KEVIN Amankwaah will be hoping new boss Paolo Di Canio will take into account his past experience of gaining promotion from the Football League’s basement division when the Italian begins shaping his side for the coming season.

The defender helped Yeovil to the League Two title six years ago, with his performances for the Glovers eventually earning him a £250,000 move to Swansea.

Amankwaah came close to adding another promotion to his CV as he played an important part in Town’s run to the play off final last year, but had to watch on from the sidelines as the Robins were relegated to League Two after undergoing surgery on a troublesome knee injury.

Di Canio returns to England from Italy this week and it is expected the former West Ham striker’s movement in the transfer market will pick up shortly afterwards.

He has also no doubt already formed his opinion on the players currently contracted to the club and Amankwaah will be keeping his fingers crossed that Di Canio will acknowledge the value of his experience at League Two level.

The 29-year-old told the Advertiser: “I was with Yeovil when we they got promoted from League Two a few years ago.

“They are a small, family club and the players were all equals.

“We did not have anyone that felt they were higher than the rest, there was a really good team spirit and we had a good manager at that stage in Gary Johnson, all of which contributed to us getting promotion.”

Di Canio may have been renowned for his sublime skills during his playing days, but he admitted in his first press conference as Swindon boss last week that he will need to bring in players capable of dealing with the physical side of the game if Town are to have a real chance of an immediate promotion.

While Amankwaah feels there is little to separate the style of football in League One from League Two, he knows Town will need to impose themselves in games more than they did last season if they are to challenge at the right end of the table.

“There is not too much difference between the two leagues,” he continued. “Obviously there is a lot more footballing sides in League One, whereas there is a lot of route one football League Two and it is a little more physical.

“But it will be good for us to impose our game on other teams because I don’t think they will be able to handle us if we are able to play this way.”