A fall in season ticket sales could have a huge impact on the financial stability of Swindon Town in the coming season.

It was revealed in the Advisory Board minutes for May that season ticket sales were down on the previous year, although the club were hoping that sales would catch up prior to the end of the Early Bird prices on May 31.

The Swindon Town Supporters Trust survey revealed that 36 per cent of the 2,000 supporters who were surveyed would either not renew or were considering not renewing their season ticket for the coming campaign.

TrustSTFC Vice Chair James Phipps said: “I think the reality is that there is going to be a shock on the season ticket renewals and that is going to create a huge challenge for the club.

“I would expect that to bring the club to a point where they realise that something has to change. We are not talking about small sums of money, it is a very significant sum if a third of season ticket holders don’t renew.

“That typically at a lower league club is what gets them through the summer while there is no money coming in.”

The Adver spoke to former Swindon chairman Andrew Fitton to get an owner’s perspective on the issue and he explained how big of an impact a fall in season ticket sales could have on the club in the coming season.

He said: “[How seismic could losing season ticket holders be?] Huge. It is huge because it is money upfront, it is as simple as that.

“You give away quite a discount to get that money upfront but you live off that money for the rest of the season.

“We got it wrong when I first became chairman because we took over in the November and the season ticket money had been effectively spent and we had to fund the rest of the season ourselves from there.

“What you try and do is eek that money out for a large part of the season, knowing that you have got a little bit of money coming in through the gates every week. It is really important.

“The problem you have is that if you have a bad start to the season tickets then you could run out of money by September or October when really you want that money to get you through to the new year.”