HAVING been released earlier this week, Darren Ward has extended his gratitude to Swindon Town for his time at the club.

Ward was signed after the Robins’ promotion to League One by Paolo Di Canio, initially on loan and then permanently.

In 2012-13 he featured heavily, and even briefly co-managed, the Town side that topped the division before falling in the play-offs to Brentford.

During the next season the 36-year-old was named captain and reached 79 consecutive appearances for Town, before losing his place after the 4-1 defeat against Wolves at the County Ground.

Ward never featured again for Swindon and spent the latter half of last season out on loan at Crawley.

However the less-than-gracious way in which the veteran was shown the door by the club has not dimmed his emotional attachment to the club.

Speaking to the Advertiser, Ward said: “I would like to wish everyone at the club all the very best.

“The fans, the town and the club have been great to me. It really has been a tremendous experience, a great experience in my life.

“Would I have seen myself at Swindon Town 10 years ago? Probably not. Now that I have been there and played for Swindon it is a very proud moment in my career.

“I really enjoyed every moment at Swindon. There was so many twists and turns it was incredible.

“A big thank you to everyone there and you never know you may see me further down the line.”

Ward thought his displays whilst on loan at the Broadfield Stadium in the latter half of last season showed he still has the ability to perform at League One level, and was disappointed he could not help Crawley stay up.

“I was very happy with my performances at Crawley,” he added.

“Unfortunately due to other circumstances at the club we couldn’t quite keep them up. It went down to the wire and it wasn’t looking like that when I first went there – it was a real dire position.

“I would like to think I contributed in a number of ways, but it was against us in many ways due to injuries and players going back on loan. It was a very difficult task.”

On his parent club’s season, Ward hailed their efforts in getting to Wembley and is backing them to go again next term.

“For Swindon to get to the play-off final was an incredible achievement,’’ he said.

“With the turnaround from the beginning of the season it was a almost a new team.

“It was a little bit too much in the end for them, but if they can keep the bulk of that team together and make a few additions then they’ve got a good chance of going one better.”

Visit swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport tomorrow for our full feature interview with Darren Ward about his time at Swindon Town.