SWINDON Town supporters have sent out a battle cry to residents to help the club weather the latest financial storm.

An overdue six-figure VAT payment has triggered court action and Town have until February 2 to pay up.

Customs and Excise, who issued the winding up petition as a "last resort", have vowed to get tough unless the club acts quickly.

But Town bosses say there is no need to panic because £750,000 is expected to drop into the club coffers in the next few days.

Paul Davis, of TrustSTFC, the club's supporters' trust, said it was time for residents to rally behind the Robins because the club has a bearing on the future of the town.

"All too often negative publicity about financial matters and bad results overshadow how important the club is to the town," he said.

"For a town of Swindon's size not to have a professional football club would be a disaster as apart from what happens on the pitch the club is involved with a lot of youth and community schemes.

"The ground redevelopment proposals are still on the cards which would be a fantastic opportunity as it would attract new business and, along with the town centre regeneration plans, it would help the town look like a place that is on the up.

"To all stayaway fans we issue this simple plea please come back as now, more than ever, the club needs your support." To

prevent further financial turmoil, Mr Davis wants the club to reduce ticket prices which he claims have kept supporters away, appoint a chief executive and allow a fans' representative to sit on the board.

But football club director Bob Holt said they could not afford a chief executive and that it was the shareholders decision on whether they wanted a fans representative on the board.

He said he would welcome fans rallying behind the club but ruled out lowering ticket prices because it had proved ineffective in the past.

"To survive we need more supporters coming to the club but we cannot survive on football income alone," said Mr Holt.

"We also need a new stadium and supporting income streams that something like a conference centre or hotel attached to the stadium would bring."

Paul McConnell, insolvency partner for Monahans in Swindon, said it was a critical time for the club.

"This is the most dire thing they (Customs and Excise) could do," he said.

"Unless they have some kind of protection the club could literally be shut down."

Questions fans want answered

As the petition for the club to be wound up was served on December 4 2004, why was it not mentioned at the AGM on December 31?

There was no legal obligation for the board to reveal this information, but it cannot be ethically right for this information to have been held back.

The club's Finance Director admitted at the AGM that the increase in "break-even" gates in the budget (from 4800 to 5500 last season to 6900 for this season) was due to a "miscalculation" of likely VAT due to reliance on "inaccurate historic figures". The accounting strategy with regard to VAT (ie budgeting against projected figures rather than by cash accounting) is high-risk will the club now review their accounting practices?

The club needs either a Chief Exec or general manager with a day-to-day overview of the running of the club to avoid situations like this. Was not replacing Mark Devlin a false economy?

Is the Trust's long-held argument for a fans' representative on the board not strengthened by this latest episode in the saga of STFC's financial misery?

Newsdesk