Chairman

[pauld]

Maybe. You have managed to post more in a day than you have in about the last 2 years though. Welcome back! At least someone seems to have enjoyed today.

Apart from the last time I posted more than once in a day and you said the same thing. It's getting tiresome.

On a lighter note, does anyone else think our new chairman looks like one of the baddies out of Smiley's people?

[url width=460 height=276]http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/1/5/1262692062518/Sir-William-Patey-arrives-002.jpg[/url]

[Dozno9]

RedRag: No, I think it'll be totally the wrong time but have all those achievements you listed (which have been great btw) been negated (financially) by the spending he has done?

If we hadn't achieved all those money turning successes then would we have reached this point sooner?

[Batch]

plagerised, but surely he's Alexi Sale:

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRSNCOovYAMAaD2a_dh1pdrewtlfwYS4iwzno5xQNpQMUk2VOIU

[pauld]

plagerised, but surely he's Alexi Sale:

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRSNCOovYAMAaD2a_dh1pdrewtlfwYS4iwzno5xQNpQMUk2VOIU

Oooh, I much prefer that one. I liked Alexei. Can we get him to do the vampire thing he did on the Young Ones along with a rendition of "Allo John Got a New Motor?" in the centre circle before the Scunny game?

[Paolo69]

Apart from the last time I posted more than once in a day and you said the same thing. It's getting tiresome.

Umm no I didn't I just posted that you weren't doing very well on your self imposed abstention on Paolo bashing. Tiresome is a very apt word, yes!

[pauld]

Umm no I didn't I just posted that you weren't doing very well on your self imposed abstention on Paolo bashing. Tiresome is a very apt word, yes!

Truce? Big hugs!

[ghanimah]

True enough. He won't get the kind of latitude he's had here elsewhere. Thing is, does he realise that?

I fully agree with that, last season was a symbiotic relationship between him and us; this season is starting to turn out that he's more trouble than he's worth. Paolo has a habit of keep issuing back me or else threats - the problem is someone very soon is going to call his bluff.

[Paolo69]

Truce? Big hugs!

Yeah why not! Life's too short.

[pauld]

Yeah why not! Life's too short.

It is indeed. And we're all on the same side. And I'm off to get some work done (because I've not done nearly enough while actually at work today due to avidly following the ongoing soap opera that is STFC)

[RedRag]

RedRag: No, I think it'll be totally the wrong time but have all those achievements you listed (which have been great btw) been negated (financially) by the spending he has done?

If we hadn't achieved all those money turning successes then would we have reached this point sooner?

I am not sure that PDC has spent such a lot of money.  I think he has been influerntial in generating part of the extra revenue that has helped sustain any extra spending.  I don't see 66.5% as mad spending.

What we would probably all have to agree on is that PDC has appeared to be wasteful although the get rid of Leon Clarke decision was arguably a good one with hindsight, regardless of the cost and the fact that it was PDCs call to get him.

Not sure who bears responsibility for the embargo miscalculation nor do I know what happened to the £2m debt for equity swap and whether Black (through Swindon Football Holdings) found that he had to underwrite the share issue heavily himself and is still looking to diversify.  The Washbag alludes...  This Patey matey guy may be just what we need but there seems a tad less enthusiasm for STFC from him than from JW and Fitton before.

As Ardiles has been saying we shall have to wait and see

Never dull, eh?

[Paolo69]

Yeah we are mate. Paolo is too, at least at the moment. Just remember that! :-)

Enjoy catching up fella.

[Berniman]

Something that hasn't been mentioned at any point today was the point that Jezza made a few months ago about the Prem 2, which he believes will happen in the next couple of years.  I am all for prioritising the ground redevelopment, but the potential Prem 2 would make it a necessity to be up there by the time it comes in (if indeed it does).

I would prefer to get our asses up there and then look at redevelopment.  Just a thought.

[Dirk Diggler]

Let's hope so (on the same site). One thing that really worries me if there is a change of direction is if they go back to the out of/edge of town model and we end up with a soulless MadStad-alike. We can replace players, managers, even boards, but a new ground/ground redevelopment is a once in a generation (well more like two) thing. We only get one shot at it and if we fuck it up, it's gone.

Jeez if there's one thing that pisses me off its the reference to "soulless stadiums". The madstad is a fantastic stadium

[DRS]

The thing is i can imagine behind the scenes they are pissed off with legit reasons. They have been good as gold and let Wray get on with dealing with dicanio which recently has been wray becoming more of an apologist than a chairman.

At the beging of the season they would of said right what is the budget? and clearly gave them those funds,then 2 months later they are hearing that the chairman and manager has overspent and that the manager has said he will quit if he does not get what he wants.

This new bloke will hardly be at the club so it seems likely that dicanio will now have to go directly to to the money men.Also with constantly looking after paolo i gt the impression he has not got alot of time to try and secure new investment and make progree with the new stadium

[Talk Talk]

Ok, I'm in for some of this  

Best post of the day so far:

Just listened to the interview on the stfc player.

Sir Patey sounds very sensible to me and i'm not worried at all. He made some sound points.

1. The Chairman does not run the club on a day to day basis. The CEO (Watkins) and Manager do. To some extent today i think we perhaps have said Wray does more than maybe he does. Watkins deserves a lot of credit.

2. Resolving Embargo is priority though it may take weeks (will not please PDC) Seems as others have said the only way to resolve this is to send someone back or hope we get through the Villa game.

3. Ground redevelopment/New ground construction. Now last year Wray said he'd hoped we'd start construction on a new town end at the end of this season. Reading between the lines it seems thats not going to be the case. I think this is the number one reason for the change in leadership.

This club is a top 6 league one club, thats where we deserve to be and thats where we are. The only way this changes is with greater income either from match day or non match day revenues. Redevelopment is the number one thing this club needs to deliver. Its talked about it for years and on the face of it not gotten very far. I also dont think redevelopment has the uplift affect a new ground does. If this chairman delivers a new ground with new revenue streams then i for one will be very happy even if we don't go up this year. Long term how do you expect to compete in the championship at the moment?

I get the impression Black doesn't want to run this club by endlessly throwing money in without the club moving forward. Sure league positions we are but that has had little impact on revenue. The only way this club improves is with better infrastructure and i think Black is aware of that.

As to PDC's future. I'm not overly worried. His approach is with the biggest budget he can deliver success. I'd suggest most managers would say the same. He is currently talking about not having a goalscorer, well he was the one who brought all the forwards at the club in, perhaps his judgement isn't that great? And there is something wrong with the involvement of his agent. We paid over 500k in agents fees last year, more than the bottom two leagues! If he walked i wouldn't be worried, other good managers would want a crack at this club with the squad and funds available.

My perspective is to be objective and have a business perspective on this situation. Andrew Black does not have £128 million squids in his back pocket for nothing. He is a businessman and so is Arbib, unlike most of the shysters and cowboys that we have had to put up with since I started following town (05/06). Wray has done something that the majority shareholders do not like. We made a big loss last FY, perhaps halfway through this one we are headed for the same outcome and that doesn't wash. Not forgetting JW is Edward Wray's (Black's business partner in Betfair) brother - a favour too many? We know Wray is great with the fans and Paolo. Possibly he has neglected the rest of the business that Black and co. see getting them some return on their sizable investment so far because he has got too involved with the playing side. Fitton syndrome? As Riddick notes, the stadium redevelopment (note that Patey said redevelopment, not "move to an identikit stadium on Shaw Forest") might have been peripheral to JW's focus. A chairman normally turns up once a month or so at board meetings to oversee a company from a distance and to steer it in the direction that the owners want. That is where we are now headed I believe. I think Nick Watkins has probably been somewhat eclipsed by JW. It is his job as chief exec to run the club day to day and he probably does. Involved enough in the team though and with Paolo? Dunno.

As for Paolo...interesting. He is still learning and this will be yet another experience for him. If he does kick up and move on then so be it. Black won't want to sacrifice payday for a manager's antics, so if it does happen then expect an experienced and successful Championship manager to be appointed next. Yeah I will miss him - love the guy. But biz is biz and that rules this game. Not managers, not the fans.