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Swindon Town: A year ago, Swindon Town hosted a 125th anniversary dinner just a day after promotion back to League One was confirmed.

It had been an eventful season, which had seen a newly installed manager leave for pastures new after shaping his squad to his liking, but one that had eventually brought Town's seventh promotion campaign under Paul Sturrock.

And as the summer began it seemed the winds of change that were once more blowing through the club only added to the sense of anticipation for the coming campaign.

The Portuguese consortium of BEST Holdings had offered a multi million pound deal, and the County Ground board looked set to relinquish control to Jim Little, Jose Viega and Rufus Brevett. Privately, there were some doubting the credentials and motives of the group.

The prolonged buyout threw Sturrock's squad building plans into confusion. The July arrival of Portuguese playing trio Ibon Arrieta, Mauro Almeida and Frank Anzite heightened the feeling of a new era, but even then there was the nagging question of just what manager Paul Sturrock made of Brevett, apparently being appointed Director of Football over his head.

When the takeover collapsed in October there was an initial resigned shrug of the shoulders. Was it ever any different at Swindon Town? But this time there was real panic behind the scenes. It soon became clear that Swindon were in need of immediate financial surgery and everything appeared to have been staked on BEST coming up trumps.

By then though the season was ten games old and Town had started well.

The campaign had been running a month before Swindon tasted League defeat with a 1-0 home to Yeovil. Sturrock's team had beaten relegation doomed Luton and claimed three 1-1 draws, but had conformed to recent cup tradition by being eliminated from the Carling Cup at the first hurdle.

A raid into the transfer market on the last day of August had added midfielder Jon-Paul McGovern and striker Billy Paynter to the roster, and the arrival of Reading front man Simon Cox on loan until the New Year also bolstered the options.

Paynter struck a hat trick in the 4-1 demolition of Bournemouth on his home debut, but in hindsight it was the solitary goal from Cox that gave the greatest indication to Town's striking future.

The highlight of October was undoubtedly the 5-0 County Ground destruction of Gillingham, a game in which both Paynter and Cox registered a brace, but change at SN1 was once more on the horizon and déjà vu was the order of the day.

On 27th November, just one year and 16 days after joining the club to succeed Dennis Wise, Paul Sturrock up anchored to return to Plymouth Argyle leaving Town to look for a new managerial appointment one again.

In truth Swindon had already launched into a dismal run, the catalyst probably being the uncertainty off the pitch. The end of October started a sequence that brought just one win in eight attempts, and that the solitary three points were gained against local rivals Bristol Rovers couldn't cloud the turmoil in which the club found itself.

And little more than a week after BEST holdings had shuffled off into the Portuguese sunset, another name was mooted as the potential saviour of Swindon Town. More of him later.

The pressure and ultimate disappointment of the failed takeover bid was surely a contributory factor in Sturrock's decision to depart, but that former suitors Plymouth Argyle were involved was undoubtedly another. Victory over the Gas was Sturrock's last match at the helm of the Swindon Town ship, and thrust the duo of Youth Development head David Byrne and defender Adi Williams into the limelight as caretaker managers.

Now 11th in the League One table and with 16 games played, Town's season could swing either way, but the off-the-pitch dealings continued to take everyone's eye of the ball in the most literal sense.

The stand-in managerial team experienced a steep learning curve, losing their first three games and conceding eight goals in the process. Two wins over Christmas followed by three successive draws rounded of their eight-match tenure, suggesting that Byrne and Williams were coming to terms with the demands of football management.

The return of striker Barry Corr from injury brought four goals in three games, and three from Simon Cox over the same period meant that Town had managed to gain nine points from a possible 15 under the leadership of Byrne and Williams.

By then though 2008 was underway, and the name of Andrew Fitton was already a household name to Swindon fans.

Ramsbury-based businessman and Hungerford Town chairman Andrew Fitton had emerged as the man to head another boardroom takeover at the County Ground and Town supporters again had their fingers crossed. After years of uncertainty and no little suspicion from the County Ground stands, the club could ill afford another stunted buyout bid.

The first wobble had come in the first week of December, when Town were announced as being on the precipice of closure and Fitton's takeover bid stood on the brink of collapse. Two weeks of twists and turns over the festive period left everyone biting their fingernails, then after a scare on 9th January that it was still about to go pear-shaped, a deal was sealed a week later to finally turn control of the County Ground outfit over to a new leadership.

Andrew Fitton was to be joined in the boardroom by Jeremy Wray, Russell Backhouse and Nick Watkins, and their first task would be to officially appoint Scotsman Maurice Malpas as the new manager of Swindon Town.

Malpas had been at Motherwell for a year, and had left under a cloud when his directors attempted to install ex-Swindon midfielder Scott Leitch as his assistant against his will. The former international defender, capped 55 times for Scotland, took charge for the visit of Nottingham Forest on January 19th and two Forest own goals gave Town a 2-1 win.

Malpas' tenure had begun with victory, but many fans were ready to give the credit to the Byrne/Williams combination that had steadied the ship awaiting the new man's arrival. And the same people wondered about the new appointment.

With everyone's attention now able to be focused on the pitch once more, Town lay 12th in the table and had just under half a season to play, enough time for the new manager to make his mark.

A quick raid into the transfer market attracted the signature of Watford winger Anthony McNamee, and the win over Forest and another over Luton sandwiched a goalless draw at Crewe. Seven points from nine was a satisfactory return for the new boss.

But as February commenced Malpas was to suffer a reality check. A 3-0 home win over local rivals Cheltenham was consummate, but the remaining five fixtures of the month brought just two more points.

A crushing, three goal home defeat by promotion chasing Walsall underlined the difference between the two teams, and when March started with a 1-0 home reverse at the hands of Leeds United, Malpas had presided over a points return of just eight over the most recent eight games.

Compared with the nine gained under caretaker duo Byrne and Williams, already some were calling on the wisdom of the fulltime appointment. That Town now sat three places lower in the table than when Malpas had arrived, added fuel to the argument.

Striker Simon Cox had been forced to return to Reading at the beginning of 2008, but the end of the January transfer window brought the front man back to Town on a fulltime deal. Worryingly, Own Goal had been Town's top scorer during Cox's absence.

March did little to improve Malpas's reputation in various quarters. An impressive 3-2 win over Huddersfield followed the Leeds defeat, but then four losses in five outings brought just one points in fifteen and left Town supporters glancing nervously at the bottom of the table as it came up to meet them.

In the end, April brought the comfort that both Town supporters and their club manager needed. Two goals brought Cox his first brace since October and helped his side to a 3-0 win over Oldham Athletic. Then defeat at Doncaster was followed by the 6-0 destruction of already relegated Port Vale to make sure that League One football was secured at the County Ground for another season.

A point at Gillingham and a 2-1 win over Millwall rounded off the season with a 13th place finish. That represented a healthy consolidation on last season's promotion campaign, with a satisfying 14 League place improvement.

Key contributors to the year's endeavours include Simon Cox, who hit 15 goals to finish top scorer, and as two months of the season were lost in the hooped-shirt wilderness of Reading, that's no mean return.

Fellow striker Billy Paynter joined the club with a hat trick on his home debut, but he needed to settle for coming off the bench towards the end of the season, while suspension suffered by skipper and central defender Hasney Aljofree forced left sided Jamie Vincent inside where he gave some of his most impressive performances.

Jerel Ifil continued to mature, but end of season central defensive problemd gave Sean Morrison the chance to show everyone what he could do as the season wound down. His assurance looks likely to offer new options for 2008/09.

Young striker Ben Joyce netted on his first team debut against Port Vale, and midfielder Chris Allen performances will have forced his name into Malpas's reckoning for next season.

Defender Miguel Comminges impressed all season, collected the Player of the Year award and at the same time indicated his intention to depart.

Everyone will share the frustration of striker Barry Corr, his season delayed until the third week of October, then with his troublesome back being nursed through games, a new repetitive injury of a constantly dislocating shoulder caused more long term concern. The big front man's career is desperately in need of more time on the pitch and less in the treatment room.

Goalkeeper Peter Brezovan had to be patient in tearing the goalkeeper shirt away from Phil Smith, but with the ex-Crawley man still showing the impressive form that he demonstrated as Brezovan's replacement last season, the delay was justified Winger Anthony McNamee surely qualifies as the find of the season. Inconsistent, tricky, and on his day a crowd pleaser, he can cross a ball as effectively as Terminal Five can lose suitcases.

The season had started with optimism after promotion, and an expected multi-million pound cash injection was expected through a long awaited takeover. Town were led by the well-respected Paul Sturrock, and the future looked bright.

But three months into the season the takeover was dead, the financial vultures were circling once more and the manager had up-sticked for Plymouth.

Even while the side sat comfortably in mid-table, there was feeling that everything was about to slip through the fingers, and when Byrne and Williams laudably maintained the status quo in readiness for a new leader, the expectations of a high profile manager were met with the arrival of Maurice Malpas.

Even those who recognised the name were reduced to the internet search engine to discover his pedigree.

Yet again Swindon Town supporters go into the summer wondering whether what they have seen over the previous ten months is an indication of what they will receive over the next.

The arrival of Andrew Fitton and company seems to indicate steadier times ahead, and that it was his decision to choose Maurice Malpas as his team's manager should buy the boss some time next season.

9:59am Tuesday 6th May 2008

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