Season 1998-1999
A bad start to the season compounds the fans' loathing of McMahon, and a 4-1 defeat at home to Watford in September proves to be the final straw - an on-pitch protest results in McMahon leaving the club by mutual consent. Ex-Town favourite Jimmy Quinn is appointed as the new manager, and he guides Swindon to safety, finishing in 17th position.
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Season 1997-1998
The Town start the season brilliantly, and a televised away win at Portsmouth at the end of October puts them on the top of the table. It's all downhill from there though - after hammering Oxford 4-1 in December, Swindon suffer an even worse slump than in the previous season - just three more victories are recorded in the remaining 26 league games, and the Town are embarrassingly dumped out of the FA Cup at home to non-league Stevenage. They finish the season in a lowly 18th position, and the pressure on McMahon to resign is immense, but he refuses to go, and chairman Rikki Hunt refuses to sack him.
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Season 1996-1997
Swindon adjust reasonably well to life in Division One, and seem set for a respectable mid-table finish. However, Kevin Horlock is sold to Manchester City for a club record £1.5 million in January, then, after beating Charlton at the County Ground in March, just three more goals are scored in the remaining eleven games. The Town are also on the wrong end of a few hammerings - losing 7-0 at Bolton, 5-1 at Oldham, and 4-0 at home to Ipswich before the season is out, and they finish in 19th position, eight points clear of the relegation zone.
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Season 1995-1996
With the Town now in Division Two, expectations for the season are high - and Swindon don't disappoint, storming to the championship and losing just four games in the process - a club record. The away form is fantastic - Swindon winning thirteen of their away games (another club record), and also winning the Yokohama Tyres "Performance on the Road" award. Three more club records are smashed - for the most away league points in a season, the fewest away defeats, and the fewest away goals conceded.
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Season 1994-1995
Back in Division One, two of the stars of the previous season are inevitably sold - John Moncur joining West Ham for £1m, and Nicky Summerbee going to Manchester City for £1.15m. Nevertheless, Swindon are expected to mount a promotion challenge - and they seem prepared to do so, breaking the club record transfer fee to bring in Joey Beauchamp from West Ham for £800,000, and Mark Robinson from Newcastle for £600,000. Fjørtoft begins the season where he left off, banging in nine goals in the first eleven games, but the Town then go on a run of no victories and five defeats in six games. Gorman is relieved of his duties as manager, and Steve McMahon is brought in as his replacement. An excellent run to the semi-finals of the Coca-Cola Cup masks the club's form in the league - just two wins in 22 games - McMahon is sent off on his debut, and when Fjørtoft is sold to Middlesbrough on transfer deadline day for a scandalous £1.3 million, the goals dry up. Despite Jimmy Greaves' claims that the Town are too good to go down, a second successive relegation is confirmed when they are beaten at home to Portsmouth, and McMahon is quoted as feeling "lower than a snake's belly".
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Season 1993-1994
After the departure of Hoddle, the Town are rocked further when out-of-contract skipper Colin Calderwood agrees to move to Tottenham, with a tribunal setting the fee at a record £1.25m. Striker David Mitchell also leaves, invoking a clause in his contract to move to Altay in Turkey. New manager John Gorman tries to fill the gaps, spending a record £500,000 on Norwegian international Jan-Åge Fjørtoft from Rapid Vienna, and another £500,000 on Adrian Whitbread from Leyton Orient. The writing is on the wall very early on though, Swindon failing to win any of their first fourteen matches, and Fjørtoft failing to settle - not scoring until January. The Town are also on the receiving end of a few hammerings - conceding four against Arsenal., five against Liverpool and Southampton, and six at Everton. Just as Fjørtoft is on the verge of a loan move back to former club Lilleström, he finally nets in an FA Cup tie at Ipswich, and injuries force him back into the first team line-up. Suddenly, he catches fire, scoring against Tottenham, then bagging at hat-trick against Coventry - and hopes are raised that maybe the Town can pull themselves out of trouble, as they sit just two points from safety with ten games left. They're soon brought back down to earth though, losing 5-0 at Aston Villa, and when injury-hit Town concede seven at Newcastle, they begin to get marooned at the bottom. They win just one of their last fourteen games, 3-1 at Q.P.R., by which time relegation is confirmed, and their ignominious failure is made worse on the final day of the season, when they lose 5-0 at home to Leeds, goals which make Swindon the first team in thirty-one years to concede 100 goals in a season in the top flight.
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Season 1992-1993
The new FA Premier League begins, so the Town start life in Division One - and Town fans joke that after the demotion two years previously, that's where they deserve to be anyway! They don't have to wait long for their first taste of top flight football though - Swindon start the season well, and a superb win at fellow promotion chasers West Ham in November puts them into the automatic promotion slots. They lose touch with the leaders through a bad spell in December and January - and though their brand of one-touch football impresses the television viewers, they fail to win any of their featured league games. Six wins from seven around February cements their place in the play-off spots, and their place is virtually assured when they come back from 4-1 down to beat Birmingham 6-4 at St. Andrews. Finishing fifth, their first play-off game is at home, and they start brilliantly, scoring twice in the first three minutes, and again before half-time to take a three goal lead against Tranmere, who get one back before the end of the first leg. Rovers win their home leg 3-2, but the Town go through to Wembley again, winning 5-4 on aggregate. 35,000 Town fans make the trip to the Twin Towers for the final against Leicester, and the biggest Football League attendance for decades, 73,802 (more than turn up for the FA Cup Final replay), watch the Town beat Leicester. In a nail-biting encounter, the Town take a three goal lead with goals from Hoddle, Maskell and Taylor - but Leicester fight back and draw level in a 13-minute goal blitz. Just as it looks as though Swindon have thrown it away, substitute Steve White goes down in the box to win a controversial penalty, Paul Bodin slots it home, and the Town are promoted to the top flight, with no fears of their prize being taken from them. Just days afterwards though, manager Glenn Hoddle leaves to take the Chelsea job - and his assistant, John Gorman, takes over as manager.
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Season 1991-1992
Hoddle's first full season in charge sees a complete change in fortune - Duncan Shearer scores all four in a 4-0 win at Plymouth, and a draw at Charlton in November puts Swindon at the top of the table. Unfortunately though, a run of two defeats and then six draws on the bounce sees the Town slip out of the play-off places, and though they make their way back up the table, four defeats in early March put them just off the pace. Moneybags Blackburn then attempt to put a huge dent in the Town's promotion push - making an offer of £800,000 for 32-goal Shearer - and it's an offer that cash-strapped Swindon can't afford to refuse. Shearer leaves, and the Town manage just seven goals in the nine games following his departure, finishing in eighth place. Blackburn sneak into the play-offs and are eventually promoted - and having played just six games for Rovers, Shearer is sold on to Aberdeen before the start of the new season.
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Season 1990-1991
The Town suffer a hangover from the events of the previous season, and despite high expectations, it soon becomes apparent that it's a relegation battle, not a promotion one, that the Town are involved in. Skipper Colin Calderwood suffers an injury early on in the campaign, and the Town miss him badly - their home form completely deserting them - and when then on-loan Argentinian World Cup star Nestor Lorenzo nets on his debut against Portsmouth in February, it is the Town's first home goal in 419 minutes of football. The demotion and fines involved also have an implication on the club's finances - and last year's hero, Alan McLoughlin, is sold in Swindon's first £1 million deal in December. Ardiles then breaks the transfer record to sign Lorenzo on a permanent deal for £400,000 from Italian club Bari - but more sales are needed before the end of the season, and both Paul Bodin and Jon Gittens leave in big-money deals before transfer deadline day. When Swindon beat managerless Newcastle at the end of March, rumours are rife that Ardiles is on the verge of quitting, and a day later he resigns to take over at St. James' Park. Ex-England international Glenn Hoddle is installed as the new manager - but with the defence decimated by the new departures, they win just two of their last eight games, the last of which, a 5-2 defeat of Leicester at the County Ground, is enough to save them from relegation.
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Season 1989-1990
Macari is replaced with ex-Argentinian international and World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles - but the club is rocked with a bombshell just three weeks before the season starts, when The People publishes revelations that chairman Brian Hillier put money on Swindon winning Division Three in 1987, as an insurance policy for player bonuses. The allegations seemed to affect performances on the pitch - and the Town win just one of the first seven games, and are 21st in the table. Eventually though, Ardiles' passing style and diamond formation begin to work, and they drop just four points in the next nine games - despite the sale of Phil King, who is surprisingly bought by Sheffield Wednesday for a record £400,000. The allegations then get worse - and Hillier is accused of putting money on the Town to lose in the FA Cup game at Newcastle two years previously. When he is found guilty, he is banned from football for six months - which is increased to three years on appeal. Macari is fined £1,000 for his part in the scandal - and when he chooses to appeal, West Ham force his resignation. Swindon's performances again suffer, and they pick up just two points in the five games that follow the announcement. A decent start to the year puts Swindon back on track, but The People deliver a third blow, this time alleging illegal payments to players. Despite the turmoil though, the Town beat table-topping Leeds to go into third place, and at the end of the season, they finish fourth - their highest league position ever - to go into the play-offs. Shortly before the last game of the season, another bombshell hits, when Hillier, Macari, captain Colin Calderwood and secretary Vince Farrar are all arrested and questioned by Inland Revenue officials over a tax fraud conspiracy. Calderwood is released without charge, and the others are given bail - on the pitch, the Town go on to defeat Blackburn over two legs to reach the final at Wembley, where they will play for only the second time in their history. In a match they completely dominate, Alan McLoughlin scores the only goal - a deflected effort - to defeat Sunderland and win promotion to the First Division. The joy is short-lived though, as just ten days later, the Football League decide to demote the Town two divisions, after they admit 36 breaches of League rules - 35 of which are related to illegal payments. The Swindon board immediately appeal, but High Court action is dropped due to lack of funding - and the fans protest, thousands signing a "1st not 3rd" petition. The FA Appeal Panel reduce the demotion to just one division, and Swindon are denied their first-ever taste of top flight football. Hillier was eventually jailed, Farrar and former club secretary Dave King received suspended sentences.
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