"It's not just Lee Power, it's fan power" - Trust STFC urge supporters to come together as one

The Swindon Town Supporters' Trust held their annual AGM on Thursday and the underlying message of the meeting was for Swindon Town fans to unite in a common goal.

The Trust saw one of, if not the, most attended AGMs ever at the Goddard Arms pub with Swindon fans, those that could make it, more than happy to get behind the Trust's cause.

Discontent is, along with apathy and unrest, one of the more prominant attitudes around the football club at the moment with a large section of supporters taking issue with chairman Lee Power and the way he is operating proceedings at the County Ground.

Steve Mytton, the Trust chairman, perhaps illustrated this best when he said early on in the AGM: "I go to football with my son and, I would say, to be honest it's been pretty dull.

"There's very little atmosphere (in the stadium) and, generally speaking, we've lost interest a bit. My passion for the football has gone this year. I watch the football matches but what we're speaking about here (in the AGM) is: how do we get that (lack of interest) solved?."

He continued: "the theory throughout this is: let's work together. That's the fans, the club, the media and the council."

Mytton outlined five 'challenges' for the Trust to solve - "the club's finances", "the County Ground atmosphere", "lack of connection", "an unpopular chairman" and "the County Ground" in general.

The detailed "possible solutions" are openness, visual impacts such as displays, involving players in the community, finding a common ground and owning the County Ground respectively as the overriding message of "Let's work together" was consistent in both the AGM and the downloadable information pack that was published online hours before the meeting.

The Trust announced their own accounts, which showed a profit of £11,210 for the year ending August 31, 2016 which is a huge turnaround in fortune from the £12,941 loss the year prior.

"With a bit of money behind us we can do a lot of stuff," Mytton added.

"Generally speaking we've got around 125 (members). If we got 1,000 it would make a huge difference. We do want to keep the Red Army Fund (RAF) rolling - it's a great little way of giving us our independance to do some things.

"Grimsby and Portsmouth raised around £400,000 in just a few months. I think we're aiming for around £8.50 a month. The Red Army Fund is going really well."

Towards the end of the night board member James Phipps said:

"The difficult bit isn't necessarily raising the money straight up, it's the ongoing commitment to the whole project.

"The more people we can get, even small amounts investing in it, shows a commitment."

The evening ended with Mytton concluding: "Get the message out on social media, talk to people, tell people that this room was very full.

"We're going to have another one of these events soon by the sounds of it. Bring a friend, let's make it double the size, let's just do what we can.

"Don't be downhearted, we've got five challenges to solve. Let's work together. The fans, the club, the media, the council, everybody in Swindon.

"Let's work together, make Swindon Town an example for everybody and just remember: it's not just Lee Power, it's fan power. Let's stick together."