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 8th 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:
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...
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 8th 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...
