SWINDON Town boss Phil Brown has secured a verbal agreement with a former Premier League assistant manager to become his number two next season at the County Ground.

Brown was rocked by news last week that the experienced Brian Horton, with whom he’d worked with for 11 years, opted to take a different path ahead of next season as did his analyst – who joined Mansfield.

But a week of talks led to a ‘verbal agreement’ and a ‘handshake’ with a pro-licence holder that has managerial experience in the top flight.

Brown said: “My assistant manager is 95 per cent done, we’re just exchanging contracts.

“The best thing I can say about him is he’s a former Premier League assistant manager and a pro-license holder.

“I’m very close, but I can’t announce it just yet – I only will when the ink is dry.

“I don’t want to run the risk of losing him, but I’ve got his verbal agreement and a handshake that he will be Swindon Town assistant manager next year.

“This lad has worked as a manager before and as a Premier League assistant manager.

“I have worked with him before, he’s very trustworthy and has the wealth of experience required to get us promoted next year.”

Should Brown capture the services of his proposed new assistant and come to agreements with midfielder Matt Taylor, it would mean Swindon Town will be home to three pro-license holders.

Having a strong team behind him is key to Brown if he’s to reach his goal of guiding Swindon Town back into the third tier of English football next season.

“I think the analyst will be an integral part of the backroom staff, no more important than the first-team coach or the assistant manager,” said Brown.

“I’ve lost my former analyst to Mansfield and we have put an advert out to get someone new in.

“It’s a piece in the jigsaw that’s vitally important. Players come at you when you’ve had go at them or players come at you wanting to know the DNA of the team, next year is going to be about hard work and ability.

“And the hard work is quite easy to measure, so the analyst is a vital cog in the wheel.

“It could be a young man I’ve trained up in a team before and they’ve gone onto better things.

“Having three pro-licence holders in the second division shows the strength in depth that we’ll have.

“Whether that attracts the right player, that’s what we’re hoping for.”