Swindon Town chairman Lee Power outlines intention to add in January window

With Swindon under-performing in League One so far this season, club chairman Lee Power has firm ambitions to strengthen the squad in January.

Chairman Power, who was speaking to local radio station BBC Wiltshire ahead of the 1-1 draw with Fleetwood Town on Saturday, conceded that the club is not where they want to be right now and that fresh blood will be brought in to improve the league position.

"We need to (move up the table) sooner rather than later", he began.

"We can't wait for the (transfer) window to open, obviously we need some new players in - that's evident. Obviously we just want to get the window open and try and do some business as quick as we can.

"We are underperforming and underachieving so we need to turn that around and get players fit. 

"We haven't had the spine of the team throughout the season but we can't make excuses about it we just haven't been good enough - that's why we're 19th."

Since his arrival as chairman in 2013, Power has often been the subject of fan backlash for not spending enough on players, despite this summer spending £550,000 on Lawrence Vigouroux and Luke Norris combined as well as bringing in Johnny Goddard from Woking for an undisclosed fee. 

"It's not just about the money," he said.

"Obviously that is important because you can only spend what you've got in the budget.

"Things get made about our budget but our budget this year is in the top half of this league."

The other worry is that Swindon have a number of key players - most notably club captain Nathan Thompson, Jon Obika and Yaser Kasim - being out-of-contract this summer who may leave on free transfers if they are not sold for a fee next month.

"If I'm honest we've just looked at people to bring in not the other way"

"If there are offers for (the out-of-contract players) then we'll have to look at it but we won't do that unless we've got replacements ready. We'll see what happens in the window but our focus is getting players in."

Town could lose a whole host of talent next summer at the expiration of their contracts with Raphel Rossi-Branco, Anton Rodgers, Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill, Brad Barry, Jordan Stewart, Jermaine Hylton, Ellis Iandolo and Nathan Delfouneso all seeing their deals come to an end in the summer of 2017, as well as the aforementioned Thompson, Obika and Kasim. 

Sean Murray too only signed an initial one-year deal on transfer deadline day but Swindon have an option to extend his contract by a further year should they wish.

Along with this, Lloyd Jones, Darnell Furlong and Michael Doughty will return to their respective clubs (Liverpool and QPR) at the end of their loan spells. 

Director of football Tim Sherwood said in his press conference unveiling back in November that he aimed to bring experienced players to the County Ground in the winter window, something Power confirmed, but Premier League youngsters on loan is an option still being explored.

"Me and Tim have been to a number of Premier League teams (seeing) what players are going to be available in January and we are trying to get the pick of those.

"There are a lot of areas that need covering so that's what we're working on.

"We're the number one club that they'd want to give (the players) to. We try and do things the right way and that's why Tim is so important to us ."

League One clubs are allowed eight long-term loans during a season but a maximum of five can be named in a matchday squad of 18.