Summer breeze….

Former BBC Wiltshire commentator Vic Morgan writes his final blog of the 2015/16 season for TheWashbag.com…

And so it ends. The largely forgettable season 2015-16 is over and thank goodness for that. I guess it’s a hangover from last terms play off disappointment that most Town fans will be happy for a break.

Difficult to say how this campaign will be remembered. I think mostly it’ll be filed in the “Do you remember? Not really” section.

There were fleeting moments when another tilt at an end of season extension seemed possible, but for the most part it’s been a flirtation with the drop down to the basement that’s been on the minds of supporters. That’s been comfortably avoided and we can now look forward to some less arduous trips.

One of the features of this campaign has been the lack of local fixtures. Next term is full of them. I don’t need to mention the obvious ones. Needless to say there are two dates we’ll be looking for when the fixtures come out on June the 22nd.

It’s fair to say though, that the list of games will mean less hours travelling and from someone living in Devon that’s a mighty relief. There might even be one less than an hour from my doorstep if Plymouth get through the play offs. What’s to say about the last few months then?

photo

Well, we’ve seen the emergence of one or two of the younger players in the Town ranks. Mostly though the same pattern has been followed with loan signings, some working, some not.

Strangely, before the game with Shrewsbury I felt somewhat pessimistic for next season, after it, not quite so. I think in Will Henry Swindon have found a goalkeeper of rare promise. For someone so young he commands his defence and has the confidence to make important saves. A clean sheet on his home debut will have done him no harm whatsoever.

Will he be our number one next season? Maybe too soon but I wouldn’t bet against it, he looks a great prospect.

So too does Jordan Young. On his first appearance at Port Vale he didn’t look out of place and the way he took his goal against the Shrews was clinical. Another young player who’s got a bright future.

So walking away from the County Ground I didn’t feel quite as flat as I did walking in. Mind you that first half was a bit of a stinker. The game, like the breeze, picked up in the second period and STFC beat the other STFC quite comfortably.

On the managerial front things are now settled with Luke Williams in charge for the more than foreseeable.

I think all Swindon supporters felt for Martin Ling. Lingy’s brief appearance in the hot seat gave the season a much needed shot in the arm in the build up to Christmas. Before that we’d looked destined for the bottom of the table but Martin began to turn it around and the play offs looked more likely. No Town fan wishes Martin anything but the best.

Mark Cooper started the season in charge, left after the awful afternoon at Millwall and now finds himself in deepest Gloucestershire with Forest Green after a brief sojourn at Notts County. My how football can change in an instant. One day leading a team out at Wembley, the next sacked, the next back at Wembley with another team.

Definite lows of course. I’ve mentioned Millwall when all those present witnessed a sorry display from a Swindon team who just didn’t compete.

To me it was worse than the Scunthorpe mauling. Ok that was bad, but at times you just had to laugh. Although when the clock was reaching midnight on the journey home it wasn’t too funny.

So that’s it. Summer is here and time for a break from football, apart from the play offs, Euros and the Cup final. Enjoy the break.

Keep it loud keep it proud keep it SWINDON!

Comment Here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s