Swindon Town owner Clem Morfuni 'made mistakes' in share transfer

The Town owner made the admission during an hour-long grilling by supporters on Tuesday night, in which he fielded a number of questions surrounding his stewardship of the club.

In August, a filing on Companies House revealed that 22 per cent of shares in the holding company for STFC - Swinton Reds 20 - had been transferred to two women, Hollie Kiely and Bethany Parladorio in September the previous year. 

Former CEO Rob Angus publicly called this a 'mistake' but the following day Mr Morfuni issued a contradictory statement stating the shares were deliberately transferred as security against loans needed to urgently pay off a £2.9 million debt. 

After facing calls for answers, the Australian businessman agreed to hold a public Q&A with the Official Supporters' Club and podcast The Sir Tom Broadbent Lounge. 

Appearing live at 5am from Australia, the plumbing magnate was asked a number of questions. 

On the share transfer, Mr Morfuni explained that the long-standing debentures originally owned by Andrew Black had allegedly been sold to Lee Power and Andy Curran and they had 'called' the debt in, leaving him scrambling to pay them. 

"I had three days to do it to save the club, if I didn't do it,  it would've gone into administration," he said. 

"The worst thing I did, the thing that I made the mistake on is that I didn't tell the fans I used the shares as collateral to prop up the club, to pay the debentures off. 

"Yes it was my fault and yes it was a mistake I made. Look, I'm human, I make mistakes, right!".

He added: "At the end of the day we brought the ground with the [Nigel] Eady money, 50 per cent I gifted to the supporters so they could buy the ground, and that gave us security for the reporters when I'm gone, buried or whatever. You guys are still going to own the ground at the end of the day.

"So I understand people saying I'm not transparent, and how am I going to build trust back, but no disrespect, I could have said the [Nigel Eady] will said it's for the football club. I own the football club, so it's my money, I never did that. I gave it to the supporters so the supporters could buy the ground at the end of the day."

Swindon Town owner Clem Morfuni takes questions during public Q&A (Image: Official Supporter's Club)

In his first statement on the share transfer in August, Mr Morfuni said: "Most of the money has been repaid and the majority of the shares reclaimed a small minority shareholding remains to these two individuals. "

But when he was then asked who actually owns the shares, Hollie Kiely and Bethany Parladorio as stated on Companies House, or their partners Chris Kiely and Eddie Parladorio and how many they currently own, he said:  "I own 78 per cent, look, what they've done with their wives, they will have to answer that. But it was 5 per cent with Eddie and 17 per cent with Chris Kiely, but I'm buying those back at the moment so that paperwork will be sorted in the next coming weeks."

"They don't have any involvement in the day-to-day running. They have no authority. They have nothing."

Mr Morfuni was asked if he regrets what led to Rob Angus reading out an untrue statement at the Fans Forum in August when the news of the share transfer broke. 

"Absolutely," he said, "I apologised to Rob, I apologised to him personally and I apologise on record. It shouldn't have happened, I should've advised him. That was my fault. I put my hand up when I've done something wrong, I don't have an issue, I'll take it on the chin.

He continued: "But I will have a swing too if I believe that I'm being accused of stuff that I'm not doing at the end of the day, and that's what annoys me a bit."

He denied that Mr Angus had signed an NDA on his departure and also refuted the suggestion the the situation over the shares was the reason for Mr Angus leaving and being replaced by Axis Services Group UK's managing director Anthony Hall.

Mr Morfuni then fielded a question asking why Mr Hall was appointed CEO despite this senior position elsewhere and whether he and other Axis Services Group employees now working at the club were doing it as a 'side-gig'. 

"They're full-time," he said, bluntly. 

Other matters Mr Morfuni addressed included categorically denying rumours surrounding Zavier Austin, Adam Hart and Michael Standing and their involvement in the club, talking about the stadium redevelopment, January transfer windows, one of Swindon Towns' holding companies facing compulsory strike-off and possible EFL regulation breach sanctions. 

He also further affirmed his commitment to the club and reiterated he had no intentions to sell it. 

You can watch the full interview with Mr Morfuni here.