All week the Swindon Advertiser will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Swindon Town's promotion to the Premier League following their 4-3 play-off final victory over Leicester City at Wembley on May 31, 1993.

CAPTAIN Colin Calderwood says Swindon Town’s personality shone through at Wembley Stadium as they halted a Leicester City comeback with a late winner.

After cruising to a 3-0 lead, Swindon were dragged back to 3-0 before substitute Steve White won a penalty which was scored by defender Paul Bodin.

Calderwood, who had already asserted himself as a club hero with three previous promotions, says the Foxes’ comeback was a reminder of the fine margins in sport.

“When you take the lead in a game, the game goes slower. From 3-0 to 3-3 it felt a lot shorter than what it actually was,” he said.

“You can’t imagine, with the experience we had, that it could happen to us but it just shows in sport or football it can go anywhere

“We were in so much control when were 3-0 up. The other thing I remember is Craig Maskell’s shot pinging off the bar, I remember the sound that point is very vivid in my memory.

“At 3-1 you obviously have doubts creep into you mind a little bit and in all honesty it took us to get to 3-3 to get us all out of our stoop and get back into the reality of it.

“As well as Leicester did to come back, it’s testament to the personality of the squad that we were able to get the next goal.

“We had armoury from everywhere which meant we could win games in different ways. I think we could have a battle against most.

“Then on some days our football really flowed and we had some great performances where we would dominate a game.

“It looked as if that was going to be one of those special days, up until about 60 minutes.”

The 53-year-old former Nottingham Forest manager says he still has very vivid memories from that day 25 years ago, of the support and the game itself.

Winning promotion to the highest level in England was a special achievement for Calderwood who also says it created a unique bond between him and the rest of his Swindon teammates.

“I remember waking up in the morning. We had a hotel towards Reading on the M4, when we opened the curtains you could already see the buses with scarfs and flags,” he added/

“It was an early start for everyone to get up there and when you see the footage you can see the amount of supporters.

“The morning is really a time-wasting exercise, some how it seems to go very very slowly up until your pre-match and then you leave and everything goes really quickly.

“Then it really does go by. I don’t remember much of the journey there but I do remember getting to the stadium and walking out and coming back in.

“My first memory of the game was Glenn’s goal, it seems obvious to say but the second half is what people remember.

“It’s one of those things. You can genuinely say to a team that when you win a promotion, especially in that manner, you have a bond that will never go away.

“That doesn’t mean you need to keep in touch over the phone or email. You can just look each other in the eye and you know you were good together.

“When you look back, that is quite satisfying to remember.”

DON'T MISS THE SWINDON ADVERTISER'S 16-PAGE SPECIAL CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF TOWN'S PROMOTION TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE. OUT WITH YOUR SWINDON ADVERTISER TODAY