SWINDON Town manager Phil Brown has already started working on his recruitment process as he looks to put a side together capable of climbing out of League Two.

Town missed out on that objective in the 2017-18 campaign, finishing down in ninth in the table, seven points adrift of the play-off places.

Brown was only at the helm at the Energy Check County Ground for the final 10 games of the season and was last week handed a two-year contract by chairman Lee Power to stay on at the club.

The former Premier League manager is currently negotiating with those Town players out of contract this summer, while Brown has also begun to pinpoint what is required from potential new recruits.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Brown said: “We've got the players coming back on June 25, that is all in place, and I had individual player appraisals with every player and every staff member at the end of the season.

“The chairman and myself are standing shoulder to shoulder and moving forward together – that is key.

“This football club has probably stood still for too long and this club should be in League One, if not in the Championship.

“That is where we want to head and that will involve a lot of key decision making in the next two or three months before we even kick a ball in earnest.

“It is about piecing together the jigsaw where this squad is concerned. There is a nucleus of good players, there are one or two players that we need to secure at the football club and there are one or two players on the outside looking in and wondering what their future holds.

“At this moment in time I have got a plan but obviously I can't show anyone what that plan is because sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some when it comes to signing players.

“The players we bring in will be well versed in playing for a big club and certainly when it comes to playing League Two football, if not higher.

“That's what our targets are and with a bit of luck and good negotiations we can get the players we want.”

Town are expected to announce their retained list ahead of the 2018-19 season in the coming days.