fuck sake, we should not be selling our top players and for 500k - take out what we paid for him and Portsmouth cut and we've probably made a loss anyways.

Surely we could have got more than 500k from a Championship side?

The perspex in that dugout must have been worth more than I thought.

[url width=500 height=282]http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma6cl3oPYt1r5r6hh.gif[/url]

I think you are, the asset stripping begins

It's not impossible that the potential time to conclude the takeover puts funding at risk for a month or so.  Black may well have said I'll write the debt off but I'm fucked if I am paying the bills for c lub you will actually own.  Club only has one day in which it can raise finance through selling a player and Ritchie going covers the entire period needed.  Prevents financial issues in the short term while nobody at the club can access either the old guys funds or the new guys funds.

Same old Swindon!

Have the club actually said anything official all day?

Only thing that pisses me off, if we are selling Ritchie in urgent need of cash, we have a perfectly good saleable asset at fucking Birmingham while we are stuck with some cunt that doesn't even play.

Hmmm, 500k is a giveaway if true. I would expect more players to follow.

Fucking spot on, it's alright we still have a stable club though even if we will be in League 1/2 for the next 15 years!

Fuck off Bournemouth, a disgrace to sell him to them, could of got more.

PDC to walk?

OK, I've had time to consider and reflect on this at length and I conclude...

He was crap, I never rated him, we're better off without him and he's easily replaceable.

It's quite possible this was the bit about avoiding administration - if Black won't pay Febs bills and the new guys can't do anything without FL sign-off, we'd have been fucked.

I'll go with that - sounds as good a theory as any.

[url width=500 height=300]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7aeskXxFt1rzyvwuo1_500.gif[/url]

Promotion to the Championship is worth more than a measley 500k minus Portsmouths cut. Short sighted.

sir, you speak sense.

I wonder what Di Canio's thinking?

I dread to think what Di Canio's thinking.

Hate football.

Not if it caused going into Admin - hence the stories of the past week.

"Ritchie signs for Bournemouth on a three and a half year deal."

He may speak sense, but I agree with DV.  

Our new owners first act is to sell one of our best players for less than we should have got for him, to a promotion rival.  That's a shit start to their ownership.  

Actions speak louder than words...we need action tomorrow from the new owners.

A defender or two and Bournemouth will win the league.

All for the sake of a couple of 100k

Willing to flog your best asset for about a third of what it's worth for the sake of one months wages or whatever...

I imagine there's a lot of arm waving and gesticulation.

But who is going to pay the bills if neither the current owner will, or the new owner can?

Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_SA
Ritchie signs for Bournemouth on a three and a half year deal.

Officially tweeted by club now too.

Only official thing they've said all day.

Are we safe from relegation yet?

Absolutely gutted. No more words to say...

Has the takeover actually gone through (not being facetious, but could do with someone pointing me in the direction of actual confirmation)?

Worse than the Greer sale? DV?

Comments like this make signing Ritchie even more enjoyable.

Doesn't than 4-0 drubbing you gave us back in September seem like an eternity ago now?

 :smugfu:

No official confirmation. Just from the Adver.

What a shitty fucking thing to happen.

Out of all the fucking rubbish things that could have happened today, that was one I wasn't expecting. Whether the new owners are responsible for it or not, they've got to go on one hell of a charm offensive to get the fans back on side.

I hear Bournemouth is a nice place this time of year.

http://www.afcb.co.uk/news/article/2013-01-30-cherries-sign-matt-ritchie-629109.aspx

My orange hat is in the wardrobe...it may be seen again soon.

This dont make sense, black funds feb, McCrory gives black the money and he keeps matt Ritchie, we maintain our push for the championship. If we have indeed sold him to Bournemouth we could even meet them in the playoffs let alone competing with them for an automatic spot. The consortium are running the club alongside current board apparently so both parties would have to be in agreement. The lack of response from the club suggests this is true and a simple statement would quash this.

What a fucking shambles.  It's like the Fjortoft sale all over again.

And to Bournemouth, FFS.  Matt deserved better than that.

Agreement reached, FL have to sanction it though, so it could take days or weeks to complete legally.

Hope he has an extra special reinforced dugout in his house with Fabrizio Piccareta in the corner to get him through this.

PDC will be gone within 24 hours there is no way he will put up with this

I'm sure someone somewhere somewhere could have covered January's bills.

Fuck sake surely Black could have put it in and put an extra 250k or whatever into the deal.

We've lost out on 750kish here for no fucking reason

It was made clear on the radio last night that Black would not fund Feb.

No not really, we're 3rd, one game in hand...we've been here before with other teams gloating only for it not to quite work out in hindsight...

 :nod:

I'm with OST now, I think I want to cry.

I hope that positive comments re: reasons for the sale are forthcoming, but right now it feels like 5 years of hard work undone in a single afternoon.

It's certainly up there in levels of stupidity.

Is that the only problem then?  OK, not too bad.  Although given the new owners first act, they've got a lot of work to do to win me round (and a few others I suspect).

For fuck sale.
The board done a great job for the last 4 years or whatever it is, but the last few days have been a fucking shambles.

Word......

PDC will be gone.


Also the club better come grovelling ref our sponsorship...

what a fucking shambles absolutely livid at the moment , we all know what is coming next that the deal is off and admin awaits CUNTS

The deal is for £3m, the £500k is just the upfront payment.

He's gone. Fucked off big time.

I'm speechless.

500k, what a joke. PDC will be rightly pissed off, would not be surprised to see him walk.

Just when things are on the up for us, so fucking angry. We need some answers as to what the fuck is going on.

http://www.youtube.com/v/N5p27Lr8y2s?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0

I'm only jumping to conclusions, but this strikes me as a joint move by old and new owners.  The new guys won't chuck £0.25m or more in knowing it might not get ratified.  Black, from reports last night, had financially pulled the plug, so the club only has it's own income and no game at home until the 9th.  Black may have said the debt is going but I have no more cash I am willing to give you, so either you chuck money in before you own the club or we have a day to sell someone???????

Your spending is unsustainable for such a tiny club with a 3 sided stadium. Give it a couple of years and you'll do a Portsmouth.

I'm only really annoyed at is the fact we've given him away and that's causing me to have sensationalist style worries over PDC.

and so it begins...............

Ah well it was fun while it lasted.

Cherio pdc I thank you for what you have done

To fucking Bournemouth!!!!

Richie deserved better and we deserve better. Ok the Black money has gone. We deserve more than the silence coming out of the club at the moment though.

I know Morshead's doing his best but some of his tweets and reports have been so wide of the mark today.

I'll be shocked if PdC sticks around much longer - this can't have been what he was claiming to be excited about recently!

How many points were we behind you at the end of October? Just signed another winger Fraser from Aberdeen for 400k. I think we'll be above you by the end of the season.

We've been the underdog for so long its a nice to be on the other side for once.

We're fucked. Paolo will leave now if the transfer was out of his hands, 5 years of hard work undone. Typical Swindon, never easy.

thanks for that, summed it up perfectly :D

POP

That's the bubble bursting.

Maybe Ritchie wanted to leave ?

Enjoy it whilst you can

Who has confirmed the £500k fee? Just doesn't seem like the sort of fee for a highly rated player with a bidding war going on for him (regardless if we're desperate for the money).

Got a very bad feeling about this. Lack of takeover news and selling our best player for peanuts.

Haven't been concerned at all the last few days, but now I might have to dig out that panic button...

Even if he did want to leave I can't believe that we couldn't get more than £500K for him - seems like we've snapped up the first offer that came along this week.

 I dunno what's worse, the alleged fee or selling him to another league 1 club?
That's our best player gone.

When have we ever held out for a fee worthy of our highly rated players?

I'm going to go down the road of Kerslake's sale, it's easier on the body and soul if we use that one as the example.

Fjortoft was a club trying to survive, Greer was pre season.  Shearer I'll choose to ignore to satisfy my need for sanity.

Even if he did want to leave, Bournemouth. Fucking Bournemouth. He's better than that for his next step.

Oh do fuck off you cunt we will take great delight when your lot goes tits up you will be the next Portsmouth that is a certainty

Quoted...yeah we had all this nonsense last season from Oxford. We've just been taken over, the transfer window hasn't finished yet and the dust hasn't settled. Best not to get above yourself just yet....

I post very very rarely. Only in times of annoyance. and right now the only work I can come up with is;

CUNT!

This is the worst deal in the club's history. I am furious.

What afucking disgrace and not a word from the club same old swindon fucking pissed off. ::)

We do it again...it never works out...are we back to bopards again?

Behave, Fjortoft and Shearer by a country mile.

Closer to home I guess and a little pay rise.

Charlie Austin & Simon Cox are most recent examples. We turned down a larger bid for Richie before.

Though has the takeover even been confirmed yet? I've literally only just come home to catch up on all of this and can't see the club confirming it.

That's whay I'm using Kerslake.  That one was alright in the end, you just have to ignore the Shearer one.

Yep, that is the worst of it. Even if we were desperate to sell, surely we could have a bigger fee from a bigger club. It's not like there was no interest in him.

Fuck that - we should have held out for more money for both Cox and Austin.

Even the same fee from a bigger club would have been preferable. Selling one of your best players to one of your rivals makes no fucking sense whatsoever. Rather he went to Oxford.

Jonathan Wilkes a closet town fan?

Jonathan Wilkes @Jonny_Wilkes

Bournemouth how is that a step up ?
8:43 PM - 30 Jan 13

You mean the deal that convinced Hoddle the club had no ambition and meant he fucked off to Chelsea? (I have no idea this happened, but in my mind I've always decided this was true)

The only official line from the club all day is that Ritchie has left,

Moreshead & BBC Wilts have both siad the takeover is done subject to FL Clearance (That should be done overnight (I think))

would imagine club will confirm in the morning properly when it's signed and sealed.

He's having a purple patch. He's small, he's slow and he's a touch greedy. Also, going back home he'll do a Brian Howard. He'll start getting drunk too often, especially with all the time off and lack of training he'll receive at Bournemouth, he'll become slower and less motivated and he'll fade away. You heard it here first. :D

Austin wanted away. Nobody would pay more for Cox.

We did alright from selling a few younger players too. Ben Tozer for example, never worth what we got for him.

Bournemouth clearly have more ambition than we do...

The picture with a scarf* is up on Twitter! (*actually Ritchie with a Muff shirt)  :eek:

More like more money at the moment...

I disagree mate, seriously, Bournemouth 500k ?
At least fjortoft and shearer went to bigger club's. This deal is an utter laughing stock

If that is the case, then what an awful first impression for the new owners to make (if it was their decision)

as long as he is the only key player to go, we'll be ok

I can only compare this to when we sold Shearer to blackburn we strengthened one of our rivals and got pipped to the post, I wonder if this is the last player sale or if there is any more to come

And I don't think PDC will go because of this. He's made of sterner stuff than that. I think it'll depend much more on the intentions of the new owners whether he stays or not. Hopefully, we'll get the new deal done tomorrow and announce a few new faces (winger please) or that we've signed Ritchie back for 3 million :)

As you lot say.... This ⬆

"That's life, that's what people say... Riding high in April, shot down in May."
Adverts reflecting my mood right now.  :(

BBC reporting £400k, probably not that reliable though.

Eddie Howe somehow managed to sign our last 2 'best players' Charlie Austin and Matt Ritchie. What does he have over STFC?

a larger bank balance for starters

How's the situation remotely similar to Oxford?  :hmmm:

Just had this from a Bmuff fan:

Enjoy!!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BB4pLlTCIAEPd4c.jpg:large

post back a picture of the league table. i'm sure we're above them with games in hand

I'll be absolutely amazed if PDC sanctioned this deal without having a replacement lined up,

I'm saying tomorrow at the pre match press conference, new owners will be announced and Ritchie's (Better) replacement will be announced.


Ever the optimist.

Think I might have a another beer now.

Nothing to do with him.

he'd surely have a say in it. knowing the kind of character PDC is the existing/new board wouldn't go behind his back as they know he'd walk away from STFC over something like this

Indeed I only get to 2-3 games a year and never genuinely never saw Ritchie have a good game so no reason not to be optimistic!!

Believe you all when you say he was fantastic but never saw it in the flesh myself

...straws being clutched!

Nope, this decision would have been made above his head. The club is more important than one player though. I'm not happy with the reported terms of the deal, but the season is far from over. Tomorrow will be a very interesting day.

A good player but players come and go.

Anyone who puts his departure on a par with Parkin, Cox or Austin needs their head examined.

Fuck sake... Back to the old Swindon is seems.

Could go one of two ways, he'll either go batshit fucking mental and do one - and to be fair he's always said the club needs to match his ambition and stick to the agreed plan - or you never know, it might just galvanise him and foster a sort of siege mentality to see it through in spite of adversity.

Three weeks ago I would have said the former, but now I'd wager (and hope!!!) the latter. In his interview after the Shrews game he sounded closer to the club and the fans than he ever has before.

old golden-balls himself is in the UK at the moment and without a club.......

Are Bournemouth fans not even a little bit worried by how much their club is spending?

As for how the hell they're staying under the 60 per cent. Now that really is baffling.

Tin pot cunts with only three sides to a shit ground.

Theres two for starters...

We did take fuck all off those cunts last season....4 off you ..cheers.

Totally oblivious to what's been going on and log on to this utter shit.

I actually can't believe this is happening and totally didn't see it coming.  £500,000 to Bournemouth.  What a fucking joke.

I'm sick and tired of shit like this happening, I was actually stupid enough to think we'd seen the last of it, but oh no, here we go again.

We might as well have gone into administration and been docked 10 points.  We're going absolutely nowhere now anyway.

And anyone thinking that we're going to have a replacement lined up that costs less than £500,000 is in dreamland.  What a fucking mess.  Same old shit, same old Swindon.  Absolutely gutted to be honest.

A. Why?

B. The reason why, who to and how much for is why people are livid.

It is not the fact he has been sold or to fucking tinpot bournemuff it is the fact it is for £400k that is criminal for a 23 year old that has been scouted by many championship sides

I don't want this to sound too dramatic/pessimistic (cue dramatic pessimistic post)...

Other than losing our best player to a promotion rival... my main concern is the effect this now has on our manager.

Interesting times....

Totally gutted Ritchie has left, such a good player for us. POTY in our relegation season (not hard) league 2 POTY in our champ winning team and 9 goals 9 assists this season. £400,000? He's only 23.... should have been triple that. Whoever sanctioned that deal tonight has questions to answer for sure.

If I'd asked you yesterday if we'd have accepted a 400k bid from Bournemouth for Ritchie, you'd have laughed in my face. And so would I (assuming I can laugh in my own face). I think all logic and rationale went out the window when that email got sent from the "financial restructuring experts" last night

I think DMR is suggesting he's not in the same class as those players, and I worry myself by sort of agreeing.  I don't doubt we'll miss Ritchie but I think the rest of the team is better placed to handle the loss than other ones were with those players listed.

Because all 3 of them were more important than MR, who has had the luxury of a bit more quality around him and a proper manager

Obviously not, despite a few times they've been close to going to the wall.

very true. so it appears what was written in said email is true. they're all up for sale

That'll probably just cover their fees!

Transfer window deadline - traditionally the day when clubs pay OVER the odds for players...

Uncanny parallels with this and us signing Collins from Shrews. This is exactly what Shrewsbury fans were saying about us.

Do you think we've got a sell on clause.

Its not the player per se, its the way he fitted into the way we played, and now a cog has gone the engine will fall apart, seen it before, this had better be explained and pretty quickly, otherwise all the good will that has built up over the last 4-5 years will be gone in a flash.

Maybe Ritchie wanted to leave us and be closer to his home?

I imagine the deal will officially be undisclosed.

If Muff were in a Admin a few years back looks like they've enough to pay back in full all those who only got 10p in every pound owed.

Think he just wants stability and we can't guarantee that right now.

He's paid for 2 months operating costs according to the figures flying about. It'll be interesting if Collins, Williams etc start leaving because then it gets a little bit darker.

Williams to Bristol City now as well.

tin hats anyone?

The voice of reason.

Maybe he doesn't like training twice a day and on Sundays.

This has crossed my mind also

Fair enough. I stand by my view that he's still worth 3 times what was paid and the main reason I'm fucked off is that I don't know what's going on. When they left we almost knew they were going to. This is different.

Fucking joking aren't you.

Source?

Arrgghh the Swindon arrogance plenty of us have noticed from your lot over the years. What have Swindon done in my life time? Played in the Prem for a season as the whipping boys being before being swiftly dispatched to the lower leagues.

New stand going up next season. Shame you won't be in the same league to enjoy it   ;)

Portsmouth to Bournemouth is further than most probably think - about 55 miles and an hour by car.  So yes, Bournemouth is a little closer to Portsmouth than Swindon is, but not by enough to make much of a difference to a career decision.  Matt would have gone because

(a) he probably got offered a little more ££; and
(b) he was told he had to go.

With (b) being the main reason.

Where in the name of fuck did you hear that?

It was reported earlier this afternoon by Sam Morshead on Twitter I believe.

Danny Ward has only played 4 times for Huddersfield this season...anyone?

Brisol City are interested in Williams.

Was reported earlier.

He has a point :)

Was a far better player, highly unlikely.

And you've been in the second tier for two seasons, once as the whipping boys I believe? Massive, you lot.

At the end of the day he didn't have to go but he must have been put under so much pressure it would have been impossible to stay, I would guess.

He's on a par with Ritchie imo

This sale will probably keep portsmouth afloat for another couple of weeks. Put that down as a charity donation, and its tax deductable.

Very astute bit of business by our new owners. Well done.

Last time I saw him play he was a lot bigger and slower than he was when he was here.

he does. £10 we beat them in the play off finals anyone :)

Haven't you got some golf to play?

Dream on.

If PDC had him though, you could bet your last pound he'd lose a stone in about 2 weeks, ala Martin.

Time for Gary Roberts to step up, if he finds his form on in favoured right side it would help an awful lot.

Bournemouth are going to be in the Premier League in 2 years and probably Champions League in 3 and everyone should realise this. They are a sleeping giant of massive proportions and we should be thankful they gave us some of the crumbs off their table.

I only hope that the next time we play them they show us the same generosity and give us 4 points.

No doubt. Although I don't think PDC will be around for much longer.

I'll be fucking amazed if he's here in 2 weeks time.

My biggest concern is Foderingham if we sell him then the writing is on the wall

I'm sorry I don't care as much as you clearly do.

I make no secret of my apathy towards football these days.

I'll be surprised if he is in 24hours. I fear full dismantling of this team.

I didn't want to forecast that soon as I was trying to shield myself from the hurt.

He deserves a club that can match his drive and ambition, we can't.

Between two consortiums and fuck knows how many millions we couldnt even work out a way to pay a months wages with out selling a player on the cheap.

Di Canio loses his parents and still turns up for fucking work. We don't deserve him.

Anyone thinking Ritchie won't be missed is deluded. Teams double up on him to nulify the threat he poses creating more space and time for others. His work ethic is incredible and finding someone to replace him won't happen in this transfer window.

At least the amount of shit we've had to deal with over the years makes days like today easier to deal with... sort of.

Fuck sake.

Ritchie on the radio said it was a deal between the new owners and past owners??

Not often i agree with you Dan, but i agree with that.

Seething.

I know mate, no need to apologise. None of us can help our feelings. Just thoroughly fucked off sorry.

We expected the crap before. This has been delivered by a man who said he would back us.... or worse, by those who take charge for the next chapter. There is no justification because the fee is so low. It seems a simple case of sell as quick as you can to the first bidder.

This is interesting. Fuck knows why though.

Maybe MR shat in Jed's bath in a previous life.

Just listening to this Ritchie interview, I swear he said his sale was part of the takeover deal  :no:

Financial uncertainty at Swindon Town made the move easy. Felt like the uncertain times he experienced at pompey played a part in the sale moving forward.

Maybe to buy time until a deal can be completed?

It's just the fucking timing that grates.... we're third in the fucking league with a game in hand.

where can we listen to it

He's cursed! Bournemouth fans be worried it'll be a season and the same will happen to you!

Must surely be to bridge the funding gap?

Maybe it was true after all

https://soundcloud.com/hot-radio-sport/exclusive-ritchie-completes

Do I have to sign up to listen?

There is a lot of explaining to be done...

Fucking joke.

Ritchie should take a gander at himself as well .

As for the new consortium.........if they aint fronting any money then they can fuck of.
If all debts have been wiped off why are we selling..........surely we are better off than before the new boys arrived.

Bournemouth for fucks sake...............when you playing again DMR >:(

that sounds as if the new guys were not willing to put cash in without full due diligence and Black has said no more someone has to go . What I am still struggling to understand is if we are under the Fair play rules of 65% of turnover then why do we need to sell to survive next month it suggest's that AB is having to fund a shortfall each month which is against the rules.

Sounds like he didn't have a great deal of choice.

No, there should be a "click here to play" at the top of the page.

Hold on, that link isn't working..

https://soundcloud.com/hot-radio-sport/exclusive-ritchie-completes

I still think Paolo was behind it. Didn't think Ritchie was up for playing in The Championship next season so thought he'd offload him now and bring someone better in. No way he'd have been sold without Paolo being in on it.

if thats the case then his fee has covered 2 months wages etc. i just hope the new guys have said to PDC don't worry. you've money to spend

I can't see any coming until a PdC press conference tomorrow...hopefully a pre-match one rather than a resignation one  :(

And all of this just in time for our live game on Sky...

Ritchie reckons Eddie Howe is one of the best managers in England  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: Did a great job with Burnley.

Sounds like the only reason he left was the 'uncertainty'. He clearly been pushed out. Just wish we knew why.

says the stream is empty

Fixed link, lent on keyboard

https://soundcloud.com/hot-radio-sport/exclusive-ritchie-completes

cheers batch

Haha if only

He's just towing the party line. Players like Richie don't have to worry about 'uncertainty'. Even if we went to the wall he'd pick a new club up in minutes.

Just came across this... http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11710/8456823/ ...did we put a first refusal on a loan deal for him?

Just realised, the curse of the TEF player sponsorship strikes again. Greer, Paynter and now Ritchie.

Can we sponsor someone shit next season pease?

Henville.

I can only hope Boremuff enjoy our generous charity - 'cause that's what that price suggests.

I want my money back....or at least some laces :D

Lee cox

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSXHDmk5Edc

Hopefully the press have accidentally missed a 0 off the end of the sales figure.

Knowing our luck they have probably added one.

first laugh of the day

Bit left field this....but

Could Ritchie's contract been owned by one of the directors? A bit Carlos Tevez style?

:clap:

Do we have any other right-wingers (apart from PdC, guffaw)?

It's also the curse of my son's favourite player.  Austin now Ritchie.  I'm not looking forward to telling him tomorrow morning, he's going to be devastated  :(

I hope they agreed to forget about plexiglassgate as part of the deal.


Likewise. My son that is, not yours. Do your own dirty work!

Very left-field. Think that form of player ownership isn't allowed in this country.

Odds on Rooney wont be going to cheltenham, there's that gap filled.

I may remain the only person who thinks Rooney's actually gonna be good for us...

I would agree with that.


That he's going to be good - not that you're the only one who thinks it.

You aren't, best player against Southend and Crawley last year.

[/sidetrack]

Back to the doom and gloom...

De Vita has been superb this year and could play there also.

Could be clutching at straws here, but is Roberts naturally a right sided player?  Could this explain why he has struggled with us so far on the left?

That explains it, Richie has actually been holding us back. Roberts, vastly superior in every way! :pint:

Well this is a great big steaming pile of dog crap on top what has been a shit week for me. I can't believe after we rebuffed bids from Bournemouth so many times we've let him go for so bloody cheap. Disgusting. If this is our new owner at work god preserve us. Can't understand why this would be linked to the club takeover at all, unless the new owners want to see Ritchie gone for personal reasons, or Black et al have let him go just to spite those coming in.

Raffa at RM? Other than Luke Rooney, fuck knows who else we've got to play there. Williams? (No) Roberts? (he's having enough trouble on his natural side atm frankly...) All the games I've seen this season Ferry does a nice job of switching with Ritchie to screw around with defences, but I don't know if he's really tricky enough to replace him. Plus he's too important in the middle of the park. Maybe Navarro? He sounds like he'd be good on the right...

Anyone who doubts Ritchie's ability/influence should look at the fact he must have started damn near every single game this (and last) season. I think only Fods is even close to him. Paolo doesn't let players do that unless they deserve it.

I loved Rooney when he played. Didn't he "out assist" Ritchie in the short time he was starting?

If I remember correctly, when Caddis was despatched the war cry from the forum was that Ritchie would never be as effective.

Now he's gone someone will step into the breach,

Fuck me, he aint that good

From recollection didn't Ritchie sound rather keen on a move to Muff a year or so back when they were sniffing around previously?

We are all overlooking the obvious replacement at right midfield... Caddis can play there if PdC goes!

[url width=276 height=183]http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad185/swindon123/straw.jpg[/url]

Sorry slinky.

Thought Rooney looked good last season when I saw him play. It's just a shame he runs like an 8yr old who's done a Simon Ferry and cropped himself. I think that's what people remember most, as opposed to his dribbling, pace, and passing/crossing ability. I certainly do. Nearly pissed myself first time I saw him run...

With Jay Mc nearing match fitness....Al Macca at right mid??

Done well enough everywhere else and loves to stretch his legs every now and then, can put a few decent balls in the box too.

Bumping Thompson further up the field with macca sat behind could be an option too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BB5CtXyCUAAN8bA.png:large

But he's had 2 loans to L2 sides and done nothing. Can't see him being a saviour - Unless he goes to Chelters and they pay all of his wages!

That's if they are still here on Saturday.

Yeah, it's not allowed, but I believe on most areas of life rules are broken occasionally?

He doesn't exactly look ecstatic does he?  Makes the whole situation even worse if he genuinely didn't want to left.

In terms of Rooney, he's not even been on the bench for months and done nothing while out on loan.  I'd be surprised if he was suddenly able to step into Ritchie's shoes.  Plus, I get the impression Di Canio doesn't think that highly of him.  De Vita struggles to play more than 60 minutes and Roberts, we're stil waiting for him to look anything like we were expecting.

In short, Ritchie is a massive loss and anyone who tries to dispute that is bloody daft.

He's not going to be replaceable directly. Simple as that.

Like Caddis would be a massive loss?

I get what you're saying, but it's slightly different. Caddis was a solid RB, wingers (and game-changers) like Ritchie are much harder to come by.

Not without spending money (which we don't appear to have) or by taking time (which we don't have if we want promotion this year) to nurture some young talent.

We may well still be ok, we may even still be pushing for promotion come the end of the season, but selling your best players (which Ritchie was certainly one off) will only make that more difficult.

Caddis would improve our team. Thompson has been brilliant but Caddis is (currently) better.

Ritchie is a game winner and our best player. Can't see us getting another one at such short notice, that's assuming we have any money for a loan/perm. We might get lucky with a Danny Ward type signing, but over the years how many of this type have we had.

Ricky errr... no forget that one.

Jimmy Davis, Lee Holmes (1st time), James Milner, Danny Ward.  Even the I'd put an on form Ritchie above those, well I'd take Milner back right now I suppose :)

Still its done now innit. No point regurgitating it. That's DVs job :)

one of the best pkayers i've seen at Swindon - but that isn't saying a lot given the period of time i've watched us

Morshead has just tweeted that Pompey have a sell on clause on Ritchie, but he doesn't know what it is.

Not entirely unexpected, but FFS.

No probs.  Just trying to take the glass half full approach from what has turned out to be a shite day.

Miles Storey is the answer

Done his hamstring again though.

That is a sad statement.  He's been a good player, very effective, but if he reached my top 20 list in my time of watching I'd be pushing him too high.  I'm not saying he wasn't one of the best in recent years, but the late80's and early 90's had entire teams better than him.  I'd still say Ward was a better player than him by a long way when he was here.

Could be good on the wing. Thompson and Macca would also have potential.

After Troy's successful spell in CM I think putting him at RM could be good, he has all the natural attributes required for a winger.

Inability to pass? Oh wait, its a piss take. definitely bed time!

Fuck him. We're gonna have the last laugh. Di Canio will make sure of it.

He'll be gone by Monday.

And if he does i'll fuck him by tuesday.

Wes is our best player, and a game changer at that.

 :soapy tit wank:Definitely! If Wes were to be sold then....................I can't even begin to imagine  :(

I'd like to add how happy I am that we've played Bmuff twice this season already.

Too deflated now, "you build them up and you knock them down". If this is another complete fuck up then i'm out!

Upset he's gone and surprised to bmuff and the shit price , but i  will be more worried if others start to go and obviously PDC . When  ( ritchie )  first joined you could see how much better he was than the players around him and you could see he was 5 seconds in front from playing at a higher level , but the players around him have adapted  and we have a much better team ( squad ) than the last time we  were in this league and i dont think we will miss him as much as we might think  and even though he got player of  the year last season i wouldnt of had him in my top 5  for Swindon  let alone the whole division . Anyway good luck Matt you ballboy beating cunt .

Watch us end up landing Bournemouth in the play offs and Ritchie netting the winner :(

My 8 year old ad on hearing the news:

"Bournemouth? Did you say Bournemouth"..."Did we get loads of money?"....."then why?"

Welcome to supporting STFC son. The two Wembley visits and promotion were the oddity, the relegation and panic selling on the cheap seem far more normal.

I've slept on it, and while I understand there may not have been much financial choice I'm no less pissed off the sale went through yesterday for such little money.

Glad you did. I had one of those nights when all I could envisage was Wes, Ferry et al leaving today along with PDC.

Given yesterdays events we all have that. Hopefully selling Ritchie prevents it, and to be honest I may not be able to stomach a blow like that.

The way I see look at it is this... His sale was never going to be popular, and the fact the publicised fee appears so low makes it worse BUT without this sale the takeover would not have gone through and the club would have been facing admin and a major points deduction from the FL (and you can guarantee we would have been spanked worse than Luton by them) so here's the rub... Ritchie's sale may appear cheap but despite his skills and talent we didn't have big teams knocking our door down to buy him... The only team to make an offer was Bournemouth and they wanted him badly.

So what would you rather?

keep Ritchie and get 20 point deduction and embargo

Sell Ritchie, save the club and have the opportunity to bring a replacement

Gutted that Ritchie has gone to one of our rivals for such a paltry amount of money, it hurts and if it does mean our season goes off the rails then many of us will be really pissed off.

However, if as has been mention Black et a have written off almost £10 million of debt then they deserve a huge amount of credit and thanks from town fans.  Look at where we were 6 years ago, this group of owners are the reason we have a club, they gave us stability, a championship and we are in a much stronger position both on and off the pitch than we've been in years. 

Black seems to have lost a fair amount of money in the past year, has got desperate to sell but has done us a huge favour by writing off this debt.  Thanks Andrew Black

 

I can certainly see that side of it MacPhlea.

If there was a funding gap that had to be bridged I understand this was probably the easiest way of achieving that.

The main concern has to be the long term stability of the club and so a successful takeover eliminating worries of administration was the more important issue for me.

Having said that, the nature of Ritchie's departure, the destination and the fee can't help but rankle, could never have envisaged his leaving for a club below the Championship, and for such a derisory sum.

Mixed emotions, but at least we've still got a club who are unbeaten in 8 and 3rd in the league to fret about transfer wise today, and then go and support on Saturday for our customary 3-0 victory against Crawley.

I would say you are probably right, it's the not knowing that has been the problem. I explained this exact scenario to my wife at 1am!

Ain't that the truth...though another way of looking at it is we sold Ritchie for £10.5m

Hopefully PDC will be given the wonga for a replacement. We may even get in a loanee better than Rtchie.

Good point :nod:

I still fail to see why selling Ritchie was a prerequisite to getting the take over done.

All those money men could have come up with something better.

35 pages and the most irritating thing about this whole thing for me? The spelling of fucking 'Matt Richie'

Aside from that, I am a little narked at having sold him at what I think is below the going rate. I think a fee nearer 1 million would have been more realistic.

But, lets hold on until 11pm today and see who is brought in. Clearly Rooney, RDV and Roberts are now our only wingers and this isn't going to be enough to continue our promotion 'charge'. The ideal scenario is that Roberts replaces Ritchie like for like and starts to come good.

Strange, but the worst performance in a town shirt was away at Bmuff.

He wasn't much cop at Orient either....heads gone!!!!!!

Probably a blip though, he will do well for them.

I would fucking love it if we turn them over this season somehow.

BBC Wilts understand deal was sanctioned by old and new boards.

Well that raises lots of questions and answers none!

If it was required to bridge a funding gap, it would suggest the new lot aren't exactly flushed with cash. Brilliant.

I'll be amazed if anyone comes in. I'm just hoping we dont lose Williams,Collins and Fods.

Exactly!

End of the month and paydays, if contracts were only exchanged lates last night it will take a couple of days for everything to go through. Mr Black certainly wouldnt be paying them, and I doubt if anyone has 75k cash in an envelope to cover bills until then.

Playoffs

Wish we could fast forward to 11pm!!!!

Broke before we start - triffic Rodney

I was under the impression that the club were 'ahead of their budget' - which means to me that the day to day running costs were being more than covered by club generated income.

Virtually all clubs run a bank overdraft - which we apparently did not - so surely if there was a dire need for some form of external short term funding, why not ask the bank.

Surely Black didn't empty his pockets each and every month to cover any shortfall

Last night my 6 year old learned that football can be sad. He has idolised MR for the last 20 months. Always trying to emulate him when playing football. He kept calling to Richie on Tuesday night at LO. This Saturday he is mascot for town and was so excited about meeting MR. He is so sad this morning. Heartbroken. Gutted for him and Town.

Coyr

I am not sure that we budgeted for an operating profit. I think that is exactly what Black has been doing, hence his will to get out.

We had a few wobbly lips in our house this morning too, MR. My youngest couldn't understand why we'd sell him to promotion rivals (and why he'd go) "because they're not even better"

Yes he did unfortunately - I believe Black was funding the club to the tune of £250k a month or so.

In 20 years time, I wonder if these same children will be saying..."same old Swindon, I remember when we sold Matt Ritchie for nothing in 2013."

As a father, that's the legacy of misery and disappointment I've been very much hoping to bequeath to my children, yes

I'm going to copy this from an e-mail sent by my friend Matt (not that one) to the London Reds mailing list.

Yesterday I felt I was back in a science lesson in March 1995, reading in disbelief the words £1.3 mil on the back of a copy of the Adver 'liberated' from the school staff room.

Today I feel better.  It seems it was Black who sanctioned the Ritchie sale, not the new lot.  If he wanted half a mil back after writing off a 10 mil loss who can blame him?

Which is a very fair point.  We still know next to nothing about the new lot (other than JedMac's writing skills not being up to much).  Still massively disappointed about the Ritchie sale, but have to sit back and wait.  Whatever happens, it's going to have bugger all to do with anything any of us say or do.  Que sera, sera.

Nothing we can do about the fact that he has gone. If he wanted to go, then its best he's gone. If he had to go to sustain the club then so be it. (Remember PDC talking a couple of weeks ago about a scenario where one player was sacrificed to improve the team) The thing that seems a little odd is the amount that we got for him. All that I can think is:
- There is something in the deal that hasn't been disclosed yet (e.g A player [Mention of Bournemouth having lots of competition on the wing in the intervierw with Ritchie] coming in the other direction or contribution to wages of another player?)
- PDC has a replacement lined up (Maybe Wright Phillips on loan if yesterday's rumour is correct)
- Caddis to come back and play right wing? Or maybe to be sold to give us a bit more cash?
- Maybe defender coming in [from Bournemouth?] to act as cover at the back and release McCormack to play on the right?

I guess we'll find out soon.

I've heard rumours we are trying to bring in Jermaine Mcglashan as a replacement, not sure if he is any good or not

I haven't told my 8-year-old yet. He IS Matt Ritchie with his Swindon top in his Paris football team, to the bemusement of the other kids, and his front line at table football consists of Ronaldo-Messi-Ritchie. Think I'll wait till after 11pm before I try to wean him onto Andy Williams...

I saw him against Everton and he wasn't great. Maybe a straight swap for Rooney?

Why? You want him to follow Bristol City? :-(

I heard a rumour, no names, no players, and nothing to do with the club.

I think you have to accept we've got what we've got: £500k plus sell-on (Sky are even reporting the fee as £400k!). We needed the cash very quickly, and only one club was making a firm offer - they held all the cards. It's a rubbish deal, but Black was prepared to sacrifice the difference for the sake of funding the transition.

I suppose the other thing to bear in mind is the timing of the payment, I assume that we have got this cash immediately if its funding the bridge, wheras normally if we had got more it would have been spread over a prolonged period of time - Just a thought like.

Broke the news to my 7 yr old this morning.  He has 'Ritchie 10' printed on his new home shirt, only just got it for Christmas. He walked out with Matt Ritchie at the pre season game against Supermarine. He was his footballing hero in every sense of the word. After 10 minutes of tears he has decided he wants Collins 9 on his shirt, I hope we don't sell him too or he will need counselling  :cry:

That's the spin I'm putting on it as well - now all we need to is hold on to Williams then it won't seem quite so bad....please.....let us hold on to Williams :headhurts:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u75XQdTxZRc

Reminds me of this. Good bit of business STFC

I remember my Dad waking me up early morning in 1992 telling me that Duncan Shearer had signed for Blackburn for £800,000. I was 10, and devastated.

No, as has been said several times and seems to be over looked by all, it implies the club is in limbo, with neither the new or old owners able to provide funding.

Black is STILL the owner until the league approve the deal and wants no further part, so money needs to come from somewhere. The new owner likewise can't put money into something he doesn't own. Makes sense to me.

A lamentable day indeed, I was 10 also at the time. Does anyone know if Duncan has ever returned to the club as a guest? Hope he harbours fond memories towards us.

Ditto. I had to explain that this is what happens when you are a fan of a smaller club. I told him that he has a choice - to be part of a smaller club like Swindon or go a follow a big team with lots of money like Man City or Chelsea.

He looked at me with tears in his eyes and resolutely announced "I am NOT changing teams daddy".

Which creditors wouldn't wait the few days to get paid though. I'm sure there's more to this than "having" to sell for cashflow issues. Also aren't most transfer fees paid in instalments anyway.

Agree that off the pitch and on it, we are only spectators. That doesn't mean we have no role to play if things aren't to our liking (viz the Trust in the past). It's no coincidence that attendances have been on an upward curve during the recent period of stability. If we go back to being a basket-case, they'll quickly drop away again. That's our shareholding that the board have an interest in protecting.

Cash up front may have been part of the deal (hence why it was so low) and Bournemouth may have been the only team able/willing to do that.

Pretty much this too,

It was wobbly lip time in our house this morning, then the wife told me to man the fuck up and tell the boy

I thought you were going to take an internet holiday Ardiles?

My dad is on holiday in Devon and I doubt he will have any idea what is going on. He's in for a bit of a surprise when he gets back tomorrow.

Couldn't agree more (about the longer term influence of the Trust etc.)  Just feel like a bit of a bystander this week, that's all.

This 'Matt' sounds a reasoned, and dare I say it, wise man.

I've got all this to come. My boy is 4 and is surrounded by smug kids in their Swansea City shirts. He still wears his Swindon shirt when he goes to football though.

Not sure whether to ensure he follows Swindon (and offer him a life full of heart-ache) like my Dad did to me, or suggest he follows his home town team.

Oh, he is.  He is.

God I'd nearly forgotten how shit it could be to be a Swindon fan. Hardly the best start to the new owner's tenure. I still remember being a 9 year old sat in my Dad's car on the way home and hearing about the financial difficulties at the club, and that George Ndah was being sold to Wolves. But at least we got 1mill for him...

Hopeless at finding his way from a station to a pub though.

Yay! Yet more maybe's. And why couldn't we just make the creditors who are due payment wait a couple more days? I am seriously worried.

Oh and it's your boys choice. Has to be Town all the way though. Bewster's boy is "da man"

Good players come, good players go. There will be other Ritchies and Austins. I appreciate what he's done for us and I am very grateful, I will also miss the 30 yard screamers. However, the fact remains we are Swindon and we go on regardless, we shall adapt and adjust and make the best of the situation (far from ideal as it is). I trust PDC and his team to replace as he sees fit, I also feel we've got the strength in depth to cope whilst such a replacement is sought.

The season isn't over folks, not yet not by a long stretch.

:clap:

His choice?! I never had a choice in the matter, why should he?!

(No need to thank me.)  ;)

Haha. Me neither. Keep him on the straight and narrow too then.

Oh no he isn't..

See you round, Ritchie. Admire the guy for sticking with it last season, scored some utterly stupid goals and earned himself a move. Whether this was the right one or not remains to be seen and whether he actually wanted it or is a mystery.

Bloke couldn't get his name sung for love nor money but I imagine there'll be a rendition of "one Matt Ritchie" before Crawley this weekend.

I don't know his excuse obviously, but I'd imagine it was Apple Maps fault.

Some one should paint L and R on his shoes ala Jimmy Cricket. They dress more or less the same so no one would notice.

Just wondering Which part of Swansea you live? Parents used to live in Manselton  :D

I'm not a million miles away. I live in Ynystawe on the East side. I'm Swansea born and bred but my Dad grew up in Swindon.

Hopefully be down there in a few weeks time got some family research to do

My 9 year old doesn't have the name on his shirt, in fact after a similar 10 mins worth of crying announced 'I'm glad I haven't got his name on my shirt' .  This was followed up by 'Why would we sell Matt Ritchie to Bournemouth? Who will play in his place, our other wingers are rubbish.  That's it, we won't go up now'.  Perfectly reasonable questions and observations that I was unable to answer.

After a night's sleep, I am still completely pissed off with the situation.

I didn't know we were a one man team.

Its all my fault. Found two programmes stuffed in the bottom of my work bag this morning, one of Benson, one on Ritchie. my bag appears to be the end of swindon careers...

We're not, but take out Ritchie's goals and assists this season and we'd have a lot less points than we've got.

And this is a 9 year old talking, although I do slightly agree!

Yet somebody else would have been playing in that position. Some, if not all, of those goals and assists would have been replaced by another player.

jsut seen a pic of MR training with muff..already!...must be weird for a pro footballer to chop and change like that...imgaine one day having a compeltely new set of work mates...having to re build relationships, be pally with them etc...

Can you find the one with Roberts on the front?

http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/article/mattritchiesale-630167.aspx

Nice to finally get an explanation.

Must feel like shit I would've thought, we ask players to show loyalty and passion for the shirt then treat them no better than cattle as some part of a takeover bid he's not even party to, for a knock down price.

So basically Black is or was unwilling to fund the club even for a short period whilst the new lot take over.

batch was spot on......however, I still question whether selling MR was like a sledgehammer to crack a nut...surely funds could be found from somewhere to fuind the running of the club for a few days?

Think the club could have released the statement a bit sooner than they did

I imagine the conversation went something like...

Black - Well I am buggered if I am going to fund for another month after taking this hit!
New Owners (cannot believe we have got to fit and proper persons test stage and don't know who the grinder is behind the monkey) - Well we ain't funding it whilst it doesn't belong to us!

What I still don't get is why it suddenly became the most urgent thing ever to sell immediately, either Patey didn't get a sale as quick as he was supposed to or something has happened with Black that means he needs out quickly?

But that does not explain why we sold him so cheap,

If the new owners do not forsee any problems with the Director Tests why could they not put the required money in now if they expect to take control imminently

Why is the money needed so quick could it not have waited a few days until the takeover had been ratified

Oh and lastly,

Why are they not prepared to releases the names of who is in this consoritum it seems a bit cloke and dagger

The new owners might have refused as they are officially not yet in control. Wouldn't surprise me if that pissed Black off so he said if "you aren't going to fund it we'll have to sell a player or there's no deal".

I want to go back to the days fo Statement Thursdays/Fridays so this new lot are showing a lot of promise.

But where.... my one previous hope was that Wray/Fitton were still involved and if so they could fund, but with such a clean break there will always be this abeyance. I would normally expect those incoming to pay into a holding account on the understanduing that would be repaid if it didn't proceed, but I assume things were so bad this wasn't an option?

I also assume someone has buggered up the Caddis loan so we cant recall as he may have been a better and less damaging sale option.

Think someone mentioend it earlier but perhaps Bournemouth agreed to pay the bulk up front rather than over installments. 

Agreed. I still want to know which creditors weren't prepared to wait a few days (while the takeover goes through) for their money. My guess is the Richie money (if indeed we have been transferred it) will be used to pay the rest of the players this month as it's pay day today. This seems very worrying to me.

Oh fuck i sound like Reg!

Nobody is happy the Ritchie has sold. I expect we all wish that a better alternative was found.

However, to see idiots calling the board cunts (and not in the TEF way) over it makes me wish I could upload myself to be downloaded at their end where I could have a 'chat' with them

A shame an agreement couldn't be made instead of offloading Ritchie

Anyhow, doesn't seem like he really wanted to go. So up yours Muff

Ritchie was good for us but he ain't Messi so I am sure we can manage without him.

Just wanna beat Bmuff to promotion and leave him behind in League 1.

That would be awesome and if PDC stays is quite likely to happen.

Cheap as I believe they were the only offer received and as I said previously I suspect they played hard ball as they knew we needed the cash immediately - I suspect we would have got more if we could accept staged payments as per a normal deal.

The issue of fair and proper test has crossed my mind as well....

I don't believe you can cancel a season long loan. It's set in stone for the duration.

Shouldn't have sanctioned it then.

There are not creditors as far as I understand - this was cash flow pure and simple!

Ummm, sorry but if you owe money to someone then they are a "creditor" whether it be an individual (e.g. a player) or a company. What else do you use "cash" for?

Don't think PDC will be that upset at this as he always said in recent interviews he was planning already and it might be he had to sacrifice one player. Ritchie was a good player but not the be all and end all and if anyone can replace him Paolo can!

Not that simple. You might owe someone £100k now and be owed £200k that you're not being paid until next week. Technically (and according to the books) you're worth £100k, but in the short term your cash flow is fucked and you're broke.

There is usually a break clause inserted so the player can be recalled or sent back to his club in January

I feel sad for Ritchie in so much that he was sacrificed to keep us afloat, i don't think he had much choice in the decision and interestingly the photo of him with the Bournemouth shirt doesn't make him look overjoyed to be there. He was a great player for us and put everything into Swindon Town. On the other hand i totally understand why it was done and am so relieved the club is not in administration. Ultimately one player doesn't make a team so hopefully today's new signings can get us this seasons aim of promotion.

Hmm the statement just says what we knew, we needed the cash badly and this was the only option. Lets be honest, it was the only explanation given the low fee and expedited procedure.

What we don't and won't know till later is:-
    - is that it re: player sales.
    - why the consortium couldn't fund a bridging loan*
    - what PDC thinks
    - Whether the club sale is "anyone will do" or has a good long term future
    - who the new perspective owners are
    - and many many more.

* to some extent, why would they. But they have lost an asset and this doesn't suggest to me they are minted (or minted right now).

When I look back to the deep dark days I'd be delighted with how things stand right now. But having tasted success, its all a bit disappointing. Though clearly that feeling can change.

If you want to descend into semantics then you are possibly correct. However if you were a player with a mortgage to pay would you delay payment on the off chance that you get paid, equally Black who has essentially given the club £10m understandably didnt want to bung them another half mill for luck.

You need cash to pay people, simple as that.

Exactly. Board probably told him we'd have to go into admin unless he left.

If the Russians get bored then AFCB are going to have to have a massive sell-off so wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him back here with us.

Yeah It's a lot brighter today, and even though I bet the poor sods were locked in a room for 24 hours thrashing the deal out, a pity 30 seconds wasnt found to explain, as they have this morning.

His interview that Samdy put up with him sat in the radio studio certainly, showed that he didn't seem overjoyed with the decision but ultimately it was out of his hands. He wasn't exactly doing cartwheels down the studio and decreeing his love for AFC Bournemouth. It wouldn't surprise me if he got sent off on his debut in frustration.

My take on it is that Black has been saying since Fitton left I want out this has gone on for months with Wray securing funds from Black who continually is saying no more. I am guessing that Wray and Watkins had been charged with finding new owners but in the meantime were still promising funds to PDC. AB has said around the time of the Umbargo that is it and got SWP in to sell the club and also stop the spending, in the meantime AB has lost a lot on the stock exchange and other investments so STFC is the obvious thing to remove from his portfolio as it is never going to show a return.. AB has set a 1st of Feb deadline to SWP with a definitive no more money whatever passed this date.
Now this is where it gets scary for me if we are supposedly under the 65% FFP rules and revenues are up how have we got a situation where a rumoured 50k per week is needed to stave off admin surely this is against those rules which is all very baffling. We can only hope that there is someone in the new consortium that can fund that shortfall for the foreseeable future until some the player contracts are up for renewal in the summer. Jeremy Wary was very open to a mate of mine when he met him 3 weeks ago telling him that things were not rosy , possible admin and talking to new prospective owners but I just dismissed it at the time as trying to wind me up. As long as we keep PDC that has to be the priority ,the next few days are certainly going to be interesting once the new consortium members are revealed .

Happens to be Franchi$e v Muff on Saturday, big game for the play off positions!

and even more so now that it appears richie was essentially sacrificed for the sake of the club..you have to feel a little sympathy for him and the whole upheaval he has faced...

then again, maybe he doesnt give a shit, and just enjoys playing week in week out, wherever it is..who fookin knows.

i don't understand why Black is flat out refusing to finance the club? i can understand if he's fed up of pouring money in, but if it's a case of covering running costs until the takeover came through could the two parties not have negotiated a deal? didn't Bill Power do this during his failed takeover attempt?

i still think the sale of Ritichie to a promotion rival for such a low fee is bad business, short sighted and doesn't fill me with confidence but appreciate the fact this sale could keep us in business.

what happens if the deal collapses, which is still possible at this late stage? what happens if the FL refuse to ratify it?

the statement from the club today is 12 hours too late. very surprised at it being released in hindsight given the current/old board had developed a reputation for transparency and foresight.

I would imagine the problem with a bridging loan is the issue of security. Swindon resides with a holding company, the current major shareholder clearly is unwilling to underwrite the risk, and as the new shareholders have not yet had approval they obviously can't provide security especially given that the threat of administration was hanging over our heads.

Nor I suspect would they be willing to pump in their own money, given that the takeover hasn't been officially approved. Ritchie's sale therefore was the only means to meet the salary obligations at the end of the month if nothing else

I agree, I would suggest the lack of transparency is down to the uncertainty surrounding the club. Patey has no experience of communicating with fans and was brought in to get the club sold so probably doesn't care about keeping us informed. I'd also argue that most of the current employees were/are in the dark as well.

I think he's a huge loss, I also think the club offered him to Bournemouth.  :badmood:

Shame Austin wasnt sold in the last few days so could get our share of that.

That would have solved this funding gap issue

Spilled milk. Finished. Over.....What's coming next?

Reg was right.

THE END IS NIGH

Wouldn't it piss you off if Austin did go today for stupid money, and we got a sell on equal to greater then money for selling Ritchie.

what happens if the deal collapses, which is still possible at this late stage? what happens if the FL refuse to ratify it?

What happens is a player was sold to cover us now and if this happens would be my guess, part cash flow, part Insurance.

my point was what happens beyond that - if we have a wage bill of 250k per month, the Ritchie sale will surely only cover us for a month

If I were a 'silent partner' I wouldn't throw any cash at the club until the deal was ratified and completed - it would be a bit like paying money for substantial repairs on a house on which you have just exchanged contracts - if the deal falls through you have lost your money.  Doing it this way means neither party loses out...

As someone alluded to a number of days ago, buying a football club is just like buying a house...

Except for the club who lose a good player well under value. There's plenty of ways of doing this that protects both parties, so long as both parties are serious - put the money in an escrow account as an insurance against the FL blocking the deal for example. Unless you haven't got it, of course

Sounds like the new owners were unwilling to put in money (silent investors) until the deal is ratified. It's like paying for repairs on a house that you are waiting to have the mortgage approved for. Black drew a line in the sand and said no more beyond January. The only way the club could operate and pay wages was to sell Matt Ritchie. Im gonna be positive and think that these new owners are confident once the deal is ratified that they can make amends for this loss. The other scenario is that this consortium doesn't have a pot to p*ss in and they will keep the club just alive (with it being self funding) and gradually sell the good players off and cream a little off for themselves each time. This way they have not lost anything and financially gained themselves. They declare us insolvent and administrators walk in and sell the club or wind it up. I'm hoping for the former.

That's not what silent partner (I assume that's what you meant) means

At this level there is nothing to 'cream off' - only a couple of clubs turn a profit in the FL. They would be pretty foolish if they thought so.
I will await judgement until we here from them or their spokesperson

Ummm sorry but i was only responding to you descending into semantics.

Fuck me i know you need money to pay people. My question is why so desperately? If the takeover is actually likely to be ratified in the next few days then i'm sure most players/people would understand. If not tough in the short term anyway. We wouldn't be the first club to defer payment of wages for a week.

Obviously players have mortgages and outgoings but you make it sound like the club had to give them a choice. It might piss them off a little but just tell them they're being paid this time next week. Most (if not all) would go along with it i'm sure.

Not sure why they couldn't have guaranteed any advance against future player sales, or ticket sales.

But on the other hand, after Black got the club on the straight and narrow maybe he didn't want to do anything that could risk the club going bad again. So the only option was to sell quickly before the window closes. Having said that, why not wait until today on the off chance Austin goes or Birmingham get the cash to buy Caddis?

Thanks but i know how cash flow works.

Been worrying me too sonic. Bizarrely, I'm taking that as a positive sign that they must have at least some sort of cash behind them and/or a decent plan or they won't reach the end of the season. And that would be just too ridiculous even for us, wouldn't it?

Wonder if they went to Burnley to see if they would buy out the sell on clause? Say he's valued (likely to be sold) at £8m and they paid us £2m with a sell on clause of 15%, it's worth £900k. Could have said give us £400k now to buy it out.

Southampton did the same thing with Arsenal for Walcott when they were in the shit.

Might have been worth a shot. Although Arsenal do have a little more money than Burnley to throw around, despite Arsene's apparent reluctance to spend it.

No that's not what I meant. Part of the consortium ( investor ) but not on the board. As I understand it it is these men that have the cash. These were the individuals that were not willing to put in the money until it the deal was ratified which is understandable. That's what I meant.

Huh? Did I miss that?

Think we've all missed that. It's yet to be demonstrated that anyone has the cash

True. But amid the speculation and rumour, the one concrete line we got on the subject from the club themselves is good enough for me until proven otherwise.

Clubs with a "strong financial base" do not panic sell players to pay bills.

It may be that the club will have a strong financial base once the takeover is formally completed but the sale of Ritchie is a very clear indication that either the sale is going to take a while yet to be completed, or the new owners are not prepared to inject as much cash as the previous ones.

If we have a wage bill of £250k per month we should be able to pay at least most of it from the clubs own income. The clubs turnover should be well over £250k.

Going by the most recent accounts I have seen we are probably losing a fair bit per month but Id be shocked if it was anywhere near £250k. £100k I could believe, in which case the sale would cover the shortfall for the remainder of the season without needing any more cash from the owners.

The £250k wage bill only refers to the playing staff, the total wage bill (ie all staffing costs) is around £400k a month (well it was in the 10/11 accounts). Think the monthly loses are more likely around £150k a month, again based on recent accounts.

I think we will be able to buy him for next to nothing when Boremuff eventually go bust sooner rather than later.

I bet promotion to the Championship is worth more than 400k

Black was putting £250k a month in to keep the books balanced this season.

Really? That sounds high. So that's a £3 million pound loss for the year. Where did that figure get reported?

^madness

A general comment on the state of football finances...I dont know why anyone bothers, when and how are they aver going to see a return on their investment?

Where did that figure come from? It would mean we're losing £3m a season, don't think we've gone much above £2m before. It also doesn't stack up with the last few years, based on the increased owings we've been losing on average £1.5m a season.

The £250k a week comment has been around for weeks, I think SWP said it at the time AB wanted to sell up. That was our wagebill, so that may only cover players, management and staff...who knows about simple things like electricity and gas bills...could be more/could be less

It's only been around "for weeks" in reference to the wage bill as you say. There's a massive difference between a wage bill and a shortfall.

Dont forget we will have to pay SWP bonus for selling the club, loyalty bonus to Ritchie, agent fee's for Ritchie, auditors fee's inc late night working ot be able to fax clubs with available players so out of the 400,000 we will get we will probably have around 50,000 to keep us afloat

Not forgetting Portsmouths cut

It kind of doesn't matter though does it? The new owners will have seen the books before agreeing to exchange contracts (presumably!). So they will know how much it will cost to fund the club to the end of the season.

Ritchie, unfortunately, had to be sold to fund the small gap between Black pulling the financial plug and the new ownership structure being in place.

The fact that we're then signing players today would indicate that they aren't just looking to slash the wage bill to minimise that shortfall.

Not in dreamland, and more details are certainly needed about the club's financial position post-takeover, but may as well look forward rather than back.

Sorry I'm a bit late with this, can't type for tears.  Matt looks confused dazed & generally buggered in the video clip, he can hardly string his sentences together. (yeah I know he isn't the most eloquent of speakers at the best of times). If he'd have gone to a bigger better club I could be happy for him, but I'm not, I am heart broken. I will miss him so much. Earlier I felt like cutting up my no 10 shirt and posting it to him at BM, but now I can see it wasn't his decision and I can't blame him. He's been sacrificed like a lamb. I can't even wish him well because of where he's gone and their horrible smug fans who are so pleased to have him.  Makes me literally sick. The thought of never seeing him in a Town shirt again makes me cry.  What a shit shit day. (btw I am a young female fan who has met him on several occaisions hense the high emotions - hopefully I'll feel better soon )  :cry:

oh jesus, 75 pages

45. Eyesight going mex?

i meant in response to the post at the top of the page, let the vultures circle

Sorry if this already been posted (and I know it has over the past few weeks) but how the fuck are Bournemouth still under the wage cap? They're throwing cash around left, right and centre! I get stadium sponsorship etc, but they've spent a fair whack and I imagine their wage bill must be big! Is it Championship or bust this season for them?  :hmmm:

Either I've fallen for a wind-up or..... he's been bought on as a left back.

Yep, replaced Elphick. Although Elphick may be playing midfield

I'm sure I've asked this many a time, to no avail, but I was sure he was described as a left back (able to play as an attacking winger) when we bought him.