Wray expects more changes at the County Ground (From Swindon Advertiser)

As much as I am really disappointed that JW has left the club I do honestly think its time to close 'his' chapter and move on.
Perhaps the Adver could start talking to the people who are actually at the club.
Clearly there is a little instability at the moment and the questions should be directed to Andrew Black.

Agree completely - my first thoughts on reading this article.

What has happened is now history and so it is now time to look to the future.
Mr. Black is calling the tune and as he has indicated is planning to take us into the Championship ASAP.

Let's embrace the changes he has made and back the board by keeping positive about the future.

I am just glad Mr. Black is prepared to finance our great club.

At last - a quiet news day.

This is typical Adver, do one interview and spread the contents out over the week to pad out the paper. But it does beg the question, where's the new guy or Black or Watkins. Is this a return to the bad old days when we only get to read what's going on after the event ? Personally, I am keen to hear from Watkins, who has been very quiet this week. He is the only recognisable face at the club now and like Wray always seems friendly and open. Time to hear his take on where we go from here.

“As you look at the people who are in that holding company and as each one of them gradually, for whatever reason, moves away there may be a sensible time when there is a different structure in place for the holding company. "
----
There is no need for undue panic or worry, but I will feel a bit better if/when we get more investors on board. Mr Black can't fund the footballing side on his own forever. Strength in numbers, but Fitton and Wray may still be in the holding company but as the man says "gradually//moves away".

Following on from yesterda's debate on pricing - has anyone seen this on the BBC?
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk
/sport/0/football/19
716087
.
Smirg you should pay special attention to this as you are one who is very vocal about offers "removing your benefit"
.
The one thing I would say if they are think of doing this at Swindon - they need to notify at the start of the season which game they think falls into each bracket and have a matchday starting price published against each bracket
.
Then I guess like you do with your train ticket to get to the game you will shop in advance for the games you think are more affordable

I think they have got all these articles from Wray through 1 interview and have just stretched it out into about 50 different articles!!
Like has been said, time to move on :)

mgstfc wrote:
As much as I am really disappointed that JW has left the club I do honestly think its time to close 'his' chapter and move on. Perhaps the Adver could start talking to the people who are actually at the club. Clearly there is a little instability at the moment and the questions should be directed to Andrew Black.

Don't see it that way. The instability has been caused by JW by refusing a Board role. If he had taken the role, the headlines would be much different - JW takes Board role and Sir what's his name new Chairman joins, we'd all be saying that the "Board" has been stregthened overall.
*
Like I said on Monday, I see this as a positive, JW was not the right man to attract the investment we need and if the new chap is then that's got to be good news for us...

Stratton Red wrote:

mgstfc wrote:
As much as I am really disappointed that JW has left the club I do honestly think its time to close 'his' chapter and move on. Perhaps the Adver could start talking to the people who are actually at the club. Clearly there is a little instability at the moment and the questions should be directed to Andrew Black.

Don't see it that way. The instability has been caused by JW by refusing a Board role. If he had taken the role, the headlines would be much different - JW takes Board role and Sir what's his name new Chairman joins, we'd all be saying that the "Board" has been stregthened overall.
*
Like I said on Monday, I see this as a positive, JW was not the right man to attract the investment we need and if the new chap is then that's got to be good news for us...

Have to agree Stratton. Things are set to improve. One chairman has been appointed to succeed another and his duties are to be focused on bringing in more investors. We are moving from stability to increased stability, and investors hopefully with enough financial clout to take things even further while we continue to be owned by someone who has saved the club, and then continued to pump money into it. In fact we are probably now more stable than at any time in the recent past. The future does indeed look bright.

Exactly Andrew Balck will not be going anywhere soon otherwise the total "investment" he has made to date will have to be wiped off
.
We have a Shareholder Equity of £(11)m - so not really an attractive proposition to sell - who would pay to buy £11m debt - unless a return is on the horizon????
.
If it is why would the current regime want to sell now???
.
Granted £9.1m of this negative equity can be "wiped" out by Andrew Black, Sir Arbib and STFC Holdings writing off the money owed to them
.
So that is the cost to them of walking away now - as they will never get anywhere that back by liquidating the club
.
The return has always been via the redevelopment so they will want to see that through to ensure the club is an attractive proposition - either to provide a return to them while holding on to it - or being able to sell it as a profitable business
.
Championship football would allow it to be self-sufficent - so it just needs the additional revenue from the redevelopment to start paying of the cost borne by AB and Co paying off the Tax man, St Modwin, CVA etc etc when they first came along

LR,

I have been trying to concentrate on this coming weekend and the game. My belief is tomorrow we all need to be so TOTALLY behind the team and manager. Yes I know, I do have issues with his PR, but, tomorrow is as I see it an important stepping stone into our future. Above all else SOLIDARITY needs to be on show tomorrow for all to see. I'll be there. Looks like I'm picking up a car load along the way, just hope a few more are doing the same. I know you are probably on the train, you'll just have to jump off at Reading and Didcot and do a quick sales pitch on the platform, LOL.

the wizard wrote:

Stratton Red wrote:

mgstfc wrote: As much as I am really disappointed that JW has left the club I do honestly think its time to close 'his' chapter and move on. Perhaps the Adver could start talking to the people who are actually at the club. Clearly there is a little instability at the moment and the questions should be directed to Andrew Black.

Don't see it that way. The instability has been caused by JW by refusing a Board role. If he had taken the role, the headlines would be much different - JW takes Board role and Sir what's his name new Chairman joins, we'd all be saying that the "Board" has been stregthened overall. * Like I said on Monday, I see this as a positive, JW was not the right man to attract the investment we need and if the new chap is then that's got to be good news for us...

Have to agree Stratton. Things are set to improve. One chairman has been appointed to succeed another and his duties are to be focused on bringing in more investors. We are moving from stability to increased stability, and investors hopefully with enough financial clout to take things even further while we continue to be owned by someone who has saved the club, and then continued to pump money into it. In fact we are probably now more stable than at any time in the recent past. The future does indeed look bright.

Disagree - if what I've heard from a contact in the local media(not Adver) is kosher -and I accept this is only hearsay, Barbados based happy bunny-not, Arbib, has been asked to pump in another £7m to which the response was allegedly "&*^%$" wtf basically.

Neither Black or Arbib are fans of Football (wasn't Arbib seen recently at the CG for the 1st time in 4 yrs?) and you can bet your sweet bippy that they are only here to reap rewards from their investment.

Given that that objective is unlikely to be fulfilled (at least in the forseeable future) by on the field success, then the pot of gold comes from any form of ground re-development.

Also given that SBC own the County Ground site I can't AB & co being able to buy the freehold, and even if planning permission is given to re-devleop the CG - is that "space limited" plan going to generate enough moola to reward the investors - methinks not. That surely puts us back to the "Brady Bunch Saga" of building/moving to some soulless stadium along the M4 corridor that at least would delight the residents of Shrivvy road.

So Wray's assertion that there will be further changes may well be right because Arbib may have reached his limit and he might not be the only one, but mean that any future investment may well be a "Fry's Turkish Delight" job - i.e. "full of Eastern Promise"!!


Batch's post above which echo's some of my thoughts is a good analysis of the current situation I think.

At the end of the day people come and go in the Boardroom, Mangement and Players at any football Club.

All are judged on the legacy they leave behind and all are judged daily at the present time.

J Wray will always be someone well regarded as will Fitton, Black and Co. Without the takeover we were dead in the water.

You can look at this week as yet another chapter in our "unstable" history but you know what we are in a far better position than we were a few years ago.
No comparison to those awful days under "Mick the Greek" and I respect every Town fan who "did their bit" in helping driving "them" out of our Club.

I can only praise and thank the members of this Board for having the courage, desire and passion to rescue STFC and bring back the pride to this Club I love.

The only way to pay back these people is to get down the CG and show your support.

Thanks to all concerned and looking forward to another game at the CG.
COYR'ds.

Patey's Middle East connections cannot purely be coincidental in this. I'm sure we are looking for a big foreign investment either in terms of buying out the club at some point or possibly a big sponsorship or an investment in the new complex that is built or redeveloped. Lot's of clubs are now attracting big foreign investors and I see no reason why STFC would not be attractive if the ground redevelopment gets going. The only way the club can become self sufficient or even make some kind of profit is by generating a cash flow 7 days per week. The owners have known this from the start so unlikely to be put off by this now. If the council are serious about regenerating the town they should help. I'd love to see the CG redeveloped but perhaps an out of town site is not the end of the world. We do have to move with the times and providing we don't knock up a cheap flat pack stadium in the middle of a new housing estate we should remain open minded. Having said that a tasteful refurb of the CG section by section may allow us to hold on to a nice bit of history. Either way, 12 months from now we should be getting closer.

the wizard wrote:
LR, I have been trying to concentrate on this coming weekend and the game. My belief is tomorrow we all need to be so TOTALLY behind the team and manager. Yes I know, I do have issues with his PR, but, tomorrow is as I see it an important stepping stone into our future. Above all else SOLIDARITY needs to be on show tomorrow for all to see. I'll be there. Looks like I'm picking up a car load along the way, just hope a few more are doing the same. I know you are probably on the train, you'll just have to jump off at Reading and Didcot and do a quick sales pitch on the platform, LOL.

Is Lech Walesa going to the game then?

TheDukeOfBanbury wrote:
At the end of the day people come and go in the Boardroom, Mangement and Players at any football Club.

All are judged on the legacy they leave behind and all are judged daily at the present time.

J Wray will always be someone well regarded as will Fitton, Black and Co. Without the takeover we were dead in the water.

You can look at this week as yet another chapter in our "unstable" history but you know what we are in a far better position than we were a few years ago.
No comparison to those awful days under "Mick the Greek" and I respect every Town fan who "did their bit" in helping driving "them" out of our Club.

I can only praise and thank the members of this Board for having the courage, desire and passion to rescue STFC and bring back the pride to this Club I love.

The only way to pay back these people is to get down the CG and show your support.

Thanks to all concerned and looking forward to another game at the CG.
COYR'ds.

Your spot on Duke!but we'd like to know?what the two main money men's long term intentions are?are they in for the real long term?or are they looking to sell?or just want other investment to help out?many questions and we have no answers!!!!!!!!!

London Red wrote:
Following on from yesterda's debate on pricing - has anyone seen this on the BBC?
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk

/sport/0/football/19

716087
.
Smirg you should pay special attention to this as you are one who is very vocal about offers "removing your benefit"
.
The one thing I would say if they are think of doing this at Swindon - they need to notify at the start of the season which game they think falls into each bracket and have a matchday starting price published against each bracket
.
Then I guess like you do with your train ticket to get to the game you will shop in advance for the games you think are more affordable

I listened to this interview on Five Live (and it was also on Talk Sport) and was going to post on it, but didn't think that many on here had the appetite for any pricing/ticketing strategies that fell into the 'innovative' category.

I realise that the club's marketing department is small, but any business ignores customers at its peril. Segmenting customers and adjusting price points is fundamental if not necessarily exciting stuff.

It was reported here in the adver that the club were looking for more investors - this came from the mouths of the leadership team at the time - earlier this season. I dont see why there would be a change if not to accomodate this!

stfc2012 wrote:
Patey's Middle East connections cannot purely be coincidental in this. I'm sure we are looking for a big foreign investment either in terms of buying out the club at some point or possibly a big sponsorship or an investment in the new complex that is built or redeveloped. Lot's of clubs are now attracting big foreign investors and I see no reason why STFC would not be attractive if the ground redevelopment gets going. The only way the club can become self sufficient or even make some kind of profit is by generating a cash flow 7 days per week. The owners have known this from the start so unlikely to be put off by this now. If the council are serious about regenerating the town they should help. I'd love to see the CG redeveloped but perhaps an out of town site is not the end of the world. We do have to move with the times and providing we don't knock up a cheap flat pack stadium in the middle of a new housing estate we should remain open minded. Having said that a tasteful refurb of the CG section by section may allow us to hold on to a nice bit of history. Either way, 12 months from now we should be getting closer.

Agree with almost all of that 2012 - I reckon AB & Sir MA are looking for the exit sign and if Sir WP's Middle East connections can provide them with a return on their investment as a stake for coming on board then they'll be off.

LR -said ->Championship football would allow it to be self-sufficent - so it just needs the additional revenue from the redevelopment to start paying of the cost borne by AB and Co paying off the Tax man, St Modwin, CVA etc etc when they first came along


Mm!! LR I'm not sure that just achieving Championship status would be sufficient because as is evidenced from looking at many Championship clubs, unless there is a fair degree of success gates won't increase sufficiently to generate the returns the investors will be expecting surely?

Malkym wrote:

stfc2012 wrote:
Patey's Middle East connections cannot purely be coincidental in this. I'm sure we are looking for a big foreign investment either in terms of buying out the club at some point or possibly a big sponsorship or an investment in the new complex that is built or redeveloped. Lot's of clubs are now attracting big foreign investors and I see no reason why STFC would not be attractive if the ground redevelopment gets going. The only way the club can become self sufficient or even make some kind of profit is by generating a cash flow 7 days per week. The owners have known this from the start so unlikely to be put off by this now. If the council are serious about regenerating the town they should help. I'd love to see the CG redeveloped but perhaps an out of town site is not the end of the world. We do have to move with the times and providing we don't knock up a cheap flat pack stadium in the middle of a new housing estate we should remain open minded. Having said that a tasteful refurb of the CG section by section may allow us to hold on to a nice bit of history. Either way, 12 months from now we should be getting closer.

Agree with almost all of that 2012 - I reckon AB & Sir MA are looking for the exit sign and if Sir WP's Middle East connections can provide them with a return on their investment as a stake for coming on board then they'll be off.

LR -said ->Championship football would allow it to be self-sufficent - so it just needs the additional revenue from the redevelopment to start paying of the cost borne by AB and Co paying off the Tax man, St Modwin, CVA etc etc when they first came along


Mm!! LR I'm not sure that just achieving Championship status would be sufficient because as is evidenced from looking at many Championship clubs, unless there is a fair degree of success gates won't increase sufficiently to generate the returns the investors will be expecting surely?

Clubs like Swindon are unlikely to ever be self sufficient. If we make the championship one day, then the extra revenue would soon be eaten up in higher wages, transfer fees and many of the players we have here have bonus in their contracts if promotion is achieved, just like in some cases a windfall to their previous clubs if we do go up, (ie: Exeter receive a bonus if we go up due to us buying Troy).

We will always need financial backers but obviously the higher up the leagues we get the better investment we will be.

I feel Black is looking for an exit strategy, but probably not for a few years, but a championship side with a new/ redeveloped ground will look a lot more enticing than what is on offer at the moment.

Im still trying to make sense of the headline...

Benchwarmer wrote:
Im still trying to make sense of the headline...

Lol - is it an anagram competition lol!

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote:
LR, I have been trying to concentrate on this coming weekend and the game. My belief is tomorrow we all need to be so TOTALLY behind the team and manager. Yes I know, I do have issues with his PR, but, tomorrow is as I see it an important stepping stone into our future. Above all else SOLIDARITY needs to be on show tomorrow for all to see. I'll be there. Looks like I'm picking up a car load along the way, just hope a few more are doing the same. I know you are probably on the train, you'll just have to jump off at Reading and Didcot and do a quick sales pitch on the platform, LOL.

Is Lech Walesa going to the game then?

Is that really the best you can do ??

I think a lot are over looking that there will be income from retail units predominately under what is now the Arkells stand. There will also be income from the hotel side and larger gates should bring in even more income. It was the combination of the three, plus conferencing facilities and catering functions which would combine as an overall package here, or had many forgotten that.

At the end of the day it's a hard task to get investors to put money into the club,and as post said without Fitton saving us we would have folded no doubt about that.
After all these years you would have thoght SBC would have given the Club an option to purchase the CG.
Whilst we rent from them I just feel it will be a hard job for the new chairman and I hope he can attract new money.
All these other clubs on low budgets actually own there ground which is a big Bonus.
Agree with Wizard fand to support Pdc and the team when and where they can.
As for the Embargo funny how that has taken a back seat any news on that front???
So heres hoping they get a good result tomorrow and all this off field business does not effect them

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote:

Stratton Red wrote:

mgstfc wrote: As much as I am really disappointed that JW has left the club I do honestly think its time to close 'his' chapter and move on. Perhaps the Adver could start talking to the people who are actually at the club. Clearly there is a little instability at the moment and the questions should be directed to Andrew Black.

Don't see it that way. The instability has been caused by JW by refusing a Board role. If he had taken the role, the headlines would be much different - JW takes Board role and Sir what's his name new Chairman joins, we'd all be saying that the "Board" has been stregthened overall. * Like I said on Monday, I see this as a positive, JW was not the right man to attract the investment we need and if the new chap is then that's got to be good news for us...

Have to agree Stratton. Things are set to improve. One chairman has been appointed to succeed another and his duties are to be focused on bringing in more investors. We are moving from stability to increased stability, and investors hopefully with enough financial clout to take things even further while we continue to be owned by someone who has saved the club, and then continued to pump money into it. In fact we are probably now more stable than at any time in the recent past. The future does indeed look bright.

Disagree - if what I've heard from a contact in the local media(not Adver) is kosher -and I accept this is only hearsay, Barbados based happy bunny-not, Arbib, has been asked to pump in another £7m to which the response was allegedly "&*^%$" wtf basically.

Neither Black or Arbib are fans of Football (wasn't Arbib seen recently at the CG for the 1st time in 4 yrs?) and you can bet your sweet bippy that they are only here to reap rewards from their investment.

Given that that objective is unlikely to be fulfilled (at least in the forseeable future) by on the field success, then the pot of gold comes from any form of ground re-development.

Also given that SBC own the County Ground site I can't AB & co being able to buy the freehold, and even if planning permission is given to re-devleop the CG - is that "space limited" plan going to generate enough moola to reward the investors - methinks not. That surely puts us back to the "Brady Bunch Saga" of building/moving to some soulless stadium along the M4 corridor that at least would delight the residents of Shrivvy road.

So Wray's assertion that there will be further changes may well be right because Arbib may have reached his limit and he might not be the only one, but mean that any future investment may well be a "Fry's Turkish Delight" job - i.e. "full of Eastern Promise"!!


Batch's post above which echo's some of my thoughts is a good analysis of the current situation I think.

You hit a few nails on the head Malky.

It sounded from the off with Patey's appointment that they wanted additional 'investors' or new investors to give Black/Arbib an exit route.

The problem, as ever, is with the words 'investment' and 'football'. You should not find them in the same sentence. People always lose their money, although the wage cap now gives shareholders a fighting chance of not being bled dry by players and agents.

The big problem is with the ground development. The 'standard' business model was to sell the ground that a club owned in prime town centre locations, and use that money to fund an out of town plastic stadium. Trouble is, Swindon Town FC doesn't own the County Ground, so there's no asset sale to realise.

Which leaves 'investors' looking for a stand alone property development, starting from scratch, and looking for combined enabling developments because spending millions on a stadium used only for football will lose money, that's fo sho. There's not too much happening in new property developments right now, look at all the empty properties along the M4 and in town centres, and even if there was, what Swindon would need is a property magnate/ company owning it, not horse racing men.

I don't really see where this one ends. Which is probably how Black/Arbib are staring at it too.

Here is a nice article on modern stadia and generating income from them. The clubs featured are not huge clubs and I believe STFC said they were looking at Preston's as a good example. In the long term though STFC need to own the land/stadium or have something in place that allows them to not just be paying the council rent.
http://democracy.yor
k.gov.uk/documents/s
19763/Annex%205%20Co
mmunity%20Stadium.pd
f

Jock - don't forget we turned over a profit last on 2010!
.
We have also on average "only" lost about £1.5m a season since the current board took over
.
So we are not that far away from being self sufficent
.
It was quoted by our board that failure to win promotion to the Championship "cost" us in the region of £3m a season in extra income
.
You seem to forget the vital component - TV!
.
That income will be worth more alone than gate receipts and become our biggest single revenue stream!!!!!
.
Now you dont have to be a math genius to work out that £3m on top of a £1.5m loss is £1.5m profit!
.
Now I know it is never going to be that straight forward as our cost base will go up alongside the revenue via increased wages etc
.
However - as long as we are cost efficient (and considering we are rumoured to be close to / above championship wages) we should be able to make a profit as we are now by going up
.
i.e increase wages from £4m to £5m - so on 23 pros that is average of £3.3k a week to £4.1k a week (the latest number for Championship wages!!!)
.
Also players values go up once you are in the Championship - look at Cox and Austin they are going for more than we sold them - so we will make more from player turnover too - Ritchie has had bids of £900k - that will be more if we go up for sure!!!!
.
That is all before we have the redevelopment which should bring in revenue on the extra 342 days a year to boost income even more on top!!!
.
Also don't forget you are looking at clubs who have done what we are doing now but on the grand scale of the premiership payday - i.e. we are "overspending" by £1.5m for a £3m payday - they are looking for a £90m payday - so what is their overspend?????
.
Cardiff - who are one of the most disgraceful clubs in existence - for example have wages at 120% of revenue!!!!!!!!!!
.
They are not the model we will want to follow and what needs to be stamped out!!!!!

the wizard wrote:

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote: LR, I have been trying to concentrate on this coming weekend and the game. My belief is tomorrow we all need to be so TOTALLY behind the team and manager. Yes I know, I do have issues with his PR, but, tomorrow is as I see it an important stepping stone into our future. Above all else SOLIDARITY needs to be on show tomorrow for all to see. I'll be there. Looks like I'm picking up a car load along the way, just hope a few more are doing the same. I know you are probably on the train, you'll just have to jump off at Reading and Didcot and do a quick sales pitch on the platform, LOL.

Is Lech Walesa going to the game then?

Is that really the best you can do ??

Oops sorry pardon - just a light hearted response to your use of the word solidarity - didn't realise your charisma by-pass op was a success - and if you've read my 12.27 post (which I presume you have) you'll see that I've given my view and had a few others agree generally -not that anyone else's view isn't just as valid - what's up Wizman the Chalfont's playing you up? Has Canioman disappeared as well? :))

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote:

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote: LR, I have been trying to concentrate on this coming weekend and the game. My belief is tomorrow we all need to be so TOTALLY behind the team and manager. Yes I know, I do have issues with his PR, but, tomorrow is as I see it an important stepping stone into our future. Above all else SOLIDARITY needs to be on show tomorrow for all to see. I'll be there. Looks like I'm picking up a car load along the way, just hope a few more are doing the same. I know you are probably on the train, you'll just have to jump off at Reading and Didcot and do a quick sales pitch on the platform, LOL.

Is Lech Walesa going to the game then?

Is that really the best you can do ??

Oops sorry pardon - just a light hearted response to your use of the word solidarity - didn't realise your charisma by-pass op was a success - and if you've read my 12.27 post (which I presume you have) you'll see that I've given my view and had a few others agree generally -not that anyone else's view isn't just as valid - what's up Wizman the Chalfont's playing you up? Has Canioman disappeared as well? :))

Sorr.......y if I touched a nerve. I was merely responding to you in the same manner.

If anything is playing me up, its my feet. Spent a afternoon at the NEC yesterday, wearing the wrong trainers. Then we decided to walk back to the car instead of taking the bus. I don't recommend that either ! LOL

As goes the club, well we will have to wait and see, unless AB is prepared to spill the beans, and I don't think he will do that. As for your journo mate, well why not publish what he told you. It should be fun, LOL ! then again, you have put it here. I hope he keeps his job.

Adver flogging a dead horse.....

LR - I bow to your superior knowledge of our financial position and hope that things will pan out as you say, but I still can't help thinking that the curent backers are looking for the escape hatch in the not too distant future and much of what you envisage will depend on what happens regarding ground redevelopment, which brings us back to whether Sir WP can twist middle Eastern arms to invest I think.

I reckon all this talk of seeking Middle Eastern investors is a bit fanciful. Why would Black take the very difficult decision to sack his best mate if he was just trying to bring new investment into the club? Having listened to all the interviews and learnt a bit more about Andrew Black this week, I believe Sir William has been brought in as a strong leader to tighten up all areas of the club, including reining in PDC and curbing some of his more outrageous demands and antics. Two big personalities are about to learn a bit more about each other. Let's hope they can work together. In the past when PDC has fallen out with other strong characters, there has been only one winner. If he doesn't get on with Sir William, there will be only one winner again.

the wizard wrote:

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote:

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote: LR, I have been trying to concentrate on this coming weekend and the game. My belief is tomorrow we all need to be so TOTALLY behind the team and manager. Yes I know, I do have issues with his PR, but, tomorrow is as I see it an important stepping stone into our future. Above all else SOLIDARITY needs to be on show tomorrow for all to see. I'll be there. Looks like I'm picking up a car load along the way, just hope a few more are doing the same. I know you are probably on the train, you'll just have to jump off at Reading and Didcot and do a quick sales pitch on the platform, LOL.

Is Lech Walesa going to the game then?

Is that really the best you can do ??

Oops sorry pardon - just a light hearted response to your use of the word solidarity - didn't realise your charisma by-pass op was a success - and if you've read my 12.27 post (which I presume you have) you'll see that I've given my view and had a few others agree generally -not that anyone else's view isn't just as valid - what's up Wizman the Chalfont's playing you up? Has Canioman disappeared as well? :))

Sorr.......y if I touched a nerve. I was merely responding to you in the same manner. If anything is playing me up, its my feet. Spent a afternoon at the NEC yesterday, wearing the wrong trainers. Then we decided to walk back to the car instead of taking the bus. I don't recommend that either ! LOL As goes the club, well we will have to wait and see, unless AB is prepared to spill the beans, and I don't think he will do that. As for your journo mate, well why not publish what he told you. It should be fun, LOL ! then again, you have put it here. I hope he keeps his job.

Wiz - its his business so its not a question of him losing his job - it covers all Swindon local news and sport and focusus on the Town, the speedway etc. As a media man he "noses" "sniffs" out information about the subject matter - in this case STFC.As to publishing the story well as you know there's a very fine line between truth & libel ...and I did say hearsay lol!...but it kinda fits in to the present scenario I think.

Malkym wrote:
LR - I bow to your superior knowledge of our financial position and hope that things will pan out as you say, but I still can't help thinking that the curent backers are looking for the escape hatch in the not too distant future and much of what you envisage will depend on what happens regarding ground redevelopment, which brings us back to whether Sir WP can twist middle Eastern arms to invest I think.

Malkym i have just got back from the docs he told me i am obese ,i said how do you work that one out and he said the proof is in the pudding ,ILL GET ME COAT

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote:

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote:

Malkym wrote:

the wizard wrote: LR, I have been trying to concentrate on this coming weekend and the game. My belief is tomorrow we all need to be so TOTALLY behind the team and manager. Yes I know, I do have issues with his PR, but, tomorrow is as I see it an important stepping stone into our future. Above all else SOLIDARITY needs to be on show tomorrow for all to see. I'll be there. Looks like I'm picking up a car load along the way, just hope a few more are doing the same. I know you are probably on the train, you'll just have to jump off at Reading and Didcot and do a quick sales pitch on the platform, LOL.

Is Lech Walesa going to the game then?

Is that really the best you can do ??

Oops sorry pardon - just a light hearted response to your use of the word solidarity - didn't realise your charisma by-pass op was a success - and if you've read my 12.27 post (which I presume you have) you'll see that I've given my view and had a few others agree generally -not that anyone else's view isn't just as valid - what's up Wizman the Chalfont's playing you up? Has Canioman disappeared as well? :))

Sorr.......y if I touched a nerve. I was merely responding to you in the same manner. If anything is playing me up, its my feet. Spent a afternoon at the NEC yesterday, wearing the wrong trainers. Then we decided to walk back to the car instead of taking the bus. I don't recommend that either ! LOL As goes the club, well we will have to wait and see, unless AB is prepared to spill the beans, and I don't think he will do that. As for your journo mate, well why not publish what he told you. It should be fun, LOL ! then again, you have put it here. I hope he keeps his job.

Wiz - its his business so its not a question of him losing his job - it covers all Swindon local news and sport and focusus on the Town, the speedway etc. As a media man he "noses" "sniffs" out information about the subject matter - in this case STFC.As to publishing the story well as you know there's a very fine line between truth & libel ...and I did say hearsay lol!...but it kinda fits in to the present scenario I think.

Ha, hahahahahaaaaa, when I started off on the tools, I could make anything "fit", lol, depends on how big a hammer you use as to what can be made to fit where, LOL, BBBIGGG LOL

jayden wrote:

Malkym wrote: LR - I bow to your superior knowledge of our financial position and hope that things will pan out as you say, but I still can't help thinking that the curent backers are looking for the escape hatch in the not too distant future and much of what you envisage will depend on what happens regarding ground redevelopment, which brings us back to whether Sir WP can twist middle Eastern arms to invest I think.

Malkym i have just got back from the docs he told me i am obese ,i said how do you work that one out and he said the proof is in the pudding ,ILL GET ME COAT

Jayden - To me to you -no you to me - I should get your coat.hat, umbrella & scarf after that one lol!!

I don't think they are simply making the change to look for an quick exit route - as that beg the question why bother coming in at all?
.
I don't think they will be here forever either - as they are not STFC fans and don't think they are big football fans fullstop
.
However, I believe they came to turn the club into a profitable business (which we are not far off - thus profit in 2010) with a decent set off assets (not there yet - i.e no ground) which would be worth more than what they paid to turn it into that
.
We are not near that so doubt they are looking for a route out as that will simply see them lose millions - roughly the £9m Inter-Company Creditor balance!
.
As for the Ground I heard that the lease was to be extended to 250 years to remove the issue over not owning it

Personally I think all this talk about new investers , new ground/ refurbished ground etc is a load of b****cks as it always has been . Full of broken promises , loads of young fans upset , as it always has been . I won't believe it till I see it

London Red wrote:
Following on from yesterda's debate on pricing - has anyone seen this on the BBC?
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk

/sport/0/football/19

716087
.
Smirg you should pay special attention to this as you are one who is very vocal about offers "removing your benefit"
.
The one thing I would say if they are think of doing this at Swindon - they need to notify at the start of the season which game they think falls into each bracket and have a matchday starting price published against each bracket
.
Then I guess like you do with your train ticket to get to the game you will shop in advance for the games you think are more affordable

Cheers London a great read.

I don't care how much I pay as long as we are getting value for money.apart from the two this season I have enjoyed every moment at the c.g last season and have a buzz back which left me years ago. I would have got a s/t last season but the trouble was we had players leaving no manager no ambition untill fitton left. But when Paolo and jwray was named it was to late to get the early deal.
I don't care if I pay £19 and someone next to me pays £14 as long as I enjoyed the game they give 100% I'm happy.
It's always been the same at this club you talk to people at work and they get free tickets and they have never been to a game, how they get them god only knows as I have never had a free ticket in 40+ years supporting them.
As for filling the stadiums good on them. Nothing worse than watching a game with no supporters I.e bury away a couple of weeks ago.
Onwards and upwards

Evening all..may I assure readers that IF i win the euromilions tonight I will put millions in and be possibly the first board member with a Swindon tattoo on his arm..However was that a Pig or Pox supporter flew past the window...many similarities..so I suppose we will have to dream on..!

smirg kcab wrote:

London Red wrote:
Following on from yesterda's debate on pricing - has anyone seen this on the BBC?
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk


/sport/0/football/19


716087
.
Smirg you should pay special attention to this as you are one who is very vocal about offers "removing your benefit"
.
The one thing I would say if they are think of doing this at Swindon - they need to notify at the start of the season which game they think falls into each bracket and have a matchday starting price published against each bracket
.
Then I guess like you do with your train ticket to get to the game you will shop in advance for the games you think are more affordable

Cheers London a great read.

I don't care how much I pay as long as we are getting value for money.apart from the two this season I have enjoyed every moment at the c.g last season and have a buzz back which left me years ago. I would have got a s/t last season but the trouble was we had players leaving no manager no ambition untill fitton left. But when Paolo and jwray was named it was to late to get the early deal.
I don't care if I pay £19 and someone next to me pays £14 as long as I enjoyed the game they give 100% I'm happy.
It's always been the same at this club you talk to people at work and they get free tickets and they have never been to a game, how they get them god only knows as I have never had a free ticket in 40+ years supporting them.
As for filling the stadiums good on them. Nothing worse than watching a game with no supporters I.e bury away a couple of weeks ago.
Onwards and upwards

Spot on - it's about value. If you feel the ticket's worth the price then it is.

I also couldn't care less what other people pay relative to what I do - makes no difference to me.

Just heard that one of the programme sellers has been told they have to leave blimey its all changing at the County Ground. Lets get back on track tomorrow and put a rather large one over a few of our ex-players. It would be great to thrash Scunny.