Careful Swindon Town process showed Mark Kennedy as best fit

Over a month after the end of the season, Swindon announced the appointment of the former Manchester City winger as their next head coach.

Russell said that having interviewed nine candidates in a very thorough process, he was convinced that Kennedy was the right man for the job.

He said: “If you are going to work with someone then you have to have that chemistry and I felt from the very first informal chat we had at the very first part of the process that we were very aligned and on the same page.

“Then you scratch a little bit deeper and find out about the process and from some of the people that he has worked with at other clubs and that impresses you.

“We ended at four parts to an interview, it’s not like you look on a menu sheet and think ‘he will do’ and it is all nice and quick, we wanted to make sure that he was really going to be the right person.

“It is a massive commitment and you have to have someone who wants to be here and it was very clear from the second part that Mark wanted to be here and be part of it and could see what this club could be, like we all can.”

Russell spoke about the interview process that he had used to get a better idea of how each candidate would fit at Swindon and that he left it convinced that Kennedy was going to be the right fit.

He said: “It has been a long process, but we wanted to make sure that we got the right person, someone that fitted us and where we want to go.

“We interviewed nine different candidates and went through stages, setting Mark challenges and tasks and wanted to get his ideas.

“Looking at the working week was a big one, some managers have a three-day lead in or a two-day lead in or be off on a Monday.

“We wanted something that would work across the whole club, so the programme we are trying to do with the academy, so that would align.

“We just felt that from a vision point of view and a value point of view that we were really well connected.”