8:00am Monday 1st February 2010
By Dan The Fan
As we are into a new decade every month I will be looking back at a season from the 00's, also I will be looking at two of the best players from a particular season and how they helped the club. I will also be looking at a player from the same year who didn't deserve to wear the red and white of Swindon Town.
This month I will be looking at the 01/02 season, again with a new manager, new players and a player who couldn’t fit into his shorts!
This season will always be remembered for what happened off the pitch rather than on it. During pre-season Terry Brady left the club and Danny Donegan took over as chairman, but the old board takes him to court and the courts agreed with Willie Carson and Co and he leaves the club. The club also becomes the first in history to go into administration for a second time.
Town made a good start to the season with new manager Roy Evans and player coach Neil Ruddock in charge. Neil Ruddock made a good first impression scoring a brilliant free kick against Colchester but the biggest highlight was the 3-1 away win at Reading.
Shortly after Danny Donegan leaves the club, Roy Evans follows saying he cant take the club forward with no money to spend. The new board re-instates Andy King as manager and somehow the team on the pitch manages a respectable 13th place in League One.
Two of the best players from the season … He didn’t make a big impact on this season but Mark Robinson played a big part at Swindon in his 8 years at the club. Town paid £600K to Newcastle for his services, and from 1994-1997 he played nearly every league game and was one of the best players in the promotion winning season in 1995/96. After 1997 he only played one more full season in 99/00 season and was made captain for a short spell. He made only 10 appearances in this season due to injury and retired in July 2002. He stayed on at the club though as a scout and was a great servant to the club making 316 appearances in total.
Giuliano Grazioli signed for Town in June 1999 and was already known by Swindon fans for his goal against us in 1998 for Stevenage in the F.A Cup. His time at Swindon was very up and down due to his injury problems. In his first season he broke his foot early into the campaign and only returned towards the end of the season scoring 5 in his last 6 games. In this season he scored 8 in 26 games for the club and was always a fan's favourite for his work rate and attitude. He later moved onto Bristol Rovers and then Barnet, where he scored 29 goals in a season helping Barnet move into the Football League. If only he could have displayed that form at Town.
And the Worst.....
Again in this season there were a few flops that came through the doors at the County Ground. special mentions go to, Richard McKinney and Dominic Foley but Berti Brayley just gets the nod. He was signed by Roy Evans from Q.P.R at the beginning of the season just as a back up to Grazioli and Sabin and played a few times under Evans. When Roy Evans moved on he never got a chance again in the first team under King. He moved onto Southend to find football but failed there and return to the County Ground in early 2002. He was released by Andy King in that summer and he joined Canvey Island but he has since moved onto 15 other clubs and is now with Bishop Stortford.
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