WORLD Cup winner Ossie Ardiles says helping Swindon Town to promotion in 1990 was one of his all-time favourite achievements.

Ardiles’ Swindon beat Sunderland 1-0 in the Second Division play-off final at Wembley in which the late Alan McLoughlin famously scored the winner.

But before that, the Argentinian had to transform Town into a ball-playing, all-conquering outfit that would go on to be complimented by many in the world of football, including England great Alan Ball.

Revealing all to Swindon Town podcast The Loathed Strangers, Ardiles documented his journey to the County Ground via a brief spell at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and what it took to convert Swindon from physical to finesse.

Asked whether the play-off final success ranked anywhere close to a World Cup or FA Cup win, Ardiles said: “Without a shadow of a doubt. In fact, our budget was one of the smallest in the league.

“At the time, we were fighting with Leeds, Newcastle, Sunderland, West Ham – there were a lot of very strong teams, so to be promoted before them was a magnificent achievement.

“To do it at Wembley, and with our style as well playing the way we were playing, it was beautiful to see.”

Unfortunately for Ardiles and Town, the dominant victory over Sunderland would be sullied by financial irregularities behind the scenes.

Keen to make an example of any club that achieved success in this way, Town were demoted two divisions by the FA – something Ardiles still finds difficult to accept.

He said: “That was incredibly hard to take. I remember after the game I went to visit my parents in Argentina, and I was there for four or five days when I got the news.

“I got the next plane back and we decided we were going to fight it, fight it, fight it.

“We made it quite difficult for them because they wanted the fixtures to come out. The season could not start until the decision was agreed.

“We put an injunction in the courts – it was a huge, huge struggle. But they punished Swindon as an example to the rest of the league.

“Other clubs much bigger than us were doing it, but they never touched them. So it was very hard to take.”

The 68-year-old went on to reveal he was “sad” to see his old team in the situation it currently finds itself before reflecting on happier times that saw McLoughlin in particular improve greatly on and off the pitch.

Ardiles said: “Apart from the football, the other part of Swindon during my time was that we were a very, very happy family.

“I remember once a week we would go to a pizzeria in Swindon. All the players, we would have a little drink and pizza.

“That helped us, and Alan had a wonderful season. Every single player improved, maybe Alan a little bit more than the others, but every player improved a lot.”