CHAIRMAN Andrew Fitton has called on Town’s one-off Wembley fans to come back for more next season.
More than 30,000 Swindon supporters are expected to descend on the capital on Saturday, May 29, for their side’s League One play-off final clash against Millwall.
But with an average County Ground crowd of just over 8,300 this campaign, it means thousands of those present have not regularly watched the club in action this season - something Fitton is determined to change.
“Swindon have the capacity to be a big club,” he told the Advertiser.
“I’m not talking about becoming a Manchester United or anything like that, but it has the ability to be a decent-sized club.
“There’s normally a pretty direct relationship between the size of a club’s support and where they finish in the league, and I want us to get back to the sort of levels we can get to.
“This year our average has been about 8,300 and myself, the rest of the board and everyone behind the scenes at the club will not rest until we reach 10,000.
“And we won’t stop there. Once that is achieved we push on and try to increase it again.
“We need that base to have a successful football club.
“As a board we have said it before, but the town needs to dictate what it wants, and that will become clear through crowd sizes.”
Since Fitton and his fellow directors took over at Swindon in January 2008, the club has gone from strength to strength both on and off the pitch, culminating in their imminent play-off final.
And the chairman explained that he wants Town to be seen as much than just a side backed by wealthy investors.
“People look at our board and they make comments that we are a billionaire board, but that’s not what we are about,” said Fitton.
“Yes, we’ve had a the financial strength to sort out the club’s debts, but we want to return it to be part of the community.
“These things don’t work unless you do that.
“There isn’t another Football League side in Swindon, and the franchise we have is the people who live here in the town.
“It is a good franchise, but has been punching below its weight for some time now and we need to get it back.”
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