Part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, this piece offers our FLW Fan Pundits their personal thoughts on the newest breaking news, teams, players, managers, possible additions, and more.
Swindon Town would need to make an incredible late-season drive to be in the running for promotion from League Two this season, as they are now 11 points behind the top seven.
And since the Robins are 18 points above the bottom two and face no relegation threat, it makes sense that supporters are eager to see how their team can advance before spending a fourth consecutive season in the fourth division.
Since Ian Holloway took over at the County Ground in October, Swindon hold the tenth-best record in League Two. Clearly, there is reason to be hopeful ahead of the 2025/26 season if they keep the 62-year-old in charge alongside a squad who are willing to play his way.
That’s one of the views of FLW’s Swindon Town fan pundit, Ciaran Daniel, at least. But, if there were to be any changes in the side over the off-season, he wouldn’t mind his side dipping into non-league to develop a hidden gem.
Swindon Town should repeat Charlie Austin transfer strategy, according to fan pundit
“I want us to pluck a potential star from non-league who we can develop and fall in love with,” Ciaran told FLW when asked what he thought Swindon Town should do during the summer transfer window.
“I’d like us to take a leap and find someone from the National league, National League South or even below […] find the next Charlie Austin, Jamie Vardy or someone similar.”
After playing in non-league for teams like Kintbury Rangers and Poole Town, Charlie Austin gained his first opportunity in the EFL with Swindon Town. He began a career that would see him make over 100 Premier League games thanks to his goal-scoring heroics at Swindon.
Instead of bringing in players on loan from higher leagues, Ciaran believes this approach would fit Ian Holloway’s goals to cultivate stars who will stay with the team for years to come.
“I believe Holloway is the type of man who would pursue a non-league player. He clarified, “He’s traditional and doesn’t always support under-21 players.”
“Even while loans are beneficial and can yield some talented players, they are only available for a season, which hurts clubs over time, in my opinion.
“I want someone who will be ours for two to three seasons, and then we can shape them into a player who could potentially become a club legend.”
Consistency is the main key for Swindon Town this summer
However, whilst Ciaran believes that a few upgrades will be needed for the squad to challenge at the top of League Two, he stressed that the main factor in determining whether Swindon Town will be up there come May 2026 will be whether the majority of the squad can stay at the County Ground after the culmination of the current season.
“It feels ever since our owner, Clen Morfuni, came in, we’ve been unstable with managers and the squad usually changes every season as the new manager wants to put his stamp on things,” he explained.
“We’re not finishing in the best of positions this year, but if we had Holloway for a full season, I think we would probably finish in the play-offs, so this team is good enough and a few tweaks and quality additions could see us challenging for the automatics too.”
All-in-all, 20 players have come through the door this season at Swindon Town. Ideally, that number would be a lot lower next season, according to Ciaran.
“We don’t need wholesale changes. Maybe four or five fringe players out of the door. The groups showed that they would run through brick walls for Holloway and if too many key players left then that will disrupt us yet again and we’ll have a similar start to this season.
“If we keep the squad together, get quality business done early and hit the ground running in August, we will get a foothold in this league and hopefully storm it.”
