SWINDON Town have officially exited administration – a full two years after writing off the remainder of the club’s debt.

Andrew Fitton and his fellow board members met the terms of the Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) way back in June 2008 – five months after taking control of the club – but it was only finally signed off on Wednesday.

And while the chairman was delighted to at last consign Town’s murky financial past to history, he revealed the hold-up was a major contributor to his recent public questioning of his future in the game.

“We are finally out, and people should be very pleased to hear that,” Fitton told the Advertiser.

“They probably though we were out a long time ago, but that wasn’t actually the case.

“It has taken two years and a huge amount of effort to get something to happen which was meant to happen in June 2008. But if you look at the Companies House website we are absolutely clean now.

“It was red tape and just legal issues whereby you cannot close out the CVA until everybody has cashed their cheques.

“There was a letter dated July 2008 saying we had fulfilled all our objectives, but that still wasn’t good enough.

“And at the same time you have people who are not fit and proper going under the radar and getting into other clubs – it just doesn’t add up.”

In the wake of Town’s League One play-off final defeat to Millwall, Fitton hinted that he may have been ready to walk away from football after becoming “disillusioned” with the sport.

And he explained: “This situation is what a lot of my recent frustrations have been based on.

“We spent thousands of pounds on lawyers which has no influence on Swindon Town Football Club.

“It doesn’t help the players or help us win games. It is just crap that has to be swept up.

“Technically we could have been subjected to a transfer embargo, but thankfully the Football League were very good and decided that we had done everything we could and lifted it soon after we arrived at the club.

“I wish I could say the same about the FA though. They suspended our membership, meaning we weren’t even allowed a vote with them because they think we are a club who are financially delinquent.

“Should the FA have spent their time suspending our membership, or should they be sorting out the problems in our game?

“This is something celebrate. But you can now put into perspective my frustrations outside the game.”