Swindon Town - a disgrace to football

[Richinns]

Complete disgrace as a football club.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21047858

Spend a shed load money they do not have, gain promotion, become comfortable so any 10point reduction will not cause relegation at then decide they might write the debts off by entering administration - for a THIRD time.

Kick them out the league - think of how many properly run clubs (including us) they are screwing, think of how many people who are owed money by the club who never receive it. It is cheating - plain and simple and they are ruin peoples lives by doing this - something has to be done about it.

[CP Gull]

Totally agree.

Yet another example of a club that has effectively cheated it's way to promotion by buying players and paying inflated wages for the level they are at. Since Di Canio came in they have spent money like there was no tomorrow and in his brief reign he has rebuilt the side 2 or 3 times, firstly by buying a load of foreigners that just couldn't cut it in English L2 football and then having to pay all their contracts up at no doubt great expense to correct his mistake. Not only that but since their promotion he has still squandered money and gradually dismantled the side that got them up by deeming the likes of Connell and Benson amongst others surplus to requirements.

It really is shocking if they do end up in admin for a 3rd time and if they are allowed to get away with writing off £9 million of debt and only "suffer" a measly 10 point deduction which will no doubt still leave them comfortably in mid table at the end of he season, then where is the fairness in that when in essence they bought promotion last year with money that they didn't have!

You also have to wonder what on earth the football authorities are doing to continue to allow these situations to happen, clearly not enough! The "wage cap" for lower league clubs was supposed to prevent this happening but in reality the only clubs who are suffering under this ruling seem to be the ones who genuinely seem to abide by the rules!

In my opinion any club who has to enter administration for a second or third time should at the very least suffer an immediate relegation of at least one, maybe two, divisions. It is surely only fair when certain serial offenders continue to laugh in the face of the football authorities. Shame on you, the board of directors (past and present) at Swindon Town.

[Plymouth Gull]

Agree entirely. Shambles. They've effectively robbed us (or Southend) a place in L1. It's like Notts County a few years back, it's pathetic. CP, I'd say going into admin at all should be an immediate relegation, it should be something which is a last resort that clubs should do if they have no choice, but now clubs choose to go into admin. It shouldn't be like that.

EDIT: Rich I'll move this into the other section.

[royalgull]

Don't know what i'm more riled about, the story or the fact I just typed a big reply to this only to see it wiped because I hadn't logged in. Fcuk sake

'S.O.S - Save Our Swindon' was the message on the buckets when we went there a few years ago as their down on their luck fans worked tirelessly to save their club. Well done folks, a few years later and suddenly out of the blue Swindon are hiring Paulo Di Canio?? No one thought to ask how much they were paying him? OK fair enough, then they sign a whole new side...anyone? OK.. then they release pretty much all of said side within a few weeks of their contracts...no? then BUY a whole new squad including players for six figure sums they just casually loan out less than 6 months into his contract...Seriously? No questions as to how when on no bigger crowds, in the same league, in the same ground how any of this was affordable and more to the point sustainable??! When you were in admin just a few years ago.

We even had some of their fans gloating on here telling us how Swindon were fine and all of this was part of a long term plan that made financial sense and all the rest of it. We will now be told by Sky that we have to 'feel for the fans' after all 'its not the fans fault'. Football fans want the moon on a stick as long as someone else pays for it and when said person pulls the plug it's some sort of outrage and how could they do this to the fans. Why didn't the fans speak up and ask the questions I just posed above to said person???! So No, fcuk them and fcuk their corrupt cheating club as well.

The issue as already highlighted is it's not them we feel sorry for but clubs and fans of clubs like ours, like cheltenham and also like Barnet who were robbed of automatic promotions, maybe playoff finals and in Barnet's case a JPT Final by a club that was CHEATING to win success while we overachieve and live within our means to scrape every point and earn every place in the table we can possibly get on limited resources. the right way, the fair way.

Clubs like us and Barnet have small stadiums, no real commercial income and tiny fanbases so a cup run or a promotion could be massive for us. As frustrating it is at times for fans of TUFC to see other clubs spend money or make signings all we are doing is keeping our club sustainable with the limited income that we have. I feel annoyed and grumpy a lot with it but them's the breaks. We can't afford to buy players or match a lot of clubs for salaries when we have 2500 people through the gate. It's sensible, fair and the right way to go about it what we do and I'm convinced one day we'll get rewarded for that one way or another.

Football is the most corrupt, morally wrong and spineless industry in the world today. There is no business anywhere in the world that could or would be able to govern or function the way that football clubs run. The world is broke, not just the UK but the entire planet is potless yet football carries on it's merry way of extortionate salaries and transfer fees. That's why it's £62 a ticket at certain Premier League grounds,trying to pay for their latest rip off signing, saying that a ticket for Swindon v Shrewsbury this weekend is £27, bargain for League 1 eh??!. Football fans in the UK don't help themselves here, stop going. Refuse to pay it then lets see how long these clubs last.

Football needs to take a stand quickly, it needs severe punishment for clubs entering administration, not 10 points but 30/40 points. Make sure said club is relegated or robbed of any chance of promotion to ensure the rest get a fair deal in that league and also allow that club to rebuild and restructure itself in a lower division. For repeat offenders I would go as far to say that the club should be instantly wound up. Seriously, if you go into adminstration twice there should be no way back, it proves that clubs hasn't learnt, hasn't been run properly still and continues to cheat.

We need some clubs to go out of business to be honest, i don't want to see that happen but it needs to happen. Not Kings Lynn, Ruhden or even Chester (who are a similar sized club to us) but a Portsmouth or a Swindon. It needs a club with a bit more standing in the game to get wound up for others tot ake note and think 's*it if this can happen to them then we need to sort ourselves out'. There are tons of other clubs, some you wouldn't even think about that are on the brink of financial ruin who keep getting bailed out time and time again. We need to stop this mindset of 'they'll get bailed out or bought by someone' and get some fairness back into this sport.

God I hate modern football! Haha.

[Dave]

Thats it Royal get off your chest, now breathe in and slowly out..in and slowly out...

Completely agree with all above posts, it is the F.A, Premier League and Football Leagues that have get together and wake up a bit . Rules need changing it bugs me with Plmouth down the road there still bragging about having the best pitch in the football league ..world cup standard they tell anyone who will listen..yep £400,000 was the cost and butholes still have not paid for it and under their CVA they never will.

It should remain 10pts for the first time entering into adminstration, 20 pts for the second time and a club should be expelled from the league after a third time going into admin, genuine football are going to find it hard to trade with buisness soon.

[Glostergull]

Who stop there.. Stake Paulo Di Cantnotio to the centre circle with all his numpty directors and the fans who gloated on the forums and throw rotten apples at them. better still get trojan to whip them with that rusty barbed wire whip he has. You have still got it Troj me ole mucker haven't you?

oh and while we are at it. Demolish the stadium and sell it for development into Care homes. for the infirm of mind. Like football directors etc.

[gullintwoplaces]

If I regularly set myself up in new businesses after going into administration every few years, offering the same services under effectively the same trading name, ripping off my creditors each time, I would expect to appear on Watchdog, be lambasted in the press and be fearful of a visit from Inspector Knacker. If I do this as a football club, my behaviour is condoned by all and and sundry, and my trading regulator (the Football League/FA) just treats my behaviour as part of the game. If Swindon go into administration yet again, the Football League should revoke their licence to trade and chuck them out of the League.

[exilegull]

And here we go...

One habitually bankrupt club paying almost half a million pounds for a player from league 1 from another habitually bankrupt football club..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21265257

Clubs that go through administration should have a 3 year ban on paying transfer fees and a low cap on wages - at the end of that 3 years any profit can then be used to pay further money to creditors