New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

Former TrustSTFC Vice Chair James Phipps says that he does not believe the current situation at Swindon Town with this ownership is fixable.

Last week it was confirmed that Phipps had departed the Trust due to a new business opportunity having been heavily involved with the club over the last year as part of his role as Vice Chair.

Phipps sat down with The Adver to discuss the dealings he has had with the club since deciding to return to the Trust when the current board was elected.

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“I came back to the Trust for a couple of specific projects,” said Phipps. “I also came back because I have known Clem [Morfuni] for a very long time, and I thought that if there was one last chance to help him see sense and start to look outside the bubble that the club has been operating in then I would give it that chance. I have always been brutally honest with him; I told him to his face not to buy the club back in 2020.

“I have done my best to stay reasonable and balanced, to see those opportunities of where it might go. The reality is that it has got to the end of the line for any of those reasonable conversations and any reasonable hope for a turnaround of that club.”

(Image: Andy Crook)

Phipps was part of a Trust board which has slowly ramped up pressure on the club publicly, through the fan survey and open letters calling for change.

He also shared an email with The Adver sent to Morfuni and Anthony Hall from September when he pleaded with them for change because of the overwhelming likelihood of relegation without it. Three months down the line, those fears are very much a reality.

“I told him you have had almost 100 players, half a dozen managers, three directors of football, multiple club secretaries, multiple CEOs, multiple people doing the communications, and multiple people doing the finance,” he said. “That reads like a club that has been owned for ten years, not three. It is very clear that that environment is not a great one for people to work in. That is backed up by what previous captains, Player of the Years, and then Sandro [Di Michele] have said.

“This all paints a very consistent picture of the club. The churn has been unprecedented, and it is very clear to me that since Rob [Angus, former CEO] left the club, a large part of the heart and soul has been ripped out. The statistics around the success on the pitch since he left are stark. In the 56 games since he left, we are the worst team in the league and in the 55 games before that, we were eighth.

“For me, it is not just about fixing one person or one role or one piece. It really is incredibly difficult and frustrating to deal with the club.”

The Trust continuously called for more relevant footballing experience to be brought within the club’s leadership but that is yet to be realised. When The Adver spoke to Morfuni and Hall last week, they said they believed the level of experience to be sufficient.

“There is a part of me which feels sorry for Clem,” Phipps said. “I think he has got himself into a world of football where clubs are losing several million a year consistently. You need people with significantly deep pockets but also, more importantly, able to make decisions for the medium and long term. The club is run by a carcass of staff, you can’t grow a business without investing in every part.

“You have had someone like Jamie Russell, and you can have thoughts about his recruitment record, but he is clearly a well-respected academy manager. You need people like that in a model like Swindon where you don’t have the money to buy players. Maybe he wasn’t right for that role, you have to question why he was ever in it in the first place. Was that done for financial reasons because he is inexperienced?

“We as a Trust stayed consistent that you can’t expect to have success with people in every key role who have never done it before. You would hope that someone encouraged Clem to go for someone like Andrew Fitton to bring the experience, build stability, and engage with the fans.

“The club’s view of everything that they have done is that everything is ok and don’t know why people are moaning. It is an alternative version of reality. I left the Trust because I am involved with a business venture that needs my full attention but also because there is absolutely no point in me wasting my time engaging with the club when they don’t listen, and they don’t change. People can criticise the Trust and the Supporters Club, but these people are volunteering their time and hold the same frustrations as the rest of the fans. All you can do is encourage but they don’t listen.”

(Image: Chris Griffiths-Clack)

The Joint Venture agreement to buy The Nigel Eady County Ground has come under criticism, with some believing it to handcuff the Trust in its dealing with the club but Phipps maintains that it is right and guaranteed that the tough conversations continued.

“I don’t regret doing the Joint Venture because when you find the right partner then it will be transformational,” he said. “But this is not a credible partner to do this with. The agreement is much more in the favour of the fans. In personal chats with people around that table, there have been difficult conversations, and it can be difficult to progress but there has been no lack of holding them to account.

“If you look at the state of the Legend’s Lounge, the floor already has to be redone. I was in there recently for an event which had hired the space, and the floor was coming off on people’s feet and the booking the day before had been cancelled because it wasn’t fit for purpose. How can you rely on them to do a multi-million-pound stadium redevelopment if they can’t even get a floor right?

“I think there has been far more from the other JV partners pushing it along. There have been constant nerves and the Open Letter from the Trust in May was very clear: where is the credible funding plan if we know that you have got creditors outstanding? How do you create a seven-figure investment in the ground? It is very clear from the work you have done at the Advertiser that those creditors are still in a precarious place.

“Clem came in with a clear view of wanting to make the club sustainable in the long-term by making it revenue-driving seven days a week. That is not what has happened. I am very disappointed on a personal level as that is what we were promised. It is still unclear what the plans truly are, how any of the plans would be funded, and how that would bring sustainable year-round income. Maybe some development happens, I am sceptical of that, but it is not what we envisaged when we walked into this relationship. That doesn’t mean the structure of the JV is wrong; you just need to make sure you have the right partner to do the right development.”

(Image: The Spirit of '69)

Protests have begun with The Spirit of ’69 group, with an in-person demonstration planned ahead of the Grimsby Town match on December 21. This week the Trust publicly supported the movement, and Phipps believes that the time has definitely come for fan action.

“I have changed my mind,” he said. “I think that now is the right time for protests because I can’t see any way back. I think that the protest group [The Spirit of ‘69] has done it in a very sensible way and that is the reason why the Trust are backing it. But there has to be realism from the fans because if you look at other clubs like Coventry City or Southend United, it took years to get what they wanted. There is no quick and easy process.”

The former Vice Chair revealed that he had previously been approached to be part of a potential local consortium and, as part of his work with the Trust, was aware of prior interest in the club.

Whilst Morfuni maintains there has been no serious interest, Phipps said the stumbling block remained that the internal valuation was dissuading any interested parties.

“I would absolutely encourage Clem to have a realistic valuation conversation with the people that do show interest,” he said. “It is not that there has not been any interest in buying the club but from the conversations that I have had, it is that there is an unrealistic sum of money being asked for. Kieran Maguire has spoken about the valuation and how realistic it is and how the ownership group have possibly got themselves in over their heads. He is a very well-connected and knowledgeable guy, and I think you should take heed.

“You would say that either they are signing up for the long-term and take a good, hard look at the people doing the jobs and bringing in different faces or cashing in with a loss.

“I would encourage anyone with any genuine interest to come forward and Clem to speak to them with a realistic view of things.

“I think that it is very clear that this leadership group is not working, it is no accident that this is the worst position in the club’s history. There is no one who did not see this coming.

"The reality is there is frustration and sadness because this is not what we thought we were walking into. Like all things in life, it comes down to trust and respect, the fans have been quite reasonable, but it gets to the point where you have lost that trust and respect, and you need to fundamentally change what you are doing or you need to go.

“I don’t think that it is fixable in its current form – and it is quite sad to admit that.”