Its just a pity that the initial years of the Black era were marred by useless managerial appointments, I think if that had been got right and someone decent come in at the time of Malpas, we would have moved forward
Indeed. Of all the great alternative history’s of Swindon you could pen (what would have happened if Charlie hadn’t hit that bobble, what would have happened if Hoddle had stayed, what would have happened if we hadn’t been demoted in 1990, etc etc) I think one of the most compelling ones, is what would have happened if Sturrock hadn’t left when he did (within weeks of the Fitton takeover)
Yes it was far from pretty, but he’d got us out of League 2, and on the cusp of the League 1 play offs the following season when the club was a basket case without a pot to piss in.
With Black (and in those days Arbibs) cash, and the degree of calm Fitton bought, I think he could have got us into the Championship within a couple of seasons. Once there, you suspect he’d have struggled (he always did out of the lower leagues) but we’d have been in a much better position to recruit his replacement than we were in 2007/8.
Plus the CG redevelopment, oft muted but never acted on, would have been more likely with a few years of second tier football under our belt.
All speculation of course, but it does feel that the footballing fates have conspired to keep us down here over the last decade or so.
