SWINDON TOWN gave English football one of its most heartwarming images of the 1960s – Don Rogers and his teammates running around Wembley with the Football League Cup in 1968-69. They beat Arsenal 3-1, a team that finished fourth in the old first division and in 1971, the “Gunners” would win the hallowed “double”. Swindon demonstrated that, in those days, very good players could be found in the lower divisions: Rogers was one of them, a very talented individual who should have left the County Ground before he moved to Crystal Palace in 1972-73. Sadly, in the 55 years since that glorious afternoon at Wembley, Swindon have spent 70% of their time in the bottom two divisions of the Football League. They have had one solitary campaign in the top flight, but they have rarely moved above their status of being a lower league outfit.
At the moment, Swindon Town are in danger of falling out of the EFL into non-league. This is a club representing Wiltshire’s biggest town. With a population of almost 200,000 people, Swindon, arguably, is home to more football fans than Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Swansea, Ipswich and Watford. If the club got it right, the 15,000-capacity County Ground would not have enough space for everyone who wanted to watch the team.
But, and it is a sizeable but, the locals are not happy with the current situation. Swindon are two places off the bottom of League Two, the latest instalment of a downward spiral that has seen them drop from the top four in League One in 2015 to 19th in League Two in 2023-24. There’s something of a “perfect storm” raging that needs to disperse if Swindon are to either avoid the drop or, equally important, be in better shape should they suffer relegation at the end of the 2024-25. While the club’s loyal fans may wince at the prospect of National League football, they should also be willing the club to get its house in order if they eventually have to resign themselves to the unthinkable.
Why? At the moment, there’s discontent with the majority owner, Clem Morfuni, the team is struggling and there’s no guarantee that Ian Holloway will be the last coach in charge this season. A club in disarray can find relegation another nail in the coffin. There are plenty of well-run names in the National League – 13 have some sort of EFL heritage – and a club coming down from the EFL that has internal issues has an additional hurdle to overcome as they come to terms with a new environment and reduced circumstances. But it need not be the end of the world, a successful 2025-26, albeit outside of the EFL, could not only turn the ship around, it may also increase crowds.
Morfuni, who according to media reports is a Sydney plumber who saved the club when it was 10 days away from administration, is unpopular and a new fan group “Spirit of 69” has been formed with the intention of pressuring the Australian businessman to sell-up. Morfuni has repeatedly said that when he took over in July 2021, the club had half a dozen players, no manager, £ 10 in the bank, no kit, no transport, no sponsors and owed £ 1.5 million to HMRC. Swindon were relegated in 2020-21 and in the three seasons since, they have finished 16th, 10th and 19th in League Two. According to their last published accounts, without a donation from the Nigel Eady Trust, Swindon would have made a loss of almost £ 1.2 million. Their turnover in 2022-23 was £ 6 million.
This term, the crowds have dropped by around 20% to an average of 6,851, representing 44% of the County Ground’s capacity. In the league, they have won just three games, the most recent being Ian Holloway’s first as manager, a 3-1 success at home to Fleetwood. Holloway, one of a group of people that clubs call for when they’re in trouble, was a left-field appointment as it was widely assumed that, at 61, he was in retirement. Holloway was installed in October 2024 following Mark Kennedy’s sacking after just 16 games in charge. In the past few years, the Swindon job has been something of an uncomfortable and very temporary seat with Scott Lindsay, Michael Flynn and Ben Garner all leaving in under 60 games.
Kennedy was hired at the end of May 2024 and Morfuni made some adjustments to the wage bill before the campaign got underway and felt the impetus could make Swindon into contenders. The club made a number of signings, including leading scorer Harry Smith from Sutton United, the versatile Will Wright from Crawley Town and Gavin Kilkenny from Bournemouth. Smith netted a hat-trick in Swindon’s 3-1 win against Fleetwood and is becoming a popular figure.
Ian Holloway and Swindon’s supporters are obviously hoping the victory will be the springboard for recovery, but if the recently-established protest group gets its way, they will ease the current regime out. Morfuni has openly stated he has no intention of selling Swindon Town. It’s a tricky one because, when all is said and done, he is the majority owner, so it is his asset to dispose of. Contrary to what some people believe about clubs, they do not belong to the fans, however much they feel they are the spiritual owners of the game. Essentially, owners provide the financial support that prevents unsustainable businesses from failing – that is the model for many, many football clubs. Forcing-out an owner may give the fans some level of satisfaction, but it may also deter any new investor from taking that owner’s place. Football is, as the old cliché goes, a results business, so the public perception of ownership can often be at the mercy of very narrow margins. Swindon Town are struggling at the moment, but if the results on the pitch suddenly became positive, would the narrative also change? Above everything, a football club needs stability from top to bottom, and the owners and the fans must surely realise that.