Lower League Summer – League One

Swindon Torn Down

While I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bradford do a Swindon, it appears pretty clear that Swindon themselves won’t be challenging for promotion from League One. While I’d say that Paolo di Canio’s demanding management and the fitness and technical coaching under the Italian’s management deserve praise, it’s also clear that the Italian was heavily financially backed beyond the Robins’ natural wealth.

di Canio’s exit was caused by the sale of star winger Matt Ritchie against his wishes, but that was only a hint of the sales to come. This summer club captain Alan McCormack moved to Brentford, Joe Devera and Simon Ferry moved to Portsmouth, while Gary Roberts also turned down first team football to drop a division to Chesterfield. Most notably, James Collins, signed for £140,000 and three payments of £20,000 from Shrewsbury before grabbing 18 goals last season, was sold to Hibs for £200,000. From a distance, it does seem more like a desperate fire sale than anything more logical and controlled.

It’s not really a surprise then that during pre-season Kevin MacDonald, di Canio’s replacement as manager, quit during pre-season, with the club being linked with Les Ferdinand, Glenn Hoddle and even Peter Schmeichel. It doesn’t seem that McDonald, a former Aston Villa assistant manager and caretaker manager, will be missed by fans – he won only four of 14 games – though this could be down to an inability to control the disruption caused before he arrived.

It’s a shame that things have fallen apart at Swindon – a few days after Paolo di Canio quit in February his side went top of League One, so it’s easy to argue that back to back promotions were within their grasp. More than that, they were a flamboyant but tough team, one I enjoyed watching. Is the failure down to di Canio’s rotating door transfer policy? The fault of former chairman Jeremy Wray for backing the manager so heavily, rather than investing the same money into a longer term vision? Perhaps the new owners should have held their nerve and kept hold of Ritchie, and pushed for the bigger rewards of Championship football. The blame could even be placed at MacDonald’s door for failing to make the transition from coach to manager.

Football’s full of what ifs, and last season looks set to be a notable one in the history of Swindon Town.