At the end of another busy week in the world of Swindon Town, the club’s leadership hosted a fans' forum for supporters to raise issues and ask questions.
From Handforth Parish Council to a school assembly. The brouhaha and hubbub that had characterised the last fan’s forum was replaced with a far more low-key civility.
Mark Kennedy, Jamie Russell, Anthony Hall, Clem Morfuni, and Mandie Coe all graciously gave up their evenings to speak with a greatly reduced group of fans to the previous incarnation.
The first part of the event saw Vic Morgan to speak to each panellist, so they could respond to some questions about their role. The PowerPoint presentation that was delivered last time came in for some derision for its largely corporate-speak feel was gone, but I feel this first half lacked the structure that it provided. There was no clear direction for it, vast parts were just like listening to a long echo of what Andrew Hawes had asked Kennedy earlier that day. Is what challenges Barrow might cause relevant for this event? This should be a window into the decision-making core of the club.
The first section felt like an opportunity missed to give an updated version of the vision that was conveyed at the last forum. Any discussion of the plan was surface-level and lacking in detail due to the lack of rhythm. I wanted to see the staff talk about the targets they had set out before and how they had performed against them, why various things had happened, and how they planned to improve. Instead, I learned that Kennedy was told he might not like his first child when they were born.
It was nice to hear from Coe this time about the women’s side and she spoke very well about their project and goals. From all six of them, there were some loose goals given but not enough about how it was going to happen.
The second part saw fans in the room able to ask whatever questions chose. These ranged from how Morfuni saw the progress in the last four years to where Sean McGurk should play to why the team no longer wore white shorts (this question probably got the most support).
This section was good for bringing a few smaller issues to the attention of the higher ups, like the PA system being inaudible in the disabled section of the Alan McLoughlin Town End or some fans not being aware of some news by not using social media.
There were some interesting nuggets in places you wouldn’t have expected to find them, like Swindon’s turnover being “mid-table”, George Cox’s international clearance coming through, and Jamie Russell admitting Swindon were considering extending Jack Bycroft’s contract.
The bigger questions of the evening saw one fan come prepared with Morfuni’s original vision of the club and where they would be at this time. The response saw references to the positive buying the Nigel Eady County Ground, the unexpected levels of debts upon arrival, and that things would take time. There was rousing applause that Swindon should “be a Championship club at minimum” – but overall there was not a lot new.
The other was about how the Trust fan survey had influenced the club’s thinking and strategy. Morfuni said he had taken it on board “and worked out what I needed to do” – but again there was no specific answer of what this might be.
And that was it. Overall, it was an evening characterised by significantly more civility but if you were hoping for a “Wendepunkt” in the direction of travel for the club then this was not to be it.
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