The County Ground and Swindon Town may not hold happy memories for the mercurial genius Eric Cantona. The reason being that on the 22ndMarch 1994 the EPL Champions Manchester United came to Wiltshire, and were expected to stroll to three points. However that was not what they left with following a 2-2 draw. To make matters worse their talisman Eric Cantona was sent off for stamping on John Moncur, as the midfielder laid prostate on the floor.
Cantona polarized football fans, but few could fail to acknowledge his skill and the way he played the game. For when all is said and done he is a man who loves football. When playing he saw it as a canvas on which to express himself and a stage on which to showcase skill but more importantly a place to entertain. Crucially he understood the mentality of fans.
He is remembered for many quotes, but none could be more attune to Swindon Town fans at this point in time than when he said, “You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favorite football team.”
I am a Swindon Town fan and proud of the fact. I went to my first game in 1972 and stepping out in the North stand and seeing the pitch below me I was hooked. The love affair commenced from that point on.
Like many relationships it has been hard. It has been made harder by my having moved to Australia, but the passion never dies, nor the need to find out the results and know that we have beaten the team from down the A420!
Since falling in love I have watched Swindon play in all four divisions of the English Football League. I have celebrated promotions and suffered too many relegations. I have attended a game the day after my wedding and returning home taken my wife to another on our wedding anniversary; we did have a meal at the ground before the game!
Incredibly when I left for Australia the club had employed 15 managers since 1902. After Lou Macari left in 1989 there have been 37 individuals who have been in charge of the club for at least one match, eight of whom oversaw two matches or less. So fans have had to endure 37 people in charge in 32 years! There have been 24 full time managers in 32 years if we take out the “caretaker managers” compared to 15 in 87 years!
Some will say that this is just a reflection on modern-day Football, but at Swindon Town the problem lies far deeper. The problem has invariably been the ownership of the club.
While many of the big clubs have appeared to benefit from having wealthy billionaires buying their clubs many of the smaller clubs up and down the country in Britain – Scotland and Ireland included – have been left prey to unscrupulous egotists who care not a mite for the team or the club, but are there for their own benefit.
The fans of some of the biggest clubs in Britain and Europe are now discovering the impact of private ownership. The Super League threatened to destroy over 100 years of history and although thwarted now is likely to come back again.
The root of the problem started in the 1980’s when the English FA increased the dividend that directors could take out of their clubs. Then along came Irving Scholar, a man who had made his money in property. He decided that he would float Tottenham on the share market. His argument at the time was that this would give the club the opportunity to attract new investors. What he didn’t say was that it would also result in him making a great deal of money.
However, there were still the restrictions of Directors taking money out of the club beyond the agreed dividend and if they were not employed full time. Scholar’s lawyers found a way to bypass these laws. They would form a holding company that was outside of the laws and restrictions of the Football Association and then make the club, the stadium and the players part of a subsidiary company. Tottenham Hotspur PLC was formed and the dye was cast. Ever since the English FA allowed clubs to be owned by parent companies and in some cases, the ground, the players and the club to be subsidiary companies the danger signs were there for every single League club. For some it has already been the death knell. (The End Of A Marriage For Many Fans)
For Swindon Town their future is once again hanging by a thread…
In the 1989-90 season Swindon won promotion to the top division for the first time in the club’s history, but the celebrations were short-lived. The administrators at the club admitted to 36 charges of breaching league rules, 35 related to illegal payments made to players. The club was relegated to the Third Division. Sunderland whom they had beaten in the Play off final was promoted in their place. The then-chairman Brian Hillier was given a six-month prison sentence and chief accountant Vince Farrar was put on probation. On appeal Swindon were allowed to stay in the Second Division.
In 1994 Tottenham were fined £600,000 and thrown out of the 1994-95 FA Cup and docked 12 points after they too were found guilty of more counts of illegal payments to players than Swindon. Spurs also appealed against their punishment. An arbitration panel increased the fine to £1.5m but overturned the Cup ban and points deduction. Swindon fans understandably felt aggrieved, we would have loved to have kept our place in the top division that the players had earned and simply paid a fine.
It was ultimately the fans that were punished, along with the club. Of the players that won against Sunderland that day in 1990, only five took part in the play off victory in 1993 that saw the club enter the Premier league. The others had moved on, but the fans remained.
Since those heady days when they did eventually play in the Premier League Swindon Town fans have seen owners come and go with almost the same regularity as they have managers. Nearly all have left the club deeply in debt.
The club has been placed into administration twice and has also twice has fought off winding-up orders from Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise over unpaid taxes. The word is there are similar problems around the corner as a result of the current owner and unpaid taxes.
In April 2021 the club was charged with breaching FA regulations concerning the club’s ownership and/or funding.
As owners come and go through the revolving door the powers that be in English Football sit on their hands and claim that they have done the relevant checks and found the owners to be suitable to own a football club. This is clearly questionable with the current owner if information in the public domain is to be believed.
Clearly their criteria for checking the credibility and morality, as well as the accountability of these owners are greatly flawed. If there is to be a Government investigation into the ownership of British football clubs it should be into the Football Association’s process of vetting suitable owners. If this is not carried out soon more and more historic English clubs are going to be forced to go to the wall thanks to unscrupulous owners. Owners who due to the allowed ownership structures can strip the club of assets or simply run it into the ground and right it off as a tax-loss.
Swindon Town may be a small club, but they are a part of English Football history. While their rivals may not care if they were to close their gates for the last time their disappearance would leave a hole in football in the West Country, for they are the only professional team in the county.
One thing that many seem to forget is that whether the people of Swindon like it or not the football club is one of the most identifiable links to the town for those who do not live there. This is the same in so many towns across the country.
The football club has the potential to be one of the best marketing tools for the town and the surrounding area.
If these clubs are being dragged through the press for all the wrong reasons as a result of an unscrupulous owner that will have a negative impact on the Town itself, the community and the business in the town. Some of that mud sticks. Yet when the team is successful it has the power to lift the community, even those who never set foot in the ground become caught up in the community emotion.
So whether people support the football club or not they need to get behind it as a symbol of where they live, a key part of the community, and not only fight for its survival but fight for a say in its future.
For like it or not the football club is a key part of the fabric of the community, it is part of the town and surrounding area’s identity, it has an impact on the economy and has the power to lift the people.
If the club were to die what would happen to the asset that many of the previous owners have been desperate to get their hands on, the centrally located County Ground? As many have found they cannot relocate the club and develop the land as there is a covenant on the land that it must always be used for sport.
That being the case why not try and keep the club alive, but develop the site into a venue that the whole community can use and be proud of whether they support the club or not.
The catchment area in the Borough has huge potential with a population of just under a quarter of a million people. If the County Ground were to be developed into a venue of which the town could be proud and became a focal point, who knows what could be achieved. There can be no doubt that club has the potential to pull people together and give them some pride in where they live.
Crucially though it is time that the fans, those who really care, who are there through thick and thin are given a say, and that they now are involved in the decision-making.
In the recently released fan engagement index, the club came bottom of the 91 clubs in England, which shows that there clearly is a massive problem in this area with the current owner.
The current owner we hear wants to sell to a US company, Able. Yet one of his current partners Clem Morfuni wants to buy him out, why would he not sell to him?
There are numerous theories behind this move. The club is in debt. By putting it into administration and selling it for a nominal fee, the current owner would have the ability to write of the debts to all those owed money and be off the hook. It would also remove the court issue that is due to be heard again soon over the shares sold and the current ownership structure.
As a fan one cannot fault Mr. Morfuni. He has been up front with where he sees the club and the plans he has for it should he gain ownership. Importantly he has been engaging with the fans and the Swindon Council in his current position, and intends to strengthen those links. He comes across as a man who has fallen under the spell of the County Ground and genuinely wants to make the club one to be proud of again.
The people behind Able have been frighteningly quiet. The fan group Trust STFC has endeavored to find more information on the company but have drawn a blank. They have tried to contact the individuals mentioned to find out their intentions, but there has been no reply.
Needless to say the fans are not keen on an American takeover. That may well be due to the ill feeling towards American ownership amongst many British football fans at the current time! Although Swindon Town being thrust into the Super League is a leap far too great for the imagination; then again Spurs were invited! If the fans are against such a move should it be allowed to happen?
Up and down the country there are clubs with a long history, clubs and communities that would benefit greatly if the fans were given a voice and were involved in some of the decision making. After all they care passionately about the club and the area, they only want what is best for both. These are clubs with strong ties to the community. How many players to play for Swindon Town came out of the railway works upon which the town was built? The club is a crucial part of not only the town itself and its history, but also the county.
The people of Swindon and those in surrounding Wiltshire need to become more involved at this point in time. They need to realize the importance the club has in the county and the town. How many people from elsewhere relate to or only know the town and where it is located because of the club.
To give you an example I was at a function here in Western Australia and was sat next to a politician. He said he knew Swindon because his son decided to follow them after Don Rogers steered them to League Cup victory back in 1969. All he knew of the town was the Football team and Don Rogers! That is the power the club has.
Swindon Town Football club like many up and down England has the potential to be a huge asset, but it can only become that with the right owner at the helm.
This is not just about football it is about the town and a community!
I may be on the other side of the world but I am not ready to lay my club to rest. There are I am sure many fans at other clubs who feel the same way. Hopefully the club, which is very, very sick at this point in time, can make a full recovery. Hopefully the new owner will respect its history and nurse and nurture it back to good health, but most of all I hope that the Town and the people of Wiltshire and the surrounding areas come together to show their support for a vital part of the community.
Hopefully that will be the case up and down the country as communities fight to save their clubs.
HI F,
Sorry for the late reply.
Thanks for your kind words.
I have to agree with you in relation to keeping up with the Joneses. The age demands at all levels of the game have become unsustainable, but sadly those demanding those wages reflect the selfish world that we live in today. Live for today and bugger tomorrow.
Some will say they are offered that money, so why not take it, but in many cases their manager puts his demands on the table rather than the other way around.
Thanks again an I do hope that many clubs realise that they can no longer go on the way they have and they re-engae the community and focus on their sustainability than their vanity.
HI Vincent,
My apologies for the delayed reply. So happy for you and hope it remains a positive story. It has been so sad to see your club’s decline.
Thank you for your words of encouragement, but I do believe the clubs must be returned to the community in the long term or we will see many go to the wall.
As a long time Coventry City fan, I feel your pain Ashley. Until this forthcoming season we didn’t even play our football at our own ground! We had to play at bitter rivals Brumagum and before that at the Cobblers home ground! Mainly because of Ownership issues and mis-management!
Keep the faith mate, as it is not all doom and gloom as City have preserved our position in the Championship, kept our excellent Manager and we are back at the ‘Coventry Building Society Arena’!
Hi Ashley, another wonderful read and a piece that resonates with many of us who tragically follow our home town clubs who do not participate in the elite footballing categories such as the EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga etc
Funny how rare it was for a footballing club to go under back in the 60/70/80s yet nowadays…….
To me mate, the footballing version of ‘Keeping up with the Jones’ that modern football has stained our beautiful game with and forced everyone to keep up or move aside is just not sustainable for many, many clubs. Just the players wage demand alone right down into almost semi-pro football is ridiculous as is the general outlay required of these footballing clubs to simply exist. Fans through the gate as a major revenue source simply doesn’t cut the mustard anymore, clubs need decent sponsors and/or wealthy owners who actively outlay funds.
Just look at our own backyard Ash’ We have leagues that still pay thousands to literally put amateur footballers on the park who barely train 2 or 3 times a week and yet the stands are almost empty. The football landscape has changed. It’s not just a question of surviving…… because surviving alone will not carry you forward. It’s a case of surviving and existing. TWO things that unfortunately are just too much of a stretch for many clubs in this footballing era.
Wishing Swindon every ounce of luck in their fight.