Michael Smith’s second-half goal provided scant consolation for Town fans in a stinging 4-1 home defeat by a Wolves side bustling with strength, collective effort and, Leon Clarke, writes Alex Cooke. Swindon manager Mark Cooper labelled 45 minutes of this display “outstanding” but seemed to choose the wrong half and the wrong team, for despite Swindon’s improvement after the break,
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Alex Cooke looks closely at Swindon’s middling midfielder to understand why the former Brighton man has become loathed by some fans. I wasn’t at Orient. Remember those four words because they are going to be important. I didn’t go to Brisbane Road but I did hear the comments and read the tweets, messages and match reports of those who were.
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Alex Cooke reflects on a night when the ’12th man’ turned on the youngest, most inexperienced of the 11 boys. A 19-year-old ‘keeper miss-hits a clearance. BOOOOO! A 19-year-old ’keeper, making his second ever League start, hits the ball straight into touch. BOOOOO! An increasingly nervous 19-year-old-‘keeper, making his second ever League start and 10-minutes into his home debut, kicks
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Town’s owner is also the chief scout and director of football operations, but boardroom interference at Swindon isn’t unusual, or even a problem, says Alex Cooke. Does Lee Power signing players undermine Town manager Mark Cooper? Is the former Peterborough boss just a puppet? Or, can a chairman who says he has “the mind of a player, a manager and
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Alex Cooke looks back at a massive punt and a manager who didn’t changed his kick-off plan, despite years of repeated failure. You must remember it. It happened at every Swindon kick-off under Andy King, game after game after game: Sammy Igoe (or similar) tapped the ball slightly forward. Then, (often) Matt Hewlett swung the ball over the heads of
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The Swindon Advertiser’s week-long press ban is over. Hurrah, says Alex Cooke, but is everything back to normal now? Swindon’s local paper is once again welcome back at the County Ground and Adver reporter Sam Morshead no longer has to fumble around for stories like a blindfolded octopus in a library. This is good news for fans, and for Sam.
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With players signed by a director of football, a team shaped by his predecessor and defined by loanees, Mark Cooper seemingly has little freedom to manage, so how can we how well he is doing? By Alex Cooke. Do you judge Swindon manager Mark Cooper? By his team’s 7th place in League One? By his 47% of matches won in
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Nile Ranger is reported to be back in training with Swindon Town but whatever trials the tattooed target-man brings to Town, his on-pitch ability will be difficult to replace, writes Alex Cooke. Calm, discipline, hard working: these aren’t words normally associated with striker Nile Ranger. If fact, Google’s autocomplete tells us that the search term ‘Nile Ranger’ is more often
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It’s Friday, so it must be time for the latest blog by BBC Devon’s Vic Morgan. Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Twelve months on from when they dumped us ceremoniously out of the FA Cup, Macclesfield return to haunt us again. It was a depressing afternoon wasn’t it? Swindon deservedly beaten by a team which we should
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The Washbag 