DAN THE FAN: Different approach is working

Ownership

After Jed McCrory left Swindon in December 2013 and Lee Power completed his takeover every Town fan crossed their fingers and hoped the club could move on under a new Chairman.

But the outgoing owner Mr. McCrory decided this year to take legal action over Mr. Power’s takeover of the club, this resulted in more uncertainty and a big delay in pre-season, with the ownership of the club still undecided.

But thankfully there was an outcome on 1st July when a Judge ruled in Lee Power’s favour, which resulted in the former football agent now being able to set out his plans for the club and it’s future.

I’ll admit that I’m still getting used to having a Chairman/Director of Football at the club.

I understand the old school way of running a football club is slowly making way for a different approach in the game, but I’ve always been used to the set-up of the chairman running the business of a club, and the manager overseeing the team on the pitch and deciding who plays for the club.

When the Chairman comes on the radio and discusses what formation the team will play, and what sort of player they are looking for in the transfer market, I still have to do a double take.

But with this system clearly working I’m more than happy for the great relationship between the manager and chairman to be the cornerstone of the club going forward.

Mark Cooper

Sometimes in life you just have to hold your hands up and say you got it wrong, and in the case of Swindon appointing Mark Cooper as the full time manager, I’ll admit my hesitancy was misplaced.

You have to look at 2014 as a whole to see the good job the manager and chairman have done at Swindon Town.

When he was first appointed I was skeptical at his chances of keeping the job, with just experience of non-league football management apart from a short spell at Peterborough, he didn’t seem the right fit.

But since taking charge the set-up created by the chairman has worked really well, with Power having a hand in transfers alongside the manager, leaving Cooper and his first team coach Luke Williams to do what they do best on the training ground.

Which has resulted in the style of play we get to enjoy every week.

As I explained, it’s taken me a while to fully grasp the new set-up, but despite the clubs roaring success this season there are some fans you haven’t taken to Cooper as the manager and never will.

His name is now frequently sung at games, but it’s taken a while for fans to fully accept him as manager, myself included.

Best Player - Massimo Luongo 

Massimo Luongo With Town enjoying an incredible 2014/15 season so far, it’s very difficult to pick one player from a long list of individuals who have shone in the past 12 months.

Nathan Byrne, Andy Williams, Jack Stephens, Alex Pritchard, Nathan & Louis Thompson, I could go on and on, but the guy with the standout year is Massimo Luongo.

As your reading this the young midfielder is currently getting ready to represent his country at the upcoming Asian Cup, to follow up on being selected in Australia’s World Cup side in the summer, that tells you everything about the successful year he has enjoyed.

He’s been Town’s most consistent performer over the past 12 months; playing a key role in this season’s success as his pulls all the strings in midfield and making it look easy.

And unfortunately with this level of performance you will attract admires, I have all but conceded that this will be Massimo’s last season with Swindon, but I desperately hope he sticks around till next summer to help the club achieve the dream of gaining promotion to the Championship.

Worst Player Jamie Reckord

Again this was tough to pick due to the clubs successful year, and this could be deemed harsh with his lack of games, but those games were enough to pick Jamie Reckord as the worst player of this year.

The full-back was signed as cover and made just five appearances for Town before being sent back to Wolves after a run of poor performances, the standout being Town’s 1-0 home defeat to Oldham where he looked completely out of his depth.

Reckord was released by Wolves in the summer, and now plays his football for Scottish Premiership side Ross County.

Town’s record (in all comps) in 2014 – P: 53 W: 25 D: 12 L: 16

Follow me on Twitter @danwjonson

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