Season 1968-1969
Arguably the most amazing season in the club's history, the Town don't only gain promotion to Division Two, but they also win their first major trophy, winning the League Cup. The season starts reasonably well, Swindon not conceding a goal in their first six league games - but the impending League Cup success is hardly predictable, as they struggle to see off lowly Torquay in the first round. Swindon also go two down in the Second Round replay with Bradford, before coming back to win 4-3 - and then are lucky to see off Blackburn. Despite losing John Trollope to injury (thus bringing an end to his 367 consecutive appearances), the league campaign goes from strength to strength - with the Town winning seven in a row to top the table going into November, whilst disposing of Coventry and Derby to set up a League Cup semi-final clash with Burnley. The Town win the first leg at Turf Moor by two goals to one, but look to have thrown it away in the second leg, when Burnley take a two goal lead. Swindon equalise though, to take the game to a replay, played at The Hawthorns. Winning 1-0 with just seconds remaining, Burnley equalise to take the game into extra time, and then, in the first minute, they score again to take a 2-1 lead. Amazingly though, the Town claw themselves back again, with two efforts from Noble (one later given as an own goal) booking their place at Wembley. Unlike previous seasons, the cup run didn't seem to affect the Town, and they remain unbeaten throughout January and February, at one point winning five games on the bounce without conceding a goal. Then, on March 15th, came perhaps the greatest day in the club's history. Facing the mighty Arsenal at Wembley, on a pitch more suited to mud-wrestling than football, they shock the football world by taking the trophy - firstly taking the lead through Smart in the first half, then, after a late Bobby Gould equaliser sends the game into extra time, two goals from Don Rogers - the second oozing quality - takes the cup to Wiltshire. Still though, the season isn't finished - and the Town fail to lose any of their final nine games - a draw at Rotherham on 2nd May confirming their promotion to the Second Division, and they missed out on the Championship on goal average.
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Season 1967-1968
Rogers once again bags 25 league goals, and though his form begins to alert the attention of bigger clubs, his transfer request is rejected. Despite being just three points behind the leaders at the halfway point of the season, another cup run seems to distract the players from the league programme - and though the Town lose less games than promoted Bury, they also register the highest number of draws since they joined the league, and finish in 10th place.
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Season 1966-1967
Despite Don Rogers' 25 league goals, the Town have another inconsistent season, and finish 8th. However, they once again prove themselves to be great cup giant-killers - after drawing 3-3 with West Ham, complete with their three World Cup winners, at Upton Park, goals from Willie Penman, Rogers and Ken Skeen help the Town to a miraculous 3-1 win over the Hammers. They eventually go out in a Fifth Round replay on neutral ground at Villa Park, having twice drawn with Nottingham Forest.
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Season 1965-1966
Rotherham manager Danny Williams is appointed as Bert Head's successor, and his first job is to replace two stars, as both Mike Summerbee and Ernie Hunt are allowed to leave following the club's relegation - Summerbee for £31,000, and Hunt for a record £40,000. Despite the departures, the Town start well, and after a 3-0 win at Workington in mid-September, they briefly occupy the top spot. Towards the end of the year, the Town go on the rampage, scoring five or more goals on five separate occasions - Keith East is the major beneficiary, firstly scoring four in a cup tie against Merthyr Tydfil, and then the following week, he becomes the first player since Harry Morris to score five in a game, in a 6-2 win over Mansfield. Swindon are too inconsistent to mount a promotion challenge, though, and the tables are turned in April, when they fail to score for five matches, and they end up in seventh position.
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Season 1964-1965
Swindon open the season with a disastrous 6-1 reverse at Bury, in which the Town's keeper, Norman Oakley sustains a cracked collarbone. The opening game reflects the season as a whole - with injuries to key players such as Norman McPherson and Ernie Hunt upsetting the Town line-up. Bert Head makes two big signings in a bid to reverse the situation - first signing ex-Scottish international goalkeeper Frank Haffey for £7,650, and then breaking the club's record to bring Dennis Brown in from Chelsea for £15,000. A run of five defeats in a row in November and early December sees the Town slip into the drop zone, and they remain in the relegation dogfight for the remainder of the season - and they go into the final game needing a win to stay in the division. When they lose 2-1 at Southampton, Portsmouth, playing that evening, know they only need a draw at already promoted Northampton to save themselves - and they draw 1-1, thus relegating the Town back into Division Three. Despite being the first Town manager to win promotion, Head is rather harshly given his marching orders.
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Season 1963-1964
The Town adapt to life at the higher level brilliantly - winning seven and losing none of their first nine games, and going in to October, they sit proudly at the top of the table. They remain in the promotion places until early November, when they suffer a collapse in form - first failing to win in eight League and Cup matches in a row in November and December - going 518 minutes in the league without scoring, and then going on a run of six successive defeats in February. Nevertheless, the club's attendance record is broken when West Ham visit the County Ground in the FA Cup, with 28,582 watching a 3-1 defeat for the Town. Soon after, both transfer records are broken, when the board agree to sell Bobby Woodruff, one of Bert's original Babes, to Wolves for £35,000 - the day before the deal goes ahead, Head is allowed to spend £10,000 bringing Frank Large to the County Ground. Swindon win just three league games after the turn of the year, and they slump to 14th place - nevertheless, the highest finish in the club's history. Meanwhile, the youth team reach the final of the FA Youth Cup, where they are beaten 5-2 on aggregate by a George Best inspired Manchester United team.
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Season 1962-1963
Forty-two years after League football first arrived at the County Ground, the wait for promotion is finally over - with Swindon finishing in second place. After a dodgy start which saw them pick up just one win in the first six games, the Town come good in the New Year, losing just four matches - a run sparked by a 5-0 win over Q.P.R., in which the Swindon team wore white basketball boots to counter the icy conditions. The Town topped the table at the start of April, but a stuttering month threatened to undo all their good work - but they remained unbeaten in the last six games to wrap it up. Promotion was finally assured on 14th May, when a late winner from Roger Smart handed the Town a 1-0 win over Shrewsbury, and Swindon could look forward to Second Division football for the first time in their history.
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Season 1961-1962
A terrible start to the season scuppers any early plans for a promotion push - the Town lose five and draw five of their first ten games, and they still occupy a relegation spot in the middle of October. After an embarrassing reverse at the hands of Kettering in the cup, "Bert's Babes" begin to gel, and a 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace sparks a run of just four defeats between December and the end of the season - Swindon finishing in a respectable ninth position.
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Season 1960-1961
With his youth policy gradually bringing players into the squad over the past couple of seasons, manager Bert Head holds a pre-season trial match, in which the "Probables", a team made up of the club's older players, play the "Possibles", the club's youngsters. The Possibles pull off a shock, winning 7-2, so Head decides to replay the game - this time behind closed doors, and despite telling the first-teamers that their places were on the line, the youngsters win again. Throughout the season, no fewer than eight players who were under the age of 20 at the time of the trial match make more than twenty league appearances - with John Trollope and Terry Wollen, both aged 17, becoming the youngest ever full-back partnership in the League's history. In the inaugural season of the League Cup competition, the Town finish 16th again - but hopes for the future are high.
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Season 1959-1960
The club's transfer record is broken to bring Jimmy Gauld to the County Ground, for a fee of £6,000 from Plymouth. Despite this, the Town have another mediocre season, and are one of six clubs to finish on 46 points - though Swindon's inferior goal difference means they are placed last in that group, in 16th place. The average is not helped by a 6-1 defeat at Port Vale on the second last game of the season - a match which is later discovered to have been fixed - with Jimmy Gauld as the ringleader, Walter Bingley, Jack Fountain and Bronco Layne are also implicated. Gauld and Bingley are released at the end of the season - and Gauld, Fountain and Layne are jailed some years later for their involvement in the scandal.
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