CHIEF sports writer SAM MORSHEAD fires some quickfire questions at former Swindon and England boss Glenn Hoddle...

Q: Glenn, when you arrived at Swindon in 1991, what was the overwhelming feeling?

A: When I went there, there was a sense of injustice after the whole problem and the demotion and there was a feeling that this would be put right.

Q: You certainly did put it right over a period of just a couple of years. You must look back on the time fondly. What are your abiding memories of the job?

A: I lived in Ascot so I was commuting from home.

As I was player-manager it was sometimes a little difficult but I’ve got fond memories of it.

It was my first job, I cut my teeth there and I learnt a lot. It was all a learning curve for me.

Looking back on what we achieved, it was incredible.

It was always a community club, with people like Peter Day (former Town chief executive) and a couple of chairmen and the board Swindon through and through.

Q: You assembled a team pretty much on the cheap that went on to secure top-flight football. What was the key to your squad’s successes?

A: The best thing about it was that we had players who were willing to learn and willing to listen.

If you look at that team now there are a lot of people who have gone on and stayed in football.

People like Nick Hammond, who is now the director of football at Reading, David Kerslake (Cardiff assistant manager), Colin Calderwood (Birmingham assistant boss), Paul Bodin, Marting Ling (Torquay manager) - they are all still involved.

That says a lot about them. They were intelligent players and always willing to listen.

I enjoyed all of my work there and the way we played was fantastic.

Q: You’ve mentioned that, when you were at Swindon, you managed to get your players playing the sort of attractive football that you couldn’t go on to achieve with the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham. Was there anywhere where you got close to matching that style of play?

A: With England we played a similar way and we had it going really well. But we were playing against the best in the world.

Q: When the Swindon job became vacant last summer, for a while the bookies had you down as one of the favourites. Was it something you considered - or were you involved with the club in a different way?

A: I’ve been busy over the last few years with my Academy.

I spoke to all the guys involved at the time about my Academy and we were looking at linking up with them.

The age group between 18 and 21 are always a bit of a difficult area and we feel their pain.

We had a long conversation along those lines and having the Academy link up but in the end nothing came of it.

Q: How much do you follow Swindon’s results today and what do you make of the last 12 months under Paolo Di Canio?

A: I was down there a few weeks ago to be inducted in the Hall of Fame and it was nice to catch up with a few old players there.

I always keep track of how Swindon are doing and it’s been great to see the job they have done and everything is looking good.

Q: You and Di Canio possess very different styles of management - what do you make of the current Town manager’s pitchside antics?

A: Everyone is different - there is no right or wrong way to manage, that’s just part of football.

He’s very passionate and he’d be like that if he was manager of Juventus.

He seems to be doing the right job down there at the moment and long may it continue.