SWINDON Town have sold around 4,200 season tickets for the 2022-23 season while reducing the club’s overall debt by £2.9million in the past 11 months, according to June’s advisory board minutes.

A number of interesting topics were discussed at the most recent meeting, including plans for a club museum, an update on the joint-venture to buy the County Ground, and proposals to upgrade the club’s academy.

The meeting was attended by Town owner Clem Morfuni, CEO Rob Angus, vice-chair Zavier Austin, club legend Don Rogers, STFC Community Foundation’s Jon Holloway, Trust STFC’s James Spencer, and the Official Supporters Club’s Christine Kyle and Anthony Reeves.

Town say that, going forward, a club sponsor will attend each meeting in order to add more representation. Stephen Trowbridge MBE, managing director of First City Care, and Jay Collett of The Sir Tom Broadbent Lounge will attend next time.

One of the key points to come out of June’s meeting was the fact Town said the club’s debt has reduced from £4.5 million to £1.6 million since the start of Morfuni’s takeover – with £130,000 being paid off since May – and that all repayment plans remain on track.

Another subject of interest pertained to season tickets. Swindon say almost 4,500 have been sold so far for the 22-23 campaign, and the club remains committed to reaching the target of 6,000 with the window for fans to buy new season tickets now open.

Swindon say all season-ticket refunds for the 2020-21 season have been completed and that work is underway to build a stadium sign which thanks all those fans who were able to waive their refunds. The design was shared with the board and is expected to be in place before the start of this season.

Town’s CEO noted that Staffordshire police have begun investigating the violence that both players and supporters were subjected to in the wake of the play-off semi-final second leg at Port Vale.

Angus stated that Swindon have been cooperating with the police, the Football Association, the English Football League, and Port Vale over the matters and have been kept in communication by the necessary parties.

On a more positive note, progress continues to be made on the County Ground joint-venture purchase with legal and funding discussions currently ongoing. Meanwhile, discussions and planning for a Swindon Town museum has begun, with the Trust taking the lead in order to get it off the ground.

Finally, Town say they have carried out a lengthy and detailed assessment of the club’s academy facilities. The long-term aim is to improve the academy through a variety of different methods, with the ultimate goal being moving the status of the club’s player production line from category three to category two. One of the first steps in upgrading this area of the club has been to appoint Jamie Russell as senior academy director.