Diamandis slams Trust

Second part now online.

Swindon Advertiser Sports Pages

Diamandis is confident

Saturday 23rd December 2006

MIKE Diamandis claims Swindon Town Football Club's future is bright, writes STEVE BUTT.

He also revealed that he now considers the club's accounts to be almost up to date' and declared that the looming CVA payment is under control'.

And as the man who acts as an advisor to the football club's majority shareholder Sir Seton Wills he is excited about taking Swindon Town to the next level by emulating local rivals Reading Football Club.

He insists Town are a better product' than Reading were when they moved from Elm Park to the Madesjki Stadium and revealed that the club still intends for property developers St Modwen to play a key part in any redevelopment.

The Newbury-based businessman also said that he would love to be at the helm when Swindon Town Football Club was turned into a rich' brand.

He said: "If we can make the whole thing work, why would I give it up?

"I would like to stop worrying about the club going bust.

"So my ambition for Swindon really is to be a successful Football League club, that is self-funded and to regenerate where the County Ground is, a facility to emulate a 20,000-seater stadium, hotel and conferencing, maybe a theatre."

11:27am today

Swindon Advertiser Sports Pages

My vision for Town's future

Saturday 23rd December 2006

By Steve Butt

MIKE Diamandis predicts a bright future is on the horizon for Swindon Town Football Club although he admits the thought of failure scares him.

After years of juggling the books Diamandis claims the prospect of a new super stadium in Swindon is closer than ever but he insists that a cash investor is needed to see the project through.

With speculation linking several takeover bids for the club, Diamandis concedes that both he and majority shareholder Sir Seton Wills may not be at the helm for much longer but the Newbury-based businessman insists that the club will only be sold if they find the right people to take the club forward.

Speaking publicly for the first time since becoming an advisor to the club and the Wills family back in 2000, Diamandis is proud of how he has played a key part in keeping Swindon Town afloat and he admits it would upset him greatly not to be the man to see the job through and make the club a rich' brand.

Diamandis claims that club accounts are now in order and reassured fans that the final CVA payment is in hand and will NOT spell the end of Swindon Town.

He also revealed that St Modwen are still a major player in the stadium plans and that the short-term target for the club is to gain promotion to the Championship.

"If we can make the whole thing work, why would I give it up?" said Diamandis, who made his money in the printing and publishing.

"I would like to stop worrying about the club going bust. The part that frightens me is that the prophecy could come true.

"I do feel that with all the names I am being called, if you failed to raise the money then you could be that person holding it together at the wrong moment."

"As a fan I would like us to be in the Championship at least because it is a better product.

"I'd love us to be a successful business and for me to be associated with that success."

But despite Diamandis' rosy view on the future of Swindon Town Football Club, he does have a stark warning for everyone if no suitable backers are found.

"How do I see the future without any benefactors?" he added. "I couldn't carry on for another five years raising this money every year and I have a fear that if we run it to cash-flow balance we could fall out of the Football League.

"The horrible trouble with being a football club is that there are no guarantees. If you spend your budget, do everything correctly, you can still lose.

"After the play-off year, when we decided to rebuild the team, the following year was a disaster and certainly was a learning curve for all of us."

The recent rise of Reading Football Club has impressed Diamandis and he says Swindon Town should follow suit.

Diamandis added: "The ideal future for the club is that we do get a brand new complex. At Reading, at Elm Park in the last year the average gate was 2,700 and the turnover of the company was £2million.

"In the first year at the Madejski the average gate was 8,400 and it grew a little bit every year.

"In fact they moved into a new stadium in the year they went down.

"Reading today, 10 or 11 years later, will turn over £45m without the hotel revenue.

"They reached from £2m to £13.5m profit in a year in the holding company in nine years flat.

"Then they went to the Premier and it went to £45million. At the end of this year it will be £55million.

"I think Swindon is still a much better brand than Reading ever was when they started and that is because our average (gate) is now 7,000, as against the 5,000 when we took over in 2000.

"Around us now there are seriously strong brands within striking distance like Reading, Southampton, Bristol is about to get a new stadium and Oxford's got one.

"Our stadium is a 19th century building, and we just haven't got the facilities to maximise non-matchday and matchday revenues.

"So my ambition for Swindon really is to be a successful Football League club, that is self-funded and to regenerate where the County Ground is, a facility to emulate a 20,000-seater stadium, hotel and conferencing, maybe a theatre.

"That would cost us about £45million of which more than half would be privately funded, the other part of it, the stadia, could be rebuilt and handed back to the council as an asset of the people.

"That could all be done by us, by my management team and get the club prepared for the future."

A new super stadium may be closer now than ever before in Diamandis' eyes but the club remains seriously in debt. Diamandis knows a major cash injection is needed to take the club forward but claims that the club's finances are to date under control.

"When Ian (Blatchly) and Danny (Donegan) left they took the account records with them. So we had no records. We started reconstructing them with Ross Brooke & Co, who worked for nothing because Mike Brookes' father-in-law is a life-long Swindon Town fan.

"They all worked for us for nothing and the accounts are just about up to date now.

"People are asking to see the accounts all the time, I don't know what they expect to find.

"When you study the accounts, the Wills family are the largest creditors.

"You have to understand that. "When we came in we were minus £14million, we did the CVA and were minus £9million. But when we studied the £9million most of the debt is to the Wills family.

"So what I have done is to give up that debt because they are shooting themselves in the foot as the only asset they have is the football club and they have wrecked the balance sheet because they are the main creditors.

"We put £5 and a half million of his (Sir Seton Wills) debt into what is called a loan note' and it can only be triggered by development. It doesn't gain interest and it can't be activitated by the creditors.

"I'm moving it from where it is in current liabilities into share capital and that in effect takes out the debt.

"It's financial engineering, it is a great way to restructure the balance sheet.

"The CVA is not a problem. We are renegotiating with them and we do not evisage it being a problem.

"The letter we have from them states that it is only envisaged' that we would make the final payment after the five-year period."

Diamandis' main business interest is in Dunwoody Sports Marketing, who also cater for the club's printing and publishing need, but he insists their is no conflict of interests.

"I have been doing 1986 so that's around 20 years isn't it?

"And when the club couldn't afford a website, before the football league set up this deal, I provided them with a website. After the deal some guys benefited a lot from this contract - I didn't.

"I currently provide the club with all the printing material it requests from me.

"They owe me £136,000 at the close of business last month I think, which I've paid the VAT on but they haven't decided to pay me anything this year as yet or last year.

"When I was employed as manager the Wills family paid me the salary of £80,000 a year, which I have chosen not to draw. I do intend one day, when we (the club) are rich, to draw it but I'm not going to draw it now."

But Diamandis' main concern now is the future and he remains enthusiasticly upbeat on the subject.

"The old council regime that I was involved with the rescue of the football club didn't value the football club," added Diamandis. "This new, lighter thinking (at the council) does spell a bright future for the football club."

He also confirmed that the club's development partner St Modwen are still very much on the scene.

He added: "St Modwen are still very much involved. We have a JV (Joint Venture) company with them and it is hoped that, should any new development take place, it would be done through that JV company.

"I do feel that there are challenges ahead for us to keep the club in the Football League and financed correctly.

"But I do feel for the first time since Shaw Tip site failed that there is an absolute willingness of the council to do something soon and that motivation is driving me on and certainly the Wills family too.

"We will go the moment we feel that the person coming in behind us is better suited.

"I love a challenge. The only way that challenge would go would be if someone much wealthier than us, came along because the cash flow would be that much easier."

11:28am today