New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[Mooneyraker]

Listening to Dan Hunt on the LSPOD reminded me of the absolute travesty that was Rob Angus and Clem ringing up fans and pressuring them into not getting season ticket refunds.

And yet we’d been told the Trust had seen an account with X million £ in it prior to the takeover (I can’t remember the amount but when Able were allegedly sniffing it was part of that process).

How did that not worry anybody? We had our new “millionaire” owner acting like a bailiff within days.

This week has nudged me into the view that Clem is worse than Power. A truly desperate state of affairs. I know Duke of Banbury makes valid arguments to the contrary but I’m honestly leaning towards Phoenix Club being a less bad outcome than lurching from Clem to the Kiely/Parladorio era. This can’t continue. Clearly a clean break takeover is preferable to either but we are in an absolute pickle with the ownership structure and court cases so don’t see that as likely.

[Pericardinho]

Listening to Dan Hunt on the LSPOD reminded me of the absolute travesty that was Rob Angus and Clem ringing up fans and pressuring them into not getting season ticket refunds.

And yet we’d been told the Trust had seen an account with X million £ in it prior to the takeover (I can’t remember the amount but when Able were allegedly sniffing it was part of that process).

How did that not worry anybody? We had our new “millionaire” owner acting like a bailiff within days.

This week has nudged me into the view that Clem is worse than Power. A truly desperate state of affairs. I know Duke of Banbury makes valid arguments to the contrary but I’m honestly leaning towards Phoenix Club being a less bad outcome than lurching from Clem to the Kiely/Parladorio era. This can’t continue. Clearly a clean break takeover is preferable to either but we are in an absolute pickle with the ownership structure and court cases so don’t see that as likely.

The signs were there from very early on. I regularly commented about the appalling lack of staff in the playoff season. Nobody there to answer the phones. We haven't been ran proffesionaly since Clem took over.

You call these things out though and Clem just says it's the consequence of the Power era. It's a very easy out for him. It doesn't fly anymore.

[Frigby Daser]

The one thing Morfuni and his chums have had a clear strategy for, and have done brilliantly, is to dupe the Trust by bringing them in close enough to be part of the gang, and always far enough away to never have an influence, aside from community engagement activities, and unless there is an upside for them for free (such as the ground purchase). The ground purchase is a huge achievement, but it must now be one of the most dysfunctional JVs around. The fact the club won’t produce the accounts, and when they do, will likely not explain the “admin cost” line items, is all the proof you need that they’re kept away from anything meaningful. Ironically, in terms of knowing details of where the club’s cash flow really goes, that is probably very good news for the individuals involved in the Trust

[Mooneyraker]

I'm reluctant to go in too hard on the Trust because there is clearly an internal conflict within. There's no way in hell that 10 or whatever people are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. There will be apologists, people who want action and apathy.

If the hierarchy are pro-Clemente then it'll be tough to nudge them.

Clem's charm offensive was very impressive from the off and there's a 'not average' fan who can take a lot of credit for that. They still work busily behind-the-scenes to fly the flag for the ownership. They keep a very low profile which has made their impact so significant with PR and keeping the fans sweet.

Raising concerns over the last year or so have been quite difficult because, when cracks/red flags started to seep out of the club well over a year ago, a lot of 'regular' fans were resistant/outright refused to believe anything could possibly be wrong. Obviously, the 21/22 season helped a lot too.

The Clem charm offensive with certain people is what bothers me.

There was the not insignificant prize of a stadium/share of £4m to play for if the right people could be convinced that Clem was a worthy recipient. Plenty of motivation for someone to make key decision makers feels special one way or another.

[Audrey]

Is owning 50% of the CG any sort of lever the Trust can use to put pressure on Clem?

[horlock07]

Is owning 50% of the CG any sort of lever the Trust can use to put pressure on Clem?

It would be interesting to see what legal knots the Eady Trust tied the club in within the agreement to fund the purchase, I would imagine that STFC Ltd's 50% is not easy to dispose of for any vendor and not particularly attractive to potential purchasers.

[Wobbly Bob]

The collective weight of STFC angst has even put the TrustSTFC website out of action.

[Audrey]

That’s what I was thinking. Everyone seems to think that owning the CG would make the club more attractive to a prospective buyer but they may well see it as a hurdle having to negotiate improvements with the Trust.

[Bennett]

Legally, I think the club has to run any change of ownership by the JV, but I doubt they can prevent it.

Outside of that:

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/siteassets/202122/2021-22-general-content/memorandum-of-understanding---truststfc-and-stfc---final.docx.pdf

rob's had a look at the JV and whether the trust can do owt, legally

[swindonmaniac]

Which, now, begs the question - why don’t they let the Trust see the books? There has to be something in there that’s not fit for public consumption.

If there could be a silver lining explanation it could be a sale may be in the offing.*

*straw clutching

Think they said yesterday that they were in the process of allowing a trust member to view the books in the next couple of weeks

[joeydubya]

Depends on how much a potential owner could yield inacting some of the plans (museums, restaurants, whatever) on the land area.

[RobertT]

Think they said yesterday that they were in the process of allowing a trust member to view the books in the next couple of weeks

Which was the same update a few weeks ago.

[horlock07]

rob's had a look at the JV and whether the trust can do owt, legally

With the utmost respect that MoA says the square root of sod all about processes for disposal, setting aside the Trust will still own 50% (assuming the Trust survives and fans don't splinter off to the Swindon Town Popular Peoples Front?) the Eady Trust appear to be quite savvy so I cannot imagine for 1 second that them giving STFC 50% of the money to buy the ground will not be legaled up to the eyeballs!

[RobertT]

Yeah, the Memorandum of Understanding is a non-binding agreement.  The details of the JV are not public, I don't think.  The Trust has some garb about the fact any sale of the asset by the club would require all six Directors of the JV to approve, but nothing detailed about how that happens.   The real asset for the club was the 299 year lease.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Which was the same update a few weeks ago.

About 8 weeks ago wasn't it?