Swindon Town have been rated as the fifth most well-run club in League Two last season, according to a new survey from Fair Game.

Fair Game, an organisation looking to advocate for more sustainable ownership and governance within football, has published a report assessing the ownership of clubs across the top six tiers of English football and the top four tiers of Scottish football. They claim that the report is the “most comprehensive analysis of men’s professional football clubs in England and Scotland ever undertaken.”

Clubs were given a total score which assesses their financial sustainability, equality standards, good governance, and fan and community engagement.

Swindon were given the fifth-highest score in League Two for the 2023/24 season and the 43rd-highest score across the 164 English clubs who were included in the report, finishing above Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Oxford United.

Ahead of the publishing of the report, Swindon were also shortlisted by Fair Game for the League Two Most Well-Run Club award by Fair Game.

 

 

Town scored 44.9 out of a total of 100 points, receiving a score of 23.4 out of 40 for financial sustainability, 9.8 out of 30 for good governance, 6.4 out of 20 for equality standards, and 5.3 out of ten for fan and community engagement.

Fair Game said in the report about how they review clubs: “Fair Game’s strength is based on extensive research.

“In each of the four strands, we have worked closely with clubs, supporters groups, leading academics and industry experts to analyse the issues and identify measurable and meaningful touchpoints.

“In some cases, this has already led to published research notably on the Owners and Directors Test, Environmental Sustainability, Good Governance, Gender Inequality, and football’s failed financial flow.

“Steve Radley project manages our research with help from several universities, while Adam Davis, lecturer at UCFB, and Joshua Price, director of Goal Assist, help coordinate the data collection with the help of Rob Harrison from Ethical Consumer, who has extensive experience of auditing and creating business ratings.”

Swindon previously worked with Fair Game and Goal Assist in April when they produced an independent review of the club’s accounts, the first professional club to do so, to help the accounts easier to read for fans.

More than 30 clubs, including Town, have been partnered with Fair Game since June 2023 to support their mission to change the governance of football and create long-term solutions to the issues in the sport.