Swindon Town Owner Clem Morfuni would like to make the following statement in regards to Zavier Austin:
I would like to announce that I will be applying to the EFL to make Zavier Austin a board member and I would also like to appoint him as Vice Chairman of the Club. As I said in my statement when I took over, Zav was the person that brought me to the club 7 years ago and Zav has helped me so much over the past 2 years to become the owner for which I am extremely grateful to him. Zav is a huge fan of Swindon Town Football Club and is determined to help in every possible way that he can to do the very best for this great Club. He is going to be a very important part of the Club going forward. Obviously, being based in Australia, I cannot be here for large parts of the season and I feel it is very important that we have a fully committed Vice Chairman to represent the club in my absence.
Most unfortunately, Zav was the victim of a brutal, cowardly and wholly unprovoked attack two months ago by two thugs which hospitalised him and, to make it all the more despicable, the attack was carried out in front of his 12 year old daughter who was traumatised by such an event. There really are no words to describe such disgraceful, disgusting and utterly criminal behaviour, for which there should be no place in a decent and civilised society. It is therefore to be hoped that the persons responsible will feel the fullest force of the law and receive all appropriate justice in due course. Fortunately, Zav is now very much on the mend and will be sitting next to me at the first home game on Saturday.
Zav is one of so many people I want to profusely thank. What has happened over the last 3 weeks has amazed me; I already knew what a great Club this was but the support I have had since the takeover went through has been beyond anything I could ever have imagined. Every single person within the Club has gone so far above and beyond what one would normally expect; the togetherness and the desire to turn this Club around is a theme running vigorously through the whole of it and gives me so much belief that we are going to do something very special together. One, of probably a hundred, examples I can give was when I was in the Club building the other night at 11 pm and I saw Ricky Mcfarlane (Head of Strength & Conditioning) leaving the building. I asked why he was still here and he said he had been preparing the players’ breakfasts for the morning. That sums up the fantastic attitude that everyone at the Club has, with everybody mucking in, everybody doing whatever it takes, giving absolutely everything to help us be successful.
I also have to say a huge, and I mean truly huge, ‘THANK YOU’ to all our supporters; it has honestly blown me, and everyone within the club, away. The support you have given us already, has been incredible. Saturday was one of the best days of my life. I know we won’t win every week and, to be honest, I did not think we would win that first game as most of the squad had only had a 2 week pre-season and had to get to know new staff. This made it even more special but that is why I am here, for moments and days like last Saturday. I know that every match day will not be like that and we will of course have our highs and lows, as every club does, but while our stated aim for this season is to stabilise the Club, remain in League 2 and provide a sound platform for the future, I have so much faith in everybody within and around the Club and our truly incredible supporters that, who knows, we might just surprise people!
Season tickets are flying, especially when you consider most of them have been bought out of the shop window; shirt sales are flying too; we are all turning it around already!
It’s been a long time since we’ve had our magnificent fans in The County Ground, so let’s get behind Ben and the boys and blow the roof off on Saturday!
WE’VE GOT OUR SWINDON BACK.
Clem