Bad advice from external consultants could have led to expensive mistakes being made at Swansea's Liberty Stadium.
A series of recommendations is now set to be implemented following an audit report into the first year of the stadium.
Thousands of pounds was spent bringing in the experts who told leaders in the former Labour-run administration that catering firms should pay for the fit-out and that undersoil heating was not necessary.
However, it became apparent that no firms were willing to stump up the cash for catering equipment.
And after a Swansea City game was postponed because of a frozen pitch, club bosses recommended undersoil heating.
Swansea Council loaned Swansea Stadium Management Company £2.3 million to help pay for fixtures and fittings and also handed over £450,000 to keep SSMC afloat and to pay for undersoil heating.
The £2.3 million loan has since been written off.
Councillor Robert Francis-Davies, who was in charge of the project when Labour ran Swansea Council, said: "I was told I was getting the best advice available, the best external advice."As a councillor, you can only make a decision based on the advice you are given.
"More than £700,000 was lost in the first year of the stadium. Auditors said that figure could have been less if council directors on the stadium's management board had been given more information about stadium accounts.
The report said: "It is possible that some of the losses made by SSMC in 2005/06 could have been avoided if there had been proper management information presented to the board at an earlier stage and on an ongoing basis."
Councillor John Hague, who is also a director on StadCo's management board, said things had changed since the audit report was compiled
He said: "I am happy with information we are being given now and I am happy that the council's investment is being taken care of."
Labour group leader David Phillips said councillors needed more training before being co-opted on to boards of private companies.
He said: "The Liberty Stadium is an undoubted success and nothing will detract from that. But we should not be deflected from learning how things went wrong. I am still not convinced we have identified all the lessons we need to learn."
