THE MYTH that there is a large amount of money to be made from owning a football club is purely that, a myth, according to former chairman Andrew Fitton.

The 58-year-old invested something in the region of £3million during his four-year spell in charge of Swindon and in the end saw very little of that investment back.

When asked whether there was an expectation to get a return on the money put in, Fitton replied: “Yes there was, but not in perhaps the way you think.

“My expectation was that we were building something for the long term and in that sense, if we turned it into a Premier League club then it might have been worth £100million one day, or £50million, or £30million, and in that sense, we were invested in a long-term project.

“It is not a question of there being an expectation of you being paid it back next week, it was an investment in the future.”

In reality, though, Fitton, and many other members on the board, did not see their investment, which is believed to be in excess of £10million, find its way back.

“If you look at the accounts during my period in charge, then you will see that we tried to balance the books each year by player sales. In fact, on paper, we even got into profit one year but even then were still having to invest more money,” added Fitton.

“Nobody on my board - apart from Nick Watkins, who was working there as chief executive every day - took a penny out of the club.”

One of the only times Fitton did see a return on his investment was when Charlie Austin was sold by the club.

A deal he could not reveal the full details of because of confidentiality agreements, but a point where Fitton wanted to put false rumours to bed.

“The only deal that was done was that there was an agreement that I would be repaid certain moneys, and it was about 10 per cent of what I had invested. A very small amount,” he said.

“That was funded by a payment being made out of the Charlie Austin proceeds.

“It is true that some of the proceeds came to me, but they came to me in repayments of a debt.

“I don’t think anybody who was involved, certainly when I was involved, has had anything to be ashamed about when it comes to the commitment and the money they put in.

“That money we put in was real cash and we didn’t take any salaries out.”