Swindon Town F.C.
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Template:Football club infobox
Swindon Town F.C. are an English football team. As of 2003-4, they play in Football League One. They play at the County Ground, Swindon, which has an approximate capacity of 15,500.
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History
The club was founded in 1881 and went professional in 1894. Initially joining the Southern League it lost its professional status a number of times and had to apply for reentry to the League. The most notable early player was Harold Fleming who played through the 1920s. He scored 202 goals in 234 games for Swindon and was capped nine times for England. Today in Swindon there is statue of Fleming and a stretch of road named in his honour (Fleming Way). During World War II a number of players were enlisted into the army, and County Ground was used as a POW camp.
The post-war era saw Swindon competing in the lower divisions of the English League. However the club found shrewd managers in Ernie Hunt and Danny Williams. In 1969 Swindon beat Arsenal 3-1 to win the League Cup for the first and only time in the club's history. The scorer of two of the goals, Don Rogers, was also in form to help Swindon beat SSC Napoli 5-2 (over two legs) to win the Anglo-Italian Cup Winners Cup in 1970.
Under the management of Lou Macari in the 1980s Swindon Town surged up the Fourth and Third divisions and were expected to reach the top flight until Macari left to manage West Ham United. One of Macari's best players, Ossie Ardiles took the job of player manager and in the 1990-91 season Swindon won promotion to the old First Division. However discovery of financial irregularities committed by members of the board saw Swindon's promotion cancelled by the FA. Ardilles resigned soon afterwards.
The club managed a coup in 1991 when the former Tottenham and England player Glenn Hoddle agreed to become player manager. Hoddle put together a squad of flair and in 1993 Swindon won promotion to the Premier League. Hoddle resigned before the new season began and became manager of Chelsea F.C.. His assistant, John Gorman, was promoted to manager.
In the Premier League Swindon fared badly conceding a record number of goals and staying firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. Only the team's attacking attitude and the goals of striker Jan Aage Fjortoft provided any comfort for the fans. Relegation was inevitable in 1994 and a year later Swindon were also relegated from the First Division. Gorman's sacking in favour of Steve MacMahon was too late to stop the rot.
MacMahon proved to be a capable manager and won promotion back to the First Division in 1996. A lacklustre season followed and with Swindon again facing the prospect of relegation MacMahon was sacked and replaced with former Swindon striker Jimmy Quinn. In 1997-98 Quinn staved off relegation but details of the club's precarious finances had reached the press. In 1998-99 Quinn's Swindon were fixed in the lower part of the First Division and the club faced administration - the cost of playing in the Premiership having proved too high.
Swindon dropped to the Second Division in 1999 and Quinn left the club. A consortium headed by publisher Terry Brady then bought the club and promised to return it to the Premiership. Ex-Bolton manager Colin Todd was called in to build a new team capable of winning instant promotion. However, Todd's signings were not effective, Swindon soon fell to the bottom of the Second Division and Colin Todd left after only a few months at the club. His assistant Andy King narrowly saved Swindon from falling to the Third Division. Terry Brady then left the club due to a dispute over plans for a new stadium and housing development scheme.
The new director Donnie Donegan sacked King at the start of the 2001/02 season and appointed Roy Evans (formerly of Liverpool F.C.) to take charge of the team, assisted by Neil 'Razor' Ruddock. Evans' tactical style was attractive to watch but produced average results. When Donegan resigned as chairman in December 2001 Evans also departed the club. Andy King once again stepped into the dugout and steadied the team to a mid-table finish. At the same time Swindon Town was placed in administration but emerged to continue as a professional club.
The 2002/03 season saw Andy King oust Ruddock from the club (many people had considered Ruddock as a potential replacement for King). Early defeats saw calls for King's resignation and the board - even King himself - openly searched for a new manager, albeit with King staying at the club in some capacity. The discontent was soon silenced by King's most successful signing, Sam Parkin, who scored 26 goals in his debut season for Swindon. King's team finished a respectable tenth.
The 2003/04 season was an even greater improvement. Sam Parkin linked up with the former Watford and Birmingham striker Tommey Mooney in the Division's most prolific striking partnership. Together they scored over forty goals between them in all competitions. Swindon Town were able to claim a play-off spot, but lost on penalties to Brighton. Tommy Mooney left the club soon afterwards to sign for Oxford.
Swindon Town in modern times
Swindon Town won the Fourth Division championship at the end of the 1985-86 season under the managership of Lou Macari, ending the club's two-year stint in the basement division of the league. Another promotion followed two seasons later, this time to the Second Division, but Macari left in July 1989 to take charge of West Ham United - an arrangement which lasted just one season.
Ossie Ardiles began his career as Swindon manager in style, guiding the club to success in the Second Division promotion playoffs at the end of his first season in charge (1989-90). But Swindon later admitted 36 charges of breaching league rules (a scandal which saw their chairman Brian Hiller being given a six-month prison sentence and chief account Vince Farrar being put on probation) and were relegated to the Third Division - giving Sunderland promotion to the First Division and Tranmere to the Second Division. An appeal saw Swindon being allowed to stay in the Second Division, but they narrowly avoided relegation in 1990-91 and by the end of the season Ardiles had moved to Newcastle to make way for player-manager Glenn Hoddle.
In the first season of the new Football League Division One (1992-93), Hoddle guided Swindon to playoff final victory over Leicester City which meant that top division football would be played at the County Ground for the first time ever. But Hoddle left for Chelsea just weeks after getting Swindon promoted, and his assistant John Gorman was unable to adjust his team to Premiership football. They went down at the end of the 1993-94 season with just 5 wins from 42 games and 100 goals conceded.
Gorman was sacked in November 1994 and replaced by Steve McMahon, a 33-year-old Manchester City midfielder who was given the role of player manager at the County Ground. He took Swindon to the League Cup semi finals but was unable to save them from a second successive relegation. They got back into Division One at the first attempt after winning the Division Two championship in the 1995-96 season.
McMahon remained in charge until the end of the 1998-99 season when he was sacked in favour of former Reading manager Jimmy Quinn. Around this time, Swindon were in serious financial trouble with millions of pounds worth of debt. A takeover at the end of the 1999-2000 season secured the club's future but it was too late to secure their Division One survival and they were relegated to Division Two. Quinn was sacked by the club's new owners who turned to ex-Bolton manager Colin Todd (who had won promotion to the Premiership in 1997) in a bid to put Swindon's playing fortunes back on track. But despite several new signings, Swindon made a terrible start to the 2000-01 season and Todd left in November to become assistant manager of Derby County. His assistant Andy King was promoted to the position of manager, on a temporary basis, and prevented Swindon from suffering a second successive relegation.
Former Liverpool manager Roy Evans, assisted by player-coach Neil Ruddock, were put in charge of the Swindon team at the beginning of the 2001-02 season as the club's new owners were hopeful of a promotion challenge. But results were only average and both Evans and Ruddock quit just before christmas. Andy King was appointed manager in December 2001, for the second time, and has been in charge ever since. Swindon are still in Division Two (now Coca Cola League One) but came close to promotion when they reached the 2003-04 playoffs.
Current Squad
Goalkeepers Rhys Evans, Matthew Bulman
Defenders Alan Reeves, Jerel Ifil, Sean O'Hanlon, Andrew Nicholas, Kyle Lapham, Steve Jenkins
Midfielders Sammy Igoe, David Duke, Stefani Miglioranzi, Michael Pook, Ben Wells
Strikers Sam Parkin, Rory Fallon, Christian Roberts, Andy Caton, Ashan Holgate
Famous Former Players
External links
- Official website (http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk)
- Statistics and Current Season (http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk)
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