Swindon Town fans could own a piece of the County Ground after talks to buy the ground from the council moved a step forward.

The deal was first announced last March and has led to a 50-50 joint venture between Swindon Town Football Club and the team's supporters.

Terms have now been agreed by all three parties and the contracts are due to be exchanged in the next few weeks.

The stadium will then be leased to the club by the joint venture company for 250 years.

The deal is subject to the £2.2m purchase cost being met by both the club and its supporters.

At least 2,300 supporters need to commit to purchase a community share in the joint venture with a minimum price of £19.69.

This minimum price for the shares was picked to reflect the memorable year that Town won the League cup after beating Arsenal in the final.

The Swindon Town Supporters Trust will announce details of the share offer at its annual general meeting on March 20.

Leader of Swindon Borough Council, Coun David Renard said: “The agreement of terms and the formation of the joint venture company is tremendous news because the football club is such an important part of the local community.

“The partnership between the club and the supporters is the start of a new era, which will lay the foundations for success off the pitch as well as on it.

“Creating the joint venture was incredibly complex but our officers, the club and the supporters have worked tirelessly over the last 10 months to get to this point.

“We have placed the ball on the spot, now all we need to do is put it into the back of the net like Town have been doing all season.”

Chairman of the club Lee Power said: “I would like to thank everyone involved for getting us to this point because we now have everything in place, which is brilliant news.

“Clubs need to maximise their revenue streams in order to survive and owning our own stadium will give us the chance to redevelop the County Ground and make it a facility the whole community can be proud of.

“Getting the stadium ownership resolved and achieving promotion would certainly be a nice double to end the season.”

Chairman of the Swindon Town Supporters’ Trust Steve Mytton said : “We have taken our time to ensure Swindon Town Football Club is sustainable for the long term and we are now really close to exchanging contracts and offering supporters a share in the County Ground venture. 
"All parties have been locked in talks throughout this year and we’ve reached a good position for both the football club and supporters for the future.
 “There will be more information on the Community Shares campaign at the TrustSTFC AGM on March 20.”