Swindon Town are pleased with the development that Joel McGregor has shown so far this season, although they would like to see him get regular games.

Following an outstanding final season as a scholar at the club which saw McGregor make his debut in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy and be a big factor in Town’s run to the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup, the 18-year-old signed his first professional contract in the summer.

McGregor’s performances were such that he became a regular fixture in the first team by the end of the season, starting the last three games against Walsall, Grimsby Town, and Morecambe having impressed then-interim manager Gavin Gunning.

 

 

Mark Kennedy used him frequently across pre-season, with him turning in several eye-catching performances against local sides like Swindon Supermarine and Melksham Town.

The academy graduate has been on the bench three times so far this season and has regularly travelled with the squad even when not in the matchday 18 although is yet to see competitive action under Kennedy.

Swindon have sent multiple young players out on loan early this season, with Pharrell Johnson at Truro City, Billy Kirkman at Weston-super-Mare, Anton Dworzak with Supermarine, and Jaxon Brown and Sonny Hart with Canvey Island.

When asked what the plan was for McGregor, Kennedy spoke about how impressed he had been with the youngster and admitted he would like to see him get more games.

He said: “I would go with the former and the latter – but the latter is more evident because when you look at the people ahead of him in the team that he has to come through [makes it difficult to get games].

“He is somebody, whilst we have a lot of young lads out on loan, he has been the one who has trained with us literally every day.

“He has done really well and I had a chat with another player about the same thing today, it is certainly not going to hinder him to be with us every day, the people he is up against and the people he is training with.

“The most important thing for me for players is a games programme but he is somebody that I think whilst he is training with us every day can develop well with us.

“Ideally we would like players who are not getting minutes to have a games programme and he would fall into that category – but he has done really well.”