Swindon Town's New Manager

I wrote to the Swindon Advertiser detailing who should be the next Swindon Town Manager, but, if they fail to print my email, here it is in full. I think you may be surprised as to who I think would be the ideal replacement for Mark Cooper (who did an excellent job for the club, by the way):


Dear Sir,

The Ides of March 1969 saw me three months short of my fourth birthday, so I never went to Wembley that auspicious day nor do I remember watching the match on the television. However, playing football on Buckhurst Field some years later with boys old enough to have been there and listened to their stories of the glorious League Cup victors, I dreamed of seeing my hometown club play on the hallowed turf at least once in my lifetime. I didn’t make it for the Millwall game, nor last season for the capitulation against Preston North End, but I was there when Swindon Town FC were worthy victors over Sunderland AFC, when Chalky White “won” the penalty that saw the Robins eventually see off Leicester City and the loss to Chesterfield in the Johnstones Paint Trophy Final. My three visits to the National Stadium convinced me that the much maligned Wiltshire town that is the place of my birth and the town I have returned to more than once, and call home, deserves better than League 1 football.

Last season should have seen the team achieve promotion, but all concerned froze when it mattered most. That isn’t to say that I believe Mark Cooper to be a bad manager -  far from it. Working within a limited budget, he cobbled together a team worthy of treading onto the Wembley pitch and the day should have seen glory returned down the M4 to Swindon. Real life doesn’t always go with the script and all the hard work of the previous two years put in by the whole Swindon Town team, backroom staff included, unravelled at the feet of one Jermaine Beckford. An exodus followed and Mark Cooper was faced again with building a team from scratch. The previous two seasons gave a false sense of security and more of the same was expected on Saturday 8^th August 2015 once the first ball was kicked against Bradford City at the County Ground to see in the new Football League season. The 4 – 1 win seemed to indicate that all was well, but, only three months into the season, the club is facing the prospect of a relegation battle, the manager has gone and the injury list is expanding daily.

The ideal replacement is out there in the wider world, waiting to be recruited, but the one person I do not want to see at the helm is Steve Evans. Why? Because he has never come across as being an affable person and would probably only use the club as a stepping stone to get somewhere “higher”.  However, the qualities needed by the next incumbent of the Swindon Town hot seat have been shown by some of his/her predecessors. The person given the managerial role at the County Ground should exhibit the following:

1.       The PASSION of Paolo Di Canio

2.       The SKILLS of Glenn Hoddle

3.       The TACTICAL nous of Osvaldo Ardiles

4.       The TENACITY of Lou Macari

5.       The CHARM of Danny Williams

6.       The STAYING POWER of Sam Allen

I hinted above that the next manager could come from any sphere of the football community so I am going to propose someone who has international  managerial experience at the top level, but is not featured in any of the bookies lists.

How about Hope Powell?

She has played at international level and she has taken the women’s England team to the quarter finals of the Women’s World Cup, and finished her England role with an overall international win record of over 52%. I believe that the time for her to venture into Football League management is right and Swindon Town would be the team to allow her to show the footballing world her credentials. We’ve given the opportunity before to inexperienced players to make their mark in football management, so why not allow an experienced person in the women’s game the chance to show what she can do in the men’s one?

Thank you for taking the time to read this email and I hope you will print it in full.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Rivers

There you go. As the Yanks would say, "totally out of left field".

Your views...

Preston North End v Swindon Town - Post Mortem

Having witnessed their team strive valiantly to reach the League 1 Play Off Final on Sunday 24th May 2015, Swindon Town fans had hoped to be celebrating promotion to the Championship come the final whistle that evening. Failing that, a competitive game with the Town making a good fist of it and losing to the odd goal would have allowed the Swindon fans to return home down the M4 with their heads held high, knowing that their team had given its all in the pursuit of promotion. The result, 4 - 0 to PNE, gave a worthy promotion to the northern club whilst the Robins' abysmal record at the "New" Wembley continued (Played 3 Lost 3) and the club, and fans were left to rue what might have been. Some time has now passed and perhaps, now emotions are not so raw, it is time to open up the League 1 Play Off Final cadaver, poke around the entrails and perform a post mortem on the event that saw the West Country club confined to the third tier of English football for one more season.  

The Tactics

The approach Lee Power, Chairman of Swindon Town FC, and Mark Cooper, the Manager, have towards their brand of football is to get the team playing attractive, entertaining and exciting football. The passing game, moving the ball from the back, through midfield towards the strikers up front has held the interest of all those who have witnessed the team playing this season and, for those of us who can remember (where has the time gone?) the teams of Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle in the early nineties, it has brought back memories of those good times when Swindon Town twice managed to reach the top tier of English football. 

However, the season has been long and what might have been surprising, new and difficult for opponents to contend with in the first few games in which the young team played, with analysis, teams were able to assess the Robins' tactics and adapt their own style of play to nullify Swindon's passing game. Playing with three at the back is a dangerous ploy when the opposition has a fast attack and leaves a team vulnerable to a counterattack, especially if the other team plays with three up front. The goal difference at the end of the season of +19 is decent enough, but the top three teams in League 1 had goal differences of +58 (Bristol City), +57 K Dons) and +39 (Preston North End) - Swindon Town may have scored 79 goals in the league competition, but the team let in 57, a testament to the vulnerability of the attacking football style adopted for the past season.

That being said, the team were full value for the money spent watching them and the view of some

(not mine) that they were relegation-fodder was ill-founded. Top of the league in January 2015, Swindon Town seemed destined for automatic promotion until it became mathematically impossible after the season nose-dived over Easter. However, a play off place was assured and this led Mark Cooper to decide to rest key players over the following weeks. Defeats followed and, to some, the feeling that Town had lost their momentum going into the play offs did not auger well, especially when it became clear that Nigel Clough's Sheffield United would be the opposition in the Play Off Semi Final. The away win was tight at 1 - 2, but the home leg produced a phenomenal 5 - 5 draw after Swindon had been leading 3 - 0 after only 18 minutes. The way Sheffield United was allowed to get back into the game and boss the home side once again highlighted the defensive frailties of the team.

Jermaine Beckford

Meanwhile, Preston North End had seen off Chesterfield with an aggregate score of 4 - 0 having won away 0 - 1 at the Proact Stadium and 3 - 0 at Deepdale. With the euphoria of getting to Wembley blinkering most Swindonians to the attacking prowess of the Final opposition, it shouldn't have passed the Swindon Town management team by that Jermaine Beckford, a loanee from Leicester City, had hit top form for the most important game of the season.

The Play Off Final

The day of the final saw thousands of Swindon Town fans descend on the home of English football, Wembley Stadium, a jewel set in a rancid sea of industrial estates, inadequate road transport links and car parking facilities. Optimism was high, but there was the nagging doubt in many a Moonraker's mind that the "real" Swindon Town would fail to turn up. And so it was to be.
A previous incumbent of the Swindon Town manager's hot seat would have been up 25 hours a day analysing the opposition ensuring that the team he put out would have had the best advantage of defeating them on the big day - Paolo Di Canio may have his faults, but doing his homework is not one of them! However, it would seem that this part of strategising passed Mark Cooper and his team by as Jermaine Beckford was allowed to roam the field and score at will. As for the players, with many of them coming to the end of their loan spell or contract, or having whimsical thoughts of moving on and playing for a "bigger" club, it could be argued that their hearts were not in it; defeat was inevitable before the team had even boarded the coach for London.

2015/16 Season

Mark Cooper

The team that saw so much success in League 1 in 2014/15 is no more. There are some familiar faces, but essentially, the Swindon Town squad of last season has been decimated and a new setup is being formulated as I write. Whether this season's team will be as adept at controlling the ball and finding the net as last year's crop of players remains to be seen. However, from his two seasons in charge of Swindon Town, Mark Cooper must learn to adopt his tactics the better to outwit and outplay the different opposition he is to meet each week. This was the major failure of last season and the biggest learning point for Cooper and the rest of the County Ground team from the debacle witnessed at Wembley on Sunday 24th May 2015.

Mark Cooper's Swindon Town

Mark Cooper
Swindon Town's Manager

After the semi-final play-off defeat to Brentford, despite Aden Flint's superb equaliser (Aden Flint's Superb Equaliser), and with Kevin MacDonald deciding to quit his job as Swindon Town Manager for personal reasons, the whole sorry mess that unravelled at SN1 after Paolo Di Canio's tenure seemed to be coming to its inevitable conclusion. With the hysteria that surrounded the Italian and the refusal on most Swindon Town fans' part to see anything wrong with the management of the club so long as the team were winning on the pitch, and I include myself as one of those swept along by the Di Canio Circus (hindsight - a wonderful commodity with which to analyse past events), there was a sense of incredulity that Swindon Town could find itself in the position of having new owners and a caretaker manager at the helm at the start of the new season. In these rural parts of the country, the West Country instinct (we're Moonrakers after all) to be wary of the strange-sounding outsiders from down the M4 (Londoners) came to the fore when Jed McCrory, armed with the accent and vernacular of a barrow boy, headed up the consortium that saved the foremost team in Wiltshire from sliding into the administration mire that could have had fatal repercussions for professional football in Swindon.

Jed McCrory
Swindon Town Chairman

For his part Jed McCrory has proved his mettle and the improvements around the club, from the bricks and mortar projects in and around the stadium, to the improvements in purchasing online tickets, the matchday hospitality, etc. has shown that the Chairman is holding up his end in the bargain of his ambition for Swindon Town Football Club to be a truly sustainable business and community leader.


When, at the start of the current season, the club was left managerless, the quiet spoken and unassuming Mark Cooper took over the reins. The team that had almost achieved another Wembley visit had been dismantled and a team of youngsters, some homegrown, some borrowed from other clubs, and some signed at short notice were assembled to take on the rest of League 1. For a number of Swindon Town fans, their distrust of Mr. McCrory and the rest of the new board still to the fore, believed that relegation was on the cards and that the only way to avert such a disastrous end to the season was to appoint a "name", someone who had had extensive experience in football management and who could steer the Swindon ship on a course away from the rocks onto which it seemed to be heading. However, after a handful of games under his belt, Mark Cooper was awarded the role of Swindon Town Manager on a permanent basis. I would like to put on record that I supported his appointment. He had worked with Kevin MacDonald for the few months leading up to the end of last season and he knew the players that were left to him for the start of the new season. From these foundations, in my mind, the club was better off with Cooper in charge, as he could gently build on the work that had already been put into moulding a team for the assault on League 1 promotion. One question on the lips of all Swindon Town fans was what sort of football would be played by such young players, many of whom are short in stature?

Bert Head

"Bert's Babes"

Having experienced first hand the football played by the Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle Swindon Town teams of the early 1990's, the passing game that Mark Cooper has instilled into his charges bears comparison to those eras and is a breath of fresh air in a division of the football league that can suffer from the long ball game. However, being a child of the 1960's I missed one of the Swindon Town teams that is legend in this part of the West Country. "Bert's Babes" was a young Swindon Town team managed by Bert Head and included the likes of Rod Thomas, Ernie Hunt, Mike Summerbee, John Trollope and Don Rogers. Bert Head assembled a team of youngsters and drilled them in an almost military style, ensuring that his team was amongst the fittest in the league. (Link to "Six Days to Saturday" - Bert Head & Swindon Town) He achieved the first promotion in Swindon Town's history when the club was promoted to the then Division 2 at the end of the 1962/63 season. The foundations he put in place saw these youngsters go on to win the only domestic trophy Swindon Town has won when the club beat Arsenal 3 - 1 to lift the League Cup in 1969 under the stewardship of Danny Williams.

Yesterday's win versus Notts County (2 - 0) sees Swindon Town in a play-off position after a quarter of the season has passed. Plaudits are starting to come in from around the country regarding the team's style of play and, now that the players have gelled together, promotion this season can now be thought of as a very real possibility. Some of this can be attributed to the steadying hand of Jed McCrory who has put the club back on a stable footing. However, when the dust on this season has settled in May 2014, Mark Cooper can fly away to his summer holiday retreat, satisfied in the knowledge that his first season in the manager's hot seat has been a success, whatever position Swindon Town finish in League 1.  

  

Related articles.

• Football League column - Paolo Di Canio memory banished at Swindon Town

MacDonald Earns the Right to Manage

Everyone connected with Swindon Town, whether an employee, local sports reporter or fan, has probably used the metaphor "roller coaster" to describe the season just ended. With Paolo Di Canio at the helm, promotion to the Championship was a certainty; let's face it, he wouldn't have allowed any other outcome. However, the great proponent of "loyalty" showed his true mettle by upping and leaving the club, the team and the fans when Swindon Town was put up for sale and it was made plain that his days of running roughshod over those who disagreed with him were over. He's now at A.F.C. Sunderland and will find it a struggle to achieve any real success with them - in my opinion. The best place for Di Canio will be the English national team in around ten years time when he has earned the right to take on the rest of the world by leading his adopted country's top footballers in pursuit of the ultimate footballing Holy Grail, the World Cup.

Jed McCrory with Kevin MacDonald

The foremost team in Wiltshire were left in a healthy position in League One and the appointment of Kevin MacDonald, ex-Liverpool F.C. player and football coach at Aston Villa, was a curious nomination by the new Swindon Town board led by Jed McCrory. It took a while for the new First Team Manager to find his feet in his first football management job and, presumably, for the players to adapt to the new regime's modus operandi as compared to the almost military-style methods of the erstwhile Italian management team. The team struggled to achieve match day success under MacDonald's stewardship, but, eventually, things seemed to click and a play-off place was assured. The home match was a cagey affair, somewhat spoilt by the windy conditions and the dubious penalty awarded to Brentford F.C. in the dying seconds of the game. However, at 1 - 1, the match went to Griffin Park on the western outskirts of London finely poised at what was effectively half-time.

The first half hour of the return leg at Brentford saw Swindon Town overwhelmed by an adversary intent on winning at breakneck speed. With only one chance at goal by a soft header from Aden Flint, the early part of the game became one-way traffic with "The Bees" laying siege to Swindon's goal. It was with a sense of relief then, that I, along with every other Swindon Town fan took a sip of our half-time beverage and thanked our lucky stars that the Town were still in the game with the score on the day 2 - 1 to Brentford at the half-way mark. The second half could only get better for the Wiltshire outfit, couldn't it? Well, at the start of phase two of the match, things got worse when Gary Roberts gifted the ball to Brentford's Donaldson with a sloppy cross ball and the Bees' player made it 3 - 1 to the home side. I walked away from the match for five minutes only to return to the coverage like a junkie returning to an opium den, hoping beyond hope that the Town would get something out of the game.

Cue The Great Escape theme tune and some of the most exciting football seen for a long time. Not pretty at times, but totally enthralling and when Joe Devera smashed home Swindon's second, the comeback was on. With virtually the last play of full time, Aden Flint's bullet header wiped the smiles off every Brentford fan's face as the score was levelled and extra time beckoned. A harsh sending off for Swindon's left back, Byrne, saw the advantage swing back to Brentford and, when the whistle went for the end of extra time, most Swindon fans knew that the game was going to be lost on penalties. Like Steve McQueen caught up in the barbed wire after his failed attempt at jumping into Switzerland from war torn Germany, Swindon couldn't overcome their last hurdle and League One awaits next season (at least it's six easy points from Bristol City, though!).

The one positive from all this is that, in my opinion, Kevin MacDonald has proved himself as worthy Manager of Swindon Town. To be able to pick his team up from what must have been the depths of despair in the Town dressing room at half time at Griffin Park, the first 30 minutes of the game being all Brentford, to inspiring the team to put on a gritty, determined display to fight back to 3 - 3 at full time, shows the mark of the new regime now in control at the County Ground. I for one am optimistic for next season.


 

Take a Deep Breath, Pause...and Here We Go Again!

In the UK, we are very good at building someone up only to knock them down again once that person is successful. Over the past few weeks, Paolo Di Canio, has tried Swindon Town fans' patience with his shenanigans and I for one have tried to see the positives and hope that, once the sale of the club had gone through, the feisty Italian would calm down and accept the manager's role that would be offered back to him by the new board. First impressions of Mr. Jed McCrory for me is that he is a genuine football fan who has now achieved his life's ambition of getting himself into a financial position where he can jointly own, and be chairman of, a professional English football club. Add to that, his obvious enthusiasm for wanting to get stuck into his new role and one can imagine that his first priority was to repair the damage and restore normalcy to the operation of the Wiltshire club. However, before there was a chance for the new chairman to offer an olive branch to Di Canio and reinstate him as the team manager, the ex-Swindon leader was on Sky Sports News explaining that his "Swindon chapter was over". Not long after, there are reports in the media that he is considering suing Swindon Town for breach of contract!? Desperately in denial, since Swindon Town was put up for sale, I have been a proponent for getting Paolo Di Canio back as manager. However, with what has been going on and with Paolo Di Canio acting like a spoilt brat, I have to finally give up my support for him.

Kevin MacDonald has been hired as the new manager of Swindon Town and his oppo is to be Mark Cooper, son of the legendary Terry Cooper (Leeds United et al and England). What strikes the observer  immediately about the new regime at SN1 are the smart suits and the obligatory club tie. The intended image is that of a business-like and united front, with one goal of getting Swindon Town to the second tier of the English League, the Championship. Here the club can really consolidate, build a new stadium and develop the income streams that will help Swindon Town sustain itself through the close season and build on the inevitable assault on the Premier League. His first game is going to be the away game at Coventry City on Saturday 2nd March and, hopefully, with 12 games to go, Swindon Town will be celebrating promotion as champions come the 27th April 2013. Swindon Town's history is being added to as this article goes to press and, with that pause for breath, the team can put the last two games behind them and focus on becoming champions of League 1 for the season 2012/2013.

Related articles 

• Paolo Di Canio is interviewed by Sky Sports News next to a picture of Paolo Di Canio
• MacDonald named Swindon manager

Ready Brek Glows All Round

Now that the dust is settling at the County Ground and the ink is dry on the dotted line, what can be said of the consortium that has taken control at Swindon Town? As can be seen on the SwindonWeb website (Meet the New Board), a press conference was held on Monday 25th February where the four front men were introduced to the public, with Jed McCrory the new Chairman. The session only lasted about half an hour and not much was said other than to introduce the four and explain very briefly their past experience, and their expected roles at the club. However, two things that were said that have significance for the club's future were very telling.

First, it was confirmed that the money behind the bid comes from two silent partners who wish to remain anonymous. Second, it was stated that the door is still left open for Paolo Di Canio to walk back into the club and pick up the reins as manager. The former statement is welcome as it confirms that the financial security is there. The latter piece of information shows that Di Canio may not have burnt all his bridges having resigned his position three days before this consortium bought the major shareholding in the club. Personally, I would like to see the headstrong Italian finish the job he started and get Swindon Town into the Championship with back-to-back promotions. There would have to be a lot of soul-searching on his part as to why he did what he did, leaving the team leaderless at such a crucial stage in the season, and he would have to be prepared to toe the line with the new board of directors and chairman, but, you never know, he may be back in the dugout soon.

Later, Jed McCrory gave interviews to various aspects of the media (see the Swindon Web website and the Points West interview (BBC Jed McCrory Interview)) and the nature of the takeover, and his own involvement in it was explained. He comes across as a very genuine person and foremost, a football fan. He mentioned that everyone at Swindon Town seemed to have a "Ready Brek" glow about them and that the "family" nature of the club was overwhelming. Whether teary-eyed through the emotion of the day, or red-rimmed due to the necessary long hours put in over the past few weeks  to get the deal done, Mr. McCrory looked truly pleased to be part of the Swindon Town story. Indeed, he looked like the child whose Christmases and birthdays had all come at once. Having listened to him and the other members of the new board, I feel that exciting times are ahead for Swindon Town, both on and off the field.      

Done Deal at Swindon Town

The Sale Goes Through at Last!

The sale of the club has gone through and the new owners are settling into the boardroom at Swindon Town Football Club. However, there has still been no direct word from Jed McCrory and the other members of the new consortium regarding their plans for the club. The statement released on the Swindon town website (Swindon Town Statement) was from Sir William Patey, the outgoing chairman, and allowed him to indirectly vent his spleen over the departure of Paolo Di Canio and his team of backroom staff. The words are very telling and serve to illustrate the breakdown in relations between the manager and the club's board, and the chairman in particular. Reading posts on various forums, the fickleness of the average football fan seems to be coming to the fore with many people, who probably wholeheartedly supported Paolo Di Canio prior to the events of Monday 18th February, are now condemning him without recourse to the full facts. For his part, Di Canio has released a statement via the Swindon Advertiser (Paolo Di Canio's Statement in the Adver) where, apart from describing his frustrations, he states that the board have not responded to his resignation letter of 12th February. If this piece of information is coupled to the fact that the new owners have kept silent for the time being, perhaps there is a way back for Paolo and his management team? After all, if the club hasn't accepted his resignation and those of the backroom staff who left two days later, they are technically still employees of the club. I would be in support of this scenario, the one where Paolo Di Canio and his team take up where thay left off, but, as stated in a previous post (Implosion at SN1, but Still Top of the League!), the volatile Italian would probably have to eat a large piece of humble pie before he's allowed through the doors of the County Ground again. 

The Daily Mail

A ridiculously puerile and condescending article was written in the Daily Mail on the 20th February regarding Martin Samuel's opinion of Paolo Di Canio. He's entitled to his opinion, but what I take exception to is the tone of the article in relation to Swindon Town Football Club and the lower leagues of the English game. Read the article here (Daily Mail Article) and you decide. The other thing that has annoyed me is the fact that, despite trying three times, the Daily Mail has failed to print my comment. In view of that, below is my retort:

A typical, condescending, Premier League biased piece of reporting. It doesn't matter, it's only Swindon Town! They only have an average gate of 8,000. Well those 8,000 support their home team and do not hold to the franchise aspect of supporting a team from another part of the country with which they have no cultural heritage and no allegiance. The story from SN1 is significant as it highlights the lack of communication between the two factions (outgoing board and those wanting to buy the club) and the despicable way that the manager, the man charged with bringing success on the pitch, has been left out of the loop. Paolo Di Canio has been a breath of fresh air in his honesty and the way his heart is firmly emblazoned on his sleeve. The manner in which you dismiss a lower league story as not having any significance in the great scheme of things illustrates the blinkered view in this country that the only thing that matters in modern day football is the Premier League and the "Big Four".

Would you agree with me?

Related articles

• Implosion at SN1, but Still Top of the League!
• The Fat Lady is Singing at the County Ground Tonight!
• Facts, Opinion and Swindon Town

Implosion at SN1, but Still Top of the League!

No manager, no backroom staff and, it would seem, no board, but Swindon Town are top of League 1! Paolo Di Canio departed on Monday and was followed by his loyal lieutenants this morning, the day after the Robins humbled Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park, beating them 3 - 1 making the aggregate score for the two league games this season 8 - 1 to the Town and propelling Swindon town to the top of League 1. There follows an eerie atmosphere at the County Ground as tumble weed blows across the pitch and the stadium echoes to the sound of silence. It does not seem possible that the dulcet tones of an hysterical Italian will no longer be heard on a Saturday afternoon or a cold Tuesday night at the home of the foremost team in Wiltshire. I can't think of any jobless football manager who could possibly fill his shoes and that's where I have a theory about the whole comedy of errors surrounding the departure of the most successful Swindon Town manager in recent times.

Having threatened to resign if the takeover of the club didn't go through by 17:00 on Monday 18th February, in order to save face, Paolo Di Canio had no option other than to walk. However, there does not seem to have been any official statement from the football club accepting the manager's resignation, nor those of his backroom staff - an employer doesn't have to accept the resignation of an employee. It would seem that the management team have walked away, but there still remains the opportunity of an olive branch being offered to Paolo and his team to return when the takeover is ratified. In his statement released on Monday, Di Canio stated: 

"Following discussions, my representatives put forward a proposal that would secure my future at the club until at least the end of the season and quite possibly beyond as well. This proposal actually reduced the Clubs contractual liabilities to me in the interest of saving Swindon Town FC. At a meeting last Friday the proposed new owners accepted and said they were very happy with the new terms."

Perhaps these new terms are still valid and, after a big plate of humble pie, Di Canio will be welcomed into the new era at SN1? However, with pride coming before a fall, Paolo Di Canio may feel that his next venture lies away from the County Ground and he will only be seen back in the dugout in the away team area. This will be a great shame, as, if this is the case, whoever the new manager is, they will get the credit for Swindon town being promoted as champions of League 1 and not the man and his backroom team who started the ball rolling nearly two years ago.     

Related articles

• Swindon backroom staff announce mass departure after beating Tranmere
• Gary Roberts scores a 70-yard golazo for Swindon at Tranmere

The Fat Lady is Singing at the County Ground Tonight!

The breaking news in the Swindon Advertiser is that Paolo Di Canio has resigned and walked away from Swindon Town Football Club. In some ways, history is repeating itself in that Lou Macari, then the manager and architect of a resurgent team, was sacked after less than one year in the role. That was 1985 and a protest by the fans saw the board overturn their own decision and reinstate the former Manchester United player as manager. Paolo Di Canio has been in the role for a bit longer than Macari had been, but he has now sadly departed. Once again, those that run the club have managed to shoot themselves in the foot and the new owners will find a hostile reception waiting for them when they take over the reins for allowing the charismatic Italian to go.

Unfortunately, I think in this case, a fans protest will be to no avail. The new owners have probably a manager in mind who they would like to have in charge of the team, but, not since the days of Macari has Swindon Town Football Club had in Di Canio a manager who had such a rapport with the fans along with a sense of direction on the pitch. The team is still riding high, but the "team" includes the manager and his backroom staff. The behind the scenes team will no doubt follow Paolo Di Canio and how long will it be before the discipline and hard work that they helped instil in the players erodes and, along with it, the performances?

Footnote:

As of the morning of 19th February, the club hasn't stated whether it has accepted Paolo Di Canio's resignation...could there be a further twist in the tale?

Related articles

• Has the Fat Lady Sung at SN1?

Facts, Opinion and Swindon Town

I am not a trained journalist and, having a real job, I don't have the time to chase or follow up stories. Therefore, the collective blogs I have written concerning Swindon Town are mainly my opinion and conjecture, with a smattering of facts gleaned from my own experience and the football club's history. However, I don't think anyone reading my musings would expect the contents to be anything but opinion. However, I like to check my facts first and stay away from anything that could be construed as libellous. It beggars belief then, that some of the British national Dailies resort to making things up in order to fill their back pages rather than write the truth.

Paolo Di Canio shunned the national media post match at Colchester and only gave a brief statement to the two local media outlets he probably feels he can trust and with whom he has a rapport - the Swindon Advertiser and BBC Radio Wiltshire. The statement concerned his players and the Red Army of fans who follow the team up and down the country in all weathers (I wish I could be one of them, but family finances dictate that being a full time fan will probably have to wait until the kids have left home and I'm retired!). Rather than re-report what was said to these journalists, the Dailies made up some tripe about the imminent sacking of Swindon Town's manager once the club takeover had been ratified by the Football League. Thankfully, the head of the consortium, Jed McCrory, has issued a statement through "The Adver" refuting any such notion and states that all members of the consortium are looking forwards to working with Paolo and his team. ("Jed McCrory Rubbishes Sack Plan Report").

I don't know, but in my opinion, once the takeover is ratified and Paolo Di Canio and the new board have their "get to know you meeting", the events of the past fortnight will be forgotten and STFC will be top of the league.

Has the Fat Lady Sung at SN1?

With reference to my post of 14th December 2012, Paolo Di Canio has now laid his cards on the table ("Di Canio Ready To Walk Away"). With his star player gone for a mere fraction of his real worth in the transfer market, The manager of Swindon Town has had enough. It's not like we haven't seen the likes of this before. Duncan Shearer was sold to Blackburn Rovers at a snip, because the club needed money and Blackburn wanted to emasculate the attacking force of a promotion rival. We've also seen Lou Macari sacked and then reinstated due to pressure from fans' protests. Yes, we're all grateful for Andrew Black and his consortium for saving the club, but the way he has let go of his shares in the club has left a very nasty taste in the mouth of every fan of the premier team in Wiltshire. A promotion chasing team has had the skids pulled from under them and confusio renes at the County Ground. Has due diligence really been carried out by the Jed McCrory consortium or is this Terry Brady all over again? If PDC goes and, as I write this, he is allegedly in talks with Aston Villa, who is the best person to take on the managerial role? From a club where a month ago, the sky was the limit, to the uncertainty of now, no-one could write this. What is needed is action...NOW!

At Crawley tomorrow, in full view of the cameras, those lucky enough to be going should be vocal in their support for the man who has dragged the club kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Hold those scarves aloft, sing your hearts out and show Poalo Di Canio that if the club is bigger than one man, his leaving will leave a void that, as I see it at this present moment in time, no-one can fill.

Damp Squib!

"Transfer Deadline Day" is akin to Christmas Day for football fans. The anticipation of what present you're going to get allied to the fact that Father Christmas is as generous as the size of your parents' wallet ensures that the rich kids get their bikes and Scalextrics whilst the poor ones don't even get the Action Man that was on their list; instead they are given the crappy plastic doll from Hong Kong whose clothes don't fit, cannot hold a rifle and that falls apart before kick off on Boxing Day! So, watching the BBC coverage of "Transfer Deadline Day" via the web, it was disappointing to see that the Beeb was pandering to the dreams of the rich kids (Premier League) in speculating what Santa was going to bring them as a late Christmas present at the end of January. As a fan of a proper football club, i.e., someone who supports the team of the town of their birth rather than pretend to have some affiliation with a team in a city they've never been to and whose dialect they wouldn't understand, I had one eye on the webpage of the Swindon Advertiser to see what business Paolo Di Canio was conducting after the horrendous decision by both the off-going and oncoming boards to sell Matt Ritchie to AFC Bournemouth for a mere fraction of his worth. 

Matt Ritchie

I went to bed feeling that, although David Beckham would be kicking himself for choosing an obscure French team in which to play out the last few months of his footballing career rather than take pride in putting on the sacred shirt of STFC each Saturday, at least the three players that had been lined up would do a decent job for Swindon in the run-in towards the end of the season. As I snuggled into the duvet, I felt assured that all the various parties had to do was sign on the dotted line and the poor kid's Christmas morning wouldn't be the damp squib that it usually is each year. Imagine my horror to find that, when I woke up, not only had Santa not left the toys, but the owner had repossessed them before my parents had left the toyshop -"You don't look like you can afford them, so you can't have them!"

I dare say that Bradley Wright-Phillips, Marlon Pack and Danny Green will be Swindon Town players come the start of the "Loan Transfer Window" in a week's time, but, as a fan of Swindon Town, it has been deflating and I'm left to feel like the poor kid at Christmas, playing with the Hong Kong soldier doll whilst the rich kids cycle around the estate on their new bikes.

Strategies for Football Club Ownership

The Haves & Have Nots 

English football is one of the most marketable products in the world of sport today. Although having had a disastrous, detrimental effect on the English national team, preventing many home-grown talents from experiencing superior domestic football and the concomitant improved chances of developing to be part of a world-beating national team, Sky's patronage of the English Premier League has turned the top flight of the English football pyramid into the product to which all national top divisions aspire. The world of Association Football, is awash with cash and, like any free market economy, the haves have, and the have nots, don't. Only a handful of Premier League clubs operate at a profit, whilst the rest exist on the television money and goodwill of their rich owners. This beggars the question, if this is how the likes of Liverpool F.C. exist, how are the lower league teams meant to survive in this cut-throat environment, where the dream of reaching the Premier League can only now ever be more than a pipe dream for most of the Football League clubs?

The answer has of course already been given above; bag yourself a rich owner who is willing to plough millions into a venture that is never likely to see any return on their investment. Or, God forbid, you cut your cloth accordingly, live within your means and fester in the lower divisions of the national setup. The former choice is what all football fans want, ideally a Jack Walker

or John Madejski, someone who understands English football and the culture of the fans. In this way, the chance of being allowed to dine at the rich man's table and compete for 38 games to retain the right to stay at that table may be attainable. In Andrew Black and the rest of the consortium who saved the club from oblivion, Swindon Town fans

Swindon Town Fans - None Better!

thought that they had found that person who was willing to sacrifice some of his riches in the pursuit of developing a lower league team into one that could hold its own in the Championship and perhaps even the Premier League. However, Mr. Black is really a horse racing fan and has tired of his involvement with the foremost team in Wiltshire, so is looking to offload his shareholding in Swindon Town. So where does that leave the club?

The harsh reality of the modern world is that football is now big business and, as such, each club should be run and managed along those lines. So, taking Swindon Town as the example, how does one take a middle of the road football club and turn it into one that can hope to compete with the "Big Four"? The first thing to do is find a benefactor with a big wallet. This should be in the shape of a wealthy individual as mentioned above or a large, cash-rich company. The former would probably have the passion to invest  in a sport they feel ardently about and not worry about gaining major returns on that investment, whilst the latter could offset any investment against their annual advertising/marketing budget; what better way to spread their brand around the world than have it married to a successful English Premier League club (e.g. The Emirates Stadium, The Etihad Stadium, etc). And that would be the first thing any serious bidder for Swindon Town should do - build a modern stadium.

New Stadium Required

A modern football stadium offers the opportunity for multiple income streams. It should be viewed as a venue, to be utilised 24/7, 365 days a year. With the proper build, the architecture could incorporate, conferencing facilities, a hotel, restaurants, fast food takeaway outlets, shops and offices to lease. As the British high streets have discovered, the majority of consumers like to have their shopping experience in one place in out of town retail parks rather than have the hassle of trudging through the town centre going from shop to shop. This is the way forward for football clubs, providing facilities and leisure activities all in one place. Further income streams could be sourced from on site gym/fitness clubs, perhaps a multiplex cinema and even have the stadium used by more than one team or sport. With a retractable roof, an all-weather venue would allow for concerts, car shows, etc - the possibilities are endless. If the new owners are foreign, linking back to their home country could provide valuable income in the form of replica shirt sales, etc.

As with any business, getting the correct people in the right roles is paramount. Fortunately for any potential investor, at Swindon Town, this has already been done. In Paolo Di Canio, the club has perhaps the most talented, ambitious and crazy manager in the entire Football League. His passion for his club, his team and the fans is overwhelming. He wants to succeed and no-one will stand in his way on his road to managerial greatness; ask Paul Caddis, the club captain who could seemingly do no wrong until he crossed Paolo. Probably the second best player at the club was cast aside and the team hasn't looked back. 

The next step is to have at least a five year plan. Swindon Town are currently running on a three year plan to get to the Championship, but, realistically, if the club is to be treated as a business (post new stadium and the facilities therein), the manager should be given reasonable resources to put a squad together and the time to meld that squad into a winning team. Success does not normally come overnight and in the fast paced world of football, some owners/chairmen have the patience of a man with a full bladder at the end of a long queue for the urinal.

The five year plan should, however, be flexible and provide for contingencies. If the success that is desired is planned for and a path to the goal is set, small tweaks of the plan should only be necessary to get to the target. Such contingencies should cover replacement of players through injury or where the manager feels an area of the team may need bolstering. A successful team will pull in the crowds which will in turn push interest in the direction of the other facilities in the new stadium providing additional income. Owning a football club is never going to provide huge financial rewards in itself, but, if the business model is sound, then success on the field will help fuel success off it. It just needs a visionary new owner to set the ball in motion.