Welcome to the latest installment of the Gloucester Groundhopper blog.
For this chapter, we travelled to Wiltshire for some Sky Bet League Two action as Swindon Town took on Mansfield Town at the County Ground.
It's All In The Name
Of course, the nickname 'Robins' refers to the club's colours. Swindon Town was also known as 'The Railwaymen' during the time when Swindon was a major railway hub, with the Great Western Railway Works at its peak in the mid-1960's.
They are also known as 'Moonrakers' at times. It is based on an old legend. On a moonlit night several centuries ago, two men from the Wiltshire village of Bishops Canning were busy transporting smuggled brandy or moonshine in the back of a hay cart. They heard the sound of an approaching excise man as they passed the village pond. They quickly dumped the barrels into the pond and began raking the water's surface with their hay-rakes.
"What in the world are you two up to?" inquired the excise officer. "We're raking for cheese," one of the men replied. "Can't you see one?" asked the other, pointing to the moon's reflection. The excise officer burst out laughing and dashed back to tell his colleagues that he had seen two drunken country bumpkins who thought the moon's reflection was a cheese. After he left, the two men retrieved the brandy with their rakes and continued on their way. Wiltshire residents have been dubbed "Moonrakers" ever since.
Some Notable Former Players
Don Rogers
Osvaldo Ardiles
Glenn Hoddle
Charlie Austin
Chris Kamara
Some Notable People From Swindon:
Nick Hewer- Businessman
Melinda Messenger-TV Presenter
Billie Piper- Actress
Simon Hooper- Referee
Nicholas Bishop- Actor
A History Lesson From AFC Finners
Reverend William Pitt founded Swindon Town in 1879. They turned professional in 1894 and joined the Southern League. They would play football league champions Manchester United in the community shield because they won the Southern League in 1911. It was a thrilling game, with the Red Devils winning by an 8-goal margin.
Swindon was a founding member of the Football League's Division 3, joining in 1920 and starting off in style, defeating Luton by 9 goals to 1. The county ground was used as a POW camp during WWII, and Swindon took a long time to recover from the effects of the war.
However, the 1960s were a great decade for the Robins, as they were promoted to the second division in 1963 and caused a huge shock in 1969. Third-tier Swindon defeated Arsenal to win the league cup at Wembley in one of the biggest upsets in English football history. It is still Swindon's sole major trophy.
Later that year, Swindon caused another upset when they qualified for the Anglo-Italian League Cup as a result of their victory at Wembley. Swindon defeated Coppa Italia champions Roma over two legs to add this trophy to their collection, and the following year, they defeated Napoli 3-0 in the Anglo-Italian Cup final before the game was called off in the 79th minute due to violent scenes in the crowd. Swindon was still awarded the trophy, completing a rare hat-trick.
However, a barren spell followed, and they were relegated to the fourth tier in 1982. They won the championship with 102 points in 1986 and were promoted the following year under the management of Lou Macari. Ossie Ardiles would lead Swindon to a second-division playoff victory, but it was later revealed that Swindon had made several illegal payments to their players, rendering their promotion null and void. Under Glenn Hoddle, a 4-3 victory over Leicester City in the 1993 playoff final propelled them to the top flight for the first time.
The dream, however, was short-lived, as they were relegated after one season and then relegated again the following season. In 1996, however, they won the Division Two championship.
The club struggled in the late 1990's and early 2000's, flirting with insolvency, and was relegated to League 2 in 2006. Paul Sturrock led them back to League One in 2007, but they were defeated in the 2010 playoff final by Millwall. When Paulo Di Canio was appointed manager in 2011, a fascinating era began. While they had a slow start to the season, a 15-match unbeaten run got their campaign going, and they would eventually win the title, finishing on 93 points, as well as reaching the Football League Trophy final, where they lost to Chesterfield.
The following season, Swindon performed well, but Di Canio resigned in February after falling out with the board, primarily because they sold Matt Ritchie behind his back. The following season, they reached the League One playoff final, but were defeated 4-0 by Preston, following an incredible 5-5 draw with Sheffield United in the semi-finals. In 2017, they were relegated to League Two.
They were crowned league 2 champions on points per game in 2020, but they were forced to suffer as a result of the lockdown, with the club facing bankruptcy as a result of football restrictions. In 2021, they were relegated. The financial difficulties persisted, with the club failing to pay their players at times, but Australian businessman Clem Morfuni would take over the club to save it. They hope to rebuild and return to league one in the near future, now that their financial difficulties are behind them.
And here's a fun fact: John Trollope played 770 league games for the club between 1960 and 1980, setting a record for the most Football League appearances by a single player.
Honours
🏆 Football League Second Division / Championship (Play-off winners: 1989–90, 1992–93)
🏆 Football League Third Division / League One (Champions: 1995–96) (2nd place promotion: 1962–63, 1968–69) (3rd place promotion: 1986–87)(Play-off winners: 1986–87)
🏆 Football League Fourth Division / League Two (Champions: 1985–86, 2011–12, 2019–20) (3rd place promotion: 2006–07)
🏆 Southern League (Champions: 1910–11, 1913–14)
🏆 Western League (Champions: 1898–99)
🏆 League Cup (Winners: 1968–69)
🏆 Football League Trophy (Runners-up: 2011–12)
🏆 FA Charity Shield (Runners-up: 1911)
🏆 Football League Third Division South Cup (Runners-up: 1935–36)
🏆 Anglo-Italian Cup (Winners: 1969–70)
🏆 Anglo-Italian League Cup (Winners: 1968–69)
🏆 Wiltshire County FA Senior Cup (Winners: 1886–87, 1887–88, 1888–89, 1889–90, 1890–91, 1891–92, 1892–93, 1896–97, 1903–04, 1919–20)
Matchday: Swindon Town 2-4 Mansfield Town
We travelled to Wiltshire on a warm March morning as we searched for a game with lots of goals. We arrived in Swindon in good time, so we decided to visit Ian Fleming's grave in nearby Sevenhampton. When we arrived in Sevenhampton, we could see the church in question, but we couldn't work out how to enter. In the end, we gave up and headed to the town centre. There isn't much to write home about in the town centre. There is a lovely shopping centre and a statue of a lion. That's about it really.
After this we headed to the ground. We parked in the nearby St Joseph's Catholic School, which charged £5 for the privilege. We walked to the stadium, and immediately went to the club shop. The club shop is your standard club shop, a few replica shirts, a couple of pin badges, nothing spectacular. We then walked round to the player's entrance.
We were stood at the player's entrance for over an hour and we even told the steward there what our intention was, and yet nobody chose to mention to us that the Swindon Town players were already there. Alas, no picture with Charlie Austin. Finners did manage to get a photograph with Nigel Clough, son of one of his idol Brian Clough, so he was very happy with that.
We then entered the stadium. The ticketing system was pretty good at the ground really. Easy to use, and easy to download the tickets. At the top of the stairs, there are a few food stalls selling a variety of pasties. I had the Cornish Pasty, and it was beautiful.
We were sat in the Arkells Stand, and the view of the game from there was fantastic. The ground as a whole is really nice, and well kept, in general. The only thing that was baffling us was why the stand behind the goal doesn't get utilised (hasn't been used in our previous visits either).
The atmosphere, was generally good. There was chanting and and a lot of noise. Unfortunately, the atmosphere turned massively once Mansfield equalised. It was clear that there was a lot of frustration towards the Swindon manager Jody Morris, and a lot of arguments among supporters. On that subject, there were a couple of supporters who decided to have a massive argument over whether it was the manager's fault that the team were so bad, or the chairman's. An interesting debate really. In general, however, the Swindon fans were really friendly, and up for a good laugh. There was some amazing banter where we were sat, so it really added to the experience.
Teamsheet
Swindon Town
Manager: Jody Morris
Sol Brynn
Remeao Hutton
George McEachran
Joe Tomlinson
Ronan Darcy
Charlie Austin (c)
Tom Brewitt
Rushian Hepburn-Murphy ⚽️
Fraser Blake-Tracy
Saidou Khan
Jacob Wakeling
Substitutes
Conor Brann
Jonny Williams ⚽️
Toni Adeloye
Jake Cain
Dylan Kadji
Marcel Lavinier
Tyrese Shade
Mansfield Town
Manager: Nigel Clough
Christy Pym
Elliott Hewitt
Alfie Kilgour
James Perch
Jordan Bowery
Kieran Wallace
Ollie Clarke (c)
Stephen Quinn ⚽️
Davis Keillor-Dunn
Lucas Akins ⚽️
Rhys Oates ⚽️
Substitutes
Scott Flinders
Callum Johnson
Jason Law
Hiram Boateng ⚽️
George Maris
Danny Johnson
James Gale
Swindon made a strong start to the game, and they quickly took the lead. Within three minutes, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy nodded past Christy Pym to give Swindon the lead in a game that was always going to be difficult for them. In the 13th minute, Elliott Hewitt whipped a ball to the back post, where an unmarked Stephen Quinn headed home to score Mansfield's first goal at this ground since 2002. Just past the half-hour mark, Lucas Akins pounced from a yard on a ball across goal from Quinn, and a minute later he turned provider by finding Rhys Oates, whose deflected shot found the net. Mansfield led 3-1 at halftime.
The Stags maintained their lead in the second half and soon added a fourth. Hiram Boateng scored four minutes later after robbing Ronan Darcy in his own half and curling a shot into the bottom corner. Swindon, on the other hand, managed to respond. Jonny Williams scored a consolation goal off the bench after 86 minutes, tucking his shot past the custodian after darting beyond the Mansfield backline. Mansfield Town had too much quality for a young Swindon Town side that will most likely have to settle for another season in League Two.
Scores On The Doors
Atmosphere: 6/10
Food and Drink: 7.5/10
Stadium: 7/10
Welcome: 8/10
Overall Experience: 7.5/10
GG
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