Swindon Town announce controversial pre-season decision - it's caused a stir | OneFootball

There has been mixed feedback over the Robins' latest announcement...

The 2026-27 League Two season is fast approaching, but for Swindon Town, there are some big issues to contend with on the eve of it.

Under the management of Ian Holloway, the Robins started the previous campaign in flying form, winning eight of their first 11 fourth tier matches to sit in the automatic spots very early on.

And even though the Wiltshire outfit's form was up and down, they remained in League Two's top seven all the way through until the final few weeks of the campaign, before dropping out and down to ninth after three defeats in a draw in their final four outings.

It was not the ending that Holloway or anyone at the County Ground wanted, but instead of things improving over the summer months ahead of a new season, things appear to have gotten worse for Town.

Swindon Town announce unexpected pre-season decision

Having lost the likes of Will Wright, Jake Batty and Ryan Delaney to League Two rivals, Swindon have only signed four new players so far this summer, with the pick of those perhaps being Fleetwood Town midfielder Matty Virtue and Oxford United centre-back Stephan Negru.

Pre-season has had its ups and downs, but just a day after defeating League One side Leyton Orient 2-1, Swindon revealed that there would be a big change to this weekend's fixture against National League outfit Forest Green Rovers.

Holloway was set to take his first-team squad to The New Lawn to take on Robbie Savage's side, but owing to a mass amount of injuries, he will not be able to field a senior 11 - despite the fact they have over 20 players in their current contracted squad.

It has been noted by the club in a message to its supporters on social media that two more injuries were suffered against Orient, and with an EFL Cup clash on August 8 coming up against Cardiff City, Town will now field an 'XI' this coming weekend, which is likely going to consist of reserve players and potentially under-18s.

Swindon Town fans react to surprise pre-season friendly change

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After the announced alteration to this weekend's friendly, Swindon fans have been reacting to the decision, and many are praising the club for their openness and how smart of a decision it is.

Whilst some will likely be frustrated at not being able to get to watch the first-team in action, another Swindon fan believes the club have done the smartest thing.

Not everyone feels the same way though. This town supporter believes the club's reputation will suffer as a result.

And some believe that Holloway is to blame for his coaching methods, and owner Clem Morfuni should be considering a change in the County Ground dugout.

Swindon Town must strengthen further before September 1 to be promotion contenders

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The limited business on the incoming side that Swindon have done so far isn't half-bad, but it's pretty evident that more will be needed to make sure Holloway has a fit and ready squad for the bulk of the new season.

It's quite worrying that after quite a few weeks of pre-season, there are enough injuries to make the club change their late pre-season plans so that the squad that is fit needs protecting - for a fourth tier club with promotion ambitions, they appear to be woefully underprepared.

The loan market is yet to be delved in to by the Robins recruitment team, and perhaps those avenues will open up in the weeks to come as clubs higher up the pyramid decide who stays and who can go temporarily, but with just over a week to go until their first competitive fixture, Swindon and Holloway need to fix their glaring injury and depth issues.