Catching up on the ‘Retained List’, Caddis, McCormick and the rest…

Lyme Regis and Amelie's first visit to the the beach

You may have noticed we’ve been a bit quiet responding to the latest Swindon Town news recently, Ron Smith has been on holiday… A week without the mod-cons in rural Dorset, in an isolated place where the only signal known to locals is morse, has undoubtedly been the relaxing break that me and the young […]

End of season player ratings – Part 1

Score

Neil Evans is to give his perspective on everyone who put on a Red shirt in our amazing record-breaking season. First up is part one including Mattia Lanzano through to Alan Connell, squad nos.1 to 17.  Ratings are made out of 10. Anyone who was in the squad but didn’t play automatically gets a default 5 out […]

Crewe 2 Swindon 0: Successive away defeat cuts Town’s lead

Gresty Road Crewe

Swindon Town’s quest for the league title suffered a setback Saturday, as they suffered their second consecutive 2-0 away defeat. The defeat makes a seemingly unassailable lead, slightly less unassailable as a Torquay victory closed the gap to four points. Rosie MacGillivray was at Gresty Road to report. Paolo Di Canio – ever predictable in ensuring his team selection is anything […]

The gap between Rooney and Ritchie

Mind The Gap

How Di Canio’s desire for width can leave Swindon outnumbered in central midfield, by Alex Cooke. “It’s 10% about the formation and 90% about the players. If you have the best ones and they do their jobs, then they can pretty much play any way you want them to.” Harry Redknapp might be one of […]

Swindon 1 Barnet 0 (2-1 agg): Chesterfield awaits in the JPT Final

Celebrations v Barnet JPT

After eight years of trying during his illustrious playing career in England, Paolo Di Canio will finally get the chance to grace Wembley Stadium, albeit from the technical area. Don’t worry – he’s not replacing the recently resigned Fabio Capello – he’ll be managing Swindon Town when they take on Northern Final winners Chesterfield at […]

Why Matt Ritchie has to shoot

2011.09.24 Ritchie v Barnet

Swindon’s wingers are always cutting in instead of crossing from the by-line, Alex Cooke looks at seven reasons why. ‘Why doesn’t Matt Ritchie go down the line?’ ‘What is Ritchie doing crossing from there?’ ‘Why won’t he pass?’ You can hear the questions in the stands, read them on the forums and scroll quickly past them […]

The FA Cup: Swindon put Huddersfield down and out

2011.11.12 v Huddersfield

Swindon produced their best performance of the season full of fight, creativity and killer instinct to book a place in the second round of the FA Cup following a 4-1 victory, reports Adam Johnson. Town went into this game as the underdogs, and deservedly so, being up against the in-form side in the Football League. […]

A Huddersfield View on Liam Ridehalgh

Late last week Liam Ridehalgh joined Swindon on an initial one month loan from League One Huddersfield Town. I’ve asked Charlie Johnson, writer of the Huddersfield blog Football Charlie, for his view on one of our newest recruits. What type of player is Liam and what does he add to a team? Can he play a […]

Town Tactics: Form Vs Formation

Is Swindon’s 442 too open? Alex Cooke looks at the blueprints for Paolo’s master plan. No one could doubt that Paolo Di Canio is demanding: his pre-season training, half-time tantrums and full-time ABH prove at that. But tactically Paolo also asks a lot of his players because he has created a system that demands discipline and athleticism, and can yield great results, […]

Bodin well for the future

Billy Bodin

In his first contribution for The Washbag, Andrew Steele-Davis looks at whether Swindon Town’s future is home-grown. When Billy Bodin’s name was bellowed over the tannoy system at the County Ground on Saturday announcing that the young forward was in the starting eleven, it is safe to say you could not have seen that coming a […]