SWINDON TOWN: Review of the season

A month previously, a 3-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday had confirmed what everyone around the club already knew – that Swindon Town would spend 2011/12 fighting to get out of League Two.

The rebuilding job began on May 23, when Paolo Di Canio faced the media on his first official day in charge of the club.

Instantly, the local and national press realised what was to come. It was evident that this was the same Paolo Di Canio who had graced the Premier League over seven crazy years – brilliant, charismatic and just a little bit mad.

“This is my destiny,” he said. “A lion can’t stay in a cage. A lion has to be on the pitch.”

Soon the former West Ham striker started seeking out what had caused Town’s downward spiral the previous season.

Michael Rose, David Prutton, Vincent Pericard, Scott Cuthbert, Alan Sheehan, Jon-Paul McGovern, Lecsinel Jean-Francois, Jonathan Douglas and Jakub Jesionkowski all left the County Ground.

Di Canio would say later in the campaign of those players that remained: “The fact that there were six or seven bad professional players in here put them in a situation that they don't give their best as a professional.”

Quickly a new wave of Robins stars came flooding through the SN1 revolving door.

Joe Devera signed on from Barnet, Jonathan Smith commanded a five-figure fee from York and Raffaele De Vita relocated from Livingston.

As Di Canio settled in, so Swindon developed a continental air.

Italians Alberto Comazzi and Mattia Lanzano signed on permanently, while Namibian Oliver Risser and Ghanaian Ibrahim Atiku joined on trial.

The pre-season tour of Norcia saw 16 goals scored without reply, but Di Canio still wanted more fire-power up front and Alan Connell was captured from Grimsby and Mehdi Kerrouche from Al-Oruba.

Alessandro Cibocchi, Alan McCormack and Etienne Esajas completed Town’s summer signings and everything seemed rosy as the Robins annihilated Crewe 3-0 on the opening day of the campaign – Risser’s thunderbolt sending Swindon top of the table.

That was as good as it got in August, however, as Town slumped to consecutive away defeats at Cheltenham and Dagenham before a nightmare 2-1 home loss to Oxford.

Di Canio, who had billed the match as the biggest derby in which he had been involved, later told the local press: “It was not nice to see the enemy singing songs in our fortress, but probably that was a medicine for us.”

Eventually, the defeat was to prove exactly that.

But its curing qualities were not immediate, despite a 1-0 Carling Cup win at Bristol City, as Town slipped to a 2-1 loss at Shrewsbury before problems came to a furious boiling point after the 3-1 defeat to Southampton in the second round of the League Cup.

Leon Clarke, the forward signed just 11 days previously from QPR, was involved in a tedious post-match spat with fitness coach Claudio Donatelli.

Clarke refused to leave the pitch and then scrapped with Di Canio in the tunnel, with TV cameras capturing the whole sorry episode.

A fuming Di Canio was steadfast in his views.

“He’s never going to play with my team, never,” he said. “He doesn’t deserve to wear a Swindon Town shirt in front of the fans.”

• The national media was quickly turning on Di Canio, mocking Swindon for daring to appoint such a notoriously incendiary character as boss.

A Daily Mail report on the Clarke saga suggested Di Canio’s stance could be interpreted as “the unruly actions of an inexperienced manager”.

In fact, the series of events galvanised the squad.

Connell scored twice as the Robins came from behind to beat Rotherham in front of the Sky Sports cameras, Southend were comfortably seen off at the County Ground and then came sweet revenge at Crawley.

FA Cup defeat to the Red Devils, then a non-league side, nine months previously still rankled with Town fans.

That Crawley manager Steve Evans took to the airwaves to deride Di Canio’s “circus” act only exacerbated the tension between the teams.

Di Canio added to the mind games, saying: “I’ve never heard his name. I don’t have anything to say to a person who is one of a million people talking about me in the world.”

If that was a fairly weighty put-down for Evans, the beating Di Canio’s players served his team at the Broadfield Stadium was a full-on kick in the privates.

Kerrouche netted twice and Connell also registered as Swindon ran out 3-0 victors.

It seemed Town were on the up.

A non-existent performance at Burton, resulting in a 2-0 defeat, preceded a 4-0 thrashing of Barnet at the County Ground but inconsistency continued to plague the Robins – who were beaten 2-0 by Macclesfield on a cold Friday night at the end of the month.

Di Canio, trying his hand at analogy, came up with one of the most enduring quotes of his first season in management.

“Some of the players have a Chihuahua character not a Rottweiler,” he said. “Some of them need to become the nastiest Chihuahuas in the world.”

• Di Canio’s bark inspired Swindon’s bite, and the Robins started the new month at a canter.

Jake Jervis, signed on loan from Birmingham, scored twice in a 2-1 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win at Exeter and, after a crazy 3-3 home draw with Hereford, loanee Cristian Montano hit the second in a 2-0 success at Accrington.

Played in front of a backdrop of tragedy following the death of Di Canio’s father, Ignazio, De Vita grabbed an 82nd-minute winner at beleaguered Plymouth to leave Swindon 10th.

A third straight win came in fortunate circumstances against Gillingham at the County Ground before a goalless home draw with Bradford ensured the Robins went through October unbeaten.

• Swindon were quickly establishing a reputation as giant-killers, as the build-up to Christmas began with a 1-0 victory at Colchester in the second round of the FA Cup.

A home tie with Premier League Wigan was the reward, and the Robins celebrated with a 2-1 win at Southend in the area semi-final of the JPT, with Ipswich loanee Ronan Murray netting his first goal for the club.

But just when the sun seemed to be shining on Swindon through the winter weather, a drab draw at local rivals Bristol Rovers cued Di Canio to lay into his players.

“I’ve already asked the chairman for three players, now I want four or five otherwise I will discuss my contract,” he said. “With this team, and this mentality, I cannot win the league.”

While the Italian’s comments on his position may have been exaggerated, his rant only reinforced an inimitable desire to win.

He threatened his squad with no Christmas break should they fail to beat Morecambe, which thankfully they did courtesy of goals from Jervis, De Vita and Murray, but defeat to Torquay on Boxing Day had Di Canio worried once more.

“Today, once again, I realise that maybe my expectation is more than what we really have,” he said. “Nobody helped each other, nobody was speaking.”

If anyone needed reassurance of the togetherness of the manager and his players, however, they only had to be at Northampton on New Year’s Eve.

Having fallen behind, and after being reduced to 10 men, Town won the tie thanks to McCormack’s late strike.

As if that wasn’t dramatic enough, what followed was simply iconic.

Di Canio’s 50-yard dash across the Sixfields pitch to celebrate with his team reconciled any lingering worries that faction was creeping into the Town set-up.

The manager was slapped with a one-game touchline ban by the Football Association. But neither he nor the fans cared.

• As 2011 became 2012, Swindon were sitting fifth in League Two, but the win at Northampton was the catalyst to a special run of results.

AFC Wimbledon were finally beaten at the third time of asking before Wigan came calling.

Di Canio had full belief that his side could spring a surprise, and his confidence was well-placed as goals from Connell and Paul Benson, a January signing, saw the Latics return to the DW Stadium with their tails glued firmly between their legs. Di Canio was buoyant.

“My lads deserve something from the club – to do something and put their names in the stadium,” he said.

“Maybe just a small plaque with all their names because they did something special.”

In the end, the matchday squad had to settle for pride of place as top billing on ITV’s highlights show, but the victory remained a remarkable achievement.

Aden Flint’s header secured a 1-1 draw at Barnet in the first leg of the JPT area final before a Ritchie double completed the season’s double over Rotherham.

Ritchie, who was courted by Bournemouth on deadline day, missed a penalty the following week as Town snuck past Macclesfield at the County Ground and, while the FA Cup adventure ended with a 2-0 defeat at Leicester, Swindon got back to winning ways by hammering Southend 4-1 at Roots Hall.

• The win at Southend sent Town second and the juggernaut was gaining momentum.

Connell continued to shine in front of the Sky Sports cameras with the only goal of the JPT area final second leg against Barnet.

A Wembley date booked, Di Canio could not wait for his first appearance at English football’s headquarters.

“This is the best moment of my career,” he said – a phrase which would become enjoyably familiar as the season approached its conclusion.

Just to rub Crawley’s nose in the dirt, Town replicated their 3-0 victory of September on Valentine’s Day as the love affair between the Swindon boss and the fans intensified.

A scrappy win at Hereford followed before Connell registered twice to see off Shrewsbury 2-1 at the County Ground and propel Town to the top of the table.

Incredibly, Matt Richards’ strike for the visiting Shrews would be the first, last and only league goal Foderingham would concede at home in an astonishing first season in Wiltshire.

From then on in, Swindon would never relinquish top spot.

Accrington and Burton were beaten with ridiculous ease to complete six wins out of six in February – an achievement which would land Di Canio with the manager of the month award.

• Town went to Oxford on March 3 desperate to avenge their September defeat.

After a prelude to the game which focused almost entirely on the bizarre pursuit of U’s striker James Constable, and his eventual decision to stay with Oxford, Swindon appeared to have the upper hand when Constable was sent off after just 10 minutes.

But goals from Oli Johnson and Asa Hall handed Town’s fierce rivals their first league double over the Robins since 1973 and inflicted a first league loss on Di Canio’s men in 2012.

The Swindon boss remained impudent in defeat, however, going over to the Town fans and pointing to the heavens.

“To win a war you have to go through many battles,” he said. “You can lose six or seven battles, the most important thing is to keep going and win more than you lose.”

A 4-0 thrashing of Dagenham the following Tuesday went some way to soothing the pain and, when Cheltenham were beaten 1-0 four days later, the Robins moved eight points clear at the top.

Although Town were beaten 2-0 at Crewe, victory by the same scoreline over Torquay on March 20 had 30,000 Swindon fans marching to the JPT final at Wembley brimming with hope.

In the end that hope became tortured despair, however, as Risser’s own goal and a late strike from Craig Westcarr handed Chesterfield the trophy.

Di Canio admitted fault for the defeat.

“I was praying I could change eight of the players,” he said. “But I would change also the manager.”

A goalless draw with Bristol Rovers ended the month on a fairly limp note, but Town would soon come out fighting.

• Swindon started April without the flair that had typified many of their mid-season performances, but with a renewed resolve.

Barnet, Morecambe, Northampton and Plymouth were all beaten to nil as Town kept five consecutive clean sheets.

Promotion was all but secured.

Tragically, Di Canio was unable to fully immerse himself in his team’s success following the death of his mother Pierina less than 24 hours before the Plymouth match.

The fact he decided to be pitchside for the defeat of Argyle, however, illustrated his remarkable commitment to the cause.

When he returned to the County Ground after a period of mourning in Italy, Di Canio found himself reading the riot act to a group of players who had chosen to hit the town after the victory over Plymouth.

Several were dropped for the 2-1 loss at Aldershot, which delayed the Robins’ promotion party. Di Canio slammed his squad’s complacency.

“Our position a few weeks ago maybe put some of our players in a decision to think everything is done,” he said. “Maybe to go out for a drink. For some, maybe it is already a holiday.”

By the time Swindon visited Gillingham four days later, with fans allowed into the Priestfield Stadium after a daft row between Gills chairman Paul Scally and Medway Police was successfully resolved, five players had issued a public apology.

But Di Canio discovered there were others who had not admitted to their part in the incident and they were not included in the party that traveled to Kent. And what a party that turned out to be as, despite a 3-1 defeat, the Robins were promoted - with results elsewhere going their way. Typically, however, that was not enough for the Town manager.

“The job is not finished until we have the title,” he said. “Only that will really satisfy me because maybe I am a greedy man.”

Greedy Paolo got his wish a week later. With drink-gate in the past and everyone associated with the football club looking enthusiastically towards the future, Town obliterated Port Vale 5-0 to claim the League Two title in style.

Wearing a T-shirt bearing the faces of both his parents, Di Canio could finally bask in the glory he had aspired to throughout the 11 short months since his appointment.

“They would say they were proud of me I am sure,” he said.

“I have extra motivation for my future to be a better person and keep going in my job because I want to be a good person and a good manager for my parents.

A goalless draw at Bradford may not have been the perfect send-off to a near-perfect season, but Swindon will hope the fiery Italian will keep going in this particular job for a while longer.