Adver News: Town receive apology from Football League Paper

Sent the following to David Emery on Sunday and received the reply today. It is a generic response sent to everyone and shows the strength of all those Town fans who contacted the Football League Paper to register their disgust at the article in question. As far as recompense is concerned then they are meeting the club costs, donating £500 to the Air Ambulance fair enough, but only an apology in next Sundays paper at least as big as the initial article will for me suffice.

"David,
Just read an article by Chris Dunlavy in todays edition. I would just like to point out that to me it is a very inaccurate account of the current financial situation at Swindon Town and is at best a rookie journo trying to gain a sensationalistic piece from scant actual information. At worst a deliberate attempt to undermine all the good work done by the current administration in clearing the sustantial debts associated five years ago. Swindon Town owe nothing to anyone apart from the the current shareholders all of this to the tune of 100%. There is no overdraft, no monies owed to the taxman no poor Barry the Flood or Betty Baker waiting for payment, nothing.

If you or Chris would like to visit the excellent Washbag.com site you might get an insight into good investigative journalism on the issue. Branding a football club as cheats is a bold statement to make and one which i hope sits well with you."

The reply
"I understand your complaint fully and we are in the process of making remedies. Chris Dunlavy is writing an apology in the paper and we have contacted Swindon Town FC.

Ironically, Chris Dunlavy has always been a champion of Swindon; in this instance his zeal to criticise clubs who live beyond their means has carried him away to make clearly unfounded, and deeply regretted, statements about the club.

His intention had been to raise the wider issue of insolvency and debt in football, and more precisely the need for clubs to move towards self-sustainability.

He saw Sir William Patey’s reported comments about administration and used this as the basis for his remarks. He chose the wrong target.

David Emery