'We need actions not words from Clem Morfuni'
Ink Sports Focus - Football writer Sam Morshead talks to new Trust STFC chair Neil Hutchings
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‘Promises about the future alone will no longer be enough’
STFC writer Sam Morshead interviews Trust STFC chair Neil Hutchings
Actions, not words.
That is the message from Trust STFC to Swindon Town owner Clem Morfuni, following a complete refresh of the supporters’ association’s board in recent weeks.
Senior Trust officials have been engaged in a sort of media junket over the past few days, as they try to convey a coordinated and public message to a divided fanbase.
And in his first interview as the new chair of the supporters’ body, Neil Hutchings has told The Ink that promises about the future alone will no longer be enough.
“The current ownership will be judged on their actions now and not their promises,” he said. “There have been too many occasions in the past where statements have been made and not followed up. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the fanbase are no longer going to take those statements at face value. It’s now about action.”
Hutchings has overseen the induction of five new board members since the Trust’s AGM at the end of February.
The organisation was generally perceived to have lost its way towards the end of the previous board’s tenure, as they tried to balance the responsibilities of being the club’s partners in a commercial project – the purchase of the County Ground – with the obligation to members to hold poorly performing ownership to account.
“From a practical point of view, there’s so much history involved with the Trust, the Joint Venture, the ground, the current owner, and we’ve got five brand new board members. For them to come in and play a constructive part in what we’re doing, it took a few weeks to get them up to speed on what we’re doing and some context,” Hutchings said.
“That process of coming out with the statement that we made with our objectives could only be done after we’d taken them on that journey.
“It’s taken six weeks to do that, and two board meetings. We’ve taken our time, kept our heads down and deliberately laid low while we’ve been getting our house in order.
“We also wanted to learn the lessons of the past. We were rightly criticised for our communications strategy and it was important that we had a common voice moving forwards.
“The fans need to know where the Trust stand on issues going forward, rather than relying on individual tweets or individuals putting their own view out there.
“Hopefully we can now hold the hand of the current owner and help him wake up to the fact that there is a lot of discontent out there, a lot of pissed off people, and open his eyes to that. If he doesn’t then we will call him out for that.”
A senior member of the Trust board has had two lengthy calls with Morfuni in recent weeks, while there are plans for face-to-face meetings when the owner is next in the country at the end of April.
“Would it be better if those initial calls had been face-to-face? Absolutely, but circumstances don’t allow that to happen so we will take advantage of when he is over and he’s committed to spending that quality time with us,” said Hutchings.
With Swindon fighting to avoid registering the club’s worst finish in a four-tier Football League season, debts and running costs mounting, and facilities crumbling, support for protest has been slowly swelling.