Will there be a Swindon Town left to play?

[Superphil]

evening all.

i quite like the red card idea - although the difficulty would lie in getting the club to allow us to hand them out. we were forcibly removed from the car park at the weekend for handing out leaflets.

Get them printed with something along the lines of;

Build a bonfire,
Build a bonfire,
Put Diamandis on the top,
Put [second name of unpopular person] in the middle,
and we'll burn the flipping lot.

(hopefully most will substitute the "flipping" accordingly, just don't print 'f***ing' so as not to offend anyone.)

Also, print exactly when you want them held up, i.e. for the first minute after kick off, or whatever.

And a little bit of historical information so the Brighton fans, and any others who may turn up, who don't know full details have a reason to hold them up.

 

[severnside gull]

The club have stated that we have "insufficient funds to continue trading"

When did they say that? Technically they are operating ilegally once they acknowledge this to be the case and the league would have to act pretty quickly I would have thought?

Are the administrators of the current CVA saying anything?

Definitely does NOT sound good. Might it be worth trying to post to every supporters' forum you can to try to drum up support for a protest ?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Does anyone remember the Fans United day at Selhurst when Wimbledon were playing Forest?

There was something very haunting about the constant singing of "Ooooohhhhh, Charles Koppel, I wanna knowowow ... Why you are such a C***"

Somehow the 'c' word doesn't sound so offensive when it comes out of the mouths of a few thousand people at the same time.

Much like "Nancy Boys" seems to be acceptable when thousands are chanting "one-nil" to them. But I expect Swindon fans might know that already.

 

[bristolseagull]

town fan here - i come in peace honest.

it's a ridiculously complicated situation but the crux of it is that we owe creditors £900k in a CVA payment which was due at the end of july - it's still due and not a penny of it has been paid. we're effectively run by a former disqualified director who acts as an "advisor" to our biggest shareholder. needless to say, he's responsible for this mess.

in the past eighteen months there have been three takeover attempts by three seperate parties - former QPR chairman bill power & the supporter's trust, portuguese 'investment group' BEST Holdings and now local businessman andrew fitton. none of these have succeeded because of the greed of one man.

administration is not an option, the CVA supervisor would be forced to fail the CVA thus sending us into receivership. the HMRC wouldn't hesitate in slapping us with a winding-up order and it'd be game over by christmas.

sadly the vast majority of our fans are so apathetic that by the time they realise the severity of our situation, it'll be far too late. we've had protests, mock funeral processions and no end of other attempts to inform the fanbase and oppose the board but ultimately it's not enough to stop one man with a huge disdain for the club's supporters from destroying it.

you need the 'rent a mob' guys we hired to snap your crossbar.

 

[Superphil]

Does anyone remember the Fans United day at Selhurst when Wimbledon were playing Forest?

There was something very haunting about the constant singing of "Ooooohhhhh, Charles Koppel, I wanna knowowow ... Why you are such a C***"

Somehow the 'c' word doesn't sound so offensive when it comes out of the mouths of a few thousand people at the same time.

Much like "Nancy Boys" seems to be acceptable when thousands are chanting "one-nil" to them. But I expect Swindon fans might know that already.

We were also singing

Show me the way to Plough Lane
I'm tired and I wanna go home
We had a football ground 10 years ago
??/?

Wherevere I may roam
To Selhurst Park again (f***ing dump)
You'll always find me singing this song
Show me the way to Plough Lane

 

[countrygull]

For what it's worth, I think we continue to have a debt to so many clubs for the support we received during our dark hours, that when something like this comes up we should do all we can to help. Plus, we are the undisputed kings of fans` protests - so we should offer our help and support.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

For what it's worth, I think we continue to have a debt to so many clubs for the support we received during our dark hours, that when something like this comes up we should do all we can to help. Plus, we are the undisputed kings of fans` protests - so we should offer our help and support.

I don't disagree with this sentiment at all.

But we mustn't take over other Clubs' protests. Whatever happens at Swindon will only be effective if it is Swindon fans leading. Even if we think we are 'kings', we leave our crowns at home.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I don't disagree with this sentiment at all.

But we mustn't take over other Clubs' protests. Whatever happens at Swindon will only be effective if it is Swindon fans leading. Even if we think we are 'kings', we leave our crowns at home.

especially as in his earlier post he said that a swindon fans are openly hostile to his group

 

[Tesco in Disguise]

what a shite situation , i wasnt aware of this which probably speaks volumes for the lack of national coverage.

yeah, cos what you don't know ain't worth knowing.

 

[Monkey Man]

Perhaps a merger with Supermarine will save the day?

But in all seriousness, a terrible situation and I wish you all the best. Swindon were my grandad's club so I always look out for their results.

 

[Lady Bracknell]

That's what we had at Wrexham. A4 sheets of red paper.
I've been trying to find Roz's pics of it on her site.

The other 4 pics are here

 

[Superphil]

He's fat, he's round
He only wants the ground
Gutterman
Gutterman

 

[Yorkie]

The other 4 pics are here

Thanks Roz, I knew you'd come up trumps. I love that picture of Ned.

 

[sonicyouth]

takeover talks have been resurrected so there is new hope that a deal can be done but it's far from certain and we're still teetering on the edge, past events suggest that things will proceed swimmingly until a crunch point when diamandis says to sir seton wills, our major shareholder, something along the lines of "i can get you a better deal squire, honest" and starts demanding sums of money to cover loans here and there, or perhaps even a percentage of any future redevelopment...cos they've made f*** all progress themselves over the last few years.

rumours were rife last night that the club was in lockdown by the police/DTI as well. the source is usually reliable but there's not been any further info on that.

it's squeaky bum time.

anyway, after chatting to the chairman of the trust he's keen for the fan's united day to go ahead. a lot depends on what happens over the next seven days but if there's anyone who would be kind enough to offer their services in terms of the logistics of everything, drop me a PM and we'll sort something out.

i was thinking that the red card idea could be done at kick-off - or perhaps just before? - with people all around the ground holding the cards up and singing appropriate anti-dodgy-greek-bastard songs. would it be easier to hand them out amongst yourselves before the game or inside the ground?

 

[sonicyouth]

When did they say that? Technically they are operating ilegally once they acknowledge this to be the case and the league would have to act pretty quickly I would have thought?

Are the administrators of the current CVA saying anything?

Definitely does NOT sound good. Might it be worth trying to post to every supporters' forum you can to try to drum up support for a protest ?

one of the directors stated it in a press conference here.

"We have reached the point now where there are insufficient funds to continue trading"

no surprise really, diamandis was banned from being a director as a previous business under his 'guidance' was trading whilst insolvent. the cva administrator is keeping the creditors at bay with a big stick, once again it's no surprise that mr andronikou has close links with diamandis from previous 'businesses'. he's also quite adept at slagging off the fans.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

takeover talks have been resurrected so there is new hope that a deal can be done but it's far from certain and we're still teetering on the edge, past events suggest that things will proceed swimmingly until a crunch point when diamandis says to sir seton wills, our major shareholder, something along the lines of "i can get you a better deal squire, honest" and starts demanding sums of money to cover loans here and there, or perhaps even a percentage of any future redevelopment...cos they've made f*** all progress themselves over the last few years.

rumours were rife last night that the club was in lockdown by the police/DTI as well. the source is usually reliable but there's not been any further info on that.

it's squeaky bum time.

anyway, after chatting to the chairman of the trust he's keen for the fan's united day to go ahead. a lot depends on what happens over the next seven days but if there's anyone who would be kind enough to offer their services in terms of the logistics of everything, drop me a PM and we'll sort something out.

i was thinking that the red card idea could be done at kick-off - or perhaps just before? - with people all around the ground holding the cards up and singing appropriate anti-dodgy-greek-bastard songs. would it be easier to hand them out amongst yourselves before the game or inside the ground?

Sounds crap mate. It's so stupid that clubs have to go through shit like this.

I seem to remember, but i may well be wrong, that the red cards were held up for the first 10 minutes of the game at Wrexham. Before kick off wont have as much attention drawn to it, as the cameras will be on from the start of the game, so you would get more coverage.

I cant remember how the cards were handed out at wrexham, it could well have been at pubs beforehand.

 

[Lady Bracknell]

... would it be easier to hand them out amongst yourselves before the game or inside the ground?

Whatever is best depending on how difficult the club might be about any protest - like not allowing anyone to hand stuff out near, or in, the ground.

So we can meet up beforehand in a pub - 2 coachloads of us are on a civilised little Tour arranged by a Swindon fan who runs a pub in Lewes so will be visiting various hostelries!

Or if you like to let us know exactly what you'd like printed on red cards, we can easily organise a decent supply to bring with us and hand around to the Brighton supporters.

(My recollection is that, at Wrexham, we met up with their supporters beforehand - some of us in the pub that Superphil made me take the picture of a pile of sick in!)

 

[sonicyouth]

any idea where in swindon you pissheads will end up? i should be able to round up a few people depending if i can drag them out of the pub. of course, my job will be made significantly easier if we can sort things out in a place with beer

an organised march from the magic roundabout to the director's entrance before kick-off, followed by a few choruses of 'sack the board' with town and albion fans alike would be a pretty neat idea as well. the v.i.p. guests love it.

i doubt the club would let us hand anything out near the ground and security have been rather heavy-handed in recent weeks.

 

[Djmiles]

I'm on the Costa Express, so would either have to walk away from the ground or be given the red cards in advance, as I assume the coach will park on the ground premises?

 

[Yorkie]

Sounds crap mate. It's so stupid that clubs have to go through shit like this.

I seem to remember, but i may well be wrong, that the red cards were held up for the first 10 minutes of the game at Wrexham. Before kick off wont have as much attention drawn to it, as the cameras will be on from the start of the game, so you would get more coverage.

I cant remember how the cards were handed out at wrexham, it could well have been at pubs beforehand.

It was in the pub on the corner of the ground beforehand.
The magic roundabout sounds like a good place (it's not too far to walk back from where the coach drops us off)or name the pub.
The Wrexham protest started at 15:10. The first ten minutes of the game passed fairly quietly.
I suppose it depends on how much the Swindon fans want to do. A noisy 'Sack the Board' and other songs or anything else that they lead......