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Banners and posters displayed protesting against the ownership of Swindon Town

Banners and posters have been displayed in protesting against the ownership of Swindon Town, who just suffered their worst-ever EFL finish.

The club’s finished the 2023/24 season sitting a lowly 19th place in League Two with 54 points from 46 games.

It’s not just on the pitch they have a problem, but it’s behind the scenes at the top of the club, with a growing frustration among fans calling for change.

The Swindon Supporters Trust recently expressed their lack of confidence in owner Clem Morfuni by writing a letter to him.

A matchday protest had been planned, only for it to get cancelled, with fans finding other ways to make their voices heard.

>Now with the season at an end, protest posters were the next step, prominently displayed around County Ground, and down some streets, during the same weekend when concerts were taking place at the stadium.

One of the banners, placed on advertising hoardings, had the message “Clem & Co. It’s time to go.”

Another was put up on the railing of a footbridge, in the same spot where a previous banner demanding the departure of the club’s former owner, Lee Power, had been placed, as per Swindon Advertiser.

A Twitter, which has the username @clems_circus21, was created in May 2024, with all of their posts being photos of the banners and posters.

They often reply to club tweets with these photo posts trying to make the message clear.

Swindon owner Clem Morfuni recently said he disagreed with the demand for a change in ownership at the club.

“While we value the feedback from the Supporters Trust and the wider fan community, we would like to mention that we do not fully agree with all the points raised in the open letter,” Morfuni said.

“Nevertheless, we believe that open dialogue and collaboration with our fan base is essential to future success.”

He took over at the Robins in July 2021 after a lengthy legal process and said he acknowledged last season had not been “up to our club’s standards”, but planned to request a meeting with supporter groups to discuss their letter and concerns.

“Our team has already taken steps towards addressing some known issues, as we sat down together during my recent visit and started working on solutions,” he said.

Swindon this week appointed Mark Kennedy, who becomes their fifth different manager in the three years since Morfuni took over, after Michael Flynn was sacked in January 2024.

There have been some positive changes, with the purchase of the County Ground, the club and supporters’ trust both owning a 50% share of the stadium, but the bad outweighs it.

SEE MORE: Mixed reaction from fans as Swindon appoint ex-Premier League and EFL player turned head coach

SEE MORE: Charlie Austin reveals Swindon’s future ‘is on a knife edge’ in tell all interview

SEE MORE: Clem Morfuni issues response to calls by Swindon fans for change of ownership at the club

SEE MORE: Swindon fans call for change in open letter to Clem Morfuni while Charlie Austin speaks out

Morfuni also got fined by the EFL in March after he failed to declare a transfer of shares, two months after Swindon were placed under a transfer embargo for late HMRC payments.

As mentioned, Kennedy becomes their fifth permanent manager since July 2021, following Ben Garner, Scott Lindsey, Jody Morris and Michael Flynn.

The new man revealed he was “looking forward” to the project already in place at the club.

“I also think it’s crucial we look forward now and plan for the future with the exciting plans here at this sleeping giant of a football club, which I’m confident we can all achieve if we’re all pulling in the same direction,” Kennedy said.

“His [Kennedy’s] approach and coaching style will provide strong leadership, motivation and guidance to all players,” said Swindon’s head of football Jamie Russell.

“His coaching qualities can also help every player to develop regardless of age due to his experience in coaching at Category 1 academies, working with first-team players across the EFL [English Football League] and finally from being an elite player who has represented his country on several occasions and played in solely the top two tiers of English football.”

Kennedy says the club and fans’ relationship was “vital” to the team’s success.

“That’s something that I’m committed to and I hope that I can continue to grow and make stronger whilst I’m here,” he said.

Kennedy says he “100%” has enough financial support from the club ownership a day after taking the role.

“There is no way I’d have come in if there wasn’t,” Kennedy said to BBC Radio Wiltshire.

“It wasn’t just a one-way [interview] process; it was important that I pressed them and was hard with my questioning of what they were going to do and what their vision was.

“What is the budget, how can you prove to me this is the budget, how can you prove to me that this is real and is going to live every day?

“Once we had those conversations and I was really comfortable with that, beyond that it was pretty straightforward.”

He feels that there is “light at the end of the tunnel” for the club and wants to build a “brand and identity” at the club.

“I think they’ve got a really exciting project. I look at the fanbase, the support you get on a weekly basis, on your average attendances alone you’d be touching the top 10 of League One,” Kennedy said.

“I just think with all those things in place, with the connection with the fans and reconnecting the fans back with the club, I think that starts with the head coach, building a brand and identity.

“The fans will still be here in 100 years and I think it’s so important that the club has an identity and a brand that it can be really proud of.”

This week, they have also confirmed the first summer signing of Ollie Clarke from Mansfield…

This is how fans reacted with banners and posters displayed protesting against the ownership of Swindon Town…

@adamfarmer98: CLEM OUT 👏🏻

@bcks109: #stfc #NoMorfoniOwners

Simon Anderson: Sell The Club!!

Matt Cole: Good work to the people that did this!

Michael Zirnis: The fact the club isn’t coming out to reassure the fans is actually making me think now that he’s going to destroy our club no sign of any manager no sign of signing any players to get us out of league 2 just shows that there’s no ambition and I fear for our club 

Henry Woodham: The top are so lazy and incompetent they won’t even bother making an effort to remove them

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