, BOB SMITH S GLORY DAYS AT SWINDON
DAVID WALLIS reflects on a memorable era in the Robins’ history
IN MAY 1978, Swindon Town took the decision to replace a club legend at the helm with a newcomer to the County Ground.
Danny Williams had led Town to Wembley victory over Arsenal in the 1969 League Cup final and taken the club to promotion to Division Two.
Now in his second spell at the club,Williams had been in charge since March 1974 and, despite the best efforts of the Yorkshire-born, ex-Rotherham United wing half, he had been unable to regain past glories.
When Swindon finished tenth in Division Three at the end of 1977/78, the board acted by moving Williams into an upstairs role and started the process of appointing a replacement.
It was the relatively unknown Bob Smith who gained the vote of Town’s directors and who was tasked with leading Swindon back to the promised land of Division Two.
Such was the obscurity of the appointment, it was necessary to overcome initial confusion regarding the identity of the new man. Ex-Spurs man and double winner Les Allen had been in charge at the County Ground earlier in the decade, and some assumed Bobby Smith must be the Tottenham Hotspur man from the same side.
Instead, this Robert William Smith, despite beginning his career with Manchester United and capturing England schoolboy and youth team honours, had enjoyed an undistinguished playing career in the lower leagues after being released from Old Trafford to Scunthorpe without getting a sniff of a first team shirt.
Post-playing appointments at Bury and Port Vale had failed to capture much imagination around the country, but Swindon offered £10,000 to the Valiants in compensation for their manager and Smith was the new Town boss.The next two seasons were to provide a spectacular ride of cup glory, transfer excitement and what-might-have-beens.
From the start it was clear Swindon’s board had decided to back their new man to the hilt. In the summer, midfielder Brian Williams arrived from QPR and winger Ian Miller came in from Doncaster Rovers. Goalkeeper Chris Ogden was recruited from Oldham Athletic and the season kicked off with Swindon undefeated in the first four games.
But when Bury were paid £85,000 for star striker Andy Rowland in September, the bar was raised in terms of the board’s financial commitment, a statement of intent that was augmented when Watford were persuaded to part with Alan Mayes in return for £80,000 to partner him up front.
Then, when Mayes hit a hat-trick on his debut in February at Rotherham, it looked as though the money spent was a wise investment. By the end of the season Swindon had finished in fifth place in Division Three, with many believing the foundation had been laid for further success in 1979/80. But the reality would bring an exciting ride that would ultimately fall frustratingly short of the optimism.
At the end of September 1979, Town sat fourth in the table, but that was only part of the story. Progress in the League Cup had seen Swindon draw 2-2 at First Division Stoke City in round three, with the Potters despatched in the replay as October commenced. But December was about to bring perhaps the most fruitful week of results in the Robins’ history.
On the fourth, Swindon visited Highbury to take on top flight Arsenal in a League Cup quarter-final. They returned to Wiltshire with a 1-1 draw when an 84th-minute Billy Tucker header from a Mayes corner equalised an Alan Sunderland penalty.
That set up a replay at the County Ground a week later.With Smith’s old club Bury visiting for a league fixture in between, there might have been the potential for a cup-induced banana skin for Town to slip on.
So when the final whistle was blown that Saturday with the scoreline Swindon Town 8 Bury 0, the iceberg of complacency had been safely navigated. Future Swindon boss Danny Wilson was amongst the defeated numbers, but