Adver News: Fans demand answers from club's new owners

[Posh Red]

If you were a member of the consortium, and for whatever reason the Football League don't sanction the deal (not suggesting that is going to happen), you would forever be linked with a failed takeover & people would read between the lines as to why.

Take Jed for instance, people have already raised questions about his involvement with a failed takeover at Luton, without having any idea as to what level of involvement he had or in fact if the reasons were anything to do with him.


From Andrew Black's perspective, I'm sure he doesn't want to say anything that may jeopardise the deal. We all know he wants out (and has done for some time), so I am happy that he stays quiet until it is all sorted, however frustrating that is to all of us.

[Ardiles]

I do wonder how/why the little info that has made it in to the public sphere (ie that the new people are fronted by a Worcestershire businessman called Jed) got there.  In retrospect, it would have been better not to have known this because, frankly, this info generates a lot more questions than it answers.

I can understand the Trust's stand on this.  Everyone - and especially John & others most closely involved with the Trust - know all about NDAs and what can & cannot be said.  The call for immediate answers appears to me more like a marker from the Trust; a signal to the new owners that we value transparency at Swindon (where it is possible) and that communication with the supporter base should be very high up their list of priorities when conditions allow.

[Arriba]

People within football say what they want fans to hear,or confirm what the fans want them to say. It means nothing. Actions are all I'm interested in.

[Dozno9]

Have you thought of volunteering  for the Trust, i'm sure they would welcome the help

No and I'm sure they could. Membership numbers have fallen as the interest isn't there from fans or from them to try and approach new members. In a crisis it's all hands to the pumps but without a presence on the board it's fairly worthless in my view.

Can't possibly hurt to keep these concerns in the public domain.

As someone else has pointed out above, I am certain the Trust would welcome another volunteer with fresh ideas.

It's been all over the internet and press so an additional statement from the Trust isn't going to make one point of difference, no one knows WTF is going on and that's the way it's going to be until later this week...

You're probably taking the piss but I've no interest in approaching the Trust for many reasons and I'd rather pass judgement from the sidelines.  

[Reg Smeeton]

Think it's people on here that don't understand what NDA means - an NDA isn't a gagging order or a superinjunction, it just prevents two parties to a proposed business transaction revealing details of that transaction publicly. If the new owners are choosing to interpret it more broadly, OK, that's fair enough and they're entitled to be cautious if they're worried about scuppering a deal if they say anything at all, that's their prerogative.

But it still seems to me to be perfectly reasonable for a fans' organisation to articulate the very real concerns that very many fans have around this process - as has been amply demonstrated by the pages and pages of guff generated on here alone! I'd be rather more concerned if the Trust weren't speaking up at a time like this. And if the new owners choose not to answer right now, fair enough, doesn't mean people aren't asking those questions anyway and that they shouldn't find a more public voice. Does it help the new owners to think that people aren't concerned?

There seems to be a very great appetite for "Sit down, shut up, don't ask" toward both fans and press from some on here lately which I find extremely curious. Bob Holt would have loved to have had some of you guys on board.

Quite....what's the point in having a Trust, if they're not going to represent the fan's view. The sit down, shut up don't ask brigade, are the same sort of people who thought our players would be distracted by displays of orange at games. They've got the Supporters Club to express their views.

[Nemo]

They've got the Supporters Club to express their views.

Quietly.

[Honkytonk]

The Supporters Club seem to be the ones who get spoken to the most by the media mind you. Hardly sit down and shut up.

[Flashheart]

what's the point in having a Trust, if they're not going to represent the fan's view.

Hang on a sec.....

Supporting the view of which fans exactly? We all wan't to know what is happening but we are not all making demands for immediate answers while things are still being finalised.

[Batch]

Hang on a sec.....

Supporting the view of which fans exactly? We all wan't to know what is happening but we are not all making demands for immediate answers while things are still being finalised.

The trust members views. Obviously they can't speak on behalf of everyone unanimously...

[Flashheart]

Well it shouldn't be spun to be 'the fans views' then.

And I would hope the trust would be a little more rational. That things are not being disclosed right now is shitty but there is a reason for it. A lot of people accept that, whether they like it or not.

[Summerof69]

The Supporters Club seem to be the ones who get spoken to the most by the media mind you. Hardly sit down and shut up.

Actually, over the last few months Sam Morshead has regularly been speaking to the Trust chair, John Ward.

[Reg Smeeton]

Well it shouldn't be spun to be 'the fans views' then.

And I would hope the trust would be a little more rational. That things are not being disclosed right now is shitty but there is a reason for it. A lot of people accept that, whether they like it or not.

Whether you like it or not....if things turn to the sort of shit that look increasingly likely, then we're going to have to hope that  any people involved in the Trust are irrational...namely not asking why bother?

[Flashheart]

If things turn to shit then it's time to take action.

However we know fuck all about these people yet. They could well be a bunch of cowboys yet they could also turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to the club. You don't know, I don't know, nobody else here knows and the trust don't know.

So how's about getting to meet them first and finding stuff out about them before being hostile? We don't have to be warm and fluffy to them either. It has been mooted it could all go through on Thursday, is it really that difficult to wait a few days before condemning people we don't even know?

[pauld]

Well it shouldn't be spun to be 'the fans views' then.

And I would hope the trust would be a little more rational. That things are not being disclosed right now is shitty but there is a reason for it. A lot of people accept that, whether they like it or not.

You might like to acknowledge occasionally that while it's not your fault etc etc being so far away does sometimes make you a little out of touch with what's being talked about off the internet. Virtually everyone I've bumped into in town over the last week or so is very very worried by what's going on and the myriad rumours flying around and are desperate for some clarity and answers.

[Summerof69]

what's the point in having a Trust, if they're not going to represent the fan's view.

The statement was done by the Trust board, who were elected at the last Trust AGM, so are the voice of the members.

At the end of the day, if the membership do not like what we have done, we can be voted out at the next AGM, which is in the next month or so. In the last few weeks our membership has increased by over 20%, so we must be striking a chord.