WINGER Gary Roberts insisted it would be the ‘worst thing in the world’ if manager Paolo Di Canio was to walk away from Swindon Town.

The Italian boss is considering his position after seeing star man Matt Ritchie sold without his knowledge on Wednesday, and although he gave every indication he would be in charge of tomorrow’s clash with Colchester, Di Canio’s long-term future remains unclear.

Roberts came back into the Town side in Ritchie’s place for Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Crawley, and the 28-year-old wants nothing more than to be able to carry on working with Di Canio.

“He was here (Crawley) and I don’t really know what is happening with the board, I can’t comment on that. But in the changing room the staff and the players are very tight, and whatever happens off the field happens,” he said.

“It would be massive (if he left), because he brought all the players in.

“With the greatest of respect when he came to Swindon Town where were they? They had just been relegated to League Two, and he got them up at a canter and we are now one of the most feared teams in the league.

“It’s down to the manager, and I hope it gets sorted because you never want to lose your manager, especially at a time like this when he has got everyone galvanised and we are looking to get promoted. It would be the worst thing in the world.”

Despite all the uncertainty currently at the County Ground, Roberts believes the playing squad are doing their best to concentrate on football.

“We just get on with it, although we have had a couple of meetings, but whenever happens it doesn’t really affect the players,” he said.

“The gaffer does everything for us, he looks at how we need to play, protects us, and makes us better. I don’t know too much about what is going on behind the scenes but all we can do is try to keep the fans who pay to come and watch us, happy.”

The former Huddersfield man believes the point Town picked up at Crawley could prove vital come the end of the season, but insisted it could easily have been three had the game not been played on a boggy pitch.

“We will wait and see (if it was a good point), if you look at the pitch it was a leveller, and if we had played them on a better pitch we may have won the game,” he said, “But we can’t make any excuses, and it may well turn out to be a good point come the end of the season.

“We would have opened them up a little bit more on a better pitch, and we couldn’t really get the ball down and play which is our strongest asset. But we are up to nine unbeaten now and we just carry on.

“For the away team we had most of the play, but I didn’t see the penalty and it gave them a chance late on in the first half. But we had character in the dressing room and we came out and equalised, then we wanted to go on and get all three.”