Swindon Town owner denies club is up for sale

The owner of Swindon Town Clem Morfuni has moved to quash rumours that the club is for sale.

The Australian businessman has also revealed that he has put £250,000 into the club to stable its finances.

The announcement came after the club was beaten 7-4 by Aldershot in an FA Cup game.

Rumours have surrounded the club regarding its potential sale.

The chairman and owner  took over the League Two club in July 2021 following a long legal battle.

The club had debts of £7.5m when Morfuni took over which were reduced to £1m in October last year in what was described as a step towards “complete financial security”.

Morfuni published a lengthy letter to Swindon Town fans following the defeat to Aldershot.

He said:  “I felt it was important to write to you all after the shocking 7-4 defeat we suffered against Aldershot in the FA Cup yesterday.

“I want to address not only this embarrassing loss but also provide clarity on a series of stories that have been circulating on social media.

“As owner, I take full responsibility for everything that happens within our club and I’m writing this message to let you know I’m confronting the challenges head-on.

“I understand that there has been a lot of speculation regarding the potential sale of the club, and I want to address the concerns and clear up any confusion.

“As I’ve emphasised before and will reiterate now: Swindon Town is not up for sale.

“However, from time to time we receive expressions of interest from potential people to buy the club entertaining such discussions does not equate to actively seeking a sale, even if some may interpret it that way.

“There have been reports and speculation concerning player payments and HMRC issues which I can confirm have been paid and also paid on time.

“In the past fortnight, I have injected £250,000 to stabilise the club and I will continue to stabilise the club as and when needed. We still encounter many difficulties due to the years of mismanagement from the prior ownership and these challenges are still painstakingly being worked through and paid for me.

“The current club revenue is not sufficient to cover the costs to run the club, with existing deals in place that have been active for years that don’t make us any money and benefit others tremendously.

“Anthony Hall our CEO has talked me through this at length and our plan is to focus on new revenue streams for the club, we also need to renegotiate all of our less favourable commercial deals and enhance our offerings to generate additional revenue.

“We recently joined the Fair Game Initiative, which is dedicated to making football clubs more sustainable. We are fully aligned with their goals and believe in the significance of a sustainable future for our club and the football community.

“It’s been said recently that clubs in League Two lose on average £1m-£2m, in League One they lose £3m+ every year and in the Championship even more, all chasing success.

“It shouldn’t be this way and Fair Game is pushing very hard and want all football clubs to become more sustainable, telling us that since the Premier League was created in 1992, there have been 64 instances of clubs collapsing into administration in the top 4 divisions and also that the Premier League gives more money to one parachute payment club than it does to all 120 clubs in leagues 1, 2 and the National League combined. Things must change, and we fully support the Fair Game initiative.”

The stadium purchase, with equal ownership shared between the club and our supporters, was a massive step towards securing our financial stability. It will take years to complete, but in time we will be able to generate income seven days a week.

“The club pay rental to the JV which is then paid back to the club and reinvested to fix the stadium which is being carried out progressively which we have reported on in the Advisory board meeting minutes and the current spend this close season was +£200K.

“We’re currently working with the Supporters Trust on a new fan zone, we think the fan zone will give supporters a much better matchday experience, this is something I will be personally looking over when I’m back in January.

“Yesterday’s result was heartbreaking, but the early season has been filled with promise we need your patience, and we need your support more than ever during these difficult moments.

“As stated already, we have a plan – we’re actively working on strategies to increase revenue and to get promotion into League 1 and beyond.

“I understand why you are disappointed and upset right now as I’m I and the rest of the team is. I want to emphasise that I am with you on that and assure you that I am 100% committed to Swindon Town.”