Alex Cooke looks at Swindon fired their way to the 2011/12 championship with patience, fitness and a fantastic home scoring rate. It wasn’t the 75 goals scored that secured Swindon’s title last season; it was those that weren’t conceded. The forward line didn’t earn Paolo Di Canio’s side the championship; it was the back five. They allowed the team to
Read more
The Cheltenham midfielder passes well, shoots superbly but lacks the all-round game and experience to thrive for STFC in League One, says Alex Cooke. Ever since the second league game of last season Marlon Pack has been on many Swindon fan’s wishlist. That day the Cheltenham midfielder’s display of calm passing, neat control and precise corners marked him out as
Read more
Preston North End have taken Town’s loaned left winger but would he really fit Paolo Di Canio’s new attacking plan or is Luke Rooney the solution? By Alex Cooke. Paolo Di Canio was keen. Whatever is said now, Swindon’s manager clearly once saw Southampton’s winger Lee Holmes as a very useful signing: “In terms of my opinion on the way
Read more
You’ve read many great factual reviews of the season, Alex Cooke takes a more personal view of 2011-12 and how it has changed how he watches Swindon. 2011-12 was a season played in the full glare of a nation’s attention. The media with their magpie-attention span were periodically fascinated because of who stalked the touchline, rival football fans saw Swindon
Read more
Over a year after Paul Hart lead Swindon to relegation, Alex Cooke has the privilege of pushing Town’s second all-time-least-successful manager in to the depths of the STFC Hall of Shame. Paul Hart should have bounced. After all they call it a ‘dead cat bounce’ as supposedly even the most decomposed felines will get some elevation if dropped from a
Read more
Our Player of the Season vote has been open since Monday. The winning player will secure the prestigious ‘Fraser Digby Tortoiseshell Comb Award’ when the result is announced on Friday 4th May 2012. Players eligible for the vote include only those squad members who have played in at least 10 games in all competitions. Medhi Kerrouche is ineligible as he played
Read more
Many Swindon fans loathe them as much as substituting Alan Connell but short corners deserve their place in Town’s armoury, says Alex Cooke. We should blame Shaun Taylor. From the 1992/93 season onwards, when that slab of Devonian muscle piled in 13 goals, mostly off his Neanderthal brow, Swindon fans have expected – no demanded – that Town should score
Read more
He’s wild, he’s exuberant, and he’s fantastic entertainment, but Paolo Di Canio is a more studied manager than his pitch-side persona reveals, says Alex Cooke. “The media portrayal of Paolo Di Canio is very different to the manager I’ve come across. The one I have experienced is very meticulous in his planning, very knowledgeable about every level of football from
Read more
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 Paolo Di Canio’s former managers
Read more
He can play 50 passes in less than 90 minutes and knits defence and attack but lately illness has deprived Town of Simon Ferry in full flow, Alex Cooke looks at what we have been missing. “Less energy, more quality”. That was Paolo Di Canio’s opinion of what Simon Ferry brought from the bench to Swindon versus Shrewsbury on Tuesday.
Read more
The Washbag 