No.15 | Les Allen | Manager November 1972 to February 1974 | Score 258.1 From one Allen who was a club legend in the early 20th century, to manager No.14 Les Allen, who clearly doesn’t deserve to be this high in this countdown. That is despite Les’ own legendary status as a player with Spurs and QPR in the 1950s and 60s as well as
Read moreNo.16 | Sam Allen | Manager July 1920 to April 1933 | Score 256.9 In this feature I’m only counting seasons starting from the 1920/21 season. This was when Swindon Town were elected as founding members of Division Three. Of course, Sam Allen was appointed head of team affairs back in 1902, so these statistics don’t include his fine Southern League pedigree and
Read moreNo.17 | Louis Page | Manager 1945 to May 1953 | Score 250.4 Louis was Swindon’s fourth manager, appointed after the War to lead Town in Division Three South. With the club having been closed down and the County Ground turned into a POW camp, Town are at a disadvantage to our competitors, howver Louis steers Town to a 4th place finish in
Read moreRecent applicant for the Swindon Town manager position Ollie Howitt tells his story about being overlooked to replace Paul Hart and become Swindon manager no.31. On April 28th 2011, Swindon Town sacked Paul Hart after a dismal run relegated us. Cue the rumours surrounding the next manager. Whilst reading the local newspapers and online rumour sites I had to laugh at those
Read moreNo.18 | Andy King (2) | Manager December 2001 to September 2005 | Score 247.2 Andy King was reinstated following the ousting of the Board that had brought Roy Evans into the managerial hotseat, leading to the former Red resigning. King’s reappearance in the County Ground was a backwards step, never has an imcumbant manager faced such a hostile reception and
Read moreNo.19 | Ted Vizard | Manager April 1933 to June 1939 | Score 244.8 Ted Vizard became our second Football League manger under the worst possible circumstances. In 1933 Town finished bottom of Division Three South and were re-elected. In bringing in Vizard, he became our first manager in the modern sence, on professional terms, full time and with a footballing pedigree, having
Read moreNo.20 | John Trollope | Manager November 1980 to March 1983 | Score 230.27 John Trollope might have made 770 appearances in the Football League for Swindon Town, however when he made the decision to retire his boots and take over from Bobby Smith in November 1980 he put his legendary status fully on the line. At first Trollope inspired
Read moreIn this next Managers Month post we finish the first group of Swindon Town managers with Ken Beamish and Andy King’s first spell in charge at the County Ground. We’ve had two managers, Andy King and Danny Williams, who’ve managed us in two separate spells, so for the purposes of this feature each spell is considered in isolation. As we’ll
Read moreI’ve reached Swindon managers No.24 Dennis Wise and No.23 Dave Mackay. Perhaps, like me initially, you had thought Wise and Mackay might have been higher in this countdown. Instead they’re both in the bottom third of my list of the good, the bad and the ugly Swindon managers throughout the years. No.24 | Dennis Wise | Manager May to October 2006
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My story of Swindon Town through ranking the 30 managerial appointments is only based on the permanent managers over the years, so no caretakers were included. However, after the sacking of Maurice Lindley towards the end of the 1954/55 season the Board took a bit too much of an active interest in match selection. In the interim period the Board preferred
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The Washbag 