After eighteen games, which included four wins, four draws, and ten defeats, Clem Morfuni and Rob Angus decided to end Jody Morris’ time as Swindon Town’s manager.
Looking at that record and the lacklustre performances on display Town fans would agree with the choice made by the higher-ups, but I’m not convinced.
With Morris speaking about the plans for the summer in recent interviews, I don’t think the former Chelsea man saw this coming, even with his poor record since joining the club.
I agree his time in charge has been dreadful, but he wasn’t appointed this season with the express aim of promotion when he was announced as the Head Coach, it was clear he arrived with the future in mind.
On his appointment, Technical Director Sandro di Michele said “He’s highly skilled in developing some of the very best young talent in the country, which is integral to our strategy and what we are trying to achieve.”
But only giving him three months, with no chance to sign his players and not build his squad, he had zero chance of developing players to his mould.
The only players he would’ve had a hand in signing were George McEachran and Tom Brewitt, two players who have improved since they arrived at the club.
If he had a full transfer window and pre-season with his new squad, he could’ve achieved something special at Town.
After listening to Ed Brand on the Talk of the Town podcast with Sam Parkin, I was excited to see how he and Jody Morris would bring all their experience of working with such talented young players to SN1, it’s disappointing we’ll never know what they could’ve achieved.
From the outside and the odd timing, with the club only having one game left of the season, this decision looks to have come from a falling out behind the scenes, whether with players, staff, or those in the boardroom.
But if it has simply come from the results on the pitch, it’s incredibly short-sighted.
Looking into the future, and who’s in line to replace Jody Morris, a few names have already been mentioned.
Danny Cowley, Darrell Clarke, David Artell, Michael Appleton, Michael Flynn, Luke Garrard, and Karl Robinson are some of the names mentioned by fans since 5:00 pm last night.
With the timing of this departure, we need someone with plenty of Football League experience who has already achieved promotion and can get started as soon as the full-time whistle blows on Monday.
Out of the names mentioned above, I would go for Darrell Clarke, with him only recently sacked at Port Vale he has his finger still on the pulse in terms of players he would be interested in signing, an advantage he has over David Artell, who has been out of the game over a year.
He’s been a manager since 2010 and managed nearly 600 games, He’s also achieved promotion twice from League Two, with Bristol Rovers and Port Vale.
Some fans may be turned off by his connection to Rovers and his antics with Vale last season, but despite this, he seems like someone the Town Faithful can get behind, with the passion and skill needed to get us out of this awful division next season.