KICK-OFF: Chairman Jed McCrory's most candid interview yet

The Robins boss is rarely found wearing a tie and would rather spend the hours building up to a match gauging the opinions of fans in local pubs than entertaining visiting board members at the County Ground.

He takes to Twitter to express his points of view, speaks fanatically about football with a broad Luton lilt and has a broad knowledge of the game he loves - from non-league to Premier League.

His manner and demeanour are so far detached from the previous incumbents of his role at Swindon Town that sections of support have struggled to identify with him and, as a result, a layer of suspicion exists between fanbase and boardroom - some justified, some not.

Cutting the wage bill was a necessary project that was always going to attract merchants of doom and gloom, though new revenue streams in concerts at the County Ground and the catering arrangement with the Lindley Group could have been better explained than they were.

McCrory and his associates - directors Lee Power and Sangita Shah and general manager Steve Murrall - have hardly had a comfortable ride during their time in power at SN1.

Rumour and counter-rumour have fanned the flames and, while there may be no smoke without fire, the Town board have not been helped by the as yet unsubstantiated claims of anonymous online contributors.

Ahead of the new League One season, and once the Advertiser is allowed to get a word in edgeways, McCrory opens up about what life has been like since he swapped Banbury for Swindon in February.

“It’s been testing,” he said. “When we came in, with the lack of due diligence which we’ve been over many a time, it’s been testing to turn around and balance the books.

“Obviously losing a manager hasn’t helped, having found one, and that’s been difficult - but to be fair to the coaching staff they’ve been outstanding.

“The internal structure at the club wasn’t as strong as many believed externally, so we addressed that and everyone seems to be happy around the club, more motivated, they’ve got a definite sense of direction and finally we seem to have got everyone going the same way.

“From the playing staff point of view obviously there has been a high turnaround of players, as everyone is aware. We believe that, collectively, the team that’s been put together with input from everybody, including the fans, is exciting.”

One of the biggest criticisms of McCrory and his board has been the lack of clarity on a variety of behind-the-scenes issues at the club as well as the minimal amount of information available about the chairman and his directors.

McCrory, who worked in the radio production and marketing industry with NTL following his education, moved into consumer goods in the late 1990s. He was a director of NBW and Warmedge Ltd before setting up Ordicium Ltd in 2010. The Swindon Town MyWorld concept - an online social marketplace - is a brainchild of that project.

A lot of McCrory’s secrecy, he explains, is a result of the non-disclosure agreement signed by himself and the previous board upon sale of the club.

The three letters NDA are now the subject of ridicule amongst fans, but McCrory stressed that it is a very real and binding arrangement.

“In the position I’m in I always knew I was going to get a lot of stick. I know a lot of people are rubbishing the NDA, saying it means nothing, but it means something to me,” he said.

“I agreed with the previous board that I would sign the NDA and take the club forward. It appears at the minute I’m dealing with more cases than Luton Airport and it is a struggle to contain it and deal with all the issues as well as take the pressure from the fans at times.”

That pressure has on occasion manifested itself in pretty ugly ways, both online and in person, and McCrory has been called all manner of names on his way to games, in the street and on Twitter.

“Some of the abuse that has come forward to myself and Lee has affected our families, who have come to the games,” he said. “That’s been more difficult to take than the personal abuse, to be honest, for myself and Lee.

“Hopefully people will start to understand the situation this club was in. I know they struggle with my communication to them but when you’re in the trenches you’ve got to fight.

“That’s what Lee and I have been doing. We don’t go out talking about it because I signed an NDA - it’s as simple as that.”

Power’s role at the County Ground has been relatively undefined since he arrived in mid-March.

He was only officially confirmed as a director on July 9 after a long wait on the result of his fit and proper person’s test but he has been the club’s main strategist on the player recruitment side for several months. He is also believed to have invested a considerable amount of his personal wealth into Town.

The title of “director of football operations” gives an indication of Power’s responsibilities, and McCrory moved to explain exactly what he has done for the club over the past few months.

“Lee’s a Swiss resident, he’s allowed in the country for 90 days of the year. He’s had plenty of chances to come back into football and it was only me pestering him that got him to come back,” he said.

“The size of the job at this club is huge and it needed somebody like Lee to join this club and tackle it, which he’s taken a lot of unfair criticism for.

“To try to rebuild takes a lot of inner strength and you’ve got to be a certain character to handle the agents, who aren’t as easy as everyone may think they are.

“There can be some very uncomfortable moments in conversations with agents and it takes someone who knows the game.

“Lee’s played the game, he’s been at quite a few clubs and he understands that and knows how to talk to them.

“A lot of people know Lee and that’s definitely enhanced this club.

“This club will benefit from him and I’d like the fans to give him a bit of a break because the effort he’s put in here is tremendous - especially for a guy who didn’t want to come back into football.

“He’s got 90 days of the year and he decides to come here for probably 80 per cent of them. His phone bill must be huge.”

One of Power’s most significant initiatives at Swindon, thanks to his close personal links with Tottenham football development manager Tim Sherwood, has been a tie-up with Spurs which has brought several of the north London outfit’s top British youngsters to Wiltshire.

The arrangement has drawn derision from some supporters who feel Town are losing their identity in the wake of a mass influx of another club’s kids, but McCrory is adamant the deal can only benefit both parties.

Moreover, he suggested that Swindon would be in pole position to sign any of those starlets who fail to secure contracts at Tottenham on a permanent basis in the near future.

“If you look at Middlesbrough, they’ve got Hartlepool that they’re helping out with a couple of players on loan,” he said.

“Spurs came in and when we needed players because of the embargo (in March) they were kind enough to loan us players quite quickly at short notice, as the embargo went all the way to the wire.

“It went very well with Nathan (Byrne) and Mass (Massimo Luongo), we signed Nathan on the back of that and Mass was delighted to come back as we were delighted to see him and so were the fans.

“For a club like Swindon to have a relationship with a club like Spurs where we can pick the phone up and ask about any players they’re looking to loan out is down to Lee.

“Lee’s been tremendous in what he’s done there. That’s why you’ve seen (Ryan) Mason, Pritch (Alex Pritchard) and Grant Hall come in.

“Guys like Mason could have gone anywhere but he’s come here and you can see he’s happy because he gets to play.

“We’re hoping that by bringing in four on loan from one club that that will aid the bonding of the club and help start the season quicker.

“We’re trying to use the loan market to the best of our ability and I think the fans should be getting behind it more - I think when people watch these players play they’ll see the talent coming into this club.

“And what stops Mass or Mase signing for this club if they can’t get in at Tottenham in a year’s time? Surely it’s better to keep that relationship. This club has always had a relationship with Tottenham and I think it just continues the history of Swindon Town Football Club and long may it continue.”

After one of the busiest summers of his life, McCrory now can’t wait to sit down and watching Swindon play football.

“The only time I get to relax is when the game is played and I can’t wait, I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.

“We’re going to be bold, we’re going to play football and we’re going to have a go. We’re going to drive the fans crazy because at times they’re going to overpass the ball and there may be the 4-3s but this is Swindon Town and, as a fan said to me when we first came in here, welcome to the rollercoaster.”