Football Season Guide

Swindon Town will be hoping for some much-needed stability following another disappointing season which saw then miss out on a place in the play-offs. Stability has been something of a rarity under owner Lee Power during the last four years although he can hardly be blamed for the decision of manager David Flitcroft to leave the County Ground at the beginning of March to take over at Mansfield Town. The Robins were pushing for a play-off place at the time and Power turned to the experience of Phil Brown until the end of the season. Brown failed miserably to secure a play-off place with just two victories in his ten games in charge. He appeared to antagonise some of the squad his inherited and was critical in public. Despite that Brown has been handed the job on a permanent basis and has set about building his own squad during the summer. The most notable departure of the summer is striker Luke Norris, who has signed for Colchester United for an undisclosed fee. Striker Paul Mullin was also allowed to leave for a small fee to join league new boys Tranmere Rovers whilst defender Matt Preston opted to rejoin former boss Flitcroft at Mansfield Town. The capture of midfielder Toumani Diagouraga from Fleetwood Town is something of a coup whilst the signing of goalkeeper Luke McCormick from Plymouth Argyle has proved to be as controversial as might have been expected. Brown will need goals and has not been helped by the loss of striker Marc Richards, who will miss the start of the season through injury. Striker Kaiyne Woolery has still to justify his significant transfer fee and his place will come under threat from strikers Elijah Adebayo and Steven Alzate, who have joined on season-long loans from Fulham and Brighton and Hove Albion respectively.