LIFELONG Swindon Town fan Harvey Fremlin says the National Self-Build & Renovation Company will not renew its sponsorship with the club at the end of the season due to an uncertain future and a lack of communication from the County Ground.

NSBRC’s managing director has watched Town since he was eight years old and has been involved as a sponsor for three seasons. However, Mr Fremlin says he is opting to pull the plug on partially funding his boyhood team due to what he calls serious concerns over what is going on off the pitch.

Mr Fremlin says his initial sponsorship – which was “significantly” upped at the start of the season – was driven by a love of his team and a long-standing dream of being able to help the club achieve success.

But with on-field success firmly in the rear-view mirror as things stand, NSBRC’s managing director simply wants answers as to where his club is heading off it.

Mr Fremlin said: “Ultimately, there just doesn’t seem to be any clear vision for the future of the club, and that’s very worrying.

“That, combined with the lack of communication from the owner and directors, it causing a lot of unease for us as commercial sponsors and also the supporters.

“I fall into both of those categories, so I share those concerns about where the club is heading off the pitch. Our decision is very much based on what is happening off the pitch. However, it’s quite hard to ignore the terrible season we’ve had on the pitch as well.

“But ultimately, I just don’t want to put any more of our company’s money into a club where we don’t know where it’s going to go.”

Mr Fremlin, whose 10-year-old son is also a big Swindon fan, acknowledges the club will unfortunately have less money to spend next season due to his company’s withdrawal but says his personal experience means he feels he has no other choice.

NSBRC’s managing director explained how he feels the situation at SN1 could be so different, based on how his company has dealt with the past year.

He said: “We are an employee-owned company. One of the things we try and do is be as transparent as possible. During the last year, we’ve had a lot of video chat forums with our clients and visitors to keep them informed with what our plans are.

“We’ve kept close with them every step of the way, and what that’s meant is we’ve come to the other end, hopefully, and we’ve retained almost all of our customer-base.

“Communication is so important in business, and it isn’t any different running a football club. That’s why we’re so frustrated, because we could visualise how it could be run in a very different way.”