The 2009–10 season saw Swindon Town FC, managed by Danny Wilson, finish in fifth place and reach the League one play-off final where they were ultimately beaten by Millwall FC.

Pre-season

For the third consecutive year, Swindon Town ventured to Austria for pre-season training. This was manager Danny Wilson's first summer as Swindon manager as he took over in late December 2008, replacing

Maurice Malpas Maurice Daniel Robert Malpas (born 3 August 1962) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He signed for Dundee United in 1979 and spent his entire professional playing career with the club until his retirement in 2000. With him, United w ...

. 15 players from the previous season, including influential forward Simon Cox, had either been released by Wilson or in the case of Cox sold. Trialist

Cherno Samba Cherno Samba (born 10 January 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England at every youth level up to the under-20 team, having moved to England at an early age. He earned full caps for Gambia betwe ...

joined Town during the trip. The rest of the summer consisted of Town playing against familiar opposition such as Wiltshire outfits Chippenham Town and Swindon Supermarine. Championship club Cardiff City, West Bromwich Albion and Plymouth Argyle were named as Town's home opposition. Trial players who featured for Swindon Town during Pre-Season *

: Once a highly rated forward, Samba joined Town for the Pre-Season work out in Austria. He failed to score in four fixtures. * Anton Ademol: An unknown midfielder played against

Hungerford Town Hungerford Town Football Club is a semi-professional Football club (association football), football club based in Hungerford, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks Football Association, they are currently members of and play at B ...

and Chippenham Town. He failed to earn a deal. * Stephen Morrison: Former Everton youth midfielder played against

and scored. Danny Wilson gave him a second chance at Chippenham Town but failed to earn a contract. * Scott Spencer: Former Everton forward who scored against

. He failed to earn a contract at Swindon but later joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

where he scored a late goal against Swindon during the season. *

Berlin Ndebe-Nlome Berlin Ndebe-Nlome is a Cameroonian footballer. He played three matches in the Primeira Liga of Portugal for P. Ferreira in 2010. Career Whilst on trial at Portsmouth he became somewhat of an enigma around the club, playing in numerous pre-sea ...

: The former

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

youth forward played in the high profile friendlies against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

but failed to impress. *

Yan Klukowski Yan Klukowski (born 1 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hereford. Club career Youth and College Born and raised in Chippenham, Wiltshire, Klukowski was educated at Sheldon School. His football ed ...

: A

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

native who forged a decent reputation with the American College leagues. He finished the Pre-Season as Town's top scorer with 3 goals in 3 games for Swindon. Despite impressing, he failed to win a contract. * Bradley Clark: The Hungerford Town forward impressed the Town coaches and was offered a trial. * Panikos Efythmides: Greek midfielder who played the final two Town friendlies. * Dean McDonald: Former

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

forward who played in Town's final friendly of Pre-Season against Cirencester Town. McDonald scored but did not earn a Town deal. He later joined

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

League One

League One Playoffs

F.A. Cup

After losing the First Round to Non-League

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which r ...

last season - Town were once again given the task of meeting Non-League

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

a year on. Despite a less than convincing display, Billy Paynter's first half goal was enough. The Second Round saw Swindon beat

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

a couple of weeks later, Gordon Greer scored the only goal ten minutes time. Town were knocked out of the competition in the Third Round to Premier League outfit

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, Bobby Zamora scoring for the Cottagers.

League Cup

Swindon Town entered the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

in the First Round and were drawn to play

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

. Swindon had recently lost 5–0 at Gillingham on the opening day of the league season. Town beat the Dons comfortably at Stadium:MK by four goals to one. Town's next game was away from

against

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

outfit

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Wolves manager

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...

fielded an under strength team but did enough to beat Swindon Town 6–5 in a penalty shoot-out after 120 minutes of football without a goal. Swindon Town captain

Gordon Greer Gordon Greer (born 14 December 1980) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Greer played for Clyde, Blackburn Rovers (two spells), Stockport County, Kilmarnock (two spells), Doncaster Rovers, Swindon Town and Br ...

missed the only penalty. * Wolverhampton Wanderers won 6–5 on penalties.

Football League Trophy

Swindon Town were drawn to play

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

St James Park St James Park and variants may refer to: Municipalities * St James Park, New Zealand, a suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand Football stadiums * St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * St James Park (Exeter), Exeter, England * St James Park, g ...

where a late

Stuart Fleetwood Stuart Keith Wakley Fleetwood (born 23 April 1986) is a semi-professional footballer who plays as a striker for Cinderford Town. Early life Fleetwood was born in Gloucester, Gloucestershire.Anthony McNamee Anthony McNamee (born 13 July 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left-sided midfielder, and current football manager. Career Watford Born in Kensington, England, McNamee began his career at Watford. He quickly p ...

's goal in the first half. The game won by Swindon 5–3 on penalties with Phil Smith saving two of the spot kicks. Swindon were knocked out in the next round by

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, penalty kicks settled the tie again - the only missed penalty was taken by

Craig Easton Craig Easton (born 26 February 1979) is a Scottish association football, football former player and coach. He began his playing career with Dundee United F.C., Dundee United in 1996 and went on to play over 200 first team matches, before leaving ...

. * Swindon Town beat Exeter City 4–3 on penalties * Norwich City beat Swindon Town 5–3 on penalties

Squad statistics

Swindon Town 2009/10

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Swindon Town F.C. season Swindon Town F.C. seasons

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...