The Spirit of ’69 feels that it reached a “huge milestone” with its movement to get Clem Morfuni to sell Swindon Town after the second day of action.
Following Swindon’s 3-3 draw against Port Vale on Saturday, between 250 and 300 fans, according to estimates from Wiltshire Police, congregated at the back of The Arkell’s Stand to make their voices heard to the club’s hierarchy about their dissatisfaction with the running of the club.
Morfuni said in December “There is no point in protesting” during an interview with The Adver, but it was revealed on Saturday evening that he had met with The Spirit of ’69 co-founder Terry Pierce ahead of the second protest.
Despite receiving some backlash online for attending a private meeting, Pierce said that it felt like a major milestone for the movement.
He said: “It was lose-lose for Mr. Morfuni with regard to engaging with the protest but one of our primary objectives was to get some sort of engagement with Mr. Morfuni.
“When he reached out on Friday evening to arrange a meeting, we thought long and hard about taking it but ultimately we felt it was the right thing to do.
“We don’t think that it is correct to protest and then not engage as ultimately it shuts down a path forward.
“There were some views exchanged but there was nothing in the meeting that he has not said publicly in Fan’s Forums and media interviews.
“What this does allow us is a direct route forward to drive towards some sort of public meeting, our commitment to the people who have aligned with us from the beginning is that we will not get sucked into trying to resolve this through public meetings.
“We are very much of the opinion that whatever conversation that happens next has to be in a public forum in one way or another.
“We didn’t really get into the to-ing and fro-ing of why the meeting shouldn’t be private and it is a conversation we need to have when the club follow up.
“I think that they have shifted from a dismissive tone to an intent from the club to speak and listen to us. I think that is a huge milestone.”
Having now held two protests, the group hope to continue turning up the heat and working to see a change in ownership.
He said: “Ultimately we were there to have our anger be heard and to have confirmation [from people in hospitality] that it was very audible is job done on Saturday.
“We were really happy with the turnout, to show the community remains and our position hasn’t changed and our anger hasn’t dissipated is very important.
“Where do we go next? There are two or three really key things coming up and we have to be super careful on what our next steps are.
“You have the ground redevelopment, the season ticket campaign, and obviously the season ending on the pitch. It is a super interesting few months to come for us.”
