Bert’s Horseracing Blog

Come on you robins

Jan 31st, 2008 by Bert

I made my first move in a new direction over the Christmas period when I effectively took a piece of Swindon Town FC. Jeremy Wray (Ed€™s brother) is a long time friend, and he was working on the deal alongside his business partner, Andrew Fitton. Andrew takes the lead (and is chairman) with Jeremy playing a strong supporting role. The other two members of the consortium are me and Sir Martyn Arbib, but we are for the most part just putting cash up.

For a club to thrive in the long term it needs to be extremely well run, and Andrew is an incredibly good businessman - I have no doubt that he€™ll do the club proud. The plan is to steady the ship and slowly build the club up from there. We have a new CEO, a new manager, four new players and a decent run of recent results €“ I think we€™ve got a very respectable chance of making the play-offs.

On to more mundane matters, and I signed up with Weightwatchers on Tuesday. I turn up to weigh in and stand in a queue for ten minutes. Suddenly I hear a booming voice; €œLadies, we have a man with us today!€ followed by a lot of sniggering. The weightwatchers group consisted of about thirty overweight middle-aged women and me. Oh well.

Later I had to go and meet €œthe leader€, a 20 year old girl who gave me a little lecture on counting points as I eat. I smiled and thanked her. After that we all sat round in a big circle (I sat out the back) and had a chat about who was happy and who was unhappy that week. Not the high point of my week, but maybe the embarassment of it all will spur me on to greater heights.

Not much horse racing action, but I have one going tomorrow €“ Shepherds Warning goes for a hatrick of claimers tomorrow at Wolver. On the face of it she has a tough job to beat Rich Kid, but we know she€™ll go well in the conditions and she has a great attitude. She€™ll have a very respectable chance.

Posted in Berts Horses, Shepherds Warning | 21 Comments

21 Responses to “Come on you robins”

on 31 Jan 2008 at 10:21 pm1Tim

Cheers,

Planning on coming to some games to see your investments??

Things are looking up for the mighty STFC!!
on 31 Jan 2008 at 10:26 pm2Andy

Fitton has done a great job already winning over the fans, setting sensible expectations and promising to get the Town on an even keel. With the signing of Cox, the playoffs are a realistic target.

Please do blog about your Town experiences - it’ll be interesting to hear what’s going on in the boardroom.
on 31 Jan 2008 at 11:10 pm3Chris

Would like to thank you for your involvement in STFC!

It really does mean a lot to us
on 01 Feb 2008 at 4:17 am4The Gambler.

Excellent stuff. My buddies are in the process of buying a non-league club. There is a slight possibilty that I will end up on the board. Look forward to knocking you out of the cup in a couple of years.
on 01 Feb 2008 at 11:01 am5wayne

keep going with the diet bert ! will it be pounds lost ? or pounds gained on shepherds today ?
on 01 Feb 2008 at 11:14 am6Thommo

Bert,

Maybe you should kill two birds with one stone by going training with the Swindon boys. You can keep an eye on your investement at the same time!

Cheers
Thommo
on 01 Feb 2008 at 11:24 am7Thomas Paris

We welcome your support to Swindon Town with open arms. Got any tips for the horses?
on 01 Feb 2008 at 11:51 am8Steve Weston

From a lifelong Swindon fan - Thankyou Mr Black.
on 01 Feb 2008 at 12:37 pm9Jamie

Swindon fan here,thanks for helping out.I’ll start using Bet Fair again and give a little back.

Weight watchers sounds a blast,sitting around in a circle with a load of fatty 30 somethings moaning about their bad week.I can only imagine that it puts you off your food for a month.How many points are there in a pint of Guiness?
on 01 Feb 2008 at 1:29 pm10Ray Jay

My cleaner says that she rewards herself for going to her Weightwatchers meeting by buying an indian takeaway on the journey home!

Buying Swindon Town sounds like a perfect way of losing pounds.
on 01 Feb 2008 at 1:37 pm11James Bye

Me & my Dad Derrick wanna buy Swindon Town off you.
on 01 Feb 2008 at 2:39 pm12wayne

you’ve started something now bert !!!
on 01 Feb 2008 at 3:56 pm13James

What can we say, thanks for helping to save our football club, without you and the consortium I am sure we would have gone bust by now.
If you are ever in the Bristol area there will be a pint (or whatever your tipple is) on the bar waitiing for you, although not sure you will be allowed - think of the calories..:-)

Cheers
on 01 Feb 2008 at 7:28 pm14Bert

Thanks all for the positive comments.

RJ - thankyou for the diet tip, which I may try out. I look forward to proving you wrong on the second bit.

James B & Derrick - it’s a little early for the consortium to be selling out but I’m sure we’d consider an offer at the right price…

I’ll do another Swindon blog later when I get some time.
on 02 Feb 2008 at 11:00 am15Ray

Thank you for getting involved in Swindon Town F.C. The club will hopefully have some successful times ahead.

Ray.
on 02 Feb 2008 at 1:12 pm16micko

Come on bert get some tips up for today!!!
on 02 Feb 2008 at 1:44 pm17wayne

what did you think of shepherds warning run bert ?
on 02 Feb 2008 at 9:18 pm18Jamie

Hello again.

Just like to say the Pic at the top of this Blog compared to the Pic in the local Swindon Paper looks like two completely different people.

The beardy look works best.

Umm thats all.
on 03 Feb 2008 at 8:35 pm19Trevor Wainwright

Bertie, many thanks for your involvement in the Consortium S.T.F.C..I have followed Swindon Town for 40 years and it has been my life. Ups and Downs- You will note that the fans are very passionate about the club and we together can get stronger and stronger. We welcome you to join us and be part of the great club which can now only get greater with your involvement. Swindon till I die!
Trevor
on 08 Feb 2008 at 6:06 pm20Jayne Williams

Oh dear, it doesn’t seem you enjoyed going to Weight Watchers very much! But don’t despair, help is at hand, go to Slimming World instead - you will definitely get a very warm welcome there and other men to talk to. You don’t have to give up your favourite foods or measure and count every mouthful either, and there’s loads of filling fab foods that you can eat as much and as often as you want. What you will get there is lots of help and support from friendly people and a terrific weight loss! I’ve lost 3½ stone with Slimming World at the Little Neston Group on the Wirral and its terrific! There will be a group near you, so find your nearest group on the website at http://www.slimmingworld.com. Good luck! x
on 20 May 2008 at 12:09 pm21Rob Grey

Dear Mr Black,
Is there any possibility that your company, Betfair, will replace Kingswood Group and the clubs main sponser in the near future?

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Betfair’s Andrew Black on Horse Racing, Betting, Betfair and Random Musings

Come on you robins

21 Responses to “Come on you robins”

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