Swindon end commitment to sharing bi-annual financial reports

Swindon Town owner Clem Morfuni has said that the club will no longer provide financial updates twice a year despite a previous commitment.

The minutes for the Advisory Board meeting for February were released on February 19 and as part of that meeting, Trust STFC asked about a previous commitment for the club to provide bi-annual updates on the financial performance of the club.

As part of a Memorandum of Understanding between Morfuni and the Trust agreed in August 2021 for openness and transparency, it was agreed that Town would provide the Trust with quarterly management and financial updates with “a sufficient level of detail to build trust and understanding of how the Club is being run.”

Due to new systems, Swindon have said that providing updates this regularly would be too difficult and in September 2024, it was agreed that a more detailed report would be provided every six months.

However, in the most recent Advisory Board meeting, Morfuni said that this will no longer be the case and only the statutory annual accounts would be released along with an explanation from Fair Game.

Fair Game, a group looking for to encourage more sustainable practices in football, produced a report on Town’s annual accounts for 2023 in which they explained what they showed, although this was done with the publicly available accounts and one additional data point.

TrustSTFC have said that they are disappointed with the decision to move away from a commitment which was done in the interest of transparency at a time when many are already feeling alienated by the way the club has been run.

A statement from TrustSTFC said: “During the meeting, the Trust Chair challenged this position given previous commitments made but the Club were unwilling to change their position.

“It should also be noted that Axis Football Investments Limited (the company at the top of the holding structure for the Club) has received its third compulsory strike-off notice in five years for late statutory reporting.

“Since August 2021, the Club have willingly provided promises and commitments to provide financial breakdowns on an open and transparent basis.

“With the exception of a private meeting where no note-taking was permitted, none of these promises have been fulfilled.

“Off the back of improved performances on the pitch, now would be an ideal time to try and reconnect with disenfranchised supporters and rebuild relationships.

“Unfortunately, events such as these do nothing to rebuild confidence or trust in the off-field management of the Club.”