Finally! Swindon Town have secured their first new signing for 2010/2011. 28 year old left back Michael Rose joins on a free transfer following his release from Stockport County. Wilson hopes Rose will fill the void left by Alan Sheehan. Alan will not be returning following his successful loan from Leeds, as his parent club have priced him out of a move to Town and he is seeking Championship football.

For our new signings this summer I hope to get the lowdown from the supporters who’ve been watching them in past seasons.

First off is Stockport County fan John Hornsby, who reports on Michael Rose’s time at The Hatters and how he may fare at The County Ground…

He first joined us on loan (in 2006) when we were in League 2, from Yeovil when they were in League 1. Can’t remember now for the life of me who had been our left backs before him, but he helped bring a bit of stability to our defence. Plus his left foot seemed to be pretty decent, especially set pieces. Was part of the side that got us promoted through the play offs at Wembley, in fact set up the second goal for us with a good cross. First season in league one he was again decent, although without standing out.

I think he is a good player for League Two, and decent for League One. But if you want to progress further (i.e. pushing for promotion) you will need better. I think this is why Yeovil let him come to us in the first place – they needed better to try and progress, so he dropped down to us.

He often gets caught out of position as he likes getting forward, and his marking isn’t great. What seemed like a good left foot at first, I think comes about because he just wants to take so many set pieces – every corner and free kick. He is decent enough with them, and apparently puts in extra training, but I think its more sheer volume than anything else.

He was a fans favourite, mainly because of his set pieces, though we were starting to see how limited he was in League 1. And then, when the going got tough and we were struggling because of administration, he jumped to Norwich on loan for the second half of the season. The fans had started getting on his back a bit, though I think this was more because he was part of a poor defence.

So he will be a consistently average player in league, who may pop up with a couple of free kicks, but to be honest if you are looking to progress you will need better.

So it seems Rose is very similar to Sheehan as he looks to take the set pieces, support the attack and is perhaps lacking in the defensive qualities. This is slightly contrary to the type of player Wilson believes he has signed, as he openly criticised Sheehan for failing to play for the team and attacking too much.

Can Rose progress? As with our signings back last summer, Wilson managed to build a good team out of a group of ‘average players’, whereby he brought the best out of some who had looked destined to leave and not of a sufficient quality to progress to play at a higher level.