Swindon’s dreadful 2023 continues to show no signs of improvement as 23rd-place Hartlepool United becomes the latest side to benefit from Jody Morris’ side’s lack of a backbone.
Town’s record in this calendar year now stands at P: 14 W: 3 D: 4 L: 7.
For a club coming into the new year still chasing promotion, it’s an incredible fall from grace.
The problem comes from not signing the right players for the promotion push.
The problem certainly isn’t Head Coach Jody Morris, and any talk of him not being up for the job or calling for a change is absolute madness.
It comes down to the transfer strategy in January.
The names brought in like Jake Cain and George McEachran will turn out to be good signings and have shown their potential for next season, and Dylan Kadji will have a future in the game.
But when selling Louis Reed and Ben Gladwin, two players with over 500 career appearances between them and you rely on young professionals to take their place you’re going to weaken your side.
Head Coach Jody Morris admitted in his post-match press conference, his side needs more experience, he supports the principle headed up by Sandro di Michele but needs “been there and done it” pros around the club to guide those youngsters in the first team.
If we look back to the wonderful last game of the regular league season under Ben Garner at Walsall when at the back we have Mathieu Baudry guiding those around him, with Louis Reed, Jack Payne, and Jonny Williams in midfield supporting Louis Barry, Harry McKirdy and Josh Davison.
Some would say, Baudry was still at the club this season but got injured. Injuries occur, but instead of replacing Baudry, we sell Angus MacDonald and sign a player in Frazer Blake-Tracey who was already at the club on loan.
We will never win promotion back to League One without a blend of youth and experience.
The rest of this season for this faltering Town squad is now showing simple professional pride when they walk over the white line, finishing as high as possible and ending this campaign with some momentum going into next season.
Let’s hope we see signs of change this Good Friday when Town welcomes playoff-chasing Mansfield Town to the County Ground.
Lastly, I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter this weekend.