Swindon Town Owner Issues Response Whilst Ex-Player Speaks Out

Just 24 hours after the letter from the Trust STFC organisation was published online, the situation has taken some more interesting turns throughout the day – through both the owner and ex-striker Charlie Austin.

Yesterday saw Trust STFC upload a letter of “no confidence” in owner Clem Morfuni, after they ran a survey in which over 2,000 Swindon Town supporters answered. This saw 85% of supporters state that they were dissatisfied with the current ownership of the club and with the direction in which the club seems to be heading in

You can read our article explaining the reasons behind the vote of no confidence here.

This morning saw both a club statement released as well as an interesting interview with recently departed captain Charlie Austin for The Swindon Advertiser, which both made for very interesting reading.

Owner Morfuni claimed that he had read the letter and said that he will be putting plans in place over the coming weeks to make sure that supporter groups are on board with his leading of the club:

“We have carefully considered the Swindon Town Supporters Trust’s open letter published yesterday and acknowledge the concerns expressed. Respecting all viewpoints, we plan to request a meeting with supporter groups in the coming weeks to discuss both the letter and the recent fan-led survey.“

However, it did seem like whilst making it clear to supporters that he would take some of their criticisms on board, the Australian businessman refused to take accountability for everything that he was accused of in the letter:

“While we value the feedback from the Supporters Trust and the wider fan community, we would like to mention that we do not fully agree with all the points raised in the open letter.“

In an additional development to the matter, Charlie Austin gave his thoughts on the situation having been at the club last season. The former Premier League striker, who scored 12 league goals last season, had this to say on the people involved off the pitch at Swindon :

“Clem is the owner, he’s not the ultimate football guy, and the people that are below him are not football people or not the right people, he needs football people to be running that club, it’s hard to run a club from the other side of the world especially when people aren’t telling you what you want to hear.”

But look, he’s the owner and he does have to take some responsibility for what has happened.

Austin’s words looked to be a very honest calculation of the current situation at the club, and having narrowly avoided a relegation scrap last year, was quick to highlight that if summer business is not done correctly, The Robins could be in for a very tough season – both on the pitch and off.

“I think that at the moment Swindon is on a knife edge and this coming summer will be massive for the club.”

“If they don’t get this window right, and if they don’t get the right management structure in place, it could be a huge problem.

From the breakthroughs made today, it is clear to see that Morfuni is still in touch with the club and seems to want to make a positive change which would be a massive step in the right direction for Swindon Town. But as fan favourite Charlie Austin underlined, it will not be an easy task.