Swindon Town: Club aim to complete County Ground purchase by end of January

Swindon first discussed the idea of buying the County Ground in 2015

Swindon expect to exchange contracts on the purchase of their County Ground stadium by the end of January.

The League Two club are aiming to buy the ground in a joint venture with their supporters' trust.

Members of the Swindon Town Supporters' Trust (Trust STFC) overwhelmingly voted in favour of the venture this month.

The minutes of the club's latest Advisory Board meeting said that plans "continue to move at pace" to get the purchase done by the end of January.

"We're really delighted that 88% of our members got involved in the vote and 99.8% of those gave their approval to proceed," Trust STFC joint vice-chair Alex Pollock told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"There are a huge number of people involved now in the next couple of weeks to hopefully get the contracts exchanged and signed by the end of this calendar month."

The venture, called The County Ground Stadium Custodians Ltd, will see the ground bought from current owner Swindon Borough Council, who will then lease it back to the club and trust for 250 years.

Ownership will be split 50:50 between the trust and the club.

Once completed there are plans in place to redevelop the stadium, as well as build a conference centre and hotel on the site around the ground, all at a reported cost of £22.5m.

The purchase is being supported with donations made by the trustees of the late Nigel Eady, a lifelong Swindon fan, who left a trust fund to benefit the club.