Off-field matters prove no distraction

Last updated : 05 June 2007 By Gary Moss

Final Position: 3

Top Goalscorer: Christian Roberts (13)

Player of the Season: Jerel Ifil

Ifil... Strong and powerful

The 24-year-old centre-half has had an outstanding season for the Robins.

He has boosted boss Paul Sturrock by recently signing a new three-year-deal with the club.

The defender is quick, strong and powerful in the air. His distribution from the back needs working on but he has been the back bone to Swindon's promotion campaign making 45 appearances for the County Ground club.

Against Notts: The sides played out a 1-1 draw at Meadow Lane back in September.

Swindon's Fola Onibuje gave the visitors the lead but Notts skipper Alan White claimed a share of the spoils as he flicked in an inch perfect corner from Ian Ross.

The Magpies also claimed a priceless 1-1 draw at the County Ground in the final game of 2006.

Lawrie Dudfield opened the scoring in the first half but a leveller from Robins' Michael Timlin ensured honours were even.

Lee Peacock nearly snatched all three points for the hosts late on but he could only hit the bar from five yards out.

Defining Moment: The appointment of Paul Sturrock gave the Robins a stable platform to push on to claim automatic promotion.

Wise and Poyet had the Robins right up in the promotion mix from the off but their sudden departure left the club stunned

The board knew they had to act quickly, and they picked a perfect replacement.

Paul Sturrock was harshly sacked by both Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday in recent years, particularly so with Wednesday as he brought them promotion, has also had considerable success at this level with Plymouth Argyle.

If anyone was well equipped to continue Swindon's promotion push, it was Sturrock.

The arrival of Sturrock brought a fresh air into the club and resulted in a third place finish and immediate promotion back to League One.

Highlight: Swindon secured promotion back to League One at the first time of asking even if it did take them until the final day of the league season.

With two games left to play, the Robins needed just one point to beat off the MK Dons to the final automatic promotion slot.

Sturrock's men made hard work of the task losing to Bristol Rovers in their final away game.

But, they claimed a 1-1 draw with league leaders Walsall on the final day to spark a double celebration as they claimed promotion and the Saddlers were crowned champions.

Sturrock... appreciated by NCM
Lowlight:
The departure of management pair Dennis Wise and Gus Poyet to Leeds United put Swindon's campaign in jeopardy.

The former Premiership stars left after only seventeen matches at the helm. Their success attracted struggling Championship club Leeds United, and put a stop to Swindon's charge. The two games immediately following Wise's departure saw defeats to fellow promotion contenders Lincoln City and Hereford United.

The capabilities of Dennis Wise were however found out all too soon as he endured relegation with the Whites to League One.

Town appointed the far more experienced Paul Sturrock who successfully led the Robins to an eventual top three finish.

The Mad Verdict: They will be happy to have made automatic promotion and avoided the lottery of the playoffs but they probably still under-achieved.

On paper, they should have been the strongest of the relegated sides but in actual fact they were third of four.

Off the field factors in my opinion prevented Swindon making a real title surge as they suffered a number of sticky patches as you would expect in a season marred with change of personnel.

The Robins never won more than four games on the bounce and that run was under former boss Dennis Wise.

Sturrock on the other hand never suffered back to back defeats and his side always picked up points at a steady rate. Their inability to build a long run of positive results as did Walsall and Hartlepool explains why they finished in the final slot.

After all that has happened, they will be thankful to only have dropped to League Two for one season.

The former Premiership club will be hoping not to be back in too much of a hurry.

What's Next? With young Ifil securing a new deal, I believe others will soon follow.

And, with Sturrock in charge they certainly have the right man for the job. He has proved in the past that if given a chance he can do a decent job at almost every level.

He has managed to keep his inherited talented squad happy and has added to it with yet more quality. The signing of Barry Corr has been a revelation. He described the front man as the mould of 'Peter Crouch' and if he can hang onto him, they'll do very well next season.

Sturrock has already made it quite clear that the aim of the Robins next year is merely to survive and if they do, it will prove a valuable springboard for the future success.

If the club put their faith in Sturrock, I am sure he will take them a long way.

They have a squad full of players too good for League Two- some classy acts who should do well in League One.

I think they will survive next year but their home form will have to be top draw to ensure that. They may struggle on their travels.