As Lee Power walks off into the sunset Town still pays for the mistakes of his era
Ink Sport Focus with STFC writer Sam Morshead
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“A son punished for the sins of the father”
By STFC writer Sam Morshead
Talk about the son being punished for the sins of the father…
Last week, the FA published its disciplinary panel’s verdict into various allegations of misconduct against Town, Michael Standing (an agent and former quiet investor in the club), First Touch Pro Management (Standing’s agency), Gareth Barry (the former footballer and friend of Standing), and Lee Power (the former Swindon owner).
All parties bar Power were found to have been in breach of at least one aspect of the FA’s code of conduct for agents, which prohibits intermediaries and active players from entering into financial commitments with clubs.
Between 2013 and 2019, Barry provided Standing with loans to support an investment in Town, during the reign of Power, of up to £1.75million. Standing and First Touch added considerably more, taking the total cash injection into Power’s Swindon above £6m.
Standing was handed a retrospective sixth-month ban from all football activity, which is considered served. First Touch were fined £40,000, while Barry was warned as to his future conduct.
“Our conclusion is that it was not a clandestine arrangement to disguise the true interest of GB as a beneficial owner of STFC… We think these were genuine loans,” the verdict read.
The panel deemed one of the charges against the club – relating to Standing and his agency having undue influence at the County Ground through a financial agreement – to be “ill-founded”.
Swindon received a £25,000 fine, with half suspended. Power, though, was cleared of the two charges labelled against him after they were considered not proven.
Which begs the question: who should actually take the rap?
While this was a relatively minor penalty, it could quite frankly have been a lot worse.
Yet as the Swindon Town of today are left to deal with the fallout, the only man responsible for the club’s decisions at the time is allowed to continue his wander into the sunset.