Irony

If somebody had told me a year ago what would happen in the following 12 months, I would have probably chuckled, smiled and said something like, " Yeh ......h as if, get real, this is Swindon, and things like that don't happen here, only in the movies".

A year on, and we are singing that we are top of the league. last year we were sinking into an abyss, totally dis organised, fragmented and sections with in the team that must have made the dressing room more sectarian than Beirut, more divided than ever imaginable. We had become everything bad and undesirable as a club. I wont go into the whys and wherefores, we all have our views, and I've been told a lot from somebody well reliable in the club. It was a mess. Looking for a good manager with the strength to take over and sort things out, once and for all was not going to be an easy task. Two managers came and went last season, a temporary manager and an "interim" Chairman took over, and I went and renewed my season ticket thinking Bodin would be in charge. I had faith.

Well, we all know what happened next, and there was me thinking Jimmy White was a whirlwind, so what was this bloke ????? players jumping ship and suddenly hardly anyone left, only those that were loyal, hard working and wanted to be here. Well that was the start, and since then its only ever got better. Not being one for stats, and I don't own a abacus, I think we need to win 2 of our remaining four games, to become champions, but allegedly 100 points is doable.

So what of the man ? well he came here and conquered us with his work rate, ethics, truthfulness, passion, desire, commitment and made us part of his greater family. Before both Plymouth games he has lost a parent, firstly his father and now his mother, but true to his word he was at the games when it mattered, there for his club, his team and the push onwards towards the promised land of League One.

I'm no great believer, pretty disgraceful some would say, but I am sure that both his parents knew that he would go on not only to succeed here but elsewhere at a much higher level, but one thing is for sure, after a very public outpouring of grief by so many in Swindon, part of him will always remain here after recent events, he has made this club his, very special, but then again, a very special man. Time will be on his side, and those who have suffered such loss know that it is time that helps, and support, and he certainly has that, and rightly so.