Season 2023-2024
Under new boss Mike Flynn, the Town start the season in entertaining fashion - netting five against both Wrexham and Sutton (though they let a three-goal lead slip with two injury time goals in North Wales), and thumping Crawley for six - all in the first six games of the season. Up at the top end of the table, and with rumoured interest from Bradford, Flynn is rewarded with a new contract - but virtually as soon as the ink is dry, things start to take a turn for the worse - seeing his side humbled in the FA Cup by Aldershot, who become the first non-league side to net seven against a league team, going 7-0 up at the County Ground before the game ends 7-4. Disaster is narrowly averted at Accrington, where three goals conceded in injury time sees the Town cling on for a 4-3 victory - but after four defeats in five in December, Flynn's side slump into the bottom half of the table - and the questionable recruitment policy is exposed, when the two standout players of the first half of the campaign, Dan Kemp and Jake Young, are both recalled from their loan spells by their parent clubs in the same division. Defeat at Crewe proves to be the final straw, and Flynn is sacked just 74 days after his contract extension - the reins again handed to Gavin Gunning, who remains in interim charge until the end of the season. Rather than the expected push for promotion, the fans' thoughts are occupied by the "Beamish Line" of 1983/84 - the club's lowest finish since the fourth tier was introduced - and with only two wins recorded in the first fourteen matches of 2024, even the spectre of relegation is not beyond the realms of possibility. As the calendar moves into April, a bump in form sees the Town record three wins in four to dispel any fears of the drop, but the Beamish Line remains out of reach, and the Town finish in a lowly 19th place, for their worst season since the re-election days of the 1950s.
Men Senior1st
Women Senior1st
Season 2022-2023
Following an unexpected but ultimately unsuccessful playoff campaign, head coach Ben Garner is enticed away to take over at Charlton soon after the season ends – and the Town board adopt a new “data-driven” approach, replacing Ben Chorley with Sandro Di Michele as Director of Football. A prolonged search for Garner’s replacement finally ends with the appointment of his assistant Scott Lindsey as the new boss – and with many of the previous season’s playing squad leaving for pastures new, a side made up of mostly younger players is assembled. Although never convincing, Lindsey’s side stay in and around the play-off places – but having never managed to win over the fanbase, a slump in form towards the end of the year sees Lindsey opt to leave the club to take over at Crawley. Coinciding with the return of former goalscoring hero Charlie Austin, there is a renewed feeling of optimism amongst supporters, which is exacerbated further with a 5-0 win over Grimsby in Austin’s second debut – but another long search for a head coach is only brought to an end on the last day of the January transfer window, when former Chelsea man Jody Morris is handed the role. Though on paper he seems the perfect fit for the Town’s new philosophy, defeat in each of his first three matches in charge sees the Town fall into a midtable position from which they would never rise – and with all seemingly not well behind the scenes, Morris is surprisingly given his marching orders before the season is out, after just eighteen matches in charge – Di Michele following him out of the exit door soon afterwards. The Town finally end up in a disappointing 10th place, though a huge fourteen points off the play-off places – with Mike Flynn unveiled as the Town’s new head coach on the final day of the season.
Men Senior1st
Women Senior1st
Season 2021-2022
Relegated and in the midst of a court case to resolve the ownership, the club is seemingly left to rot over the summer - and though John McGreal is appointed as the Town's new manager, he resigns after just thirty days, stating that the legal issues made his position untenable. The ownership battle is finally resolved just two weeks before the start of the season - and new chairman Clem Morfuni wastes no time in naming Ben Garner as the new head coach, with Ben Chorley as Director of Football. With just a handful of players on the books and favourites for a successive relegation, Chorley and Garner move quickly to build a competitive squad - and, implementing a modern passing style, the Town surprise everyone by challenging at the top end of the table. The new regime captures the imagination of the Town support, with the highest attendances seen at the County Ground for years - and the club is rewarded with a FA Cup draw against Premier League champions Manchester City. The Town prove to be victims of their own success though - key loan players Tyreece Simpson, Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Romoney Crichlow are all recalled in the January transfer window - leading to a blip in form and a mini-rebuild in the middle of the season. Three thumping victories in February renew hopes of a push for promotion - but injuries to key players has an impact on form, and by mid-April, the Town are seemingly out of the play-off race, sitting in mid-table. Needing four victories from their final four games to stand a realistic chance of a top seven spot, the team are roused by a surge of support, and the twelve points are secured - including a battling victory over champions Forest Green, and a thumping win on the last day of the season at Walsall, in front of a huge away following. Finishing in sixth, the Town are pitted against Port Vale in the play-offs, and though they go two up in the first leg, they are pegged back to finish level on aggregate - a visit to Wembley seems to be all but secured though, when Vale miss two of their first three penalties in the shootout - only for top scorer Harry McKirdy, Josh Davison and finally Ellis Iandolo to all fail from the spot to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.
Men Senior1st
Women Senior1st
Season 2020-2021
Still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the delayed season begins with no fans allowed in stadia - measures that would remain in place for the entire season, except for a handful of matches with significantly reduced capacity. With many of the heroes from the League Two championship squad departing, manager Richie Wellens’ preparations for the new season are also hampered by a reduced budget - and though his side are competitive, they are a far cry from the previous campaign - the threadbare nature of the squad soon becoming exposed. Early in November, Wellens resigns to take over at Salford, and he is quickly replaced by John Sheridan, a friend of chairman Lee Power. Though Sheridan manages to register derby victories over Bristol Rovers and the Town’s first ever triumph over Oxford at the Kassam Stadium, he instills a toxic atmosphere at the club - and the writing is on the wall when star man Diallang Jaiyesimi is sold to Charlton on the transfer deadline day, with Power pleading poverty - stating that the money was needed to keep the Town afloat. Though back-to-back victories over Fleetwood and Bristol Rovers in March raise hopes of a miraculous escape from relegation, five defeats on the trot - three of which are against fellow strugglers Burton, Rochdale and Wimbledon - virtually seal the Town’s fate, and Sheridan finally resigns, having bizarrely decided to stay after considering his position earlier in the campaign. Victory over Portsmouth delays the inevitable, before a humbling 5-0 capitulation at Milton Keynes confirms the Town’s return to League Two.
Men Senior1st
Women Senior1st
Season 2019-2020
Manager Richie Wellens is busy in the transfer market over the summer, shaping a squad capable of playing his preferred pressing style - and almost immediately there is a feel-good factor around the County Ground, as the Town make a decent start to the season, assisted by new loan signing Eoin Doyle netting seven goals in his first six games for the club. After a blip in September that lasts a month, both Doyle and the Town hit form - Doyle going on an incredible goalscoring run that sees him equal Harry Morris' club record of scoring in eleven consecutive matches, the Town winning seven on the bounce to go into the Christmas period at the top of the table. But - after netting the winner in a crucial victory at Plymouth - Doyle is recalled by parent club Bradford, and soon after, strike partner Jerry Yates' loan deal is also cut short - the Town managing to cling on to the top spot, before both players are re-signed at the end of the window ahead of a first versus second clash with Exeter. The signings capture the imagination of the Swindon support, and for the first time in years, the home end is sold out - the Town winning the match to go four points clear - and they remain top of the table throughout February, until a home defeat to Forest Green in early March saw Crewe take top spot on goal difference, having played a game more. Incredibly, that proved to be the last match of the season - prior to the Town's trip to Oldham the following weekend, the season is suspended due to a global coronavirus pandemic, and the remaining matches in the lower leagues are eventually cancelled. Three months after the final game, League Two clubs vote to utilise an average points per game method to resolve the final table - a decision that saw the Town crowned champions in the most bizarre circumstances.
Men Senior1st
Women Senior1st