Clem Morfuni, who pumped in $14 million to save one of England’s oldest clubs from a conga line of creditors, has dreams of leading the West Country team back to the Championship, with a sizeable number of Aussie imports buckling up for the journey.

Having built a $200 million a year business in five countries, football nut Morfuni wants to spread the love and turn League Two Swindon - who just missed out on a fairytale promotion in his first year in charge - into an overseas hub bristling with young Aussie talent.

“I think having Aussies over here in League One or Two is much more realistic than aiming directly for the Premier League,” Morfuni told FTBL from his part-time base in London.

“I say this to kids - ‘if you think you’re going to get into the EPL then all the best’. But I don’t believe they realise how hard it is. 

“The quality of player over here is unbelievable. People won’t sign anybody up to a top flight team unless they have something special.

“But if you look to the lower divisions, there’s a much better chance of playing men’s football and building and shaping a career from there.”

That’s where Swindon, now coached by former Chelsea midfielder Jody Morris, come in.

“I have people ringing me from Australia asking if their son can trial with us, but beyond that I’d like to have a proper academy in Australia with us sending out a couple of coaches to oversee it all,” he explained.

“I’d like to create that pathway, initially one in Sydney and then Melbourne as well. We’d be looking at taking in players at around 16 years old.

“This is something I’m passionate about. I think at the development level Australian football has lost its way and we’re not getting enough talent into Europe. At the age of about 17 in Australia I think producing talent just falls off a cliff.”

Morfuni has fostered friendships with golden generation stars Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Craig Moore and regularly canvases their views on how best to identify and groom the next brood of aspiring stars.

“They’re all my mates and they have a lot of knowledge and wisdom to impart - they all know what it takes to succeed overseas as they proved in their own careers,” he added. “It’s important for me to hear what they say.”

Morfuni took full ownership of Swindon Town 16 days before the start of 2021-22 season, parting with $350,000 after a rancorous legal battle for the privilege of taking on one of English football’s most onerous projects.

The club were tipped to topple into the abyss of semi-professional football but instead made the playoffs, off the back of Morfuni’s largesse and drive to re-engage disenchanted fans.

In March this year Swindon will finally have ownership of its County Ground stadium in cahoots with those same supporters who have dug into their own pockets to helo fund its acquisition from the local council.

When Morfuni, 54, walked through the door the debts were piling up like uncollected garbage, none of the remaining six contracted players had been paid for two months, there was no CEO, no coaching staff, no kit, no team bus and the pitch had been reclaimed by nature in the absence of a groundsman.

Having built up his Axis plumbing business from scratch, Morfuni was no stranger to implausible projects and set about reviving lost ardour for a club whose single season in the EPL back in 1994 seemed light years away amid the desperation and dysfunction he inherited

He pulled pints for the fans at local pubs to prove himself a man of the people, drove a truck around town with a loudspeaker, spruiking season tickets and joined fans in local five a side football leagues.

Looking back, he takes satisfaction in what’s been achieved - even though mid-table Swindon are long odds to make the playoffs this time around.

“We’ve managed to clean up all the debts left by the previous owners. This isn’t a short fix, it’s a long term strategy," he said.

“My goal is get us back into the Championship, complete the acquisition of the ground which will happen in March, do a development, get the academies set up in Australia and have that pathway in place back to Swindon so those kids can play the pro game here in League One or Two.”

Morfuni sees a synergy between the plumbing arena and the football landscape, with one glaring difference.

“In plumbing the media is not involved so if I lose a manager nobody gives a shit. If I lose one one here everybody is betting on who comes in. And if they’re not doing good in the first two weeks everyone is saying ‘get rid of him'," he mused.

“Everything else is quite similar. There’s money in, money out.

“There’s adrenaline when you’re winning and a certain amount of satisfaction in what’s been achieved but there’s still so much to do and we have to keep moving forward. This, like life in general, is a work in progress.”

“I don’t know if we’re going to make the playoffs. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t.

“But we’ll do everything we can. Time will tell if we get there. My passion is as strong as ever - I’ve probably got too much passion at times.”

Morfuni feels the lows keenly, reflecting on the 2-1 midweek loss to Sutton United with some chagrin.

“We were 1-0 up and then lose to a late goal which isn’t fun,” he said. “You say to yourself afterwards ‘why do you bother?’ But then you dust yourself off and move onto the next thing.”