After being the stand out team in League Two overall this season, Swindon deservedly earned promotion last Saturday back to League One at the first time of asking.

At the start of the season promotion back to League One was seen as a must, and that’s been delivered with some brilliant performances, and an incredible home record that includes only conceding eight league goals at the County Ground.

Of course in typical Swindon style it wasn’t straightforward and it was a shame that the club ended up limping over the promotion line instead of running past it these last few weeks.

Unfortunately issues off the pitch with players going out for a celebration drink after the Plymouth game has had some effect on the end of our season.

Manager Paolo Di Canio made a number of big changes for both key games at Aldershot and Gillingham, which ultimately did cost us points.

But in no way can you blame Di Canio for taking the actions he did after setting such high standards of his players throughout the rest of the season.

The fact that he was even at the Aldershot game just five days after the passing of his mother was an incredible sign of his unwavering professionalism and passion towards the club.

As it turns out, it was that same professionalism and passion that kept Di Canio at the club six weeks previous, as he revealed after the game last Saturday he was close to resigning.

Of course any talk of Paolo leaving strikes fear into any Town fan straight away, but thankfully he also said his long term thoughts are now firmly on making Swindon a Championship club once again.

And himself and Chairman Jeremy Wray have set the target of two seasons to earn promotion back into the second tier of English Football.

It was also very encouraging to hear from the Chairman that the board would back Paolo with whatever he needs to make that target happen as soon as possible.

And the clubs first step to a bigger brighter future starts this Saturday as Town know a win over Port Vale will guarantee them the first league title, under the Paolo Di Canio era.

Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter @danjohnson_stfc

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