Swindon Town Pre-Season Preview

Swindon Town start their pre-season this Wednesday against Forest Green Rovers. Here we look at the fixtures and over all changes at the club this off season.

Swindon Town 2006/07 Pre-Season Fixtures

Wednesday 12 July 2006, 7:45 pm, Forest Green Rovers (Away)

Saturday 15 July 2006, 1:00 pm, Cirencester (Away)

Saturday 15 July 2006 - Saturday 22 July 2006, Copa Ibiza, Huddersfield Town, F.C Port (San Antonio Ibiza)

Sunday 23 July 2006, Crystal Palace, 3pm (Home)

Tuesday 25 July 2006, 7:45 pm, Brentford (CANCELLED)

Friday 28 July 2006, 7:45pm Brighton And Hove Albion (Away)

Saturday 29 July 2006, 3:00pm Reading (Home)

Management Situation

Iffy Onuora looked set to lead Swindon into League Two this season until fans got a nice surprise mid May. In a shock move Swindon Town hired former Chelsea Duo Dennis Wise and Gus Poyet to replace the tandem of Iffy Onuora and Alan Reeves. Reeves and Onuora were sacked, While Wise took over as manager and Poyet came in as his assistant. Wise who spent last season at Coventry City made no secret of his desire to manage again since leaving Millwall, whom he lead to the FA Cup final. This move alone saw Swindon Town season ticket sales soar and optomism amongst Swindon fans raise for the first time in a long time.

Who's Out?

Rhys Evans
Sean O'Hanlon
Kyle Lapham
Matt Bulman
Stefani Migliorazi
Jamie Cureton
Steve Jenkins
Nicky Nicolau
Alan Reeves
Paul Smith
Who's In?

Dennis Wise
Gus Poyet
Jamie Vincent
Andy Monkhouse
Curtis Weston
Ady Williams
Fola Onibuje

Player Situation

Swindon lost 3 big name's after last years relegation. Rhys Evans made it very public he wanted to stay at Swindon, however a one year contract offer made sure Evans left the club. Evans went to sign with Blackpool. Jamie Cureton made it clear he did not want to stay at Swindon and activated a clause in his contract allowing him to leave if the club were relegated. Cureton went on to rub relegation in the face of Swindon Town supporters after him and his ego signed with Colchester United. The most surprising departure has to be that of captain Sean O'Hanlon. Chief Executive Mark Devlin said he expected O'Hanlon to sign a 3 year contract keeping him at the club, however O'Hanlon left for MK Dons. The club are seeking compensation for his departure. Former Reading man Ady Williams arrives at the club and will be a welcome addition to the club, who has a wealth of experience. He will certainly help bring some of the younger players on. Swindon currently have no senior goalkeeper's on their books however the club is said to have 5 on trial including a keeper from Ajax and Bristol City keeper Steve Phillips.

Overall

This will be a very interesting pre-season. The club have a management team who are very strict on fitness, something the club appeared to lack last season as well as some spending money in the form of Bill Power. The Bookies have made Swindon Town the favourites for promotion. We will reserve our prediction until after the first couple of weeks into the season. It will be interesting to see if Lee Peacock and Christian Roberts can form a formidable strike partnership. Wise is very high on Roberts abilities and fans are all too aware how much effort Peacock puts into his game. The tandem should be looking at atleast 30 goals between them, if they are to have any hope of a promotion campaign this season.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.