Season 2008-2009
With the new board getting the club on an even keel off the pitch, hopes on the pitch are high - fuelled by impressive pre-season draws against Champions League opposition Fenerbahçe and Steaua Bucharest, and an excellent display on the opening day against Tranmere. A run of five successive home defeats follows though, and the season is marred firstly by a string of goalkeeping and defensive howlers, and then by a succession of last gasp goals conceded. As a result, the Town again find themselves in a relegation battle, and the fans' attention quickly turns to manager Malpas. Just as the league form seems to make a turn for the better though, an FA Cup defeat at non-League Histon is followed by a JPT reverse at Brighton, and chairman Fitton relieves him of his duties. It takes the Town six weeks to appoint a replacement - eventually opting for Danny Wilson as the new man in charge, and he attempts to plug the leaky defence - at the other end of the pitch, Simon Cox nets a total of 32 goals in all competitions, breaking the post-war club record for goals in a season, and also becomes the first Town player to net three hat-tricks away from home in a single campaign. Wilson brings in three significant loan signings - Gordon Greer, Hal Robson-Kanu and Owain Tudur-Jones, which pays dividends throughout March - with three games won on the bounce to pull the Town out of the drop zone, they eventually secure their League One status on the penultimate day of the season.
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Season 2007-2008
A year more significant for events off the field than on it - the season starts with news of a new takeover, with Portuguese suitors BEST Holdings being unveiled as the new owners elect in August. Despite BEST making three signings, the prolonged takeover falls through in October, when the Adver reports that the deal would have cost up to £18 million - the club's board bizarrely suggesting that £8 million of which was suggested by BEST themselves, whereas BEST later stated that the late amendments to the deal were the cause of collapse. The revelations spark protests by the fans - with an overdue CVA payment from the second period in administration, and no prospect of a third, the club looks to be on the brink of oblivion. Amidst the turmoil, manager Paul Sturrock leaves the club to return to Plymouth - and liquidation looks even more likely in December, when another deal with local businessman Andrew Fitton also collapses - again due to late amendments to the deal by the board. With the club admitting that time was running out, the Fitton deal is revived - and the deal is eventually done in December, before being completed in January. Fitton's first task is to replace Sturrock - and he surprisingly appoints Maurice Malpas as the new boss. Malpas sets the play-offs as a target - but the decision to appoint him is almost immediately questioned by some fans, when the Town suffer a mid-season downturn in form - the end of season focus is on avoiding getting dragged into a relegation battle, rather than a promotion one. The Town embarrass themselves in the FA Cup - missing four penalties in a shootout at Barnet - but three wins and a draw in April silence the doom-mongers, as Swindon finish the season in a healthy 13th position.
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Season 2006-2007
Despite a topsy-turvy season off the field, Swindon bounce back to the third tier at the first attempt, finishing in third place in League Two. With new investment coming into the club, Onuora is sacked and replaced with ex-England international Dennis Wise, and the new look team start well, winning all of the first six games. Wise's reign lasts only until October though - after a boardroom rift between the old owners and the new investor, he leaves to join Leeds, with the Town having been caught by the chasing pack. The board replace him with Paul Sturrock, recently sacked by Sheffield Wednesday - and though the decent form continues to start with, by March it looks as though the Town are starting to lose ground. Sturrock turns things around on the loan transfer deadline though - signing five players, which allows him to change the team's structure - and they lose just one of the last eight. A nailbiting last match of the season sees the Town play champions-elect Walsall, needing a point to secure promotion - and a first league goal by defender Jerel Ifil sets Swindon on their way to a 1-1 draw that wraps it up.
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Season 2005-2006
As expected, Sam Parkin is sold prior to the big kick-off, but he is replaced with a new strikeforce of Jamie Cureton and Tony Thorpe, both of whom join from Q.P.R.. Both strikers have disappointing starts to their Swindon careers, and the Town slump to the bottom of the table early on, setting a club record of eight straight defeats that comes to an end in October, but the Town soon find themselves seven points from safety. The run brings to an end the reign of Andy King - who is sacked in September, being replaced by ex-player Iffy Onuora, who is promoted from the youth setup. Gradually, results begin to improve, and despite the sale of top scorer Rory Fallon to Swansea, the team seem to start to turn it around in February - when a run of three wins in four matches propels the Town right up to 16th place - though in an extremely tight division, they only sit one point from the relegation zone. A home defeat by fellow strugglers Rotherham, then a 7-1 hammering at Forest soon brings the Town back down to earth, and failure to beat either Hartlepool or the MK Dons costs Swindon dear. Relegation is confirmed at Ashton Gate, when needing two wins from their final two games and other results to go their way, Swindon can only manage a draw - and they slip into the bottom tier of the League twenty years after vacating it, becoming the first club that has played in the Premiership to fall to the lowest division.
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Season 2004-2005
A change in the league structure sees the third level renamed as "League One", the old Division One now being known as the "Championship". With much the same squad as last season, the Town are expected to challenge again - the only notable exception at the start of the season is last season's player of the year, Tommy Mooney, who shocks the fans by joining local rivals Oxford United. Amid rumours of discontent behind the scenes, captain Andy Gurney soon leaves the club as well, and though Swindon flirt with the play-off places early in the season, inconsistency soon puts paid to any dreams of promotion. The Town seem to make a habit of squandering two and three goal leads, but also amazingly come back from 2-0 down with twelve minutes to go to beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2. The FA Cup campaign ends in embarrassment - after conceding a last minute equaliser in a second round tie against League Two side Notts County, the winners are drawn against Premiership Middlesbrough, but Swindon put in an abysmal performance in the replay, getting beat 2-0 in front of the Sky TV cameras. Much is expected in the LDV Vans Trophy as well - when the Town reach the regional semi-final stage, they are the only League One side left in the competion - but another poor performance results in defeat at eventual finalists Southend. The league campaign is all but ended in March and April, when two six pointers with promotion chasing Bournemouth and Hartlepool both end in 3-0 defeats, and Swindon are condemned to a disappointing mid-table finish.
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Season 2003-2004
Nine new signings before the season starts heightens the fans' optimism, and the Town begin well - spending the early months of the season in the play-off positions. They also manage to scare Leeds in the Carling Cup - taking a two goal lead before England international goalkeeper Paul Robinson scores a dramatic injury-time equaliser, and the Town eventually go out on penalties. A six game losing streak in October prompted a slide down the table, and shortly after Christmas, the Town found themselves in a lowly 14th position. A win over Brighton kick-starts a run of nine wins in eleven games, and in a very tight division, it's enough to cement a play-off place. Here, the Town have no luck at all - after dominating the first leg of the semi-final, Brighton steal a one goal victory - and in the second leg, Swindon equalise, and go ahead in extra-time - before conceding another injury-time equaliser, and missing out on a trip to Cardiff on penalties.
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Season 2002-2003
After a bright start, the Town lose seven on the bounce, breaking the club record for consecutive defeats. Under extreme pressure, King somehow manages to hold onto his job, in spite of the board interviewing potential candidates Mel Machin and Jan Molby, and calls from the fans to reappoint Lou Macari. A 6-1 win over Southend in the LDV Vans Trophy triggers an improvement in results - and the Town eventually finish in a respectable 10th position, albeit 21 points off a play-off place. Off the pitch, the Town come out of administration, and a long standing legal battle with Ruddock is settled - he leaves the club in December, having not played for over a year.
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Season 2001-2002
A mad pre-season sees Brady walk out on the club, with Danny Donegan continuing as chairman - and controversially, he sacks King just weeks before the start of the season. Roy Evans is appointed as manager, with ex-England international Neil Ruddock joining him as player-coach. The football improves - but then, the previous board takes the club to court - citing the fact that Donegan was not legally installed as chairman. The court agrees - and Donegan leaves the club, with Willie Carson voted in as the new chairman, as head of the new consortium. The true financial state of the club is revealed, and the club becomes the first in history to go into administration for a second time - and Evans leaves, deciding that he can't take the club forward with no money. With rumours that the Town can't afford his pay-off, Andy King is reinstated as manager to the fans' disgust - but despite all this, the Town finish in a respectable 13th position.
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Season 2000-2001
Colin Todd's reign is hailed as a new era for the Town, and the fans' hopes for the new season are high. Todd creates a completely new team - releasing nine players, and bringing nine new faces in before the season starts. He makes a further three signings early on - but the dreams soon turn to nightmares when, with the Town struggling at the wrong end of the table, and having scored just ten goals in the twelve league games he has been in charge for, Todd leaves the club to become assistant manager at Derby. Todd's own assistant, Andy King, is handed the reins, but the Town continue to struggle - and thanks to a last-minute wonder goal from Danny Invincibile in a must-win game at home to Peterborough, they go into the last week of the season just four points clear of relegation, but having played two games more than Bristol Rovers. Amazingly, Rovers throw it away - losing their two games in hand at home to Port Vale and Wycombe, and after a last day hammering at Stoke, Swindon avoid a successive relegation by a single point.
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Season 1999-2000
A disastrous season - almost bankrupt, the club go into administration, and players are sold on the cheap left, right and centre - no fewer than eight first teamers leave the club during the course of the season, the biggest fee being commanded by George Ndah, who goes to Wolves for £1m. Even 40-year-old manager Quinn is forced to don a Town jersey again - but the writing is on the wall very early on, and the Town spend the whole season rock bottom of the table, and are relegated to Division Two. Still, there is light at the end of the tunnel - a consortium headed by business tycoon Terry Brady takes over the club, they come out of administration towards the end of the season, and new plans for a stadium on Swindon's Front Garden are announced. Despite having an impossible task, Quinn is harshly sacked, but with respected ex-Bolton manager Colin Todd taking over the managerial role within days, the fans are quickly appeased, and the club looks to be saved from the threat of liquidation.
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