LEE Power and Andy Curran have been revealed as the individuals who called in owed debt which led to an emergency loan and handing over of shares in Swindon Town last year.

Swindon have published their Advisory Board minutes for September, and in them it was confirmed that the debentures were called in by former owner Power and also Curran.

It was this sudden debenture which forced current owner Clem Morfuni to handover shares in the club as security for a large loan in September 2022.

The club confirmed in a statement on 17th August 2023 that shares in the club had been transferred to help finance the payment of a debenture of £2.9 million.

The minutes also confirmed that Hollie Kiely now owns 17 per cent of the club and Bethany Parladorio owns 5 per cent as a result of the transfer.

The minutes said: “In and around September 2022 the Debentures were called in, it also came to light that the debentures had been acquired by Lee Power and Andy Curran from Andrew Black (we believe these were purchased for £1M), Power and Curran called in the debentures, Clem [Morfuni] had 3 days to find £2.95M to clear the debentures or face the reality of placing the club into administration, which Clem did not want to do or see happen.

“Clem at the time did not have the liquid assets to cover all the debt and approached two people from Swindon, both persons declined to help.

“Clem also asked a close associate in Australia who also declined to help. Clem then finally asked Chris Kiely who accepted the offer to help based on having some security to secure the debt against.

“As Clem has most of his assets in Australia the only option that Clem had was to offer shares on a buy back option to ensure the security and the release of the funds Circa £1.45M.

“Clem was advised by his legal team that the significant change of control was 30% with the total security offered being 22%, as Clem had an agreed buy back option, he thought there was no need to disclose the share change.”

The Swindon Town Supporter’s Trust issued a statement upon the release of these minutes, in which they said that they were happy that the debentures had been dealt with but believed that the transfer of shares should have been communicated.

The statement said: “Clem’s actions in buying the club without visibility of whether the debentures had been triggered and then settling the debenture to avoid administration at short notice, were significant commitments to securing the future of the Club – something we should all be thankful for.

“However, as Clem has admitted himself, mistakes were made in failing to tell supporters that there were share transfers as part of those arrangements and what followed was far from the “open and transparent” approach which he had promised when he acquired the Club.

“We have shared our frustration and disappointment with Clem that given how closely we were working together at the time to complete the County Ground purchase that he never disclosed how shares in the Club had been used to secure funds to settle the debentures.

“Given the timescales, it would have been unlikely that we (or any other supporter group) could have raised the necessary funds in time, but this does not excuse what followed.”

The minutes also said that Morfuni intends to purchase the shares back, but is ‘not an immediate priority as funds are needed elsewhere’.