SWINDON Town’s Chief Executive Officer believes that the long-awaited purchase of the County Ground will spur the club onto greater heights, including promotion.

The stadium had previously been owned by the council, but following an agreement between the club and Swindon Town Community Mutual Limited, the venue is now co-owned by the club and the fans.

With a sale price of £2.3million paid in full, and funding for the acquisition coming from the Nigel Eady Trust, the club and fans now own the venue split 50-50.

Mr Eady was a lifelong Town fan who left a considerable legacy to the club on the condition that the money would be used for the long-term benefit of the Robins and local community after his death over a decade ago.

Swindon Advertiser: The club and the fans now own the County Ground in a joint venture.The club and the fans now own the County Ground in a joint venture. (Image: Newsquest)

Representatives of the club, Supporters Trust and Swindon Borough Council were at the County Ground on Friday to announce the news, including Town CEO, Rob Angus.

“This is a massive stepping stone. Since Clem [Morfuni] came in, we talked about building strong foundations. Obviously, the debt that was inherited was significant and that’s been managed down now,” he said.

“The supporters owning the ground really is a solid foundation that we can build upon, and these developments can really help us with aim very much to take the club up the leagues.

“We all can agree that we should be at least in the Championship, and it hasn’t been that easy to get there, but with these strong foundations we can only go onwards and upwards.”

For the annual price of £19.69, fans of the football club can receive a STFC Trust membership as well as a voting share.

Swindon Advertiser: Town fans can now buy shares as part of their STFC Trust membership for £19.69 a year.Town fans can now buy shares as part of their STFC Trust membership for £19.69 a year. (Image: Newsquest)

The chairman of TrustSTFC, Stephen Mytton was pleased with the initial response from the fans in purchasing the shares.

“If you are a member of the Trust, you have always had a share in Swindon Town Mutual Limited so all of our existing 1,100 members are shareholders automatically,” he said.

“We had a 100-plus sign up on Thursday, so now we have 1,200 plus. Going forward, we want to get many thousands!

“We want to generate a lot of income and ensure that the supporters have a real seat at the table in this 50-50 joint venture.”

If you are interested in buying your own share of the football club, you can do so here.