“ONE million per cent I am in it to make money, no other reason, I am a business person.

“The only way I can ever make money out of this football club is by getting them first and foremost into the Championship and secondly into the Premier League. I might be a lunatic but that is what I am going to try and do.’’

Even at a club with such a chequered ownership history as Swindon Town, Lee Power could never be labelled as a conventional football chairman.

From metaphorically ‘donning the tracksuit’ to personally take charge of his side for a handful of games, through stonewalling media access to channel the club’s communications via a widely-derided app, to dishing out a five-year managerial contract to a young coach about whom many supporters still know very little, Power has made a habit - some might say a virtue - of doing things his way.

Many will have noted the above quote from the County Ground chief, admired his direct, non sugar-coated style and point to the apparent progress made under Power’s tenure since he took control of the club in December 2013.

A training ground project, rebalancing of the club’s finances plus a handful of football gems unearthed, polished and then sold on at a considerable profit point to a club slowly but surely heading in the right direction.

Yet two and a half years into his Swindon ‘project’ - and emerging from a season which could most charitably be described as disappointing – the tenure of Town’s current chairman very much falls into the category marked ‘Marmite’ among followers of a red and white persuasion.

There is, seemingly, no in-between.

Back Power’s methods and vision and you’re a doe-eyed believer, a lemming simply going with the flow, no questions asked.

Pose some of those questions – and there are questions that should be asked - and you’re “not a true Town fan’’, an irritant demanding a return to the past littered with inflated player budgets, profligate spending and the dark shadow of administration.

As so often, the fact lies somewhere in between.

Looking primarily at what matters to all Town followers – the outcome on the pitch – there is little doubt that the season just gone did not have the conclusion that was hoped for.

While the partial break-up of the 2014-15 play-off final squad was to be expected, given both the talent within it and the players’ own contractual status, the rebuilding of it felt somewhat thrown together and off the cuff.

How much did this contribute to a disappointing opening phase of the campaign? One that was to cost Mark Cooper his job in October.

Balancing that, Town were also afflicted by an at-times catastrophic injury list, one that merely highlighted the dearth of depth within their ranks, while the loss for health reasons of manager Martin Ling, robbing the club of the chance to rebuild under a galvanising favourite face from the past, was also a grievous blow.

So where next?

Town’s challenge remains to balance their owner’s oft-stated financial wishes with assembling a squad to excite, enthuse and connect with.

While few will dispute the logic of quality players moving on at a hopefully handsome profit for the club, supporters still want a team they can easily identify with and rally around, no easy task if their favourites depart without having had the time to really forge that connection with the fanbase, or that sense of togetherness that turns good teams into promotion-winning ones.

As if to amplify this ‘Catch-22’ situation, Power has simultaneously stated the desire for more support to pour through the County Ground turnstiles to boost coffers and in turn the quality of the squad, while at the same time ensuring club staff and players have the bare minimum of exposure and interaction with the community, surely shrinking the reach and effectiveness of the club’s ‘brand’ throughout Swindon and beyond.

As the current owner of the club, it is Power’s prerogative – as he has reminded us - to run the business as he sees fit.

Many supporters, for whom the connection runs much deeper than financial and longer than the next transfer window, still need reassuring that that prerogative matches the vision.