The Board of Swindon Town Supporters’ Trust has today issued a statement calling for a rapid resolution to the current case being heard in the High Court relating to the ownership of the club.

The statement applauds the achievements of the players and coaching staff through the season, but emphasises the need for ‘stability, integrity and transparency’ in the running of the club.  The Trust reminds protagonists in the case of their primary responsibility to the staff of the club, both playing and administrative, and of the damage to the reputation of the club both locally and nationally caused by uncertainty and instability in the boardroom.  The Supporters’ Trust calls for a rapid resolution of the case, with no further strain on the finances of the club.

Trust Chair, Steve Mytton, said:

“No club can thrive in the context of such insecurity, and Swindon fans have had to put up with more than their fair share over the years. We need stability.  We thought that we had glimpsed something of that as the season progressed, but the court room battle is depressing, and there is a restlessness among supporters which we hoped was a thing of the past.”

The Supporters’ Trust is committed to creative and positive interaction with the club at every level, and seeks to ensure that the views of fans are clearly expressed and taken into account in decisions affecting its future.

The statement reads:

For the past fifteen months Swindon Town FC has seemingly been living under a cloud of instability and uncertainty in the boardroom. For the most part, supporters are mystified and disappointed by the continuing struggles now being fought in the courts.

In the circumstances, our first wish is to applaud and thank the manager, coaches and players for a remarkably enjoyable and successful season.

However, we are concerned for the club as a whole, and expect success on the pitch to be reflected in stability, integrity and  transparency in the running of the club.

Therefore, as representatives of the body of Swindon supporters across the region, the Trust invites all the protaganists in the current court case to:

a) remember their primary responsibility to all the employees of Swindon Town FC, and especially to members of the playing staff whose future employment with the club is due to be decided now; and to ensure that such decisions are able to be made properly and promptly.

b) ensure that the club is able to move forward with its summer programme of strengthening the team for the new season.

c) move rapidly to reassure supporters that there is a stable and secure future for the club, and that the directors of the club will develop an honest and transparent relationship with the fan base which respects their unique role in the life of the club.

d) bring an end to the current legal dispute quickly in a way which will enable the progress on the football pitch this season to be enhanced in the coming year and beyond, and without further damage to the strained financial state of the club.

At the same time, we wish to make clear that we understand the complexities of running a modern-day football club, especially in the light of the need to enforce a radically new financial model. That the team has achieved so much on the pitch in the first season under such constraints reflects positively on all concerned.

However, the disputes ‘behind the scenes’ which have led to the current court case are, in our view, deeply damaging both to the morale of all the staff of the club and its supporters, and to its reputation locally and nationally. The supporters of Swindon Town, as of any club, are its lifeblood. To alienate the supporters is to risk destroying the very business that is being fought over.