After a quiet summer at SN1, the new manager and squad are making a huge impact in a short period with the Town Faithful.
Coming into the season, a real lack of firepower was a concern, with Charlie Austin having a quiet end to the season and Jacob Wakeling spending more time at left-wing back, leaving just Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as our best hope.
Thankfully Austin looks re-energised under Michael Flynn and has been joined by Jake Young and Dan Kemp.
All three of these men had an incredible afternoon at the Racehorse Ground as in one of the games of the season Town shocked the odds-on favourite for promotion by scoring four goals in an amazing first half of football.
Quite incredibly, the afternoon finished in a 5-5 draw with the home side fighting back in the second half thanks to impressive performances from Jamie Jones and Elliot Lee and some questionable referring from Charles Breakspear.
After our insane afternoon in Wales, it’s hard to take the positives out of the game more than the negatives, as surrendering a three-goal lead and a two-goal lead heading into added time is one of the biggest gut punches you can experience as a football fan.
With the season still in its infancy, and the transfer window still open, moves can be made to fix the issues at hand at the back.
But let’s focus on our front three and the superb solo performance from on-loan striker Jake Young.
With the young striker not having an overly impressive time at Valley Parade, or his loan spell at Barrow last season, not much was expected so soon, but the former Forest Green man has taken to life at Town with ease.
His partnership with the experienced Austin and having the talent of Dan Kemp playing behind him has seen him flourish. The only downside is the fact, he’s only on loan like his teammate from Franchise.
It’s incredibly frustrating when a team is put together and looks like they can go on to have a successful season going by the early signs, but knowing the main cogs in that machine could be taken away in just a few short months and it’s that uncertainty that drives myself and other fans crazy.
With Young’s contract not expiring at Bradford until 2025, signing him on a permanent deal would’ve been more costly, but with the young striker left out of their pre-season plans and unfancied by Mark Hughes, we had the opportunity to sign the striker, or at least have the option to sign the 22-year-old in January.
It’s unclear whether Dan Kemp’s deal is up at the end of the season, if that’s the case, Town could have more joy in signing the talented attacking midfielder after a full season with Town.
But going by our transfer deals so far this season we can see Michael Flynn has to keep to a tight budget.
As previously mentioned, if any more deals are to happen at SN1 before the deadline, they have to prioritise the back three.
Udoka Godwin-Malife, Tom Brewitt, and Frazer Blake-Tracey are all enjoying a good start to the season but they need another experienced head in the squad to come in and be the calming influence, also signing another centre half would allow Blake-Tracey to return to his old stamping ground as a wing-back.
Former Dundee United defender Ryan Edwards has been mentioned a few times over the summer as someone Town is interested in signing, he would be ideal to bring in and add that invaluable experience currently needed.
Also, this week we saw the news regarding other parties owing shares in Swindon Town without the knowledge of many people inside and outside the club.
The Trust were 100% spot on in their most recent statement regarding this issue and questions need to be answered.
There is no hiding the fact this news does sour the taste of the Clem Morfuni era at Town, but after everything he has invested into our football club, we need to trust he has the best intentions for Swindon Town.