New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[MangoRed]

As has been discussed many times on here, he hasn't and can't be approved due to the conviction.  I suspect an application was never made as the rules are clear.

If the club don't want to tell us they don't have to.

What do you want the trust to say that would satisfy you?
They aren't the club or the EFL and have no way of independently confirming either way, other than he isn't a director so hasn't been approved. 

This is a pathetic post, “if the club don’t want to tell us they don’t have to?” He’s the vice chairman- whether that be official or unofficial, parading around Karachi, whilst he can’t even be officially approved due to him being a convicted money launderer.

[DMC]

To be fair Dean a lot of us have done that in the intervening period and we’ve just received a plethora of vague responses dodging actually answering the question. The latest excuse was it’s with the lawyers or something like that.

Like RobertT mentioned the other day, being convicted of money laundering should be one of those crimes where you can never be involved with running a football club after as they perfect vehicles for that sort of thing.

I wasn't being a prick it was genuine, it's 2 years later they should have answered it and replying to that actual tweet should highlight they have not done what was said.. I don't even mean ask the club here, ask the trust what they have done about it as they have said there they will update properly

[DMC]

As has been discussed many times on here, he hasn't and can't be approved due to the conviction.  I suspect an application was never made as the rules are clear.

If the club don't want to tell us they don't have to.

What do you want the trust to say that would satisfy you?
They aren't the club or the EFL and have no way of independently confirming either way, other than he isn't a director so hasn't been approved. 

You can't sit there and say open and transparrent in every intereview but then say we don't want to tell You.

[Pookemon]

You can't sit there and say open and transparrent in every intereview but then say we don't want to tell You.

Don't disagree, and was sort of my point

[Pookemon]

This is a pathetic post, “if the club don’t want to tell us they don’t have to?” He’s the vice chairman- whether that be official or unofficial, parading around Karachi, whilst he can’t even be officially approved due to him being a convicted money launderer.

They literally do not have to tell us anything.    They are more open and transparent not completely.    There is no way of independently verifying so this type of conversation will keep going on forever.

TBH I'd rather the dodgy characters be visible than hide in the background like they did under Power.   Football is full of them after all, and plenty are agents who you have to deal with.

[Mooneyraker]

It boils down to this for me: Austin is a convicted drugs money launderer. Adam Hart, formerly one of Britain's most wanted, was working for MTK Global as recently as 2021. Some of their fighters even appeared in Swindon Town colours back in 2019 (https://www.boxingscene.com/liam-wells-tipped-big-things-by-coach-adam-hart--135183), which I'm fairly sure pre-dates his company's involvement with strength and conditioning at the club. Hart and Austin were in business together until 2021.

Do we believe that Hart's sole involvement is providing third party strength and conditioning coaching? It may be, and his company seem to be popular with the players and doing a good job for the large part, but "mistakenly" listing his job title on the hospitality guestlist doesn't exactly put any rumours to bed.

In many ways Power was clever as most fans including myself didn't dig much deeper than "he's a scumbag taking all the money" which wasn't necessarily illegal. Sure he had Frankie Fraser et al in the Directors' box but he seemed more wannabe spiv than actual gangster.

If you believe in the criminal justice system then you absolutely have to accept that people who have served their time deserve a second chance, and I do, but the very lack of openness and transparency, so often trumpeted and promised, about these characters and what their roles and involvement with the club are is a huge red flag.

The Trust and the club are asking us to pay a direct debit to help to rebuild the stadium. Austin was specifically brought in by Power (back in 2015!) to assist with the then training ground project due to his background in building: https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/13585526.town-appoint-three-new-non-executive-directors/

Will he or his company be part of the stadium renovation project?

Bear in mind this is the guy Clem said would be running the club day to day in his absence. Even if he isn't a Director or Vice Chairman anymore, the whole Relevant Person rule at the EFL looks like a highly dangerous tripwire to me, although I can't say I know or understand the ins and outs of it.

The Karachi thing is preposterous. Karachi FC clearly don't exist and that Karachi FC club logo has never been seen anywhere on anything ever again, nor in any of the photos of his ridiculous trips.

Clem, Aberdeen and the Trust have had nearly 2 years to address all of this. They've obfuscated and delayed at every opportunity.

We've had decades of leeches and chancers hovering around our successive ownerships like flies on dog turd, other than the brief Andrew Black period. Clem was meant to be a bright new era but this has festered to the point of absurdity. Any regular fan can Google this stuff and find it in 5 seconds and yet the Trust seem unwilling or incapable of doing so or calling it out. It is very odd, isn't it?! Or does one accept that football is largely run by blaggards and scoundrels and just go along with it? I honestly don't know the answer and the sad reality is maybe if we were winning every game we would all be blinded by the light, but we ain't. If they want the stadium purchase to herald a new era, as we all desperately do, then I think that they need to address this ASAP.

[The Million Pound Man]

It boils down to this for me: Austin is a convicted drugs money launderer. Adam Hart, formerly one of Britain's most wanted, was working for MTK Global, as recently as 2021. Some of their fighters even appeared in Swindon Town colours back in 2019 (https://www.boxingscene.com/liam-wells-tipped-big-things-by-coach-adam-hart--135183), which I'm fairly sure pre-dates his company's involvement with strength and conditioning at the club. Hart and Austin were in business together until 2021.

Do we believe that Hart's sole involvement is providing third party strength and conditioning coaching? It may be, and his company seem to be popular with the players and doing a good job for the large part, but "mistakenly" listing his job title on the hospitality guestlist doesn't exactly put any rumours to bed.

In many ways Power was clever as most fans including myself didn't dig much deeper than "he's a scumbag taking all the money" which wasn't necessarily illegal. Sure he had Frankie Fraser et al in the Directors' box but he seemed more wannabe spiv than actual gangster.

If you believe in the criminal justice system then you absolutely have to accept that people who have served their time deserve a second chance, and I do, but the very lack of openness and transparency, so often trumpeted and promised, about these characters and what their roles and involvement with the club are is a huge red flag.

The Trust and the club are asking us to pay a direct debit to help to rebuild the stadium. Austin was specifically brought in by Power (back in 2015!) to assist with the then training ground project due to his background in building: https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/13585526.town-appoint-three-new-non-executive-directors/

Will he or his company be part of the stadium renovation project?

Bear in mind this is the guy Clem said would be running the club day to day in his absence. Even if he isn't a Director or Vice Chairman anymore, the whole Relevant Person rule at the EFL looks like a highly dangerous tripwire to me, although I can't say I know or understand the ins and outs of it.

The Karachi thing is preposterous. Karachi FC clearly don't exist and that Karachi FC club logo has never been seen anywhere on anything ever again, nor in any of the photos of his ridiculous trips.

Clem, Aberdeen and the Trust have had nearly 2 years to address all of this. They've obfuscated and delayed at every opportunity.

We've had decades of leeches and chancers hovering around our successive ownerships like flies on dog turd, other than the brief Andrew Black period. Clem was meant to be a bright new era but this has festered to the point of absurdity. Any regular fan can Google this stuff and find it in 5 seconds and yet the Trust seem unwilling or incapable of doing so or calling it out. It is very odd, isn't it?! Or does one accept that football is largely run by blaggards and scoundrels and just go along with it? I honestly don't know the answer and the sad reality is maybe if we were winning every game we would all be blinded by the light, but we ain't. If they want the stadium purchase to herald a new era, as we all desperately do, then I think that they need to address this ASAP.

An excellent post

If this doesnt open the eyes of the people who blindly believe we're being run by Saints then nothing will.

[Bob's Orange]

Given that there are so many open questions from fans, perhaps rather than attempting to get questions asked at the Advisory Board, (all are answered to be fair, but some answers are quite vague) maybe it's worth the Trust proposing an open Q&A session to be broadcast, either via BBC Wiltshire, or one of the podcasts that we have? Even under Lee Power these (at least at the beginning) seemed to be fairly regular.

Any of the Trust people from here, is it possible to put a proposal forward at the next AB - perhaps something is already in traction - if not, it might be a good idea for the owners of the club to arrange it? Given this season is petering out and there are fans sitting on the fence as to whether to get ST's next year, it could be the ideal opportunity to put many minds at ease? Not sure if Clem is back in Oz now, but he's surely going to have to put his head above the parapet to answer some questions?

[The Million Pound Man]

I dont know, sounds a bit radical for a Supporters Trust to hold a club to account.

[horlock07]

It boils down to this for me: Austin is a convicted drugs money launderer. Adam Hart, formerly one of Britain's most wanted, was working for MTK Global as recently as 2021. Some of their fighters even appeared in Swindon Town colours back in 2019 (https://www.boxingscene.com/liam-wells-tipped-big-things-by-coach-adam-hart--135183), which I'm fairly sure pre-dates his company's involvement with strength and conditioning at the club. Hart and Austin were in business together until 2021.

Do we believe that Hart's sole involvement is providing third party strength and conditioning coaching? It may be, and his company seem to be popular with the players and doing a good job for the large part, but "mistakenly" listing his job title on the hospitality guestlist doesn't exactly put any rumours to bed.

In many ways Power was clever as most fans including myself didn't dig much deeper than "he's a scumbag taking all the money" which wasn't necessarily illegal. Sure he had Frankie Fraser et al in the Directors' box but he seemed more wannabe spiv than actual gangster.

If you believe in the criminal justice system then you absolutely have to accept that people who have served their time deserve a second chance, and I do, but the very lack of openness and transparency, so often trumpeted and promised, about these characters and what their roles and involvement with the club are is a huge red flag.

The Trust and the club are asking us to pay a direct debit to help to rebuild the stadium. Austin was specifically brought in by Power (back in 2015!) to assist with the then training ground project due to his background in building: https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/13585526.town-appoint-three-new-non-executive-directors/

Will he or his company be part of the stadium renovation project?

Bear in mind this is the guy Clem said would be running the club day to day in his absence. Even if he isn't a Director or Vice Chairman anymore, the whole Relevant Person rule at the EFL looks like a highly dangerous tripwire to me, although I can't say I know or understand the ins and outs of it.

The Karachi thing is preposterous. Karachi FC clearly don't exist and that Karachi FC club logo has never been seen anywhere on anything ever again, nor in any of the photos of his ridiculous trips.

Clem, Aberdeen and the Trust have had nearly 2 years to address all of this. They've obfuscated and delayed at every opportunity.

We've had decades of leeches and chancers hovering around our successive ownerships like flies on dog turd, other than the brief Andrew Black period. Clem was meant to be a bright new era but this has festered to the point of absurdity. Any regular fan can Google this stuff and find it in 5 seconds and yet the Trust seem unwilling or incapable of doing so or calling it out. It is very odd, isn't it?! Or does one accept that football is largely run by blaggards and scoundrels and just go along with it? I honestly don't know the answer and the sad reality is maybe if we were winning every game we would all be blinded by the light, but we ain't. If they want the stadium purchase to herald a new era, as we all desperately do, then I think that they need to address this ASAP.

I recall that members of the Trust can email them at info@truststfc.com send them the above, I suspect its considerably more likley (and/or one is considerably more reasonable to complain if/when it doesn't) to gain a response via official channels than a post on a forum where they have literally no need to engage nor reply.

[Bob's Orange]

Bit in the adver today about JM working with SDM. There isn't a massive amount of content there to be fair.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/23439467.jody-morris-discusses-working-relationship-sandro-di-michele/

[Berniman]

Careful, you will have trust board members exposing things about your past on twitter next, just for raising these types of questions..  Surely that couldn't happen right?

[horlock07]

Careful, you will have trust board members exposing things about your past on twitter next, just for raising these types of questions..  Surely that couldn't happen right?

Where's that happened?

[tans]

I posted Mooneyrakers post on twitter and this was the response i received from the Trust

No delay in addressing the issues raised. Multiple questions have been asked at ABs regarding the topics mentioned, which have been responded to and documented in the AB minutes directly by Clem. To our knowledge, Zav or his businesses will not be involved with the redevelopment

[MangoRed]

Mooneyraker- a very insightful post.