TERRY Russell has confirmed he will remain as Swindon Robins’ chairman for now, despite previous fears that an operation would hinder his immediate involvement with the club.

Russell has always outlined his intention to call time on his role at the Abbey Stadium in the coming seasons, but a fall while in his garden during the summer had the potential to accelerate his call to hand the reins over to waiting co-promoters Alun Rossiter and Lee Kilby.

A successful operation in the autumn has helped Robins’ popular chairman re-establish a portion of his independence.

And he was in strong spirits on the phone on Monday morning when confirming to the Adver that he has no immediate plans prematurely end his Swindon reign.

“Nothing has changed at hierarchy level,” said Russell.

“We’ve got to work hard to make the club sustainable because I can’t always be there. I want to leave the club in good hands.

“When that will happen, I don’t know. But, at this moment in time, nothing has changed.”

It was feared that Russell could walk away from the sport amid Premiership promoters’ push to once again freeze the top tier’s points limit at 42.5 during last month’s AGM.

While Russell failed in his attempt to retain Robins’ golden seven that spectacularly won the Premiership and Supporters’ Cup earlier this year, he did manage to keep top trio Jason Doyle, Troy Batchelor and Rasmus Jensen.

Though the points limit was frozen, it was confirmed a review of the ‘financial management’ ruling would take place next year.

In short, teams could be presented with the opportunity to retain their entire squad. Though changing one rider would revert any club back to the maximum points limit allowance (42.5).

Russell sees pros, but also cons, to the above initiative.

He added: “They (the BSPA) kind of said any club can keep their team in place.

“But, if you make any changes, you revert back to the points limit. It’s a small silver lining – essentially, they’ve said next year is a ‘maybe’.

“There is no guarantee, so I take little comfort from it. Some clubs, like Belle Vue, would encounter problems had this rule been introduced this winter.

“Max Fricke has declared he isn’t riding in the UK this year, so they’ve been forced into making changes and therefore the ruling would work against them.

“I understand the governance of it (points limit), and I understand it has to be a level playing field.

“In rugby, there is a salary cap – most sports have it to my knowledge. To avoid money being the name of the game, we have this points limit.

“But my point is, why should I lose two riders and be forced to replace them? That can be a false economy.

“That’s the bit I can’t deal with. Why should I get rid of Troy Batchelor, for talking sake, and be forced to spend more money to replace him?”