Diamandis slams Trust

Whole article now up. Next part in tomorrow's Adver.

Swindon Advertiser Sports Pages

SWINDON TOWN: 'Trust's bid is utter nonsense'

Friday 22nd December 2006

Mike Diamandis, advisor to Swindon Town's majority shareholders, the Wills family, emerges from the shadows to talk to Advertiser sports editor Steve Butt.

SWINDON Town's mystery man Mike Diamandis has experienced more lows than highs since joining the football club's ugly fight for survival.

For over a decade the Newbury-based businessman's only interest at Swindon Town was to service the football club's printing and publishing needs.

But back in 2000, when the club was left in financial turmoil following the departure of Ian Blatchly and Danny Donegan, the Greek's role at the club changed significantly.

In the years that followed he helped oversee two periods of administration and saw a Willie Carson-led consortium force out Donegan & Co through the High Court.

Diamandis, a long-term and close personal friend of majority shareholder Sir Seton Wills, was asked to help rescue the club from death.

Even the man himself finds it hard to describe his exact job title at the County Ground but he maintains that he is purely an advisor to Sir Seton Wills and the football club.

And, talking to the Swindon Advertiser for the first time during his long-standing relationship with the club, Diamandis has:

# SLAMMED TrustSTFC and their fans' consortium takeover bid.

# DEFENDED his financial dealings at and away from the County Ground.

# REVEALED how he has restructured the club's precarious finances.

A confusing last few weeks has finally seen TrustSTFC submit their proposal to takeover the club.

But having consulted with the club's lawyer Trevor Watkins, Diamandis slammed the proposals and questioned the merit of TrustSTFC's sole existence.

Speaking at his Newbury home, Diamandis said: "I personally feel that the most demoralising, and negative influence in the football club is the TrustSTFC board.

"I believe it serves no purpose and I believe that the recent farce that they are heading up a bid to raise the money (to take over the club) is the biggest load of nonsense I have ever read."

Going back to the initial fall-out between the club and TrustSTFC, Diamandis expressed his disappointment at the way the fans group acted, saying: "I spoke to Paul Davis at length on many occasions but he insisted on a full board meeting.

"So I set up a full board meeting and everyone was there including Sir Seton Wills and we all listened to him again for hours "And really we just don't feel we have got anywhere with TrustSTFC, not the supporters, but the TrustSTFC board.

"For many, many years we know that their membership was only 200 people.

"So for a football club with an average attendance of 7,000 that's not really a material amount of people.

"Recently they've done a deal to join for a pound a head and I think now they are up to 600. But I feel it is a group that is more reflective of an old fashioned shop steward movement where a man stands up and shouts the odds and everyone puts their hands up.

"They always finish any criticism of Sir Seton's' board to say that the only person they really dislike is Mike Diamandis.

"A peace talk was organised by Cliff Puffett and they all sat down and Sir Seton spelled out to them that he had 100 per cent faith in his board and that they spoke for him.

"A two-line statement was agreed to be put out and that would be it but Paul Davis couldn't resist it, on his website was his full interpretation of the meeting.

"He didn't say in that statement that Sir Seton had absolute faith in his board so I felt the obligation to respond on behalf of the club."

Diamandis has been the subject of fierce criticism from some fans' sections and while he admits the comments hurt him, he branded it garbage'.

On TrustSTFC's takeover bid Diamandis says they must provide evidence of their means to take the club forward.

"Bill Power was given all the financial information to invest in our football club, he has it now, it hasn't changed much," added Diamandis, who holds a third stake in the holding company of the football club.

"I don't know why they need due diligence. If only they showed us they had any money.

"We did brief the Trust before their AGM but they have just gone on their own crusade. My private, genuine concern is who are they? I don't know how much money they have got.

"They showed me a photocopy of an unnamed person who has an high network account but whether it is £100,000 or millions of pounds I don't know. I dont know who it is. We are supposed to believe that this photocopy is proof of funds of an unnamed person who may or may not be Bill Power.

"Sir Seton Wills is from an old Wiltshire family, a family that was asked to become involved when the club had all of its troubles 10 years ago.

"Sir Seton actually played on the County Ground as a kid and I'm delighted about that.

"I just think that anyone that wants to replace that family, with anyone of less worth is mad.

"I also cannot see why we should have a member of the Supporters Trust on the board.

"There are many supporters groups which we have set up monthly meetings with to keep them all informed with what is going on.

"The main supporters group have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds and haven't criticised at all anywhere in the public arena."

Much of the criticism directed at Diamandis is that he pulls all the strings at the County Ground - an accusation he vehemently denies.

"My role at the club is where any board-type decisions are made by all the members of the board I would attend with everybody else.

"Other than that, if anything else happens which is unusual I would be involved in that process - whatever that is.

"That would range from the replacement of Dennis Wise, the leaving of Dennis etc.

"Again with Paul Sturrock, I spoke to him while he was on holiday and after I put the phone down I said to my wife I think we've just done a deal with Paul Sturrock'.

"I can't describe it any other way to you because the football club runs itself.

"It makes all its decisions within its budgetary structure.

"Occasionally I would be asked a point of view but we have a weekly meeting where we discuss everything together, usually at Newbury.

"The attendees of that meeting are all of the managers and I generally meet Paul Sturrock once a week, which is something Paul has introduced, not myself.

"It's something Paul did with his old chairman and I think it's great.

"Since we have had all this struggle I understand the club has a media meeting every day. That's how we do it at the moment."

And as for his dealings at the club, Diamandis insists he has always acted in the club's best interest. He claims he has consistently raised around £750,000 every year he has been balancing Town finances.

Diamandis says he is also proud of several transfer deals he has negotiated including Sam Parkin's move to Ipswich, the deal taking Rory Fallon to Swansea and compensation for Dennis Wise leaving to join Leeds.

"In the last 12 months I have done two of the best transfers in the Football league, raised £1million from Bill Power, not bad to keep the football club going."

And he wants to assure fans that he believes he has nothing to hide from the Department of Trade and Industry's reported investigation into his financial affairs.

"I don't have anything in relation to the DTI," claimed Diamandis.

"An ex-employee of mine who I am involved with in serious mitigation has put a bundle of papers together which relate to the past. He was unaware I had taken legal advice on the matter and he sent it off (to the DTI). I had contact with the DTI because of this letter that is doing the rounds. And they are very upset that their letter to him is being circulated.

"I believe in 1993 I kept trading for 18 months while my balance sheets were insolvent and I filed my balance sheets 18 months too late.

"And for that I got into trouble - it was not and is not a criminal act.

"If I had committed manslaughter I believe that I would be more protected by the publicity laws and human rights laws than I am about a small misdemeanour which was not a criminal offence and is being maximised by my adversaries, who are fighting over land.

"This is what this is all about, land. This is not about football.

"They (DTI) get three whistleblowers a day, so that's a thousand a year.

"They are busy chasing people who are still disqualified.

"The guy I spoke to at the DTI said We didn't know when we spoke to you that you had already been investigated'.

"He said We can't give you an absolute there's nothing there but we don't think there is'.

"As far as I'm concerned there is nothing going on in my life."

11:01am today