‘ROBINS ARE TOO BIG A CLUB FOR THIS DIVISION’
WHEN Richie Wellens walked into the County Ground 13 months ago, the Robins looked like relegation fodder.
Seventeenth in League Two. Brittle and drifting. A 4-0 hiding at home to Carlisle in his opening match served only to highlight the terrifying task in hand.
But for the former Leicester midfielder, such challenges were modest compared to those he’d already faced.
As a rookie manager at Oldham Athletic in 2017-18 under notorious Latics owner Abdallah Lemsagam, Wellens was an unwitting participant in football’s answer to Fawlty Towers.
Facilities either crumbling or repossessed. A training ground in ruins. Then there was Lemsagam himself, a chairman more hands-on than your average masseuse.
From bursting into the dressing room, to meddling in team selection, the former agent refused to take a back seat – including awarding lucrative contracts to useless trialists behind the manager’s back.
“It wasn’t exactly a good grounding,” says the 39-yearold, a former Manchester United trainee who made 600 EFL appearances over the course of his 16-year career.
“Tough would be a better word. You have to do things you wouldn’t expect. You have to go through situations that aren’t the norm.
“At any club, the relationship between manager and chairman is paramount. If it’s good, it’s invaluable. If it isn’t, the whole thing will fall apart.
“It’s no good a manager having one conversation about team selection with his staff, then going away and having another conversation with the chairman.
“Because the manager might then have to pick one person whilst the staff have all agreed on somebody else. It just causes conflict and distractions that you don’t really need.”
Relegation was the inevitable and Wellens’ escape to Wiltshire initially appeared a case of frying pan to fire.
Lee Power, after all, has frequently been accused of meddling in team affairs since rescuing the Robins from administration in 2013.
Flying
From briefly appointing himself manager, to inserting pal Tim Sherwood into an oversight role, the former Peterborough and Bradford striker is rarely far from the limelight. Wellens, though, is full of praise for the Swindon owner.
“Lee is great,” he says. “He lets me get on with things. Genuinely. And he’s a football man himself, so he’s easy to talk to in that respect. He’s played at a good level, understands the game.
“But, ultimately, he lets me make all the decisions and that means you can have a clear plan and clear thought process.
“Coming to Swindon, where things are done as properly as possible, with a good budget and a great chairman – it’s a much easier club to manage.”
And the proof is in the position. A year on, Swindon are top of League Two and were, pre-weekend, riding the crest of a six-game winning streak.
The attractive football that Wellens promised on his appointment has also been delivered. No team in the fourth tier has scored more goals and the average home gate is up 15 per cent on last season.
“We had a good summer, recruiting some quality players,” Wellens explains. “They were full of confidence. We play the right way. We had a sticky spell at the end of September, with quite a few injuries. But we recovered well and since then we’ve been flying.
“When you’re in good form and your players are fit, everyoutcome,
When this going, club gets
The powerful... it’s I both chairman and should be feel we playing at a higher level Richie Wellens
thing is easier for a manager. For example, I haven’t changed the team for six games.
“It means we have a rhythm and an understanding. People are forming relationships all over the pitch. And instead of taking half an hour to go through set-plays in training, it’s five minutes. Just little reminders. If you have to keep changing things, that cohesion is difficult to find.”
Wellens’ efforts have won him the manager of the month prize for November, while striker Eoin Doyle scooped the player award.
The former Preston striker – signed on loan from Bradford City in the summer – had netted 18 goals in 18 games for the Robins heading into yesterday’s home game against Oldham and is once again demonstrating the predatory instincts that earned a £1m move from Chesterfield to Cardiff in 2015.
“Eoin just needed to find his scoring touch again,” adds Wellens. “He’s working for a manager that knows him, someone he feels confident around.
“I like to think I get the best out of him but, at the end of the day, he’s the one who takes the chances. He’s the one who’s performing week in, week out. He deserves all the accolades that come his way.
Pedigree
“He had a really good season at Chesterfield. He got his moves to Cardiff and Preston which didn’t go as he’d hoped. But those experiences are all helping us now.
“What I would say is that he’s a great lad. He’s an exceptional finisher who gets a lot of goals but, first and foremost, he’s a really good professional. Him, Mathieu Baudry, Danny Rose, Luke McCormick – they’re all really good examples to our younger players and we’re lucky to have them.”
Wellens rejects talk of title contention, or a return to League One following relegation in 2017.
“It’s too early,” he says. “At our level, we haven’t got massive finances or squads. And if you lose important players, the strength in depth isn’t there.
“It’s not like the Premier League where you look at Liverpool and think ‘They will definitely win the title’.
“They’re so strong. They’re playing well. The squad is terrific. They’ve got a massive advantage and haven’t lost a game all season. Nobody in their right mind would bet against them.
“Down here, nobody is that consistent. We have played 20 games now and six or seven teams have been at the top of the league. That tells you everything.”
Yet for all the short-term focus, Wellens also has a longterm vision.
“When this club gets going, it’s powerful,” says Wellens. “Mark Cooper had a really good spell here. Paolo Di Canio was terrific. That shows you the potential.
“It’s a club that the chairman and I both feel should be playing at a higher level and our supporter base backs that up.
“Getting back there will be hard. The last couple of years has been a downward spiral. But we’re turning that round. Looking upwards.
“Me, I think that Swindon should be a club that is top end of League One, flips into the Championship and could have a real go at staying there.
“If you stay in the Championship for a few years nowadays, the money you receive means you can start to grow. One thing is certain, though – it’s definitely too big to be in League Two.”