It’s been an unhappy few years for Swindon Town in League Two.
Australian businessman Clem Morfuni took over the club in 2021, following relegation from the third tier.
Since then, the Robins have slipped further and further back in the fourth tier, and some fans feel the need for a change.
We spoke to our Swindon Fan Pundit, Ciaran, about what message he’d like to send to those currently in control.
Speaking to Football League World, Ciaran said: “Be less incompetent would be my message to the club’s owner.
“I’m very much on board with (the suggestion) the club owner needs to sell the club, or to find investment to go alongside him and find footballing people to help him manage the club in a more competent way, but I think it’s gone too far, the trust, to go back with him.
“Just be more open and transparent than he has been, if he isn’t going to sell, just be more open and transparent, just be straightforward with what you’re saying and don’t try and hide things.
“But ideally, sell the club. Sell it to someone who’s got more of a footballing brain, more footballing knowledge of the English game and of how a lower league club works and should be, and what a gold mine Swindon Town could be.”
Something must change at Swindon before it’s too late
Although results have picked up slightly at Swindon since the turn of the new year under new boss Ian Holloway, the side still looks some way off making a return to the third year.
Year-on-year, Swindon have finished lower than they did the previous year since Morfuni came in.
Their sixth-placed play-off finish in Morfuni’s first year at the club made for a promising start, but it has been nothing but decline since then.
It was followed up by 10th and 19th-placed finishes in consecutive years in the seasons after.
Naturally, when the club found themselves second-last in the table by December last year, fans saw the pattern repeating, with relegation to the National League a firm possibility.
Swindon Town Supporters Trust released a statement calling for a club sale around this time, before it was too late to act.
| Swindon Town’s finishes under Morfuni, as per Transfermarkt | ||
|---|---|---|
| Season | League | Position |
| 2023/24 | League Two | 6th |
| 2022/23 | League Two | 10th |
| 2021/22 | League Two | 19th |
“It’s the culmination of years of mismanagement and poor leadership at our beloved club,” the statement read.
“Did it start when Clem Morfuni acquired the club in 2021?
“No, it started a long time before that, but he is the owner today and the last three years have seen a dramatic decline on and off the pitch.”
They went on to call the upcoming transfer window “the most important transfer window in the club’s history”, but it came and went with the Robins signing just two loanee strikers and goalkeeper Connor Ripley on a permanent deal.
As Ciaran says, it is probably too late for Morfuni’s reign to recover its reputation regardless of whether they avoid the drop or not, but pressure will certainly intensify if the club slips into the fifth tier.
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