SWINDON Town chairman Jeremy Wray has rubbished reports linking the club with a £500,000 bid for Southampton striker Lee Barnard.

The rumour had been doing the rounds on the internet for more than a week before several national newspapers reported yesterday that Town manager Paolo Di Canio was willing to make the 28-year-old one of the Robins’ most expensive signings ever.

The half-a-million quoted in the press would match the figures splashed out for Jan Aage Fjortoft in 1993 and George Ndah in 1997 and would catapult Barnard into top 10 dearest acquisitions in Swindon’s history.

However, Wray has dismissed the speculation as nonsense, telling the Advertiser: “There is absolutely no truth in that story whatsoever.”

Barnard joined the Saints from Southend in January 2010 and has gone on to score 24 goals for the St Mary’s outfit.

However, he only featured nine times for manager Nigel Adkins in the Championship last term. Di Canio stated after his side’s 4-0 victory over Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday that he is still biding his time in the transfer market.

Town are pursuing a deal for Tottenham midfielder John Bostock but the Swindon boss wants to wait to see how his team takes shape before making any further moves.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a mysterious donor played a major role in Torquay’s purchase of Billy Bodin earlier this summer.

The Wales Under 21 international made the switch to Plainmoor for £70,000, just £5,000 shy of the Gulls’ record transfer fee paid.

And the Devon club’s chairman, Simon Baker, has revealed that the deal was only made possible thanks to a substantial gift to the club.

"Last January, when we tried to buy Billy the first time, we received a call from a long-standing lady supporter who said she was prepared to give us £50,000 to help with the transfer fee," Baker told the Herald Express.

"It was an amazing offer, and the only conditions were that the money was for Billy and she insisted on remaining anonymous.

"Swindon wouldn't sell at the time, but the lady said we could keep the money for another go at signing him.

"When we went in for Billy again this summer, Swindon wouldn't budge on their valuation, so we would never have been able to afford him without her donation.

"She still wishes to remain anonymous, but we are hugely grateful to her."