Swindon Town could be plunged into administration if a bid to sell the club to US buyers fails, chairman Lee Power told a court.

Mr Power, 47, has been taken to the High Court court by international footballer Gareth Barry’s agent, who claims to hold a 50 per cent stake in the club, and an Australian businessman who in 2018 agreed to pay £1.1m in exchange for a 15 per cent stake.

They have each obtained injunctions banning the chairman from selling Swindon Town without their approval.

According to court papers, agent Michael Standing, 39, claims he agreed in 2013 to pay £800,000 to help Power buy the club - in exchange for a 50 per cent share. This would be held in trust for Mr Standing, as under FA rules agents cannot have a beneficial interest in any football club.

In the court papers, Mr Power says he the agreement was with Mr Standing’s client, West Brom ace and former England international Gareth Barry. It was said they agreed verbally that Mr Barry would not own shares in the club, but was entitled to half of the profits arising from any increase in the club’s value or the sale of certain players. Mr Barry, 39, has denied the Town chairman’s account.

READ MORE: How Swindon Town's Lee Power was taken to court over 'club sale'

When the sale of former midfielder Matt Ritchie to Newcastle in 2016 netted Town £1.85m, according to court papers Mr Power was said to have told Mr Standing the money needed to go on paying back a £2m loan to former Robins owner and Betfair founder Andrew Black. It later emerged that the money was not paid to Mr Black. A judge said in a judgement on Mr Power's case: “The strong suspicion is that those monies were paid to Mr Power and not the club.”

Mr Standing claims he was not told until a year later that Mr Power had signed an agreement to 15 per cent of the shares in Swinton Reds 20 Ltd and Seebeck 87 Ltd, which own Swindon Town, to Australian businessman Clem Morfuni in 2018 in exchange for £1.1m.

In turn, Mr Morfuni, 50, claims he was not told of plans to sell the club for £7.5m to US firm Able – and read of the potential sale in the local press.

They have both been granted injunctions by the High Court preventing Mr Power from selling the club without their prior permission.

Court papers published this month show Mr Power had tried to up the amount he would have been paid in compensation by Mr Standing should the Able sale have fallen through as a result of the injunction.

Town’s chairman said the club would be likely to have to go into administration if the Able sale fell through. His evidence was that Town would need in the region of £700,00 to £750,000 between May and August this year in order to continue operating, which he was not able to provide. The judge concluded there was no evidence to back up Power’s assertions.

This week, Power told BBC Wiltshire that between 30 and 40 per cent of League One and Two clubs might not make it to next season without financial support. He said: "Unless there's some help from higher up the food chain, there's going to be a number of clubs that won't see the start of [next] season.”

Mr Standing and Mr Power are yet to respond to an Adver request for comment. Clem Morfuni said he remained committed to Town, describing it as a great sporting club. He added: “We’ve got to run it like a proper business and have transparency and open dialogue with the fans.”

The shock revelation follows news last week that the Robins could be crowned League Two winners after the coronavirus pandemic stopped the football season early.