SWINDON Town could not take the risk of offering Troy Archibald-Henville anything more than a pay as you play contract for next season, according to chairman Lee Power.

Archibald-Henville put pen to paper on a two-year deal with Carlisle United yesterday after snubbing Swindon’s offer, ending a two-year association with the Wiltshire club.

The former Tottenham centre-back has been plagued by knee injuries during his time with the Robins and, though he was excellent upon his return to the first team towards the end of last term, Power felt that there was an element of danger in putting a long-term deal on the table.

The Advertiser understands Swindon offered Archibald-Henville a significantly reduced basic wage with pay as you play bonuses making up a large chunk of the overall package - the best the club could reasonably afford, in the eyes of the chairman.

Power said: “He’s a lovely lad, fantastic player, but we can’t afford, with our budget, to have someone that could break down at any time and then we have to carry his wages through the rest of the season.

“The deal we offered him was mainly based on a pay-as-you-play package and he felt maybe he could get a better deal somewhere else.

“I hope he does because he’s a lovely lad, it’s just at the moment we can’t take those type of risks."

Meanwhile, Power has stressed that he and manager Mark Cooper have continued “working tirelessly” in the transfer market despite two months of uncertainty and High Court drama.

“I’ve been working on the back burner anyway. There’s certain things I couldn’t sign up to.

“I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do that because of the restrictions we was under.

“Things have been in place. Me and Mark have been working tirelessly. We’ve got ideas, we’ve got targets, and we’ve got to wait now for them to come to fruition.

“My model’s always been that we need to get the club on a sound footing. I believe with my contacts I can get a team that can be competitive for a fraction of the price and then when I’m long gone and Sangita (Shah) is long gone, the football club’s in a healthy position.

“That’s all I’m trying to do.

“I know there’s loads of fans that would like to spend millions and millions on players, but unfortunately I haven’t got millions and millions.”